THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

This was written 5 years ago in 2012. "I came across the SCF President's remark on the National Junior/Youth Squad performance and an invitation to all stakeholders to give their honest feedback. Well, here's mine. Chess involves 4 parties : players, pieces, a board and rules (not just the rules of chess, but also the relationships between the pieces which constitutes into chess knowledge and theory). Any improvement in the performance of a chess-player must involve these elements - the state of readiness of a player in terms of knowledge of the pieces on the board and the ability to project their movements in the future to concoct a favourable outcome. So its not just the ability to calculate one's moves in question, but the ability to visualise the opponent's responses as well in the formation of one's analysis of the position. Handling these issues while managing them within the time control is key to chess success in tournaments. The first questi...

Boris Vasilievich Spassky (born 1937) is the 10th and oldest living ex World champion alive today. He made 2 attempts on the World Championship in the 60's, failed in 1966 but won in 1969 against the tough Tigran Petrosian. His reign lasted till 1972 where he played the American Bobby Fischer and surrendered the title after a gruelling 21 game match trailing 12.5 - 8.5. The second match with Fischer  in 1992 was called at Fischer's  request and termed the rematch. This match was not sanctioned by FIDE and also blacklisted by the US State Department. Fischer's insistence in playing the match resulted in his arrest in Japan after his passport was declared invalid. Though the 1992 match went the full 30 games (being the first to reach 10 points format,draws not counting), both players were clearly no longer at their peak. Nonetheless, Spassky had bested the top of the Soviet chess stars such as Tal, Korchnoi, Geller, Petrosian, Stein, Bronstein and Keres with the exception of ...

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was the silent yet potent master of strangulation - he snuffs out his opponent's plans effectively and is a great exponent of the exchange sacrifice in his games. Taking the title from Botvinnik in 1963, who then retired after FIDE announced the end of the rematch, Petrosian defended his title successfully from Boris Spassky in 1966 with creative and enterprising play much in the style of his challenger. It was in 1969 that he finally yielded his title. To learn more about the art of Petrosian's play, members are welcome to join Bradley Loh as he unfolds many of Petrosian's brilliant positional and tactical gems. See you June 23 Friday 8pm at the Level 3 Conference Room at Thomson CC.

(Font enlarged for benefit of older readers for this once, please forgive me) The first round of the QCD SG Chess League kicked started April 7 at the Cairnhill CC (our venue sponsor) from 7.30pm on alternate Fridays. A very good turnout of 14 teams with 98 players (till date) where everyone playing is above 20 years of age. This is a rare sight in Singapore Chess where one finds children outnumbering adults in most tournaments locally. With the league, the Federation is certainly taking steps to involve more adult players to come out of retirement and play. With this initiative, hopefully, more CC events in the future can consider creating a Senior's section where adults above 50 can play each other without having to try and match the young ones in speed of thinking and get to enjoy the game too.  The first 2 rounds were played at the classroom , a little cramped for such an event as we did not expect many spectators. As the rounds progressed (and also due to a stroke of luck), we...

The final count for the QCD SG League is 14 teams listed below: Team Name Captain Number of Players Pawngolins Goh Wei Ming Kevin 8 Fork You Jeevarajah Nithiananthan 5 8 Knights in Cairnhill Lim Hoon Cheng 8 Kent Ridge Noobs Liu Daowei David 6 GACC Dream Team Lam Kwok Foong 8 Score Keeper & Friends Uthpala Wettewa 7 John 3:16 Lawrence Ee 6 Wolverine Aldrin Wong 5 Thoms Formers Ng Thai Ee 4 Apek Chess Wong Fan Kong 7 Psalms 23 Chua Xavier 8 Progress Pokemonsters Alex Chia Kok Kiang 8 Bulldog Chess Brotherhood Eric Lalas 8 6.c4! Ong Yujing     6 All games start at 7.30pm this Friday at Cairnhill CC 1 Anthony Road. Spectators are welcome subject to room space. I believe it will be a spectacle as we've not had this for ages. See you there!

The adult chess scene will soon be revived with the advent of the QCD SG Chess League. This was the brainchild of Mark Liew, triggered by the success of the Singapore Chess Meetup each Wednesday initiated by Bradley Loh. He came up with the idea of forming a regular chess league on Friday evenings to have longer games played amongst the working adults and youths right after NS. The QCD Chess League was in planning since June last year and it was in December that the SCF managed to secure the sponsorship for the event. Venue for hosting the League was a challenge. Several proposals were sought, even the YMCA which was the original premises of the Singapore Chess Club. However owing to costs, we went to Cairnhill CC which was the PA Centre of Excellence for Chess. Thanks to their help, the Chess League has the final green light and we are scheduled to start April 7. Though the $2000 first prize is modest by today's standards, it is a milestone in Singapore's Chess history as the ...

Doubling as Tournament Director and MC left me little time to observe my students' games, so they are left to themselves much of the time. Preparatory work has been done the week before, so all that's left is to wait and see how they would measure up. Overall, I am satisfied with their performance, as most came in within the top 30 in view of the large numbers in the Juniors' ( 244) and Senior's (323) categories. Cheong Sue Lyn missed out with her loss to Eunice Hng despite in a better position at the end when her flag fell, but chess is chess. No excuses. As for the other students,  I congratulate Jayden Wong (7pts) and Ryan Chan who scored 6.5 to earn their places in the HP, while commendations should go to Nathaniel Cheng and new students Ho Ray Ee, Ian Ho, Lock Yan Jie and Caleb Goh  garnering 6 pts. There were a few surprises from those I've coached in the Schools. Singling out from RGPS Madeline Ng ,Arshia Mahajan...