Tang's 'Unexpected' Title

Ex-national player sees 'fun' trip end with Rilton Cup; but is unsure about playing on

- Melvyn Teoh

When Tang Yi Heng packed his bags for a chess tournament in Stockholm two weeks ago, he had two goals for his trip: To earn enough points to hit a 2,000 Elo rating and to sightsee in the Swedish capital.

He managed to achieve only one of them.

After 11 days and nine matches, the 18-year-old surprised himself, and his opponents, by winning the U2,200 category of the Rilton Cup.

Ranked 104th among the 154-strong field with a rating of 1,778, the underdog notched six wins and three draws against higher-ranked players en route to the title. For his efforts, he was rewarded with the winner's cheque of 11,000 Swedish krona (S$1,350) and 238 Elo points.

Tang, who trained for only a month before the event, said: "When I got there, I was still rated 400 points lower than a lot of these players. So I didn't have much expectations. I just thought it'd be a fun experience.

"My target was to hit 2,000 from this tournament (But) after a few rounds, I realised that I actually had a chance to win the whole thing because the European players were weaker than I expected."