Hearing impairment doesn’t hinder 10-year-old Singapore girl’s rise in chess

SINGAPORE – It was only when Audelle Sim was six years old that her parents found out that she has a hearing impairment.

As a child, Audelle had taught herself to read lips to understand people around her, but she could not do so during the Covid-19 pandemic when masks became a daily accessory.

Her dad Audwin, 41, said: “During the Covid period, we noticed that she has difficulty understanding because of the mask, that’s when we realised she has hearing loss.”

After picking up chess a year later during her Programme for Active Learning lesson in Primary 1, Audelle – who is now 10 – has since blossomed into one of Singapore’s rising stars in the game.

At the 2024 Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in Penang in July, she topped the U-10 girls’ individual categories for both the rapid and blitz events, and bagged team golds in rapid, blitz and standard.

Her foray into competitive chess began in 2022, when she was in Primary 2. The following year, the Northland Primary School pupil clinched the girls’ Under-10 National School Individual rapid title, which she retained in 2024, while also winning the National School Teams rapid title.

When asked who she usually plays with, Audelle said with a laugh: “I play online, nobody is good enough in my family!

“During lunch, I will be watching YouTube and playing games, I’ll play chess at night too.”

Audwin, head of digital banking at CIMB Bank, had started learning chess after his daughter picked it up, but he soon realised that he could not keep up with her.

“We would watch YouTube and (do puzzles) on chess.com and as we went along, she became very good while I stayed stagnant,” he added.

Her mum June Sim, 41, estimates that they have spent nearly $40,000 on expenses such as coaching and overseas competitions since Audelle started playing competitively.

“But we are very happy that she picked it up, it gave her good skills and built resilience and character in her,” added Sim, a human resource manager.

Audelle, who has an Elo rating of 1,597 in standard chess, is aiming to be a grandmaster by 20. The Elo rating is a measurement of a chess player’s ability, with grandmasters needing at least a 2,500 rating besides other requirements.

She added that the hardest opponent she has faced so far is

Singapore-based Ashwath Kaushik, who in February

became the youngest person to beat a grandmaster at eight years, six months and 11 days old.

While Audelle’s disability has not hampered her progress in chess, there was an incident in which her hearing aid prompted complaints from an opponent’s parents at the 2023 Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in Hainan, China.

Audwin said they had written to the organisers about her need for a hearing aid before the event, but Audelle had to remove it after the complaints.

“She won the first three games against higher-rated opponents and one of the Chinese players’ parents went to complain and the arbiter came to talk to us, but I didn’t let her know,” he said.

“It didn’t really affect her, but it was not a very nice thing to do.”

Unfazed by the incident, Audelle picked up a bronze in the U-10 girls’ blitz category.

The Primary 4 pupil will be eyeing the gold in the U-10 girls’ category at the Nov 24-28 National Age Group Championships at Our Tampines Hub, one of the events on the sidelines of the Nov 25-Dec 13 World Chess Championship in Sentosa.

In all, there are 701 entrants – across six age groups from U-8 to U-20 – of whom 581 are Singaporeans.

Audelle said: “I want to get first. I have been working on puzzle books that my coach gave me and playing chess games online, and analysing them and learning from my mistakes.”

There are boys and girls’ categories for each age group, with the prize money being $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third.

SCF chief executive Kevin Goh said: “We hope that with these events, we can identify young talents and try to introduce them to our programmes.

“I believe that many schools have chess clubs, there are a lot of players but not nearly enough. I would prefer for chess to be in every single school and to have that as a curriculum, because chess can help kids in other ways, not just being a skill itself.”

Asked about Audelle’s potential, he said: “As long as Audelle works hard and manages her time well, there is no reason why she is not able to fulfil her dreams in chess.

“She just needs to be super disciplined and stay committed throughout. The SCF will back her with the training resources she needs if she has these qualities.”