CHESS ACTIVITIES MSSM

The dates of chess tournaments have been confirmed. The district selection will be on the 9th - 11th of February at SMK Tengku Bendahara, Jerek, while the dates for state selection will be on the 19th - 24th of February in Jeli. After that, the national championship will be held in Selangor on the 16th - 20th of March 2009. I am training my charges so that at least one of them will represent the state for the national championship, although I don't mind if any of the district players (also under my charges as the district head coach) gets the call. Last year, one of the students from Gua Musang district manage to fly the state flag at the national championship in Melaka.

CURRENT IIUM PLAYERS vs EX-IIUM PLAYERS

I had this vision for a long time now, but do not have the tools and means to make it happen. I cannot help but think whether the current batch of players are stronger than before, but I know that any comparison is unfair to both side of players. The only means to test this idea is to put those players on the table and battle it out. Currently, there are several players worth mentioning -- Ahmad Fadhil Nayan, Abdullah Khairi KZ, Bakri Abdul Karim and Wan Mohd Fadli. While on the other side we had Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Mohd Hanif Arkurni, Mohd Azizul, Mohd Rezal Che Man and 'Abdu ur-Rahman. I wonder who will come on top?

KELANTAN CHESS IN BRIEF

I recently came across a blog called Bad Bishops and I found it an interesting blog giving information about chess activities in Kelantan. It has been a long time since I tried to find something like this and I applaud the efforts taken by the owner of the blog to promote chess in Kelantan. Here I will jot some interesting notes taken from the blog.

Mas Hafizulhelmi's Wedding
Our national top player currently changed his marital status by wedding a lovely lady Suziana Mohd Rawi (picture right) on October 24th, 2008. As you all know, IM Mas is currently on leave from his Petronas duties to pursue the coveted Grandmaster title. I hope that with the wife at his side, he will become stronger and more focused on the task at hand.

The Demise of Cikgu Rahman
I was shocked to learn that our beloved Cikgu Rahman has died. He was the father of IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and was a keen supporter for his son's blossoming chess career. He was constantly speaking about his chess vision, not only for his son, but to all chess players in Malaysia as a whole. But I am touched as now, he will never had the chance to see Mas gets the GM title.

Kelantan Female Chess Player Turns Deejay

The blogger mentioned several names -- wan syahrina, yusma and mumtaz (one of my chess student at IIUM) which has gone inactive from Malaysian chess scene after gracing the tournaments during their early chess activities. He claimed that one the player, wan syahrina (picture left), had become a deejay at Radio Bernama. I standby corrected if I am wrong because this material is taken directly from the blog.

HELP!

It's been a while now since I last post an entry with pictures. This is because, whenever I tried to upload a picture, nothing happened. What I can see only a blank screen with this address http://www.blogger.com/upload-image.do If somebody know how to tackle this problem, please tell me okay?

SCHOOL SELECTION

Today, I finished selecting the students to represent our school in the upcoming district tournament. Not many students were present, but some of those have the talent to compete. But first, I need to polish them before there are ready for tournament play. Unfortunately though, only one female student came. This situation is the same as the national scene--there is simply not enough female chess players. If there is any, they would stop after they got married. Many examples can be quoted, but suffice to say that it is a sad scenario for Malaysian chess.

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

When you walk through a storm

hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a storm is a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.

Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never, ever walk alone.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never, ever walk alone.

BLINDFOLD CHESS

Blindfold means playing chess without looking at the board. It requires the player to memorize chess positions until the end of the game. It strengthen the chess player's memory, as well as stamina as playing it will double the task for the brain. First you have to remember the current position, before thinking about the reply for your opponent's move. I tried to play simultaneous blindfold games with only three of my 'students' during my coaching time at IIUM, and I managed a win, a draw, and a defeat. I enclose here my first blindfold game when I was still at a secondary school in Kelantan. Even though I lost the game, there were several interesting moves made by both of us, in the 3-hour long game!

Yours Truly - Hanif Arkurni
Casual (Blindfold)
SMU (A) Al-Ma'ahad Al-Muhammadi, Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
1995

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.c4 Nf6 8.Nc3 g6 9.Rb1 Bg7 10.b3 Nh5 11.Qd2 Qa5 12.Bb2 0-0 13.0-0 Bg4 14.Nd4 Rac8 15.Kh1 Qe5 16.Nce2 c5 17.Nf5 Qe6 18.Nxg7 Nxg7 19.f3 Bh5 20.Qh6 f6 21.Nf4 Qd7 22.Nh3 e5 23.Rbd1 Rcd8 24.Bxe5 fxe5 25.Rxd6 Qxd6 26.Ng5 Rf7 27.Qxh7+ Kf8 28.g4 Qf6 29.gxh5 Qxg5 30.hxg6 Rd2 31.Rg1 Qf6 32.Qh8+ Ke7 33.Rg3 Rf8 34.Qh3 Nf5 35.exf5 Rh8 36.Qg4 Rhxh2+ 37.Kg1 Rhe2 38.Kf1 Rh2 39.f4 Rd1+ 40.Qxd1 Rh1+ 41.Ke2 Rxd1 42.Kxd1 Qh4 43.Rg5 Qxf4 44.Rh5 Qf3+ 45.Kd2 Qxh5 46.g7 Qg5+ 0-1

CHESS CLUB IS NO MORE

This new year brings sadness to SMKTIP(2) Chess Club. Apart from being a club, it is now regarded as only a sport, thus no chairman or committee members are required. On the bright side, it is good for us that no annual meeting is needed. But, the downside is that it is hard to organise programmes, internally or externally, when there is no board members to do the work. However, for me as the advisor, or now called as a coach, I welcome this change as I have so many things to do. Handling a club requires more of my time than coaching a sport, which merely requires finding the talents and grooming them to participate in tournaments.

CHESS WORKSHOP IN KELANTAN (CORRECTION)

The date for the upcoming chess workshop which will be held in Kuala Krai, Kelantan has been changed. The details of the workshop as follows:

Venue: SMK Sultan Yahya Petra (2), Kuala Krai, Kelantan
Date: 16 January 2009 (Friday)
Time: 10 am - 5 pm
Fees: RM15 per person

Those who are interested to join, please contact Mr. Baharuddin at 014-2929201. Lunch and certificates will be provided to all participants.

SOME MEMORABILIA

When I read about the giant chess set which Hairulov mentioned in his blog, I went on to browse my CDs of pictures taken since I bought my digital camera and I found my picture with a giant chess set at Penang Botanic Gardens. I think it is the same size as what I can see in the picture in Hairulov's blog. Interesting trivia, can you see in the picture what position did I set up? No prize for correct answer, though.

CHESS WORKSHOP IN KELANTAN

Stonemaster will be the facilitator for the upcoming chess workshop which will be held in Kuala Krai, Kelantan. The details of the workshop as follows:

Venue: SMK Sultan Yahya Petra (2), Kuala Krai, Kelantan
Date: 17 January 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 10 am - 5 pm
Fees: RM15 per person

Those who are interested to join, please contact Mr. Baharuddin at 014-2929201. Lunch and certificates will be provided to all participants.