May End of Month - with over 40 students from Stanley, Discovery Bay and Sheung Wan, strongest EOM e

The May EOM, the first of three Summer EOMs, was played on 28 and 29 May in Discovery Bay and Sheung Wan respectively. It was the largest and strongest EOM of this season with some fine play in the top groups and as always with some first time-ever players and medal winners in the lower groups. It was the first time we spread out the players over 4 groups of strength instead of 3 to provide a more fine-tuned spread of students based on their Step levels.

Have a look at the Flickr Album of this event.

The Discovery Bay and Sheung Wan arenas

Saturday Discovery Bay

In Group A (Step 3-4) Kelson from Stanley arrived late at Discovery Bay, not unusual for first time visitors to our chess center there, and missed a game which kept him out of medal reach. All prizes went to DB's finest in a not unfamiliar top 3 ranking of Seth, Mei Jing and Mahir.

In group B (Step 2-3) Discovery Bay's Savin was as undefeatable as his brother Seth in Group A, followed by DB-ers Nathan and Noah who claimed 2nd and 3rd prize respectively. In strength Alexander, from Sheung Wan center, should be in the top of this group but he lost all his games due to illegal moves and hopefully this reminder will help him focus in forthcoming play as he will get his revenge!

Group C (Step 1-2) was ruled by the DB girls Aubrey and Emily with Daniel grabbing 3rd place. The youngest player of today, Ilio from Sheung Wan center, lost his games on time - a rarity among young players and as such it is definitely a good sign that Ilio can play slowly. He will catch up with positive snowball effects!

In Group D (Stepping Stones - Step 1) all players were first-timers from DB. Nobody remained on zero points and Loren showed his great progress compared to last EOM by winning this group with 2 wins.

Loren, Group D, wins his first Champion medal!

Cross-table all games in Discovery Bay

Sunday Sheung Wan

With 27 students the EOM in Sheung Wan was a very strong event with a good mix of Stanley, Discovery Bay and Sheung Wan students.

In Group A, we played a Swiss of 4 rounds with 8 players: Arjun, Daniel and Jeffrey, our Stanley centre affiliated students, Miguel Angel, Mei Jing and Seth from Discovery Bay, and Jasmine and Hanoch from the Sheung Wan centre. The group remained very close until the very when Miguel Angel won from Daniel in round 4, underlining he is still a Caissa superstar. Good to see many are gradually closing in though!

Group A in Action

Prize Winners Group A: Miguel Angel, Arjun and Daniel

Echoing this further, Group B and C were about as strong which shows a thick pipeline of players who are all crawling up from Step 2 into Step 3. Group B was dominated by Oliver, Sheung Wan student, who came loose 1.5 points from 2nd place Mahir and 3rd place Nathan, our first hour DB boys. Noah just missed out on tie-break but his play was not bad at all and he is getting back on track. Kelson and Daniel from Stanley did not make the prize range this time but this is not the end of it.

Prize Winners Group B: Oliver, Mahir and Nathan

In Group C first-hour Sheung Wan kid Ritvik became champion as we see certain calmness getting into his game. Thomas from Stanley earned 2nd prize and his first chess medal. The 3rd place was shared with Alistair (Sheung Wan), Alex, David, Louis (Stanley) and Savin (DB) who all had 2 points! Alistair won on tie-break through. Hadrian (Sheung Wan) played well but lost a game or two due to illegal moves and the purpose we enforce this in our EOM for our better players is not to annoy them, but to remind them this is what happens in outside worthwhile tournaments as well: practice, practice, practice.

Stanley Boys in Action: David, Thomas (behind), Kelson and Alex

Prize winners Group C: Ritvik, Thomas, Alistair

All Group D players were from Sheung Wan and had little to absolutely no experience in any form of chess tournament play. Champion and 2nd prize went the siblings Michelle and William. The 3rd prize went to Akiva. Tiia was actually very close but some results did not end in an expected win - like when Tiia created a stalemate position against Akiva with double queens, rooks and several pieces up. A typical mistake that all other players have made too in this group. But we will see more from Tiia, as we will from little Margaux who just finished Stepping Stones and in this EOM, most valuable of all, got to get an experience of playing among so many players, using the clock and managing to stay focused.

Well done to all!!!