An unusual encounter took place yesterday at United Square, Singapore. During a simultaneous chess challenge organised by the Singapore Chess Federation, my old friend and chess rival Terry Toh participated – not as one of the two “simul masters” (he is currently a retired international master or IM) – but as one of the participants against local 14-year-old FIDE master (FM – a lower chess ranking than IM) Tin Jingyao. And Terry managed to lose! The game was kind of ridiculous with Terry playing in a way that he would never have done during his active years as a chess player. Well, he endured a lot of ribbing from the older retired chess playing community for that result but at least appeared to have had some fun.

The game and a very nice write-up can be found on Junior Tay’s blog at chess.com. Do read some of the other blog posts by Junior Tay which illuminate local chess players and events.