Full House for a light-hearted first Autumn EOM Leg
Both C/D and A/B were fully booked. Many EOM regulars were joined by some of our new students from both our centers and our schools. We were ready for a fun afternoon of competitive chess with a great atmosphere and that's exactly what we got!
C/D
As always, we start with the C/D group. We can find our Step 1 and Step 2 students who are finding their way to competitive chess here. Avoiding falling Scholar's Mate lookalikes (we don't allow the actual Scholar's Mate!), sidestepping checks (two illegal moves loses the game for the C-group, for the D-group we're more forgiving and we don't keep count) and hoping for stalemate when being a full queen down (we did see it happen a couple of times) but also rooting for classmates and dreaming about taking that medal home - that's what this group is all about!
Three leaders after three rounds: C-group players Jimmy Tang (3) , Rosanna Liu (3) and D-group player Shun Hong Tse (3). Rosanna has been sneakily attacking her opponents' kings from all across the board and scored all of her wins by illegal moves! Also in the fourth round she was on track to repeat that feat, but got checkmated by Kyle Zi Lap Chen before a second illegal move was committed. Jimmy halted Shun Hong's rise by taking sole lead in the penultimate round.
In the last round, Jimmy was paired with friend Rex Cheng on the first boardwho saw Kyle offering a draw to Zavanna on the second board. Zavanna happily accepted because she realized that she was actually in a tough spot! Jimmy instantly also offered a draw which would secure him first place. Rex, thinking he would be at least shared second, accepted. Only after the game he realized that the players on boards three and four were also still very much in contention and that he was actually to close to winning. Both Kyle and Rex will think twice next time before accepting or offering a draw!
Wai Lam Enzo Chu beat Rosanna while Shun Hong beat an exhausted Aksinya who had the longest game in almost every round.
This put Jimmy (4.5) in first followed by Enzo (4) and Shun Hong (4) who with that won the D-group. Kyle (3.5) Rex (3.5), Kiet Le Tu (3.5) and Zavanna (3.5) completed the podium. Chester Tam, Anthony Yunzhong Chan, Arina Lai and Noah Sit took the second to fifth place D-group medals home.
Congratulations to the winners and everyone for making it a great tournament!
A/B
The A/B group is for our more experienced Step 2 and Step 3 players. Over the years, the EOM has gradually grown stronger and stronger. Also in this edition, we had some strong fide rated players join the field.
Mimicking the earlier session: three leaders after three rounds - all from the B-group: Josh Ho Yin Au, Brandon Leung and Kyle Hui. Trailing by half a point: A-group players Marcus Lau and Ethan Chui.
Josh continued his impressive streak and beat Brandon, while Kyle couldn't overcome Marcus and eventually lost. Ethan stayed close in the race by defeating Caissa Talent Alexander Tu.
Ethan finished his strong run by defeating Kyle who dropped to 12th place after playing on the top boards for the entire tournament. Chess can be brutal! This put maximum pressure on Josh but Marcus turned out to be too solid. A draw was the verdict.
One the final standings were published, it became clear it didn't matter in the end. Josh (4.5) clinched first place with the better tiebreak. Ethan (4.5) in second place took the first place A-group medal home. Marcus (4) got the highest tiebreak of all, highlighting the strong opposition he faced, and was rewarded with third place. Andy Yang (4) started with a loss but clinched fourth place with a four game win streak and took the second place medal for the B-group home.
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