WORST TOURNAMENT EVER?

THE PROBLEM TOURNAMENT

1.Both Tournament Director (lets call him Mr O) and Chief Arbiter (lets call him Mr B) have been working together for a long time...yes, occasionally there are problem but they could resolve it for the benefits of the chess participants.

2.But now TD and Chief Arbiter have a dispute on last round pairing...and worst, both have a valid argument to support their points.

3.The dispute went on unresolved...and now it has passed the schedule last round...Chief Arbiter then decided not to issue last round pairing...all players are angry and restless now.

4.But both TD and Chief Arbiter just don’t care. Both are in fact not talking to each other! It is what we chess player call it, ‘Stalemate’.

5.Stalemate has been going on for 6 hours...and now the time for prize giving ceremony is about to start. Prize winners are very worried since they have a flight to catch and maybe they will not get back their hard earned money. 

6. Tik Tok Tik Tok...will this be a worst tournament ever?

THE PROBLEM GOVERNMENT

1.Both President (Obama) and House Speaker (Boehner) have been working together for a long time...yes, occasionally there are problem but they could resolve it for the benefits of the US Citizen.

2.But now Obama and Boehner have a dispute on Health Care benefit...and worst, both have a valid argument to support their points.

3.The dispute went on unresolved...and now it has passed the deadline and leads to Government standstill...everybody is restless now.

4.But both Obama and Boehner are not talking to each other! It is what press call it ‘Government Shutdown’.

5.Shutdown has been going on for 6 days...and now the deadline for US Government to pay their debtors are looming ahead.  Markets are now very worried because should US Government default, the effect will be worse than subprime crisis few years back. 

6. Tik Tok Tik Tok...will this be a worst financial crisis ever?

NOTE

Above drama is still on going as at now at Washington DC...Obama blamed Boehner for being selfish...Boehner blamed Obama for refuse to sit down and discuss...lets see who blink first.

By the way US Government needs to pay their debt obligation by 17 October 2013, if not then US Government can be considered as a bankrupt nation.

Well, lets grab a soda (extra large!)... and popcorn (with caramel!)... and see how this drama unfold in real time!

PROFESSIONAL CHESS PLAYER?...SERIOUSLY?

PROFESSIONAL VS AMATEUR

Everybody wants to be a professional in their own chosen field. Footballer wants to be a professional footballer, hair stylist wants to be a professional hair stylist...even killer (assassin) also wants to be known as professional killer (who wants to be known as amateur killer?) because being professional  in chosen field means excellence quality, reliable, superior and etcetera. Where as amateur portray incompetent, unreliable, inferior workmanship etc.

Hence everybody wants to be a professional or wants a service of professional. 

Ask ourselves whether we want an amateur doctor or professional doctor to perform our heart surgery. The answer is obvious.

PROFESSIONAL CHESS PLAYER ?!

But funny when it comes to chess, only few wants to be a professional chess player.  Only few wants to devote one's life to chess and sadly many that did that...regret it after few years.

Reason is crystal clear...minus world’s top 20 players...money is just not here.

Not before, not now and most probably not in the future too...sad.

GM KENNETH ROGOFF

All this talks reminds me of GM Ken Rogoff, US chess player in 1970’s, at 15, drop out from high school to be a full time chess player. He went to Yugoslavia in order to improve himself further (even though at that time he already among strongest chess player in USA after Fischer and easily in the world’s top 40) but suddenly he totally abandoned chess, studied Economics and now he is a world famous Economic Professor. He is among rare few that correctly predicted US subprime financial crisis few years back.

He said it is not easy to leave chess because chess is very addictive. (Totally agreed)...and once he has decided to leave chess, he totally leave chess.

And now according to him, he always received letters from World Top chess players seeking advice on how to quit chess...(Wonder who?)

But what he did is an extreme decision (Totally abandoned chess). I cannot do that...

So i guess for me maybe it is not a bad idea to be an amateur player, like most of people around me...average in chess, average in life.

ME,CHESS PRO WANNABE

Well for me, I used to dream of being a chess professional (Ok, please don’t laugh) myself because i love chess so much...i love to play chess, i love to be surrounded by chess players, i love to study chess, The ‘Kedai Aziz’ factor...in simple words i just went crazy over chess. Yeah, ‘addict’ is just the correct word to describe my relationship with chess and at that time i am just willing to lead a very frugal lifestyle just as long as i could satisfy my ‘addiction’.

Once I even seriously consider to drop out from University so that i could be a chess pro (crazy, right?) but i did not dare to do that (... and not because of fear about my future but more towards fear to my father’s backlash)

Now fast forward twenty years to 2013, here i am... chess amateur... and to be frank i like my status now since i could enjoy the benefits of both worlds....I am enjoying a stable income from work and enjoying pleasure of playing chess during weekend or as and when i feel like playing.

Heaven...! :)

AMATEUR’S PROBLEMS

But amateur chess is not all rosy...nowadays amateur chess is not without its problems or pitfalls...when we are playing terribly (we are selling our game), when our phone rang during game (we throw away game) and should we are playing fantastically (we are cheating).

Hmm, not easy to be an amateur chess player....