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A Bright Future for Hong Kong Chess — Report on Caissa Hong Kong National Junior Chess Championship 2017

A Bright Future for Hong Kong Chess — Report on Caissa Hong Kong National Junior Chess Championship 2017

hkcf January 24, 2017 Tournament 0 Comment

The official Hong Kong Junior National Championship was held in the weekend of 21 and 22-Jan-17. Organised by Hong Kong Chess Federation Limited, the tournament was sponsored by David Garceran Nieuwenburg’s Caissa Chess Club, and held at the excellent venue Po Leung Kuk Ngan Po Ling College. 120 players were divided into 5 playing-sections. The bright lighting, spacious tournament hall, as well ample relaxation area, no doubt partially contributed to the strong quality of chess displayed in the most important individual event for Hong Kong juniors in 2017.

The team of arbiters, which included HKCFL President, Mr. Robin Lai, was lead by the world-famous International Arbiter, KK Chan. It was a smooth event, but that was not to say it was run in a relaxed manner. We strictly enforced the FIDE Laws of Chess. This was important, because the tournament was the official selection event for our juniors to participate in FIDE International Events this year. Thus, they needed to learn the best conduct of chess, in order to give the best behaviour when they represent Hong Kong overseas. Thus we made this a FIDE Standard-Chess Rated event — much more serious than the past selection process, which was based upon Rapid-Chess.

There were many memorable, and one could even say, adult-level games from this tournament. The following few came into mind:

• Brian BH Wong’s heroic effort in the final round, all thanks to his doubled pawns denying any invasion attempts from his opponent. Specifics trumped general features of positions
• WCM Crystal Deng’s maturing positional play, methodically piling up pressure against her opponents. The finishing manoeuvre in her final round game was remarkable
• James Kwong Wing Ki finished second on tie-break, but his play in this tournament was full of positive surprises, with clear signs of expansion into a more aggressive style
• CM Michael Deng exercising high EQ in his final round, despite such young age. He resisted the temptation to go for a “seemingly” winning, but in fact losing continuation in the final King + Pawns ending. He settled for a draw and winning the U-12 title on tiebreak

Maintaining the good practice from HKCFL over the last few years, and in-line with some of the strongest National Junior Championships across the globe, we will be putting the games online. This will allow the games to be examined and scrutinised by the others — this is one of the best ways to learn and improve.

Congratulations to the winners listed below. Thank you to Caissa Chess Club and Ngan Po Ling College for their excellent support!