They're young, but they're no rookies: More kids in Singapore playing chess competitively

SINGAPORE: A chess game may seem still and silent from the outside, but when nine-year-old Alesa Wong is battling an opponent for control of the board, her mind fills with “blasting colours”.

“There are a lot of noises inside a chess player’s mind, just that nobody can hear it,” the junior chess player told CNA. “It’s extremely exciting, and my heartbeat races when I know I've made a brilliant move.”

Alesa, who started playing chess when she was seven, is part of a newly established national training programme for young chess whizzes.

In the past months, the influx of young minds to Singapore’s chess community has become more noticeable.

A record 1,365 players competed in the 74th National Schools Individual Chess Championship in March. There could have been more, but some would-be competitors were turned away as the venue was not big enough.

Then in April, the Singapore Chess Federation launched the national training programme to nurture the country’s next generations of chess talent.

The programme comprises an under-10 squad with 14 members and an under-14 squad with 18 members. The youngest of the entire bunch is six-year-old Lucas John Wee.

Fidgety young Lucas becomes serious and focused when he is playing chess – a part of his personality that his family usually does not get to see, his mother said.

When asked why he enjoys playing chess, Lucas said simply: “I get to relax.”

That may be surprising to hear considering he trains for 10 hours a week. Other children in the squad can spend up to 16 hours a week on chess, with thrice-weekly sessions under the national training programme, one-to-one private coaching and self-study.

To get into the programme, the youths were selected by a committee that reviewed their recent chess