DISAPPOINTING

My 20km drive to the school ended with a sour note. Nobody turn up for the selection. I was waiting for nearly two hours in vain. Maybe the students mistakenly heard the announcement on Thursday that the co-curricular programme on that particular Saturday was only for the chairmen, vice chairmen and the secretaries of every clubs/uniform bodies, although this should not include the chess selection. Not giving up hope, I will postpone the selection to be held this Monday at 4 p.m. Interested players PLEASE BE THERE.

Nevertheless, while waiting, I conjured up an interesting position against my Chess Genius in my cellphone. White (yours truly) looks like he is going to be a piece down, but yet, it is Black (Chess Genius) who should find a draw if he tries to trap the noble White Knight. This is the critical position:

After 35...f5

Highlight below for answers:

36.f3 Rh8, 37.Nxf5+ exf5, 38.Rxh8 Bxh8, 39.Kb4 Bxd4, 40.b3! Kd6, 41.Kxb5 Kd5, 42.Kb4 and Black holds for a draw.

SELECTION FOR SMKCE CHESS PLAYERS

This Saturday (30th January 2010) there will be a selection for SMKCE students who want to represent their school in this year's competition. I don't know whether there will be a good turnout, but I will train only those who are willing to sacrifice their time. I am told that last year's representative already finished his study, so I have to find new talents. The format of the selection will be chosen according to the number of students.

ACTIVATE YOUR ROOK!

Position after 40.Rc8

This ending between Hanif vs Yours Truly is still ongoing. Black to move.

I'VE GOT GOOD NEWS AND SAD NEWS

Everybody wants good news first, so here it is: there is still hope for chess in MSSM. Reading Gilocatur's blog and Tony Mariadass' article sparks my enthusiasm to share this piece of news with you. The Deputy Prime Minister (who is also the Education Minister) is UNAWARE of the exclusion of the 11 sports from MSSM calendar. This according to the closing address by Tunku Tan Sri Imran (picture right) at the Olympic Council of Malaysia's conference held on Jan 16. A firm believer of grassroots development, he revealed the DPM surprise response when told about the matter:

"How can that be? Here I am talking about making sports a policy in schools and here they have cut the number of sports organised in schools. I am not aware of this."

This brings us to the sad (but not entirely bad, I hope) news: why is that the DPM claimed that he did not know about the exclusion? One can speculate that the MSSM now is in a really bad shape that they did not even bother to consult everybody in charge before making the decision. The cut should not be an excuse for exclusion, instead, the budget should be divided equally to all the sports, remaining of which should be covered by sponsors.

All matters aside, what can we do now is for all responsible parties to start reinstating the excluded sports back into the calendar, and it should be made now, for the school term is already a month old. Failure to act fast will piled up the sports calendar against academic matters, which is the most important thing in school.

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!

HANIF vs IIUMCHESSMASTER

The game has arrived at the crucial stage. White to move.

SAD...

I'm very sad right now for not fulfilling my promise to my friends who are now battling it out at the Malaysian Inter State Chess Championship held today in Sibu, Sarawak. I had to pull out from the team because of work commitment, which I think is more important than chess. I sure hope that they will find a solution, or else Kelantan will not be represented in the event. Good luck and my prayer will be with you..

Hairulov listed several team player names in his blog (which includes me, unfortunately).

THANK YOU, SALUTE, SALUTE...

Tonight I found a blog which gave a tribute to me as a teacher who strives for scholastic chess. Sorry it took me a while to recognize the tribute, but I thank you very much. Together we lobby and pray for MSSM chess not to be scrapped, insha Allah..

http://gilocatur.blogspot.com/2009/02/salute-guru-guru.html

RAKAN MUDA GACC 2009 - 14th EDITION

University of Calcutta won the this year's Rakan Muda GACC ahead of 19 other teams held recently at the Tuanku Bahiyah Residential College, UM. Nanyang Technological University was second with International Islamic University Malaysia (team A) finished third. Kudos for my former teammates for becoming a strong team after training under a formidable coach, Mr. Fadli 'Stonemaster' Zakaria.

However, this weak edition of GACC makes an interesting observation - has GACC lost its prestigous charm? Looking at the participating teams, there were no more than 4 oversea universities which came to play in the team category. There were no teams from Iran, and regrettably none from our ASEAN countries apart from a university from Singapore. Most of them prefer to participate in the open individual category or ladies category. I missed the time when the format of the championship was solely for teams (GACC 1 - 3) way back in 1996. Nowadays, we hardly feel the pressure playing for teams anymore as the format changes to individual plays.

Not to take the credits away from current IIUM team members, because it is still hard playing in this format. To get 5.5 points from possible 9 is quite an achievement; my best was 5 points in GACC 5 (if I'm not mistaken). It is still the best chance for students to get rating norms freely because their respective universities are paying for that. My rating calculation included GACC games, and with the outstanding fees involved to play an open rated game it is advisable to take part in GACC, if you are still legally capable.

Nevertheless, these are the current IIUM team members:

1. Wan Mohd Fazli bin Wan Nawawi
2. Ahmad Fadzil bin Nayan
3. Abdullah Khairi bin Kamarul Zaman
4. Mohd Musa al-Ashaari bin Mohd Azmi
5. Che Muhammad Hafiz bin Che Ismail
6. Nurul Najmi binti Bakar



Final results:

Team Category

Open Category

Ladies Category

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.

PETRA 2 OPEN CHESS TOURNEY

Norazmi Mohd Nor won all 7 of his games to top this year's Petra 2 Open held today at SMK Sultan Yahya Petra 2, Kuala Krai. Among his victims were Kelantan's MAKSAK player Sahadi Ismail and Mohd Bakri Jusoh, the eventual second place winner. There were 100 participants involved in this successful event. Here are the top 10 winners (source from Chess Results.com):

1. Norazmi Mohd Nor - 7pts
2. Mohd Bakri Jusoh - 6pts
3. Izuddin Ahayat - 6pts
4. Nik Ahmad Nazri - 6pts
5. Che Khairul Azmadi - 6pts
6. Norazlin Juarih - 5.5pts
7. Sahadi Ismail - 5pts
8. Alif Omar - 5pts
9. Sabirin Sulaiman - 5pts
10. Mohd Al Azhari - 5pts

ENDGAME BATTLE

Hanif vs IIUMChessmaster will resume the battle with Rook endgame. Black has the upper hand with an extra passed centre pawn while White has the pawn advantage in the Queenside of the board. Black's King is closer to the centre and his Rook controls the only available line. Who will prevail?

HOW TO LOSE AT CHESS

Kasparov versus Karpov always attract special attention, be it a competitive tournament, or just an exhibition match. Both of them are very contrasting in nature; the calmness of Karpov has always been better perceived than the competitiveness of Kasparov. He is so not used of losing, and he can hardly accepted a defeat. However, this unique quality of his is the reason why he was at the top for a very long time.

The year 2009 saw a rematch between the two Ks which had been organized in Valencia. A total of 12 games had been played. Sure enough, Kasparov won the rapid games 3 - 1 and the blitz 6 - 2. All games brought to you live from Chessdom.

SOLUTION TO 'HOW TO BEAT NICHOLAS CHAN'

From the above position, I continued with 29.Ba5. Granted, it was not the winning move you have been searching for. Moreover, Nicholas Chan was not beaten just because he took the b-pawn, but for the subsequent blunder on move 32 when he exchanged the Rook. The game continued 29...Rxb3 30.Rb1 Rxb1 31.Rxb1 Nb6 32.Bxb6 Rxb6 33.Rxb6 axb6 34.Nc8 Ke8 35.Nxb6 Kd8 36.Kf2 Kc7 37.a5 Kb7 38.Ke2 Bf8 39.Kd3 Ka6


We arrived at a position where White was clearly winning. The Bishop was cornered, and the passed a-pawn could not be taken without a huge loss of material. The game concluded 40.Nd7 Be7 41.Nb8+ Kb7 42.Nd7 Kc7 43.a6 Kc6

44.a7 Kb7 45.Nb6 Kxa7 46.Nc8+ Kb7 47.Nxe7 Kc7 48.Ng8 Kc6 49.Nh6 Kd7 50.Nxf7 Ke7 51.Nh8 Kf8 52.Nxg6+ Kf7 53.f5 exf5 54.Nf4 1-0