The Three Princesses

THE THREE PRINCESSES

The selection had already ended. 3 new faces emerged to represent SMKCE to the state selection early next month. Interestingly, one of them is a beginner, learning the moves just last week, while the two others have played before this, although with limited skills. Now, my task is to hone them to become formidable chess players within a month time. Hopefully, one of them will start playing with the best at the nationals by flying the state flag high.

1. Maznie Madri (1 Arif)

This girl also plays hockey, and was just coming back from a hockey tournament that evening to become third in her chess category. What a glorious day for her as the hockey team also managed to win their game. She has a very aggressive style; I saw her attacking with the Black pieces!

2. Nurul Asyikin Anuar (1 Arif)

A very quiet girl, but unpredictable at the board. She always asks me questions in training whenever she does not understand the position. With time on her side, she will get even better with this studious attitude.

3. Nik Shamiera Adnan (5 Arif)

A complete beginner and an unpolished gem. She has the tendency for quick learning, eventhough she always asks me to become patient for her slowness. However, time is her enemy, because she is already in Form 5. I regret overlooking her last year, but am happy to push her as far as she can go this year.

GILOCATUR'S RESPONSE TO KELANTAN RATING REVIEW

This is his review for us to ponder upon. You can read the original post here.

For all the four Kelantan juniors (2 boys and 2 girls) who experienced national ratings drop ONLY played in ONE nationally-rated chess tournament which is the NJCC for the 2011 JAN MCF ratings. So, it is very important for them to make good and enough preparation for such tournament. Otherwise, their national ratings will be affected significantly. GiLoCatur hopes they will participate in many more rated events to have more consistent ratings.

Even for that ONE rated event, their performance is not that very bad as GiLoCatur sees it. Let's see below.

Seeded 54th with Oct 2010 ratings of 1285, Nik Muhd Haziq won both his games against unrated opponents in the 2nd and 5th round respectively. Even he managed to win against one higher-rated opponent in the 6th round. In order for him to improve his ratings, he should had won his last two 1300-rated opponents which ratings gap is relatively small. By the way, she (sic) dropped 31 rating points from 1285 to 1254.

For Muhd Faiz Zakaria, he just lost two out of five lower-rated opponents. For sure, his 7th round opponent had participated in many more chess tournaments than him. GiLoCatur strongly believes that Faiz can challenge both 1300-rated and 1400-rated players if he can participate at least three to five tournaments in a month or if he can spar once a week against stronger players. Maybe PCNK can set the sparring activities for Kelantan juniors like him?

Fatih lost only to two lower-rated opponents - Latifah Syamimi and Zainoor Ikmal Maisarah. Syamimi is a strong player actually and if not mistaken was once MSSM KL player. She is the elder sister of Kaiyisah. While Maisarah, eventhough just 8-years-old, has participated in several international chess tournaments like ASEAN and World Youth. In fact, she won against Nur Farihah Aminuddin, a strong player and among the latest top 20 most improved ratings in the sixth round. So, her performance is not that bad GiLoCatur thinks. She just lost 27 points for her national rating points.

As for Norazlisa Ramli who had MCF rating of 1323 in October 2010 losing one game to unrated opponent and another to Zainoor Maisarah, She had lost 62 points in a single rated tourney, to 1261.

The above is only humble opinion and analytical observation of GiLoCatur. GiLoCatur really hopes that all the Kelantan young players are given the chance and opportunity to play many more rated chess tournaments to shine and show their real talents. GiLoCatur also hopes that they will take the opportunity to participate in the coming Kelantan Closed event since it will be a nationally-rated tourney.

COACHING STUDENTS

I like to share some tips for coaching primary (under-12 category) or secondary (under-15 and under-18) school students. There are several fun ways to coach them. Many of these training devices I revise from what I took from this interesting website.

1. Use time odds.
I give them 10 minutes to my 1 minute. There are many times where I lose on time, but mostly, I manage to survive. Nevertheless, some of them really use the given time wisely and think hard in order to beat me (I used their thinking time also for my replies). The merits of this device - using time wisely and handling the clock correctly.

2. Play pawn games.
I set up all the white and black pawns on their original squares, minus all the other pieces. Using a simple rule of those who manage to get a passed pawn first wins, I let them play against each other. The merits - learn to get passed pawns with correct handling of pawn formations.

3. Checkmate me.
I set up basic checkmate materials such as Queen and King vs lonely King, Rook and King vs lonely King etc. and ask them to checkmate me in only one minute. Of course most of them manage to checkmate me using the Queen, but many stumble when using a Rook. The merits - learn checkmate patterns, and most importantly, learn to think fast.

4. Puzzles.
I give them positions containing certain lessons learned earlier, e.g. pin, double check, double attack, en passant, and ask them to solve it. This device should be done in groups, so that they will try to beat the other groups for the solution. The merits - learn the fundamental tactics in chess.

5. Simuls.
All the students play against me simultaneously. Students must keep score of their game, and must not consult anybody throughout. Touch move only applies to the students, not me. During 2008 centralised training with the Gua Musang team, I played against all 36 students from all the age categories, winning all but 1 when I lost to a form 5 student from Sungai Asap. The merits - use all that have been learned in a competitive game.

CHESS LESSON LINKS

My colleague from MSSD Tumpat asked me to list some links to good chess lessons for him so that he can teach his students better chess. Here are the links which I think would be helpful for him:

Logical Chess
Chess Teacher Lessons
Teaching Your Child Chess
Chess Teaching Manual
Chess Corner

However, the coach must know how to effectively use these materials for the benefits of his charges. Examples should be taken from his/her own games so that the students will feel involved in the lessons.

Happy coaching!

CONFIRMED

It is not a rumour anymore. It is now CONFIRMED that chess is one of the sports SLASHED from the MSSM calendar this year. According the the news, chess, along with 10 other sports, will not be held in the MSSM level because of the budget constraints from the government. This includes sports that have put Malaysia on the world map such as squash, bowling and archery. I found many things which contradicts this unacceptable move.

1. First of all, if I read correctly, our Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Ahmad Shabery Chik said in his opening speech at the Malaysian Chess Festival 2009 about his hope to see a Malaysian Grandmaster to promote the country's name in the international chess scene.

2. The circular from the Ministry of Education itself stating that competitions should be held to improve the game as it is found beneficial for students.

3. The implementation of merit points to help students in their application for universities. Those students who rely on chess as their weapon to gain entry to universities will have to compete with other students in other sports.


Based on these factors, I found it hard to swallow the decision. I can see that many teachers will not be as enthusiastic as ever in coaching their students because there will be no competition at the national level. Slowly but surely, hidden chess talents will not be found in time for SEA Games Jakarta in 2011.

NEW YEAR, OLD CHESS, ANY IMPROVEMENT?

My new year resolutions include trainings and studying in order to improve my chess positional and tactical skills, not to win tournaments, but mainly to teach my students better chess. I will regard my target this year as a success if three of my students make it to the national level (last year's coaching in Gua Musang resulted with two national level players, improving on the year before that with only one player). It is achievable, even though I have yet to know the level of chess players in my new school at Tumpat. Moreover, it is highly motivating to find that the world number one in the chess scene today is the 19-year-old Magnus Carlsen (picture above), who confided in an interview that despite all the glamorous attention he received, he is still your average teenager. So, what is the difference between our teenagers with this humble champion, apart from he is coached by the great Garry Kasparov? Chess environment, of course! Lucky for us the national chess calendar is full of tournaments, despite the economic meltdown predicted for the year 2010. Some of the tournaments for the students are National Age Group Championship in March, National Scholastic Age Group Championship in May, and National Rapid Age Group Tournament in September (all these tournaments are subject to change). Happy new year, young chess players!

GUILLOTINE FOR MSSM CHESS? NOT AGAIN!

After the revival of MSSM chess in the not so distance past, it will be heading, yes, HEADing, for the guillotine again. According the romours circulating lately, chess will be chopped off from the MSSM calendar next year. One of our chess bloggers is raving about it, writing concerned post in his blog. To follow suit, I'll be writing a piece in my post.

I'm a teacher in Kelantan, and I'm devoted to any development for chess, especially in Kelantan. That is one of the reason I became a teacher; in order to be involved in the root development of chess in Malaysia. I know in order for us to have a Grandmaster, the kids are the subject matter, not the adults like me who already past their prime, or lost in the daily business of family life. Those kids still to learn aplenty, and chess should be part and parcel in that learning process.

However, to stop this development by scrapping chess from MSSM calendar is inacceptable. I could not even imagine the kids faces if they are told that there will no chess for them next year. Without competitions, there will be no training. No training means no chess players. I can see in the near future there will be no more Mas Hafizulhelmis or Anas Nazreens coming out from the schools.

This is totally against the circular from the Ministry of Education which clearly states in para 2(c) that competitions should be held for the sake of its development. And if the MSSM chess competition is not THE competition, then what is? Not everybody can afford to enter the open tournaments, especially in rural areas where money is a rare commodity. This will result in wasting talents which should be spotted in inter-school tournaments.

Moreover, kids ought to play against those in their level in order for them to become more interested in chess. If they enter the open, got beaten everytime without any chances of winning, the frustration will kill every bit of enthusiasm they have. I know this so after 4 years of training the kids in my school.

I hope that if the rumours are true, it will not be the death of chess.

TRAINING YOUNGSTERS

Playing with the Knights

Children are restless. Teaching them chess requires patience and creativity. In order to instill the chess skills and knowledge into their minds, the training method should be more interesting than their daily dose of cartoons. One of the method for training knight moves I could find is created by Brunia and Van Wijgerden, two prominent chess authors. In the diagram below, 8 pawns are placed in the middle of the board. The players have to capture all opponents pawns in as few moves as possible in order to win the game. To make the game more interesting for children, place sweets instead of pawns.

One more method is putting a knight at one corner of the board and make a competition between them where the winner is the one who covered the whole board with the least knight moves.

LAILA HUSNA CHECKMATED!

The selection, which was held on 18th - 19th April 2009 at The Dato' Athur Tan Chess Centre, Kuala Lumpur, saw the only Kelantan representative, Laila Husna Sahadi (picture right), soundly beaten by her compatriots in under-14 group. She battled her wits against Amira Syahmina, Pavitranayagi, and the eventual group champion, Hoh Tjin Li, but failed to overcome them and finished without a single point. The result showed that Kelantan chess is not quite up to par with other states' chess development as yet, but having a representative for this prestigous event promised a bright future for Kelantan youths.

But Laila, don't be discourage! Try again next year. The full results (taken from MCF's website):

Boys categories:













Girls categories:

LAILA HUSNA SAHADI SELECTED

CONGRATULATIONS to one of our MSSM golden girls, Laila Husna Sahadi, who is selected to play in the International Age Group Selection which will be held this Saturday at The Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Kuala Lumpur. The champion of this selection will be representing Malaysia to international age group tournaments all around the world.

Laila Husna's seletion was based on the results of the National Age Group Chess Championship 2009 where she managed to take the bronze for her performance in the under-14 age group selection. This latest victory followed her brilliant performance for Kelantan team in the MSSM girl under-15 group where she took the gold and also the best board.

I hope that this will be the stepping stone for her to become a great chess player one day. You can read more about this girl at Masterchess91's blog.

HOW TO COACH YOUNGSTERS

I am the coach for my school, and also the head coach for the Gua Musang team for MSSM, but I am still finding the best approach to coach these youngsters. No doubt that there are many potentials in the school team, and many more will be discovered when the district tournament is over next week, but all these will account to nothing if I could not find the best practical way to improve their skills and techniques. Last year I tried to instill everything from the opening to the ending part of the game, but still the younger ones, especially under-12s, made unnecessary moves, or moved against all that been taught. This year, with limited time for the central training compared to last year, I will try to focus only on what I think is necessary for their development. Moreover, I will try to personally coach only several who I think have the most potentials to make any inroads in the state championship.

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!

CHESS LEARNING AGE

When is the right time to start learning chess? In my case, I learned chess when I was fifteen. I just finished my PMR exams and there was nothing to do except attending some post-PMR programmes organized by the school which was made compulsory for PMR students. I, however, went to the AV room and found several of my friends were playing chess. I learned the moves and no more than a year later I had beaten every one of them. So, is learning at an earlier age gives an advantage over late learners, or is it the other way around? The famous story of the Polgar sisters, who were trained by their father when they were merely 4 years olds, seems to stress the point. Nevertheless, a blogger by the name of Half Sigma does not agree and wrote an article refuting the works of Laszlo Polgar. In contrast, there's another father who initially did not make his child play chess, rather the child himself was a natural prodigy. Fred Waitzkin, and his chess prodigy Josh (picture right), were potrayed in a film The Innocent Moves (Searching for Bobby Fischer).