We are EXTREMELY EXCITED to let you know that we have set up some ONLINE Chess Programs to keep our students active and engaged in chess. And the best part is YOU can learn in the comfort of your own home!

THE CHESS ACADEMY has structured THREE ONLINE Programs

• Active Chess Lessons
  (Individual or Group classes of up to 6 students)

• Grand Prix Tournaments #2 (from Mar 9 – 13)
  (A 5 consecutive day tournament, where you can join at anytime)

• Saturday Chess Club
  (Similar to our regular Saturday Chess Club, students can play against each other)

We would like to give a big Thank You to all the participants who brought their best chess day after day. That was 20 hours of wood pushing and close to 1000 games played between us all, thanks! In this summary you will find a break-down of the top scorers as well as Game of the Tournament and an overall Tip in the Sicilian Dragon.

Overall Ranking Table Note, only the top 4 performances of a player are taken into account for final Ranking.

Congratulations to the Top 3

Thanneermalai Kannapan (kannat1) 1st Place
Henry Li (Henryli2012) 2nd Place
Kayden Chan (KaydenChan) 3rd Place

Top 3 will receive a 1 hour Online Lesson with Grandmaster Andres on the Sicilian Dragon. Please get in contact to coordinate a time.

Throughout the tournament it was decided to implement an Opening Theme, to help those players with less opening knowledge and make the games a bit more balanced, and we decided on the very dynamic Sicilian Dragon. In the Sicilian Dragon, activity is paramount as more often than not players are castled opposite sides and this creates a who-attacks-first type of game. In the game below we witness a ferocious attack from White after a seemingly ok move from Black, which after White does not waste any time and launches a pawn-storm to open up Blacks King and win the game.

 

kannat1 (1690) vs Henryli2012 (1500?)

https://lichess.org/uIAu8Nm5

White just played 10. Bh6 attempting to trade Black’s Dragon Bishop, to which Black replies 10…Bh8 , avoiding trading as is always advisable to keep as it serves as a defending and attacking piece but in this case if was not so. Instead Black had the opportunity to neutralize any attack with 10. ..Nh5, blocking any activity down the h and g files. Game continued, 11. h5! Nxh5 12.Rxh5! gxh5 Blasting open the King side 13. Qg5+ Kh7 14. Qxh5 Kg8 15. Bxf7+ Nxf7 16.Qg6+ Bg7 17. Qxg7# A very nicely played attack.

We would like to take advantage to invite you for the next Grand Prix taking place March 9 to 13. Once again, we will implement an opening theme. It’s a good chance for any level of player to learn and add an opening to their chess repertoire. We will be using the French Defense, see image below. The tournament once again will be played on the Lichess platform, take in mind that we use Lichess as it provides a powerful anti-cheating software to create a positive environment free of chess engine assistance.

In conclusion, we are very happy with the chess that was played and most of all the commitment that was shown throughout the entire 10 days of the Grand Prix. However, we did have an instance of computer assistance in some of the games. The intention of the Grand Prix is to create a fair-play community around us to continue to improve and enjoy a positive learning experience. We hope this serves as a learning experience and we look forward to having you join in our future TCA events. Remember, we will still be hosting Chess Club Arena every Saturday from 4-6pm. See you there!

The first week of the ActiveKids TCA Grand Prix was quite a success with as many as 15 players at one point, and over 350 games played throughout the week. The rankings on top have been challenged by 3 players who have day after day shown great chess, following not too far behind are another 3 players who can potentially make a breakthrough into the top 3 with a good performance in this second week.

GENERAL GRAND PRIX RANKINGS

Post-tournament 7 results
Remember that for general points we just count 4 best performance.

TIP OF THE DAY IN THE DRAGON DEFENSE

Henryli2012 vs KaydenChan

Last move from black was 1…e5. This move 90% of the cases in the Sicilian Dragon is bad! The reason is we are blocking the a1-h8 diagonal of the dark bishop, also known as the Dragon Bishop. Usually the g7 bishop is a strong piece for everything, to defend the King and for making a good attack over c3 and b2, but right now with the pawn on e5 this is not possible.

 

MOVE OF THE DAY

Blacks move was Ng3!! Making a deflection over c3 square! Right now if white takes
Ng3…Bc3! Killing move! Game continues with 2.Qd5 Ne2 3.Qc4 Nc3 -+.

Another fantastic day of attacking chess! We were back to our comfort zone and played our usual opening repertoire. Still, there were many decisive games and even some upsets from players in the lower bracket. With 7 rounds to go, there is plenty of time to make up some ground in the ranking list.

Here are the Standings and Highlights for Day 3:

Points earned from Grand Prix No 3 Arena:

1. BentFlappingSushi     20
2. kannat1                        15
3. Henryli2012                12
4. Zig_Hon2008               10
5. Jacobbwj9                     6
6. yhoratio                         5
7. KaydenChan                 4
8. randy_wang                  3
9. ethanos128                    2

TOTAL POINTS AFTER SECOND TOURNAMENT:

GENERAL RANKING:
1. kannat1                          50
2. Henryli2012                  47
3. BentFlappingSushi      36
4. Zig_Hon2008                 34
5. Jacobwj9                        17
6. KaydenChan                 16
7. yhoratio                         11
8. randy_wang                   9
9. Bruce-qin                       6
10. ethanos128                  5
11. winston-qin                 1

 

Game of the Day:

kannat1 vs Henryli2012 1-0
https://lichess.org/SPqJzmpo/white#1

In this position coming from a Sicilian Dragon (surprise!), where opposite side castling occurs often, we have a very tactical and dynamic position. Here Black plays 19. ..e5 , attempting to push back the centralized Knight in d4. The computer engine suggests g5, with a counterattack and ideas of opening the g and h files for the Rooks. In the game, 20. Nf5!? Was played, creating a checkmate threat in 1! Leaving Black with an important decision to make. The game followed 20. ..BxNf5 21. gxBf5 Nxh5?? , which then White correctly exchanged the Rook in 22. RxNh5 and went on to win in a couple more moves. Amazing attack!

 

Tip of the Day

One thing noticed in many of the games is that people are trading when down in material! If we blunder a piece, we try to maintain pressure by playing as actively as possible with our remaining pieces, if we continue to trade (unless there is an exceptional reason, like checkmate, or winning back material) we are just helping the play of our opponent be easier.

Have a good day and remember tomorrow’s tournament is at 10am! We will be going back to the Sicilian Dragon starting position.

Also, Chess Club tournament from 4-6pm tomorrow Saturday!

See you there!

Day 2 of the ActiveKids TCA Grand Prix was full of attacking chess. With the opening theme being the Sicilian Dragon, all the 80 matches between the participants were decisive!

Here are the Standings and Highlights for Day 2:

Points earned from Grand Prix No 2 Arena:
1. Henryli2012 20
2. Kannat 15
3. Zighong 12
4. Kaydenchan 10
5. BentFlappingSushi 6
6. Jacobwj9 5
7. Randy 4
8. Ethanos128 3
9. Bruce-qin 2
10. Yhoratio 1

TOTAL POINTS AFTER SECOND TOURNAMENT:
GENERAL RANKING:
1. Henryli2012 35
2. Kannat1 35
3. Zig_Hon2008 24
4. Bentflappingsushi 16
5. KaydenChan 12
6. Jacobwj9 11
7. Randy_wang 6
8. Bruce-qin 6
9. Yhoratio 6
10. Ethanos128 3
11. winston-qin 1

For Day 3 we go back to free opening election, remember tomorrow’s tournament starts at 2pm!

Today we had some amazing moments during the first ActiveKids TCA Grand Prix. Again, the Grand Prix series is a 10 round tournament being played online on the Lichess platform. In the first round we had 12 players in total, and some 66 games between all were played in 2 hours!

Here are the standings and highlights for Day 1:

Ranking

Ranking after Grand Prix No 1 Arena:
1. Kannat1 20
2. Henryli2012 15
3. Zig_Hon2008 12
4. Bentflappingsushi 10
5. Jacobwj9 6

 

Game of the Day:

BentFlappingSushi – Henryli2012 0-1
https://lichess.org/XNjcylIm/black#1

Here White played 18. g4 , attacking the Knight in h5. Black ignores the threat with 18…Bxe5 and after 19. gxNh5 Bxh3!! with a discovery attack on the Knight in d4 and attacking the rook in f1, not just that, White’s King is now very exposed! Black went on to win in 9 more moves.

 

Another big moment of the day was the next position between Randy vs Grand Master Andres Gallego, Randy managed to achieve an impressive winning position that was spoiled by time pressure!! Anyway it is remarkable of Randy’s performance on this game! Well done Randy!

TIP OF THE DAY WITH GRAND MASTER ANDRES GALLEGO

Next position was achieve in the game bruce-qin vs Zig_Hon2008 White play 1.Bxb8?Opening mistake! Remember guys we don’t trade our developed/active pieces for pieces that still don’t play. Nb8 is not threatening anything still. An extra tip, Bishops are usually slightly better than Knights! Be careful when you trade them!

In order to create a good learning experience with this tournament, we have decided to implement thematic openings, meaning you will begin a game from a certain position! For day 2, we will practice the Sicilian Dragon . Position below:

Have a good day and remember tomorrow’s tournament is at 10am! See you there!