CHESS ANIME?

Take my advice - don't start watching them or you'll be stucked.

I have just finished watching 'Ace of Diamond', an anime about baseball. Initially, I wasn't planning on watching any cartoon and wasting my precious time away from my tasks, but one day, I accidentally watched it when my brother switched it on television and I ended up finishing all the 126 episodes! 

I also found out that he has a lot of other animes too, most of them about sports. Among others are:

Baby Steps - an anime about tennis.

Haikyu - an anime about volleyball.

Slam Dunk - an anime about basketball. 

This makes me wonder, if Japan has a lot of animes on sports, does it have an anime on chess? Apparently not. Maybe chess is not a popular sport among Japanese people. However, they do have board games, and one of the animes is Hikaru no Go, an anime about the game Go. 

WHAT IS YOUR HAND POSITION?

Reading this article made me browse through some of my picture folders to determine which one I have preference of. Well, it seems that I have quite a few:

1. Hidden Hands

I do this quite a lot, mainly because of the air-conditioning. 

2. One-Finger Lip Bridge

This is one of my favourite. It denotes that I'm seriously thinking of how to punish you. So, whoever encounter this post while playing against me should beware.

3. Palm / Cheek

This is used whenever I'm in trouble, or at the wrong end of a tactical maneuver. You might want to search for something wrong in my position.

4. Power Fist

This is when I'm considering a very powerful move. I might be giving the next move with a punch!

5. Ear Muffs

This is the way I'm saying 'Quiet, please!' Obviously, if I'm at the first board like in this picture, I just need one hand. 

6. Crossing Hands

Well, I could not find the category in the article for this last picture, so I will call it 'The Crossing Hands'. I use this to say that I'm quite satisfied with my position. 

There may be many more hand positions I employed during my games, and I could not have possibly capture them in pictures as I was deeply engrossed in calculations during the time. If you have pictures of me with other hand positions apart from those above, feel free to send them to me. 

So, what is yours?

SHOULD CHESS BE POLITICISED?

What's with the infighting? As a developing chess nation, we absolutely do not need this kind of problem. Instead, every chess player in this country should be working hand in hand to upgrade the level of chess in terms of quality and also quantity. Quality wise, we desperately need a Grand Master. Quantity wise, we need lots of them! It does not matter what race will our first Grand Master be - Malay, Chinese, Indian or even Iban - as long as we have one. The last thing I want to hear is the turbulence in the stewardship of our country's main chess federation.

CHESS WITH ME

WALK WITH ME programme enters its third year this time around. The carnival starts from 13-15 June with lots of events being lined up for all which includes Auto Show, Cultural Show, booths and of course, the Walkathon with the Sultan.

SAD DAY FOR MALAYSIAN CHESS

A sad day for Malaysian chess scene. Our own Sabirin Sulaiman and his family were on their way home from the 3C tournament when an accident happened to them. All 4 in the car died in the burning car.

KEMAMAN: Empat beranak rentung apabila kereta yang dinaiki mereka bertembung dengan sebuah bas ekspres di Kilometer 125.8, Jalan Kuala Terengganu-Kuantan, dekat Kemasik, awal pagi tadi.

Nahas berlaku jam 1.30 pagi itu, di depan Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara (IKBN) Kemasik.
Mangsa yang maut dikenali sebagai Sabirin Sulaiman, 45, isterinya, Halina Saif@Saib,40, dan dua anaknya, Siti Aisyah, 14, dan Siti Khatijah, 12.

Mereka berasal dari Kampung Batu 5, Dungun. Mereka baru balik dari kejohanan Catur di Kompleks 3 C Sunway ,Selangor.Al-Fatihah.

SICILIAN vs RUY LOPEZ

So, it will be the Sicilian against the Ruy Lopez. Personally, I play the Sicilian Defense. However, for this tournament, I root for Spain. The Super Mario has done it again, while the Italians, I admit, is nothing like the Italians I knew before this. Their midfield maestro, Pirlo, is very good at spotting the flanking runs made by the wingers. It is just like the Sicilian Defense, attacking from the flank c-file. And their play also grows from strength to strength throughout the tournament, just like the Sicilian Defense which strength increases to the maximum when reaching the endgame. Hopefully, Casillas and co will find a solution to beat Pirlo and the gang, or else, I will have to play the Sicilian Defense again. Ciao!

CONFIRMED! It is a Scam

EASY! Complete this survey and you will get up to RM150 a day!

CLICK HERE

I put the above ad in my blog for nearly 3 weeks. The purpose was just to test whether it is a scam or not. I wanted to experience it myself because it sounded just too good to be true when you just have to complete a survey and earn some money. I also implore my friends in Facebook to join it, because I want to beat the minimum requirement of drawing the money in the fastest time possible. Today, I reached the minimum sum of USD1000 required for the payment. I pushed the payment button and, as predicted, nothing actually happened, apart from 'The (payment) application was created. Please, wait....'

Sorry for my friends who were involved in this scam because of me. I was duped myself before start googling for 'survey faq scam' and found many websites on this matter.

http://earnic.com/2011/12/survey-faq-com-scam/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111209144355AAWXRbK

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/workathomejobs/a/paidsurveys.htm

SHOUTBOX

After weighing the pros and the cons, for the second time, I close my shoutbox. I hate it when irresponsible people put advertisements in it. However, those who likes to comment on my post still can use the comment button below each post. I think this is better, for I will know which comment is for which post, unlike the comments in the shoutbox.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

KELATE CHESS NETWORK NEW SITE

My brother created a new Kelate chess community site, where members can interact with each other, posting news, pictures and also chat. I mentioned in my previous post about the demise of Kelate Chess network created by Nasero at ning.com, and I am glad that my brother has taken the initiative to revive the network, albeit using other address. Even though the address is quite long, you can bookmark it at your browser for easier access. I sure hope that all Kelantan players gather here, and I will try my best to advertise this website to all members.

You can access the network here.

Mum is covering her face during the fogging

BAD BISHOP HIT WITH DENGUE

Blogger Bad Bishop is now recuperating from his fever after 11 days in the ward. He expressed his hope of healing completely before next week's USM Open and gave some advice so that we take early measures to prevent us from this disease. My neighbourhood, as recently as last week, also had been fogged following a confirmed case hitting my neighbour's daughter. To echo his advice, I will say:

PLEASE OBSERVE CLEANLINESS
BECAUSE IT IS A PART OF OUR FAITH

Some interesting facts:

Poster kesihatan: Penyakit Denggi

Denggi: Kelantan kedua tertinggi selepas Selangor - Sinar Harian

Wabak demam denggi semakin serius di Kelantan - Mstar.com

ALL MALAYSIAN CHESS BLOGS IN ONE PAGE

Andrew Ooi (GilaChess) has taken an initiative to put all Malaysian Chess blogs in one page. If you think that we have 5 local chess blogs now, think again! There are more than 20 chess bloggers in Malaysia.

Visit the page here.

THE DATELINE STORY

The characters in this story are imaginary and not to be mistaken with any particular real characters in the real world.

The Day Before the Tournament

Player A: Do you want to participate in tomorrow's tournament? The dateline is today and I have confirmed my participation several days ago. It was so easy; I just have to SMS my name and send to the contact person as per advertised in the local blogs weeks ago.

Player B: I don't know yet. I will see tomorrow whether I am free or not. Besides, the dateline is not conclusive; the organizers will accept my registration. I just have to be at the tournament venue tomorrow to register. This is only a small matter.

Organizer A: The dateline is today. So far there are only 15 names registered after the dateline at 5 p.m. This is not good. We will incur some losses if we continue with the tournament. Is it hard to call or SMS their names to us to confirm their participation? I have to key in the names in the pairing program so that we will start the tournament on schedule at 9 a.m.

Organizer B: Let us wait tomorrow. Surely there will be participants who will come and register. The program is very easy. We will be able to accept several participants more and key in their names before the first round starts. Don't worry.

The Day of the Tournament

Player A: I am on my way to the tournament. I will be on time for the scheduled first round at 9 a.m.

Player B: I am free today. I can go and play in the tournament. But first, let us have a breakfast. You can't play with your stomach empty, right? Don't worry, there is still time.

Organizer A: There is only an hour left for the first round to start. I should get ready with the chess pieces and clocks so that the tournament will be smooth.

Organizer B: Wait! I'm still accepting these players registration. I will key in their names in the pairing program. There is plenty of time. After all, everybody knows that chess tournaments in this country starts rather late; it is a custom! We will get as many number of participants as we can before we start the first round.

The Day After the Tournament

Player A: Yesterday's tournament started 2 hours late. My winning mood vanished completely. That's why I lost the games.

Player B: They should have not accepted my late registration. I was caught in the traffic jam and arrived an hour late but still they accepted me.

Organizer A: I don't think this tournament was a success. There were so many complaints that the tournament started very late. Consequently we had to cut the time of play for each round. Many were not happy.

Organizer B: I think it was a success. We got so many participants and recovered our money. The players had to blame themselves for not registering before the dateline and caused this delay.

And that is what usually happens in our local chess scenes. Who is to be blamed? The players or the organizers?

HOW DO YOU PLACE YOUR KNIGHTS?

How do you place your Knights on the chess board? I bet many of you will adjust the Knights to stare straight ahead, deep into the opponent's camp. But I personally like to put it sideways facing inwards, so that I would know whether this is the King's Knight or the Queen's Knight (useful if you want to read the descriptive chess notation). Now let's see whether these grandmasters agree with you.

1. Anatoly Karpov

Likes to put his Knights facing sideways, either both to the right or left.




2. Viswanthan Anand

Arranges his Knights to stare straight ahead.




3.Magnus Carlsen

This child prodigy likes both his Knights to face each other.




4.Fabiano Caruana

This Italian GM puts his Knights faces away from each other. Strange? Believe it!




Do any of you want to be creative enough with your Knights? Try placing it backwards, towards you!