Renowned English chess grandmaster Daniel Howard Fernandez is here at the capital city of Malaysia to train and mentor young chess players. He conducted two separate coaching workshops here in the heart of Kuala Lumpur on the 7th and 8th of November 2025.
Young Malaysian chess talents listening attentively to GM Daniel during the 7th November training session at the Purple Cane Tea Art Centre in Kuala Lumpur
A combined total of twelve talented young Malaysian chess players attended the coaching sessions. These young chess talents range between 11 to 15 years of age, with the exception being one current college student (19 years old) and a recent university graduate (23).
They included recently titled player, Candidate Master Shen Ree Herng (15 years old) and former chess prodigy of Penang, Tin Shan Wen. Eleven of them were boys, hailing from across the Klang Valley and Penang, with all of them being regulars in the Malaysian chess tournament circuit, which has experienced a boom in popularity, post-pandemic.
This chess mentorship programme by GM Fernandez for Malaysian youths was proudly supported by Proctoids Consulting, with Purple Cane Tea Art Centre and Penang Chess Association being the venue sponsors for the sessions on the 7th and 8th of November, respectively.
Daniel is the ideal mentor to these young talents, especially those aged 11 to 15 given his own background as a child chess prodigy twenty years ago. Given his background of being a FIDE Master at the age of ten, before becoming International Master at age fifteen, he is well-positioned to talk about the dos and don’ts and discuss the trials and tribulations of competitive chess as a teenager.
Picture: Daniel flanked by 12-year-old Edvard Por (right), and 13-year-old Alex Ooi Hann Wei (left)
During the two sessions, he unveiled the secrets of how grandmasters prepare for competitive games and spotlighted the formulation of plans and calculation of moves during games. He picked two of his recent games and went deep in his discussions and analyses with the young talents. He also opened the floor to questions from the participants.
Questions included what it takes to become a grandmaster, what his training regime was like as a youth and now, what chess opening systems should one play and which endgame type are kids and teens most vulnerable at these days, among others.
Parents of the teenager participants too joined in the Q&A sessions at the end of both workshops to try and pick GM Daniel’s brains on how best to help their children go further in this game.
From chess prodigy to Cambridge graduate and chess grandmaster-ship
Although he is currently based in England, 30-year-old GM Daniel is no stranger to this region, as he had grown up in neighbouring Singapore as a then young chess prodigy who had blazed the trails of chess strategies by winning the ASEAN Boys Under-10 championships in 2005.
With the right amount of support and mentorship, young Daniel blazed the trail ahead. He continued playing throughout his college and university days, balancing it with academic priorities, especially during the latter years when he was studying at Cambridge University.
Recalling his final year at university, he said to the young talents of the workshops that he at that time took a full-year away from chess. Once he got through the final exams, he pursued chess and the GM title relentlessly. He finally got the GM title at the age of 22.
Since then, he has been actively competing in chess events all over the world and became a prolific chess author who reports about chess events for specialist chess news site, Chessbase.com, besides authoring chess books and recording instructional chess videos. He also conducts chess coaching and workshop for students all around the world.
Chess parents and their kids in a Q&A session with GM Daniel on 8th November
Inspiring Malaysian youths to excel in the game
One of the participants of GM Daniel’s workshop on 8th November, Tin Shan Wen from Penang, said:
“It was truly eye-opening and inspiring. During the Q&A session, he spoke about the idea of ‘plateau’ and that when we stop improving, it means something needs to change. This really inspired me. I learned a lot from him, both on chess and for personal growth.”
For 13-year-old Alex Ooi Hann Wei of Catholic High School in Petaling Jaya, this was his first-ever GM coaching workshop. He said:
“I love GM Daniel’s unorthodox style. I learned so much about how to see the board in new ways and think beyond the obvious moves.”
I am happy to see the participants learning and growing. Two decades ago, the late Dato’ Tan Chin Nam would invite grandmasters such as Ian Rogers and Yasser Seirawan to come here to conduct chess simuls and talks as a way to inspire Malaysian chess players and I was one of those beneficiaries. Sponsoring this session with GM Daniel is, in my very small way, a ‘paying it forward’ in honour of the late Dato’ Tan, the father of Malaysian chess.
About grandmaster Daniel Howard Fernandez
Author of chess books and anchor of instructional chess videos by the world-leading chess
software company, ChessBase GmbH. Daniel became International Master at the age of
15 and then grandmaster at the age of 22. He is still actively competing and one of his career
highlights was his third placed finish at the 2023 British Chess Championships, behind super GM Michael Adams. GM Daniel coaches students all over the world and runs workshops to mentor and inspire the next generation of chess players. Read more about him here.
Breaking…
Daniel had just won the Commonwealth chess championship! Here’s a photo of my lunch catch up with him – over Indonesian Nasi Penyet after his last round game!
