A FAIRY TALE ENDING TO AFIFAH

Do you believe in fairy tales? Even the most skeptical will surely gasp in awe for the achievement of this petite girl from Pasir Puteh. Why? Here is the story. 

Getting second place in the state selection was the start needed by Nik Nur Afifah Nik Mud. She and her teammates were then involved in the centralised training under the tutelage of Mr. Nik Mohd Nazri, the under 12 coach. Judging by the scores from the selection, Afifah and three others; Fatin, Haifa and Azreen; were equally strong. Coach Nazri and the head coach, Mr. Saufi decided the four of them should be in the team event at the MSSM while the other two would be in the individual event. However, before the SIC Team Championship, the coaches had a change of heart. Afifah was so strong in the training sessions that the coaches were worried her teammates would stripped her of any chances in getting the medal. The results confirmed their assessment, thus Afifah would be playing in the individual event alongside Fatin, the selection champion. 

For the first three rounds, the coaches were unfazed with her ability to outplay her opponents. They didn't even prepare her, as they believed she could do it again the next game. When she asked me about it the night before the fourth round, I said that we didn't want to 'stop the ball rolling' and continued to focus on preparing the under 15s as I was their coach. Unexpectedly, she replied, 'Do I looked like a ball?', prompting my nervous laugh. Therefore, I assured her that we really cared about her and that we just didn't want to stop her momentum. 

True enough. She went all the way. She even offered a draw in the last round while leading the exchange. She had two Rooks and a Bishop compared to her opponents' Rook, Knight and Bishop. Her opponent accepted and got third place. 

One important fact: the final round was on her birthday! So, before the final round, we celebrated her birthday with a cake just outside the main door of the tournament venue. Then, we encouraged her to get the gold as her best birthday present ever. 

The gold medal put Kelantan high in the ranking in terms of gold medal:

1. Penang 4 gold medals

2. Selangor 4 gold medals

3. Kuala Lumpur 3 gold medals

4. Kelantan 1 gold medal

However, Kelantan was eighth in terms of overall points tally:

 

 

MSSM TERENGGANU 2018

This is the second year I'm involved with the Kelantan MSSM squad. It is a team consisting of old and new talented young chess players gathered from all around Kelantan. Even though many of them are either from Kota Bharu or Kuala Krai, there are also some originated from Pasir Puteh, Pasir Mas, Tanah Merah, Machang and also Tumpat. 

The centralised training was held at SMS Faris Petra during the weekends for the whole of July. In the middle of the training, there was an individual event organised by Persatuan Catur Negeri Kelantan at PROKEL and a team event at Sultan Ismail College. Both tournaments were designed to test the players because they are going to be involved in both events at this MSSM. 

There were a couple of players who won the selection which was held at SMK Pak Badol beforehand, but did not turn up at the training. Both were substituted with the players in the waiting list as we don't want players who cannot give their commitment to the cause. 

The Terengganu MSSM is being held at Dewan Sultan Mizan in the heart of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu premise. It is a very big hall and the playing space is comfortable. Even the praying room and the toilets are very satisfying for me at least. 

As for the team, they are currently doing well, especially the under 12s. They are punching above their weight and there are also two female players who are still with full points from 4 games. This brings hope for the contingent as a gold medal will surely benefit all for they are promised with funds if they succeed in actually bringing it back to Kelantan. 

Today is the fourth day and there will be 2 more games waiting to be won. Hopefully we will be glorious and lift some medals this year. 

For those who are interested, you can follow the results in chess results website. 

Under 12 Boys (Individual) (Team)

Under 12 Girls (Individual) (Team)

Under 15 Boys (Individual) (Team)

Under 15 Girls (Individual) (Team)

Under 18 Boys (Individual) (Team)

Under 18 Girls (Individual) (Team)

MSSD TOURNAMENTS COMING UP

Starting this month, each district in Kelantan would be organising their own selections hoping to find their best players for the MSSK event which will be held in July. Here are the dates:

10-12 April - Gua Musang

10-12, 17-19 April - Kuala Krai

17-18 April - Machang

24-25 April - Jeli
2-3 May - Tanah Merah

3 May - Tumpat

3-4 May - Pasir Puteh

16-17 May - Bachok

23-24 May - Pasir Mas

Only Kota Bharu selection is still in the dark. 

SELECTED GAME FROM MSSK PAHI

The dust has finally settled at SMK Pahi, Kuala Krai and 36 players from 368 hopeful competitors have been selected to be the representatives for the Kelantan state team in MSSM which will be held next month at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan main hall, Pengkalan Chepa. I was selected as one of the pairing arbiters and am relishing the opportunity to perform the same task in the national chess event. 

The pairing arbiters

The state selection, which was held from 23 to 26 July, produced some interesting games. I saw a Chinese boy checkmated his opponent in the Rook + Bishop vs Rook situation, which was really a hard task to do. Nevertheless, I want to share a game where one of my students from Tumpat district failed to capitalized on his material advantage and drew the game instead. 

Danial (playing Black) moved his King to c5

Zull Heikal (KKR) vs Wan Md Danial (TPT)

From this position, as you can see in the picture above, Danial moved his King to c5. The game continued 2.Ke4 Kb5 3.Ke5 Bg4 4.Kf6 Bh5 5.f5 and Danial had a hard time defending his position afterwards.

However, he should have moved his King to d5 covering key squares and pushing the opponent's King further down the board. 

1... Kd5 2.Kf3 Bf5 3.Ke3 Bg4 

This move covers f3 so Heikal would have to make way for Danial's King to enter the key square e4 and take the Kingside pawns. As to rub salt into the wound, Heikal went on to represent Kelantan via the play offs while Danial was left painfully outside the top 10 by getting the 11th placing.

In the under 12 Boys play off, another of my student, Zal Hasani Aqil had a winning position but failed to find the correct move and lost. 

Zal Hasani Aqil (playing Black) gave check at d3

 

Md Hanif (TMH) vs Zal Hasani Aqil (TPT)

From this position, Aqil gave check at d3 and went on to lose the game. Instead, he should have found 1... Qh1+ which was winning if he really trained his eyes and looked at the board really closely. He too handed over the baton to his opponent when a win would have ensured him into the Kelantan team instead of that opponent. 

 

As a coach, you would be really upset watching your students lose this way but the experience was priceless if your students could really take something from that. 

TUMPAT DISTRICT SELECTION

After a week long of Hari Raya holidays, Tumpat chess players started up their engines and, for the first time ever, headed to SMK Sungai Pinang for the selection. It was a good venue for chess, and a good additional choice of venue for next Tumpat selections. As far as I know, the selections have so far been held at SK Kampong Laut, SMKA Falahiah and also SMK Chabang Empat. For your information, other districts have also held, or are currently holding, their selection: 

Tanah Merah (12-13 July 2016)

Pasir Puteh (13-14 July 2016)

Kota Bharu (16-17 July 2016)

Tumpat selection was held for only one day (13 July 2016) and all categories recorded very satisfactory attendance amidst the exams and school programmes:

U12 Boys (34 players)

U12 Girls (25 players)

U15 Boys (25 players)

U15 Girls (21 players)

U18 Boys (34 players)

U18 Girls (23 players)

Total : 162 players

There were 9 secondary schools and 7 primary schools sending their players for the selection: 

SMK Chabang Empat

SMK Kampong Laut

SMK Sungai Pinang

SMK Kutan

SMK Mahmud Mahyiddin

SMK Geting

SMK Tumpat

SMKA Falahiah

MRSM

SK Berangan 1

SK Kutan

SK Kampong Laut

SK Palekbang

SK Pulau Beluru

SK Pengkalan Kubor 2

SK Padang Pohon Tanjung

The Tumpat District Officer himself handed the prizes to the winners after his motivating speech of urging the sports glory to rival Tumpat being the number one district in Kelantan in the academic achievement.  

Personally, only one player from my school won the top prize in her category. Nor Muniera Farhin, a fifth former, made it a priority to win the chess selection even though she is a target SPM student for this year. The others were first timers and did not make the Tumpat team. 

CONGRATULATIONS, JUNIOR RED KNIGHTS

The Junior Red Knights

 
Well, what can I say? At least, we manage to continue what we always get since a couple of years back, which is maintaining the medals we get in the team event. Overall, we must accept that we are still behind in youth development compared to other states. We must also acknowledge that the same bunch of players are giving us the medals, and they are running out of their school time which will unable them to participate anymore. Unless we are coming up with a very good development programme for our youth, we are facing the prospect of not gaining anything in the coming years.

The results of the junior Red Knights in Sarawak MSSM can be summed up below:

Boys under 18 team (BRONZE)

A senior Kelantan official admitted that they made a mistake in fielding the players. The Boys under 18 team was represented by Alif Omar (1483), Ahmad Syafiq (1302), Adam Hafiz (1286) and Mohd Lukman (unrated?) while the individual players were Wan Mohd Amirul (1647) and Mohd Ali Asghar (1808). I personally think that they wanted to get something in the individual event by fielding both highest rated player in the category but it backfired when both did not get any medals, including last year's silver medalist, Amirul. Putting one of them in the team would make the team competing for the gold, at least.

As for Mohd Lukman, I think that he becomes unrated because the organiser misspell his name. He is Mohd Lokman Mat Daud (1345) in the January 2014 rating list.

Girls under 18 team (SILVER)

The girls' team consisted of Najihah (1576), Afiqah (1565), Aznira Hanoon (1273) and Nur Arafah (1207) while the individual players were Nur Hanis Natasha (1289) and Atikah Shamihah (1272). The selection was right, in my opinion, but the Wilayah team was really on another level. The combination of Najihah and Afiqah, however, has come to the end. We have to come up with other set of players if we want to maintain getting medals in this category.


While in the under 15 and under 12 categories, our team did not do very well. Only the Girls under 12 team gave us a glitter of hope for the coming MSSM tournaments by managing to get fifth placing in their event.

Boys under 15 team

Girls under 15 team

Boys under 12 team

 

Girls under 12 team

MSSM SARAWAK & MH370

MSSM Sarawak will be aired live at http://broadcast.kedaicatur.com/

So far, several games have been broadcasted, thanks to Mr. Muhammad bin Arshad, from Terengganu delegation. Hopefully, we can enjoy the games, especially those involving the Junior Red Knights. 

Some pictures were also sent to me by Siti Nur Afiqah. 

In the wake of the announcement by the Prime Minister on the fate of MH370 which was confirmed by him that it ended the journey in the Indian Ocean, I would like to express my condolences to those involved, especially the family members of the passengers and the crews. I also pray that all the delegation will fly safely home when the MSSM tournament ended.

MSSM SARAWAK

Pic courtesy of Siti Nur Afiqah

Currently our junior Red Knights team is battling it out at Sarawak soil. The tournament will be held from 24 March to 28 March 2014. There will be team and individual events for each categories. The link to all the results are listed below:

Team event

Male

Under 12

Under 15

Under 18

Female

Under 12

Under 15

Under 18

Individual event

Male

Under 12

Under 15

Under 18

Female

Under 12

Under 15

Under 18

GOOD LUCK, JUNIOR RED KNIGHTS!

SMK Badang, Kota Bharu

The junior Red Knights left for MSSM Chess Tournament last night. This year, the venue is Sarawak. All 36 of them were very keen to fight for Kelantan when I met them during their centralised training in SMK Badang, Kota Bharu. Although they were physically and mentally pushed to the limit in that training, they were quite happy. 

Najihah gets third placing (pic courtesy of Andrew Oii)

Five of them had the luxury of extra training when they were taken to represent the first team in the National Closed held from 16 to 20 March. Mohamad Ali Asghar, Wan Mohamad Amirul, Mohd Syakir, Najihah and Nik Nur Nadzirah were all smiles for that privilege. Even though initially chosen because there was no Kelantan Closed, the traditional tournament for selecting players for National Closed, 0ne of them, Najihah Mohd Saufi, managed to get third placing in the prestigious tournament. 

Recent years have seen Kelantan bringing home some medals from the tournament. Hopefully this year will be the same. 

TUMPAT DISTRICT SELECTION

Tomorrow, Tumpat will hold its selection at SMKA Falahiah. 174 players will be competing in 6 categories to be the district representatives this year. They will surely strive hard to have a go at breaking into Kelantan top 36 in order to fly towards the nationals which will be held in Sarawak next month.

The schools involved are: 

SMKA Falahiah

SMK Sungai Pinang

SMK Wakaf Bharu

SMK Dato Bijiwangsa

SMK Chabang Empat

SMK Geting

SMK Mahmud Mahyiddin

SMK Kampung Laut
SMK Berangan
SMK Tumpat

SK Palekbang

SK Pulau Beluru

SK Kampung Laut

SK Kutan

SK Berangan 1

SK Chenderong Batu

We are surely missing MRSM because of technical problems. However, it is hoped that the players selected will proudly represent the district and uphold its name by improving on last year's achievement of 1 state representative. 

KELANTAN DID WELL BUT NEED TO IMPROVE

Individuals and team medals show the efforts made by the Kelantan team in the recent MSSM Chess held in Perak. Wan Mohd Amirul portrays why he is the force to be reckoned with in the near future when he managed to be second in the under-18 Boys Category. On the same note, Mohd Ali Ashgar also makes Kelantan proud by getting among the top 5 of the under 15 Boys Category. In the team category, under-18 Girls team manages to get the silver medals while Mohd Iqbal Amran from the under-18 Boys team had the best first board medal.

LUCK SAVES ALIF AND TUMPAT TEAM

Muhammad Alif from Tumpat

 

Muhammad Alif survived the final day misfortune which happened to his unlucky friends from the Tumpat team and clinched the final place in the under 18 male category. It has been a long time desire for the plucky lad as last year was the closest he has been to be a Kelantan representative. It was all down to hard work in training and, of course, a little luck.

TUMPAT SELECTION

HECTIC! That is the most suitable word describing the Tumpat selection held in SMK Chabang Empat today. Increased participation from additional schools attending the selection ensured the hectic atmosphere around the block C hall. Inevitably, problems arose, and fortunately, solutions were found. Thanks to all involved, especially my beloved assistants, Saifuddin and Shamiera. 

THE RED KNIGHTS AT MSSM 2012 - RESULTS

Congratulations to all involved in the Red Knights team for MSSM 2012 in Terengganu. As predicted, the Female Under 15 team prevails again, albeit only settling for second. We also have individual winners in various categories. Here is the full results involving The Red Knights (TRK):

Team Event: 

Girls Under 15 Team (right)

Girls Under 15 - Second (Silver Medal)

1.Siti Nur Afiqah Mohd Haslam

2.Najihah Mohd Saufi

3.Fatih Nor Sahariah Abdul Jalil (Best 3rd Board prize)

4.Nik Nur Najihah Nik Mohd Azrihan

Individual Event:

Individual winners (with Fatih far left)

Boys Under 12 -  10th

10.Nik Muhammad Haziq Najmuddin

Boys Under 15 - 5th and 7th

5.Muhammad Ikmal Hakimie Roeslan

7.Wan Mohamad Amirul Wan Mohamad

Boys Under 18 - 9th

9.Fadhil Aiman Zakaria

MSSM 2012 UPDATE

A warm gratitude to Muhammad bin Arshad for updating the results of the ongoing MSSM Chess Championship which is currently being held at the Terengganu State Stadium. For those who are looking for the results, please click the links given below (I updated the links for the third time!):

Team Event:

Boys Under 12

Boys Under 15

Boys Under 18

Girls Under 12

Girls Under 15

Girls Under 18

Individual Event:

Boys Under 12

Boys Under 15

Boys Under 18

Girls Under 12 

Girls Under 15

Girls Under 18

Somebody also mentioned about this being the main website. Click here to see for yourself.

Finally, a bunch of photos for your viewing pleasure (credits to Muhammad bin Arshad and Nik Azhan):

Kelantan Team picture: