Good gambit

A dedicated group of chess enthusiasts are trying to popularize the game in Hong Kong. Neil Li reports on the city's small but steadily growing community of chess players.

Every Sunday, intense battles take place in a nondescript grey office building in Causeway Bay.

White moves bishop to b4.

Black counters with queen to d4.

White's Bishop is in a bind now. It will be taken if it stays put, but it can't move to a5 or c5 because of Black's pawn on b6. Moving backward to c3 won't work either as Black's queen is on d4. It can move forward to e7 and into the opponent's territory or the bishop can be sacrificed to divert attention away from White's knight on g5.

Welcome to Hong Kong Chess Club.

Playing chess socially

Cheaulyn Ng set up Hong Kong Chess Club around three years ago. She had felt that Hong Kong lacked a place for social chess, unlike in Australia where she grew up and where there was basically a chess club in every suburb. A quick search on the internet shows that there are only a handful of chess clubs in the city. However, the majority of them are geared toward teaching the game to children rather than offering a place to people who might like to play on a regular basis, and outside of a tournament setting.

The first iteration of the chess club Ng had started in Hong Kong came to a close when she went to live elsewhere. Before it ended, the club had close to 50 members. After Ng returned to live in Hong Kong, she revived the club again in October 2020, wishing to continue her work toward creating a like-minded community of chess players in the city.

"Currently it's a small group, which is fine by me, as we want to make sure that everyone is of around the same playing level and has the same purpose for coming to the chess club. We're not coming here strictly for social reasons. We want people to have fun while playing chess, as well as improve their game," Ng says.