Psychologists have time and again validated chess as an excellent scholastic tool for developing analytical and mathematical skills, English proficiency, character and personality. It is now played by hundreds of thousands of kids around the world, and they love it. How do you describe the joy of seeing your first checkmate, or the beauty of tricky traps and combinations, or the thrill of playing in a tournament.
Every Sunday, SCA Chess Academy from Shanghai holds a series of online U15 Rapid tournaments on www.chesskid.com to give the students of the game a chance to put into practice their gained knowledge. Players collect Grand Prix points from each tournament they participate in.
The last leg of SCA’s Spring Season Grand Prix was played last June 14.
1. Julia Alicante (PinkDynamicQuiz) of the Philippines
2. Lucas Granucci ( SAS-LucasG ) SCA Chess Academy
3. Michael Jiang ( SCIS-MichaelJ ) SCA Chess Academy
Congratulations to the winners!
A total of 270 juniors from around the world played in the 5 month long tournament series.
Donald Wen won 2nd place while Lucas Granucci was 3rd, Oscar Yasunaga 4th and Ethan Zhu 5th. Evan Alpert, Edward Zhang, Eva Han, Payne Hong, Titian Wu, David Gong, Alex Chorlton, Lucia Stoll (France), Kacper Klonowski (Poland) and Brian Cheng round out the Top 15.
We present you some exciting moments from the last leg of the Grand Prix tournament.
In a tense middle game position, Julia (PinkDynamicQuiz) missed the forcing line 13. Bxa6! bxa6 14. Qxa6+ Kd7 15. Nb5 Qe6 16. Rxe6! Qxe6 17. Ne5++- and played the slower 13. Nd1. Then Michael (SCIS-MichaelJ) over extended with 13.. g5 (Bd7 is better) and ran into Julia’s 14. Bxa6! tactical shot. An instructive game!
PinkDynamicQuiz (1688) – SCIS-MichaelJ (1501)
The second encounter is a very interesting endgame. We show you a variation where Oscar (ExtraMaestro), playing Black could have won the game against Julia (playing White). White’s 57. Kd3? (57. g4! hxg4 58.hxg4 e4! 59.gxf5 exf3 60. Kd2 Kd5 61. Ke3 Ke5 62. Kxf3 Kxf5 would lead to a draw) would have a tragic consequence had Oscar played 57.. h4!! (If 58. Kd2 Kc4 59. Kc2 e4 60.fxe4 fxe4 61.Kd2 Kb3 62. Ke3 Kxc3 wins!). Now after Black’s 57..Kd5?? 58.g4 hxg4 59.hxg4 fxg4? (59.. Ke6 60.gxf5+ Kd5 is a draw) 60.fxg4 e4+ 61. Ke3 Ke5 62.g5 White wins. This one is for the books!
PinkDynamicQuiz (1688) – SCIS-MichaelJ (1501)
When the clock ticking is fast and there’s so much pressure, it is inevitable that these talented youngsters play inaccuracies. The game below is an example. Black should have just captured the hanging pawn when White played 19.b4? . What is important is one must analyze one’s own games and learn from the mistakes.
SCIS-SimonJ (1426) – SCIS-MichaelJ (1505)
Congratulations to all!
A great Grand Prix tournament. See you all in the Summer Tour.
Every chess master was once a beginner. Irving Chernev
By AGM Giovanni Dy, IM Vitaly Samolin
