The Chess Academy had a unique opportunity over the weekend by challenging a youth team from Ukraine, the Vasyl Ivanchuk Chess School. Founded and led by former world number 2 and candidate challenger to the World Championship title, Vasyl Ivanchuk, it was expected and foreseeable that the match would be of great quality. Given this opportunity, it gives TCA great pleasure to receive such invitations and share it among our students here in Hong Kong.

In total, 15 kids were invited to play in the 2 hour Arena to continue testing their chess skills against different opposition. The session began with a 30 minute warm-up followed by the tournament.

The first hour of the Arena saw both teams exchanging the lead often, not distancing themselves for more than 10 points. Entering the second hour, TCA took a big lead as many of the students gathered streak points (earning double points after winning two consecutive games) and managed a nice lead. However, during the last 30 minutes, the opposition remounted some momentum and created a gap that TCA could not overcome.

For TCA, Zion Chiu (chiuzion) lead the team along with Jacob Lu (Jacob_935) at 20pts each and not too far behind with an amazing performance entering the top 10 was Zhiming Bu (ZhimingBu) and once again the now experienced in Arena competitions, KainosWong (KainosWong).

Regardless of the result, this is yet another great experience chess has provided us given the strange times of Covid. We are continuously seeking new challenges to offer our kids to further improve not only their chess but also their personal development and teamwork skills.  Stay tuned for our next invitation and team challenges.

In the meantime, TCA is currently hosting the Winter Grand Prix, it’s not too late to join! For any questions please contact info@activekidshk.com.

TCA Winter Grand Prix
Date: Jan 24, 31, Feb 7, 21, 28 (Every Sunday)
Time: 3:00 – 5:00pm
Platform: Lichess.org
Entry fee: $200