Game of joy and creativity

… but don’t get too carried away.

Today is already the third day of the Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament. As a chess enthusiast, if you still haven’t heard about this event, where have you been?

It’s one of the country’s bigger chess tournaments this year. For one thing, there’s an unprecedented number of foreign players in the event and for another thing, there’s also a record number of titled players. Compared with last year’s tournament, this year’s KL Open is definitely richer in quality.

With these increased chances for grandmaster norms and international master norms in this tournament, will our local players be willing to rise to the occasion? More so, will they be willing to seize the opportunities? 

Unfortunately, my observation is that there are not enough local players registered for this event for reasons best known to them. Maybe they are working, maybe they don’t have enough leave, maybe they are saving their leave for other major events later in the year….I don’t know. Anyhow, among those that are playing in the tournament, let’s admit it: only a handful has the realistic chance of scoring a title norm. 

Nevertheless, our local players should strive hard to try and attain these norms – or at the very least, gain the experience from playing these foreign players – because after all, this tournament is organized specifically with these objectives in mind.

But please don’t get me wrong. The games are tough enough without me putting any additional pressure on the local players to perform. 

In a chess tournament, there is always the competition. The competitive effort to be better than the next guy. Maybe there are a few draws here and there but by and large, someone has to win a game and someone has to lose. And it gets tougher as the tournament progresses because players tire and you get to meet opponents closer to your own standards. 

You are no longer overwhelmed by people whose chess strengths are better than yours. At the same time, there are also no more weaker players for you to bully. As a tournament progresses, you meet opponents of relatively the same standard as you and that’s where the tough gets tougher.

Nevertheless at the end of the day, you must remember that it is only a game and not a matter of life and death. Therefore, forget about the results and go enjoy playing your chess. 

Once a round is over, forget about the results of that game and look forward to preparing for the next one. Euphoria is temporary and so is disappointment. However, what’s important is why should a player suffer needlessly through a tournament? 

If you love playing chess, it is not an ordeal when you lose a game. But if you fear losing a game or even your rating points, then taking part in competitions is not for you. If you harbour thoughts of getting unrealistic returns from your investment, which is the entry fee and all the incidental expenses, then a tournament such as this is not for you too. Set your expectations right and you’ll start enjoying life over the chessboard.

Have you heard of Damocles? No? According to classical Greek culture, he featured in an anecdote that is known as the Sword of Damocles. 

The Damocles in this story was a court employee living in the time of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a tyrant who lived about 2400 years ago. One day, Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so that Damocles could taste that fortune first-hand. 

At the evening’s banquet, Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. However at one point, he looked up to see a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horse hair. All at once, he paled and lost all appetite, and he asked leave of Dionysius, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.

This is only a story but the message is clear enough. The value of the sword is not that it falls but rather, that it hangs and threatens to strike.

So, what I’m trying to say is, don’t play chess like there is a sword of Damocles hanging over you. Winning and losing are part of the game – any game – but if you fear that the horse hair is going to snap any moment, then the psychological impact will definitely affect you and your game. Some people may disagree with me but that’s not the way that I would want to play chess.

I feel inspired enough to give you yet another story today. It’s about Confucius. More people will have heard about this famous Chinese sage instead of that relatively unknown classical Greek courtier. There are many wise sayings attributed to Confucius and this is one of them.

Confucius, it is said, once mentioned that if you choose a job you love, then you will never have to work a day in your life. Very profound, isn’t it? If you love your job, it becomes a passion, something you look forward to every day. A job? It’s something you have to do, whether or not you like it.

Put it into the context of chess, if chess is what you truly love, then playing chess is never a chore that needs to be done; chess becomes a game of joy and great creativity, regardless of the ultimate outcome. 

Coming back to the Kuala Lumpur open, the fourth and the fifth rounds are being held today: the fourth round starts at 9am while the fifth game begins at 4pm. Venue is the Grand Olympic Hotel in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur. 

Tomorrow, there’ll only be one game (the sixth round) in the morning. In the afternoon, get ready to rumble with that articulate British grandmaster, Nigel Short, who will be in town briefly for a simultaneous exhibition before he scoots off to Bangkok for a tournament there. The participants of this event will also have the chance to sit down with Short for a meal after the games are over.

There’ll be two more rounds on Sunday and one on Monday morning to round off the Kuala Lumpur Open. On Monday afternoon, a blitz tournament is scheduled before the official prize-giving ceremony at 6pm.

However, this is not all. I hear that the organizers are planning a KL Masters tournament immediately after the KL Open ends. This will be a small nine-round round-robin tournament to offer more opportunities for local players to try for a title norm or even to improve their ratings.

I am sure there are enough grandmasters and international masters from the KL Open who are willing to continue playing a few more days in Malaysia. The ultimate mix of players will decide if this KL Masters tournament ends up as a GM, IM, WIM or rating tournament!

Any questions? Just direct them to MCF Secretary Gregory Lau (greglau64@gmail.com) or KLCA Events Director Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).

Up next  

Perak grand prix

The third leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played in Parit Buntar on Apr 25. Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Participants are reminded that entries will close on Apr 8. PICA will release the registration details later.

KL rapid grand prix

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)