The Performance of the Malaysian Team at World Chess Olympiads

Malaysia at the World Chess Olympiad
	Ranking	Up/Down	Notes
Baku 2016	134	-64	Worst Result
Tromso 2014	72	-8
Istanbul 2012	64	+28
Khanty-Mansiysk 2010	92	+4
Dresden 2008	96	-16
Turin 2006	80	-10
Calvia 2004	70	+5
Bled 2002	75	-11
Istanbul 2000	64	+10
Elista 1998	74	-10
Yerevan 1996	64	+32
Moscow 1994	96	-18
Manila 1992	78	-5
Novi Sad 1990	73	-15
Thessaloniki 1988	58	-16
Dubai 1986	42	+8	Best Result
Thessaloniki 1984	50	+7
Lucerne 1982	57	-8
La Valetta 1980	49	+8
Buenos Aires 1978	57

Working on the Asian Chess Federation Website

www.asianchess.com

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ASEAN+ AGE-GROUP CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships, now approaching its third decade, has has been acknowledged to be the single most important catalyst for young talent development in the ASEAN region.

Practically every leading young star, most who are the top players in their countries today, got their first international exposure in this event and many grew over the years in intense but friendly rivalry and competition together!

In fact, many tasted their first success at the ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships.

Full article at: http://asianchess.com/news/19th-asean-age-group-chess-championships-2018-to-be-held-in-davao-city-philippines/

Back To My First Love!

The end of April 2017 saw my setting up the Institute for Chess Excellence at the request of the leadership of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) to also serve as a National Chess Academy to facilitate much needed "education and training" for the local chess community.

Good or bad, just some three months later, in July, I also ended up as MCF Secretary, a post that I did not ask for or want, as I told MCF President Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin but reluctantly agreed to as "national service".

Of course, when I take on something, I put everything into it but as I have always reminded everyone, I serve only by appointment and/or as long as the MCF Council needs me and so by the first quarter of this year, not only was it impossible financially, but the job was interfering with what I really wanted to do and I was looking to exit.

MCF, like Malaysia, is in great need of structural change and that requires a paradigm shift in values and an end to vested interests we have become so used to for much too long. The good news is the new generation is ready but they will need to step up to have the chess they want.

I thank Datuk Zahidi for the opportunity to serve but have also recognised that he is primarily a BN-UMNO politician, and so his actions will be necessarily less for the game but for accommodation of his audience or "grassroots support" as communicated to him by his people.

Effectively I had stepped aside since 31 March 2018 but thanks to prior obligations in Thailand for most of April, it has only been from 1 May 2018 that I have been able to start again full time at the Institute of Chess Excellence without any conflict of interest or need to support national development with my own money.

The best thing is that without the drain of having to deal with endless politics, corruption and negativity, I have much of my old energy back and am very much back in control of my environment by refocusing on offering training to help develop today's young talent.

Hopefully I can continue to do this at a good level for the next two or three years given I am not a young man anymore!


For those interested, my programs and current training schedule is as follows:

Friday
1500-1800: Future Stars (1600-1800). Playing in National & International Level Competitions

Saturday
0900-1000: Enjoy Chess (0-1200). First Steps to Playing Chess for Fun
1030-1200: Young Talents (1200-1600). Playing in Competitions
1300-1700: Today's Champions (1800-2200). Targeting WIM, FM, WGM and IM titles

Sunday
1030-1200: Young Talents (1200-1600). Playing in Competitions
1300-1700: Category Grading (0-1600) & Training Games (1600-2200)


More details can be found at the Institute for Chess Excellence website www.instituteforchessexcellence.org and Facebook page www.facebook.com/chessexcellence/