World Chess Day: Meet Kevin Goh, Singapore's chairman of the chessboard

This video was filmed before the outbreak of COVID-19 locally.

“The beauty of chess is it can be whatever you want it to be. It transcends language, age, race, religion, politics, gender, and socioeconomic background. Whatever your circumstances, anyone can enjoy a good fight to the death over the chess board.” - Simon Williams aka GingerGM, English chess grandmaster

Wah liao, did you know the earliest forms of chess were played nearly 1,500 years ago? Thanks to Netflix’s must-watch The Queen’s Gambit and life on lockdown, there's been a resurgence of interest in chess over the past year. It’s easy to pick up and play online, and even pro gamers have turned to chess on Twitch and YouTube.

July 20 is World Chess Day, a day recognised by the United Nations, and the same day the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded way back in 1924.

What better way to commemorate World Chess Day by shining the spotlight on Singapore's very own chess grandmaster, Kevin Goh Wei Ming.

He da man

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Kevin is the first Singaporean chess grandmaster since 1999 (we've only had three previously!), and one of only 1,700 grandmasters in the world. He is a seven-time national champion and a three-time SEA games medal winner.

Origin story

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His interest in the game started because his primary school was famous for its chess club. Thanks to the teacher-in-charge, the school’s chess club was among the best in Singapore. He finished 3rd in his first-ever tournament, the National Schools Under-10 championships.

Hormat SAF!

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He is grateful to his CO, then-LTC Lam Siew Tong, who allowed him to compete in the national championships. He won a bronze medal at the 2003 SEA Games while serving NS, and later won two bronze medals at the 2005 SEA Games.

Work-life balance

Kevin juggles his passion for chess while working as CFO for Lucence, an oncology company. He recently competed in Sochi, Russia for the FIDE World Cup 2021.

Interested! Where can I play chess in Singapore ah?

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Here are places you can go to learn / play the game shared by local player Ong Yujing (Eugene) from his chess blog. Click the links to learn more.

• Ang Mo Kio CC Mind Sports Club (more info: philipamkcc@gmail.com)
• Bishan Chess Club
• Queenstown CC 
• Yuhua CC Chess Club 
• PubXChess
• SGChessSocial

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.