Ministry of Education retains the Public Service Chess title by Junior Tay

This year, Ministry of Education Team 1 (comprising Junior Tay, CM Quek Suan Shiau, NM Olimpiu Urcan, Pok Wern Jian, Ong Chuan Hock and Lim Chye Lye) romped home 4 points clear of the field after 5 rounds of play. Its perrenial rival, Ministry of Health failed to mount a strong challenge when  Professor IM Hsu Li Yang and Dr J Nithiananthan could not make it in time for the Round 2 showdown and the 3.5-0.5 win by the teachers virtually ended the challenge.

NUS were serious contenders this year with the addition of ELO 2208 Raul Munoz Gomez on Board 1. With Dr. Rajesh Rai scoring a magnificent 4.5/5 on Board 4, they pipped MOH to 2nd spot on tie-break.

Master Clash - Professor IM Hsu Li Yang  (MOH) squeezing out NM Koh Kum Hong (HDB)
by utilizing Kingside dark square pressure.

 

Dr Rajesh Rai (NUS) struggling to stem Lim Chye Lye's (MOE 1) nagging initiative. 

Rajesh succeeded in drawing eventually.

 

Dr Shashi Jayakumar (NUS) broke through  the Kingside of Pok Wern Jian's (MOE 1) 

French Winawer with a temporal Rook sacrifice on f7.

CM Quek Suan Shiau (MOE 1) had to show plenty of resilience to nullify the fine positional play 

of Raul Munoz (NUS).

I would like to show you how Suan Shiau made use of subtle tactical ploys to outwit Francis Teo in this final round encounter.