AGE AND CHESS

Now, the second question pertaining age and chess - when is the right time to TEACH chess to your descendant? My son will be six-month-old this coming September, and he already has a piece of chessman as his first toy! I hope it is not too early to introduce him this global game as a hobby. Seeing the chess piece in his hands makes me extremely happy - he just holds it firmly in his tiny little hand. It is true that we parents determine the colour of our children, whether they will be as white as cotton or as black as cave. So if you so happen to be a chess enthusiast, and a football crazy, it is likely that your children will follow suit. When you look at the pictures, you'll see what I mean!





Football fanatics!

MAKSAK Penang

Date: 1-3 August 2008
Venue: Sri Penang Hall, Penang Road

MAKSAK Chess, Carom and Dart was held at the Sri Penang Hall, a beautiful building comprises of many halls situated near the sea. This year, I was selected to play for Kelantan in chess along with 5 other government servants (4 teachers and a policeman). Kelantan were paired with WP Labuan, WP Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Perlis in Group B where we manage to get a total of 12 points to enter the Winners Pool along with KL, Johor, Terengganu, Pahang, Sarawak, Selangor and Penang. However, the Kelantan team finished poorly with only 12.5 points to show for our efforts. Individually, I was not satisfied with my own performance, albeit I played most of my games (7/8 games) with Black! Even though I cannot make it as an excuse, but surely playing with Black pieces for the whole tournament will effect your performance, as you have to defend opposition's onslaughts most of the time.

Group B Match Results

Game 1: WP Labuan 1 - Kelantan 3
Game 2: Kelantan 2 - KL 2
Game 3: Johor 1 - Kelantan 3
Game 4: Kelantan 4 - Perlis 0


Winners Pool Results

Game 1: Penang 3 - Kelantan 1
Game 2: Johor 1 - Kelantan 3
Game 3: Terengganu 3.5 - Kelantan 0.5
Game 4: Kelantan 2 - KL 2
Game 5: Kelantan 2 - Selangor 2
Game 6: Pahang 3 - Kelantan 1
Game 7: Kelantan 3 - Sarawak 1

Final Standings

1st Terengganu 21 points
2nd WP Kuala Lumpur 15.5 points
3rd Pahang 15 points
4th Selangor 14.5 points
5th Sarawak 13 points
6th Kelantan 12.5 points
7th Johor 12.5 points
8th Penang 8 points

For full MAKSAK chess results, please browse to Muhammad Arshad's blog and Hairul's blog.

Finally, do enjoy some pictures from the tournaments.

Chess playing hall

Carom playing hall

Dart playing hall

Kelantan chess team

Yours Truly concentrating

Hotel where Kelantan team stayed

Kelantan vs Pahang

Kelantan vs Terengganu

Champions Terengganu