Caissa Friday Long Rapid

We played a rapid tournament over three Friday evenings with a slower than usual rate of play: 15+10, matching the one from the World Team Rapid and Blitz Championships. Many who participate in that event joined as warmup, creating a very competitive tournament!

Declan versus Clement - two of our players in the World Team Amateur Rapid Chess Cup

Day 1: surprising results set the tone

The first round was as calm as it can get. Hubert - arbiter of the evening - saw all 10 rating favorites do their jobs and win their games.

The second round was less forgiving. Where rating favorite Astrid Barbier (Coach Astrid) managed to overcome Nok Hang Jonathan Ho with a clean win, Eduard Garcia Carles (Coach Eduard) had a tougher fight on board 2. With the Black pieces he was happy to accept the draw offer of Shun Wang Liu (Ernest) who wanted the draw on the scoresheet rather than continue pushing for a win. No other surprises altough Ngo Athan Wong (Athan) came dangerously close to losing against Shreenidhi Balaji but eventually won on time after Shreenidhi let the win slip away in an endgame.

Athan with no time left against Coach Astrid

The third game starts at 9.30pm - perfect for the spectators as we can expect more blunders and drama at this late hour in this unforgiving time control. Athan faced Coach Astrid on board 1 and didn't seem to be bothered by the late hour and stayed on equal footing with her, although... just when he seemed to secure the draw, his clock showed 0.00. Had he just won a game on time, now he was on the other side of things.

On the second board Xiangyi Meng (Shayne) upset Kyle Chen who was left pondering at the board where he went in the wrong. On the third board Coach Eduard continued his bad evening, now losing against Lam Lok Sum.

Coach Astrid gets joined by Shayne and Lam Luk in the lead to conclude the first evening.

Kyle trying to understand where he went in the wrong

Day 2: youth on top

If day 1 knew some upsets, day 2 was an absolute blood bath!

In the battle of the leaders on board 1 Lam Lok overcame Shayne while Coach Astrid didn't capitalize on many chances against Jaya Kiran Akurathi (Jay) and has to resign after Jay created complications and navigated them better.

Shayne looking for a win

In the surprise of the day Shayne was able to beat Coach Astrid. He lured her into an opening trap and never let his winning advantage slip again. In the meantime, Athan beat Lam Lok on board, blowing the tournament wide open with no perfect scores left. The real action, however happened on board 3. Difficult to predict, but this seemingly innocent matchup would turn out to be the title match! Jay started of best pushing Ernest back on both wings of the board. Then followed one careless move and that's all you have to give Ernest. He delivered checkmate on the board, leaving Jay with a valuable lesson: it isn't over until it's over!

Action!

In the last game of the day, Shayne completed his hattrick and went to sleep happily as the sole leader. Ernest won against Lam Lok, while Jay started his comeback with a win on board five.

Day 3: comebacks decide the issue

Only two games this time. Ernest and Shayne faced each other on the first board and held the balance throughout a well played game. With this Shayne kept the lead, while Jay and Athan put themselves in striking distance alongside Ernest with wins over Lam Lok and Coach Eduard.

More action!

In the last game, Shayne got the White pieces against Jay who - again - successfully managed to complete the matter and kept the better overview to score a deserved win. It would boil down to Ernest vs Athan to decide the winner and it was Ernest who defeated Athan and with that clinched first place with 6/8! Jay, also on 6/8, got second place with a worse tiebreak (lost the direct encounter against Ernest). Shayne ended up in third after leading the tournament for so long.

Lok Sum, Athan and Chi Ngo Chan (Declan) shared places 4 through 6. Declan quietly found connection with the top with good wins over Aravind Mahadevan and Coach Eduard after missing the second day.

After the last round we handed out the prizes and continued enjoying chess with some drinks, snacks and bughouse!

Our prize winners