The Next Move: Only Chess!
He's eight, he loves maths and he's already a Hong Kong chess champion. Meet Shayne Meng Xiangyi, a young player with big ambitions and a world of chess ahead of him. Elizabeth Kerr reports
PHOTOS BY Andrew J.C. Spires & courtesy of Shayne Meng Xiangyi
There is nothing out of the ordinary about eight-year-old Shayne Meng Xiangyi. It's a normal weekday after school, and he's showing off his typical kids' bedroom in his Discovery Bay home. His desk and bookshelves are overflowing with trophies, medals and awards, and books are crammed into every nook. What is out of the ordinary is that Shayne's hardware is mostly chess prizes from nearly 100 tournaments he's been in since he started playing when he was just five. Well, chess and a few for maths. They go together after all. After the impromptu tour, which includes pointing out a framed photograph of his idol, Chinese grandmaster and 2023-24 World Chess Champion Ding Liren, he sits down at the dining table, not fidgety but maybe a little uncertain.
Shayne is currently the Hong Kong SAR U8 Junior Chess Champion, a title he picked up in January. That win was his ticket to a summer spent flying all over for various prestige tournaments, starting with the FIDE World Cadets Cup U8 to U12 in Georgia last June. "The Georgia in Europe. Not the Georgia state," he says matter-of-factly. As Hong Kong's sole representative, Shayne placed 18th among 118 U8 players from around the world, setting a new best-ever result for a Hong Kong player in the event.
Shayne was born in DB, where his parents relocated after years on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, looking for a better pace of life. They're elsewhere in the flat, giving Shayne a little bit of space. His independence shows in how he warms up to a chat about just starting Grade 4 at Discovery College, his strong subjects (Chinese and maths), and how he's "horrible" at art. There's some ribbing about his disastrous singing and terrible drawing, which makes him giggle like the little boy he is. He talks about playing ping-pong when he hangs out with friends ("I'm okay at it, I guess") but ask him about chess and he sparks to even more life.
"I learnt Chinese chess first, and really liked it. I was in the hospital, and my mom brought in some board games," he recalls (he had pneumonia). That led to what Shayne calls standard international chess, and the discovery of Ding online somewhere ("| think so, but I'm not sure."). He was instantly engrossed by the game. Next came Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club because, as Shayne says of his parents, "Oh, they don't know how to play." There's laughter of agreement from the next room. Mum and dad are big fans of staying out of Shayne's spotlight, admitting they support his passion in whatever way they can, at his request, and they will as long as he enjoys it. His love of chess is more crucial than winning medals.
To say Shayne is out of the ordinary is inaccurate; it may be more like extraordinary. He talks like any eight-year-old. He "umms" and pauses, and frequently gives politely clipped "yes" responses but ask him what it is about a millennium-old strategy game that appeals to him and it opens the floodgates.
"It's all calculations, which is why I like math too. And I like making my brain feel tired," he begins, before launching into an explanation of his preference for the standard game. "There's a big difference in the board and the pieces between Chinese chess and international chess. It has an extra piece. Chinese chess doesn't have a Queen at all, and the King has very limited squares. So does the bishop, and pawns move forward, but when they cross half the board, they can move sideways, but only one square." Barely taking a breath, he downplays the value of the Queen, and talks traps and stalemates. He prefers a slow game to flashy rapid and blitz styles.
Shayne is very serious about his chess, but he has an understated sense of humour that makes it easy for him to poke fun at himself. The spoils of his victories from the summer just passed are on the table too, and he details what the medals represent: 18th place at the FIDE World Cadets Cup in Georgia; 10th place at the Asian Youth Chess Championships in Shenzhen; first place at Hong Kong's Asian Rapid Chess Championship; second place at the Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in Hainan with a third finish in rapid and a 10th in blitz. "See," he says, rolling his eyes. "I told you I'm not good at speed chess."
Shayne may be young, but his ambitions are already firm. His goal is to be a chess grandmaster and world champion. He's taking some cues from Ding, who started his climb to chess dominance in U10 tournaments and who Shayne has met twice, in Singapore and in Hong Kong; but there are a lot of steps between where he is and where he wants to go. He's beaten countless players older and more experienced than he, but he brushes that off with a generous, "l beat an older man from Italy, at a tournament in Thailand, but older and experienced doesn't mean anything to your level of play." Shayne is playing with some of China's best, but knows he can be better.
"I'm definitely not the type of person who just likes attacking on the board. I'm pretty defensive, but I'm also pretty alert. I still have to understand these positions, so my coach is working on it. We're also working on playing a little bit faster."
His coach is Netherlands native and international master Matthew Tan, who ironically didn't want to place five-year-old Shayne in a regular class, arguing he was too young and should be having fun with the kindergarten-aged players. Scheduling made that tricky so he relented with "sink or swim" resignation, only to be amazed by Shayne's talent, drive and passion - which he indulges everywhere, including on family vacations. He's dragged his parents into more than one Barcelona bar or Melbourne park to play anyone who's around. Outside factors and opportunity will play roles, but Matthew has no doubt Shayne has the potential for grandmaster status.
"He's way ahead of where I was at his age, and back then I was regarded as a big talent. He has more talent than | had," Matthew adds by telephone. "We're just going to keep working, and make sure that he enjoys the road that he's on. If he can stay motivated to continue, I have high hopes for him."
For the time being, Shayne is focusing on defending his title, sort of. He'll be moving up to U10 at the Hong Kong Juniors in January, and this time he'll be on the younger end of the field. It's easy to forget he's eight when he talks chess, but then he gets a kid's gleam in his eye when he shows off a prized assortment of chess boards from different parts of the world. A South African edition with the Big Five for pieces, an Uzbek version constructed out of traditional clothing.
Plenty of kids have plans brewing for the future at eight, be it for pop stardom, or medicine, or the classic firefighter. What are Shayne's? He barely pauses before replying. "I don't have any. Only chess." And checkmate.
