Chess provides entertainment, relaxation and intellectual exercise. It also optimizes the competitive and improvement abilities of students. To appreciate the same, an international chess tournament was held at the Christian German School Chiang Mai (CDSC) on 12th of May for students. It gives all the young chess lovers a great opportunity to test and showcase their skills in front of coaches, peers and parents. This year there were 3 rankings for each age group and 3 best teams will be chosen for the team ranking.

35 entries from 5 international schools — CDSC, CMIS, PTIS, LIST, NIS — are registered this year. The youngest player is only 7 years old, and our host school CDSC and another historically competitive school CMIS have both sent out their strongest players. The Tournament follows the FIDE rules (Federation Internationale de Echecs / FIDE laws of chess and be played with the Swiss chess system), each contestant will need to play seven rounds of 20 minutes each to get the ranking results.

It was a hot day, not only because of the warmed up weather but the intense atmosphere of ‘battles’ on chess boards. All the players used their ‘lethal tactics’ and defensive strategies to show the best tactics they can give. It’s a challenging task to maintain psychological composure. So, thinking quickly and acting confidently in a short time are highly demanding of our players.

After the intensive competitions under the strict supervision of referees, our contestants have tried the best they can. They have learned more valuable lessons in real battles with competent chess fighters. Some are to be proud of, some are so painful to forget. But all will be the great experiences and stories to tell in their life.

Our 2018 Prem’s Chess Tournament Team Results:
Rank 5 Sangjin (Mir) Park — U15 5.0 Points
Rank 6 Binyuan (Andy) Xu — U15 5.0 Points
Rank 18 Pathorn (Oc) Arjpothi — U15 3.5 Points
Rank 25 Nontakorn (Non) Chompaeng — U15 3.0 Points
Rank 26 Botian (Sean) Shen — U15 2.5 Points
Rank 27 Xixun Ling — U15 2.5 Points

One of our most competitive players Oc has won the 3rd Place for the U11 Group. Congratulations to everyone, well done for your audacious competitions!

We are aiming to achieve better performance next year.

By Ajarn Jun
Chess Club Exploria Leader