Peter Long on Chess

Chess is today a business, largely thanks to the kids and their parents. Here of course we are not talking about the special talent but the large numbers of kids the game attracts - and for all sorts of reasons - including that of their parents. For example, here in Malaysia, there are the schools championships organised by the Ministry of Education and there is the national youth championships (national age-groups and national juniors) organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation. These already require quite some commitment by the participants and especially so if they are leading players which means they also will play the Malaysian Chess Festival and at least one of its many events, and probably one of the Selangor, Penang and Johor Opens to name but just the more established, and almost certainly some of the many rapids held every weekend. Now there are also many FIDE Rating tournaments to choose from. But what was I saying about international youth events? Let's th

Interestingly this can also be food for thought as regards the membership of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), their rights and obligations as state affiliates Checks and balances!  And then of course then what the role of the legitimate state affiliates can be in ensuring how MCF is constituted and run.  

This is shaping up to an election that is being played out in a rather nasty fashion on social media with the current leadership and its supporters responding to allegations by their challengers in a way that does no credit to them, FIDE or chess. FIDE has at least made its position clear although it might be challenged. I do however think that all three sides (or at least two) benefit from this ruling should it remain as it is stated currently. I might be reading this wrong but it does seem that in fact there can be exclusions! Two well known and prominent FIDE officials are delegates of two of these National Chess Federations, both who do not seem to have any rated players and which do not seem to have  any participation in international competition.

Once again, no Malaysian team. In a different MCF the Olympiad team could have gone as a training or a team of young players could have been sent for exposure or it could even have been a chance for  others who had not have a chance to take part.

The 10 year old Indonesian chess prodigy Samantha Edithso is well known to Malaysians, having had the performance of her life at the Selangor Open Challengers in 2017. I met Samantha for the first time (although I had seen her playing on several occasions over the years when visiting Indonesia) at the Asian Youth Chess Championships held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 1-10 April 2018, where she won two Golds. These were in Rapid and Blitz in her age-group. In Standard chess, Samantha moved up one category and interestingly was never in contention. While at this event I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with this young talent thanks to my long friendship with Indonesian Head of Delegation Kristianus Liem who brought just three players but who were all serious medal contenders. This deepened with the arrival of Indonesian chess patron Eka Wirya Putra who brought with him a journalist, and at their urging, I started having direct chess contact with Samantha. W