Looks can be deceiving
Take a look at this participant from Vietnam in last month’s DATMO:-
My first impression was this was a very geeky looking kid. When he smiled, he looked well, like a weak patzer.
I personally thought :
With a silly looking smile like that…. How can this be a strong player ?
The truth was of course, quite the opposite.
(Remis Aman was quite right to point out that this is an exceptional player before the tournament started).
Well it turned out that he is 16-year-old GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son - Vietnam’s 2nd strongest grandmaster. He learnt chess at the age of 3 and is (or was?) the second youngest GM in the world.
At the Malaysian Open, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son finished 7th just behind his compatriot GM Nguyen Anh Dung.
Here’s a crucial game played in the last round. It features another bright young star, FM Wesley So (age 12) vs GM Nguyen Troung Son. Wesley would have finished top 10 and possibly a GM norm if he had won this game. But as fate would have it, this was not meant to be..
[Event "Round 11, Table 7"]
[Site "Kuala Lumpur"]
[Date "2006.08.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "FM Wesley So"]
[Black "GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2330"]
[BlackElo "2535"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2006.08.21"]
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bg5 Be6 7. O-O-O+ Nbd7 8. f4 exf4 9. Nf3 h6 10. Bxf4 c6 11. Nd4 Bc5 12. Be2 Ke7 13. Bf3 Rhd8 14. e5 Bxd4 15. Rxd4 Ne8 16. Rb4 Rab8 17. Ne4 Nc7 18. Nd6 Nb6 19. Bg3 Na6 20. Rd4 Nc7 21. Rhd1 Nbd5 22. Ne4 g5 23. Bf2 b6 24. g3 Ne8 25. h4 g4 26. Be2 Bf5 27. c4 Nb4 28. Nc3 Rxd4 29. Rxd4 Ke6 30. a3 c5 31. Rf4 Nc6 32. Nd5 Nxe5 33. Ne3 Nd6 34. Nxf5 Nxf5 35. Kc2 h5 36. b4 Rc8 37. bxc5 bxc5 38. Kc3 Nd6 0-1
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