Peter Long on Chess

My first games since last year's Olympiad and a milestone of sorts as I finally found time to play in a local event after a very very long time (even if only at this 25 minute time control which is really neither blitz or rapid and was rather hard for me to adapt).

The five rounds on day one left me exhausted on getting home and then the four more on day two proved to be really hard going. So I suppose I could not complain too much from scoring 5/9 on board one (probably after having being designated as the sacrificial goat on the assumption that match points would be used!).

I did find it interesting to play some of the players, some of whose names which were vaguely familiar from being mentioned to me by others from time to time and on my impressions, I can only say that young local players should only be encouraged and not criticised on public forums.

Generally (and to my surprise?) I did not have any special difficulties n the technical side of things - even the one opening w…

First congratulations are in order to Hamid and his team for managing to again do a Malaysian Chess Festival and I think that any activity is a good thing and that the response shown in increased participation is due reward.

While the various supporting events are going from strength to strength, the original Malaysian Open is clearly diminishing, be it in the quality of local representation (lack along competitiveness) and even the foreign entries are not what it used to be.

There are many reasons and some obvious solutions but I appreciate how hard and difficult it is to organise and it is easy to criticise when you have not done it and while I have, a public forum is not always the place to provide feedback no matter how well intended.

So, well done guys and I sincerely hope it continues on next year because what I can say here is that the money to do it was not anything like what we understood from previous years so I ask our local chess community to start stepping forward now to…

Campomanes Memorial Yangon International Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2011 Yangon, Myanmar. { 21 Sep - 01 Oct, 2011 }

1. Organization
This event is organized by Myanmar Chess Federation in honor of late FIDE Honorary President Florencio Campomanes under the auspices of the Myanmar National Olympic Council.

2. Schedule
21 Sep             After 1200      Arrival                         2100                Technical Meeting
22 Sep             0900                Opening Ceremony                         0930                Rd. 1                         1600                Rd. 2
23 Sep             0900                Rd. 3                         1600                Rd. 4 24 Sep             1600                Rd. 5 25 Sep             0900                Rd. 6                         1600                Rd. 7
26 Sep             0900                Rd. 8                         1600                Rd. 9
27 Sep             1600                Rd. 10
28 Sep             1600                Rd. 11
29 Sep        …

Chilling out in the lobby!
Getting ready for battle!
Let us all wish our National Champion all the best in competition against the world's very best young champions!

The 50th World Junior and 29th World Girls Championship got underway in Chenna with spectacular opening ceremony on the evening of 1 August 2011.

Participants and guests were treated to an hour long cultural show showcasing Indian dance performed by students from a local chess school before the formalities were conducted by the other main attraction, the main VIP guest who was non other than former World Junior Champion and current World Champion, home town hero Vishy Anand!

Anand welcomed all and assured us that we would enjoy our stay in Chennai while acknowledging the role of the Tamil Nadu Chess Association who have from its inception ensured that Chennai is the chess capital of India. He noted it took his 4 times before winning the World Junior Championships but in the process the friends he made were among his greatest and longest standing friendships and than even to day he remembered the games and the wonderful moments!

Very much in evidence too was FIDE Vice President D.V. Sund…