Caissa Start of Season FIDE Blitz - an absolute thriller...
There are a couple of tournaments on the chess calendar that people usually look forward to. The Candidates Tournament in which the Challenger for the World Championship gets decided and the World Championship itself are the front runners. But also tournaments where we know the excitement and drama will be high are highly popular among chess enthusiasts. The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in December are an absolute must to follow. The Tata Steel tournament held in small Wijk Aan Zee in the Netherlands is a classic. The FIDE World Cup and the currently ongoing Olympiad also attract high viewership.
Why is that? Traditionally, these tournaments have a high number of upsets. Securing a draw for the team, overpushing in a must win situation, blunders in blitz - you name it. Add to the mix: the SOS Blitz: a thriller until the very last seconds played. We played seven double rounds with everyone playing each opponent twice.
Rounds one to three: not an easy start for the favorites
Kwan Yat Calix Leung (Calix) was the favorite of the event staying clear of second seed Yik Laam Wong with a 100 ratings points and even a more impressive surplus of 200 rating points over third seed Caissa Talent Ngo Athan Wong (Athan).
Of course, blitz can be treacherous and noone can really feel safe in a field with many talented underrated youth players.
Caissa Student Tejas Aravind continues to showcase himself as the new giant killer in town with another first round upset - repeating last week's feat. This time, he held Calix to a draw, but couldn't do that over in their second game. Also in the third double round, Calix had to allow a draw. This time against Chun Ho Cheung. On the seventh board, Tejas did even better in the third double round: beating Yik Laam twice which put of the favorites out of the title race early on.
Athan also knew a tough start after losing one of his games against Caissa Student Sacha Matthew Agyeman (Sacha) who would turn out to become the revelation of the tournament.
Of course all these upsets open the door for other players. Caissa Talent Xiangyi Meng (Shayne) was happy to step up and race through his first six games to take sole lead with a perfect score after three double rounds.
Shayne and Calix were paired against each other in the fourth double round. Calix managed to win the first game while Shayne did a good job with damage control and drew the second game. Calix went on to win his four next games putting himself on top of the table with a 10.5/12 score before the last double round.
Shayne had the same idea. First up: beating Athan 2-0 but was then put to halt by Caissa Talent Shreenidhi Balaji. She managed to draw one of their games effectively putting Shayne in sole second place trailing by half a point.
Round seven: "The Grand Finale"
Round 7.1
Calix (10.5) vs Athan (8.5): 0-1
Sacha (8.5) vs Shayne (10): 0-1
For Calix, the job was clear: he had to score the same as Shayne and he would always stay ahead. Athan delivered a serious blow to that plan by defeating Calix with the Black pieces. Athan technically put himself back in title contention, but with Shayne beating Sacha that dream was over. Just before the last game, Shayne put himself in sole first place with a white game left.
Round 7.2
Athan (9.5) vs Calix (10.5): 0.5-0.5
Shayne (11) vs Sacha (8.5): 0-1
Athan didn't lose anymore and held Calix to a draw in their final game, winning their mini match. Shayne had to not lose with the White pieces to clinch clear first but Sacha saved the surprise of the day for the last moments and defeated the young talent!
That meant Shayne and Calix shared first and it was nailbiting until the prize ceremony to know who had the better tiebreak. In the first tiebreak they still scored the same and only in the second one Calix outperformed Shayne by one point! Athan was rewarded for his strong finish with a third place, while Caissa Student Tsz Yiu Ethan Ngai jumped over classmate Sacha with two wins to clinch fourth place.
Congratulations to Calix and the other prize winners!
The prize winners
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