Just imagine if a young Malaysian chess player is being transported into a Malaysia chess tournament in 80's...he will discovered many interesting things that are differents from current practice (and also some that remain sadly the same.)
First, he will need to search the info about the chess tournaments from newspaper such as Malay Mail (most popular), Berita Harian, Watan etc. Sorry, no internet here.
Second, he will discovered about manual pairing. Arbiter, just like a casino croupier, will shuffle a deck of player's cards and spread it on the table (this time, like a gypsy fortune teller) and determine the fate of a chess players. Having three blacks in a row is quite normal then. If i am not mistaken you can still see this artifact (used pairing cards) at DATCC's wall.
Third, he will discovered he can smoke or used his handphone during chess game! His phone rings? Arbiter will not scold him but instead will respect him since he manage to own a handphone. In 80's only filthy rich oligarch can afford to have handphone!
Fourth, he will discovered he can adjourned his game at move 40 and he can analyze it with friends, consult a book etc. Used chess engines (computers) ?!. Well, in 80's that is a sure way to lose an adjourned game!
Fifth, he will discovered should he entered 80's weekend allegro chess tournament, the top prize is RM300. Same as a top prize for most of today's (year 2010) weekend tournament.
Something just never change.
ya betul kita ada dengar banyak cerita pairing yg
ReplyDeletetidak memihak kpd pemain yg terlibat.tu cerita lama ,sekarang dgn swiss manager semua menjadi sangat mudah.
md arshad
Very true especially the prize part. I enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDeleteHi Arshad
ReplyDeletePairing in 80's always favour those yang paling bising sekali and it never finalised, keep on changing, float uplah, float downlah, color mismatchlah but kekadang rasa rindu pulak zaman tu.
Hi Jimmy
The worst part are first,entrance fee is now higher and second, RM300 (in ciggie value of money indicator)in 80's can buy 100 ciggie boxes yet in 2010 could buy only about 30 boxes.
i don't smoke ofcourse :-) and thanks for reading my mumbling.