Kasparov in Malaysia

26 April 2014, Kuala Lumpur – The Malaysian Chess Federation in collaboration with other NGOs co-organised a fund-raising dinner at Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC) in conjunction with Ex-World Chess Champion, GM Garry Kasparov’s visit to Malaysia. Malaysia’s Sports Minister, YB Khairy Jamaluddin gave a welcoming speech and honoured Kasparov’s visit here to Malaysia during the dinner.

Garry Kasparov did a six match simul with chess enthusiasts and won 6-0 with 15 minutes time control.

Malaysia’s Sports Minister, YB Khairy Jamaluddin (2nd from left, picture above) was on hand watching the brief chess exhibition by Garry Kasparov against six chess enthusiasts.

MCF President Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib (2nd from right picture above) and Deputy President, Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah Raja Hussin (3rd from right) were present during the dinner and chess simul by Garry Kasparov.

During the dinner, Datuk Tan Chin Nam, “Father of Malaysian Chess” was honoured by the Sports Minister for his many generous support of chess. He was the founding president of the Malaysian Chess Federation in the 1970s. Dato’ Tan has spent over 30 years of his life as benefactor and organizer of nearly every great chess event held in Malaysia. A generation of young chess masters developed to maturity thanks in significant part to his organisational efforts and financial generosity. Dato’ Tan describes chess as “ a game that forces one to think, it teaches discipline.”

MCF 's National Arbiters' Seminar

27 July 2011, Kuala Lumpur - Here is an announcement of an MALAYSIAN CHESS FEDERATION's initiative of a national arbiters' seminar to be held 16-18 September 2011. For those who missed the first one, then this second seminar should not be missed. So read on and book this date on your calendar!



"With the success of the recent FIDE Arbiter Seminar, MCF is taking another step forward with its national version of the same seminar to encourage and educate more locals on the rules and regulations that govern chess events and games.

The MCF version of the seminar will cover topics that are more suited for the local circuits by focusing primarily on FIDE Laws of Chess, Swiss Pairing and Tournament Organizing. The idea of the MCF seminar is to share the knowledge and learning that were gained during the FIDE Arbiter Seminar with other local arbiters, teachers, organizers, club members, associations including parents and players whom may not have the opportunity to join the FIDE session. .

Similar to the FIDE seminar, participants for the MCF seminar will also sit for a short exam on the final day of the seminar to gauge their understanding on the topics that were presented and discussed. Those who have done well in the exams will be conferred with appropriate titles and recognitions, and can look forward to earn the National Arbiter's title which MCF plans to introduce in the very near future. The MCF seminar will also provide better preparation to the participants should they want to pursue their ambition in becoming globally recognized FIDE Arbiters or International Arbiters.

One of the interesting feature of the MCF seminar is that it will also provides an optional 1 additional day for participants to learn and be trained on using the Swiss Manager program, one of the world's most popular pairing program used in many local and international chess events. Participants are advised to purchase their own Swiss Manager program prior to attending the training day, or download the DEMO version from the Swiss Manager website. Whilst the organizer may provide computers for the participants to practice, the units available may not be enough to go around for everyone. During the learning session, participants will be taught on how to download FIDE and MCF rating list, execute pairings including changing the pairings, keying in and correcting results, understanding tie breaks, printing and preparing tournament reports, and other relevant topics that will help the user to use the software effectively.

The entry fees for the 3 days seminar is RM200 per person of which RM50 shall be used towards MCF certification. For the Swiss Manager training program, the registration fees is RM80 per person. For the entire 4 days seminar, the total fees is RM280 per person. Participants are advised that the fees do not cover for lunch, accommodation or transport during the duration of the seminar. Those who are interested to take part in the Swiss Manager training program must have a solid understanding on Swiss Pairing program prior to participating in training program. Those who are interested to take only the Swiss Pairing program will be accepted at the discretion of the organizer with a higher fees imposed.

Those who would like to inquire more about the seminar, please contact Najib Wahab at +6016 338 2542 or email najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com

The proposed schedule for the seminar is as follows:"





( source : Najib Abdul Wahab,Program Manager/Coordinator
Tel: +6016 338 2542, Email: najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com
Web: http://www.chess-malaysia.com
Blog: http://datcchess.blogspot.com)

Malaysian Chess Team Selection In The Pipeline

7 February 2011, Kuala Lumpur – News is rife that the Malaysian Chess Federation is now considering the selection criteria to pick the team players for the Malaysian Chess Team for the premier South East Asian Games or better known as the SEA Games. Or selection to the future Chess Olympiad held every two years.

Indonesia has done their special selection chess tournament to pick up the most desirable and outstanding team players. Singapore has based it on their ASEAN Chess Tournament held recently. What is Malaysia’s selection criteria?

Maybe, it is time that MCF takes a different approach and be more transparent and call a special news conference to announce their selection criteria for the Malaysia chess community to know clearly their direction. It is time for chess to take its proper place in the local sports scene and let chess be known as a Malaysian sports event for Malaysians to sit up and take note. It is time for a change for chess.

Ideally the future Malaysian chess team from my point of view should reflect Malaysia’s true intrinsic chess strength currently and for the future. This team should reflect both old and new, both veteran and youth, both experience and rising stars. It should be a balanced and dynamic chess team.

What better way to do this than to do a proper selection of those who really want to carry the Malaysian flag at the SEA Games and who are willing and deserve to shoulder responsibility as a team member that supports each other and are open to ideas of its team members.

If Malaysia aspires to be a developed nation in the year 2020, then the Malaysian chess scene has to change and evolve to be more transparent to the public so that the future direction of chess is clear.

If Malaysia has its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) then chess should have its own transformation programme.

Best of luck to the future new Malaysian chess team.