Congratulations to all Winners and Participants! All winners may collect your cash vouchers and trophies from Jurong Spring Community Club after 16 September 2021. Please check your email for details.















Congratulations to all Winners and Participants! All winners may collect your cash vouchers and trophies from Jurong Spring Community Club after 16 September 2021. Please check your email for details.
Dear SG Chess Community,
I would like to announce that wef from 9 August 2021, the #ChessAgainstCovid “CAC” team will be moving to Jurong Spring Community Centre located at 8 Jurong West Street 52, Singapore 649296. With this move, Yuhua Chess Club will officially be closed.
We would like to thank Yuhua Community Centre, especially Dr. Ang Hak Seng, Mr. Goh Miaoguang and his team members for the invaluable support they had provided us. In having over 150 registered members from all over the island, a weekly schedule filled with different activities conducted by various chess masters and enthusiasts, an active discord server, and several highly successful online initiatives, I believe Yuhua and CAC have built something truly special and I hope that we could partner again in the near future.
We have put considerable thought in this and while this was a really difficult decision, we believe that this move would better cater to the needs and demands of our club. Jurong Spring is a freshly renovated facility with bigger capacity that can accomodate the size of our membership.
I would like to thank Mr. Shawn Huang, MP for Jurong GRC for Jurong Spring, and his team for supporting our quest to build a Chess Hub that we would be proud of.
We will provide information on how to register as members of this new club at a later date.
And to celebrate the launch of SG Chesshub @ Jurong Spring, we are pleased to announce the first SG Chesshub @ Jurong Spring National Day Online Blitz Championship 2021. This will be a 11-round online blitz event with attractive individual and team prizes with Shawn as our guest to address us.
Do scan the QR code to register for further details and we look forward to seeing you!
Grandmaster Kevin Goh
On behalf of #ChessAgainstCovid
Join us as we celebrate National Day with the launch of SGChessHub at the newly renovated Jurong Spring Community Centre on 21 August 2021.
We look forward to restarting physical over-the-board sessions of the Chess Interest Group (IG) at Jurong Spring CC once the Covid-19 safety management measures have been relaxed. Meanwhile, let’s connect and play chess online together with our IG Leaders, chess masters and chess enthusiasts at the upcoming online blitz event.
Catch-up with fellow chessers from all over Singapore and form teams to compete for the Racial Harmony Team prizes.
All Individuals and Racial Harmony Team prizes are sponsored by the Jurong Spring CC with 3 Lucky Draw prizes specially sponsored by CM Olimpiu G. Urcan, historian, journalist and author of the lucky draw book prize – Singapore Chess : A History, 1945 – 1990 (co-authored with Dr Shashi Jayakumar).
Don’t procrastinate anymore. Sign up today!
List of Registered Players as of 14 August 2021 – Here
Rules and Prizes Information:
In collaboration with Jurong Spring Commnuity Club, #ChessAgainstCovid and SGChessUnited invite you to participate in the SGChessHub National Day Online Blitz Championship 2021. Along with celebrating our nationโs founding, this competition launches the SGChessHub @ Jurong Spring โ a center for community chess in the west. Join us to win attractive individual and team prizes!
Registration closes on Tuesday, 17th August@ 11.59pm.
__________________________________________________________________________________
๐. ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ
๐๐๐ญ๐: 21st August 2021, Saturday
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐: 2.00pm – 5.00pm [Partipants Check-in from 1.20pm]
๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐
๐๐: None
๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ: Singaporeans, Singapore PRs, Long-Term Residents or Student Pass, Work Permit, Employment Pass Holders or Individuals with a FIDE Singapore Flag (Winners may be required to provide proof of Citizenship/PR/Residency).
Although this is an individual competition, participants may register as a team consisting of 4 participants with a minimum of 2 ethnicities to compete for the Racial Harmony Team prizes.
Team rankings are calculated based on the total number of points scored by individuals in the team.
๐. ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ: Each player has 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move [with 1 minute interval between Rounds]
๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ญ: Individual Open Competition, 11 Rounds Lichess Swiss Pairing. (Note: Players from the same team will not be paired to play against each other)
๐๐ข๐-๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค (๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ): Lichess Tie-break system will be used. First Tie-break โ Total number of points after 11 Rounds (Win is 1 point, Draw is ยฝ point and Loss is 0 point). Second Tie-break – SonnebornโBerger score.
๐๐ข๐-๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค (๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ฌ): First Tie-break โ Total number of points accumulated by team members after 11 Rounds. Second Tie-break – SonnebornโBerger score for the team. Third Tie-break – Total direct encounter between members of the team.
๐. ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ฌ
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ:
โข All participants are eligible for the Open Prizes while only female participants are eligible for the Women Prizes and only Seniors (above 50 years old) are eligible for the Senior Prizes.
โข Participants must indicate which category prizes they are competing for. For Juniors, these includes categories for Boys/Girls Under-10 to Under 20. Individuals are not allowed to register for a category below their age.
โข For Teams, these include categories for Racial Harmony Open and Age-Groups of U10, U14 and U20 Teams (ie Team must have members comprising of minimum 2 ethnicities). Teams must register for a category that all are eligible for (i.e. it must follow at least the oldest member of the team).
๐๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ:
โข Participants are only allowed to win 1 individual prize and 1 team prize. There will be no sharing of prizes. If participants are eligible for multiple prizes, they will receive the prize of higher value as explained below.
โข If an individual qualifies for both an Open and Women/Senior prize, the former will be awarded. If an individual qualifies for both an Open/Women prize and a Junior Category prize, the former ie higher value prize will be awarded. Consequently, the next highest ranked individual within the category rankings will be awarded the category prize.
โข However, teams are only allowed to win prizes within the category they have registered for.
โข Organisers reserve the right to make adjustments to the prize list.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ฌ:
(A) Individuals
Open Category : 1st ($300 + T); 2nd ($$250 +T); 3rd ($200 +T); 4th ($150); 5th ($100); 6th ($90); 7th ($80); 8th ($70); 9th ($60); 10th ($50); 11th ($40); 12th ($30); 13th – 15th ($20 each)
Women Category : 1st ($100 + T); 2nd ($$80 +T); 3rd ($50 +T); 4th ($30); 5th ($20)
Seniors Category : 1st ($100 + T); 2nd ($$80 +T); 3rd ($50 +T); 4th ($30); 5th ($20)
Boys Under-20 Category : 1st ($50); 2nd ($$30); 3rd ($20); 4th ($10); 5th ($10)
Girls Under-20 Category : 1st ($50); 2nd ($$30); 3rd ($20); 4th ($10); 5th ($10)
Boys Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 Categories : Trophies for Top 5 in each category
Girls Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 Categories : Trophies for Top 5 in each category
*T = Trophy
(B) Team Section
Racial Harmony Team (Open) Category : 1st ($200); 2nd ($160); 3rd ($120); 4th ($80); 5th ($40)
Racial Harmony Team Age-Group (U10, U14 and U20 ) Categories : Trophies for each member of Top 3 Teams
4. Fair-Play Measures
โข Final ranking and prizes will be confirmed following post-tournament games review. This will be reviewed by the Fair-Play Committee which includes GM Kevin Goh and GM Andrey Kvon. The Organiser will take the decision of this Panel as final.
โข Any participant flagged by the server for violation of its Fair Play policy will be barred from receiving prizes. If the participant is a member of a team, the whole team will be barred from team prizes. Please encourage your teammates to play fairly and honestly!
โข During games, players are required to join the tournament zoom call with their video cameras turned on and without a virtual background
โข Tournament arbiters may specify additional fair-play measures where applicable.
5. Enquiries
Should you require clarification, please email us at [email protected].
The ChessAgainstCovid Team and the Yuhua Community Sports Club would like to thank all participants for taking time to join us in kicking off 2021 and would like to extend our congratulations again to all prize winners and players for their sportsmanship and support.
Winners will be notified by email when the prizes are ready for collection.
Following the successful launch of his book, “The Life & Games of Vasily Smyslov: Volume 1: The Early Years 1921-1948”, FIDE Master Andrey Terekhov volunteered his time to do a 5-hour Live Games commentary on the Public Service Online Chess Tournament. Now, you can catch his report and game comments of selected segments of the Tournament on his Chess.com/blog. Enjoy!
Welcome to the Public Service Online Chess (Team) Tournament 2020 event page! This year, Covid-19 pandemic had caused many key over-the-board chess events to online chess platforms. The annual traditional Public Service STAR Games Chess Tournament is not spared. Undeterred by the virus, the Civil Service Club together with #ChessAgainstCovid took the initiative to prepare the officers to battle it out this year online with the generous support from the fantastic team at Chess.com. Proceeds from event registration and administrative fee will go towards the Lakeside Family Services Caring Amidst Covid-19 Fund and partly to support the #ChessAgainstCovid Grow with Chess outreach programme to bring this royal game to children from disadvantaged families.
Participating teams – Teams from – Attorney-General’s Chambers | Ministry of Defence | Ministry of Health | Ministry of Home Affairs | Ministry of Sustainability & the Environment | Nanyang Technological University | People’s Association.
A BIG shout out and THANK YOU to the Team Chess.com (Rakesh and Simon) for making this event possible to keep this 23-year-old chess tradition going.
Follow these links to catch the event on 12.12@12pm and support our chess community from the Singapore Public Service.
Chess.com/Events – Round by Round Games
Live Game Commentary by FM Andrey Terekhovย
UPDATE – Catch the Recorded Live Games Commentary by FM Andrey Terekhov :
Round 1 [34 mins]ย |ย Rounds 2 & 3 [1hr 26mins]
NEW! – Read FM Terekhov’sย report on the event atย Chess.com/blog
Snapshots of the Fantastic Group of Participants – Well Done to all Teams!
Our heartiest Congrats to the Winners of this Tournament.
CHAMPION – Ministry of Defence 1
1st Runner-up – Nanyang Technological University
2nd Runner-up – Ministry of Health
3rd Runner-up – Ministry of Sustainability & the Environment 2
Puzzles given in the challenge on 20 July 2020:
Solutions :
The 3 lucky winners (and their book prize) :
To celebrate International Chess Day, the #ChessAgainstCovid team is pleased to organise the first Singapore Online International Chess Day Tournament on Monday, 20 July. This event will be held from 8pm – 10pm Singapore time and up to 20 attractive prizes sponsored by various chess platforms and individuals will be announced very soon.
The tournament proceedings will be streamed live with commentary from GM Kevin Goh and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich will join the stream to share some messages with the chess community.
At the end of the event, we will also be announcing the team line-up representing Team Singapore in the upcoming FIDE Online Olympiad!”
You may register via https://tinyurl.com/SGCelebratesIntChessDay
Remember to join this lichess team https://lichess.org/team/1st-singapore-online-international-chess-day-tournament when you submit your registration and sign in to the tournament by 7.55pm on 20 July 2020.
by FM Ashvin Sivakumar
Chess Against Covidโs Remembering Professor Lim Kok Ann: 4 Grandmaster Simultaneous Exhibition ended yesterday evening as a resounding success.
4 Singaporean Grandmasters: GM Zhang Zhong, GM Wong Meng Kong, GM Wu Shaobin and GM Goh Wei Ming, tackled a total of 85 players in commemoration of Professor Lim Kok Annโs 100th birthday.
Part I
The simultaneous exhibition lasted over 3 hours long, with many exhilarating battles across all 4 of the Grandmasterโs simultaneous exhibitions. GM Zhang Zhong ended with a score of 17.5-2.5, winning 15 games and drawing 5. GM Wu Shaobin finished with a score of 16-4, winning 15, losing 3 and drawing 2. GM Wong Meng Kong finished with a score of 5.5-14.5, winning 5, drawing 1 and losing 14. GM Goh Wei Ming finished with a score of 23.5-2.5, winning 21 and drawing 5.
GM Zhang Zhong had a dominating display, only dropping 4 draws in his simul: to Advait Bagri, Teo Hong Ming, Marcus Chen, Joel Ong and Faryal Gohar. Hong Ming essayed the French Defence, a favourite of GM Zhang Zhong, a former World Junior runner-up. Queens were quickly traded by the 20th move, with the players entering an equal endgame. Advaitโs game transposed into a Ruy Lopez Tchigorin variation, with the players soon trading into a position where Advait had slight pressure along the c-file, while Zhang Zhong had a space advantage in the centre. The players soon agreed a draw after a threefold repetition, as neither player could make headway into their opponentโs solid position. A well-deserved draw by Advait. GM Zhang soon built a strong position with a kingside pawn storm, but Hong Ming managed to cook up strong counterplay on the Queenside and exploit GM Zhangโs shaky king position. Eventually, the players traded pieces into a dead draw pawn endgame. Marcus Chenโs tactical nous helped him to navigate the difficulties posed to him by GM Zhang Zhong, astutely walking a tight rope to simplify into a position where he had a positional advantage, saddling GM Zhang with doubled pawns. GM Zhang made an audacious attempt, moving his king up to h3 (!) to support a kingside pawn storm. However, it came to naught as Marcus managed to trade pieces and eventually forced a threefold repetition. Joel Ong essayed the Nimzo-Indian against GM Zhang Zhong, managing to clamp down on GM Zhangโs kingside pawn advance to his credit. A manoeuvring phase then began, before GM Zhang made an audacious exchange sacrifice to blow open Joelโs kingside and seize the initiative. GM Zhang soon built an advantage with a piece and 2 pawns for a rook, and soon managed to open Joelโs position, winning a bishop for 2 pawns. However, he later made a slight tactical miscalculation that allowed Joel to win a knight. GM Zhangโs commanding position allowed him to salvage a draw by forcing Joel to repeat moves. Faryal Gohar managed to combat GM Zhangโs threats resolutely, trading pieces into a Queen+Knight+Bishop endgame. He then managed to take advantage of GM Zhangโs slight missteps to penetrate his position, and developed a forcing advantage. He even had a few winning opportunities that he missed: for example, he could have won a bishop on the 36th move by using a sneaky pin. Alas, Faryal missed these tactics in the end, and acquiesced to a draw in a position when he still held an advantage. Final score 17.5-2.5 to GM Zhang.GM Wong Meng Kong, Singaporeโs first ever home-grown grandmaster, eventually finished with 5 wins, 1 draw and 14 losses. Unfortunately, the majority of his losses were due to a loss on time, showing how hard it is to manage oneโs time as a Simul master.
Jayden Cheng, Ethan Teo, Low Kah Tzay, Karthika, Sanjay Vasu, Dylan Long, Yu Kaiyi, Benedict Koh, Lau Yan Han, Poh Yu Tian, Cai Mingzhe, Harryndran Gunendran, Elliot Koh, Dwayne Alekhine and Huang Song-Jei all beat GM Wong, while Megan Kwok split the points with her esteemed opponent. Only Karthika, Poh Yu Tian and Cai Mingzhe had winning positions when they won their games on time. The rest of GM Wongโs opponents were either completely losing, or had an equal endgame, when GM Wong ran out of time. Cai Mingzhe used the Dutch Defence to outfox his GM opponent, later forcing a piece sacrifice in order to cook up some counterplay. However, GM Wong did not have enough time to further complicate the position, giving Mingzhe the opportunity to consolidate his extra piece and eventually score a well-deserved victory. Karthika played a tactically complex Queenโs Gambit Declined against GM Wong, navigating the middlegame complications well, save for a slight slip on the 13th move that presented GM Wong with the opportunity to win a pawn. To her credit, Karthika found the best defensive moves in the position, and her tenacity finally paid off when she found a cunning fork on the 31st move that forced GM Wong to give up his rook. Her accurate defence meant that no counterplay was available, and GM Wong soon conceded the game. Poh Yu Tian played a tough tussle in the Gruenfeld, skillfully defending against GM Wongโs minority attack before penetrating his position in the endgame. A misstep by GM Wong in time trouble saw him get his rook skewered, whereupon the grandmaster graciously resigned. Megan Kwok was the only player to draw with GM Wong. She strangely eschewed the opportunity to play on in a slightly better position, where she was up a pawn and GM Wongโs king was feeling draughty. She was probably already satisfied with achieving a draw against her well-respected opponent. Final score 5.5-14.5 to GM Wong Meng Kong.
We would like to sincerely thank all those who have supported this event in any way, through your kind words of encouragement, your participation, and your donation
GM Zhang Zhongโs final result: http://chess-results.com/tnr527697.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1
GM Wu Shaobinโs final result: http://chess-results.com/tnr527698.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1
GM Wong Meng Kongโs final result: http://chess-results.com/tnr527716.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1
GM Goh Wei Mingโs final result: http://chess-results.com/tnr527694.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1
Part II
This part of the report covers GM Wu Shaobin and GM Goh Wei Mingโs games. GM Wu Shaobin is the epitome of a chess gentleman, who takes every game with the utmost seriousness, and is gracious in victory and defeat.
GM Wuโs simul started slightly later due to some technical difficulties at the beginning. After a grueling 3 hour battle, he dropped 3 losses and 2 draws in a commanding display. GM Wu lost to Deng Tianle, Gideon Yen and Bryan Kow, while he drew with Chong Huan Yan and Chen Chia-Chien. GM Wu lost all 3 games on time, a testament to the tough time management requirements of a 20-board simul. Gideon Yen was in a lost pawn endgame, but Deng Tianle and Bryan Kow were both winning. Bryan played a strong game, tricking the grandmaster and winning a full rook, after GM Wu forgot that his rook was hanging with check. The game was lost from then on. Deng Tianle outplayed GM Wu from the black side of a Queenโs Indian setup, making a thematic hedgehog-style break in the centre with d5. Tianle found himself with a powerful light-squared bishop slicing through GM Wuโs weak kingside light squares. Tianle then managed to pick up 2 of GM Wuโs pawns and simplify into a won rook endgame, and was close to winning when GM Wu ran out of time. Strong play from Tianle! Huan Yan was outplayed in a Kingโs Indian by GM Wu, who showed his skill and experience to build up dominating connected passed-pawns in the centre. However, GM Wu later made an unforced error, leaving his bishop en prise due to time trouble. A draw was later agreed as neither player was able to make progress. A topsy-turvy game and props to Huan Yan for fighting hard! Chen Chia-Chien essayed a solid French Defence, which led to an uneventful draw where GM Wu continued to press throughout the game, but was unable to break through Chenโs solid position. Overall, a final score of 16-4 to GM Wu.
GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming was the final grandmaster to play the simul. Singaporeโs 2nd grandmaster, and an extremely strong player, he convincingly mopped up the field, scoring an almost unbelievable 21 victories and 5 draws. Eshwant Singh, Charlene Mak, Do Minh Quan, Tran Dang Minh Quang and Clement Chieng. Do Minh Quan played a topsy-turvy game against the strong grandmaster: a complex middlegame descended into an endgame where Wei Ming had a clear advantage, with a knight and 2 passed pawns for a rook. An uncharacteristic misstep by Wei Ming saw him miscalculate a key variation, upon which Do Minh Quan traded into an endgame with a rook and a pawn vs a bishop and a pawn for Wei Ming. However, Wei Ming was able to hold a fortress and eventually forced a draw. Charlene Mak had a lucky escape after Wei Mingโs early Greek Gift sacrifice of his bishop on h7, where Wei Ming unfortunately missed a winning tactic near the end of the game. Tran Danh Ming Quang traded into a worse endgame, where he was down a pawn. However, his active play soon allowed him to drum up strong counterplay, eventually forcing Wei Ming to accede to a draw. Clement Chiengโs game was a rather peaceful English opening, with pieces vacuumed off the board extremely quickly, leading to an uneventful draw in a bishop endgame. Eshwant Singh put pressure on Wei Ming from the start, and went up a pawn after skillfully defending against Wei Mingโs Trompowsky opening. However, he later went for a threefold repetition against Wei Ming in a position where he still held a sizeable advantage. A draw against a strong grandmaster was probably satisfactory for the young Malaysian player. A powerful performance by Wei Ming, with an overall score of 23.5-2.5.
We at Chess Against Covid are extremely grateful for all the support for this initiative, in commemoration of Professor Lim Kok Ann, the man who built up Singapore chess. We are glad to have raised over $2000 for families badly hit by Covid-19 due to this event, and are also very thankful for the participation of his daughter, Ms Stella Kon, in support of this event.
Do stay safe and take care of yourselves. Chess on!