MEMO FROM MARVELLOUS MAVERICK!

1.More than 100 players took part in recently conclude marvellous Maverick chess tournament. Number wise, it could easily balloon to 150 should Najib did not requested bloggers to put up the STOP sign a few days ago (a rare request from organiser)...and should Najib aggressively promoting his event at shoutbox. He don’t.

2.Top 3 seeded are coming from 3 different countries, (Malaysian’s Mas, Uzbek’s Majidov and Pinoy’s Ian Udani) and we also have Indonesian’s Ahmad Rubel (though now he is a Malaysian PR) and Irish’s Dr Zaidan (he is currently studying medic at Ireland, he is Malaysian ofcourse) ...and Chief Arbiter is Singaporean’s IM Giam...a truly international event!

3.I am seeded number 23 and am happy with my play, time management and concentration. Anyway a bit frustrated with my 3rd round game against Cheah Cheok Fung...failed to convert a winning position...lost that game. All in all, again, not a bad outing for me

4.Glad to see Mustafa Said make a comeback! He won a best veteran. Mustafa Said? In 80’s he is a chess columnist, together with Ismail Ahmad (not that Sarjan Ismail Ahmad) for Berita Harian’s chess column ...missing are the regulars Abdullah Che Hassan, Saprin, Fairin etc...are they busy preparing for National Closed?...takut!

5. 3 games that stood out. Mas lost to Majidov in equal position (Mas blundered a piece), Kamaludin lost to Majidov (position equals but Kamaluddin got about 6 minutes and Majidov’s 30 seconds...Majidov checkmate Kamaluddin with 2 seconds left) you just need to be there to witness how calm Majidov is with 10 seconds remaining on his time... and Fong Yit San won against Udani (did not watch how the game unfold but any win against Udani in Allegro is definitely a news)

6. Final result. All top 6 finisher got 6 points (1 Majidov, Mas, Fong Yit San, Lim Zhuo Ren, Wong Zianwen and yours truly). Senior vs Junior wise...3-3. I lost the bet against Raymond but he is unable to make it to the restaurant...perhaps some other time, Raymond.

7.Next two months are just bumper to bumper pack with tournaments, tournaments and more tournaments! Terengganu Allegro (for members only), National Age Tournament at Tronoh, National Closed, Lim Choong Memorial, Percawi Team Event, UniKL Open, UM Team, Jax Tham’s FIDE rated event, Buccaneers Weekender (with name like this, Najiblah organise...who else), Insofar series...seems like everybody is busy doing ‘real work’...how about you, Ilham?

Once, someone said this to me “...I wish you all the best if you have a positive agenda to promote chess and hopefully that includes doing real work beyond making commentary.”

Ouch!

Hmm, maybe what he said is true but still...ouch!