Seremban chess

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.

Malaysian Chess responds

I see that a certain blogger is getting  bolder and bolder after successfully shouting down those who dare oppose him such as Chess Ninja, Chess Connections , Rationality and  Malaysian Chess Affairs.

No one is spared - from MCF President to chess organizers like Peter Long.

His latest posts are he thinks there is some corruption going on in the chess scene. Practically screams corruption , corruption but when asked to make a report , declines as he "does not want blood on his hands". Then he turns around and asks anyone with evidence to make the report. Hypocrisy?

So far nobody except Najib (Chess Ninja seems to have given up) has stood up to him albeit in a polite way. But I think Najib has gone the same route as the others as his blog is no longer available.

It seems the normally unflappable Lim Tse Pin (there, I spelled it correctly!) got upset when a mad man trains his sights on him. Read Tse Pin's response here.

Since it is a Friday, I prescribe more readings for my readers. Maybe this story is also relevant to the happenings in chess today.

The Myth

Disclaimer: I only write this to clear any misunderstandings being perpetuated.


This is a true story that bears resemblance to a certain blogger. OK, you all know him as Raymond Siew. Now I do read his posts just to see what rubbish is the flavor of the month. Normally I ignore the points but there is one that needs to be addressed as I am afraid people might start believing it.

The myth perpetuated is that certain people (Raymond does not name them) trying to tell "the kids" (whoever they are) that ( and I quote ) " they are all washed up by 15yo".Raymond wants you to believe that some people (whoever they are) are "attacking" the kids (again).

There was a quotation from Anand which I believe was first mentioned in a local chess blog by Ilhamudin in his 2010chessodyssey. Subsequently there was some mention of this same quote in one of the chess blog's shoutbox by some anonymous person. Raymond jumped on this and clung on ever since (for the reason , read #8 in my post here)

So the myth(s) -

#1 People are attacking the kids by telling them they are washed up by fifteen years old.
     Nobody ever said or meant that kids are washed up by 15 years old. They were just quoting Anand. It is all part of Raymond's poor understanding. Problem is he repeated it so many times, I think he actually believes it himself now.

#2 Anand's quote is  "If you are not grandmaster by fifteen, you can forget it".   If you understood the background where this quote was taken from, you will know that  Anand never meant that you cannot be grandmaster after fifteen. This is just someone's poor comprehension and worse - laziness to do background work. If you read the full interview you will understand the quote better. Let me just re-phrase that quote to show what Anand really was talking about. My addition is in  bold .
 
   " Nowadays if you are not grandmaster by fifteen, you can forget about becoming a super grandmaster or world champion"

Clear?

   

Peter Long on Chess in Schools

Here

What is MCF doing about chess in schools? Only when there is a large base of players, will there come more and more stronger chess players. The future IM or GM could be a school going child today.

Donkey and the well

Here's a joke but so true....


One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

NOW --------

Enough of that crap . . .

The donkey later came back and bit the shit out of the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected, and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:

When you do something wrong and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

Which Malaysian beat a World Champion?

We all know that Mas beat Korchnoi, a two-time World Championship challenger, at Turin Olympiad. But has anyone actually beaten a reigning or past/future World Champion? It is already difficult enough to get an opportunity to play with a WC, but to actually beat one? You might think it has never happened before.  And you would be wrong.

You might be surprised to learn that a Malaysian had beaten a World Champion before. Or maybe not, if you followed my posts diligently since I mentioned this in a 2010 post. The player is none other than Peter Long, current target for lies and misinformation by a certain blogger whom we will not name on this blog.

I do not remember the year, possibly it was in the late 90's when a group of Chinese players visited Malaysia. They took part in a rapid tournament in Kuala Lumpur. It was here that Peter beat former women's world champion Xie Jun. I remember it was a Caro-Kann , Peter's favourite defence, so I guess he must have the black pieces. Maybe if he read this, he can confirm it and even give us the game.

1st Chesseminar concluded

My first Chesseminar last Saturday drew a total of ten participants. They included Lim Zhuo Ren logging in from the U.K., the father and son pair of Yeoh Chin Seng and Li Tian, chess coach Collin Madhavan and also a former student of mine currently working in Indonesia.

I was hoping to post a recording of the session on-line. But a technical glitch resulted in the session not recorded. Here I will give the full game. In fact, during the seminar I could not go through every line since there would be no time left for the question and answer session.

The game that I choose was one of my lesser known games.In the year 2003, I received a call from Hamid. He wanted to know if I could play in the first SEA Games where chess would be featured. It was a surprise since I was already in-active in the international arena for some years (my last international being the Yerevan Olympiad, 1996). In the first few rounds, I quickly found I was no longer able to concentrate for long hours and play in a tournament of this level. Nevertheless I played a few good games and this is one of them.

Echoes : First GM (Updated Addendum)

What do you mean 'some kid somewhere'? He is already here and his name is Mas Hafizul. The only scenario i can forsee where he will not become GM is if he loses the financial support from his sponsors whoever they are.

It would be easier for him if there were a strong pool of players to give him the competition he needs to attain  his goal.Unfortunately as everyone seems to agree, this pool is  non-existent as non of the current crop of  players are anywhere near the same standard.

If Mas doesn't make GM , I am going to eat my pawns. I'm not going to wait another 15 years for someone like him to come along again....

Echoes of the past

Just now surfing the web for chess, somehow ended up at a chess problem site. Looking through some problems on the page. Recognized famous names like Don Smedley, Norman MacLeod. Well known names from back when I did some problem composing. I had a strange feeling, my spidey senses were tingling, scrolled down the page. Saw a familiar name, Liew Chee Meng, composer of one of the problems  chosen for a Greek solving contest in January 2012.

Yes, that is me, I always used my full Chinese name in my compositions.The Problemist is a  English publication of  the famous British Chess Problem Society, the world's oldest chess problem society, concentrating on chess problems and studies. They hold regular tournaments for chess problems as well as studies.

Chesseminar starting today

My first Chesseminar is starting in less than three hours today. If you still want to join, this is the last chance. To join click this link to read what you need to do.