Games galore

IT IS the start of the new year and as usual, the Malaysian Chess Federation has attempted to come out with their preliminary calendar of local chess events. Unfortunately, the calendar is a bit empty because most of the state chess associations have yet to inform the MCF of their chess activities for this year.

Nevertheless, chess players around the country will be glad to learn that Bank Pertanian Malaysia will again be sponsoring this year's national allegro chess circuit. 

Like in previous years, this circuit will be played in all the states in the country. Spanning the whole year, there will be one tournament in every state, including the two federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan.

The first leg kicks off with the Kuala Lumpur leg on Feb 2. This event will be run by the Wilayah Persekutuan Chess Association at the Wilayah Complex. For more details on this event, contact Hamid Majid (03-4021-9576) or email aham@pc.jaring.my

The other legs of the chess circuit will be held in Kuala Terengganu on Mar 2, Petaling Jaya on Mar 10, Kota Baru on Mar 30, Johor Bharu on Apr 7, Malacca on Apr 14, Ipoh on Apr 21, Kuantan on May 5, Alor Setar on Jun 29, Kangar on Jun 30, George Town on Jul 14, Seremban and Kota Kinabalu on Aug 11, Kuching on Aug 18, and Labuan on Sep 29. 

Capping off the chess circuit will be the Final tournament which is scheduled for Dec 28 and 29 in Kuala Lumpur. At the present moment, all these dates are still tentative and may be subjected to changes at the last minute.

Other local events for enthusiasts to look forward to include the PCMM open tournament which the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia will hold at the Bank Pertanian Malaysia headquarters building in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 11 to 13. The PCMM annual general meeting is also scheduled during this time.

The MCF will organise the annual national age-group chess championships at the Putra World Trade Centre from Apr 26 to 28. This event is sponsored jointly by Bank Rakyat Malaysia and the PWTC. Also on Apr 28, the long-awaited annual general meeting of the MCF will be held.

The MCF will celebrate Labour Day with the annual allegro tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on May 1. Later in the month, the MCF will organise the national closed chess championship from May 25 to 29, and the national women's closed championship from May 25 to 27. Both events will be held in Kuala Lumpur.

Also on the calendar will be the Royal Selangor open tournament. This long-running event will be organised in Kuala Lumpur by the Chess Association of Selangor from May 30 to Jun 3. From Jun 21 to 23, the MCF will be playing hosts to the Singapore Chess Federation at the annual Malaysia-Singapore match. 

The Dell Penang Chess League is scheduled from June to mid-August, and this will be followed by the Merdeka team championship which will be played at the PWTC from Aug 30 to Sep 2.

In the final quarter of this year, the Universiti Malaya's Grand Asean chess challenge is scheduled from Oct 18 to 25, and the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia's Malay Masters tournament will be played from Nov 1 to 4.

One other event that the MCF has listed in their calendar, which is bound to stir a lot of interest especially among the parents, is the Children's Olympiad, which is an under-16 event. This is a World Chess Federation event which will be held in Kuala Lumpur in July, August or September. However, the details are still very sketchy and the exact date for this event has not been fixed.

On the international front, the MCF has identified several events where there may be a likelihood of participation by a team or individuals from Malaysia: the Asian Cities chess championship in Aden (Yemen) from Feb 6 to 14, the Asian under-16 championship and the fifth Asian youth championship for under-10, under-12 and under-14 players in Iran from Mar 28 to Apr 4, the third Asean age-group championship in Singapore from Jun 8 to 14, the Asian junior chess championship in Sri Lanka in June, the men's and women's zonal championship and the first Asean chess championship in Vung Tau (Vietnam) in September, the second Asean international open in Bangkok also in September, the Chess Olympiad in Bled (Slovenia) from Oct 27 to Nov 13, the world youth championship in Greece, and the fourth Asian men's chess championship and the 10th Asian women’s chess championship in the United Arab Emirates.

Unfortunately, except for possibly the Chess Olympiad, anyone wishing to play in the other international events will have to bear all the costs of their trips themselves. Although the MCF will assist in the registration of the players, the federation is in no position to provide any subsidy for them.

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Beginners' classes

The Royal Selangor Club will hold classes for beginners on Sundays (10am to noon) and Saturdays (4pm to 6 pm) at its club premises in Bukit Kiara. These classes are suitable for children between 6 and 10 years old. 

Fees are RM50 per month, payable three months in advance and certificates of completion will be given to attendees at the end of the programme. Anyone interested can email royselchess@hotmail.com for more information or call the Sports Office (03-253-2277).

Perak events

The Pergerakan Pemuda Malaysia (PPM) Perak will hold their first allegro tournament this Sunday at their premises in Jalan CM Yusuff, Ipoh. There will be four prizes for the Open Category & consolation prizes for the best boys and girls (under-12, under-14 and under-16), women, veterans and PPM members. Entry fees are RM5 for PPM members, all under-16 players, women and veterans, and RM8 for others. To register, contact KP Chan (012-2150729) or email chess2k2@hotmail.com

This Monday, the Xin Yi Dai allegro tournament will be held at the association's premises in Jalan Theatre, Ipoh. There are also four prizes in the open category with consolation prizes for best boys and girls (under-12, under-14 and under-16), women, veterans and XYD members. Entry fees are RM5 for XYD members, all under-16 players, women and veterans, and RM8 for others. To register, contact Low Lee See (05-255-7208 or 013-513-0874).

CAS Quarter Allegro

The Chess Association of Selangor will hold their first CAS quarter allegro tournament for the year at the Menara Tan&Tan in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 3. There will be seven prizes for the Open category and consolation prizes for the best under-12, under-16, ladies and veteran players.

Entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and under-12 players, and RM20 for other players. To register, contact Lim Tse Pin (012-298-4922), Mrs Jackie Wong (012-261-3688) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg before Feb 1. The tournament is limited to the first 70 participants.

Making them winners

AT THE beginning of last year, when I wrote about the not-too-glowing performances of our junior players in the first Asean age-group chess championship in Vietnam, I met with an unexpected flak from some parents who had disagreed with my comments on the state of junior chess in Malaysia.

One year down the road, the second Asean age-group chess championship has come and gone. This time, with the championship played here in Kuala Lumpur, on home ground so to speak, how did our young charges fare? 

My opinion is, unfortunately, they are generally behind many of their peers from the Asean region. Yes, even though overall, our players had put up a better performance than last year, the results still showed that we lagged considerably behind the big winner, Vietnam.

The Vietnamese, especially those that played in the lower age-group events, were really a talented lot. I understand that the youngsters trained very hard for this event with their coaches in their provinces. It was the one major event of the year that they were looking forward to. 

It mattered little that their coaches were all home-grown players. The important thing was that the coaches did have a right system to impart the necessary knowledge to the children effectively. In the right environment, their young minds soaked up everything their coaches revealed.

It showed in the results: a second place in the boys' under-8 tournament, a one-two finish in both the boys' under-10 and under-14 events, a one-two-three sweep in the boys' under-12 event, and a first place in the boys' under-16.

But if you think the Vietnamese boys did rather well, the successes of their girls were even more astounding! Can you imagine a second place in the under-8, first and second in the under-10, first to sixth in the under-12(!!), first to fourth in the under-14, and first to third in both the under-16 and under-18? If this is not sheer dominance, I really do not know how else to describe it.

So for the second year in succession, the Vietnamese set the standard for the remaining of the Asean countries to follow. Against this backdrop, how do we gauge our players' own performances?

To sum it up in a nutshell, I would say there is a lot of hard work to be done not only by the players, but also by the state chess associations, the Malaysian Chess Federation and, most important of all, the parents.

Without the parents' support, our youngsters would have been nothing as chessplayers. At the championship, I could see the encouragement from the parents, especially those whose children were playing in the lower age-groups, but there were also parents who were around to support their sons and daughters who were playing in the under-16 and under-18 events.

Understandably, they can provide only the moral and financial support. Few parents can provide the theoretical or practical support. Ultimately, the children themselves are the ones who determine whether they will excel in this sport or not.

So it is left to the MCF and the state chess associations to play their roles in chess development in this country. The chess bodies are the ones who must supply the theoretical and practical support. Within limitations, I can see that the MCF has tried hard to organise as many junior events as possible in the country. But I am not alone in saying that much more can be achieved.

For instance, a question mark still hovers over this year's MSSM chess programme which the MCF has fought hard to be reinstated in the schools' sports calendar. Unless this tournament becomes a reality, I fear chess in the schools will remain stunted for a few more years.

I also have another fear. Unless the MSSM chess tournament becomes a reality, many of the chess state associations will remain in the doldrums, much to the detriment of the aspiring junior chess players in their state. Even now, some of the state chess associations exist only in name and there's hardly any activity. How can our young progress? How can we produce another international master like Mas Hafizul or Jimmy Liew, let alone a grandmaster? When will someone claim Dato Tan Chin Nam's offer of a RM30,000 reward for the nation's first grandmaster?

Even though there is a hill to climb for our Malaysian players and we are making a slow and plodding progress, I was nevertheless happy to see that several of our youngsters had played reasonably well enough in the championship to achieve some measure of success. 

For instance, Fong Yip Siang was sixth in the boys' under-8 event, Anas Nazreen Bakri was fifth in the boys' under-10, Abel Yap, Chan Litt Binn and Joshua Tan were placed eighth to 10th in the under-12, Pok Wern Jian was third in the boys' under-14, Jonathan Chuah was third and Gerald Soh fifth in the boys' under-16, and Lim Chuin Hoong was third in the boys' under-18. In the boys' under-16 contest too, Muhammad Musa Azmi, Nicholas Chan, Hafiz Shafruddin and Zach Han were placed sixth to ninth.

For the girls' events, Adeline Gan was fourth in the under-8, Wan Khye Theng was third in the under-10, Nur Shazwani was seventh in the under-12, Lim Han Ying finished fifth in the under-14, Siti Zulaika Foudzi was sixth in the under-16, and both Lee Su Ann and Lim Jean Nie were fifth and sixth in the under-18.

This year, all these youngsters will be one year older. Some will no longer be eligible to play in the next Asean age-group championship in Singapore, but there will be others to replace them. They will be more mature in thought and hopefully, in their understanding of the game too. I certainly hope that they will continue to improve further on their results but then, only time will tell and 11 months is actually not that long a time to wait.

World Championship continues...

The World Chess Federation will organise the final of the 2001/2002 world chess championship series in Moscow's Hall of Columns building from Jan 16 to 26. This match will see Vassily Ivanchuk meet Ruslan Ponomariov in a showdown to see who succeeds Viswanathan Anand as the next world champion.

Whoever wins the eight-game match will become the first player from Ukraine to be crowned as the world's best player. If the match ends tied after the eight games, it will go into the tie-break to decide the winner.

Ivanchuk had eliminated Anand sensationally in one of the semi-final matches last month. In the other semi-final match, Ponomariov had beaten Peter Svidler. 

The one-month lapse between the end of the semi-finals and the start of the final match was meant for the players to recover from the gruelling series of knock-matches and allow them to prepare. In the previous three championships, the finalists had continued playing the final match immediately after the semi-finals, and this had led to suggestions that the players were too tired to put up a good fight.

Readers with Internet access can follow the match from the official world championship site at http://wcc2001.fide.com

BPM Allegro Finals

After a long wait, last year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit concluded with the Final held in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 30. Drazen Serinek, a grandmaster from Slovenia who was passing through the country, won the seven-round event without dropping any game.

Tied second and third a point behind were Gerald Soh and Fikrul Saifuddin, while Singaporean international master Giam Choo Kwee, Nicholas Chan and Tham Tick Hong were joint fourth to six with 5.5 points each.

The players that finished with five points each were Siti Zulaika Foudzy, Kamaluddin Yusof, Marcus Chan, Gregory Lau, Ismail Ahmad, Pok Wern Jian, Zach Han, Zarul Shazwan, Mohd Johan Iskandar and Julian Navaratnam. Altogether, 95 players took part in the tournament.

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CAS Quarter Allegro

The Chess Association of Selangor will hold their first CAS quarter allegro tournament for the year at the Menara Tan&Tan in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 3. There will be seven prizes for the Open category and consolation prizes for the best under-12, under-16, ladies and veteran players.

Entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and under-12 players, and RM20 for other players. To register, contact Lim Tse Pin (012-298-4922), Mrs Jackie Wong (012-261-3688) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg before Feb 1. The tournament is limited to the first 70 participants.