The Standard Chess event started on Saturday 8 June at the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel in Chiang Mai Thailand. Singapore has the largest contingent of trainers here, working hard round the clock to guide the players before each game and post-mortems after. I was taking care of my 3 charges, 2 of which were ill from flu and recovering from fever and cough. But I am very proud of them as they showed good spirit, played their games with grit and managed decent scores. Royce Tan is currently on 2.5 out of 3 points, scheduled to meet the Indonesian 4th place finisher at Hue last year. Our preparations have been most useful in anticipating the positions that we are confident in scoring. Most U10 players do not pay much attention to their openings so it is a great boost of confidence when we see our preparation yield results. I am counting on 2 more wins today from Royce so that he gets the award of going to the next AAG with a 50% subsidy as promised by SCF President Ignatius Leong! Hui Ling sco