Singapore Chess

A History, 1945â??1990

Shashi Jayakumar, Olimpiu G Urcan

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9789814733243
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

This book is the definitive volume on the history of chess in Singapore. Covering 1945–1990, it covers the post-war emergence of a truly "local" chess scene out of the colonial period, then taking the story up to the modern era. Contained within these pages are tributes to the modern founding fathers of Singapore chess. Also chronicled within are the careers of Singapore's top players and their achievements. This includes fine team performances (belying Singapore's seeming status in the chess world as a tiny red dot) and spectacular individual successes on the international stage. In documenting chess development in Singapore for the period in question, this book also provides glimpses of a wider social history. Personal stories (based on fresh interviews) are provided that give a sense of the chessplaying milieu of the time. Stalwarts in the chess scene, featured in this book, went on to be notable figures in the wider social and political landscape. A selection of 139 annotated games played by top Singapore-based players and Singapore masters between 1949 and 1990 is matched by a rich collection of more than 200 rare illustrations. This volume is a wonderful resource for chess aficionados, interested amateurs, collectors and historians.

CHAPTER ONE

REBIRTH

1945–1955

Following the end of World War II, chess in Singapore was rejuvenated by a handful of active pioneers led by Yeoh Bok Choon (1911–1983) and Lim Kok Ann (1920–2003). The old Singapore Chess Club, the colony’s leading club before the war, was brought back to life and a growing number of local chess players began to challenge the supremacy of a crowd of competent Europeans who still dominated the Malayan chess scene (the Dutchman J. Fernhout, the Irishman J.C. Hickey, the Englishman D.B. Pritchard and his wife Elaine Saunders, and the Swiss R. Fontana). The Malayan Chess Federation was the leading chess institution but, gradually, Lim Kok Ann rolled out plans for a Singapore body. The first attempts to reorganise the local chess life unfolded.

CHESS IN OLD SINGAPORE

Between the 1890s and 1940s, most of the chess played in Singapore was organised by the Singapore Chess Club (founded in 1896). While clubs like the Singapore Recreation Club or Straits Chinese Recreation Club had their own chess sections in the 1910s and 1920s, the Singapore Chess Club was a leading institution before 1945. Supported by two chess columns in the Singapore Free Press and Straits Times, it had its own annual championship. In the early 1900s, the club initially met at Town Hall. With the 1920s it found a more stable home in a room at Adelphi Hotel, one of Singapore’s top hotels. Throughout its history, the club had found loyal members among Europeans but also Eurasians, Chinese, Indians and other races and nationalities. During their exhibitions in Singapore in 1925 and 1933, Boris Kostić (1887–1963) and Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946) expressed surprise with regard to the racial diversity of the Singapore Chess Club. Prior to the war, its foremost champion was E.E. Colman (1878–1964), a British colonial administrator who came to the Straits in 1903 and remained in Malaya until 1945. During his chess career in the Straits, Colman made several appearances in the British championships, and met great players such as Alexander Alekhine, Boris Kostić, Ernst F. Grünfeld, Richard Réti, Frank J. Marshall, Sultan Khan and other 1920s–1930s leading masters.

During the years of the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945), the Singapore Chess Club died. Its leading European members were imprisoned at Changi POW Camp or Changi Jail (as civilian internees). However, chess continued to be played by some Prisoners of War (POWs) and civilian internees alike within the walls of the camp and jail. Various accounts indicate how copies of the British Chess Magazine and other chess books were brought in from the town’s various libraries during raids for food and how chess sets were either smuggled in or made out of most unexpected material. David Marshall (1908–1995), Singapore’s Chief Minister in 1955–1956, was among one of many who found solace in a game of chess while being imprisoned at Changi.

SINGAPORE CHESS CLUB REBORN

Following the Japanese capitulation in 1945, chess enthusiasts in Singapore were again free to attend playing sessions and engage in tournament play. The first chess match since the liberation was played in early March 1946 at the Army Education Center between a team of military servicemen and one led by Yeoh Book Choon (1911–1983), a young player from Johore who befriended many of the Singapore Chess Club’s elite players before the war. Goh Keng Swee, future minister in post-war Singapore, was among those contributing to the 67½–3½ victory of the civilians. In April, a rematch was staged and Yeoh Bok Choon’s team won 7–3. Among the top players of the Singapore Chess Club opposing the British military staffers there were Benjamin Chew, Lo Kam Woon, Lee Siew Choh, Neoh Chee Khuan, Goh Keng Swee, Gwee Ah Leng, Tan Luang Kia, Chow Wai Nam and Teh Choon Keat.

On 25 October 1946, the Singapore Chess Club was revived following a general meeting at Adelphi Hotel, the old headquarters of the club before the war. The invitation to “chess enthusiasts of all races” was signed by Tan Luang Kia, a veteran who served as the secretary of the club since the 1920s. The newspaper reminder of that day stating that “those who wish to play are asked to bring their own sets” was indicative of the still-rudimentary nature of the organisation and the general state of affairs.

The first match played by the Singapore Chess Club’s team following its revival took place on 15 February 1947 against a 15-man Medical College team at Adelphi Hotel. With strong players such as Yeoh Bok Choon, T.H. Silcock, Foo Lum Choon, Goh Keng Swee, Kiong Chin Eng, Tan Luang Kia and Mah Beng Guan, the Singapore Chess Club won 11–4. It was announced that the club met every Wednesday at Adelphi Hotel, membership was open to all and interested parties looking for matches should contact Yeoh Bok Choon, the games captain of the club. On 28 March, the Singapore Chess Club’s team played a friendly 10-board match against the Chinese Swimming Club’s strong team on the latter’s premises on Amber Road and won 5½–4½. Foo Lum Choon, Mohamad Yassin, T.H. Silcock, Lee Siew Choh, A.H. Hunter won for the Singapore Chess Club, while Kiong Chin Eng, Lee Chim Quan, Tan Yong Kheng, Tay Cheong Ann scored for the Chinese Swimming Club. In April 1947, there were further matches: the Singapore Chess Club won a 5-board match against a student team of the College of Medicine (3–2), with Yeoh Bok Choon, Foo Lum Choon and Khoo Oon Teik scoring decisively and other matches were won against teams of military staffers based in Singapore.

In August 1947, Yeoh Bok Choon won the Singapore Chess Club’s tournament, ahead of Lee Siew Choh, Neoh Chee Khuan and Lim Hee Seng. A partnership with the YMCA seems to have been in place around that time since the Singapore Chess Club held its meetings at the YMCA building on Orchard Road, on Wednesday and Saturdays. Yeoh Bok Choon began giving simultaneous exhibitions at the English College, Johore Bahru in August 1947 and was repeatedly featured in the Singapore press for his pioneering work. In September–October 1947, he organised matches between the Singapore Chess Club and the Johore English College Chess Club. While Goh Keng Swee and Mah Beng Guan were among Singapore Chess Club’s strongest players, they held multiple club memberships being also active in the championship of the Chinese Swimming Club.

Yeoh Bok Choon’s exhibitions in schools may have encouraged teachers to facilitate the build-up of school chess clubs. One of the earliest instances of inter-school matches took place in late October–early November 1947 when a 9-board match between Victoria School (captained by Chia Kim Hui) and St. Andrew’s School (captained by Phoon Wai-On) took place and was won by the latter. It was through Yeoh’s effort that the Johore English College Chess Club emerged as one of the top school clubs in Malaya during these years. In early August 1948, they defeated Anglo-Chinese School, heralded as “Singapore’s strongest school team,” 19½–6½. Among the Johore top student players there were Charlie and Rudy Lim, Stephen Lau, Tong Yin Foo, Ho Soo Wing, while the Anglo-Chinese School was represented at the top boards by Chee Chin Tiong, Jerry Goh, Tan Keng Khian, Lim Ewe Hin and Khoo Boo Kwee.

Besides Yeoh Bok Choon, now busy with post-graduate study in the U.K. and occasionally playing in county matches, another early chess pioneer in Singapore was Lim Kok Ann, a grandson of the famed Dr. Lim Boon Keng (1868–1957),* who was a supporter of the chess activities of the Straits Chinese Recreation Cub since the mid-1900s. In a February 2012 interview, Mah Beng Guan summed up Lim Kok Ann’s early efforts: “What Yeoh Bok Choon did for Johore, Lim Kok Ann did for Singapore.”^†

LIM KOK ANN (EARLY YEARS)

Upon his return from studies in the United Kingdom, Lim Kok Ann emerged as one of the strongest Singaporean players. He won the 1948 Singapore Chess Club’s championship (tied for first with Goh Keng Swee). He also began to take a leading role at the grassroots level within the chess community. On 23 October 1948, he gave a 30-board simultaneous exhibition at the YMCA headquarters and it was announced that the trophy donated by Dr. Lim Boon Keng for the Singapore Chess Club championship (“Lim Boon Keng Cup”) was on display. The cup, an 18-inch high and 57-year-old sterling silver cup from his collection, was donated by Dr. Lim Boon Keng on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Building up on Yeoh Bok Choon’s previous efforts, Lim Kok Ann clearly envisioned a more regular tournament life of a bigger scale. According to multiple press reports, professional chess clocks were brought on the local circuit and a new championship was announced.

The contest for this cup inaugurated a proper annual open championship of Singapore. Announced in November 1948, it was open to all residents in Singapore and Johore Bahru and play was to take place at the Singapore Chess Club at the end of January 1949. Concurrently, since a Singapore championship for schoolboys was launched as well, the Singapore Chess Club ordered special silver and bronze medals to be struck as prizes for both championships. In addition, Lim Kok Ann suggested an inter-club tournament with teams of six players. The latter was known as the “Singapore Chess League Championship.” Thus, the energies woken up by Yeoh Bok Choon’s previous efforts found an institutionalised framework: recognised championships at senior, junior and inter-club level.

Two early chess pioneers in Singapore and Malaya; Dr. Lim Kok Ann worked side by side with Dr. Yeoh Bok Choon in the late 1940s–early 1950s to revitalise the Singapore chess scene.

Lim Kok Ann’s earliest moves in establishing a solid foundation of chess in Singapore were not made in isolation. He maintained close contact with other chess centres from Malaya. In December 1948, when the Penang Chess Club organised a tournament just before Christmas at the Boston Café, Lim Kok Ann paid a visit and was announced as “the highlight of the Congress.” He won a short match (2–0) from Cheah Swee Cheng, the Penang champion, and gave a number of simultaneous exhibitions to state teams from Penang, Kedah and other areas from North Malaya. By his own account, Lim Kok Ann played a total of 51 exhibition games scoring 41½–9½. His close contacts with players and organisers from mainland Malaya (especially Penang and Selangor clubs) led to a fruitful initiative: the formation of the Malayan Chess Federation (MCF) in early January 1949.

MALAYAN INITIATIVES

The foundation of this new body was announced on 7 January 1949 in the Singapore Free Press by an article signed by Lim Kok Ann, who (with his customary courtesy) acknowledged help from the Penang and Selangor clubs. A congress of the MCF, presided by F.G. Vaux, was planned to take place during the Easter holidays of 1949 during which the tournament for the Malayan chess champ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Notes on Games, Annotations and Sources
• Abbreviations and Annotations Symbols
• Chapter One Rebirth, 1945–1955
• Chapter Two Changes, 1956–1967
• Chapter Three Chess is on the March, 1968–1970
• Chapter Four Further Growth, 1971–1973
• Chapter Five Young Blood, 1974–1978
• Chapter Six A New Era, 1979–1982
• Chapter Seven Rejuvenation, 1983–1986
• Chapter Eight Rising Youth, 1987–1990
• Afterword
• Appendices
• Sources
• Index of Openings
• Index of Players
• General Index