EOM Spring Cycle: Conclusion
- Coach Emile
- Jun 17
- 3 min read
It's the middle of June so it's time for... the EOM?! To avoid conflicts with people's travel plans, we moved up the last EOM of the schoolyear to 14 June. As a refresher: our students play in four groups based on their level. Groups C and D play together, groups A and B play together. At the end of each cycle (consisting of three legs), you can promote to the next level. From D to C, from C to B and so on. If you promote out of the A-group, we say you graduated the EOM and you're more than ready to join our FIDE rated tournaments. Let's delve into this last day where there was everything left to play for!
C/D
Clark Chih Hung Tsai was holding the best cards to win the D-group cycle after a very solid 3.5/5 in leg 1, but he was not going to get it for free! After starting with two wins he faced fellow D-group player Damian Lam. Damian had only scored 2/5 in his only previous leg, but he was going to do everything in his power to maximize his chances. With his win in a direct encounter, he certainly put pressure on Clark and was in pole position to win the third leg.
At this point, only Clark and Damian were still in contention and they both faced one of the Wang brother in round 4! Fox Wang beat Damian, while Clark beat the younger Leo Wang. With this win Clark was certain of his Spring Cycle win, congratulations Clark! Damian won his last round and took the leg 3 first place medal home. Kurtis Ko (2.5) and Elliot Kam (2.5) shared third and fourth place of the day, while Cheston Ho, Leo Wang and Jonathan Tsin complete the promovendi group in the D-group.
For the C-group, we had Fox and Derek Li who both had a perfect score under their belt in a previous leg. Eli Guan put himself in striking distance by finishing (shared) second twice with 4/5. Derek couldn't build on his strong performance in Discovery Bay and started with a loss. He did start a comeback, racing through his next 3 games, but a fifth round loss against Rudraksh Renu Sudarshan killed his chances
It all boiled down to the direct encounter between Fox and Eli in the last round, the stakes: the Leg 3 first place medal and the Spring Cycle first place trophy, talk about excitement! The situation was clear: Eli had to win, while Fox had enough with a draw to clinch first place. Eli handled the pressure best and took the full point and all the trophies home, congratulations Eli!
Tin Ng (4/5), Fox (4/5) and Rudraksh (4/5) completed the top 4 for the day, while Fox, Derek and Tin completed the top 4 for the Cycle.
C/D Group in action
C/D group prize giving
A/B
Also in the A/B group there was everything left to play for. In pole position before this leg: Yuki Ying, Daniel Wing Shing Luu, Jayden Luk and Kyle Chui after strong performances in the first two legs.
Yuki and Daniel raced to 3/3 and were joined by Alexander Tu in the lead. Alexander and Daniel faced each other in a balanced fourth round and split the point - opening the door for Yuki to take the sole lead with a win over Vitus Chai.
Yuki had everything set to win Leg 3 and the Spring Cycle, but Alexander thought differently! With black, he scored a win over Yuki in the final round. Daniel took his chance by defeating Brandon Chak Ming Chau to share first place with Alexander. Alexander had the best tiebreak and took the first place trophy home. Daniel, Yuki and Jayden followed in that order to complete the podium.
Yuki didn't give it all away with this last round loss, with a stronger tiebreak than Daniel, she still won the Spring Cycle. Daniel, Jayden and Kyle took the other promovendi spots.
In the B-group we had a similar scenario where the main players after two legs confirmed their level. Davey Chung (3/5) took the first place trophy home, while Sheldon Ming Xi Liu, Ernest Ye, Nicholas Cher, Alston Liao, Theodore Chung and Davey scored top six in the cycle and will join the A-group in September.
A/B Group in action
A/B group prize giving
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