Solid grounding

Two Malaysian children are now undergoing intensive training in Beijing.

star-20091218.jpgOUR two chess youngsters Yeoh Li Tian and Tan Li Ting are immersing themselves to the fullest at the Beijing Chess Institute where they are presently undergoing an exclusive seven-week training programme.

According to 10-year-old Li Tian’s father, Yeoh Chin Seng, who also happens to be one of our former national champions, both Li Tian and 11-year-old Li Ting have been doing nothing else but play chess since their training started at the end of November.

“It has been chess, chess and more chess for the two kids from nine o’clock in the morning until about nine o’clock at night,” Yeoh said. “The only times that they break off from chess is for lunch and late afternoon tea.”

  f_24liting.jpgTime of their lives: Li Ting (left) and Li Tian seem to be enjoying their training sessions at the Beijing Chess Institute.

I hope they are not complaining, I commented.

No, far from it, Yeoh assured me. The two kids seem to be enjoying the training sessions and have settled down well into the routine.

“They had an opportunity to rest during their first weekend in China but they didn’t want to. Instead, they asked the Chinese coaches for some extra chess sessions,” he added.

So what is the routine like, I asked Yeoh. Who do they play with, what sort of games do they play and what happens after the games?

Yeoh said that the Beijing Chess Institute (they call it the QiYuan) is the training ground for China’s national chess players. At the highest levels, the top-ranked players in China come here to train and prepare themselves for international tournaments.

The institute also trains China’s second tier professional chess players. These second-tier players may be young, between the ages of 14 and 18, but they are already professionals in the game. The chess world outside China probably hasn’t noticed much of them yet and Yeoh believed that they are much stronger than their official world chess ratings would indicate.

It is against such players that both Li Tian and Li Ting are exposed to daily.

At first, any one of these young Chinese chess professionals could be called to play a clock simultaneous match against the two kids. Just one person against the two kids.

Lately, it has been one-to-one games.

After a game, the Chinese player would then analyse the games with the children and sometimes, a coach would join in as well.

Then, the evening sessions are basically left to the players to study on their own.

Is your son coping well under such circumstances, I asked him. Is he feeling homesick? Food agreeable?

Well, he is responding as best as he could, Yeoh replied. He knows that this is an opportunity that may not be repeated so he is making the best of it. Same with Li Ting, he added.

Against those older professional players in the institute, the children’s scores definitely do not look encouraging, Yeoh said.

For instance, Li Tian’s scores have been something like three wins, five draws and 16 losses.

But never mind, I told him. They shouldn’t feel discouraged and the parents too shouldn’t feel the same way. The two of them have the potential to improve but we shouldn’t expect too much from them in this single trip. Their real potential may only be revealed after they come home.

In the meantime, here is a game from Beijing. Although Li Tian may have lost this game, it was a game that he reportedly liked the most.

I’m impressed. It’s not often that I come across a player who would pick a lost game as one that he liked. His opponent, Zhang Xiaopeng, is an under-16 professional player at the Institute.

White: Yeoh Li Tian

Black: Zhang Xiaopeng

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 d6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bb3 dxe5 9. d5 Na5 10. Nc3 Nxb3 11. axb3 e6 12. Bg5 Qd6 13. O-O f6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Ne4 Qe7 16. Nxe5 fxe5 17. Qh5+ Kd8 18. d6 Qg7 19. Qh4+ Ke8 20. f4 Nd5 21. Rad1 exf4 22. Rxd5 exd5 23. Nf6+ Kf7 24. Rxf4 Bxd6 25. Rf1 Ke6 26. Qh3+ Ke7 27. Nxd5+ Kd8 28. Qh4+ Be7 29. Qe4? (A big blunder, according to Li Tian’s father, because 29. Nxe7 Qxe7 30. Qd4 was still playable. Both players were in time trouble by this stage of the game but since White has no more attack, Black won a few moves later.) 0-1

Note: This Beijing trip was arranged by the Malaysian Chess Federation honorary life president, Datuk Tan Chin Nam, and sponsored by Datuk Alan Tong Kok Mau, the group chairman of Bukit Kiara Properties Sdn Bhd. Li Tian and Li Ting will be returning to Malaysia in time for the new school term.

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