by Milan Novkovic

Forget the Russian School of Chess! Forget about Boeblingen 1998 and "Fritz" up someone's sleeve. In Myanmar you can push your FIDE-rating to unknown heights much more effectively, quickly - and with the blessing of FIDE. If things continue as successfully and as peacefully as in a last two years, then the former Burma - situated between China, India and Thailand - will produce the world's next number one and the top 100 of the FIDE rating list will be adorned by hitherto absolutely unfamiliar names.

In January 1997 Myanmar had a relatively modest number of internationally rated players, totalling six. Highest ranking among these proteges of Caissa was Lwin Aye with 2360. But that year saw the beginning of a chess boom in the country of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel peace price and leader of the opposition movement. Its not clear whether the chess players have been refused visa by the military junta so that they could not play abroad or whether other reasons have kept them from doing so, but they have still managed to turn their situation into an advantage by fighting numerous tournaments among themselves.

There some managed to achieve almost superhuman feats. Chief among those unsung heroes is Moun Moun Latt, who scored 15,5 out of 18 in the "9th TMW Invtl Rating Trnmt" in September 1998 in Myanmar. His opponents were all fellow countrymen with an average rating of 2391. Thus he gained a rating of 2554 and number 196 on the current list, one point ahead of such GMs as Lobron, Macieja and Dzindzichashvili.

Zaw Win Lay - a name to remember

If the chess-boom in Myanmar continues in this vein, then Garry Kasparov will certainly lose his top position on the FIDE list, but he will not do so to Anand or Kramnik, but - most likely - to Zaw Win Lay. In January 1997 Lay was far behind with a measly 2230. In the meantime he has improved by leaps and bounds, thus becoming his country's number one and the world's number 155 with 2565 ELO. As he picks up roughly 100 points per rating period, it's easy to figure how long Kasparov will remain unchallenged.

In August 1998 Zaw Win Lay (then ELO 2465) crushed 10 fellow countrymen at the "Battle of two Cities" with 10/10, gaining 35 points. This resembled his triumph at the "Tal Memorial". There he destroyed all local opposition (average rating 2386) by scoring 11/12. Two more triumphs in local tournaments were to follow. Unfortunately, he dropped 16 rating points at the Rangoon zonal (zone 3.2a) in December against an average of 2329. The tournament saw Indonesian GM Utut Adianto in first place. Mr Zaw finished among the also-rans with 4,5/9. Nevertheless, the second half of 1998 brought another 100 rating points.

Zaw follows theory all the way to a refutation.

It conjures up the vision of Mayanmar players earning local Elo ratings of 2600, even 2700, but without playing the international tournaments necessary for IM and GM qualifications.