Elliot Wong,11, beat older competitors from Hong Kong, the Philippines, South Korea and Malaysia to win the Hong Kong Bauhinia U18 Chess Invitational. - ELLIOT WONG
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): After an excellent year on the board, Singapore’s chess players closed out 2022 with another big result, this time from 11-year-old Elliot Wong, who emerged as champion of the Hong Kong Bauhinia U18 Chess Invitational on Dec 30.
He beat older opponents from Hong Kong, Philippines, South Korea and Malaysia to claim the trophy, and also finished third in the blitz bowl category.
Elliot, who studies at St Joseph’s Institution Junior, said: “Winning the HK tournament was super special and a very pleasant surprise. I was awestruck by the quality of all my opponents.
“The games were very competitive and I was really humbled by the quality of all my opponents.”
He picked up chess at the age of four and surprised himself by winning the National Kindergarten tournament two years later. In 2021, he finished 18th out of 227 players in the Fide Online Rapid World Cup Cadet and Youth U10 event.
He added: “Chess is like a very special friend whom I enjoy being with. It is a game I love, whether I am enjoying or struggling while learning it.
“Chess is also a mentor which has shown me what it means to treat both triumph and defeat just the same.”
Singapore Chess Federation chief executive Kevin Goh lauded Elliot’s result and noted that the young player had come up against opponents ranked significantly higher than him. Elliot is currently 1,522nd in the world for standard chess.
Organised by the Hong Kong Chess Federation, the tournament was divided into two parts – the main event where standard chess rules were applied and blitz bowl, which was a friendly competition.
According to Goh, Elliot is ranked second in standard chess for his age group in Singapore and is one of the most active young players in the country.
“I am very pleased for his success and I hope that this will encourage him to continue working hard and improve his game,” said Goh.
“For young players, it is important to focus on progress and to continue training hard. They are still too young to think about titles.”
Elliot added: “I aspire to be able to do well in the World Junior championship one day. I know I have to spend a lot of time and effort to have a chance to get there and I will try my very best.”
The final month of the year was a fruitful one for Singapore’s players, with woman grandmaster Gong Qianyun finishing a creditable 13th out of 98 competitiors at the Fida Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship.
This was followed by Elliot’s triumph in Hong Kong, which came just weeks after Singaporean grandmaster Tin Jingyao finished second at the III Elllobregat Open Chess tournament in Barcelona.
En route, he defeated American grandmaster Hans Niemann – who was embroiled in a cheating controversy after beating world champion Magnus Carlsen in September – before repeating the feat at the Fide World Rapid & Blitz Championship Rapid Open.
