Yat Sen Primary School student Gerad Fong, 12, scored a sensation in the 15 minutes Rapid Chess Tournament held in Suva by qualifying for post-section play.
According to an article published in The Fiji Times on February 8, 1983, 22 players lined up for the start of the tournament held at the University of the South Pacific Bure and were divided into two pools.
As expected, the seeded players in pool one — Nazim Khan, Dr Virgilo De Asa and David Schulze — all made it to the finals, after playing 11 matches. However, the irrepressible Fong defeated talented players such as Damondar Naidu, Surjeet Singh, Harjeet Singh and David Bell to make the finals from pool two, along with Inoke Matai and Len Raj.
In the finals, the six players played five matches each and though Fong did not win a match, he certainly gave other players a few scares.
Fiji representative to the recent Commonwealth Championships in Australis, Nazim Khan scored five points to win the title after a strong challenge from De Asa, who finished second.
Back in third place was Matai on three points followed by Raj, Schulze and Fong in that order.
Samabula Pharmacy’s Nand Kishore Chand, which sponsored the tournament, presented the prizes.
