Wednesday, March 16, 2005
day one
for those interested, here is a report on my baddddd play in the national schools indiv chess ch'ships 2005 brought to you by M1.
the tournament was held at northland primary school in yishun so in the morning, i took a train to yishun mrt. registration was supposed to last from 8.00-8.30 and opening ceremony from 8.30-9.00. so i reached the mrt station/bus interchange at like 7.45 and i took bus 812, which was SUPPOSED to bring me to the school. but then, i found out that i was on the wrong bus and i was supposed to take the other 812, which takes another route of the estate. so since it was too late, i called joash, who referred me to his father, who gave me a ride there. on my way back, i went with sam tho on the bus, and i found out from him that shawn lim got a transfer from chinese high to RI. o.O
now, for the more grisly details of the tournament itself...
i reached at around 8.40 and i found that i was seeded 23rd and that prizes were being awarded for the top 25 scorers. so, not very safe, given the quality of the opposition (e.g. 2300 vietnamese FM with 2 IM norms, about 4 or 5 players with rating > 1900, another bunch with rating > 1800, etc etc. very strong playing field. in addition to the fact that there are some relatively strong unknowns playing as well.) there were also some 'small kids' playing in our section, since this was the first time the secondary section was being held on different dates than the primary section. most notably, FM graham chua and FM daryl wong. it's quite weird having kids who are 5 or 6 years younger than you play in your age-group. even scarier is that they're both rated 200 points above me. on the other hand, there were also some notable absentees, like sean tan and brandon kwan of RI.
and so the games began, with i. leong making some speech about having "3 candidate masters, 6 fide masters, and 1 international masters participating". given that about 3 of the FMs are 'invaders' i think that doesn't say very much...
round 1: did NOT get a walkover, which is good given that i want more solkoff (tiebreak points). anyway, i was black and was a pawn up after several moves but with my king stuck in the centre. then my opponent blundered and let me play Qxc2 winning another pawn and getting to the 7th rank. mate soon followed.
round 2: played g3 as white in the four knights. won a pawn but my opponent managed to regain it several moves later. position was simplified to a Q + R + B on both sides when my opponent let his queen become overloaded. i deflected it and he made another mistake, allowing mate in 4. instead, he should have given up his Q for my R.
round 3: was paired against teo wei xing, the tournament's 2nd seed with a rating of almost 2000. blundered an exchange on move 16 but i managed to close up the position somewhat to give myself more chances, but my light-squared bishop was useless for most of the game. eventually he broke through on the queenside and had a passed a-pawn. however, my queen managed to infiltrate into his position and create some threats. but he managed to defend well and in time pressure i made another mistake and lost.
total score: 2/3
the tournament was held at northland primary school in yishun so in the morning, i took a train to yishun mrt. registration was supposed to last from 8.00-8.30 and opening ceremony from 8.30-9.00. so i reached the mrt station/bus interchange at like 7.45 and i took bus 812, which was SUPPOSED to bring me to the school. but then, i found out that i was on the wrong bus and i was supposed to take the other 812, which takes another route of the estate. so since it was too late, i called joash, who referred me to his father, who gave me a ride there. on my way back, i went with sam tho on the bus, and i found out from him that shawn lim got a transfer from chinese high to RI. o.O
now, for the more grisly details of the tournament itself...
i reached at around 8.40 and i found that i was seeded 23rd and that prizes were being awarded for the top 25 scorers. so, not very safe, given the quality of the opposition (e.g. 2300 vietnamese FM with 2 IM norms, about 4 or 5 players with rating > 1900, another bunch with rating > 1800, etc etc. very strong playing field. in addition to the fact that there are some relatively strong unknowns playing as well.) there were also some 'small kids' playing in our section, since this was the first time the secondary section was being held on different dates than the primary section. most notably, FM graham chua and FM daryl wong. it's quite weird having kids who are 5 or 6 years younger than you play in your age-group. even scarier is that they're both rated 200 points above me. on the other hand, there were also some notable absentees, like sean tan and brandon kwan of RI.
and so the games began, with i. leong making some speech about having "3 candidate masters, 6 fide masters, and 1 international masters participating". given that about 3 of the FMs are 'invaders' i think that doesn't say very much...
round 1: did NOT get a walkover, which is good given that i want more solkoff (tiebreak points). anyway, i was black and was a pawn up after several moves but with my king stuck in the centre. then my opponent blundered and let me play Qxc2 winning another pawn and getting to the 7th rank. mate soon followed.
round 2: played g3 as white in the four knights. won a pawn but my opponent managed to regain it several moves later. position was simplified to a Q + R + B on both sides when my opponent let his queen become overloaded. i deflected it and he made another mistake, allowing mate in 4. instead, he should have given up his Q for my R.
round 3: was paired against teo wei xing, the tournament's 2nd seed with a rating of almost 2000. blundered an exchange on move 16 but i managed to close up the position somewhat to give myself more chances, but my light-squared bishop was useless for most of the game. eventually he broke through on the queenside and had a passed a-pawn. however, my queen managed to infiltrate into his position and create some threats. but he managed to defend well and in time pressure i made another mistake and lost.
total score: 2/3
