THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

As SCF President seeks to reform chess at the world level by joining Team Kasparov, he will have his hands full from now till the August elections in Tromso. The chess world is holding its breath till then for the advent of long-awaited reforms to FIDE to reach out to the masses and gain bigger exposure for the royal game. Yet however, there are also long-awaited and pressing reforms that need to be addressed at home should chess gain a bigger foothold locally. Though the SCF has aligned the Schools' competition into the format of the ECCA format, there remains a few other aspects that we in the chess community would like to see reformed: NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT The current exclusivity of the National Championship, restricted to just players above 2400 (albeit with 2 wildcards) in my opinion should be rescinded. Even if it would cost some players their ELO points to play in the event. I do not think protecting the ELO points of the elite players would help the development of c...

The table of rankings for the various sections in the Standard category is compiled by me. Normally I exclude the U08 section as I believe real chess ability is perceivable at the U10 level and beyond. The results of the non-Asean countries are also excluded as I wanted a comparison of our performance against the rest of the ASEAN countries. The legend shows those having played in last year's event in Chiangmai (perhaps in a lower age-group) as marked in bright blue, those playing for the first time in gold. It is fair to say that the gold and silver medalists generally field no more than 1 first timer (with the exception of the Philippines in the Boys U12 and U16 and Girls U12). A bold move but it reaped dividends. Singapore had bronze meals in the Boys and Girls' U10 despite fielding 2 first-timers. Our lacklustre performance was in the U14 where we had an experienced team but finished 4th to Malaysia fielding 2 new players. The same goes for the U16 Boys where both Vietnam a...

Looking for 9 adult players minimum to start an adults' league. 1  Time control is 1 hr per side 2  Attendance is not compulsory however we accumulate points by player. 3  All games will be counted from June 20 till September 5. 4  Each player can player the same opponent twice but with different colours each game. 5  Open to all Thomson CC Chess Club members aged 16 and above. Interested players please whatsapp me at 97985479. You can join the club by registering with the CC at the counter on 1st Floor. Membership is $18 for those aged 12 and above, $10 for those below. You need to hold a valid Passioncard before you become a member.

As I write in the wee hours, whiling my time till my departure at 6am, 2 things came to my mind surrounding the event - my students and their state of preparation for the tournament, plus my own in analysing their opponents' games based on what's available. We had learnt a lot about the Vietnamese and the Filipinos from the last event in Chiangmai, so I cannot stress the importance of fitness enough to our own boys and girls. The Vietnamese do not display great strength in their games, but they do have fitness and patience on their side. They can make safe moves and wear down anyone past 4 hours of play. Hence we need to be most alert entering into the 3rd hour to ensure no big endgame blunders appear. Many also chose not to follow the book moves but relied on simple opening systems hoping to avoid book preparation. Our players therefore need to know their endgames well in order to match their opponents once pieces are exchanged on their behest.  Our current diet of rapid chess...

The Thomson Fiesta saw the birth of 3 new events spawned from the Thomson Cup International of previous years - The Thomson Cup Rapid that attracted 42 players, the Thomson Challengers that garnered 49 players and the Blitz that saw 42 participants, a large number made up of foreign players. This is perhaps the first event in CC chess competition history where incremental time control was used. Perhaps the turnout was a little less desirable but nonetheless, it was a comfortable number in the hall and playing conditions were most conducive for some real chess fights.  For those keen on the results of the Cup Rapid, you can find them here . Cyrus Low did not return to defend his title so Jarred Neubronner came in strong at 9/9 to take the title. For the Challengers , Ling Kay Soon resurfaced after a long absence to win with 7.5pts, giving a gracious draw to the top junior finishing at the top 5 positions, 10 year old Cheong Sue Lyn. I admired her feistiness in grinding out the point...