My Chess Life

CONTROVERSY.. CONTROVERSY...

Chess=life, and life=controversy, so chess=controversy. And the recently concluded MSSM chess tournament in Jeli is not free from it. Especially on the last day, where tension was at its fullest; where everybody wants to win his game; where every coach wants his charges to succeed; controversies were bound to happen. Actually, one particular controversial accident happened before the last round in the girl under-15 category between team A player and team B girl where the team B player accused her opponent of getting the advantage by pushing the button of the clock with different hands. It became worse when the team B coach intervened as the arbiter of the category, who is from team A district, only gave a warning when the coach insisted there should be a time-deduction penalty. The arbiter walked away from the table, leaving it for his partner, who is from team C, to resolve to matter. Worst still, he left it to another arbiter, apparently from team A also, to solve the problem. The arbiter gave another warning and the team B player continued playing and eventually lost the game, refused to shake hands with her opponent, slammed the scoresheet in front of the arbiter, and walked away crying. The coach also refused to shake hands with the arbiter afterwards, still insisting that the result dented his player's chance to be among the winners.

Now, we take a step back. Let's think how the controversy happened, or should have been avoided. The team A girl had actually used both her hands from the start of the game, mainly due to her ignorance of the rule, but the team B girl did not say anything. When her queen was removed from the board, she started blaming the team A girl of using both hands. Is this because she was taught to play 'dirty' like this by her coach? One could only speculate. Surely sportsmanships are not highly regarded today, as what matters most is winning the game.