Online Match, Sunday May 31. The Chess Academy (Hong Kong) – Brainbox Chess Academy (Malaysia)
25 – 15 
The latest event organized by ActiveKids – The Chess Academy gathered together 20 of the best Hong Kong players against chess clubs in Malaysia, Chess Academy Brainbox.
Making the most out of this situation we are all living, The Chess Academy continues to offer different activities for kids to train and challenge themselves. Besides lessons for all levels given by the highest level coaches in Hong Kong, and Weekly competitions to practice what the students learn, these events help us share our passion for chess with kids from other countries.
Players from both teams also used that meeting to share their results and some impressions about the first game when they finished it and they immediately started the second game.
The match ended with a victory for the TCA team, mostly based on the results achieved by the younger players. The final score was 25 points for The Chess Academy and 15 points for Brainbox. The individual results were as follows:
Board 1: Justin – WilliamTheDestroyer
Justin had some problems in the opening part in both games he started in very bad setups but then in the middlegame he manage to show that his tactics were better than his opponent’s.Anyway to pay attention to the first part of the game cause with stronger opponents it would be secure that the game is lost. Great job from our first board that managed to win both games. 2-0 for Justin
Board 2: Ben – Bewildered_pumpkin
Ben started losing the first game but the second one he shows that he is a fighting guy and won with black! in very nice style attacking enemy king to balance the match 1-1.
Board 3: Thanneermalai – notChildish
Thanneermalai in the second game got a very difficult position but I am sure that after this game he realize about the importance of the activity vs material. His opponent won in very nice style with pawn down making use of dark squares around the enemy king. 1.5 -0-5 for Malaysia Team
Board 4: Max – DefeatChampion88
Max showed great capacity to find good moves in very doubios position for him. The move c4 in the first games is just incredible and brilliant idea! after this black’s position for a human player is pretty difficult even after this Max just won easily. The second game he went for the victory playing aggressive but sometimes is no possible to continue pushing and he realizes and he went for the secure way perpetual check for giving victory to HK in this match for 1.5 vs 0.5
Board 5: Madison Wu- Trex666
Unfortunately match for Madison who made big tactical mistakes when she was in normal position. That is one of the big issues in chess we can play good a lot of moves but then with one simple mistake the game is gone that is what happened in this match. 2-0 for Malaysia.
Board 6: Leung Shun Him – Izzah_is_person
Shun showed great knowledge in the openings and his opponent just struggle there what allows Shun to get the upper hand very quick in both games and after that Shun played with very good technique to get a final 2-0 for HK
Board 7: Henry Li- OptimalOlive
Henry got very good position in both games, but with black he manages to equalize but then with a clearly tactical mistake he loses a pawn and then the endgame was very difficult for him. In the game with white he showed all his potential by making a master game with the spanish applying all the plans break with a4, opening the center with d4 and going for Knight manoeuvres in the king side very good game for Henry in the second one to give HK 1-1.
Board 8: Zig Hon – stephencurry07
Both games for Zig Hon were won in same style with solid openings and then he start pushing until his rival just break down and allow him to show his better tactical skills in order to get a wonderful 2-0 for HK.
Board 9: Warren Pak – ethanwong09
Unfortunately result for Warren than I hope he has learnt about he need to play slow he made big mistakes that I am sure they are out of his level but he needs to spent time thinking in order to avoid them. So for next time spent your time a play slow is the key. 2-0 for Malaysia.
Board 10: Julian Samuel Wang- Kyan_Tan
Julian started with a big victory very nice strategical game to end winning material and doing checkmate. In the second one is clearly to me that he needs more knowledge about how to defend against the kingside attack when we play the dragon. He struggle and allows his opponent to get wonderful attack to balanced the match 1-1.
Board 11: Jin Oscar Ziyang – cheehien306
Oscar had a beautiful first game playing as white, outplaying his opponent from the opening. In an English Opening, Three Knights system, Oscar flawlessly took over the initiative early on with a central pawn push gaining him space and quickly complimented his control with active piece development. This caused his opponent to cramp and soon concede an entire minor piece. Being way ahead in development, tactics against the Black King soon followed. The second game started with a strange opening choice, where both sides maneuvered their pieces quite a bit in the opening and into the middle game. After some trades Oscar dropped a pawn in a messy late middle game position, but luck on his side his opponent would fall into a pin soon after, winning the exchange and the game. 2-0 to Jin Oscar Ziyang
Board 12: Jacob Lu- sueenn
In the first game, Jacob meant business from the get go, employing the Evans Gambit. In the true fashion of a gambit, Jacob seeked and maintained the initiative throughout the game, developing with threats and eventually corralling the opponents Queen into submission. Being up a Queen and with superior piece placement, it was smooth sailing until the end of the game. The second game was tame compared to the first but still with some excitement. Jacob managed to take advantage when his opponent decided to break the center with the King still uncastled. After some trades his opponent castled in a hurry and left an entire Knight hanging. Jacob quickly consolidated and won the game. 2-0 to Jacob Lu
Board 13: Kayden Chan – galaxygirl356
Kayden has been busy this pandemic season with chess and it shows. In the first game he was able to outmanoeuvre her opponent in a solid Petrov. With better piece placement and King-side space, Kayden eventually spotted a tactic 18. Nxf6+?!, better 18. Bxf6!, but didn’t quite execute it precisely. Nonetheless, Blacks position quickly collapsed. In the second game, Opening knowledge was apparent from Kayden, quickly taking advantage of an inaccuracy by the opponent and quickly and efficiently converted his advantage into a win. KaydenChan 2 – 0.
Board 14: Kainos Wong – EWYR
Another person who has been super-busy with chess during this pandemic is Kainos, he has played a whopping 2300+ games on lichess! His match against EWYR was a close one, both players were at some point completely winning, but would fall or miss some huge tactics which would give the other player a chance. The second game was a free win for Kainos has his opponent blundered 2 minor pieces before the 10th move. The biggest factor here was time, both players would end with more time than they started. Indicating that the mistakes made were due to playing too fast. KainosWong 2-0.
Board 15: Zhiming Bu – owengan
Another wonderful attacking game was played by Zhiming, once again using the Evans Gambit. Her opponent never really had a chance to develop as Zhiming quickly and efficiently developed her pieces with threats, and pressured until her opponent collapsed, a very nice attacking game. The second game was a lot closer, the opening and early game were about equal until Zhiming walked into a skewer, however she managed to get some compensation and activity when with 4 connected pawns she started pushing for promotion. However, time pressure started to take effect and couldn’t hang on, well fought game. ZhimingBu 1-1
Board 16: Clarence Chan – NgZiDong
Clarence was another victim in the “Playing too Fast!” people. He had winning opportunities in both games, however were spoiled due to playing too fast and making a silly mistake. In general, Clarence achieved advantages in both games early on during the opening, but struggled to convert, this coupled with playing fast Clarence inevitably made a blunder and cost him the entire game. 0-2
Board 17: Alexander Chan -zeechamp7
In one of the few games where we saw opposite castling, this game was all over the place with pieces left unprotected left and right. It was finally Alexander’s opponent who took the full point. The second game was a lot more principled, with quite a few opening ideas, until once again pieces started to be left undefended, this time Alexander was on the winning side and took the full point. AlexanderChan 1-1
Board 18: Lingshen Bu – felixlee
Lingshen was one of the youngest players in the match, but wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at his games! Playing as white he went for a dynamic Italian game where he came out of the opening up two pawns. He decided to return one in exchange for piece activity and converted into a full game point after a few trades that left him with promotion possibilities. In the second game, Lingshen struggled in the opening with space but managed to free up his position by pushing his a-pawn up the board and creating some threats. Late in the middlegame he missed pinning the opponent’s Queen with 35. ..Qb7, the game continued another 45+ moves until white delivered mate, well fought game by Lingshen. 1-1.
Board 19: Bruce Qin – pointless12345
Bruce had a good debut in competitive chess. Another one who has been putting in hours and work during this pandemic. Playing as white he managed to win a pawn during the opening and place his minor and major pieces in good squares, allowing him to make the plan of pushing his extra pawn which he did in a very fashionable way, as it gave checkmate!
The second game was cut short due to a disconnection it seemed. Nevertheless, Bruce came out strong out of the opening without much struggle. Bruce-Qin 2-0
Board 20: Winston Qin- car0lineok
Winston as well has been working hard at the chessboard all this pandemic weeks. Playing as white, Winston managed a decent opening until he was gifted a Knight after a tactic gone-wrong. Playing in a very principled manner, Winston sought to put pressure on the uncastled black King and quickly her opponents pieces started falling and eventually won the game. In the second game however, Winston fell right into a beginners trap and was never to recover, by looking at the time spent moving, it is clear that had he taken a bit more time to think he would have seen it coming. Hope this serves as experience! 1-1
The result was very satisfactory for the HK TCA team, and, most importantly, the players had a good training evening while having fun. After the games all the coaches, parents and players that were not too tired join in on the meeting again to exchange some final thoughts. From the TCA we can only thank all the players for their efforts during the games and being so friendly before and after. Thank you too to all the parents for being so supportive and joining us in the commentary.
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