From a small event started 15 years ago by Ignatius Leong that brought together ten National Chess Federations in countries which are geographically neighbours and known collectively (and formally grouped together) as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), the ASEAN+ Age-Group Championships has grown to become almost unrecognisable today!
Like in the World Youth Championships, the categories are Open and Girls, for U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18 and U-20, but there is a difference in that the ASEAN+ Age-Groups also has an increasingly popular Seniors (50+) section.
In ASEAN, the chess powerhouses are Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia where players are essentially professional.
Probably the amateurs of Malaysia and Singapore often come next even if Thailand is catching up fast while Myanmar finds itself between the professionals and amateurs and the smallest in Brunei will soon have to worry about the likes of the new boys in Cambodia and Laos!
The ASEAN+ Age-Groups has however been seeing a pattern of dominance by Vietnam who year in year out also have the largest contingents, and this could perhaps be explained by the club structure prevalent there supported by the national grassroots sports infrastructure in place. But I also think that while not the best paying work (surprise?), even when compared to Philippines and Indonesia where player stipends are much better, in Vietnam, chess gets a lot of respect.
Where top players and national teams are concerned, as is well reflected in the FIDE Ratings, it is quite different as Philippines is ranked at 28 while Vietnam is only 41 and Indonesia even further away at 59, albeit out of 164 nations.
Yet both these top nations have world class, even future world champions, in Wesley So and Le Quang Liem respectively, so that is not the difference when talent grows up. For sure it is the Philippines with no less than 17 grandmasters that have the depth but Vietnam with smaller group of top players, just 7 grandmasters, over 4 boards are equally strong.
To me it just means that Vietnam, a nation of young people who have emerged economically in the last decade, will likely and increasingly keep losing their young talent to the realities faced by their counterparts in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei.
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