Singapore’s Tang Yi Heng scores ‘very unexpected’ chess win at Rilton Cup

SINGAPORE – When Tang Yi Heng packed his bags for a chess tournament in Stockholm two weeks ago, he had two goals for his trip: To earn enough points to hit a 2,000 Elo rating and to sightsee in the Swedish capital.

He managed to achieve only one of them.

After 11 days and nine matches, the 18-year-old surprised himself, and his opponents, by winning the U2,200 category of the Rilton Cup.

Ranked 104th among the 154-strong field with a rating of 1,778, the underdog notched six wins and three draws against higher-ranked players en route to the title. For his efforts, he was rewarded with the winner’s cheque of 11,000 Swedish krona (S$1,350) and 238 Elo points.

Tang, who trained for only a month before the event, said: “When I got there, I was still rated 400 points lower than a lot of these players. So I didn’t have much expectations. I just thought it’d be a fun experience.

“My target was to hit 2,000 from this tournament. (But) after a few rounds, I realised that I actually had a chance to win the whole thing because the European players were weaker than I expected.”

A former national player, Tang completed his international baccalaureate examinations last November, and at the encouragement of his friend Jayden Wong, decided to accompany the latter and compete in the cup.

Wong, a national player, eventually finished 27th in the Open category.

Having spent nearly $3,500 on the trip, Tang had initially wanted to “do a bit of tourism” but his schedule turned out to be busier than expected.

“The sunlight hours were really short (10am-3pm) and the games finished around 6pm or 7pm and most of the shops were closed already, so I didn’t get to see much,” he said.

“I prepared very hard because I had nothing else to do in Sweden. In the morning it was very cold.

“So I’d have six hours of preparation, then four to six hours of playing, and then I’ll go eat dinner and then go to sleep.”

Tang used to be part of the national set-up at the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF), but left the team in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He continued to play with the chess club in Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and competed in some inter-school tournaments.

He said: “During Covid, everything paused and I kind of lost interest for a while. I knew I might come back but school got busy and I thought ‘I’ll come back after IB’.

“It’s my first time going to Europe for a tournament and since this is probably the most free time I have in my life, I might as well give it a try.”

Wong, who is the fourth-highest rated active player in Singapore with an Elo rating of 2,396, helped his former teammate by giving him tips after his own matches.

He said: “I’ll go through his game with him (to see) where he could have played better and where he made some mistakes.

“I expected that he would overperform, but this is like major, major overperformance. His starting rank was 100-something, then to end up as champion, it’s very, very unexpected.”

SCF chief executive Kevin Goh said: “I think it’s great, it just means that there are players who choose to work on their own.

“It’s always nice to see players achieving success, it just shows that you don’t have to be part of the system and (can) still succeed.

“We will always welcome players who want to have a bit more access to come forward and train with us.”

While Tang does not plan to rejoin the national team at the moment, he is also contemplating his future in chess, with national service on the horizon.

He added: “Right now, I’m a bit unsure because my target was to make 2,000 and I really didn’t expect to do it in the first overseas tournament that I played.

“I got there quite fast and there’s a few more months until NS. I’m thinking if I’d want to push my ratings.

“To make Candidate Master (2,200 rating) in Singapore, I think it’s not possible, because there’s only about 25 people above me now and they are all very good.

“If I play in Singapore, I’ll lose my rating points.”