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 and hopefully this instinct will stand her in good stead at the coming Asean Age Group Championships in Macau next week.
The Blitz saw Robert Suello clinching top spot with 8pts out of 9. It was not possible to complete the stipulated 11 rounds as that would mean the ones playing later in the Cup Rapid would do without lunch as the round would start right after the event, Some amendments will have to be made in next year's edition to accomodate the players playing 2 events at the fiesta.
As I glanced at my students' games throughout the 2 days, I am also monitoring their play.
I-Shiuan played some good games, especially his win against Edwin Lam, Jeremiah Xie and Jonathan Kow but somehow he succumbed to Sean Christian Goh unexpectedly. Despite the result, he showed maturity at the handling of the incremental time control and balanced it well. His brother I Shiang somehow lacked the discipline of watching for his opponents' threats at every move and often found himself material down due to 2 move tactics which should be detected had he learnt to use his time wisely. The same goes for Naython, with the only difference that Naython did manage to record his games and could recall where he went wrong. It is this difference that will determine who will take strides to self-improvement and better his results at the next outing. David though missing the first 4 rounds managed to score 4/5 together with Nash, while brother Jonathan also did reasonably well at 4.5 pts.
The final picture of all the prize winners with the Thomson CCMC Chairman Mr Sng Jin Poh. We thank the CCMC for their support of this annual event and will strive to improvement the details to make it even more conducive for good chess playing next year.
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