I am confident of attaining a mystery mark. How i got there? Throughout the year, the Hsc has been the last thing on my mind. For a long time now I have been playing the game of chess on websites such as FICS, chesscube, chesspark, chesshotel, owl21, chess.com, playchess, ICC etc. With a rating of 2400 and over 50-000 games in all, i plan to attain my first chess norm in Singapore come 2011. As soon as I embrace the titles of IM,NM and then GM, i will start touring Asia (my place of birth) . This is no walk in the park as the competition is fierce. This is where I have spent most of my time this year and I do not regret it one bit.
So if you have an interest that YOU find more important than the HSC, you should do nothing but follow your ambitions. In the end, it may just work out for you.