Chess coaches facing challenges

FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, a 17th Century French classical author, once remarked that the only constant in life is change. Let me add here that change, too, affects chess.

Through chess history, we know how the face of chess has been changing. For instance, it evolved from a simple game enjoyed by the kings of India and Persia to the complex and demanding one that is played today throughout the world.

Likewise in chess coaching, change is inevitable. 

For far too long, chess coaching in Malaysia has been in the hands of a few independent local chess coaches, each with their different styles of coaching techniques. 

It is a very fragmented market but paradoxically, the fragmentation is the reason why many of the chess coaches continue to make a decent enough living. Somehow, because of the keen competition among themselves, they have managed to create a niche market for themselves.

All this is changing with the coming of a new player in the local coaching scene. The time-tested formula used in Singapore is now available in Malaysia under the guise of the Asean Chess Academy Malaysia.

This chess coaching organization will be duplicating the success of their Singapore counterpart by bringing in qualified foreign chess coaches for short stints here. 

If you have been reading this column for the past month or so, or following the discussions in the chess-malaysia mailing list, you may already released that a few of these foreign coaches had been conducting chess clinics around the Klang Valley and Penang.

Whether this entity will prove to be successful in the long term remains to be seen but from my discussions with various people, our local chess coaches are now threatened with marginalization. Unless they can evolve and change, organizations such as the Asean Chess Academy Malaysia are set to become the dominant player.

I’ll tell you why. 

Fide, the World Chess Federation, has been showing interest in the Asean Chess Academy in Singapore itself and a person no less than the Fide general secretary, Ignatius Leong, has been tasked to look into the possibility of duplicating the Academy’s set-up around the world. 

It’s no wonder then, that the Asean Chess Academy should be looking at its nearest neighbour, Malaysia, as the starting point.

When I spoke to Leong recently, he said that many top officials from Fide had visited the Academy in Singapore to study its organization structure and even a Russian visitor had remarked that Russia could now do no better. The old Soviet School of Chess is practically non-existent.

If the Asean Chess Academy can be duplicated around the world, the one group of people that will benefit most from this will be the qualified chess trainers and instructors who are recognized by Fide

In recent years, Fide had been quietly trying to get chess coaches and trainers to register themselves with the world body. Several designations or titles have been introduced. 

At the most basic level, the Developmental Instructor (DI) must know the rules of chess and have a Fide rating of at least 1400 points. Their scope is to provide simple instructions to beginners and people new to chess.

Then comes the National Instructor (NI) who is required to have a minimum two years of experience as a DI and a minimum Fide rating of 1600. The NI must also have finished within the top 10 in their national-level chess competitions. Nis are eligible to train players with Fide ratings of up to 1600.

The Fide Instructor (FI) title comes next and the person must have a minimum two years of experience as a NI and a minimum Fide rating of 1800. The are allowed to conduct courses for Dis and Nis, as well as train players with Fide ratings up to 1800.

Progressively, Fide has also the titles of Fide Trainer (FT) and Fide Senior Trainer (FST). Qualification to these titles are even more stringent and holders of these titles are required to know at least one Fide language.

So, this is the change that is coming. In the next few years, I foresee parents starting to ask whether the chess coaches will have the necessary qualifications. Playing experience will no longer be enough. There will be a lot of challenges facing the local coaches and they will lose out until they take the most obvious step to gain the proper credentials from Fide. 

UP NEXT

USM (Engineering Campus) open

The Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Engineering will organise their first chess tournament at their Engineering Campus in Nibong Tebal tomorrow.

The entry fees are: RM10 for members of the USM (engineering campus) chess club, RM15 for other USM students, RM10 for members of the Penang Chess Association (PCA) aged below 18. RM15 for adult PCA members and non-members below 18 and RM20 for others. 

With entries will close today, anyone interested should immediately contact Chin Chee Boon (tel: 017.4879028), Cheah Wee Keat (tel: 012.4124824), Ong Yee Chien (tel; 017.7521032) or Chan Chee Weng (tel: 012.3640978).

Clearwater Sanctuary open

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the Clearwater Sanctuary chess tournament at the Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort in Batu Gajah, Perak this Sunday.  

Entry fees are RM10 for players under 12 years old, ladies and PICA members, and RM15 for all other players. For details, contact Yunus (tel: 013.3908129) or Hamisah (tel: 012.4313326).

Friendly games? Are you serious?

HALFWAY THROUGH the first round of the Malaysia-Singapore chess match in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago, someone mentioned to me casually that we should not be taking the results of the match too seriously.

I could see what he meant. This wasn’t supposed to be a real serious match. Already, in his opening speech, Malaysian Chess Federation president Datuk Tan Chin Nam said he initiated the match 18 years ago to foster closer cooperation between the chess bodies of both countries.

So, the tone for this match has been set. Whatever the outcome, the real winner would be the continuing close ties between the MCF and its southern counterpart, the Singapore Chess Federation.

However, as you may already know, there is really no such thing as a friendly game, especially in chess.

With rivalry so keen, can you ever envision the Malaysians or the Singaporeans say to one another: let’s have a real friendly game of chess, let’s agree to a quick draw so that we can all go to celebrate our friendship with a drink somewhere.

Nooo … on the one hand, the MCF was trying to cling to its slim one-match lead over the SCF while on the other hand, the SCF was looking to level the overall score over 18 years.

Maybe by ‘friendly’, we mean that the players shouldn’t break out in fisticuffs. Okay, we are actually very civilized. We wouldn’t dream of inflicting any physical pain on our friends, would we? But we wouldn’t mind bleeding them mentally, testing them and torturing them. 

Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise that despite the warm words from the MCF president, the match turned into a determined battle of wits between the two countries. Witness for example, the second game between our Mas Hafizulhelmi and their Chan Peng Kong on the top board of the senior side.

In the morning, Mas Hafizul had scored a good win against his opponent. So, in the afternoon, I was not surprised to see that Chan was trying his utmost to even the score. But after about two hours of play, it was the Malaysian international master that was holding a tiny spatial advantage over the Singaporean international master.

Unfortunately, this space advantage was only illusory. It not enough to win. After four hours of mental torture on Chan, Mas Hafizul had to agree that there was nothing more he could do to win. But the fact that both players were willing to play until way past the pre-agreed time for the closing ceremony typically demonstrates how serious a friendly game of chess can turn out to be. 

For the record, the Singaporeans won yet again. The final score was 80.5 points to them and 59.5 points to us. They won and they tied the match at nine-all. Back to square one. Next year, we’ll be down in Singapore to start all over again.

Tomorrow, I shall be at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) to celebrate one of the state’s biggest sports event – Starwalk 2006. Though Starwalk itself will be held on Sunday, the actual festivities begin today with a charity concert.

Then, tomorrow will see the Penang Chess Association and Star Publications jointly organizing The Star international chess tournament, a one-day event that will be played over eight rounds. The registration for this event, I hear, has been very good but if you have been delaying entering yourself for it, I’m sorry to say that entries have now closed.

Nevertheless, you may still want to come down to the PISA to watch the event – there are other attractions in a Chinese chess competition, a futsal competition and a 3-on-3 basketball competition – and perhaps meet up with some old friends.

I’ll be seeing you!

UP NEXT

CAS fourth quarter tournament

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organise their fourth quarter allegro chess tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 17. This event has two sections: Category One is meant for players with national ratings of above 1400 points while Category Two is for players with ratings below this level.

For the first category, the entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM25 for non-members while for the second category, the fees are RM10 and RM20 respectively.

To register, write to selangorchess@gmail.com before Dec 14, stating your name and category. Registrations after this date will incur a late administration fee of RM5.

USM (Engineering Campus) open

The Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Engineering will organise their first chess tournament at their Engineering Campus in Nibong Tebal on Dec 23.

The entry fees are: RM10 for members of the USM (engineering campus) chess club, RM15 for other USM students, RM10 for members of the Penang Chess Association (PCA) aged below 18. RM15 for adult PCA members and non-members below 18 and RM20 for others. Entries will close on Dec 22.

For details, contact Chin Chee Boon (tel: 017.4879028), Cheah Wee Keat (tel: 012.4124824), Ong Yee Chien (tel; 017.7521032) or Chan Chee Weng (tel: 012.3640978).

Clearwater Sanctuary open

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the Clearwater Sanctuary chess tournament at the Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort in Batu Gajah, Perak on Dec 24.  

Entry fees are RM10 for players under 12 years old, ladies and PICA members, and RM15 for all other players. For details, contact Yunus (tel: 013.3908129) or Hamisah (tel: 012.4313326).