My preparations

This year's Senior event eligibility dropped down to 50 years and above. I do not know why the requirements were changed, possibly to attract more participation?  Since I am eligible, I will be competing in the Seniors followed by the Rapid Team event.

Time is moving so quickly. So little time and so much to do. And I even allowed myself to be caught up by the rantings of a self-important nobody. It is my own fault and I promised myself again to concentrate on more important things these days.

Preparations for Malaysian Chess Festival.

1. Eat less rice. You may be laughing at this but Malaysians eat too much rice. The reason is in our history and too long to go into here.

2. Eat more fish.  Brain food.

3. Exercise. You need to be in good physical shape to play your best.  I know for a fact that I do not play well after the first three hours as I start to tire and missed opportunities e.g see this. The mind cannot function well if the body is not in good shape.

4. Refresh opening repertoire. At last year's Malaysian Open, I had worked out a new repertoire and that worked really well.Time to check out new games played since and refresh my repertoire.


5. Review opening repertoire. With today's advances in internet and Chessbase (!) my games will be available to everyone. Time to make changes and put in some surprises for future opponents.

6. Less online games. I play too much bullet (one minute) chess online. This is not real chess, in fact it will destroy your chess.

7. Apply leave !