Surviving Changi: E.E. Colman - A Chess Biography
by Olimpiu G. Urcan


This is a pioneering chess biography of Ernest Eugene Colman (1878-1964), chess expert, civil servant and doyen of Singapore’s chess community. Today Colman’s name is primarily associated with a variation of the old Two Knights’ Defence named after him – the Colman Variation.

While Colman never reached the highest peaks in world chess, his contribution to the development of chess as a serious sport in Singapore and Malaya was remarkable. In the pre-war years, Colman was Singapore’s top chess player and leading chess light. He reorganised the Singapore Chess Club and was its President for decades. More importantly, he saw chess and football as a way to bridge the gap between the various races in Singapore. During the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945), Colman was interned at Changi Jail as a civilian internee. He taught chess to his fellow inmates as a way to keep their minds off their hardships, wrote a secret chess manual and invented a new chess variation.

This book is in two parts. The first chronicles the life and times of Colman while the second contains all important and recoverable games Colman played. The book also offers a chronicle of the Singapore’s chess past from 1890s up to 1950s.