ARKURNI - IIUMCHESSMASTER LATEST

This is the latest position in my duel with my ex-teammate Hanif Arkurni. White to move.

SMKCE CHESS PLAYERS

I selected several players to represent the school in this year's MSS for Tumpat district. Regrettably, there is only one category will be contested, i.e. under 18, and each school can only bring 6 players. Nevertheless, here are the lucky names:

1. Mohamad Ashari bin Seman (5 SH) - Captain
2. Ahmad Zul Khairi bin Md Noor (5 SK)

3. Muhammad Shahril bin Ismail (5 SK)

4. Siti Salmiah binti Abdul Rajab (5 SH)

5. Tg. Haryani Norlaini binti Tg. Hanafi (5 SH)

6. Nor Izzatul Elanie binti Mustafah (1 B)


They have already trained several basic concepts such as chess introduction, notation, checkmate patterns, techniques, and control of the centre. With only a week of training remaining, I have to prepare them for tournament play. I hope at least one of them will represent the district in the upcoming state competition.

UTP OPEN

Universiti Teknologi Petronas will be holding a national-rated chess competition later this month. The details as follows:

BUILDING THE BRIDGE

I managed to build a bridge, again (I did it against another online opponent here). This is a basic rook ending any chess player has to know by heart. It was quite easy to find it, through enough training. So, my young padawans, please don't play truant. Training continues this Sunday and please be ON TIME!

The critical endgame position started with the diagram:

After 46.Re4

Black eliminates one of White pawns by exchanging it with 46...h5! The game continues 47. gxh5 Rxh5 48. Rg4 g5 49. Kc3 Kb5 50. Kb3 Rh3+ 51. Kc2 Rh4

After 51...Rh4

Black kills any hope for White to win the game by exchanging the last pawn. From now on, it is Black who has all the initiative. 52. Rxg5+ Kxb4 53. Rg8 c5 54. Rb8+ Kc4 55. Kd2 Rh2+ 56. Ke3 Kc3 57. Rc8 c4 58. Rc7 Rh3+ 59. Ke2 Rd3 60. Rc8 Rd4 61. Ke3 Rh4 62. Ke2 Kc2 63. Ke3 c3 64. Rg8 Rh3+ 65. Ke2 Rh2+ 66. Ke1 Kc1 67. Rc8 c2 68. Rb8 Rh5

Starting the bridge

Rook on the 4th rank is the starting of 'The Bridge'. White is helpless. 69. Rb7 Re5+ 70. Kf2 Kd2 71. Rd7+ Kc3 72. Rc7+ Kd3 73. Rd7+ Kc4 0-1

The final position

CHESS IS BACK!

I cannot help but smile broadly when the DPM announced that RM89 mil will be allocated for sports development in school, and for the 24 sports under MSSM to be held unhindered. This is in line with his vision for sports to be a policy in schools. He has lived up to his words to help sports in school when he was shocked by Tunku Tan Sri Imran's revelation about the scrapped sports from MSSM calendar. All the efforts taken by the bloggers to condemn the exclusion of chess from the MSSM calendar have been fruitful. All the teachers and coaches will be very grateful and enthusiastic hearing this news, and all the students will be very eager to continue their training. See you in MSSM! Speaking of which, where will it be held this year?

TRAINING STARTED

SMKCE chess training officially started today. I am using the module I've developed myself for these students. Hopefully they will benefit from it. So far the module produced 2 state players from Gua Musang. I wonder whether they still use it this year?


Details of Tumpat district selection (subject to change):

• Date: 3 - 4 March 2010
• Venue: SK Kampong Laut

Details of Kelantan state selection (subject to change):

• Date: 8 - 10 April 2010
• Venue: Pasir Puteh

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