John Wong's blog

I just added John's Chess Food for Thought to my blog list. I do not know why I missed adding it for so long. Maybe John is not so good at self-promotion unlike some other bloggers I know.

John is a chess coach across the Causeway (that's Singapore for those less acquainted with the region). He blogs from the point of view of a trainer and writes some interesting posts. His latest post is on his satisfaction seeing how his students have improved after training with him.

Thoughts on Penang Open

A bunch of Pinoy second liners descended on the island. None of them would be considered a contender for any future Philippine olympiad team. Yet they swept most of the top prizes.

We had two members of the 2010 olympiad team competing but with six points each they could only join a big group tie for 6th to 15th placing. They had the best placing amongst the locals.

Our other players capable of fighting for the top prize - Nicholas Chan, Mok Tze Meng and Ronnie Lim (who recently made his 1st IM norm at this year's Malaysian Open) were nowhere in sight. It is quite simple to deduce that their work does not permit them to play. It is a shame especially for Ronnie as Penang is his home state.This is the sad fact for us - first studies and than work will put an end to our players chess career.

Further down the list, I spotted two juniors whom I have been keeping an eye on. I first got to know them during a training camp organized couple of months ago. They are Low Jun Jian and Tan Jun Feng. Jun Feng is the older brother of Tan Li Ting. Both only scored four points but I think they have potential to become the next batch of strong juniors. These three need a good trainer to work with them to realize their potential.

The last mention is Yeoh Li Tian who scored five points. There is so much expectations from this young kid that this result can be considered a failure. His best result was at this year's K.L. Open. Following on was the Malaysian Open and now this tournament. Looking at the opposition and his results in these three tournaments, my opinion is that his game is not improving. For such a young player, this is of concern for this is the time when he should be making leaps and bounds in strength.

There are other juniors playing but as I have not worked with any of them and therefore know little about them, I cannot comment on their performance.

Zero to Hero

Here is something you do not see very often. In a Swiss tournament in Italy, with several grandmasters taking part, a 2149 rated untitled player ties for first place ,takes the trophy on tie-breaks and makes a IM norm in the process.

Pos	Title	Name	Rtg	PRtg	Fed	Pts
1	--	Herman Matthew J	2149	2571	USA	6.5
2	GM	Solodovnichenko Yuri	2563	2570	UKR	6.5
3	GM	Tratar Marko	2492	2464	SLO	6.5
4	GM	David Alberto	2587	2438	LUX	6.5
5	GM	Salvador Roland	2527	2515	PHI	6.5
6	IM	Bellia Fabrizio	2399	2496	ITA	6
7	IM	Colovic Aleksandar	2457	2513	MKD	6
8	GM	Marin Mihail	2562	2426	ROU	6
9	IM	Saric Sinisa	2452	2395	SRB	6
10	--	Mertens Heiko	2320	2472	GER	6
11	IM	Tesic Dragan	2403	2395	SRB	6
12	GM	Drazic Sinisa	2524	2459	SRB	5.5
13	IM	Borgo Giulio	2414	2363	ITA	5.5
14	FM	Damia Angelo	2302	2382	ITA	5.5
15	IM	Vezzosi Paolo	2379	2266	ITA	5.5
16	--	Garano Nicola	2171	2270	ITA	5.5
17	--	Lapiccirella Daniele	2225	2344	ITA	5.5
18	--	Iudicello Giovanni	2158	2283	ITA	5.5
19	FM	Sbarra Marco	2312	2221	ITA	5.5
20	--	Gagliardi Christian	2188	2291	ITA	5.5

His list of opponents -

Rd	Colour	Title	Opponent	Rating	Result
1	W	GM	David Alberto	2587	1
2	B	IM	Manca Federico	2405	0
3	W	--	Agrifoglio Fabio	1999	1
4	W	--	Garano Nicola	2171	1
5	B	IM	Saric Sinisa	2452	1
6	W	IM	Borgo Giulio	2414	1
7	B	GM	Solodovnichenko Yuri	2563	0.5
8	B	GM	Marin Mihail	2562	0.5
9	W	GM	Tratar Marko	2492	0.5

Unfortunately for him, this was only an IM norm result as he played two low rated players in the third and fourth round. Nevertheless, this kind of performance is every 2200 rated player dream. I really hope our Malaysian players can read this and be inspired to achieve something similar.