Back to School Rapid

The summer vacation is slowly coming to an end, children all over Hong Kong are getting ready to go to school again… and to chess!

It is 24 August and Caissa tournaments are back on the agenda after a dormant summer of competitive play. Clearly, this tournament didn’t come too soon as almost 70 children signed up in either the U8/U10 or in the U12/U14 categories! All eager to use their knowledge from summer camps, or to try out that new opening trick, or to see if they still have it after a long break or to simply enjoy the game of chess. The stage is set for an exciting day!

U08/U10

In the morning we welcomed the players from the U08 and the U10. Many familiar faces, but also a couple of new ones playing their first tournament. The critical game came as early in round 4 when Jonas Lau took on Carden Lam as White. He won that game and never looked back. In round 5 he defeated Yue Hei Wong to take the sole lead. A simple draw in round 6 would have sufficed to win it all, but even there Jonas showed no mercy and scored his sixth win of the day, completing his clean sweep and clinching first place.

Carden Lam defeated Yue Hei Wong in the last round to take the second place trophy home with 5/6. Sallie King finished in third place (shared second) as the only other player with 5/6 and with that she was the overall winner of the U08 category.

You can go through all the results on the respective Chess Results page.

Congratulations to all the winners! 

U12/U14

In the afternoon, it was time for the ‘older’ children to fight for the honours. Similarly to the morning tournament, round 4 proved to be crucial for the final standings. At that point, 4 players managed to stay perfect. Aldrik Tsang faced Ethan Cao, while Brandon Fang took on Trevor Yim. Aldrik and Ethan split the point, which left the way open for either Brandon or Trevor. It was Trevor who came out on top and took the sole lead by defeating Brandon. There was no slowing down Trevor anymore and after winning his fifth round against Ethan, he also took the full point against comeback kid Nathaniel Wong.

Trevor clinched first place, followed by the other heroes of the fourth round. Brandon came in clear second with 5/6. Aldrik and Ethen shared third place.

Bryan Fung was crowned U12 champion after a fine tournament (wrongly put in the U14 category on Chess Results), only losing against higher ranked players and finishing in sixth place overall. Edward Shi and Ethan Chong completed the podium, having a worse tiebreak than Bryan.

You can go through all the results on the respective Chess Results page.

Congratulations to all the winners!

The prize winners and action photos!