Brandon Chan Wins GP2 Blitz and Team Marvin/David Win GP3 Rapid Pair.
On the morning of Sunday 3 July the 2nd Grand Prix event in the 10 Years Anniversary cycle took place in Sheung Wan. The event, FIDE rated blitz, 5m+3s - not too fast - had a pool of 25 points to be divided among the top 5 players, 10 points to the winner, 7, 5, 2 and 1 point to 2nd to 5th place respectively.
Impression of the morning Blitz
Both Brandon and Jameson started off with 3 out of 3 and faced each other in round 4. Brandon won that game but because in round 6 Brandon lost against Liang, in round 7 both youth players went in with 6 points. It was slow-starter Trevor who upset Jameson's tie for 1st place by winning against Jameson and thus securing his 2nd place in the Top 3.
Unfortunately, we could not hand out the trophies today as both the visit of President Xi Jinping, and the following Typhoon 8, had delayed the delivery of the trophies from Shenzhen into Hong Kong. We will hand the prizes at first opportunity, apologies for now.
In the afternoon we played a Grand Prix 3, a rapid event, 10m+5s - not too slow - for pairs, that is, teams of 2 players. Not FIDE rated, but according to all FIDE regulation 8 teams faced off in a round robin format. The pool for rapid events consists of 50 GP points, to be divided among the Top 8.
It turned out at the start of the last round that team Marvin/David, with Marvin winning all his games (!), was unstoppable to grab 1st Place. Team Brandon/Alberto (Alberto also wining all his games) and Eric/Eduard followed on shared 2nd place. Team BT/Piers, new in the (Caissa) chess scene, had a rusty start but shrug that off as they warmed up to event and they ended just below team Aidan/Roy and sibling Advay/Anaisha. Team Kainos/Ethan and the youngest players Zachary/Caleb Team, put up great resistance and no team remained pointless.
The event was played in good atmosphere. It must be noted that a few games of chess, without being bothered, worried or otherwise focused, if not distracted by, FIDE ratings, has a legitimate, even crucial, place in a healthy chess eco-system. From the roots of social chess more serious forms of chess can develop and flourish. Not the other way around.
Pair Chess in Action
The Leaderboard after 3 Grand Prix events is as follows - note that only the best 4 events count. Join us for our next event upcoming Sunday, a FIDE rated Rapid
Ranking after GP3
