Once again, I am so grateful for the organisers generosity, and I shall continue to think of ways to reciprocate their support. The usual stuff would be to spread this league to as many chess players as possible -- this time round, there were indeed a number of individuals who declared their interest in the midst of the league running, and unfortunately, there were no teams able or willing to take them in. So for anyone interest in playing in the next season, please start searching actively for your team mates early!
As usual, I have a lot of things to say, but first, lets allow the pictures to speak thousands of words at once! I'm sorry that I don't happen to know everyone's names yet. I'm sure I will come to learn who you are over the next seasonS to come!
8th Place: Team Pokemonsters Resurgence (my apologies for missing the photo, as these Pokémon
are just too hard for me to catch!)
7th Place: Team Kent Ridge Knights, as represented by Team Captain, David (centre of picture). On the left is Mark Liew, a.k.a. dr_chess_dad, the organiser and on the right is Mr Lim Boon Seng Christopher, the chief arbiter for the tournament and current President of the Singapore Chess Federation.
6th Place: Team GACC Dream Team, as represented by Team Captain (and my personal chess friend!), Kwok Foong ^o^
5th Place: Team Woof! Woof! Woof!, as represented by Hazel, Board #1 for Singapore's Women's Team in the recently concluded 43rd Chess Olympiad held in Batumi, Georgia.
3rd runner up: Team Woof! as represented by IM Lim Yee-Weng, 2-time Malaysian Chess Championship winner
2nd runner up: Team Bulldogs/Psalms 23, as represented by Team Captain, well-known local chess figure, Xavier Chua
1st runner up: Team Woof! Woof!, as represented by Team Captain, GM Elect, IM Kevin Goh, also the 7-time national champion and current #1 player in Singapore.
Champion: Team Pawnstars (don't get the spelling wrong!), as represented by Team Captain, Dr Nithia
Dr Nithia lifting the trophy.
More well-deserved "air-time" for the winning team.
A close-up shot at the trophy
MVP of the season: Lincoln Yap
Separately, I will come to the "Special Mentioned" Player. But first, let's continue with the prize giving ceremony!
Kevin Goh sharing with us insights of his game played with the MVP of the season. I believe the annotated pgn is meant only for sharing within the league of players? So for players not in the league and want to learn about this insight, you are out of luck. Sorry! ^o^
And no, my DGT board is not one of the prizes, LOL. And yes, I am happy to share this FAQ: so many players asked me how much this set cost. The DGT smart board set, i.e. plastic chess pieces and plastic board made to look and feel like a wooden board, costs around SGD$500 -- but only because I bought it when free shipping was offered. Now it's probably going to cost around the neighbourhood of SGD $600 -- the shipping fees are crazy. And I also heard that a new economic type of electronic board will be coming out soon!
Post-event Activities: I'm glad the chess supplies I brought, 1 DGT chess set + 1 tournament chess set + 2 clocks came in handy.
Fun and laughter with transfer chess!
Here's some blitz in action! Can't help but remind me of Pub X Chess !
The 2 regulars at the Sunday weekly PubXChess battle it out.
I like the "blur" effect which reflects the high speed and intensity in a blitz game. This was a lucky shot. If you like the aesthetics of this picture, wait till you see Andre, the real master at this. I am only trying the very basics based on his advice. It's unfortunate he was unable to attend this closing ceremony to take better quality pictures for the QCD league.
Saving the best for the (near) last: An interview with Shivram!
My chess friends, especially the Asia Square chess clique would know that I have been the most impressed and amazed by Shivram, who scored a perfect 7 out of 7 in this season's league! And he's an unrated player! As a matter of fact, I have been wanting to interview him quite some time ago. But out of respect for his team Captain, who requested me to not disclose his team's "secret weapon" prematurely, I have waited till now. I have prepared some questions, but some of his responses surprised me, leading to additional minor questions. The following interview is not captured in verbatim, but captures the gist and the mood of the session. I may update it from time to time in case I got any information wrong.
newbie_learner: First and foremost, thank you for granting this interview. As I have been saying, you are one of the most outstanding player I see in the 2nd season of the league, winning all of your 7 personal games. Is there any general thing I can share about you?
Shivram: Thank you. I see chess as a passion, I want to keep playing, and keep playing well. And keep playing / playing well reinforces one another.
newbie_learner: How did you come to know about the QCD league? Could you share a little bit about how you come to join it?
Shivram: Well, I have been playing at pubXchess for about a year, and both my captain and I are regulars. So we have been playing each other and coming to understand each others' game well. I guess he sees my play good enough for his team.
(Many of newbie_learner's chess friends may not know that newbie_learner actually approached Shivram to join the QCD league too, asking if he would like to play in the league on behalf of the new teams he helped setting up. But I approached Shivram too late ... )
newbie_learner: (Just want to remind you that in case my questions come across as being too sensitive, you do not need to answer them.) It must be notable that you are unrated at present. May I know why you are unrated despite your chess proficiency?
Shivram: I used to play seriously from around 1991 to 2000 (similar to our local school tournaments / settings). But the chess scene in India was not that big back then. Getting a rating was a big deal in that there were not that many rated tournaments ongoing. And then, I stopped playing for more than a decade before coming to Singapore and started to play chess @ pubXchess again.
newbie_learner: (The following question was unplanned, but came out of my mouth anyway.) Given your proficiency in chess, would you consider playing in rated tournaments? Here, I explained that there are some adult players with ambitions in chess (e.g. to become titled), who spends a lot of time and effort preparing for their maiden tournament, so that then can hopefully achieve a high initial rating and exploit the k=40 factor to obtain a good rating to become at least a CM (requires rating of 2200).
Shivram: I won't rule out the possibility that I may play in a rated tournament one day, but I play chess more for the fun and enjoyment of it (rather than worry about "ratings"). Also, the practical consideration with (local) rated tournaments is that one is obliged to take leave for it.
newbie_learner: This is purely a hypothetical question / suggestion, but if there is something similar to the HPE training league, but it opens to unrated players like yourself, would you be interested? (Here I spent a bit of time explaining how HPE training league works -- notwithstanding that HPE training league is only open to rated adult players at present.)
Shivram: I am open to this if the tournament takes place over the weekends and not the weakdays.
newbie_learner: I also understand that you are a father (which means family commitment on top of work). Is there something you can share on how you spend your time improving or keeping up with your chess proficiency?
Shivram: I have found myself books for different aspects of chess:
openings -- I don't spend a lot of time on this, but mainly follow "fundamental chess openings" ;
middle games -- "the complete manual of positional chess" by GM Sakaev ;
tactics -- "forcing chess moves: the key to better calculation" by Charles Hertan ;
endgames -- "fundamental chess endings" and endgame book(s) by IM Jeremy Silman (1 of my personal favourite chess author too!)
(newbie_learner: Clearly, all the good players / players who are efficient spend more effort/time/resource on endgames. When will I overcome my personal bias that endgames are "boring"? ^o^)
newbie_learner: Okay, this question has not been cleared with your captain, but I would still ask anyway. In fact, I think this is what he and other team captains may be interested to know. Do you foresee yourself playing in the next season of the league? More importantly, would you be open to invitations to play for other teams? As you know, strong unrated players are highly sought after in the current format of the league. *Was looking at the Blitz table when asking this question and laughing with Shivram*
(To explain, the league has a rule stating that the average rating points of 4 players fielded in each round cannot exceed 2200, and players with no FIDE rating are assigned a provisional rating of 1800 for this purpose. Hence, having strong unrated players in your team allows greater freedom for the selection of players -- the unrated players help to pull down the team's average rating, so that much higher rated players can be field. This is more of a concern for top teams with many highly rated players to field.)
Shivram: I would be playing in the league next season of course. As to the team I would be playing for, my preference is to stay with him (his team), unless somehow our relationship takes the unforeseeable turn for the worse. *laughs*
(newbie_learner: Man. Just because you approached Shivram first... ^o^)
newbie_learner: Out of your perfect 7 victories, is there anyone which is the most memorable or important to you?
Shivram: That would be my game with Jack. I played the move / variation of ...Qb6 in the Benoni that was new or experimental to myself.
(newbie_learner: It is interesting in that Jack is also an unrated player himself. I thought Shivram would just name 1 of the higher/highest rated opponent he defeated as most memorable, but I was wrong. Clearly, rating points of the opponent don't mean anything to him. Which is kind of cool!)
Shivram: (Sharing an observation) Interestingly, it seems that the lower-rated players can play well and produce some upsets (as seen in the league).
newbie_learner: (Shares some of his personal experience). Yes, I think it has to do with the burden of expectations. Sometimes, the higher rated player would bear the burden of expectation to win (and win easily if the rating differences are big). This can mess up one's objective assessment of the position and cause more problem than help.
newbie_learner: Last but not least, would you like to do any shout-out?
Shivram: I find that the local chess scene is quite vibrant. I have played a few young, promising players, and I look forward to them becoming GMs in future.
(newbie_learner: Truth be told, the local chess scene also wasn't that vibrant to my memory. We are lucky to have Mr Bradley Loh from Australia who started the Singapore Chess Meetup because he found no existing conducive place to play chess! Followed by the meetup's growth in popularity over the years.)
The interview concludes. In gaming terms, I have completed one of my outstanding main quest with this interview. Unfortunately, there was a side quest which I forgot to do, LOL.
Feedback on criticisms heard regarding the league
While it may not be the wisest thing to "complain" on a happy occasion, I'd also like to share my thoughts towards some of the criticisms / feedback received. Interestingly, both are related to students from local tertiary institutions, through direct / indirect feedback:
- "$200 participation fees is too expensive."
newbie_learner's view: While I can understand that students may not have steady income like most working adults, the $200 participation fee is for the team and not for the individual. Think about what you are getting in return (playing 8-10 rounds under closed, conducive environment, with supply of drinks included and we also have a concluding prize presentation ceremony and dinner session).
Looking back at the whole season, if I see the student again, I would probably ask him to identify me a local chess tournament that is more "value-for money".
- "I don't want to play in this league. There are too many titled players."
newbie_learner's view: This is really a bad mentality. Do you know that there are so many players who want but don't get a chance to play against strong, titled opponents? I mean, if it was rated, I may understand (although in practice, the higher rated player would have more rating points on the line). In fact, you often have to pay higher rated players to play training games with you. So why not play in the tournament league and get "free" training along the way? You can even link this point back to the earlier feedback point that the participation fees is more expensive, and see the value-for-money aspect in playing in the league.
Some final concluding thoughts
I love the QCD Adults Chess League very very much. I will probably continue to play for as long as it is available. And I hope it will continue to be available for good. Hence, I see a need to do what I can to help keep it going.
I have not figured out on how we can actually move towards reducing budget deficit to run the league, but for now, I would continue to focus my ongoing efforts to gather more players / teams. And where else but the Singapore Chess Meetup and PubXchess? I really hope this "holy trinity" of local chess scene would keep going.
Thank you again for your time and patience!
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (a.k.a. newbie_learner)
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