THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

As a mark of respect for our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the Thomson Chess Fiesta shall be postponed to 7-8 November. Participants who have signed up can get their refunds if they are unable to commit to the new date. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANYMORE ENTRIES FOR 28-29 MARCH. WE WILL RELEASE NEW FORMS CLOSER TO NOVEMBER. Sorry for the inconvenience.

THE GIRLS The beige coloured entries are my private students while those in white are the ones I teach in schools in groups.  3 of the 6 private students scored 6 points or more. Congratulations to Arshia on her 2nd placing in her first NSI! Cadence also did well to finish on 6 but Cheong Sue Lyn let slip another opportunity to finish in the top 3 despite a 5/5 on her first day. Complacency has struck yet again... I am glad that Claire and Alyssa managed their scores, even when it is their first year with me. All that is required to do better is to have more game practice. The Thomson club sessions on Fridays have definitely helped.  The RGPS girls did satisfactorily as many do not do much outside of their once a week CCA. Who knows what they can be capable of if they can devote more time to the game :-) THE BOYS My male private students fared better, with more achieving 6 pts. I Shiang came very close to challenging the Champion but nerves got in the way and he finished his g...

Reading this article will definitely save your children from zero-starting on March 17-18! 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 800 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 p...

The 2nd Thomson Chess Fiesta shall take place March 28-29 weekend. We are the only CC tournament applying incremental time controls for all events in the Fiesta. Those interested can follow this link for more details

The faces tell it all..prizes or none, on the students who took part in the Kickoff Tournament organised by SCF at the Toa Payoh Sports Centre on Sunday 11 January. 7 prize winners in the respective categories ! I want to congratulate Naython Tan on his superb performance today in the Cat 4G section, 2nd with 5.5 pts, as well as Soh Rui Yang though he finished on 5th by tiebreak. Good job boys! Andre and Ethan Chiam started their first tournament and I'm so proud of them after they watched Sue Lyn in action and learnt so much about taking their time to record their games and think. Ethan managed to record till move 35 and he was unexpectedly not crying over his loss. They have grown to learn how to deal with losses and I'm sure they will look forward to playing their next tournament. I Shiuo scored 4 pts while Jasper managed 2.5 pts. I Shiuan and Sue Lyn are in Cat 2 and clearly the strength of the participants meant extra effort to win every game. Both lost against the Champio...

Many may find this book archaic in presenting the study of pawn structure with its quirky terms like leucopenia, telestop, ram etc. But if you take that away and understand its content, Pawn Power is a classic book on pawn structures that no budding chess-player can avoid studying. Evidently this came about when we were discussing a game between Cyrus Nisban and Lee Jun Wei. Someone opined that the position was wrongly played by Black having a Benoni pawn structure, where White broke through the centre with the advance e5. The pawn advance is thematic (at least to those who read the book). When discussing the position further, it seemed that Lee did not realise that his c8 bishop was a hindrance and his battle plan should involve the exchange of that bishop. Again, such understanding can only be attained if one were to read books like Pawn Power in Chess.  The study of pawns pervades not only in the opening but also into the middlegame and endgame. Of course, computer analysis may ...

This year passed really fast, with the pace of competitions increasingly punishing as well. With more on my plate, it is necessary to monitor all students closely and with 2015 looming, a heavier schedule means less time for personal recreation. Those who have put in conscious effort had better results especially Sue Lyn, Malcolm, Gavin and Bryan. Gavin trained till May before he stopped for PSLE and resumed right after. Sue Lyn managed to overcome her 2 nemeses this year and I am very proud of her. We look forward to bigger successes next year at the coming AAG in June, by then she should be ready. Those who did not do well in the National competitions this year ought to reflect on how they spent their time. I believe most of the students in this category did not take their lessons to heart and made effort to remember what was covered. Upon going through their games, many mistakes especially in counting and calculation were spotted. Opening variations were not well executed, often the...