Last Saturday, December 12, 236 players from 10 different teams gathered together to play the 3rd leg of this exciting new International competition. These teams had played in the previous edition so they knew what to expect and they were ready for the challenge.
We started off the event with a new lecture by one of the GMs from The Chess Academy Hong Kong, coach Manuel in this case. This week the lecture reminded all the players about the importance of creating passed pawns and how to use different tactics to advance them until they promote. The chat was very active giving answers to all the questions asked by the GM and by the time the last example was over the tournament was about to start.
In the Third leg, we saw bigger numbers all around: bigger teams, more players, games and moves. The Chess Academy Hong Kong team finished in first place, followed by BrainBoxChess Academy and ChessShoot Juniors.
This time our team won easily as we got many points ahead of the second place. However, the fight for 3-4th place was also a very entertaining one and it set the bar of our expectations really high for the next 1 week. If the teams keep performing at this level one thing is guaranteed: not only the players but also the spectators will have a lot of fun.
Below the individual result.
As the most experienced and team leader, James Kwong performed at an incredibly high level to score 26 points and win the individual standings. TCA players YK Leung, chesseditor and Niilo1 finished in the 2nd,3rd and 4th place in the tournament respectively, which helped the team secure the 1st place.
For the statistics lovers, here are a few numbers from this week’s competition: 56740 moves, 1017 games and now 2 facts that might surprise some of the readers. White wins 46%, Black wins 48% and 6% of draws.
Generally we consider White to have a slight edge but in blitz and rapid games maybe that advantage isn’t that clear. We’ll keep an eye on this stats in the next competition to see if this becomes a pattern.
This event started with the purpose of giving all the players an opportunity to test themselves against other kids while having fun, and also as a way to create bonds between all of our different nations and chess clubs. There is 1 more tournament left in this first edition, but surely this will just be the first one of many others to come.
Lastly, the AP Under16 Championship series are coming to an end this coming Saturday, December 19. Join one of the teams and participate! Every chess fan is welcome to play!
thechessacademyhk.com 