About Us

Disclaimer

This is just to clarify that neither my son, Javier nor myself are strong in chess. We had progressed since we first started learning chess. But we acknowledge that there is still a long long journey for us to improve and we still need to spend many hours working on our chess. 

This page is not to state how good Javier's chess strength. It is simply sharing of our Chess Journey till now. 

How did my son's and my Chess Journey started? 

In the year 2021, My son, Javier was intrigued to find out more about chess when we are watching the Netflix Show: The Queen's Gambit. We google chess and came across a online chess platform and started from there.

Both of us have no experience playing with chess but I used to play a lot of Chinese Chess and i was able to use some of the knowledge in chinese chess and apply it in chess. It was a lot of fun winning Javier in the beginning of his chess journey! 😁

However, after a while, he begins to improve and start to win me in games. I was shocked to be honest. And I believe I say this on behalf of most chess fathers when I had this realisation: That the moment our children start to beat us in chess, is the moment we feel that our children have some talent in chess and it's time to get him/her a coach to develop their chess talent 😆

Fathers are egoistical that way! If our children beat us in something, it's because they have talent and definitely not because we are weak! 😂

The Hunt for the Right Coach

I got very much interested in chess because of Javier and I want to continue improving my chess alongside him so I can supoort him and bond with him at the same time.

I tried different types of coaching lessons for Javier. He had personal physical lessons, free trial for a group lesson from India and different coaches for one to one zoom lessons from India, Ukraine and Jamaica! 

As he is only 9 years old then, I was there with him throughout each different types of coaching lessons. And I also feel that the coaches are making a delicate balance of providing info that's exciting, trendy and cool (but not necessarily that practically useful) such as opening gambits, and teaching chess knowledge that's fundamental and important, but could be boring.  

Most importantly, Javier needs to enjoy the lesson! 

Thankfully we found a strong coach in Jamaica who connects very well with Javier and myself. He focus on strengthening our chess fundamentals and manage to do so in an engaging manner. 

Going for Tournaments

We start to go for tournaments together, I feel this is one of the way to improve our chess. Every opponent takes the game seriously, which is unlike online chess games. I think I kinda threw him into the deep end of the pool though. We went for open tournaments straight away. Javier lost a ton of games, gets upset and frustrated, pick himself up again and went back to fight.

Doing our own Tournament as a Family

This is where my wife, Stella comes in. Up till now, it is kinda a father and son bonding experience, and now she is going to elevate us to another level! 

She had spent many years working in events management, and feels that she can contribute to enhance the tournament experience for the chess players and chess parents waiting outside the tournament hall. 

She kickstarts our first Kids Chess Club tournament, and founded Singapore Chess Infinity, organising Fide Rated Tournaments!

Overseas Tournaments

We also start going to Overseas Tournament to give Javier more exposure in Chess, especially for Standard Chess Games that are not commonly found in Singapore.

Javier is with the National Training Program with Singapore Chess Federation we and will continue to give updates on his chess journey!