{{Short description|Singaporean chess player and microbiologist (1920–2003)}} {{family name hatnote|Lim|lang=Chinese}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Lim Kok Ann | native_name = 林國安/林国安 | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1920|01|27|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2003|03|8|1920|1|27|df=y}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = Enterovirus research<br>"Father of chess" in Singapore | education = | alma_mater = | employer = | occupation = Microbiologist<br>Chess organizer | title = Secretary-General of FIDE | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Rosie Seow Guat Kheng | partner = | children = Five, including Stella Kon | parents = | relatives = Lim Boon Keng (grandfather)<br>Seow Poh Leng (father-in-law) | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Lim Kok Ann''' ({{lang-zh|t=林國安|s=林国安|p=Lín Guó'ān}}) (27 January 1920 – 8 March 2003) was a Singaporean chess player and organizer, and a microbiologist specializing in enterovirus research.

== Early life == Born 27 January 1920,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Marking the centennial of Lim Kok Ann's birth |url=https://www.fide.com/news/341 |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=www.fide.com |language=en}}</ref> Lim had been a student at Anglo-Chinese School and Raffles Institution in 1936 and in 1938 was a Queen's scholar.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Portrait of Dr. Lim Kok Ann, Master of King Edward VII Hall - BookSG - National Library Board, Singapore |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/printheritage/image.aspx?id=2a2d28a9-1810-4dc6-8bc4-c12eb1670897 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105214913/https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/printheritage/image.aspx?id=2a2d28a9-1810-4dc6-8bc4-c12eb1670897 |archive-date=5 November 2022 |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=eresources.nlb.gov.sg}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Microbiology === As a microbiologist at the University of Malaya, Lim was the first to isolate the specific virus (Influenza A/Singapore/1/57) during the 1957–1958 influenza pandemic using chicken embryos in eggs.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Hermes |date=19 April 2020 |title=The man who isolated Asian flu virus with help of eggs {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/the-man-who-isolated-asian-flu-virus-with-help-of-eggs |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1959, while working for the World Health Organization in Houston, Texas,<ref name=":1" /> he developed the Lim-Benyesh-Melnick (LBM) protocol for serotyping human enterovirus isolates.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=LIM |first1=K A |last2=BENYESH-MELNICK |first2=M |date=1 March 1960 |title=Typing of viruses by combinations of antiserum pools. Application to typing of enteroviruses (Coxsackie and ECHO) |journal=Journal of Immunology |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=309–317 |doi=10.4049/jimmunol.84.3.309 |issn=1550-6606 |pmid=14416964|s2cid=3105611 |doi-access=free }}</ref> By introducing various combinations of viruses in each egg (instead of testing for each one individually), scientists can more quickly isolate the specific virus using fewer trials,<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Prof. Lim Kok Ann – SG Chess Festival |url=https://sgchessfestival.com/about-prof-lim-kok-ann/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> a procedure still in use decades later.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bendig |first1=Justin |last2=Earl |first2=Pamela |date=July 2005 |title=The Lim Benyesh-Melnick antiserum pools for serotyping human enterovirus cell culture isolates--still useful, but may fail to identify current strains of echovirus 18 |journal=Journal of Virological Methods |volume=127 |issue=1 |pages=96–99 |doi=10.1016/j.jviromet.2005.03.003 |issn=0166-0934 |pmid=15893571}}</ref>

In August 1965, Lim was appointed as the dean of the medical faculty at the University of Singapore,<ref name=":3" /> and in the 1960s he promoted acceptance of the novel Sabin polio vaccine amidst public skepticism of the new treatment.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Hermes |date=30 August 2015 |title=Famed professor isolated flu virus; promoted arts and chess {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/famed-professor-isolated-flu-virus-promoted-arts-and-chess |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== Chess === FIDE, the world chess federation, called Lim one of "the Fathers of Asian chess" for his work in promoting the game. ''The Straits Times'' called him "the father of chess" in Singapore.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Auto |first=Hermes |date=22 May 2020 |title=Chess: Singapore's four Grandmasters to take on 100 challengers to celebrate 'Father of chess' Professor Lim Kok Ann {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/chess-singapores-four-grandmasters-to-take-on-100-challengers-to-celebrate-father-of-chess |access-date=6 November 2022 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

Lim founded the Singapore Chess Federation in 1949 which held its first national chess championship the same year.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Auto |first=Hermes |date=22 May 2020 |title=Chess: Singapore's four Grandmasters to take on 100 challengers to celebrate 'Father of chess' Professor Lim Kok Ann {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/chess-singapores-four-grandmasters-to-take-on-100-challengers-to-celebrate-father-of-chess |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref> Lim won the event himself, and again in 1960 and 1968, and served as president of the federation for 18 years.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

From 1982 to 1988, Lim was the secretary general of FIDE, creating and publishing the first FIDE handbook. He is remembered for modernizing the fifty move rule in the computer age<ref name=":1" /> and creating the "Lim System" for tournament pairings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=C. General Rules and Technical Recommendations for Tournaments / 04. FIDE Swiss Rules / C.04.4 Other FIDE-approved Pairing Systems / C.04.4.3 Lim System / FIDE Handbook |url=https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/C040403 |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=International Chess Federation (FIDE) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=C.04.4.3 Lim System – FIDE Commission |url=https://spp.fide.com/c-04-4-3-lim-system/ |access-date=7 November 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Arts === Lim co-founded Singapore's first multi-disciplinary arts centre, Centre 65, with Goh Poh Seng in 1965 to promote the arts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Goh Poh Seng - Esplanade Offstage |url=https://www.esplanade.com/offstage/arts/goh-poh-seng |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=www.esplanade.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life == Lim was the grandson of Lim Boon Keng, a doctor, educator, and philanthropist. Lim was married to Rosie Seow Guat Kheng (1922–1994), the daughter of Seow Poh Leng, a bank manager. She was an actress and a teacher.

Lim was a Methodist,<ref name=":1" /> and had five children, among them the writer and playwright Stella Kon.<ref name=":4" /> He died of a heart attack on 8 March 2003.<ref name=":1" />

== Selected publications ==

* Lim, K. A., Smith, A., Hale, J. H., & Glass, J. (1957). Influenza outbreak in Singapore. ''Lancet'', ''273''(6999), 791–796. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(57)90893-0 * Lim, K. A., & Benyesh-Melnick, M. (1960). Typing of viruses by combinations of antiserum pools. Application to typing of enteroviruses (Coxsackie and ECHO). ''Journal of immunology'', ''84'', 309–317. * Lim, K. A., Chan, Y. C., Phoon, W. O., & Hanam, E. (1964). Dengue-type viruses isolated in Singapore. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 30(2), 227–240. * {{citation |last1=Kazic |first1=Bozidar |title=The Official Laws of Chess |year=1985 |publisher=Batsford |isbn=0-7134-4802-4 |last2=Keene |first2=Raymond |last3=Lim |first3=Kok Ann |author-link2=Raymond Keene}}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

== External links == *[http://limkokann.blogspot.com Unpublished autobiography of Lim Kok Ann] *{{chessgames player|id=87573}}

Category:Singaporean Methodists Category:Singaporean chess players Category:Singaporean biologists Category:Singaporean people of Chinese descent Category:Sportspeople of Chinese descent Category:1920 births Category:2003 deaths Category:20th-century Singaporean sportsmen Category:20th-century chess players