Royal Selangor open

I HAVE been reading a number of postings recently on the chess-malaysia mailing group on the history of the Royal Selangor open chess tournament that starts next Wednesday at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur.

This is certainly the longest running chess tournament in the local chess calendar. It has been held without a break since 1974, which makes it the 32nd edition of a long glorious run that has found its way into the Malaysian Book of Records. That’s persistence and commitment from the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS).

Almost everyone who has played in or been associated with this tournament will have some sort of personal story to tell. I am no different, although there will be some readers among you who will be curious at my association with this event.

It is true. If there are records still maintained by the CAS today, it will show me as a member of the association in 1974, though my membership has certainly lapsed. A lapsed founder member, perhaps. 

But more interestingly, I was playing in its inaugural Selangor open at the Royal Selangor Club in 1974. And it was my first opportunity to meet the illustrious players of yesteryear from the Klang Valley – people like Dr Foo Lum Choon and Chan Mun Fye, among others.

Anyway, it was my first competitive chess event for many years. Out of school and without any tournament to play in during those years in Penang, the Selangor open was a welcome distraction to my studies.

My first game of substance was, I believe, in the second round when I met Husin Sida. But I was totally rusty and made a slip-up as early as the sixth move when I blundered away a piece.

I felt like sinking into the ground then, as I could not believe what I had done. Should I resign the game and go off and lick my wounds? I was about to do so but suddenly froze when I saw an all too familiar figure in Fang Ewe Churh walking about. The first Penang Chess Association president was wandering around to take a look at the Selangor open.

I couldn’t resign, not with Fang around. In those days, Fang was the Mr Chess Authority in Penang. What impression would I convey if I had lost quickly? What stories would he bring back to Penang?

So, I had no choice but to continue playing. Luckily, my opponent was rather amenable to my resolve, though I doubt he had any idea at all about what I was planning to do.

The game quickly became complicated despite me being a piece down, and in the complications, another piece was sacrificed. I was faced with an impending checkmate when suddenly, check, check, check, and Husin instead found himself at the receiving end of a draw through repetition of position.

I made many new chess friends in those days. It was a time of mutual discovery. I uncovered a whole new world of chess players in Selangor and in return, the chess players there learnt that chess was very much alive outside the boundary of Selangor. 

A few months later, following the chess groundswell in Selangor, Penang and other parts of the country, the newly founded Malaysian Chess Federation organised its first national closed chess championship, and the rest is very much history. 

I will not bore you further about my chess adventures in Selangor during the mid-1970s but it was also a time when through chess, I discovered a close relative among my chess-playing friends. But this will be another story.

For now, I can only offer the Chess Association of Selangor my best wishes ahead of their 32nd Royal Selangor open. P.S. Can I get my founder member status back??

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Klang Parade chess

The Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade will jointly organize this year’s Klang Parade chess tournament in Klang this weekend. 

Tomorrow, the Klang Parade age-group chess tournament for under-12 and under-18 categories will be organized, while on Sunday, the Klang Parade open tournament will be held.

Total cash prize is RM1500, and entry fees are RM15 for the open event and RM10 for under-12 players. Entry forms are available from the Klang Parade information counter or downloaded from http://tcn.sf.net/downloads/klangp05.doc

For inquiries or registration, contact Greg Lau (tel: 012.9020123).

Royal Selangor open

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organize its 32nd edition of the Royal Selangor open chess tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 28 to May 2. 

This year’s tournament will be played in three sections: a nine-round Fide-rated open category starting Apr 28, and the under-12 and under-18 seven-round non-Fide-rated events on May 1-2. 

Entry fees for the open event are RM35 for CAS members and Fide-rated players, and RM60 for others. For the two junior events, entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM20 for non-members.

For inquiries, call Shafruddin Arshad (tel: 012.3852420), Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922) or S Balendran (tel: 012.3547011) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg.

Perak tournament

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organize an open chess event at the Tun Razak Library in Ipoh this Sunday. For inquiries on registration or entry fees, contact Yunus Sharif (05.5458453 or 013.3908129).

The anti-hero

IT HAS been two weeks since the release of Bobby Fischer from a Japanese detention centre. 

The former world champion is now ensconced in Reykjavik, safe from the United States’ attempt to bring him back to New York to face federal charges of violating sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992.

For the present, Fischer is out of bounds to the United States. The respite is temporary. But whether or not it will become permanent is unclear. The United States is still pursuing Fischer, this time for tax evasion, and the long arms of the American law may yet entangle him once again.

The United States and Iceland have an extradition treaty, meaning that one country may request the other country to arrest and deliver a person who is wanted for certain crimes. Already, Interpol is reported to have asked the Icelandic authorities to inform the United States of Fischer’s movements, especially if he should leave Iceland.

But according to the same news report, Iceland will choose to ignore Interpol’s request. As an Icelandic citizen, Fischer enjoys certain privileges or immunities and one of them is that Iceland is not bound to hand over one of their own citizens.

A senior Icelandic government source told Reuters it was "unthinkable" that Reykjavik would agree to the tip-off request. Iceland does not monitor its citizens, the source said.

Foreign Minister David Oddsson said Fischer would not be extradited. "We have always maintained that the decision to grant him Icelandic citizenship is based on humanitarian concerns," he told 

So as long as Fischer leaves out the rest of his days among his Icelandic neighbours, it will truly be a stalemate between him and the United States authorities.

Most Icelanders were rather happy to accept Fischer as their newest citizen although some did express concern about Fischer's continuing sharp barbs thrown at the U.S. government.

"I think he's a little bit crazy," said Runar Berg, an investment banker and recreational chess player. "Everyone has a right to his own opinion but sometimes it's better to say nothing than to say rubbish."

In the week that followed his release, Fischer told reporters that he was finished with a chess world that he regarded as corrupt. 

For a very long time, he has been alleging that the results of many top-level chess games and matches are decided in advance. Because of this, he said that the Icelanders’ enthusiasm for chess "was misplaced, because people don't know how utterly corrupt it is, and has been for many years."

"Just like when you go to watch a wrestling match, right? They are very good wrestlers but anybody with half a brain knows it's almost all prearranged."

"I don't play the old chess anymore," he said. "But obviously if I did, I would still be the best."

He said that he planned to concentrate on perfecting his concept of random chess, in which pieces along the back rank are shuffled at the beginning of each game in a bid to reinvigorate the game.

Fischer is credited with helping to fuel a passion for chess in Iceland through his historic match for the world chess title in 1972. Though Iceland has a population of less than 300,000 people, it has one of the highest per-capita rates of chess playing in the world.

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Klang Parade chess

The Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade will jointly organize this year’s Klang Parade chess tournament in Klang at the end of this month. 

On Apr 23, the Klang Parade age-group chess tournament for under-12 and under-18 categories will be organized, while on Apr 24, the Klang Parade open tournament will be held.

Total cash prize is RM1500, and entry fees are RM15 for the open event and RM10 for under-12 players. Entry forms are available from the Kalng Parade information counter or downloaded from http://tcn.sf.net/downloads/klangp05.doc

For inquiries or registration, contact Greg Lau (tel: 012.9020123).

Royal Selangor open

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organize its 32nd edition of the Royal Selangor open chess tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 28 to Jun 2. 

This year’s tournament will be played in three sections: a nine-round Fide-rated open category starting Apr 28, and the under-12 and under-18 seven-round non-Fide-rated events on Jun 1-2. 

Entry fees for the open event are RM35 for CAS members and Fide-rated players, and RM60 for others. For the two junior events, entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM20 for non-members.

For inquiries, call Shafruddin Arshad (tel: 012.3852420), Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922) or S Balendran (tel: 012.3547011) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg.

The Royal Selangor open is the longest running local chess tournament in Malaysia.

Perak tournament

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organize an open chess event at the Tun Razak Library in Ipoh on Apr 24.

For inquiries on registration or entry fees, contact Yunus Sharif (05.5458453 or 013.3908129).