THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

It has been a while since the Primary and Secondary sections of the National Schools Individuals Championships were played on the same duration. The grand spectacle was officially opened by Mr Lawrence Wong,   Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. My main activity for the past 2 days was primarily focused on getting my students to settle down amidst the hustle and bustle. Once the rounds started I left them to tend to their games, though some parents' however were glued to their childrens' moves. Some even resorting to prompting their kids' responses - this I find perturbing as we should not go beyond winning the game at all costs.  I was tasked to groom the Lower Junior boys from Henry Park Primary and thankfully the efforts paid off with Michael Yeo and Gavern Ong garnering 8th and 12th placing. The others too  made good scores.  Michael and Gavern with their medals I-Shiang managed 8th place in the Junior Boys and I am proud of his achievement. All he ...

Reading this article will definitely save your children from zero-starting on March 21 and 22! If you are coming via the PIE then TPE, exit at Loyang Ave and drive along till Pasir Ris Drive 3. Turn left into it and once past Downtown East on your right (about 1 km after turn from Loyang), you will see East Vale on your left and once past the river the Sports Hall is on the left turn into Pasir Ris Central. Try NOT to alight your child at the Sports Hall Drop Off (see below). Imagine 975 students and estimated double the number of parents alighting from this driveway! Getting your child there will be a lot faster if you choose alternative drop offs. One is at the side of East Vale and walk across the bridge to the Hall, Do not turn into Pasir Ris Central Rd for I am sure the  will be conjested on that day. The other is to alight at the Pasir Ris MRT station and walk across (about 5 minutes). Another hassle free drop off is to turn left to Pasir Ris Drive 6 right after you past Dow...

On 25 Jan Kasparov was an invited guest to the TATA Steel GM tournament and held a press conference there. Here he discusses the "Contractgate" issue that was featured in the Sunday Times. Viewers can fast forward to 20:02 for his take on the matter.

It was business as usual but owing to some entries that came in after closing date causing some confusion, the tournament start was delayed by 20 minutes. Eventually we managed to close the gap in between rounds to finish at 6pm regardless. For the Seniors section we have Lee Qing Aun, Edwin Lam, Shawn Yong, Osric Mooi and Jimmy Ng while Alexander Chan, Marcus Chen and Jeremiah Xie were the top seeds in the Juniors section. A good mix of adults and children. The Thomson Chess Club Championship is unique in that we do not offer cash nor trophies as prizes, but used chess books. This is to entice the good habit of self-learning amongst chess-players. I vividly remember the days where chess instrruction was only available if you go to chess clubs and well-meaning seniors show you a thing or two if they chose to. Hence my fondness for collecting good chess books, which I now offer to the next generation so that they too can benefit. 8 prizes out of 40 participants per Section meant 16 happ...

Till date we have 82 registered players for the Championship, meaning as of 2014 January we have now 82 members of the Club. Welcome! This Sunday's event starts 10am and we do not impose zero-start. However, we are also not encouraging players to go on byes as we do not award points for byes requested prior to the competition. If the pairing during the competition indicates a bye for the player owing to odd number of participants that is fair. Parking is free on Sundays at the Shunfu Rd carpark for blocks 312-318. Many asked about the prizes. For those who've participated before, we do not give trophies. I am only giving away used chess books as prizes for both sections. Hence, during prize giving, we will announce the Champion first who gets first pick of the books laid on the table. They are from my private collection and should be worth something. Lastly, this tournament is not rated in any way. See you all Sunday!

I can only sum up last night's SCF meeting with training vendors under the caption above. The chess training community presently provides chess-trainers to schools and local individuals wanting chess lessons, comprising no more than 3-5 chess schools and several freelance trainers.   The SCF President opened the floor to stress that it is not in the SCF's interest to vie for the chess-training jobs in schools. This is mainly a commercial matter best left to supply and demand amongst the training community.  Key trust of the meeting was the news of chess in schools receiving a boost owing to the visit of Garry Kasparov. Garry  managed to convince some members of the cabinet to give chess a chance to develop young minds in the schools program.  Hence the relevant ministries are surveying the potential of expanding chess training in the schools, currently from the 30 to 40 (as indicated from the GEBIZ tenders) to larger numbers. In that regard, SCF wished to work with t...

Before I continue, best to read this first. I am revisiting this issue again after 3 years because once again I have to deal with it. 2 of my students have just enrolled in the National Junior Squad. I have not fixed what they should play as black, but I see disturbing signs such as this. PGN There were many such examples. My suspicion is that they were asked to play the Sicilian Defence during the first training day. As I have stated my viewpoint on choosing openings which should be, in Mark Dvoretsky's words : " Your choice of openings should be made primarily in accordance with your own tastes and style of play. This rule may sound obvious, but all the same it is quite easily broken,even by strong players" For those new in chess, Mark Dvoretsky is the world's top chess trainer. Having groomed world junior champions like Arthur Yusupov and Valery Chekhov, Sergei Dolmatov and Zvagintsev, I won't even dare challenge his views.   Forcing players to go against thei...