How strong is "strong"

"We dont get to meet him". How about entering in the Malaysian Open the last two years? Then you have a chance to meet him as well as the grandmasters and international masters and players rated 2300 and above.

If you can draw against an IM, maybe that was a fluke. The IM underestimated you, he is not feeling well, you were at the top of your game at that time. But if you can repeat this few times, it is something different. I know Li Tian has drawn a couple of IMs and GM. Is there any other current Malaysian junior that managed this? If there is, do let me know in the comments.

Mention is made of pitting Mark Siew v. Lim Zhuo Ren or Mark Siew v. Yeoh Li Tian

I wondored about this suggestions. How strong is Mark Siew? I do not remember seeing him play in any Malaysian Open or if he did, he did not impress.



So is it worthwhile to have such a clash? I decided to do a little research.

In absence of better method, we have no choice but to refer to official ratings . What matters is actually FIDE ratings (not national).  I checked the latest (July 2011) FIDE rating list and took the current juniors out.

Rank	Name	ELO
10	Lee, Kim Han Edward	2172
14	Lim, Zhuo Ren	2155
16	Yeap, Eng Chiam	2150
17	Yeoh, Li Tian	2121
18	Subramaniam, Sumant	2117
34	Capel, Evan Timothy	2040
35	Azman Hisham, Mohd Nabil	2038
38	Tan, Ken Wei	2019
39	Saifuddin, Muhd Izz	2016
48	Fong, Yit San	2002
49	Fong, Yit Ho	2001
59	Lee, Kah Meng Elgin	1985
60	Amir Hamzah	1984
62	Azhar, Muhammad Syakir Shazmeer	1977
64	Bakri, Alia Anin Azwa	1975
66	Siew, Kit-Tze Mark	1972
71	Wong, Jianwen	1960
73	Low, Jun Jian	1935

The highest ranked junior is Edward Lee followed by Lim Zhuo Ren. Yeoh Li Tian is number four just after Yeap Eng Chiam. Mark Siew is a distant 16th. Overall in Malaysia he is only ranked 66th.

Nobody got on to this list by talking about chess. They all got there the hard way by testing themselves against other rated players. And the ELO rating is a tried and tested formula to measure a player's strength.

If somehow MCF were to hold a top ten junior all-play-all, Mark is not even in the top ten.

Now I am not saying he cannot improve. I always believed junior players have the capacity to jump up the rating list. All of the eighteen players have the possibility to replace the top Malaysian players including myself. After all (being juniors) they still have not reached their peak yet. However, at this point in time, this list is the reality.