Big Dragon Project

This story has been late in writing. Originally, I wanted to write it in April after Ding Liren had won the world chess championship, making him the first-ever male player from China to become the world chess champion. Something had stopped me from writing then. Anyway, I've now decided to do something with Ding's historical win and what better way to begin than from the beginning? 

Have you heard of the Big Dragon Project? No? Well, it wasn't a complete secret to begin with. Some people in the chess circle knew about it but as it did not involve them directly, they just didn't care much for it. Not until Ding became the world chess champion. But I've seen it happen, from almost the start of it. 

After Ding's win, some foreign journalists became intrigued when they heard about a Big Dragon Project in China. Just about two to three weeks ago, I was contacted by a journalist asking for information, which I have given him. But I thought that I should also publicise it here on my blog for the greater good. So here goes! (I should mention that the version which I gave the journalist was mainly re-written. But this is my original version.)

Myself playing chess with Dato' Tan Chin Nam in 2014

In 1974, Tan Chin Nam was elected as the first president of the Malaysian Chess Federation. He was already a very successful businessman in his own right, a big-time property developer. However in chess, he was a complete newbie but one willing to immerse himself into a totally new world. 

Settling down into this new role, he got to know Dr Lim Kok Ann (Singapore) who in turn introduced him to Florencio Campomanes (Philippines) and other chess presidents from around the Asian region. As part of his scheme to revitalise chess in Malaysia, he agreed to organise the first Asian Team Chess Championship in Penang, Malaysia. It was also the 50th anniversary of the World Chess Federation and somehow, he invited FIDE to hold their FIDE Congress to Penang. So in December 1974, both the FIDE Congress and the first Asian Team Chess Championship were both held at the same time in Penang.

By Tan Chin Nam's assertion, the Big Dragon Project was hatched in December 1974 by Dr Lim Kok Ann, Florencio Campomanes and Yasuji Matsumoto (Japan) and him. He invited the Chinese Chess Association to send observers to the FIDE Congress Penang but instead, two officials from the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur turned up. On the sidelines of the FIDE Congress, the first meeting of Asian chess presidents took place. As a chessplayer representing Malaysia in that Asian Team chess championship, I remember seeing the Chinese officials arrive for meetings at the Merlin Hotel in Penang. (That old Merlin Hotel is now the City Bayview Hotel.)

The idea behind the Big Dragon Project was simple. An Asian country was selected as trailblazer to narrow the gap in chess technique and knowledge between Asia on one side and Soviet Union, Europe and North America on the other side. India could have been selected but the country sided with the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore to give the opportunity to China with its bigger population and thus, potential.

On the coat tail of a successful Asian team championship in Penang, Tan Chin Nam convinced FIDE to accept the Chinese Chess Association as a member in 1975. I believe that more than anything else, China's entry into the world chess fraternity helped that country to open themselves up to the rest of the world in every aspect. It was even more significant than the American ping-pong diplomacy in 1971. A very grateful Chinese Chess Association subsequently invited the Malaysian Chess Federation to send an official delegation to visit their country in April 1978. Again, I was in the thick of it as a player.

So the Big Dragon Project was launched with China. It was all about creating a great Asian chess power by raising their level of play and then producing grandmasters. As far back as 1974 or 1975, the objective was to make China the destination for future world chess titles. The strategy would start with the Chinese women players. First, they challenged for the women's individual world title, and then for the women's Olympiad team title. The Chinese men would then follow in the same order in due course.

As a multi-millionaire, Tan Chin Nam was able to throw a lot of his own resources into the project. However, nothing came easy. For the Chinese women, for example, it took 13 years after China's men's team's debut appearance in the Bueno Aires Chess Olympiad in 1978. Who could ever forget international master Liu Wenzhe's demolition of grandmaster Jan Donner in a sparkling brilliancy when China met Holland at the Chess Olympiad?

He financed a united Asian chess team with two players from China and one each from India and the Philippines to play a match with Yugoslavia in 1984. In 1985 he paid for Chinese participants to play in a zonal championship. Next, sponsorship of the First Beijing Chess Open in 1988, followed by funding the Tan Chin Nam Cup for seven years beginning 1995. In 2002, the Tan Chin Nam International Open attracted 22 foreign grandmasters to China.

Also important was purchasing chess books, computers and research materials, as well as sponsoring two chess study trips to Europe for top Chinese players in 1996 amd 1997.

The first big breakthrough came in 1990 when Xie Jun qualified to challenge Maia Chiburdanidze, women's world champion from the Soviet Union since 1978. In October 1991, Xie Jun defeated Chiburdanidze in Manila and ended a 41-year monopoly by the Soviet Union and a 64-year reign by European champions. At that moment when it happened, I was in Genting Highlands for an Asian Cities Team Championship. We were elated and felt very happy for Asian chess. I initiated a congratulatory postcard for Xie Jun, signed by many players and officials in Genting.

The next breakthrough came at the 1998 World Chess Olympiad when the Chinese women's team captured the gold medal and affirmed themselves as the new dominant powers in women's chess. The progress of the Chinese male players has been slower due to the greater competition among male chess players, but the struggle was still there for everyone to see. It must have been some 20 years since The Big Dragon Project ended but nevertheless, China continues to progress on their own momentum. The pinnacle of their success came this year with their grandmaster, Ding Liren, becoming the first world chess champion from China. 

All these would not be possible without the financial resources from Tan Chin Nam. But before anyone started accusing him of favouring chess in China before promoting the interests of Malaysian chess, he had made it very clear that the Big Dragon Project was nothing about chauvinism. In his own words, he said that it was, and it remained, a helping hand on his part to "promote excellence and to hammer out multi-national intellectual friendships on the anvil of honest competition."

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