NM ROSHAN

THE CROWN
It happened almost at the same time yesterday, who knows maybe it even happened exactly at the same time since Caissa works in mysterious ways...

I am referring to the crowning of World Chess Champion and Malaysia National Champion. Happened at the same time but in totally different manner....

In Moscow, Anand won the World Chess Championship title with lots of draws (and extra round required) ....while in Malaysia Roshan won the National Closed with lots of wins (and a round to spare)

NATIONAL CLOSED 2012 

Talk about lots of wins... Roshan almost achieved the unheard of perfect score...after his win against Li Tian, Roshan was leading this tournament in a manner never seen before at this level. Like a hungry lion (Singh means lion anyway!) , he devoured one victim after another...nervous players quickly went to check new pairings to see who is the next victim...to be feed to Roshan.

In the last round Roshan was paired against Syazwan Zulkifli, a dangerous and strong Terengganu player who only 6 years ago learned how to play chess (and at his current progress, who knows what Syazwan is capable to achieve in future.. ) and the game ended in a tense fighting draw. There were a lot of 'ahhs...' when the draw result was confirmed, knowing very well what Roshan had missed of (a perfect score!). The atmosphere was equivalent to watching a snooker game where player failed to pot a last black and failed to achieve a perfect 147...or in dart where player failed to check in on his 9th dart to achieve perfect 9 dart finish....oh, boy, what a miss!

ROSHAN 

Roshan was born 15 years ago and started to play chess at age 6. His father, a tournament player himself, taught him about the game of kings...and never imagined that one day, his son, no longer a boy but a young man, crowned as the 2012 King of Malaysian chess

Roshan's favourite chess book is Tal: Life and Games...well, it is brilliant to follow chess style of Tal but just don't follow life style of Tal! 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST 

Roshan befits his name which means shining and splendid. 2010 Chess Odyssey would like to wish him continuous shine in the chess world...with the exception when he meets Nor Ilhamuddin, of course! :)

Good luck and all the best, Roshan.