Without a doubt, the 'Queen's Gambit' Netflix movie has increased the popularity of chess in Singapore but to sustain it, the chess scene must be vibrant and attractive enough to retain the new players' interest subsequently. On any given we...
The year 2024 is deemed the Year of the Dragon (according to people of Chinese origins) and so I thought it's timely to show more Hungarian Dragon activities to herald in the new Dragon year. Moreover, I got in a very thematic HD tacti...
WCM Fang Kun was taken aback when I told her to scurry over to play a rapid chess event against Elo 2100-2200 type masters. She is rated about 500-600+ points below them for that matter. "OMG, why am I in this event, I am gonna get thrashed!...
The last vacation I took was 4 years ago and this time round, we decided to visit Perth, especially to check out how the Swan River waterfront area has been revamped. We were very impressed...and from our hotel windows...we really can't complain a...
GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming and WGM Gong Qianyun edged closer to local legend IM Tan Lian Ann’s 10 Singapore Championships titles with by claiming the National and National Ladies titles for their 8th and 9th time respectively though at some point...
In Game 8 and Game 14 of the 2023 World Championship match between the previous finalist Ian Nepomniachtchi and the new World Champion Ding Liren, we have seen the latter taking tremendous risks by brandishing what we call the 'fishing pole' motif...
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...
