Trivial Things in Chess

I did not visit Singapore Chess Meetup today, so there won't be any games review or discussion. In fact, this post serves to show the unimportant things in Chess that fascinate me quite a bit. Please do not waste your time if you are not interested in things like chess psychology or application of FIDE laws of chess. ^o^

First and foremost, an attempt to demonstrate the psychological element from a very simple example.

Chess Psychology: When either 4.Bg3 and 4.e3 are objectively similar, but psychologically different

Actually, I had a different initial view on whether 4.Bg3 or 4.e3 makes it more tricky to Black players who see this for the first time (I chose 4.Bg3 while my friend, who is a better chess player, recommended 4.e3) -- We are fully aware that we are talking about the "psychological aspect", and not the objectivity of the position, and that we assume the player with the Black pieces is seeing this position for the first time (otherwise Black won't fall for it no matter what White does here).

I did not do this very scientifically, but I did get a few kids I encountered at various sites like Singapore Chess Meetup, Siglap South CC to be my "guinea pig", and from the very small sampling (around 4), so far all the kids share my opinion that 4.Bg3 makes it more tricky/likely for Black to fall for it.

Nevertheless, this is far from conclusive -- because it is almost impossible to replicate on the same kid -- he/she would have known it upon seeing it for the first time -- it would be difficult to try and do it in a scientific manner. If there are any chess parents or even trainers who don't mind trying this simple trick with their kids, please let me know what your conclusion is ^o^

FIDE Laws of Chess: Does stalemate or resignation take precedence? 
Moving away from chess psychology, let's look at the application on FIDE laws of chess. What triggered my curiosity arise from this chess.com article titled "The 10 Silliest Ways To Lose A Chess Game". Specifically, on #7

In summary, what happened is that in a pawn+king (superior side) v.s. king endgame (inferior side), the superior side, realising there are no realistic chances to promote the extra pawn, intended to offer a draw, but misclicked the "resign" option instead. I actually had the opportunity to ask a local arbiter for his views in an informal setting, and was told that it should be ruled as a draw.

I was glad, to be honest. To me, this ruling will be aligned with how it would have been ruled/judged when one player forfeits on time -- we will check whether there is any mathematical possibility for the player who forfeited on time to be checkmated (even if resorting to self-help mate). If one cannot be checkmated, the game is declared a draw.

Now this is perfectly logical to me. But as someone who loves to dwell into such "trivial" things, I actually have a new question to ask: What happens if a player is in a stalemate position, did not realise it, and initiated to resign the game? If we follow the same logical flow / analogy as the earlier case to judge the situation, there is no legal move for the stalemated player to end up losing, so it should be declared a draw? But if a player is so bad he/she does not realise he is in stalemate and resigned, does he deserve the draw?

I have not asked my arbiter chess friend(s) on this, but this is my current view based on my interpretation of FIDE Laws of Chess. The game should still be declared a draw, and we can base it on other relevant clauses of the FIDE Laws of Chess:

Under Article 5: The completion of the game

"
5.1.2 The game is won by the player whose opponent declares he resigns. This immediately ends the game.

5.2.1 The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The game is said to end in ‘stalemate’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the stalemate position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.
"

I think resigning in a stalemated position is still a draw in view of the following:

• There is no saying that stalemate needs to be "claimed" (unlike a draw claim). 
• By logical, sequential flow of the game, one will have to arrive in a stalemated position (article 5.2.1 come into effect) before one can resign in a stalemated position (before article 5.1.2 come into effect)
• Tough luck if you resigned just before the opponent make a move that result in the stalemate (a player can resign at any time) -- I have ever seen this even in professional games, but I have difficulty finding 1 to illustrate right now, lol

I will be asking this and see if my judgement is correct or wrong. In case you happen to know, please share this with me! Thank you.

Updated 30th Aug 2018: I just thought of the following position before going to bed!

A hypothetical question: White just played Qh2+, but before Black made any move, White resigned. To me, this is an interesting situation to think about from the rules perspective:

• A forced (unavoidable) stalemate is coming.
• White resigned in a position he cannot lose from any series of legal moves. (In this simple example, once Black captures the White Queen on h2 with either the Queen or the King, it is a stalemate situation.) 

In this situation, somehow I feel that White should be deemed to have lost the game, since the stalemate position has yet to be arrived. But can this be reconciled with the judgement that resigning wrongly in a "unlosable" position is declared a draw? (Or, is there any possibility that this judgement is not correct?)

I'm curious to try and find out more through asking more people, especially arbiters, for their views. Sorry to bother you guys, my arbiter friends ^o^

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing (Eugene)
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

How Not to Play Chess ^o^

This is based on the rapid turned standard game I just had with Sunday Chess Uncle, Eric, today (26 August 2018) at Siglap South CC.

I guess pointing out how not to play chess has learning value too ^o^


Learning Points for Me

• Beware of unsound opening sacrifices! Even though it may be objectively bad, you need to be good enough to refute it correctly over the board!
• It is regrettable that Black missed so many resources to finish the game in the middlegame. All because Black refused to take a bit of risk. In fact, making a move that looks quite promising with little losing chance is not really taking a risk!
• Be consistent! It feels terrible to be winning in a huge part of the game, only to lose it after a few slips. Attitude-wise, do not ignore or under-estimate a move from the opponent, even if it looks "silly" on first sight!
• Endgames. Endgames. Endgames. Don't need to say more.

Enough of the negativity. Let's try to brighten up the atmosphere a little =) 

The 2 young ones in the picture were playing a rapid game (15 minutes initial thinking time + 10 seconds increment per move, also referred to as "15+10" in short). Both were serious enough to be recording their moves! Actually, since they were playing on the DGT board, their games, amongst many other games played, were all retrieved once I plugged it in to my laptop. 

As for me, I made myself useful by standing at the "arbiter's position". Yes, I am not an accredited arbiter at present, though I am aspiring to be one. Need to wait for the next run of the arbiter's course.

A Pilot Test: My little additional service to members of Siglap South CC Chess Club

Below are the games played at Siglap South CC that were captured by the DGT chess Board. As usual, I do not identify the players, but the players themselves who played on the DGT Board should know who they are, so that they can retrieve the games for their own review. Hopefully, members can take turns to have their fun with the Board and enjoy the convenience of modern technology =)

I will be gathering feedback from Siglap South CC Chess Club members if this should continue or discontinue. 

Games Retrieved from DGT Board, 26 Aug 2018

Thank you once again for taking your time to read this!


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

Round 8 of the QCD Adults Team Chess League 2018

So my team (8.c4!) lost this round 0-4 to a much stronger team, in fact the seeded #1 team in the league (Woof! Woof!). To be honest, this kind of result was expected if you look at the pairings / matchup:

As you can see, all 4 of our opponents were rated more than 400(!) points above us. My opponent was almost more than 800 points above, and for my team mate Arun, the difference was almost 1,000 points ^o^

But I thought that our team mentality was set right for the match. The following was the message I shared with my team mates before the round, as words of encouragement to everyone incl. myself:

*start of message*
Below are some of my thoughts for your consideration:

1. Even though we are the severe underdog on paper, remember that games are lost because of mistakes. If we can minimise or even avoid (unforced) errors, that would be great. If we do not make any mistake, it does not matter even if we are playing against the world champion 😁

2. I think attitude and mentality wise, it would serve us better to enter the matches with a "nothing to lose" mentality. The onus / burden of expectation is on the opposing team to beat us, but remember point #1 - if we do not make a mistake, there's nothing they can do to us.

3. Remain objective. While the chances are slim and depends on how other teams fare, there is still a possibility for us to strive for the 8th spot in the league and win a prize even if we lose the match - we should maximise our game points. So a score of 2.5-1.5 as compared to 4-0 makes a difference at this stage.

4. Last but not least, it is okay to feel a bit nervous, excited, feeling some pressure and the likes. But do remember the most fundamental: we play chess because we enjoy the game. Also, because our opponents will be tough, it will be an excellent learning experience (some people actually pay to play against stronger players). So we should see it as a bonus to get such a pairing.

With all that said, here's wishing our team the best for the games later!
Should you have other views and thoughts, please feel free to share too!

Thank you 😁
*end of message*

Our post-round team photo. Even though we lost 0-4, we were still smiling 

From left to right: Mark, Ethan, newbie_learner and Arun

It was unfortunate that I played a miniature game (i.e. a game that ended very fast). On the bright side, I "bugged" my opponent to review the game with me afterwards, so it was not all for naught ^o^ Many thanks again to my opponent, Keng Boon, for generously running through the game with me afterwards. Greatly appreciated!


Learning Points:

• I think I really committed a newbie mistake of over-thinking in this game =( To have only 1-2 minutes left after 13 moves is ridiculous in a standard game. If I don't like this type of isolated Queen pawn (IQP) position, better don't play into it.
• Still too rigid in my thinking -- just because pushing c5 with a vulnerable / weak looking pawn on d4 is usually a bad idea doesn't mean it must be bad all the time -- in this case, this was White's best shot after making the decent call of trading off Black's dark square fianchetto Bishop. 
• White probably "over-waited" with the move 5.Be2. There was more flexibility had White went for 5.d4 immediately. 4.e3 waiting was fine, but White's position soured by over-waiting, Black had adequate time to do 4...e6 which prevented certain versions of early d5 push. 

Oh well, need to work harder to improve. On the bright side, there's always such additional motivation (or push factor, depending on how you see it) after a loss ^o^

Initially, I had wanted to feature a player in this post, whom I thought was playing really well in the league so far. However, I shall respect the team captain's request to postpone this intended "disclosure", as the player I wanted to feature is the team's secret weapon. Hence, I will try to do the feature post, possibly with an interview if the player subsequently agrees, upon the completion of this season.

As compensation to fellow readers (and myself? lol), below is a pictorial report of the event. These are not the usual crappy shots taken by myself, but good quality pictures taken by non other than Andre, playing in the team Chess Mates and a regular / organiser for the Singapore Chess Meetup. 

I really can't help but love Andre's artistic shots!

An intense match between team Pawnstars (please don't get the name wrong!) and team Wolverines.

An interesting game between Jonathan Koh (team Pawnstars, left, Black pieces) and Richard Lean (team Wolverines, right, White pieces). It was the 2nd last game to conclude for the night. 

A decisive game between Jack (team Woof! Woof! Woof!, left, White pieces) and Shirram (team Kent Ridge Knights, right, Black pieces) With Shirram's win, the over team score was tied at 2-2. The 2 persons standing and watching the game intensely were myself (left) and David (right, Captain of team Kent Ridge Knights)

Last but not least, a special shout out to thank the "Sunday Chess Uncle", Mr Eric Lim, for coming to observe the tournament. As a fellow regular at Siglap South CC Chess Club, he was supporting my team and I, of course. He was also singing praises of his opponent who played a friendly game with him. If I wasn't mistaken, Eric was playing with Damia Benet Morant of team Thomsformers, who was standing in the perfect "arbiter's position" in the last picture above. 

This concludes my report for round 8 of the QCD Adults Team Chess League. Thanks again for your time reading it!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing

(a.k.a. newbie_learner) 

Updated: Where to Play Chess in Singapore 2018

At the beginning of the year 2018, I had posted on "Where to Play Chess in Singapore 2018" on my old chess blog page. (I had to give up on wordpress.com because it did not support iframes necessary for embedding chess games.)

Now, I'd like to look at the various chess sites and what we can expect from them. In addition, I hope my dear readers can inform me of any local chess site(s) I am not aware of. My rule still applies: I will only list down chess sites that are generally open to the public. This includes any place that allows for chess to be played freely, as well as CCs that charge a very nominal fee.

Specifically excluded are chess schools or institutions for obvious reasons -- I do not wish to compare one against another, neither am I qualified to do so.

Last but not least, I will indicate whether I have visited / have been visiting the chess site(s), so as to contextualise my views on the chess site. Also, I make it a point to try and visit every chess site at least once in my lifetime, so for the site(s) that I am unfamiliar with, I will try to make a visit when I'm able to.

From Mondays to Sundays, the following are the chess sites you can consider visiting!

Mondays

No chess site known at present. Do you see this as a rest day (or a sad day) of the week? ^o^

Tuesdays

NUS Intellectual Games Club (NUS IGC)

Where: National University of Singapore (NUS), Kent Ridge Campus, Multi Purpose Sports Hall (MPSH4)

When: 6:30pm to 9pm

What to expect / Personal thoughts

The  featured 5 games: (International) Chess, Chinese Chess, Go (围棋), Othello / Reversi and Contract Bridge. One thing I really liked when I was a student (yes, I was young once too!) is having the option to move around to other games. Sometimes, it can be boring playing the same game again and again, and we just want to have some fun trying out other games.

This is the only chess site I know available on Tuesdays, so if you want to play chess, and happen to either live or work in the Western region, this is probably a great choice! It is unfortunate that I have not found time to revisit the IGC over the past years (It's really tough for me. Location aside, my weekly chess commitment is actually quite heavy for a working adult... wish I played more when I was younger!), but I'm sure they are in good hands with enthusiastic juniors overseeing the Club.

How time flies ^o^ For any queries, please contact NUS IGC (igcDOTnusATgmailDOTcom).

The front and back of the Club T-shirt in its founding year. 

Following which, Contract Bridge has joined the big family ^o^ 

You can also check out NUS IGC's pictorial updates on their Instagram. 

Wednesdays 

Do yourself a favour and get to know the best chess site in Singapore!

The Singapore Chess Meetup

Where: Asia Square Tower One (nearest MRT station is Downtown Station, Downtown "Blue" line)

When: 6:30pm onwards

Membership fee: None

What to expect / Personal thoughts
The best local chess experience in Singapore across all the chess sites listed here. I don't think I am being rude to the players and organisers at other chess sites (I play weekly at another chess site on Sundays as well), but this is the truth! Find me another chess site that can boast either (a) a membership of 1000+ and still growing, or (b) an average of 30(!) players ready to play a game at each session. 

I can't recommend this chess site enough: (i) Friendly for complete beginners -- the meetup will teach players who do not know the rules or how the pieces move (ii) Excellent site for socialising -- majority of attendees are working adults, (iii) Good training ground for improvement -- some kids enjoy playing against the strong adult players there, and we have players (myself included!) who play standard (90+30) long games there!

With all these good things going on, is there any wonder why the Singapore Chess Meetup is the #1 choice of titled players (GMs, IMs and the like) visiting Singapore?

While the meetup is equipped with a number of chess sets and clocks, to avoid waiting time, do consider bringing your own chess equipment if you own one. Also, for the benefit of players who are new to the meetup, please do RSVP on the meetup page so that they can be assured of the chess meetup's popularity and activity.

Thursdays

No chess site known at present. Do you see this as a rest day (or a sad day) of the week? ^o^

Fridays

Spoilt for choice over the 2 options available! (In fact, quite a number of adults are also playing in the ongoing unrated 4 versus 4 QCD Adults Chess League on Scheduled Fridays!) 

Thomson CC Chess Club

Where: Thomson Community Club, level 3

When: 7:30pm to 9pm
Membership fee: $18/year (aged 13 and above), $12/year (aged 12 and below), requires PAssion Card membership to join.

What to expect / Personal thoughts

An interesting mix of adult players and kids, the organiser / facilitator is Mr John Wong, a very experienced local chess coach. It's location is really quite good for me -- just 1 MRT stop away from my workplace. Also, I have other friends who would often bring their students to gain some experience playing against others.

Even though this is not an "official" aspect of the club, I quite enjoy the "mentorship" element there, whereby after a game concludes, we would often ask the stronger player (usually the winner of the game) how the game could've been improved. And most often, we have quite a bit to say or ask one another. I would say that the environment is especially conducive for young / new players seeking to improve their game.

Cashew Chess Club

Where: Cashew RC Zone 5 (Bukit Panjang Plaza McDonald’s)
When: 8pm onwards
Membership fee: None

What to expect / Personal thoughts
One of the co-founders of the chess club, Mr Weng Chew, is an extremely serious chess player (definitely more so than myself). If you are a serious player yourself, I'm sure you will enjoy the company / atmosphere. If you are not, I guess you have room to work on and improve yourself ^o^

Saturdays

*New* Chess Interest Group (updated on 26 Aug 2018)

Where: Kent Ridge Guild House, Lobby / Activity Room

When: 1st Saturday of each month

Membership fee: Free for NUSS members, $5 for Guests

What to expect / Personal thoughts

I only just heard about this new chess site. Do refer to the information below and raise any queries to the person-in-charge directly.

*Updated 10 Nov 2018* Cairnhill CC

*Full credit to Allen from Singapore Chess Meetup for the information below.*

From Allen's account, Cairnhill CC plays weekly from around 4pm to 7pm. It consists an existing group of players, around 8 to 10 of them, who are closely knit. It seems the group consists of very strong players in the rating range of 2000 and above. Sounds good. I will see if I can check them out in future to come.

Sundays

There are at least 4 places to play chess -- may you find most convenient or suitable chess site for yourself!

Pub X Chess

Where: Different Pub locations across Singapore -- venue is determined only the week / days before, so that everyone can have a fresh feel playing at different places (please keep a lookout on the meetup page or the facebook page). 

When: Usually starts at 3:30pm sharp (Please check the meetup page before the event to confirm).

Membership fee: None

What to expect / Personal thoughts
Fundamentally, you play chess at the pub while enjoying food and drinks (you pay for your own purchase, of course). Every week, there is a blitz tournament for all the attendees at no cost. From time to time, the pub may also offer special discounts for attendees of the meetup. If you happen to enjoy blitz in particular, go for it! I would even go as far to say, that if you like blitz in particular, you will enjoy yourself at this meetup far more than any of the the other chess sites listed (on Sundays) -- I don't think any other chess sites can offer such a good blitz experience, or have that many players readily available to play a blitz tournament in particular.

I got the PubXChess shirt to support their cause. S.K. stands for scorekeeper, a nickname given to me by Mr Bradley Loh, founder of the Singapore Chess Meetup. newbie stands for my chess nick newbie_learner. Based on the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO), A04 stands for the Reti opening 1.Nf3, a first move which I like for its flexibility.

Proceeds go into growing the meetup further in terms of sourcing and securing for more venues and organise more events. Should you be interested ($40 / shirt), please drop a private message on their facebook page, stating the size, name and ECO. 

Nanyang CC Chess Club

Where: Nanyang Community Club, ground floor, "glass room"
When: 3pm - 5pm
Membership fee: None

What to expect / Personal thoughts
A young but highly enthusiastic chess club. I guess I can say I have special affinity with the club and good chemistry with the organiser ^o^. This year, they have organised 2 of the very well-received 1-day events with the Singapore Chess Federation, namely the kickoff tournament at the beginning of the year, and the recently concluded Nanyang Racial Harmony Team Chess Challenge 2018, which I have also covered in a previous post.

A couple of rather strong players happen to be the clubs "resident players". They are not titled players but are much more well-read and capable than myself to offer some tips and pointers to the kids and new players. Its unfortunate that I can not visit the Chess Club these days. Travelling 4 hours from my home in the east just to get to play a few hours of chess is just not sustainable or efficient use of time.

Truth be told, besides the "normal" 1v1 chess, the most enjoyable experiences I had was actually with NYCC Chess Club. They were a casual 2v2 relay chess played, as well as the Tandem Simul challenge with IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming, Singapore's top active player at present, as well as CM Olimpiu Urcan, a local chess scholar and journalist.

p.s. If / when you get to the club in person  do keep a lookout for the framed T-shirts signed by Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen, contributed by yours truly. I caught their signature when they came to Singapore -- still a minor regret that I couldn't get Kasparov's when he came, but I guess life is never perfect.

Queenstown CC Chess Club

Where: Queenstown Community Centre
When: 3pm - 7pm
Membership fee:
1 year – $10 (under 20) | $20 (Adults)
3 years — $ 25 (under 20) | $50 (Adults)

What to expect / Personal thoughts
To be honest, it's been quite a while since I personally visited Queenstown CC Chess Club. The last time I visited it, was when a match was organised between Cashew Chess Club and Queenstown CC Chess Club. It was there that I happen to see a popular chess figure I've not met for yearS, and I shared a little bit of the good old days, even though he had forgotten about me ^o^

In any case, according to its website information, the club boasts the largest paid local chess membership I am aware of. This, I believe can be attributed to its long standing chess history in Singapore. There are chess enthusiasts like Mr Weng Chew (yes, the co-founder of the Cashew Chess Club) who visits it every Sunday, so I believe it must have its charm and appeal to get players revisiting it. It's unfortunate that the timing clashes head on with the Club I cover in the Eastern side of Singapore, so I am unable to visit it more often than I wish.

Siglap South CC Chess Club

Where: Siglap South CC, Room #02-07
When: 3pm - 6pm (or any other hour which I can stay until)
Membership fee:
$4 for members aged 13 and below for 1/2 year (or $8 per annum)
$9 for members aged above 13 for 1/2 year (or $18 per annum)

What to expect / Personal thoughts
The chess club was started by Mr John Wong, though I became the "regular-covering-in-charge" along the way ^o^ I do admit that we started off having much more kids, although as at present, I feel that the proportion and number of adult players have caught up.

While I may be extremely particular about the etiquette in chess (as you can tell by my other posts ), I think I am quite patient and tolerant of kids' misbehaviour (the conditions of the chipped pieces would probably have made some "serious" chess players mad). I believe we were all young and misbehaved at least once in our lifetime. For example, I do understand that some kids were taught to make captures (esp. winning-looking moves) as loud and as forceful as possible for intimidation purpose. So whenever I see this, I do not immediately reprimand the kid(s). Instead, I would ask if this was taught by his coach, and just share an alternate view for them to think for themselves if they should continue with such behaviour. I would also offer very basic tips in terms of how to play well, as well as corrections over any misunderstanding over the application of FIDE Laws of Chess.

I see chess as a lifelong learning progress. Hence, I am looking forward to participate in any future arbiter / trainer's course as part of self improvement and constant "quality control" for the Chess Club =)

Recently, I have also gotten a new "toy", a DGT Smart Board which I intend to bring to Siglap South CC on a regular basis to record the rapid and blitz games played. Hopefully, the players there would also be interested and have a couple of games using the set =)

So long as the board is powered, the moves are being recorded in the board's internal memory (up to around 500 moves).

Now that Nanyang CC, Queenstown CC and Siglap South CC Chess Clubs all have the same starting time for their chess sessions, I am actually considering if there can be
some sort of inter-club sparring sessions. This is just my own idea -- I have not consulted the organisers from the other CCs. Still, it does seem interesting. If Queenstown CC does not mind, it is probably the most idea central location, since Nanyang CC and Siglap South CC are just at different ends of Singapore ^o^

I hope you can find at least a chess site suitable for your needs. Thank you for your time reading this.


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

Applying FIDE Laws of Chess can be Interesting!

I find this situation so interesting, I need to blog about it right away! (Sorry, update on where to play chess in Singapore 2018 has to make way and wait a bit more).

I was pleasantly surprised when a fellow chess friend and enthusiast shared this interesting situation arising from the latest weekly blitz tournament at Pub X Chess meetup, just played yesterday.

Played under "5 + 3" (5 minutes initial time + 3 seconds increment with every move), White just played the move Nf7+, but his clock ran out of time. Do you know how should this be ruled under FIDE Laws of Chess (w.e.f. 1 Jan 2018)?

Just to side-track first, after 1...Bxf7 (only legal move), the winning idea should be 2.Kxf7 and not the "natural" looking 2.Bxf7??. This is because after 1...Bxf7 2.Kxf7 Kg5 (only legal move) 3.Kg7! disallows Black to cower back into hiding on the h8 square (Bishop of wrong colour unable to displace the opponent King with the Rook pawn cannot make progress).

Whereas after 1...Bxf7 2.Bxf7?? Kh7! and the Black King is returning to the safety of the h8 square/fortress. Easy for us when reviewing games not under the actual game conditions (esp. blitz conditions).

Back to the topic on applying the laws of chess, this game was declared as a draw, which was based on  natural chess instinct in all chess players. After all, Black does not seem to have sufficient material to deliver checkmate. In fact, this was also the initial judgement shared by an experienced local arbiter when I first sought his views.

However, after I pointed out to him, that I saw a possibility of a self-help-mate involving under-promoting the White pawn to a dark-square Bishop, and getting the White King into a corner to get checkmated on purpose, he agreed with my views and overturned his initial judgement. This game should have been declared a loss for White by time forfeit! Allow me to share more:

First, the relevant clause of FIDE's Law of Chess:

"6.9 Except where one of Articles 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3 applies, if a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by that player. However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves."

The key question here, is whether there is any legal (mathematical) possibility for Black to checkmate White. It does not matter whether the moves required to deliver checkmate are sensible or not.

Hence, a self help mate is possible. One way I did it is as follows:

How did I realise this? Because I made the  wrong judgement call in a similar situation back then when I was a student in NUS (and it had real consequences in terms of final placement of the players.) I apologised for it profusely, of course.

But I still made the mistake of thinking that the player with the superior position can always pause the clock before his own clock runs out of time and make a claim for a draw. I don't know why I had this false impression. Probably I thought the Quickplay Finishes apply. But it actually does not. It was clearly stated in the FIDE's Law of Chess as well:

"
Guidelines III. 

Games without increment including Quickplay Finishes

III.1 A ‘quickplay finish’ is the phase of a game when all the remaining moves must be completed in a finite time.

III.2.1 The Guidelines below concerning the final period of the game including Quickplay Finishes, shall only be used at an event if their use has been announced beforehand.

III.2.2 These Guidelines shall apply only to standard chess and rapid chess games without increment and not to blitz games.

"

The 5+3 format is both with increment and a blitz game. Hence, Quickplay Finishes definitely does not apply. This also means that the player with the superior position cannot make any claim for a draw when they are in time trouble -- it's just too bad and time is a real part of the game esp. in Blitz (notwithstanding there is always a chance that the opponent might accept the draw offer, of course!) 

Hopefully, with this, fellow chess enthusiasts and players can:
1. Try to learn a bit more about the FIDE laws of chess, not to encourage the exploitation of any technical loopholes, but to protect yourselves in the case of any dispute, and

2. Try to appreciate the chess arbiters more! Their decisions can be big, yet it is not so easy to get things right all the time!

In case I got this wrong, please feel free to correct me by leaving a comment or something. Thanks again for your time reading!


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

p.s. I am interested in various aspects of chess, not just playing well, but also the laws and etiquette. Hence, right now, I am waiting eagerly for the next run of the arbiter's course ^o^

A dramatic training game (90+30) played on 18 Aug 2018

Who says there is no luck in chess? See this game for yourself, I, newbie_learner, probably had the greatest luck of all time in this game. Perhaps Caissa rewarded me for the good chess karma I accumulated? LOL

I misplayed the opening, which paralysed my position completely. I was virtually a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered. Then, my time bank took a huge burn as I wanted to maximise damage control on my end, really spending huge amount of time (even 20 minutes or more on 1 or 2 moves). I don't know if my young opponent is trying to beat me by playing fast at the crucial moves -- which didn't pay off for him. Still, my position looked very vulnerable, coupled by time pressure. Then, I went down a pawn in a Rook + pawns endgame. But what a resource I found when I decided I have nothing to lose -- I just centralised my King, activated my Rooks to harass my opponent's loose pawns. Objectively, the position should still be equal / well defensible endgame. But he kept missing the point which allowed me to keep getting free pawn advancement until the point of no return.

This game would be a complete waste of time for chess pros, but there may be some learning value for beginners and club players like myself. As always, these are my personal views which may not always be objective and correct -- please feel free to share your views / feedback if any! Thanks in advance.



Learning Points for Me

• All these games are the same cycle for me: Emerge worse out of the opening, spend lots of time to stay alive and enter into something playable, opponent try to beat me on the clock and backfire, no time to think and play out the endgame properly, *luck-fest* ^o^
• I have read on this about the Bishop pair, but I failed to apply it in this game. What I read seems to make sense in helping to judge whether the Bishop pair is a true asset or not: the unopposed Bishop -- is it good or bad. If good, it is an asset. If bad, it may even be a liability (like this game!)
• Please do something about the poor opening play! I won't always be lucky!
• Please do something about the time management as well. But understandably, because the opening position is already hateable, more time was consumed to improve the quality of the subsequent moves/play.
• Despite all the bad things in this game, I like my practical decision making, from simplifying the position, to not despair when a pawn down and just play the best moves I can see. Even if I seriously misplayed the endgame, at least I was consistent in my approach: gobble up all the Black pawns at all cost first (so that I won't lose). 
• (To other fellow newbies / club players learning and seeking to improve their own game): Can't say this enough: If you are in a favourable or likeable position, do NOT try to press the opponent when they are down on time, esp. when there is 30 second increment per move. Continue to make the best move you see. If you want, you can choose to complicate the position, but do it smart (i.e. the type that poses little to no risk of losing it for yourself). 

Also, it happens that the kids I know were playing on my surrounding boards, and were looking at my game with great interest -- everyone sees that my opponent has a very promising position against me. I guess, I'm glad I didn't disappoint their expectations ^o^

Thank you for your time reading this!


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

Training Games with Renowned Local Chess Figure on 17 Aug 2018

I was so privileged to be offered the chance of a training session with a much stronger chess player. I did not have his permission to be identified, but he does quite a bit of various things, definitely a name that every person in the local chess scene must know or have heard of ^o^

So he offered my team in the QCD league a simul. Due to schedule issues only 2 of us from team 8.c4! attended the training session. In order for us to get a go with both the White and Black pieces, and due to time constraints, we only played 2 games of 20 minutes + 10 second increment each.

Overall, even though I lost all my games, it was not all bad. To be honest, I was probably in a good shape, perhaps even in winning positions in both games at some point, but crumbled under time pressure in both. I do know that in my earlier posts, I have been saying that it is unwise to "time-rush" when you are comfortable with your position. The reverse applies too -- when the position looks bad, go for time-rush against opponent in time trouble. And see how good players do it so effectively! 

This, to me, is the key difference between a good player (my trainer for the day) and an average club-level player (me). Good players continue to stay resilient in a bad position -- they just play their best and make the opponent work for the win. Had the situation/position been reversed, I wouldn't have been able to pull off something like that!

Without further ado, these were the games played. Also, the trainer played more aggressively on purpose, to maximise training effects. After the games, he even teased me as to make a choice between (i) winning games, and (ii) recording games for completion's sake. He said I was crazy for choosing the latter ^o^ 

Game 1

Learning Points:

• My opening play is non-impressive, as always in all my games ^o^
• But other than that, my overall play was not too bad!
• Time management, as always!

Game 2

Learning Points:

• My KID curse continues, though in an interesting way. I'll accept it as part of growing up in my chess adventures. Perhaps, the day I conquer the KID would be the day I make a milestone in my chess improvement adventure ^o^ 
• The loss was totally unrelated to the opening, but rather, extremely poor time management and very poor endgame play.
• On the bright side, it was not all bad. I actually liked my play handling a position I've never seen before. 

For the chess pros, sorry for wasting your time. But I hope you can find some entertainment value =)

For the fellow club players and newbies like myself, I hope you can take something away from this, both the good and the bad. What is most important, when playing against someone much stronger (higher rating points, more famous is this): Do not assume that you are losing the game before the game actually starts. There is a lot of psychology in chess played between 2 humans -- whoever denies the existence and element of psychology, is either lying, or ignorant, or both!

In any case, thank you for taking time reading this!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing

(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

My DGT Board's Debut @ Siglap South CC Chess Club (Sunday, 12 Aug 2018)

I'm glad my recently purchased DGT Smart Board was put to good use! I actually got it at around SGD $500 to record Rapid and Blitz moves using the Smart Board's internal memory -- it just need to be fed with a power supply (either direct power or powerbank will do). There were a couple of unrecorded games, thanks to my stupidity over setting up my Wall Charger cum PowerBank device wrongly -- it can serve as either 1 but not both at the same time, and the initial power socket I plugged into was faulty, LOL) Anyway, it was not a huge loss, now that I have figured things out, this blunder will not happen again.

More importantly, how happy am I to see that my friends and the kids loved their experience using the Board! I have also offered to lend this to other chess sites such as the Singapore Chess Meetup @ Asia Square Tower 1 on Wednesdays and PubXChess @ a different Pub location on Saturday / Sunday afternoon for special event(s) at no charge of course.

William and Seng Chin playing an untimed game on the DGT Board. Even though they did not request for it, the game moves have been captured! Note: We are all regulars at the Singapore Chess Meetup =)

The following are my personal games played any my own quick review / views on them.

Game 1(rapid)


Learning Points / Post Game Opinion:

• My opening play continues to be meh - no opening advantage, if not slightly disadvantaged and we play on from there -- maybe my opening play is actually worse than my endgame? I don't know for sure.
• I love the way I punished Black's innocent-looking 14...a6 =) Tactics!
• Misplayed under time pressure, but I'm glad I managed to explain to the kid how to play against opponents under time pressure. He should be doing the right things next time!

Game 2 (rapid)

Learning Points / Post Game Opinion:

• Again, the opening started off rather equal. 
• Again, Queen placement issues (12...Qc7 played instead of 12...Qa6!)
• The tactical trickery with 19...Bg6 is probably one of the better lessons I can give my kiddo opponent today =) 

Game 3 (blitz)

Learning Points / Post Game Opinion:

• Can't switch opening just like that. Specifically, cannot use Caro-Kann ideas in the Sicilian, LOL.
• After surviving the lost position from the opening, I actually like the way I kept things simple. Feels correct for a blitz game.

Raw games played by others, captured on the DGT Board (I did not clean them up, so some appear a bit weird -- so minimise takebacks next time!)

I don't know how it happened, but I think after the session wrapped up, the 4 of us ("Sunday Chess Uncle" Mr Eric Lim, Seng Chin, William and I) were chatting on chess for 30-60 mins. Who says that chess is a non-social activity? ^o^

Okay, that wraps up the week, and working weekdays are here =( Oh well, hope to survive until I get to play chess again!

Thanks again for your time reading =)


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

A Pictorial Report: Round 7 of the QCD Adults Chess League

As I did not play in today's round (still nursing a prolonged cold/cough), there will be no games replay / self-attempted analysis.

Rather, I tried my best to serve the chess goddess Caissa in every foreseeable way. 

First, I tried to take some photographs to cover this event. Unfortunately, more than 50% of my pictures taken "cannot make it". Some of the pictures, despite being very blur, were kept as they hold certain special meaning to me. Things did improve a bit when Andre tried his best to impart some photography skills to a complete photography idiot (me). You can see the world of difference between pictures taken by myself compared to the ones I tried to imitate his shots.

Second, I finally remembered to pass the application form for the upcoming Queenstown Chess Club standard chess tournament (unrated, 1 hour per side with no increment) to Mr Eric Lim, whom I have been referring to as the "Sunday Chess Uncle". We are currently playing chess on Sundays at Siglap South CC (3pm-6pm). This is the only way to inform him as he does not have access to the internet ... =(

Third, I tried to make sure that the spectators I'd invited (namely, Mr Sid and the "Sunday Chess Uncle") feel welcomed. I'm glad I brought my personal chess set and clock for their friendly games!

Wrapping up would be my observations, learning points and personal ranting -- I still care a lot about "irrelevant" things like chess etiquette and the likes -- and I admit this may be controversial and may upset some of the players in the league. Of course, things like etiquette is very subjective and open to interpretations. Please feel free to feedback any objections or different views. Even an indication that you're upset will be good, so that I would be more careful with what I say in future.

Okay, this is supposed to be a PICTORIAL report, so here goes. 

First, free-flow of drinks (coffee and tee) is provided. Yes, some of my friends found this "duh" (meaningless to take).

Second, these are some shots taken on my friends from Singapore Chess Meetup @ Asia Square Tower 1 before the game commences.

Picture with David and Jarred. I guess this was a lucky shot in that both players won their personal games for their own teams in impressive fashion. (Their team were playing against each other!)

This is between Cyrille and Jarred. What a game it turned to be man, I was treated to quality chess display!

A friendly game between Mr Sid, whom I "invited" to observe the league, and Mr Xavier Chua, Team Captain of Team Bulldogs/Psalms 23.

And their friendly game was observed by Chris, the arbiter for the tournament, who is also the current President of the Singapore Chess Federation.

It was hard to take a close-up with Chris as he seems to be avoiding my phone whenever I was taking a shot blatantly. Only managed to sneak one here. There was a very funny moment when Chris said "touch move!" in a joking way at the friendly game. I almost spilled my tea -- unfortunately this precious moment could not be captured by any shot -- you gotta be there to appreciate the atmosphere yourself!

A timed friendly game between Mr Sid and "Sunday Chess Uncle", Mr Eric Lim. Because Eric had stopped playing chess for decades (his knowledge on the rules and etiquette remain with the 1980s or so), I had taken some effort to update him of the current rules and etiquette. Hopefully, he will know enough to play correctly at his maiden tournament after so many years of inactivity!

An interesting team battle between the Asia-Squared Bishops (a team I helped to pull the players together at the beginning of the league!) and team 8.c4! (my team). Interestingly, I have played individual head-to-head games with all of the players fielded for team Asia-Squared Bishops.

There was a minor episode before this team battle. The Asia-Squared Bishops Team was unable to field 4 players (Mr Teddy Yip was added late and not eligible to play in this round under the tournament rules). So the team forfeited board #4 at the onset. Still, the players on Board 4 played a friendly game notwithstanding the 1 point was scored for my team's favour. In the end, my team won by the narrow margin of 2.5-1.5. In any case, there is no dispute over the team results as Mark won his friendly game on Board 4 anyway.

Team 8.c4!'s victory shot after the round: That's me with the tongue, Gabriel, Mark, Ching Wai and Ethan. The "3" from Mark signifies the 3rd consecutive team victory we scored -- in fact, it's "only" the 3rd team victory scored since our participation from the 1st season ^o^ I'm not sure if our team is the only 1 with absolutely no change of players from the 1st season? In any case,  I guess we are sticking together since we enjoy each others company very much!

Timothy seem to be in a great mood. I'm not sure if the smile was arising from (i) the presence / arrival of his supporter, (ii) me coming over to take a close-up shot, (iii) the discovery of a great resource over the board against my team mate, Ching Wai, (iv) a mixture of these reasons, or (v) some other reason(s)? In any case, kudos to you for a fine display my friend! Just hope you can quickly finish up your NS commitment and come back to play more chess okay =) 

Andre and Uthpala, both regular players of the Singapore Chess Meetup, posing for my shot. Their opponents conceded a walkover, so they had time for a little distraction. I'm sorry my poor shot don't do you guys justice man!

Uthpala with the very gentlemanly Anthony preparing for their blitz series for the night. Anthony deserves my praise for being a sport in a tournament setting. -- it's easy to behave like a nice guy in a non-competitive setting, but it's rare to behave as a gentleman in a competitive setting (You can read more on this in my previous report of the recently concluded unrated team rapid event @ Nanyang CC). Both Uthpala and Anthony boast a 100% win record against me to date ^o^ 

The following are some ad-hoc shots with no specific player-reference.

The league pool is big enough to be interesting. I've heard about some players' preference to play in adults-only pool, because they had bad experiences with kid opponents misbehaving in local tournaments. With no disrespect to kids, and with no intention to over-generalise, I have personally indeed encountered such incidents, or witnessed it myself when I/my friends participate in local chess tournaments. These are unfortunately, not once-off episodes. So this might serve as another pull factor for adult players to consider joining the Adults Chess League!

A slightly more artistic shot I tried to take, after Andre's patient repeated guidance =) 

Observations, Learning Points and Personal Opinion (Etiquette-wise)

Okay, a final pre-warning that this may seem controversial to some, and risk upsetting some players. Also, this is highly subjective based on my personal opinion. 

1. Strong players are strong because of their resilience. It is NOT true that strong players will always get a superior position right out of the opening (or from move #1 for the matter), increase their advantage to the point of no return and then crush their weaker opponent like a fly. Rather, when faced in a difficult / disadvantaged position, they don't give up as easily as "newbies" like myself and display impressive defensive technique. Recently, I have come to better understand why it always seems difficult to defend -- psychological factors aside, because more often than not, we need to address the opponents' main threats / ideas instead of advancing our own goals. Of course, this also does not mean that we are condemned to defending passively. Always remain on the lookout for opportunities to strike back!

2. Gamesmanship within the rules are perfectly legal. Whether it falls under "proper etiquette" is up to you.

One common observation I have seen (not only in this round, but also in other tournaments) is that sometimes a player likes to grab the Queen (or an extra Queen) and put it beside the chess board. No matter how I see it, this is a gamesmanship (not a sporting) display. Players who do this are essentially utilising psychological attack -- "If you do not resign, I am going to crush you with the promoted Queen."

What should we do when our opponent do this to us? Possible responses include:

a. If the position is truly hopeless, consider resigning!

b. There is this possibility that the opponent is bluffing! Why does he resort to a psychological attack? Maybe because he is not confident in outplaying you over the board! So the more the opponent tries to provoke us with such gimmick, the more we should try our best to remain calm and objective.

Is it possible that I am over-thinking, and that players doing such actions meant "no harm"? Maybe the opponent just wants to make sure no precious time is lost when it comes to the point that he needs to Queen/promote. I can't bring myself to buy into this argument/excuse, simply because of the following law of chess. As quoted from FIDE Laws of Chess taking effect from 1 January 2018,

"6.11.2 A player may stop the chess clock only in order to seek the arbiter’s assistance, for example when promotion has taken place and the piece required is not available."

So the reason/excuse that a player is doing this with no harm intended doesn't stand, at least, in my opinion. No time will be lost since you can pause the clock when you are promoting a piece not available!

Of course, the use of gamesmanship is not against the rules. I am guilty of it as well. In particular for team events I often initiate 1 insincere draw offer in a bad/lost position (although I do not repeat the offer). Even if it burns a bit of the opponent's thinking time to consider the offer, it achieves some "free damage". So far, other than arising from wrong evaluation of the position, I don't think I have initiated a draw in a bad/lost position for individual games. (If I did, I apologise for it.) But I do admit that I am no saint myself where chess etiquette is concerned -- I am still learning and trying to improve with each other game (both in terms of play and etiquette). 

3. Take note of the proper way to execute pawn promotion!

Going back to the point on piece promotion, the use of an inverted Rook to represent a Queen is NOT correct under FIDE law of chess (I've heard that this is allowed under certain USCF rules, but I'm not so familiar with USCF rules anymore). The famous incident over the Canadian Chess Open Controversy will serve as a painful reminder for the side making the promotion the wrong way. In fact, I observed it done wrongly in a couple of games played today (but the opponents did not complain about it).

Even though the current laws of chess is such that a game is only forfeited after making 2 illegal moves (a lot of things, like not using the same hand to move the piece(s) and press the clock, using 2 hands to make a move, pressing the clock without having made a move are now considered as an illegal move) , one should be careful with all the high tension ongoing during a game. Remember to replace the pawn with a promoted piece before pressing the clock, even if it is obvious that the opponent will capture the promoted piece immediately! If you can't find the piece you wish to promote to, pause the clock and don't waste precious time!

4. How to deal with the pressing of the wrong clock?

Last but not least, there is still one infringement that I cannot find a proper reconciliation -- in a team event, what if you press the wrong clock? I have asked 2 arbiters for their views so far, and both opine that 

a) it should not be punished as having made an illegal move, but 

b) it is indeed difficult to restore the "legal/correct" playing condition in a time incremental situation. 

Personally, however, I do think the culprit should be punished somehow. But I don't know how... If you have any suggestions or take on this, please feel free to share with me!

Thanks again for reading!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing

(a.k.a. newbie_learner)