Cebuano rules Singapore blitz chess

CEBUANO chess International Master (IM) Kim Steven Yap won the Singapore National Blitz Chess Championship 2012 last Saturday at the Bishan Community Club Multi-Purpose Hall in Singapore.

Yap accumulated a total of 7.5 points after nine rounds and won the title via tie-breaker points over IM Enrique Pacencia, a Filipino now playing for Singapore, and the host country’s upstart player Daniel Chan Yi Ren, who both finished with 7.5 points.

Yap had 56.5 tie-break points; Chan got 55.5 to place second and Pacencia had 48.5 and finished third.

The tournament was participated by 100 players and had four IMs, three Fide Masters, a Women’s IM from China, a local WFM and two Country Masters (CM).

Yap (2410), who was also the top seed of the tournament, had seven wins, one draw and one loss. He opened the tournament with a quick workout over local player Carwyn Yeo Ruizhi in the first round and had wins over Ashvin Sivakumar and Olimpiu Urcan before he lost Round 4 to Weiliang Tan.

After that loss, Yap bounced back and won three more matches against Jayakumar Shasi, CM Jarred Neubronner and fourth seed FM Chan before he drew his match against IM Pacencia (2402), a former member of the Philippine Chess Olympiad team in 2002.

“I drew with IM Pacencia during panic time. But I was winning in the end game,” Yap told Sun.Star Cebu.

IM Pacencia was the second-seeded player in the tournament.

Yap then won his last match over fifth seed IM Yee-Weng Lim (2300) of Malaysia, his lone non Singaporean opponent in the tournament.

Yap, who is also accredited as a Fide trainer, is in Singapore with his father Linkee, who is currently teaching at the chess school in Singapore.

“I am currently teaching at a chess school here and holding online tutorials with foreign players. I also have private lessons, group training and chess camps here,” Yap said.