Autumn 2015 Youth Grand Prix Round 1
Of the 28 registered players the 24 youth who were not on holiday during the autumn break, or unfortunately ill, found their way to Caissa Chess Club in Sheung Wan to play round 1 last Sunday.
On board 11 Ritvik and Nathan both had not yet played a long time control game, but Ritvik's longer experience resulted in a solid win for him.
On board 10 Meijing and Zeth got in an endgame with an opposite bishop and few fixed pawns. Meijing tried to break through still but that cost her the draw when her bishop could suddeby not stop Zet's marching pawn.
Harold played against Mahir, who is with Nathan the youngest player, on board 9 and managed to break open Mahir's kingside with a check-mate attack. Well played by Harold and surely Mahir had a good learning moment here as he continues to progress rapidly.
On board 8 Justin played a good game for a long time but he did not prevent James from continueing to imporve his pieces a little faster and that culminated in the end to a winning position for James.
Jasmine played on board 7 against Toby in a game with chances for both sides. However, towards the end Jasmine lost some material and finally could not stop Toby from roaming around with his rooks in support of promoting a pawn to a queen.
On board 6 Seth ended up in a knight vs rook endgame against Harsh and with the pawns spread out left and right Harsh's rook proved to be too strong.
On board 5 Darren lost a piece in the opening which followed soon by another blind-spot moment when he put his queen on the same diagonal as Ronald's bishop and off went the queen. Darren also has no experience yet with long time control games and we will see him play better soon as there is some good play in him.
On board 4 Arthur managed to keep Richard in control deep into the endgame but then lost his queen for a rook. Richie had no problem converting the queen vs. rook endgame, with pawns on both sides, into a win.
Alan P played against Pak on board 3. In the opening Alan had traded a rook for two minor pieces and as the game progressed Pak's rook had difficulties in freeing itself up. It cost Pak more time than he had on the clock to deal with the situation.
On board 2 Noah played against Alan D and was taken off guard by Alan's surprise attack on the king side which resulted in a quick checkmate. Well played by Alan and also here, rest assured Noah will return only stronger from this experience.
Finally on board 1 Miguel and Aaditya played the longest game. Miguel managed to win a pawn in the middle game but Aaditya got a very active bishop pair in return. It was not until deep in the end game that Miguel was a litle more precise in his calculation and turned the pawn race that had appeared on the board into a win.
Next week Ulysses and Alexander will still be out of town but Ahaan and Ben would be back to play their first game!
