KUALA LUMPUR: Chess master Yeoh Li Tian is dreaming big this year.
The 23-year-old's immediate focus is to retain his men's Rapid Chess title at the Vietnam Sea Games next month.
And his bigger target is to become a Grandmaster in chess.
Li Tian, who holds an International Master status, had won Malaysia's first ever Rapid Chess Sea Games title in the 2019 Philippines edition.
Team manager Sumant Subramaniam said they are sending a bigger squad and are hoping to win more medals in Vietnam.
The team are under the watchful eyes of Bangladesh Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman.
The Malaysian Chess Federation are also hoping to secure the services of Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Lazarev to groom their players accordingly for the Sea Games.
"Ti Lian is focused on getting his Grandmaster status and defending his Sea Games title. He's our best bet, and we have Ziaur to groom our players.
"We also hope to secure Lazarev to help the team," said Sumant in Bukit Jalil today.
"We have a strong team of 10 athletes. They have been training from last year for the Sea Games, even during the Covid-19 lockdown.
"We had online training sessions during the lockdown. Our team are working hard, and I believe we can do well in Vietnam."
The other Sea Games-bound players are Lye Lik Zang (Standard), Lim Zhuo Ren (Blitz team/Rapid team), Poh Yu Tian (Blitz team/Rapid team), Wong Yinn Long (Blitz individual/Rapid team), Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Azhar (Standard/Blitz team), Tan Li Ting (Standard/Rapid team), Sim Jia Ru (Rapid individual/Rapid team), Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar (Blitz individual/Blitz team) and Chua Jia-Tien (Rapid Individual/Blitz Individual).