extracted from GM Kevin Goh’s Facebook post
Chess players of a certain generation would be very familiar with Professor Lim Kok Ann, or more affectionately known as Prof. Much has been written about Prof, for instant in the Legend, Dr. Li Yang Hsu‘s blog (https://miphidic.com/2015/08/30/lim-kok-ann-professor-of-microbiology-and-father-of-chess-in-singapore-1920-2003/) with regards to his legacies in chess but to give an example of his attention to detail, and how much he cares for others, I have attached a letter that he wrote to me in 1995. Many thanks to Bernard Carleton Lim, for recovering his Grandfather’s copy and for sharing it with me. I remember being completely shocked that a highly respected man would write such a detailed and elaborate letter to me, a mere Primary School kid but this was really just the tip of the iceberg. Later on in the year, he would pay the air tickets for me and my friend Tan Chee Chong to play in the World Disney Rapid Chess (U-12 and U-14) Championships in Paris. He also brought his good friend along, IM Nikola Karaklajić who would coach us throughout the event. Prof soon found out what a total geek I was – all of us had free passes to every ride in Disney Land, for every single day but on the only rest day that we had, I begged Nikola to play blitz with me instead…From 1995 to around the year 2000, I received the highly popular “Inside Chess Magazine” on a monthly basis thanks to Prof’s generosity. I would devour each copy happily from cover to cover. Even in the early 2000s when I was preparing for the National championships, I was heavily reliant on these old copies of Inside Chess. It is a common sight for my army mates to see me reading a torn and tattered magazine on my bunk bed, and playing out moves over a small chess set. The common question they asked was why I was playing chess with myself and whether I was losing my mind. It didn’t matter to me as I qualified for the National team for the first time by finishing 5th…….This year, Prof Lim would have been 100 years old and to remember his many accomplishments and countless acts of kindness, #ChessAgainstCovid is proud to annouce the SG Grandmasters’ Simultaneous Exhibition. 4 Singaporean GMs, 100 players, all pushing wood concurrently. I hope that chess players would join us for this historic and special occasion#Donotstopuntilperfect
