“Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.” The chess master Siegbert Tarrasch wrote that more than a century ago, and it is as good a place as any to start. There is a particular quiet that settles over a tournament hall in the final hour of a long game. Clocks tick. Pieces are set down with the softest click. Somewhere in that quiet, over a single year in Montreal, a young player named Lucas Yao kept showing up, kept studying, and earned three chess titles — two of them conferred by FIDE.
The first was National Master — a national title conferred by the Chess Federation of Canada, the country’s governing body for the game. It came through tournament results, review, and many long games. Lucas treats it as one marker in an ongoing process.
The other two came from FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, the body that governs chess worldwide. Candidate Master came first. Then, in the same stretch, came FIDE Master. The titles are part of the record; the work remains the larger story.
None of it happened at a desk in Vancouver alone. The road ran through airports and unfamiliar halls. It began in Southeast Asia — Singapore, then Kuala Lumpur. It moved to Italy more than once: Puglia in the south, Montesilvano on the Adriatic, the canals of Venice. It reached Egypt, to Sharm El Sheikh on the Red Sea, for the World Cadet Chess Championship. It carried on to Budapest, to Vienna, to Belgrade.
“National Master, Candidate Master, FIDE Master — a single year in Montreal, made of many long games and the studying that followed each one.”
8 months
Music begins
Loved sitting at the piano and listening; by this age he was already speaking multiple words.
2
Early reading and piano
Read simple books, counted to 100, and played beginner piano pieces.
4
Perfect pitch and composition
Learned to read music quickly, played advanced repertoire from memory, and composed “Skippy Puppy.”
5
Carnegie Hall and first media attention
Performed at Carnegie Hall, won international piano prizes, learned chess, and recited 500 digits of pi.
7
Orchestra debut in Italy
Performed with orchestra in Italy and recited 2,030 digits of pi.
8
Team BC and national youth chess
Joined Team BC, won the Canadian Youth Chess Championship U10, placed second in CMC, and represented Canada at World Cadet.
9
City recognition
Recognized by his mayor for achievements across piano, chess, and pi memorization.
11
Three chess titles
Earned National Master, Candidate Master, and FIDE Master in the same competitive stretch.
What does it actually take? Less drama than people imagine and more patience than they would believe. The willingness to sit still while a position refuses to resolve. The discipline to lose a thread, and a game, and find it again without panic. And underneath all of it, the ordinary, unglamorous work of preparation, repeated until it becomes second nature. None of it happens without the people around it — the family who drive to tournaments and sit through long rounds, the coaches who are patient with the same mistake twice, and the supporters who make the travel possible.
Ask Lucas about a hard game and he is more likely to describe a position than a result. The titles are real, and they belong on the record. But they are not the finish line. They are early entries in a longer practice.