Brilliancy Prize and Blindfold Rapid Match - Update to QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann GMs Invitational event
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 NM Olimpiu Urcan had pointed out, Prof Lim readily gave out brilliancy prizes in his Sunday Times chess columns. Morever, the players who miss norm chances or cannot make the top 3 placings can aim for this award instead.
Here's an example of a brilliant Prof Lim game at the 1968 Meralco Open. His opponent, Hungarian Australian IM Béla Berger, who had qualified and played in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, had no answer to Prof's relentless attack and gave up after 20 moves.
On 9 June, a blindfold rapid challenge match will be contested by GM Timur Gareyev (sans chessboard and pieces), the top seed in the GM event, and NM Olimpiu Urcan (full sight of the board of course) and we will get a few contest winners to 'distract' the GM during the match with interview questions and activities (I had discussed simultaneous ping pong and blindfold chess with Timur but that might be a bit much). For that matter, I had asked Timur over lunch how he reckoned his chess strength to be at one player blindfold chess. He mused a bit and came up with "2550". OK...we will definitely need to distract him during the match.
More details on how to qualify to be part of this activity will be indicated in the QCD chess website (and sgchess.net) which will be up and ready soon.
