Received an email from Lee Siew Fai as follows -
Dear Malaysian Chess Arbiters or Chess Organisers,
The Seremban 2 Community Chess Group is extending an OPEN BID to Malaysian Chess Arbiter to come forward to help us host our Maiden Chess Competition at Seremban 2.
This will be a non-rated chess competition open to all Malaysian. To make our Maiden competition more memorable and exciting, it will also be the highest ever payout for a non-rated weekend event in the Malaysia chess scene. Uniquely, this competition will also be a “dress-down and be at home” chess competition whereby competitors are “encouraged to enjoy the ambience of being at home among our community of chess enthusiasts”. Participants are expected to practice Malaysian etiquette of leaving the shoes outside the house a.k.a.” the first high payout bare-foot chess competition!”
Following are the details of the competition and the OPEN BID invitation.
Host: Seremban 2 Community Chess Group
Sponsor: IJM Land
Venue: Aviva Green, Seremban 2 (Living/Dining rooms of 3 exclusive semi-dees will be used; http://www.avivagreen.com.my/location.html)
Date: 14 April 2012 (Saturday 09:00-16:00)
Chess Event 1: Under 12 section and Under 18 section
Time Control: Twenty minutes each to the finish
Rounds: Six Rounds
Pairing System: Swiss (Tie break will be announced by Arbiter)
House Rules: Legionnaire Gambit engagement rules applied
Entry Fees: U12- $15; U18-$20
Host’s special: Lunch will be provided and a door gift will be given to participants.
Participation: Strictly limited to 40 under-12 players and 60 under-18 players only
Date: 15 April 2012 (Sunday 09:00-18:00)
Chess Event 2: Seremban 2 Open
Time Control: Twenty minutes each to the finish
Rounds: Eight Rounds
Pairing System: Swiss (Tie break will be announced by Arbiter)
House Rules: Legionnaire Gambit engagement rules applied
Entry Fees: $50
Host’s special: Lunch will be provided and a door gift will be given to participants.
Participation: Strictly limited to 100 players only
Prizes:
| U12 | U18 | Open | ||
| 1st* | RM300 | RM400 | #RM1,000 | |
| 2nd* | RM200 | RM300 | RM700 | |
| 3rd* | RM100 | RM200 | RM500 | |
| 4th* | RM80 | RM100 | RM250 | |
| 5th* | RM70 | RM50 | RM100 | |
| 6th | RM50 | RM50 | RM100 | |
| 7th | RM40 | RM50 | RM100 | |
| 8th | RM40 | RM50 | RM100 | |
| 9th | RM40 | RM40 | RM100 | |
| 10th | RM40 | RM40 | RM100 | |
| Total: | RM960 | RM1,280 | RM3,050 | |
| | | |||
| *1st-5th Finishers in Age Group free entry to Open Section # Champion of Open section will also receive a gift; a room stay at Hang Tuah World Heritage Hotel Malacca from 20th April to 1st May 2012 courtesy of our sponsor, IJM Land. An alternate hotel in Malacca will be offered instead if we could not secure the room booking. | ||||
A fixed price is offered to winner of the bid in organizing this event and is listed below:
| 14-Apr-12 | | | |
| | Number | Unit | Cost |
| Rental of Chess equipment (50 sets @ $8 a set) | 50 | 8 | 400 |
| (sets, boards & clocks) | | ||
| | | | |
| Stationary | | | 50 |
| | | | |
| Allowances | | | |
| Officials | 5 | 100 | 500 |
| Chief Arbiter | | | 300 |
| Transport Subsidy | | | 100 |
| Performance Bonus (On time start= 0" up to +15"; demerits at $50 per five minutes late thereafter) | 250 | ||
| Performance Bonus (On time finish= 0" up to +45"; demerits at $125 per five minutes late thereafter) | 250 | ||
| | | | |
| 15-Apr-12 | | | |
| | | | |
| Rental of Chess equipment (50 sets @ $8 a set) | 50 | 8 | 400 |
| (sets, boards & clocks) | | ||
| | | | |
| Stationary | | | 50 |
| | | | |
| Allowances | | | |
| Officials | 4 | 100 | 400 |
| Chief Arbiter | | | 300 |
| Transport Subsidy | | | 100 |
| Performance Bonus (On time start= 0" up to +15"; demerits at $100 per five minutes late thereafter) | 500 | ||
| Performance Bonus (On time finish= 0" up to +45"; demerits at $100 per five minutes late thereafter) | 500 | ||
| | | | |
| Total (in Ringgit Malaysia) | | 4100 | |
The successful bidder shall be the one with consistent track record in on-time performance and on-time managing of chess events. Bidders are expected to provide information on events hosted in the last 12 months.
Disclaimer: Bids is considered valid only when 65% of seats are confirmed taken and paid as of 07Apr 2012. (Players registration process: An expressed interest email registration is open followed by an acceptance advice with payment details forwarded accordingly. Upon payment, players are accepted as “our guest” )
Interested parties shall forward their bid to leemba2002@yahoo.com not later than 9pm on 20 March 2012. Enquiries must reach me by 19 March 2012 in order for sufficient time to reply.
Note: The above message may be posted onto any blogs by interested parties promoting the chess game.
Thank you.
Lee for Seremban 2 Community Chess Group.
17Mar2012
FAQ 1
Background of this Bid:
I am a volunteer chess coach and is a resident of the Seremban 2 Community.
A group of chess players had pulled ourselves together in May 2011 and formed the community chess group. We had managed to secure the blessing and sponsorship of the Seremban 2 developer, IJM Land onto our cause.
We had two immediate plans; one is to host a chess competition within 1 year of our formation, and two, to send a team into the Merdeka Chess Championship.
In August 2011, we did send a Junior team to the Merdeka Chess Championship and aptly named the team "Seremban 2 Community Chess Group. The team grabbed second place in the Junior Section.
As for organizing the competition, we had tried to have it since December 2011 but were not successful due to not securing an ideal location for the event. Finally, in early March, we are offered the exclusive place in the Aviva Green enclave of Seremban Two (http://www.avivagreen.com.my/location.html).
Three new and exclusive semi-dees will be used for this competition and it is slotted to be held on 14-15th April 2012.
As a close knit community, we will play host to chess players in Malaysia with our maiden chess competition. To make things more exciting, it must be the highest payout for a non-rated chess event in Malaysia. Since we are taking the competition into the exclusive houses (homes) of Aviva Green, it will also be a "dressed-down and bare footed" chess event; first of its kind in Malaysia. We want to showcase chess as a competition event as well as a game fit to be inside every family home. After all, it is our common objectives.
We have also decided the Champion in "our warm and homely event" will take away a cash prize of RM1,000 and a grand prize of a hotel stay at Hang Tuah World Heritage Hotel from 20th April to 1st May 2012.
Our house rule is really simple. It shall be the Legionnaire Gambit! As we know it, the Legionnaires are known to be a unique fighting force comprises of members from “diverse and conflicting” backgrounds. They are accepted into the team with no question asked but will have to abide by the rules of the Legionnaire code. That was the past. Legionnaires of today no longer accept questionable characters into their ranks. But the Legionnaire code remains.
In short, participants in our maiden event will have to leave “their past behind and come in to play by our rules”.
FAQ 2
Why is an entry fee being extracted from participants when it is a “host and guest” relationship?
We have deliberated on this matter. The event is wholly sponsored by IJM Land and our chess group is “just a group” with “neither the need for money or AGMs, accounts, commitments, etc”.
Based on sound and valid advice, we charge a fee to reduce the “no-show” in those registered for the event. We shall endeavour to use up all entry fees received into the complimentary lunch and door gifts to the participants.
8 comments:
Announcement:
The Bid for Organising our Maiden Seremban 2 Community Chess Competition is closed at 9pm tonight/20Mar2012.
Regret to say that we have received no interest from our Malaysian Chess Community to assist us in running this event.
This unfortunate development will be reported back to our sponsor and let them decide on the next course of action.
Thank you/Lee
My take on why nobody replied/bid.
1. Insufficient publicity. Looks like this only appeared on my blog. Did you not try to contact other bloggers?
2. Too short time. Only appeared on my blog on 17th and you closing it on 20th?
3. Unclear terms and conditions. You need someone with better writing skills. Sorry, truth hurts, I know.
4. Thanks to Mr Siew, organizers going to think twice nowadays. Nobody wants to be invited to the 14th Floor of MACC for a chat.
Dear Jimmy,
First, thank you for posting the Bid. Second, thank you for commenting on the no-bid downer.
Perhaps a little doggerel from the torero Domingo Ortega is due!
Bullfight poem:
Bullfight critics ranked in rows
Crowd the enormous Plaza full
But only one is there who knows
And he's the man who fights the bull.
1) Sponsors may not always know what goes before, during and after a chess competition
2) Sponsors have their own budget to do their events and most often will not have chess in their views
3) Most times, seeking for sponsor’s dole may require an “elevator test”, that is we only have the brief moment in riding the elevator to paint the picture and convince the sponsor to part their money on our ideas
4) When the approval came, we are left with very little time to work the details
5) We also have to work with best practice in Corporate Governance and an open bid is the best option to fulfill arm’s length dealing
6) In effect, the best path to transparency is to post in your blog as the best guide post on neutrality is to respect the first IM of Malaysia; a fact no one can dispute.
7) Making contact with other bloggers is not an option as it might compromise the open bid process
8) A three days window is valid as we are into looking for a party that is current in the Malaysian chess scene. Any potential bidder that fails to be aware of our open bid failed this test!
9) Perhaps the bid was not written well. But the message is very clear that on-time performance was a critical part of the bid. This is a pre-condition as the sponsor is running an event in which chess competition was the side-show and must be carried out within the prescribed time frame.
10) You may be right on the current atmosphere is not conducive for arbiters/organizers to show that there is money to be made in organizing chess events. However, my sponsor and I have no problem with that as work done must be rewarded accordingly. We are very transparent on this and are prepared to pay for professional work performed.
Even when time is running very tight, I still will have to let the sponsor digest and reflect whether they should still put money into chess.
Thank you/Lee
If you want to get the event organise, just contact the relevant people to see whether are they interested. Forget about open bidding. Not that many organisers have equipment anyway and I have sorted accordingly for you (In my opinion, likelihood to take up your offer if you approach them personally).
1. Suhairi with equipment from MSSWP;
2. Najib with equipment from MCF / DATCC;
3. Hamid with equipment from MCF / DATCC;
4. Fadli with equipment from MCF / DATCC.
I'm sharing the following info based on my personal opinion. Take note: I'm not an interested party in the bid as I do not organise event for others that are not related directly to my work/association.
On surface, it looks like RM 4,100 is a quite a sum but then a Chief Arbiter albeit an experience one has to deal with many factors beyond his control in "performance bonus" that make up a sizable chunk @ RM 1,500.
Equipment @ RM 800 for 2 days of 50 sets is under cost UNLESS the CA owns the equipment or CA can bargain hard with supplier. The going rate is RM 10/day i.e. RM 1,000.
Next, RM 100 per arbiter (not many willing) considering the much added traveling time and transportation cost (individually) to the venue in Seremban 2 UNLESS all 5/6 of them can car pooled together in 2 cars (incl. equipment) where the transport subsidy can be utilised at RM 50/car/day (two-way.....hmmm). If u include an overnight stay (a working norm) in your budget, then your proposal look more attractive.
So, what is left for the bidder (usually by CA) is the allocated sum which is higher than norm. Now, here is where Jimmy is correct!
For the little extra (excl. performance bonus if can achieves) the CA could be the next target of example in multiple postings on one's blog that it serves as a living proof that chess organiser make good money out of organising event. Thanks but no thanks.
Hi just wondering is there any chess class for kid in Seremban? My email wongpingloong@hotmail.com thanks.
Anonymous, I have forwarded your email to someone maybe they can help.
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