IM Tin Jingyao Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session for ICD 2021

The 2nd half of the ICD activity was an hour long AMA (Ask Me Anything) from Jingyao at the ChessAgainstCovid whatsapp group, which comprises 256 chess players/parents.

Jingyao's titanic World Cup match wirh GM Timur Gareyev had enthralled Singaporean chess players over the past month and we wanted to give them an opportunity to interview and find out more about him.

This was how the AMA went:
IM Tin Jingyao’s International Chess Day AMA (ask me anything) session – 6pm to 7pm on ChessAgainstCovid whatsapp group.

Jingyao: Hi all, before I begin answering the questions, I would like to thank everyone for their support and well wishes during the recent few events!

Question 1: Adrian Huang - you are stranded on a desert island for a week. Which chess player would you like to be stranded together with you and why?

Answer: This is a tough one, because I don’t even have an answer when I’m asked who my favourite chess player is. If I had to choose, I might choose someone like Firouzja Alireza simply because he’s on the younger side and has a fairly likeable personality, but I don’t have any compelling reasons.

Question 2: JC - What are openings you will never play?

Answer: I can’t say there’s any opening that I will never play as I try all kinds of things in speed chess, but competitively in classical games I don’t see myself resorting to side lines (like 1.b3!). But any main lines I can see myself potentially playing it.

Question 3: Aaron- I'm a chess parent. When you were growing up, how much of playing was what you wanted to do and how much of it was stuff your parents asked u to do? On average, how many hours a day did you play chess when you were a kid?

Answer: I picked up the game by chance on my own and am very lucky to genuinely enjoy the game, so none of it was forced onto me by my parents. I would spend perhaps 2-4 hours a day on chess when I was young, more of just playing rather than studying the game. I was never really the kind who could spend like 8 hours a day on chess.

Question 4: JJ- Happy belated 21st and great performance at the WC! I'm curious about your thoughts on the future of Singapore chess. For example, do you forsee yourself, Cyrus (IM Cyrus Low) and Siddharth (FM Siddharth Jagadeesh) becoming GMs? How can the Singapore chess community better support you and other top talents?

Answer: Thank you! Well certainly I think I have reasonable chances at attaining the GM title. I'm personally not too familiar with Cyrus' current situation but as far as I know he's not been active for some time so he probably needs to get back to actively playing first. As for Siddharth he's still very young and definitely has great potential and chance to achieve GM. I think having strong tournaments held locally will be of great help to many aspiring chess players as well as for the top players. Most, if not all of our young talent are not professional players and thus having strong events locally will provide players with more opportunities and also act as good starting ground for many.

Question 5: Andrey Terekhov - Congratulations on a strong performance in the Asian Hybrid championship and in the World Cup! Those who watched your games know that you have a tendency to get into time trouble. What are the main reasons for that, in your opinion? Do you see it as something you should work on, and if yes, what is your plan for improving the time management during the games?

Answer: Thank you! I believe the main reason I often fall behind on the clock is because I'd rather have the best position I can have with little time rather than a poor or mediocre position with more time on the clock. I like to trust my ability to play well under time pressure so I often spend more time during the early and critical phases of the game and hope that I will be able to maintain my position under time pressure during the later phases, which are easier to play anyway since there are less pieces. It's perhaps not an ideal way to manage my time, but certainly one way I can reduce time trouble is by improving my familiarity with the opening phase of the game.

Question 6: Sam CM Hui - Congratulations on your recent performances! On that note, what 7 minutes in your chess career felt like heaven to you?

Answer: Thank you! I think my 2 happiest moments must have been first when I beat GM Maghsoodloo Parham in the Asian Continental and second when I managed to win on demand in the first tiebreaker at the World Cup.
https://lichess.org/study/XELiRm3i/rlkIlcx4
My game at the Asian Continental was actually the first time I beat a player rated over 2600 in a classical game, and considering the fact that I was defending for most of the game and winning that game meant I had a very good chance at winning the whole event, it was definitely the most exciting moment for me.
The second moment was perhaps exciting because it is still fresh in my mind, but winning a game that I absolutely had to win in a format like the knockout was indescribably thrilling as well, and a first for me.

Question 7: Teo Hong Ming/ Donovan Tan - What is your chess training schedule?

Answer: As of now, I have no fixed training schedule as I am also currently without a coach. These days my training comes in the form of working on my openings, following grandmaster games and analyzing my own games.

Question 8: Nicholas Kuo – What’s your favourite chess book and why?

Answer: I don't read a lot of chess books but my favourite is *Move First, Think Later *by Willy Hendriks. It’s not really a book that helps you improve at chess but I really enjoyed the ideas it presented about training philosophy.

Question 9: Ong Yujing - Other than chess, do you have other hobbies? Also, other than becoming a GM, do you have other goals at this point in your life?

Answer: My most prominent other hobbies are probably gaming and programming. Right now I am just waiting for school to start and I can't say there are any other obvious goals right now.

Question 10: Vinai - HI Jingyao. Congratulations on your strong performance in Asian Hybrid and World Cup. Will you consider becoming a full time professional chess player in the future?

Answer: Thank you! No, I have never seriously considered becoming a professional player

Question 11: Clement and Damian Chai - Hi Jing Yao, may I ask: When did you start playing chess? What is your favourite ice cream flavour?

Answer: I started playing chess at around 8. My favourite ice cream flavour is chocolate by far.

Jingyao: Thanks for all the questions! It's really nice to see everyone here passionate about the game especially when following the games.