Lim Zhuo Ren has succeeded in exorcising chess demons from the past.
TWO years ago, Lim Zhuo Ren met with the greatest of his heartaches. At the national closed chess championship of 2009, he was leading a close pack of players going into the final round of the tournament. A draw was all he needed to clinch the title but he played over-cautiously to lose the game.
Because of that, three other players caught up with him at the top of that year’s championship. All four had finished with equal points and it forced the Malaysian Chess Federation to arrange a quick play-off tournament to determine the winner.
Lim never recovered totally from that last-round loss. The disappointment showed. In the play-off, he was outplayed and could only finish third among the four players.
Lim Zhuo Ren, the new king of local chess.Last year, he again played in the national closed championship but it was as though he was still reliving the past. A lukewarm 14th position was all he could manage.
By the end of the year though, his confidence was starting to creep back into his games. At the national junior chess championship in December, Lim played well enough to force a five-way tie at the top. In the play-off tournament that followed, Lim won.
Fast forward to this month; it was now time for the national closed championship. Again, Lim – now 19 – decided to throw his hat into the ring but this time, he had a new status as the national junior champion.
Maybe Lim did not have great expectations of himself but suddenly, like two years earlier, he found himself in a similar position: sole leader after seven rounds, and people already speaking of him as the new national champion.
In those first seven rounds, he had played and defeated players like Yeap Eng Chiam, Loo Swee Leong and even former champion Edward Lee. However, there were further challenges ahead.
In the eighth round, he met and navigated safely through a test against Yeoh Li Tian. He retained his lead but in the meantime, two other players – international master Jimmy Liew and fast improving youngster Sumant Subramaniam – had successfully climbed up the tournament to stand just one point below the leader.
Lim would have to face either one of them in the final round.
As providence would have it, he was paired against Liew. Surely this would be his sternest test, a make or break attempt to land the national closed championship title.
All that Lim required was half a point in his final game but would Liew hand it to him easily?
There were now questions asked of Lim. Would the demons from his past come to haunt him? Would he have learnt his lesson from two years earlier? Cautious play had cost him the title then; would he repeat the same mistake?
In short, people wanted to know whether or not he had matured as a player. Tension was indeed high.
At the same time, Liew understood that he had to win his game at all cost. With the black pieces, it would be an uphill task but not an impossible one.
If he were to win, there was a chance that he could even be the champion. But there was now a new complication. Sumant had already beaten Edward Lee in their final game.
Even if Liew were to win his game and tie on equal points with both Lim and Sumant, all he would achieve was to force another play-off in the national closed championship. Whether he could win the play-off was a different matter but right at that moment, he knew that honour was at stake.
It was no longer possible for him not to give Lim a fight for his money. So in a way, this was also a make or break game for Liew.
To both players’ credit, their game turned out to be the highlight of the championship.
Both players had chances with Liew taking the greater risk and Lim defending well. Theirs was about one of the last games to finish, a fitting end to one of the great local chess debates.
At the end, from a superior position, Lim propositioned a draw which was accepted by Liew.
That precious half-a-point meant that Lim is the new king of our local chess game.
He is the latest player to become a national master but I believe significantly, he has succeeded in exorcising the last of the chess demons from his mind. I shall look forward to him playing in more tournaments.