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Chess in the time of Corona
GM Goh Wei Ming testing out his Twitch Stream with a banter blitz match against NM Olimpiu Urcan...(don't ask for the final score...)

Chess in the time of Corona

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In recent weeks, the chess servers have seen a huge jump in playing numbers, not surprising since we are more or less stuck at home and there is only so much Netflix one can watch. For those who make a living from chess, it is quite worrisome. There are hardly any tournaments to fight for prize money (except ironically for the biggest one of them all, the World Championship Candidates) and for now, even if chess trainers might experience a training boom (more people training online), one wonders if those paying  can sustain the fees as their occupations (or their parents') get affected by the economic crisis brought on by the Covid virus.

On the flip side, more players might be picking up chess and using the online platforms to pit their skills. Over the past 3 weeks, my students and chess-friends have been playing serious sparring matches among one another, providing me with a ton of material to analyze and instruct subsequently.

One such interesting local match-up, is young CM Goh Zi Han (elo 2087) , Singapore's U10 Champion, who had the chance to play IM Terry Toh (elo 2394) , the 1995 National Champion last Sunday online in a 2 game rapid match. Of course the odds are stacked against the kid, being out-rated by more than 300 points. Zi Han took the match seriously enough to pull out a Staunton set next to his Ipad so that he can treat it like a real OTB match instead of relying solely on the electronic board per se. 

CM Goh Zi Han musing over his next move in his online training match against IM Terry Toh.

The first game showed that the youngster was no pushover. He matched the IM blow for blow and eventually, Terry had to deliver perpetual check as his own kingside was getting rather porous.

However, in the 2nd game, the IM got the hang of the youngster's style and chose to tussle positionally from the start instead of engaging in a direct tactical melee. Pouncing on hesitant play in Zi Han's time trouble, Terry unleashed an unstoppable king-side onslaught to wrap up the match 1.5-0.5.
But what if the standards between the online players are too far apart? Well, some chess servers have a simultaneous chess function (for example, Lichess.org and playchess.com allow for simultaneous games to be played). For that matter, Zi Han will be playing a simultaneous online match against 4 to 5 of my students on the Lichess platform this Saturday so I can just sit back and watch them squirm for a couple of hours.
Moving forward, Singaporean GM Goh Wei Ming likewise will be pitting his skill against Filipino juniors (13 and under) from United Queens Chess Club this Sunday (March 29) at 1pm Singapore time (UCT 5pm) on the lichess.org server. If you are interested to watch Wei Ming discuss his game (or do trash talk while at it) in real time, then you can watch on Twitch TV at https://www.twitch.tv/gm_kgwm
or direct from lichess at https://lichess.org/streamer/kgwm
The  United Queens Chess Club has been using the online chess platform to great effect. Check out their FB page and  you will see prize money online events for the club players as well as other simultaneous events scheduled with IMs and GMs.
Finally, Wei Ming and his kakis are cooking up some more treats for the Singapore chess community involving Singapore's top players.... in the coming weeks so watch this space and his Facebook for more details.