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Kitefoiler v footballer: A joyous chess match for a cause

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Kitefoiler Max Maeder takes on footballer Danellle Tan in a game of blitz chess as Kevin Goh, CEO of Singapore Chess Federation, plays referee.

Kitefoiler Max Maeder takes on footballer Danelle Tan in a game of blitz chess as Kevin Goh, CEO of Singapore Chess Federation, plays referee.

PHOTO: SINGAPORE CHESS FEDERATION

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Under an unfriendly sun at the Singapore Sports Hub, hell is joyously breaking loose. Bishops are casually tripping knights. Queens are being rudely felled. And a footballer is telling a kitefoiler, a grin pasted on her face, “the end is near”.

This is what happens when you put two professional athletes across a giant chess board for a good cause. They tease a little, laugh a lot, trade respect and sweat competitiveness. And it ends with a champion of the water slightly chastened on land.

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