Chess etiquette

AS CHESS players, we are generally expected to know the basics of chess etiquette whenever we take part in a chess tournament or even as a spectator at a chess event. But do we? When we go to a chess tournament, how are we expected to behave? 

The first thing to remember is that, with the exception of top-level chess events, most chess activities are held in confined spaces where many times, one player’s elbows may be practically touching his two immediate neighbours. 

This week, I shall cover some of the common inter-related chess etiquette which chess players and spectators are expected to know and follow.

First, it is very important, when watching a game of chess, to keep the noise down. Background ambient noise do add to the tension of a game and there are players who concentrate so much until they actually sweat and come away from the table mentally exhausted. 

The last thing they want is someone in the crowd to make audible comments on their games and disturb their concentration. Whispers should be discreet and out of earshot of players. 

Next, chess clocks are expensive and fragile equipment, and must be handled with care. More so, they are difficult to source locally. If a clock is spoilt, it is usually impossible to repair them. There is one less clock available for use and two less places available to chess players at tournaments. 

So spare a thought for the owners of the clocks who are gracious enough to pool their clocks together for use at chess tournaments. 

Third, time trouble may be exciting for spectators but as a player, you should give consideration to your fellow players who are concentrating and struggling under the weight of the flag falling. 

In the rules of the game for most local chess competitions, it is the responsibility of the players themselves to call a flag fall. It is all part of the game. So, under no circumstances should anyone call out to him that the flag has fallen.

Fourth, at a chess tournament, you would want to know where all the best action is going to be taking place. As the event progresses, all the best action is going to be focused on the top few boards. 

The action is the most tense at the top boards as these are players who are chasing for top honours. As these games will eventually gather the majority of the crowd, you may soon have problems in getting close enough to watch them play. Paradoxically, the noise level around these boards is usually lower than the rest of the tournament room despite all the people crowding around the action.

Fifth, photography – especially flash photography – is discouraged once a round has already gotten under way. Organisers normally close an eye if you take photographs within the first 10 to 15 minutes of every round but generally, you will be disturbing and distracting the players if you release the occasional flashes in the room once the games have proceeded in earnest.

Sixth, after a game finishes, some players may sometimes remain behind to analyse critical positions in their game together, or they may go to another room to do this. 

There are always points in a game where a player has to make a choice between two moves of equal outcome in their eyes. It is these key moments that live large in a player's mind as the board develops around them. So chess players quite often will go over this even with the person they have just beaten or lost to. 

For the spectator, it is a great time to stand back and watch the analysis. It is possible to learn a lot from it.

Olimpbase website

It was just my luck that when I was writing about the Olimpbase website two weeks ago, the website’s server struck a technical problem and visitors to it were diverted to a different destination.

However, I am glad to say here that normal service has resumed. The Olimpbase website at http://www.olimpbase.org is now available once more to visitors.

For those readers who do not know what I am referring to, this Olimpbase website is the only website I know that contains all the history on the men’s Chess Olympiads since its inception in 1924. Information on the women’s Chess Olympiads, I hear, will be added much later on.

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National age-group championship

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) will organise this year’s national age-group chess championship at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 12-14. 

This competition, open to all junior chess players in the country, will be played in separate age-group events for boys and girls, namely, the under-20, under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8 categories. 

Entry fees are RM20 for the under-20, under-16 and under-14 events and RM15 for the under-12, under-10 and under-8 events. Anyone registering with the organisers after Mar 11 will need to pay double the normal entry fees.

According to the MCF, the winners of the various categories will be considered for selection to the Asean and Asian-levels age-group chess events, subject to MCF regulations. 

For inquiries about entries, contact Gregory Lau (tel: 012.9020123 email: all4chess@hotmail.com) or Hamid Majid (tel: 019.3158098 email: aham@pc.jaring.my). 

Chess Network February allegro

The Chess Network at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur is holding a one-day tournament of its own this Sunday beginning 8am. There is a prize fund of RM850 which will be increased to RM1000 if the number of entries exceed 100.

Entry fees for the six-round event are RM25 and RM15 for the open and under-12 sections. Cash prizes are offered to the top six players in the open section and the top four under-12 players. 

For inquiries and registration, contact Gregory Lau (012.9020123) or Hamid Majid (tel: 019.3158098 email: aham@pc.jaring.my).

Perak age-group

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise a seven-round age-group event at the Cosmopoint, Metro Campus Ipoh this Sunday. This event will have separate categories for under-10, under-12, under-14 and under16 players. 

Entry fee is RM3 per player. For more details or to register, contact Yunus Sharif (tel: 05.5458453 or 013.3908129) or Norli of Cosmopoint (tel: 05.2411515).

According to PICA, the winners of the four categories will represent Perak at the national age-group championships.

PICA/YMCA open

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and the YMCA are jointly organising an open chess event at the YMCA hall in Ipoh on Mar 6. This six-round event begins at 10am.

Entry fees are RM10 for PICA and YMCA members, ladies and players under 16 years old, and RM15 for all others. For inquiries, contact Yunus Sharif (05.5458453 or 013.3908129) or Margaret of YMCA Ipoh (tel: 05.2540809).

Meanwhile, the PICA has announced that it will hold its annual general meeting at the YMCA on the same day. The AGM will start at 9am.

Sri Aman junior chess

The Sek Keb Sri Aman in Penang will hold a junior open tournament at their school on Mar 19. This seven-round event will constitute the first leg of Penang’s junior chess circuit.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM10 for under-16 players and RM8 for under-12 players. Non-members are required to pay RM15 and RM13 respectively. According to the organisers, this event will have five age-group categories.

For inquiries, contact Eoh Hook Kim (tel: 04.8260196) or Eoh Thean Keat (tel: 016.4540070).

Chess goldmine

ONCE IN a while, an interesting chess website would pop up momentarily on the Internet and come to my notice. It had been far inbetween since I have been so taken in by a chess website, but I must say that the Olimpbase website, while it was still accessible at www.olimpbase.org, held great promise.

It was the only website I know that contained all the history on the men’s Chess Olympiads since its inception in 1924. Although there was no information on the women’s Chess Olympiads, this website was still a goldmine of information.

For example, we all know that the Soviet Union/Russia are the all-time most successful country in chess but would you know that in all the Chess Olympiads they had taken part in since 1952, they have never settled for less than a second position? 

It has been a series of firsts all the way, interrupted only in 1978 when the Soviet Union finished second behind Hungary and in 2004 when Ukraine finished above Russia.

Another way of looking at it, the Soviet Union had played in the Chess Olympiad 19 times, achieved 981 points from 1300 games and finished with a 76.2% score. Russia, after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, played seven times in the Chess Olympiad and scored 263½ points from 388 games with a 67.9% success.

The dominance of the Soviet Union and Russian chess machinery meant that very few living chess players today remembers that there was a time when the United States of America were once the power in the chess world. 

In the early years of this biennial chess event, the American chess team had won the event four times in a row from 1931 to 1937.  

The Americans won the title a fifth time – in 1976 – but this was because the Soviets refused to play the Chess Olympiad in Israel. Incidentally too, this Chess Olympiad in Haifa was the same reason that prevented Malaysia from participating in that year too.

Although the Malaysian Chess Federation was only founded in 1974, Malaysia had begun taking part in the Chess Olympiad two years earlier in Skopje, Yugoslavia. Our pioneering and experimental Chess Olympians were Chan Mun Fye, Dr Foo Lum Choon, Loh Chee Hoong, Kao Yin Keat, A Ariff and Fang Ewe Churh. In 1972, the team had finished in 59th position out of 62 teams.

Last year marked the 16th time that Malaysia have been represented at a Chess Olympiad. Again, from the Olimpbase website, there were some remarkable statistics.

For instance, from our 16 Chess Olympiads, we have played against 103 countries. Against some of them, we have played several times. The Faroe Islands featured eight times and interestingly, we have played seven times time against Hongkong, Singapore and Belgium.

Our scores against our southern neighbours have never been encouraging. Out of these seven encounters, we have only managed a 37.5% success against them, or 10½ points from 28 games. We have never beaten them, and the best we have achieved are two drawn matches.

Since 1972, we have had 57 players who have represented the country. The list reads like a Who’s Who of Malaysian chess and among them, Jimmy Liew has played in six Chess Olympiads for Malaysia – an unbroken string from 1978 to 1986, and then in 1996, for a total of 76 games and a 57.2% score.

Mok Tze Meng and Christi Hon have appeared five times at the Chess Olympiad. Mok has played 52 games and Hon 59 games, with a score of 49% and 48.3% respectively. Dr Foo, one of the pioneers of Malaysian chess played in four Chess Olympiads between 1972 and 1980, with 58 games played.

Those who have turned out three times for the country are Mas Hafizulhelmi, Ng Ek Teong, Eric Cheah, Lim Yee Weng, Wong Zi Jing, Mohd Kamal Abdullah and Ismail Ahmad. The players who have played twice in the Chess Olympiad are Ooi Chern Ee, Goh Yoon Wah, Jonathan Chuah, Francis Chin, Chan Mun Fye, Azahari Md Nor, Peter Long and Fang Ewe Churh.

Finally, the Malaysians who have represented Malaysia, although in only one Chess Olympiad, are Ng Tze Han, Choong Yit Chuan, Ng Ee Vern, Fairin Zakaria, Leong Mun Wan, Tan Wei Sin, AM Mustapha, Mohd Nor Norazmi, Choo Min Wang, Wahid Karim, Yahya Mohd Salleh, Chang Hing Wah, Gregory Vijendran, Mohd Noor Yahaya, Nicholas Chan, Tan Bian Huat, Ignatius Si, Loh Chee Hoong, Hafiz Shafruddin, Zarul Shazwan Zulkafli, Lau Beng Hock, Lee Soi Hock, Jamaluddin, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Bernard Ng, Yeoh Chin Seng, Woo Beng Keong, Ng Ek Leong, Kao Yin Keat, Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin, Quah Seng Sun, Tan Vooi Giap, Sabar Md Hashim, Laurence How, Hamid Majid, Chew Soon Keong, A Ariff and Anuar Zainal Abidin.

One of the most appealing features of this site was the ability to call up the individual performances of each player. It was also possible to list all their games at the Chess Olympiad and play through them interactively. There was also a link for you to download all the Chess Olympiad games to your desktop. 

All these, unfortunately, had disappeared from the Internet. We can only hope that the server hosting this site would be active again soon.

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UM 9th college open

The Tun Syed Zahiruddin residential college (ninth college) of University of Malaya will hold an open team chess competition at the college hall on Feb 19. The event is held over six rounds and each team can comprise only four players. Entry fee is RM60 per team, and the first prize is RM800.

For inquiries, contact Pang Yew Tom (tel: 016.6249018) or Geetha (tel: 016.7388557). Closing date for entries is Feb 12.

Penang Free School open

The Penang Free School Chess Club in Penang will organise an eight-round open tournament at their school hall on Feb 20. There are 12 cash prizes with a first prize of RM200.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM15 for adults, ladies and veteran players, RM10 for under-18 players and RM7 for under-12 players. For non-members, the entry fees are RM20, RM15 and RM10 respectively.

For more details or to register, contact Jonathan Choo (tel: 016.4012748), Chan Kim Kooi (tel: 016.4384890) or Koay Zi Hao (tel: 04.8264241).