FIDE press release: World Championship Match to be held in Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa

The Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) is thrilled to announce that the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 match will take place in Singapore for the first time at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) from November 23 to December 15, 2024. This iconic event will be the first in 138 years to feature two contestants from Asia between the reigning World Champion, China’s Ding Liren and challenger Dommaraju Gukesh from India competing for the title. RWS, globally renowned for its luxurious facilities and world-class hospitality, will provide the perfect backdrop for this high-stakes match.

Singapore’s first integrated resort offers a distinctive blend of diverse leisure and entertainment options, where players, officials, and fans alike can look forward to having a memorable experience. “We are privileged to partner RWS in hosting the Championship, and we look forward to witnessing the intricacies of this match unfold against the backdrop of an exceptional integrated resort,” said Mr Kevin Goh, SCF CEO and Chair of the Local Organising Committee. “This partnership preserves the prestige of the FIDE World Chess Championship while introducing an element of modernity and excitement – visitors can enjoy the luxury of having many attractions a stone’s throw away from the match venue to complement the existing suite of ancillary chess events.”

Ms Lee Shi Ruh, RWS President, said: “Chess is a strategic and intellectual game that has been enjoyed for centuries and played by millions around the world. RWS is excited to welcome the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 match and its fans from across the globe as a silver sponsor. RWS is home to a variety of world-class events that cater to a different passion – just as the game of chess is renowned for its depth and ingenuity, RWS presents a diverse range of offerings with something for everyone. Our collaboration with the SCF captures the very essence of RWS as a top-notch MICE destination for lifestyle and entertainment, and also further presents Singapore’s overall attractive appeal as a premier global hub for international sports and cultural events.”

Looking ahead, visitors to RWS can also anticipate exciting blockbuster events as well as new developments, including all-new attractions, hotels, retail and dining, significantly elevating its appeal as a top lifestyle resort. Speaking about the partnership, Goh said: “We are looking for more like-minded enterprises to partner us in delivering a world-class event and showcasing the many benefits of chess. Chess is an intellectual sport that involves strategic thinking, discipline and resilience. These are values that many organisations would be aligned with.”

In conjunction with the match, there will be a top-level open tournament held within minutes of the playing hall of the match. Organised by the SCF, the Singapore International Open will feature competitors from all over the world – including our very own from Singapore. “It’s amazing that I will not only be able to witness the World Championship match up close but also compete in a strong international tournament in my own country,” said local grandmaster Siddharth Jagadeesh (pictured above), who at 17 is Singapore’s youngest ever grandmaster. Tickets for the FIDE World Chess Championship Match will go on sale soon. There will also be extensive live coverage and commentary across multiple platforms, ensuring that the excitement reaches a global audience.

After great play in the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) Tim Jingyao won his second GM norm on the way to the grandmaster crown. With score of 6.5 points, Jingyao tied for the second place of the 31st SEA Games winning a bronze medal due to the lower tiebreaks than the second-ranked IM Ervan Mohamad. Only a few weeks later, with top-notch performance at the Hanoi GM Chess Tournament, Jingyao claimed the third grandmaster norm and secured his Grandmaster title. With impressive 8/9 points, the Singaporean won the tournament and had a 2774 rating performance.

In the interview for The Straits Times Jingyao said: “I’m very happy and relieved because I have been working towards this for the last couple of years, and events have been hard to come by because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I intend to continue playing chess seriously and aim to increase my Fide rating to 2,600. Learning and improving is a very fun process – when I’m able to show results in tournaments, it is a good feeling.“.

Twelve years ago, Tin Jingyao and 21 other enthusiasts simultaneously played against the 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. Kasparov won all the games but emphasized his toughest opponent was Tin Jingyao – back then a 9-year-old kid who yesterday became a grandmaster.
Throwback: 13-year-old Magnus Carlsen meets Garry Kasparov

The Lecturer was IA Casto Abundo (PHI), Asian Chess Federation Executive Director and FIDE Lecturer, and Assistant Lecturer was IA Kwai Keong Chan (HKG).

The lectures were in the English language.

Eighteen (18) Arbiters from Singapore, Myanmar, India, Philippines, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Macau participated in the Seminar and in the examination test held after the lectures.

The following succeeded in the test and they will be awarded a FIDE Arbiter Norm, after the approval of the next FIDE Presidential Board:

Nirag Shah M IND 25714619
Fam, Jia En Victoria F SGP 5803659
Mak, Chin Wah M SGP 5822572
Thandar Aye Win F MYA 13002864
Polistico, Eliodoro B M PHI 5206030
Lai, Robin M HKG 6000436
Jagadeesh, Balakrishnan M SGP 5817650
Chia, kok Kiang Alex M SGP 5823307
Cabe, Arlan M PHI 5203627
Yang, Ching Wei, Austin M TPE 16300440
Rishi, Kapoor M SGP 5822351
Ng, Thai Ee M SGP 5823218
Hon, Shin Ming M SGP 5825962
Jeganathan, Jerald M SGP 5825970
Jayakumar, Vijayamthi F SGP 5822980
Parsuvanath Vijayakeerthy M SGP 5822882
Ong, Hock Seng M SGP 5822963
Ho, Hou-Meng, Herman M MAC 16300190

IA Takis Nikolopoulos
Chairman
FIDE Arbiters’ Commission

Ilyumzhinov said he will soon visit both chess federations and added that there might be a third candidate country from Asia.

The bidding for the match could be very exciting, with Oslo and Stavanger already starting preparations to meet the requirements.

The country with the largest delegation won the most medals and the statistics are staggering. Vietnam’s 68 Golds are more than the second to eighth ranked countries combined and their total haul of 141 medals more than the rest combined!

In second place was the Philippines with 26 Golds and for the first time Singapore is third but with 11 Golds.

Final medal tally: Rank / Country / Total
1 Vietnam: 68G, 44S, 29B
2 Philippines: 26G, 42S, 17B
3 Singapore: 11G, 11S, 22B
4 Mongolia: 10G, 16S, 15B
5 India: 9G, 4S, 3B
6 Indonesia: 5G, 1S, 6B
7 Malaysia: 4G, 1S, 4B
8 Myanmar: 2G, 0S, 0B
9 China: 1G, 1S, 4B
10 Thailand: 0G, 2S, 1B
11 Nepal: 0G, 1S, 1B
12 New Zealand: 0G, 1S, 0B

Before the opening ceremony started IM Tan Lian Aun from Singapore was given the award “Knight of ASEAN Chess” for his contributions as a player, official and now sponsor of chess, only the third ever recipient after GM Utut Adianto from Indonesia (2006) and GM Eugene Torre from the Philippines (2010).

Report by Peter Long

The lecturer of the Seminar was IA Takis Nikolopoulos (GRE), Chairman of the FIDE Arbiters’ Commission and FIDE Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer was IA Ignatius Leong (SIN), FIDE Lecturer.

The language of the Seminar was English.

Eleven (11) Arbiters from Singapore, China, Macau, South Korea and Vietnam attended the seminar and all of them participated in the examination test held after the lectures.

The following succeeded in the test and will be awarded a norm or the title of the FIDE Arbiter, after the approval of the next FIDE Congress:

NAME / FED / FIDE I.D.
Kim Yongtae KOR 13200062
Liu Xuan CHN –
Ton That Nhu Tung VIE 12401439
Chan Weng Kee SIN –
Lu Chun Rong CHN 8612056
Li Yue Emily SIN 5820464

IA Takis Nikolopoulos
Chairman
FIDE Arbiters’ Commission

PL: Hi Jingyao, Thanks for taking the time to talk to us and congratulations on winning yet another Gold Medal! Let’s start by asking if this event is your most memorable.

TJ: Yes, I have two IM norms from my last two tournaments, the Zonal Championships and the HD Bank Cup, both in Vietnam earlier this year, and it was nice to get the direct title by winning here and of course also getting a GM norm.

Tin Jingyao

PL: Are there any other special moments you remember in your short chess career?

TJ: My breakthrough event was actually the ASEAN Age Group Championships in 2010 where by winning the Open U-10 I became an FM even if my rating was just 1680. I am very proud this time to have won the first ever U-20 Championship for Singapore.

PL: Five years later your rating is now over 2400 and so you have increased it by 750 points so what do you attribute your success to?

TJ: I started playing at around 8 years old from a computer game where I learned the moves and so my father arranged lessons for me at Intchess which at that time was the place to go to for chess as that had over 40 trainers and 80 percent of the schools. Around 9 year I started taking some private lessons and was first helped by GM Saidali Yuldashev, I soon had my FM title success and by the end of 2012 my rating was 2000 when I started playing other international tournaments and a year later reached a 2300 rating.

PL: It seems that notwithstanding that you have constantly made rating jumps, there has been a big leap from 2300 to 2400.

TJ: GM Yuldashev was a very early trainer and for a short time but until a years ago I was getting help from IM Andrey Kvon but the biggest difference is being included in the National Team Training Program where I have had the chance to play a lot more events while working with my other team members. Most of the work I do myself but now I also analyse with them and that is both useful and certainly more interesting!

PL: Although very modest you seem to be a very confident young man and I have to ask if you expected to win the ASEAN+ Age Group Championships.

TJ: I was hopeful and now happy to have succeeded. It helped that with a strong field that some favourites had early set backs and so I did not have to play all of them and I also managed to have a good finish but even in the last round I had to win to be sure.

PL: So what is next for you? The GM title?

TJ: I am now 15 and have to realistically until 18 to achieve the GM title given the demands of school and then National Service followed by University and I hope to be able to do this in the next 1-2 years.

PL: What would you need to improve your chances?

TJ: I will continue as I have been doing and I think playing 6-8 good tournaments a year is possible. But so far I am limited by doing most of this during my school term breaks. I am also happy with the help from the National Team Training Program where I get to analyse with others.

PL: Well, there is the Asian Continental Championships in August and the World Junior Championship in September as well as the revived ASEAN Championships in October and then the new ASEAN U-20 Masters Cup in November which all seem to fit your requirements! But do you feel that you need more coaching or to have a personal trainer?

TJ: Of course a trainer is always useful as a guide and for example I improved my openings when GM Zhang Zhong pointed out some of what I played did not suit me but I had to find the solution myself by studying and selecting other openings. But as in this case and for everything else the player has to do the work himself.

PL: Thank you for sharing and I wish you every success!

TL: You are welcome!

Interview by Peter Long

For 15 year old Tin Jingyao from Singapore it was perhaps the most memorable as winning the Open U-20 event not only won Singapore’s first ever individual Gold in ASEAN competition but also gave him the direct IM title and a GM title norm.

WIM Bernadette Galas from the Philippines was an equally convincing winner of the Girls U-20 as she very early saw off intense competition from her peers from a golden generation of women talent and for her effort also gained a very nice championship title together with a GM title norm.

In the overall standings it was Vietnam who was the big winner with 23 Gold out of 47 Medals won which was well ahead of the Philippines with just 8 Gold from 30 Medals and Mongolia with 5 Gold from 17 Medals.

Hosts Singapore would have been happy to be fourth with 4 Gold from 12 Medals, young Lee Qing Aun also coming good with a fine performance to win Open U-14 and helping the Singapore U-14 team to team Gold.

No. / Name / FED / Category / Title / Norm
1 Hoang Minh Hieu VIE Open U8 CM
2 Tong Hai Anh VIE Open U8 CM
3 Zuo Yifan CHN Open U10 CM
4 Nguyen Lam Tung VIE Open U10 CM
5 Dambasuren Batsuren MGL Open U12 FM
7 Daniel Hermawan Lumban Tobing INA Open U12 CM
8 Lee Qing Aun SIN Open U14 FM
10 Tan Jun Hao SIN Open U14 CM
11 Tran Minh Thang VIE Open U16 FM IM
12 Samantila Daryl Unix PHI Open U16 CM
13 Boldoo Erdenepurev MGL Open U16 CM
14 Lu Chan Hung VIE Open U18 IM
15 Tin Jingyao SIN Open U20 IM GM
16 Bui Trong Hao VIE Open U20 IM
17 Nguyen Hoang Thai Ngoc VIE Girls U8 WCM
18 Nguyen Linh Dan VIE Girls U8 WCM
19 Enkhbolor Nyamdavaa MGL Girls U8 WCM
20 Altantuya Boldbaatar MGL Girls U10 WCM
21 Sebastian Mhage Gerriahlou PHI Girls U10 WCM
22 Bommini Mounika Akshaya IND Girls U12 WFM
23 Zhang Jasmine Haomo NZL Girls U12 WCM
24 Nguyen Hong Anh VIE Girls U14 WCM
25 Legowo Parahita Millyena INA Girls U16 WFM WIM
27 Osena Alexis Anne PHI Girls U16 WCM
28 Chitlange Sakshi IND Girls U18 WIM
29 Galas Bernadette PHI Girls U20 WGM
30 Tejaswini Sagar IND Girls U20 WFM WIM
31 San Diego Marie Antoinette PHI Girls U20 WIM

As a newly designated continental championship there were increased title and norm opportunities for the players and there were no less than 31 of which one (Tin) got a GM norm, one more (Galas) got a WGM norm and two got IM norms and three WIM norms.

Lu Chan Hung from Vietnam and Chitlange Sakshi from India, Open U-18 and Girls U-18 winners respectively would have been particularly happy that they also got direct IM and WIM titles.

The full list of winners and all the results are at the official website www.aseanagegroupchess.com.

Report by Peter Long

In Open U-20, FM Bui Trong Hao from Vietnam and long time leader FM Tin Jingyao from Singapore are neck to neck with 6/8 each with IM Garcia Jan Emmanuel from the Philippines half a point behind on 5.5/8.

Bui will face FM Liu Xiangyi from Singapore while Tin will face CM Vu Quang Quyen from Vietnam so both will be hoping their countrymen do them a favour! Top seeded Le Tuan Minh from Vietnam will be standing in the way of Garcia’s slimmer chance for the championship.

FM Bui Trong Hao

Girls U-20 has been dominated by WIM Gallas Bernadette from the Philippines and she is on 7/8, a full point ahead of WCM Tejaswini Sagar from India and a shoo in for the title and a WGM norm.

As in Girls U-20, Open U-18 has had a leader from the beginning but FM Lu Chan Hung from Vietnam with 6.5/8 is just a half point ahead of fellow Vietnamese and top seeded Tran Tuan Minh so there is still everything to play for.

WIM Gallas Bernadette

In Girls U-18, Chitlange Sakshi from India with 6.5/8 has also led from the beginning and is a point ahead of WFM Mendoza Shania Mae from the Philippines and also has probably the slightly easier last round opponent.

CM Tran Minh Thang from Vietnam is the new leader in Open U-16 with 6.5/8 after winning his last three games while FM Zu Chen from China has dropped to second place with 6/8 despite having beaten Tran earlier.

Chitlange Sakshi

There is however already a champion in Girls U-16, Legowo Parahita Milleyena from Indonesia, whose unbeaten 7/8 score cannot be overtaken and so the competition that remains is for second place.

Open U-14 has three players on 6/8 and all with a chance to emerge champion and they are Lee Qing Aun from Singapore, Sun Jiajun from China and Pangilinan Stephen Rome from the Philippines and Lee has the best chance as his rival face each other in the final round.

Legowo Parahita Milleyena

In Girls U-14, WFM Doroy Allaney Jia G from the Philippines leads with 7/8 over WFM Tran Thi Hong Phan from Vietnam who has 6/8 and is in the driving seat even if she has the slightly more challenging last round game.

CM Dambasuren Batsuren from Mongolia with 6.5/8 leads by half a point in Open U-12 and Bommini Mounika Aksyaka from India also has 5/5/8 and also leads by half a point in Girls U-12.

Two Vietnamese, CM Nguyen Quoc Hy and Nguyen Lam Tung, both with 7/8 lead Open U-10 and Atantuya Boldbaatar from Mongolia with 7/8 leads Girls U-10 while Hoang Minh Hieu from Vietnam with a perfect 8/8 is already the champion in Open U-8 but Nguyen Linh Dan from Vietnam with 6.5/8 has to settle for a slim half point lead in Girls U-8.

WFM Doroy Allaney Jia G

In Seniors 50+ Kin Ho from Myanmar is another champion with one game to play while in Seniors +65 Milagrosa Alexander from the Philippines only needs a draw to be sure of being the champion.

All the results and pairings are at the official website www.aseanagegroupchess.com

Report by Peter Long

FM Lu Chan Hung

There are seven entries in Seniors 65+ and it is played as a seven round robin or six games with a very welcome bye while there are sixteen entries in Seniors 50+.

Le Tien Vi

After 5 rounds In Seniors 65+, Vietnamese Le Tien Vi and Luu Duc Hai are joined on 3,5 by Filipino Milagrosa Alexander although there are really two leaders as Luu has played one game more.

In Seniors 50+, Myanmar’s Khin Ko is on fire as he leads by a point with 4.5/5 over Singaporeans IM Chan Peng Kong and Wong Ngiam Yee and Indonesian Guntoro Sugianto.

Report by Peter Long

Khin Ko