THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

 Thomson Chess Club hosted Bulldogs Team on June 24 at the Club Room. The friendly match was played over 12 boards based on 15 10 time control. Bulldogs fielded a very strong lineup of Filipino expatriates for this match. I took the opportunity to invite some senior members and also some inactive adult players with 2 juniors to pit their skills against the visitors. Tan Poh Heng volunteered to be match arbiter.                              Round 1 was in progress and we had a rare visitor in NM Oey Liang Hien, a former Champion who donated his copy of Chess Informant each time he finished it. Others came by like Warren and Ashton Chia who was curious to know who won. The visitors were White on all boards for Rd 1, with a score of 4.5 - 7.5.  There were many interesting games and it was a surprise the inactive adults held their own against the seasoned Filipinos! One of the reasons for organising this ma...

SCF's initiative of having Chess@East has finally taken off with the launch of the new Siglap South CC. This takes place every Sunday from 3 to 6pm at the second floor activity room. There will be 5 sets available for players and more equipment coming should the numbers increase. For residents staying in the East, here's your chance to bring your kids or yourself to have some friendly games. Special thanks go to the CCMC for providing the premises and the admin. Have fun!

The two reports in the Straits Times on chess in the community here did cause a stir among several dormant members, some of which I have not seen for years! As I promised earlier, the Asia Square meetup was featured in the June 9 edition of the Straits Times. Playing chess for the last decade or so has been predominately a junior activity as most adults are busy with career and family to indulge in the game. However, it takes an enterprising Bradley to lug a few chess sets and doggedly lay the tables week after week to create the spectacle that we see below: This spectacle has caused waves on social media and I've read many comments from once active tournament players and former school-team representatives who 're excited enough to come on down and have a few moves with the other like-minded executives around the CBD. There were not enough sets to go around so some have left but promised to return. What's even more encouraging - a few women too joined in (albeit they were f...