2013:MALAYSIA CHESS IN REVIEW

Previous posting is about Mother Earth, now lets move to Mother Land! (a.k.a. Malaysia)

2 major stories for 2013:

1) AGM

MCF’s AGM this year is a very interesting affair when President post is being contested by Zuhri. There are lots of campaigns, manouevres, dramas, reports etc. Interesting! How i wished Malaysian chess performance could be as interesting as MCF’s AGM.

Still for year 2014, all the best MCF!

2) Aron Teh

Virtually unknown in January 2013, Aron Teh is now a feared name in December 2013. National Champion, Malaysia Master Champion and strings of fine performance in couple of international tournaments...as a result in January 2013 his rating is 1949 and now his rating is 2272...a massive increase of 323 in a year time... WOW! If he continued to improve like this, by end of next year his rating will be almost 2600!

(But is he really that strong? I am not sure since he never become Malaysian Junior Champion and ratings can be inflate by entering selective tournaments so said the wise man of chess...and his opening repertoire is a bit suspect too...hmm.)

No...just kidding Aron Teh. You are a strong player (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise) and if there is such a thing as a 2013 Malaysia Chess Player of the Year...it is yours definitely!

All the best NM Aron Teh!

Other interesting stories are

Malaysian chess team won a medal in SEA games.

This achievement, just like that half empty/ half full glass, bring different meaning to different people. Half full because we have a medal...half empty because we could increase the chances of more medals with better strategy.

Still we have won something here. I consider this achievement , just like that Appolo 13 flight, as MCF’s “successful failure”.

Cerdik Catur introduce CCR

Frustrated in seeing so many red tapes for organizer to use National Rating in their tournament, NM Fadli takes the matter into his own hand by introducing CCR (Cerdik Catur Rating). Initially i am a bit sceptical but now i am full of praise to Fadli. He walk the talk! 

...and so far CCR is doing quite well too!

All the best Fadli!

Li Tian breached 2300 barrier.

Now without PMR to distract him, can Li Tian say breach 2400 in year 2014?

All the best Li Tian!

DATCC

Beginning 2013 Najib got many plans for DATCC but somehow towards end of 2013, Najib is no longer in charge with DATCC.

What really happened here? No wonder there is almost no news about chess activities held at DATCC.

Still for 2014, all the best DATCC!

Next posting. 2013: TERENGGANU CHESS IN REVIEW

2013: WORLD CHESS IN REVIEW

Its that time of the year again...time to reflect what a year 2013 was to chess of Earth , Malaysia, Terengganu and Ilham (myself)...Hmm, the acronym of these 4 doesn't sounds good (E.M.T.I), since its rhymes with empty...Caissa! are you tried to tell me something here?

Lets begin with 2013: Mother Earth!

I shall remember 2013 with 5 events. Not under particular order these events are:

1. Carlsen become a World Champion!
Finally!...I was seriously consider posted an article about this under titled "MC hammered Anand"...words play based from that 90's rapper, MC Hammer. MC here is ofcourse referring to Magnus Carlsen and hammer is a favourite weapon of Thor, superhero that is always been associate with Carlsen....and i intended to close the articls with MC Hammer's famous song ( I imagined Carlsen singing 'You can't touch this!' to his fellow chess rivals while holding World Champion trophy)

You can't touch this!...

My, my, my moves hits him so hard
Makes me say "Oh my Lord"
Thank you for blessing me
With a mind to rhyme and two hype hands...

but that posting is not meant to be...procrastination got better of me! :)

2. Cheating in chess.

• A player who is playing amazing chess has been subjected to details search, suspect of cheating.
• Moral of the story: Don't play chess 400 points above your actual rating and if you do, make sure you wear a nice pair of stocking.
• However, it is generally acceptable to play chess 400 points below our strength. 
• Chess is opposite to football and other sports where in football, suspicious is if you play way below your strength (you might fix the game)...in chess it is suspicious if you play way above your strength. 

3. The emerging of GM Wei Yi

• GM at 13...youngest player to breach 2600...increase his ratings by 200 elo in slightly over a year...i foresee him as a future star and maybe the one to challenge MC in the future.
• ...and he played aggressive chess too! i have a theory that World Chess Champion will most likely be defeated by a younger player with opposite playing style...Smyslov lost to Tal...Tal lost to Petrosian...Petrosian lost to Spassky...Spassky lost to Fischer...Karpov lost to Kasparov...Kasparov lost to Kramnik...Kramnik lost to Anand...Anand lost to MC. 
• See my points! As such i have a feeling that player that will beat Carlsen is someone who is young and play aggressive. I predicted GM Wei Yi will be serious challenger to MC five years from now. 
• or maybe it will be me! ... since i played aggressive chess too...but damn it!, i cannot since i am two years older than Carlsen :(

4. Kasparov is eyeing for chess Presidency

• I supported Kasparov not so much because i believe in Kasparov will do a better job ( after all, looks at PCA and GMA) but i believed FIDE, like MCF too, need a breath of fresh air.

5. Tania Sachdev is a commentator for Anand vs Carlsen Match.

• Exactly the reasons why i left office at 5.45 sharp, brave heavy traffics and occassional KL's evening storm just to watch Anand vs Carlsen match at the comfort of my house.
• Still remember till today her soft voice commenting the game... :)   

Next Posting: 2013: MALAYSIA CHESS IN REVIEW