Kenny Chih-Hung Takes Down Chess & Poker Tournament

02:34
05 Oct

It’s not often you’ll see a poker pro winning a chess tournament, or vice-versa for that matter, but the Isle of Man’s Villa Marina witnessed just such an event late last night when US poker pro Kenneth Chih-Hung overcame England’s top professional chess-player heads-up at 2am!

The £165 buy-in event, a combination of blitz chess followed by an NLHE poker tournament, is the brain-child of Jennifer Shahade, a top US chess-player –turned-poker-aficionado. This year saw the second running of the event, with last year’s title going to another poker expert, Norwegian Baard Dahl, and it attracted 34 players vying for the prize-pool of almost £5000.

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With the chess up first – a 6-round blitz tournament with final scores adding chips to the players’ poker starting stacks– British number 1 and world top ten player Grandmaster Mickey Adams was expected to do very well.

According to the Isle of Man International chess tournament’s Press Officer Fiona Steil-Antoni, Adams joked,

When asked about his chances in the novel event.

Having earlier played an 18-board simultaneous chess display (winning 17 and dropping only 1 draw!) Adams could be forgiven for his relatively poor display in the chess part of the combo-event.

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A score of 4/6 meant that he was in the middle of the pack at the start of the evening’s poker, which had the added bonus of a visit by Liv Boeree, playing in the PokerStars UKIPT Main Event which runs alongside the chess Master’s tournament. PokerStars Team Pro Fatima Moreira de Melo was also an interested party, having earlier lost to Adam’s in the chess simultaneous exhibition.

Adams’ frenetic day eventually ended at around 2:30am – while the official PokerStars party was still in full swing – losing out at the hands of US poker pro Kenny Chih-Hung. Chih-Hung was participating in his first ever chess event, after Jennifer Shahade - the Mind Sports Ambassador for PokerStars - had persuaded him to try out the combined event here at the Isle of Man.

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Photo: Kenneth Chih-Hung lifts the chess and poker title (courtesy of PokerStars)

Chih-Hung’s debut chess appearance proved highly successful when he finally won out in the heads-up battle for the £1680 first prize and the title, his A♦ 8♣ finally seeing off the challenge of Adams, who picked up £1165 for his efforts. In the Masters chess event, which began yesterday, Adams is the top seed and favourite to take the title which has a top prize of £10,000.

Press Officer Fiona Steil-Antoni fared less well in last night’s tournament, despite an excellent start to the chess part of the event. The multi-talented Luxembourger found herself surrounded by chess Grandmasters both on the chessboard and the green felt, although she declared her overall top 20 finish “an honourable result” and vowed to be “back with a vengeance next year!” With 34 entrants, a top 20 finish against some of the most talented chess (and poker) players in the globe is indeed an excellent result.

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Those who finished in the money are listed below, and full details – including Steil-Antoni’s report with photos– can be found on the PokersStars IoM International Chess Tournament page here.

1. Kenny Chih-Hung - £1,680

2. Mickey Adams - £1,165

3. Antonius Van Ingen - £742

4. Henrik Fabri - £445

5. Christopher Duncan - £445

6. Pentala Harikrishna - £345