Hi.

As I stated in my previous entry, I really want to win the Raffles Cup.

Okay, scratch that.

I really really really (X 10) want to win the Raffles Cup.

So as any budding strategist must do, I will have to plan a cunning strategy for RJC to win the cup again. (after n number of years)

Now, we will first narrow down on our possible competitors.

Firstly, we have Hwa Chong and Anderson, two really tough schools that are likely to be above us in skill.

Next, we have National, Victoria and Nanyang, two traditionally strong schools with several tough opponents.

Finally, Jurong rounds up the fearsome sixsome, with pro players that are, well, pro. Frustrating as it is, I have absolutely no data on Jurong, other than playing one of their players who draw with me when he started first.

However, Raffles isn't that badly off either. We have Chun Kai, arguably the best player in RJC since wentao knows when. Notable records including owning yours truly for 8.5 games straight. (Although he DID suffer the ignominy of defeat to a certain Fiona) We have Junren, slayer of the 'big guy' who was defending his streak of 34 games undefeated. Heck, we even have god on our side. (i.e. Wentao) Incidentally, god lost to a certain female player as well. (Looks like not only ying xiong can't pass the mei ren guan)

Of course, we also have myself, arguably the second most defensive-oriented JC player (remember a player in AJ) and also consummate cheat who can 'steal time', as my dear opponent once commented. Not to forget Jon Sim, the fellow who I have never really won as far as I can remember. (Not once in practise, since games got cancelled, not once in competitions, when I lost twice and drew once)

Not to forget we also have Lixin, whom I can't think of a funny incident for, and a whole horde of promising J1s. We really do have a fighting chance this year.

This shall be a start of a series of posts who shall see yours truly here trying to figure out the best formations to use against the different schools. Hope that this really does help us to clinch victory.

7-11 !

P.S. Geddit?

Hi, as the title of this entry suggests, I am back from the chess camp.

Won't go into details since I am really only half awake right now, but I really had fun and I hope that the J1s, as well as the J2s did as well.

Special thanks must go to Junren and Hanyu, without which the camp would never have been planned and implemented.

Thanks to Mark and Wai Chuan too, for excelling in their role as F&B I/Cs and ensuring that (most) people got their food.

Thanks to Wentao and Chunkai, who taught me how to play mini shogi.

In fact, thanks to everyone who helped to make the camp a success in one way or another (sounds so pretentious, lol)

Funny thing is, this is around the first time I have ever heard someone playing chess competitively calling me 'pro'. Feels quite strange haha.

Still, the camp is over, and we must now turn our sight into bigger things in the horizon, namely, the Raffles Cup.

I could wax lyrical about how much I want to win the cup over ten pages, but that barely scratches the surface of my desire to bring this cup back to RJC. It has been a long time since we have won the Raffles Cup. Too long. No matter how many trophies I may win in the future, I will feel eternal regret if I do not seize the chance to earn my final Raffles Cup.

This is our final year. Jun Ren, Chunkai, Jon Sim, Wentao and Lixin, we have been at Xiangqi from RI to RJC for close to 6 years now. Let the 24th Raffles Cup be the competition where we will mark RJC as the top school in Xiangqi.

Let's leave no regrets.

Hi.

As everyone should know, I am quite a random and lame person. In fact, I think the only way I could have gotten so random and lame was because god, in one of his random and lame moments, made me so.

In fact, I think god is just as lame, if not more lame than me. Atheists, may scorn the below argument, but let's face it. One RI guy, active in xiangqi and previously active in NPCC, meets this HCI guy who is in enterprise club on MSN for no particular reason, and both wondering: "Who is this random person that I have added to my contact list?"

Now, I don't really care whether the big bang happened out of some fantastic scientific concept, but I do know that the odds of two guys who happened to have a mutual friend whom definitely didn't introduce them meeting on MSN and just happened to be in HCI and RI is kind of rare. Some more same age. Somewhere out there, god is probably having a good laugh at my expense.

Here is our interesting conversation, which I interjected with some commentary:

Shade (I shortened his nickname) : Hi who are you?

Me: (Thinking he is from NPCC): HI I am Wei Yang from NPCC

Shade: Huh? (Tio stunned liao)

Shade: I am mujianhan(something to this effect, I didn't catch it) from 07s7something

Me: Er I from RI, you?

Shade: HCI

Me: Do you play chess?

Shade: Hardly ever. Do you take part in enterprise competitions?

Me: Not at all

Me: Hey wait. Maybe you are my brother's friend and I add you?

Me: What's your age?

Shade: J2

Me: Sian. same

Me: Um, are we primary school friends or something?

Shade: I from bvps, you?

Me: Sian I from shps

Shade: Argh I give up damnit

Me: Maybe we have some mutual friends?

Me: You know shibao, jing yang, xinhui or junting?

Shade: Xinhui guy or girl?

Me: Guy

Shade: Wear green specs?

Me: Er I know his surname is lowe

Shade: Ah, we know the same person

Shade: But how we get to add each other?

Me: Lol, damn funny

Shade: Haha

Basically, all you can see are two random idiots trying all ways and means to find out how they are even remotely related to each other. Stopped halfway to find out how we added each other, because somethings are better left lying. God, you do have a sense of humour in letting two lame guys meet, eh?