Chess provides entertainment, relaxation and intellectual exercise. It is also a great game for our students to compete in and try to improve over time. Last Saturday, a chess tournament was held at the Christian German School Chiang Mai (CDSC). It gives all the young chess lovers a great opportunity to test and showcase their talent and abilities in front of coaches, peers and parents. This year there were 3 rankings for each age group and the 4 best players from each school will be chosen for the team ranking.

40 entries from 4 international schools in Chiang Mai — CDSC, CMIS, PTIS, LIST — were registered this year. The youngest player was only 7 years old, and our host school CDSC and another historically competitive school CMIS have both sent very big teams of strong players. The tournament follows the FIDE rules (Federation Internationale de Echecs / FIDE laws of chess and by play with the Swiss chess system) and each contestant will need to play seven rounds of 20 minutes each to get their ranking results.

It was a hot day, not only because of the warm weather but also due to the intense atmosphere of ‘battles’ on the chess boards. All the players used their ‘lethal tactics’ and defensive strategies to show off their best skills. The tournament also tested their psychological composure. Some of our players told me their opponents gave them confronting stares after each move. So, thinking and acting smartly and confidently in a short time were skills also required for our players.

After the intensive competition under the strict supervision of referees, our contestants gave it their best and learned many valuable lessons.

Our Top 5 Results:

Rank 4 Ziyu (Jazz) Wang — U15 5.5 Points
Rank 14 Sangjin (Mir) Park — U15 5 Points
Rank 24 Renkai (Ken) Zhang — U15 3 Points
Rank 26 Kanghyun (David) Jeon — U15 3 Points
Rank 28 Jianxin (Kevin) Liu — U15 3 Points

Our most competitive player Jazz won the 1st Runners-Up for the U15 Group and we finished 3rd overall in the team ranking. Congratulations to our students!