This blogpost is copied from my article in the September 2022 issue of CHESS (UK) magazine with the permission of its editor IM Richard Palliser (thanks so much!). It's mainly a plug for my new book, The Hungarian Dragon (Carstenchess, 2022)...
During a training blitz game with a student, I realised that after this standard Anti-Closed Sicilian pawn block... ....f5, which stops the White pawn storm for some time, the subsequent play is not as 'automatic' as I would imagine. Although...
With the cancellation of the immensely popular over-the-board annual Nanyang Chess Challenge 2021 due to Covid restrictions, and thanks to the influx of sponsorship funds from an NY parent (who insisted on remaining anonymous), the online Young kN...
Our regular sparring partner for the Singapore Olympiad and Asian nations events, FM Andrey Terekhov was poised to leave the shores of Singapore...the Microsoft executive having been assigned to Paris, France and come August, his family would be s...
It's funny how one remembers decades-old chess stuff so clearly like it happened yesterday especially one can forget the simplest things (like what food to buy when you just got told minutes ago). Yesterday, my Indonesian friend NM Heri Da...
A blocking combination (sacrifice) is one where you combine (or sacrifice a piece/pawn) to jam up the opponent's ability to defend, block a diagonal, line or square or prevent pieces from scurrying back to aid the king's defence. A simple ex...
Following the completion of the #ChessAgainstCovid charity drive where GM Kevin Goh, a truckload of young masters and a bunch of volunteers somehow raised $84,000 for those affected by the Covid19 crisis (the government matched dollar for dollar a...
There isn't much to celebrate in these troubled times as most of us are more or less jammed at home. Well, there is Kevin Goh's confirmation as a Grandmaster, the first for Singapore in 2 decades (on April's Fools day, no less) so at least we have...
By now, everyone and his dog already knows that IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming has crossed the elo 2500 rating required to complete his Grandmaster title by edging out IM Wynn Zaw Htun 4-2 in their standard match (though Wynn claimed the Chess on Board tro...
In a tussle of Chess Olympians with an average rating of close to ELO 2300, FM Lee Jun Wei (Batumi 2018 representative) romped home with an outstanding 5.5/6 to win the event by a clear 2.5 points margin! His performance rating was only 2719...
Finishing joint 3rd at the Cairnhill Open and clear 2nd in the Cairnhill Blitz, the "Ruskie Steamroller" FM Andrey Terekhov won the Balestier Christmas Rapid by besting two of our top juniors, FM Ashvin Sivakumar and Ethan Poh. Rd 1 FM Andrey ...
The biennial SEA Games- sort of like an Olympic Games among the 11 South East Asian countries, is considered the 3rd most prestigious multi-sport event for Singaporeans, after the Olympics and the Asian Games. The gold medal winner of the event is...
Singapore recorded her best World Senior Championships result up to date with our representatives in the Men over-50 category IM Chan Peng Kong and FM Teo Kok Siong finishing 35th (6.5/11) and 44th (6/11) respectively in the 138 player strong fiel...
The Melbourne Chess Club's Greg Hjorth Open Weekender saw 86 entrants with IMs James Morris and Stephen Solomon as well as WGM Julia Ryjanova being the favourites to clinch the $2000 top prize (out of a prize fund of $6000). A couple of Singapor...
The last time I took a vacation from chess coaching was 2 years back and this one was definitely long overdue. As with my Adelaide trip, my wife arranged a chess tourney at the end of the vacation and this time we headed for Brisbane with a 6 roun...
The Singapore-founded cyber protection firm Acronis is an official partner of several Formula 1 teams such as Force India and Rokit Williams. The firm however, decided to step up its local outreach, this time in terms of chess development and gene...
Two Singaporeans competed in the ultra strong Grenke Open (56 GMs and 322 titled players!) which featured an attractive 20,000 Euros first prize. 12 year old Siddarth Jagadeesh (2132) made his 1st International Master norm with one round to spare....
Immediately after becoming National U9 champion ( the Indian boy Rajveev Nahah finished 1/2 pt ahead but the title went to a Singaporean, of course), CM Goh Zi Han had to dash home to pack for his Auckland flight to compete in the George Tru...
What has Christmas gotta do with the hedgehog? Nothing I suppose, except Sonic the Hedgehog was born on Christmas Island. However, I would like to show two 'Hedgehog' games played over the week. The 'three rank' Hedgehog system has generally bee...
The game was way past its 4th hour at the 1995 Asian Teams Championships and there were only a handful of people left in the NUS tournament hall. The Singapore 2 and Malaysian representatives on board 4 were right smack into a drawish-looking endi...
During September last year, IM Dr Hsu Li Yang decided that it was time to step forward and make a push to help develop more Singaporean chess grandmasters. In our little chat group (comprising mostly 'retired' chess players between 2200-2400+ leve...
Final tally of QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann GMs Invitational History Quiz Top results:1st Ethan Poh 2nd CM Goh Zi Han3rd FM Andrey Terekhov 4th FM Timothy Chan 5th Robert Dillon6th Victor Huang Kuan Kai 7th Denis Molofej 8th Adrian Huang9th CM Lee Jun W...
To Singapore-based chessplayers: If you want to have a go at predicting GM Timur Gareyev's Blindfold Challenge moves competitively as well as play in a blitz tourney where the QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann GMs Invitational event will be held, do attempt ...
We would like to highlight two new developments in the QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann GMs Invitational event (June 7th to 12th 2018). Firstly, an admirer of Prof Lim Kok Ann donated S$250 for a Lim Kok Ann brilliancy prize game. We heartily agreed as ...
After months of preparation and negotiations, we are glad to announce we have finalized the details for the QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann Grandmasters Invitational 2018 (June 7th to 12th), which is likely to be a Category 8 event with GM norm at 6.5/9 and ...
