In the first week of December Yeoh Li Tian traveled to Adelaide for the Lidums Young Masters. He was invited to play in this week long tournament with 9 rounds. When you have a minimum of 4 overseas players in a tournament and the average rating of the players is at a certain level, the tournament can be registered to be an ‘International Master Norm’ tournament. That means that players can qualify to become an International Master. They need to win a certain amount of games in 3 of these tournaments plus a rating of 2400.

So it is not an easy task to become a titled player and we were therefore very interested to know what makes Li Tian so passionate about the game. With already 2 IM Norms guaranteed, he is eager to secure his final norm in Adelaide.

 

Chesslife: What is your current rating?

Li Tian: My current FIDE rating is 2432.

Chesslife: Where are you from and how old are you?

Li Tian: I am from Malaysia and currently at the age of 17.

Chesslife: How old were you when you learned how to play chess?

Li Tian: According to my father, I started learning chess at 2 years old. Unfortunately I can’t recall any details about it, I was simply too young to remember anything at that time.

Chesslife: How much chess do you practice and study during the week?

Li Tian: It depends on whether I am busy with other things such as academics. No matter what, I will still spend some time following current top tournaments and games. I would say about 10 hours per week.

Chesslife: What is your favourite chess resource/book?

Li TIan: I must say I am quite computer dependence in chess training. I don’t really read chess books but I guess that isn’t a good model to follow. I follow many chess sites such as chessbase.com on their articles, especially GM analysis on top games. I enjoy reading this analysis which gives me new ideas when come to my own chess game.

Note from Chesslife – Chessbase is one of the largest chess websites in the world. Have you read David’s article on Chessbase when he was at the World Youth Chess Championship in 2016?

Chesslife: What was your first International Tournament?

Li Tian: Well, I can’t really remember that. I think it was the ASEAN Age Group tournament where I participated in the Boys Under 08 category when I was 6 years old.

Chesslife: Who is your favourite chess player?

Li Tian: GM Magnus Carlsen. In my opinion, he has opened a whole new era in the chess world by frequently winning seeming “theoretical draw” position against super grandmasters. His unique and somewhat mysterious playing style must have given plenty of pressure to his elite opponents such that they eventually collapse.

Chesslife: What is your Junior Chess League like?

Li Tian: Well, there is no Chess League in Malaysia.

Chesslife: What has chess taught you?

Li Tian: Chess has taught me to stay calm in all situations. Besides, I have learnt to plan ahead and anticipate future possibilities when playing chess. All these are very important skills to a person for his/her success in life.

Chesslife: How do you think chess has helped you socially, mentally and at school?

Li Tian: In terms of social, I have met many elder as well as peer. I also make friends with many chess players and they have certainly helped me a lot in other aspects of life. In term of mental development, I feel that chess has helped me to become more mentally matured compared to the same age. I will always consider many factors beforehand instead of rushing to make a reckless decision. At school, chess has definitely helped to develop my mathematical skills. Solving any math-related question in any subject in school has never been a big deal to me.

Chesslife: What is your most memorable game?

Li Tian: Obviously is a win against a strong GM! I would choose the wild game against Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in year 2013, where I won a lucky calculation duel against a player rated 369 points above me. This is by far my only win against a player rated 2600 above.

Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son played on board 2 at the 2016 Olympiad with a rating of 2633!

Click on the board below (or HERE) for an analysis of Li Tian’s game against GM Nguyen.

Chesslife: What advice would you give Australian Junior Chess players?

Li Tian: I would advise young players not to focus too much in the opening. In my humble opinion, although many may not agree, a good opening repertoire only becomes crucial at around IM standard. Young players should spend more time in analysing middle game and endgame as they are equally or even more important than opening.