Nice game. Always cool to see Tao. I was going to ask if Tao ever played Jishan Liang, but then I googled it and it turns out he has, at the 2018 JOOLA NA Teams Championships. Tao destroyed Jishan - made it look easy. Still, I'd like to see them play in 2023 as I think Jishan has improved...then again, Tao has probably improved too.
Jishan has improved over the years. I am sure if these two play today, the odds definitely favors Jishan. If you watched Tao's game 4, 5 years ago, he was an absolute beast then, beating up almost every one. He was fast, explosive and pretty consistent. For 2 or 3 years, he was a top player in the USA. Then, he probably devoted most his time coaching, running his club didn't get into serious competitive training and competition and his game is now only a shadow of his peak. Nowadays, he still can get some great shots but his unforced error is way up which usually is a sign of lack of good training.
Tao mostly coaches now and doesn't spend a ton of time competing. TT pros make so much more money coaching vs playing (at least for the Bay area). Tao coaches at 888.
holy crap that name
just call him Shahin for short.
that is nothing extraordinary for Persian standards, only two names ;-) There are really long names with 4 single names in a row.
Nice game. Always cool to see Tao. I was going to ask if Tao ever played Jishan Liang, but then I googled it and it turns out he has, at the 2018 JOOLA NA Teams Championships. Tao destroyed Jishan - made it look easy. Still, I'd like to see them play in 2023 as I think Jishan has improved...then again, Tao has probably improved too.
Jishan has improved over the years. I am sure if these two play today, the odds definitely favors Jishan. If you watched Tao's game 4, 5 years ago, he was an absolute beast then, beating up almost every one. He was fast, explosive and pretty consistent. For 2 or 3 years, he was a top player in the USA. Then, he probably devoted most his time coaching, running his club didn't get into serious competitive training and competition and his game is now only a shadow of his peak. Nowadays, he still can get some great shots but his unforced error is way up which usually is a sign of lack of good training.
Tao mostly coaches now and doesn't spend a ton of time competing. TT pros make so much more money coaching vs playing (at least for the Bay area).
Tao coaches at 888.