NYPS at 61st National Schools Individuals
Chess Championships 2009
17 - 18 March 2009
Civil Service Club
On any given Monday or Tuesday there wouldn't be anything really out of ordinary happening on the small Tessensohn Road, off the Ballestier Road and close to the Farrer Park MRT Station. Besides the many eating houses located there, the building of the Civil Service Club would be frequented by a dozen loyal members who, after they enjoyed their time according to their habits, would leave the premises and the place would turn quite again. This was not the case of the Monday and Tuesday of 17 and 18 March: more than 1270 pupils from 145 schools descended in the gymnasium hall of the Club for taking part in the 61st National Schools Individual Chess Championships 2009. The place was literally too small to fit them all but the Singapore Chess Federation, the organising body, tried its best to offer decent playing conditions when faced with such a record turnout. Nanyang Primary School set a record from the very start: out of the 145 participating schools, NYPS sent the biggest lot of students: 108. 90% of these students were sponsored by the NYPS Chess Club. The main reason for such a massive participation was to allow as many NYPS pupils as possible to gain tournament experience, get exposed to the tough tournament playing rules and get a chance to live a genuine learning experience that a serious chess tournament has to offer. The tournament was structured in the following categories: Girls U7, U9, U11, U13 and U15/Boys U7, U9, U11, U13 and U15 & Open (U20). NYPS had participants in each category, minus the U15 and the Open. The tournament was an 8-round Swiss system and not a 9-round one, an important fact for the second half of the tournament when the leaders that will eventually clash must be very careful not to drop points unnecessarily due to the short time left to catch up. Girls U7NYPS had 4 players in a field of 15. Krystal Soh won the Gold medal with a 100% score (8 pts out of 8 rounds), a truly amazing performance from our pupil. Krystal's determination and focus during play was evident to the many parents and spectators watching the games for the lowest age category. Gerlyn Wong played well to score 4 pts and finish 6th. Sheryl-lynn and Shaelynn Tan, the twin sisters, played reasonably well until the 7th round (collecting 4 pts) when - due to a controversial decision to shorten the tournament with one round and then let it continue until the final 8th round - they left for home! They finished 9th and 10th even if given a loss in the last round and - together with Gerlyn, they earned their top-10 trophies. Girls U9There was no story of NYPS dominance here however. There were 9 NYPS players in a field of 72. The best placed was Elizabeth Fam who finished 13th with 5 pts (and collected a merit medal), followed by Chew Yun Ting finished 20th with the same number of pts. Girls U11There was a lot of drama for NYPS girls (9 Nanyang pupils in a field of 70). Michelle Ho (Rating 1420) was the top ranked player and she was the favorite. She did very well until after round 4 (she collected 4 pts). In round 5, she had to meet the other NYPS strong player who also scored 100%: Rachel Soh.This 5th round was decisive for the last run. After a stubborn fight, Rachel (Rated 1229) won against Michelle and advanced with 5 pts out of 5 rounds and had to meet Shankar Neha, the only player with a similar score. Rachel defeated Neha in round 6 and took a serious step forward for claiming the gold. Michelle also won on the 2nd board and collected 5 pts. In round 7, drama unfolded: Rachel lost on the top board to a player who scored only 5 points until that moment, and Michelle was beaten by Neha on 2nd board. Round 8 was decisive: four players with 6 pts each met on the top 2 boards. Rachel met Quek Kristine and managed to beat her to score 7 pts out of 8 rounds. But so did Neha on the second board. Playoffs between Rachel and Neha had to be arranged at SCF on March 19. Unfortunately, even if she defeated Neha in the tournament rounds, Rachel lost the playoffs and had to settle for the Silver medal. As a general note, she may have not been psychologically ready for the playoffs. SCF should allow at least one-day break, especially after such a grueling tournament with many delays. Rachel played a fantastic tournament nevertheless. Concentration and strong play. With some tournament experience and serious training she can be one of the country’s leading players in the next years. Michelle won the last round too and finished 5th. She may have been affected by her loss to Rachel (the other strong NYPS player) but she did well to recover up to 7th round when her loss to Neha (Rated 1126) deprived her of a top medal. If she would have beaten Neha (or held her to a draw), Michelle would have claimed a top-3 medal and would have also allowed Rachel to push forward for the Gold. Michelle remains one of the key Nanyang players with a very good chess understanding. The other pleasant surprise besides Rachel’s play was the performance of Zhao Jiayi (Rated 1063). She scored 6 pts, finishing 7th (in fact a tie for 4-7th positions and according to tiebreaks, she finished 7th). Jiayi is a player of great potential. Excellent attitude during play, stubborn resistance and a very strong will. Before the last round, when she had 5 pts and was playing a higher rated player (Yeoh Candice, rated 1112), she rejected a draw offer and went to win with style after a stubborn defence. Good performance by Jiayi. Victoria Fam (Rated 1119) finished 24th with 4.5 pts only. She made three draws up to the 5th round and two losses (in the 6th and 8th round) affected her final standings. But, a reliable player, Victoria can do much better. Girls U13NYPS registered only 4 players in a field of 62: Yuan Wei Ting, Rachel Soh, Phyllis Poh and Natania Ng. Yuan Wei Ting was the top ranked player at the start of the event (Rated 1577). Rachel Soh’s determination to play in a higher category too is to be remarked. Up to the 5th round, Yuan Wei Ting scored 100% (4 out of 4). In the 5th round, she unexpectedly lost to Michelle Lim (Rated 1320). Wei Ting bounced back with two victories and at the start of 8th round she had 6 pts. She was pitted against Chng Pearle who was the only player with 7 pts. Wei Ting drew her game and secured the Silver. Her loss in the 5th round didn’t allow her much space of maneuvering, especially in a 8-round and not a 9-round event. A good result (and a good fight back attitude) from Wei Ting although she could have won the Gold with a better concentration in the middle of the tournament. Rachel Soh scored 5 pts and finished 13th. After a perfect start in the first 3 rounds (3 out of 3) and lost the 4th round to the strong Chng Pearle, the eventual gold medallist. This may have affected Rachel’s play in the next two rounds when she lost both games. She came back with 2 victories but it was not sufficient to make it into the top 10. Rachel’s effort to play on both days (U13 and U11) is to be admired. Phyllis Poh finished 26th with 4 pts. A 50% result is not bad and her opponents were almost always higher rated but Phyllis may have the potential to exceed these sort of standards. Natania Ng finished 49th with only 3 pts. She had a weak start with 1 pt out of 5 rounds, but in round 7 she won a good game against Poh Jia Hui (Rated 1158). Open U711 NYPS pupils in a field of 41 players. The surprise player that should have been a serious contender for the Gold was the relatively unknown Hu Yifeng. A very gifted player, Yifeng played excellent until round 6 scoring 5.5 pts out of 6 games! In round 6, he lost to the eventual winner of the category (Sim Zun De Kai, Rated 1060). The news that he had to stop the tournament half-way through and leave for the airport, rattled Yifeng who was given lost games in the last 2 rounds. He was in fact in a car rolling on the highway to the Changi Airport, while his opponents were benefiting from a walkover. Had he had better playing conditions, Yifeng could have been a serious contender for one of the top 3 medals. At any rate, a player to keep our eyes upon in the future. Even handicapped by this, Yifeng finished 13th with 4.5 pts. Dillon Hoon was the best placed NYPS player, scoring 5 pts and finishing on 10th position (but he was given a full point when paired in the last round against an absent Yifeng). Ethan Tan was another NYPS player who scored 4.5 pts finishing 14th. Open U933 NYPS players in a field of 214. Next to Open U11, this is one of the most contested categories for many years. Despite the large contingent of NYPS players present, only a hand stood up by being competitive enough: Nathan Mar (Rated 1222) scored 100% in the first 6 rounds, but lost the decisive encounter with Ow Ryan from Northland Primary (Rated 1350; eventual Gold winner). This decided the gold medal. Nathan bounced back with a victory in the 8th round to claim the Bronze; the other player who did very well was Jonathan Cheong (unrated!) who lost only one game in round 3, and then went on to score 6.5 pts finishing 6th. Jonathan was the only unrated player in the top ten players in the final standings. A player to watch in the near future; Liu Song Tian finished 14th with 6 pts, Gerald Wong finished 18th, Nicholas Ho finished 19th, Dylan Toh finished 23rd, Shannon Chan ended on 27th - all with 6 pts each separated by tiebreaks. There are many promising NYPS players in this category but what do they lack to leap forward decisively and claim a stronger position amongs the medallists? Food for thought. Open U1125 NYPS players in a field of 265. One of the toughest groups there is in this event. Derek Lim (Rated 1544) was the top ranked player and many expected him to bring home the Gold. After he scored 100% in the first 4 rounds, Derek lost in the 5th to Michael Fernandez, a strong player but who shouldn’t have been that much of a problem for Derek. The latter got into serious time trouble [according to some sources due to a badly timed bathroom break] and eventually lost. This was Derek’s only loss as he bounced back with an impressive round of 3 consecutive victories. It wasn’t enough to recapture the leading position however and he finished 3rd with 7 pts, earning the Bronze. Isaak Soh (Rated 1300) played very well: dropped only 1 pt (beaten by NYPS’ Nicholas Ang in round 5) and finished 2nd with 7 pts (due to better tie-breaks), thus securing the Silver.Another good performance was that of Nicholas Ang (Rated 1237) who scored 7 pts and due to tiebreaks had to be satisfied with the 4th place only. Gerald Chan demonstrated solid play as he (Rated 1225) finished on 9th position with 6.5 pts, his only loss being at the hands of the Gold winner, Jonathan Tay (Rated 1377). Sixteen players tied for positions 12-28, each with 6 pts. There were four NYPS players in this lot: Soo Kai Jie (Rated 1392, finished 17th), Atticus Tay (Rated 1025, finished 18th), John Cheong (Rated 1153, finished 19th), Sean Toh (Rated 1269, finished 21st) and Liu Mutian (Rated 1151, finished 27th). Open U1312 NYPS players in a field of 186. Another tough group for NYPS to claim a top 3 type of medal. Mainly due to lacking a very strong player able to compete head to head with some of the strongest players in the country in this age category. Wu Muyu (Rated 1373) should receive a lot of credit for his play: he finished 7th with 6.5 pts in a field of Singapore’s best junior players (players with enough tournament experience both nationally and internationally, graduates of National Jr Squad training schemes, on private training and with regular training games schemes). Especially Muyu’s victory over the much higher rated Lee Kah Win (Rated 1702) showed this player’s great potential. Tay Ace (Rated 1155) did another creditable job: he finished 12th with 6 pts (tied for 10-19th), beating four players with at least 100 rating points more than he had.In conclusion, after tough battles in some categories where NYPS pupils were favorites, things went pretty well for Nanyang Primary School: NYPS finished with 6 medals (1 Gold medal at Girls U7, 3 Silver medals at Girls U11, Girls U13 and Open U11, and 1 Bronze at Open U11). None of the other 145 schools managed to beat this record. By comparison with the 60th NSICC, NYPS bettered its performance: during the 60th NSICC, NYPS won only 5 top-3 medals. NYPS also secured 10 top-ten trophies and 19 merit medals. Statistically, NYPS kept its impressive position as one of the strongest school chess clubs in Singapore both in terms of participation numbers as well as in terms of top medals won. But numbers and statistics, however telling, never tell a full story by themselves. Yes, NYPS won more trophies & medals than any other school in this competition, and, yes, some NYPS pupils did not win a medal they dreamt at or which pre-event statistics indicated they should have won it. None of that really matters in the long run. As Vince Lombardi, the legendary American football coach, once said "Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything". NYPS students should work hard to maintain their resilience, abilities to lead in the toughest battles in each age category and - especially when not winning - to work hard to maintain the will to win. Because if that fundamental attitude is well preserved, they are all winners. Acknowledgements
NYPS Chess Club wishes to thank the following: NYPS staff and parents who assisted the children during the event, NYPS school leaders who support chess in school and an active NYPS participating in the country's important chess events, Mr. Amos Lum for providing the club with some remarkable photographs that over time will prove priceless memories, Mr. Eric Gloria for generously feeding our photo archive despite his busy schedule, and a genuine 'thank you' to all Intchess trainers involved in the chess training conducted at Nanyang Primary School.
NYPS Medals, Trophies & Merit Medals List:
