IM Matthew Tan Wins 13th Osaka Wine Cup 13 December 2025

davidgn0
Dec 16
3 min read

On a beautiful crisp blue-sky Saturday,18 players representing the chess federations of Japan, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Korea, and The Netherland had gathered to face off in the traditional Osaka Wine Cup in the tatami-unique setting of the scenic Katashimo Winery.

Chess at the Winery

The youngest player was 6-years old Caissa student Kikyo Honda, playing his first tournament and the highest rated players were Caissa coach IM Matthew Tan, who flew in from Hong Kong, and local chess talent CM Kan Nakahara, also a Caissa coach! With several players rated in the 1800 and 1900 rating range, the fight for the Top 6 Trophies was a tough one.

In Round 1, Caissa coach Leonard Brinkmann had to play his student Kikyo, who learned about staying alert in the middle game. A surprise in this round was 10-years old Clayton Lau, who arrived here from Hong Kong with his parents and also-playing sister Chloe Lau, winning his game against AIM Changhyun Kim, who with a rating of 1827 was some 250 points higher rated. Mazaharu Tabe who kindly visited us from En Passant Chess Club in Osaka, forgot to keep an eye on the clock and in a very promising position lost on time against unrated Hiroki Shirozu.

Round 1 in Action (left to right): Board 7 Hiroshi IIzuka vs Marouane Belkhdir, Board 1 Kazufumi Yoshizawa vs IM Matthew Tan, Board 2 CM Kan Nakahara vs Antonio Itokazu and Board 9 Jun Takano vs Hailey Lau

In Round 2 noteworthy was, again, Clayton Lau's win over Yuya Yanai a strong player from Kyoto rated around 350 points higher. The unrated Jun Takano also beat his 1827 rated opponent AIM Changhyun Kim in his first chess tournament!

Round 2 Board 1 Caissa's IM Matthew Tan vs Caissa's Leonard Brinkmann ( 1-0) and on Board 2 Marouane Belkhdir vs Caissa's CM Kan Nakahara (0-1), Board 3 Hiroki Shirozu vs Atsuya Yamamichi (0-1) and Yuya Yanai vs Clayton Lau (0-1)

In Round 3 on Board 1 IM Matthew Tan in a tense game managed to stop Atsuya Yamamichi and on Board 2 the same happened to Jun Takano, who was stopped by CM Kan Nakahara.

Round 3 Board 6 the all-Hong Kong Game Ethan Ngai vs Hailey Lau (0-1) and on Board 5 Leonard Brinkmann vs youth Antonio Itokazu (1-0)

Round 3: Masaharu Tabe vs Kikyo Honda

Round 4 started at 2pm after an hour lunch break.

Lunchtime Break - From Hong Kong: Family Lau with Players Hailey and Clayton, Matthew Tan, David Garceran Nieuwenburg and Ethan Ngai

But it was in Round 5 when the top 2 players with 4 points met each other in the 'Battle of the Masters' between CM Kan Nakahara vs IM Matthew Tan. The very tight match ended in 0-1.

Round 5 Decisive Match between CM Kan Nakahara vs IM Matthew Tan

Another important match was played on Board 3 between Japan top rated players Atsuya Yamamichi and Yuya Yanai (1-0).

Round 6, finally, Jun Takano on Board 1, despite his impressive first-time performance, couldn't stop IM Matthew Tan to win his 6th game. On Board 2 the draw between Atsuya Yamamichi and Changhyung Kim kept them both within trophy range.