2009 BEST CHESS TOURNAMENT

This is very subjective subject ofcourse but I personally feel that 1st DATCC TEAM EVENT is the best chess tournament held last year due to the following reasons:

Commitment
Khairunisha Wahiduddin came all the way from Kuantan, played a game and after the game finished went back to Kuantan. All in all over 500 Kms, 6 hrs travelling for a single game of chess.

Arshad later broke these record. All the way from Kuala Terengganu, 800 kms, 8 hrs travelling just for a single game!

Sportsmanship
I witnessed one game (between Greg and Hamid) when Hamid's phone rang. Hamid want to resign but Greg did not accept that and asked Hamid to continue playing!

Plan on and off the board
When there is clear that Goldis and SMS Gold is the only teams vying for top prize. There is a plan hatch to provide 'import player' for the team that these two teams meet. With the tournament format that allowed up to 10 players in a team, it is possible to add players during the tournament. No, it did not materialized and remain 'NATO' but nevertheless a good conversation subject over a piping hot Kassim's nasi lemak!.

This is a'la 1986 Dubai Olympiad when Russian team, lead by newly crowned World Champion Kasparov, is rumours to provide 'training/coaching' to Spanish team in order to stop England. Worth mentioning at this same Olympiad our own player Ng Ek Teong scored 6/7 on board 6 to win a gold medal (and when Jimmy played his chess masterpiece and being recognized as one of the memorable game from Olympiad, together with Kasparov's lost to Seirawan etc).

Internet Buzz
This event has been highly covered on the internet (with stories, pictures, predictions, results etc splashed all over the local blogs). Within a few minutes after the game finished, the result is already announced on the local blog's shoutbox. On this section maybe second only to 2009 Malaysian Master coverage.

Drama
There is always a drama when players did not turn up for his/her games resulting in change in expected result from the match.

Contestant
Contestant varied greatly. We have a new player looking for a rating and seasoned player looking for IM/GM title playing, from a school boy to a tycoon. We also have player who is unknown (at least to me) in the beginning of the tournament but at the end of the tournament, became a well respected WNM.

Cameo appearance
On and off many chess personalities drop by to the hall when the tournament is in progress. We are treated by the appearance of Florencio Campomanes, Larry Parr, GM Gerherd Schebbler etc.

Teh tarik :-)
Ofcourse there is also Teh tarik provided/ sponsored by one generous soul for every round!
Served always at the right time when the position on the board is getting tensed and interesting.

On top of that this tournament marked a comeback of many ex-national players and also marked a beginning of now many FIDE rated tournaments organized in Malaysia.

Simply an unforgetable tournament.