IM Kim Steven Yap

Words are floating that the Philippines has a new International Master in the name of Kim Steven Yap (2386).

He rightfully deserved the title, earning it in his fresh stint in the Singapore Masters 2008.

His Round 1 game in the just concluded Singapore Masters was my favorite in that event.

I liked the game since he beat the No.1 seeded player of the tournament, GM Zhao Jun (2568) of China. Watch the game here.

I grabbed a short info about Kim:

"CHESS is in his blood. His father is NM Lincoln Yap, who is working as a chess instructor and arbiter in Singapore and his mother is Mona Ruelan, daughter of the late NM Marcelo “Loloy” Ruelan.

His uncle is IM Rico Yap Mascariñas, a chess coach in Singapore, who, for a long time, was the country’s second best player after Eugene Torre, and a Board 2 gold medalist in the 1982 Chess Olympiad in Lucerne, Switzerland! Another uncle is Fide arbiter Marvin Ruelan, who orchestrates a lot of the local tournaments." source: click here

It's not far from now that he will invade the 2400 mark.