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MALAYSIAN CHESS FESTIVAL - LESSONS


The annual Merdeka Team Tournament in KL marks the largest team competition in ASEAN region, with participating countries from ASEAN as well as the competitiors who have taken part in the Malaysian Open. Singapore has been sending teams to this event, notably present were the players from Chess-Kidz and 2 other teams, QY+3, (all NUS team members)
plus IM Chan Peng Kong who stayed on to play for Brian Jones's team. AMS Bolih contained 2 Singaporeans, Jimmy Ng and Lee Wang Sheng (who may be Australian by now). 

My visit to the  Festival this year was fruitful in many ways, with some observations and lessons that we can draw from should we in Singapore attempt such a feat.

SCALE

It is undoubtedly true that without scale of participation, no media would want to cover such an event. The latest Merdeka Team Tournament held last week attracted 473 players, with 8 GMs, 11 IMs and 12 FMs in the fold. For such a tournament to be held in Singapore, a decent hall the size of the wedding banquet will have to be found..very likely this can happen when weddings are scarce, such as the Seventh Moon period.  September and October will be out of the question as no hotel will be able to accommodate the request, unless the event takes place in a sports hall. 

I do not see a problem of getting the number of participants that they have there, although the bulk of it will be juniors. It takes a lot to coax our seniors here to give a weekend to play chess, but if it is presented as a social event rather than competitive, it may just work. 

SPONSORSHIP

Malaysia has had the generosity of Datuk Tan Chin Nam, whose unfailing sponsorship of the event by way of the Function Room in the MidValley Cititel and prize money in conjunction with the other sponsors delivered RM17350 ( SGD 6940). Not big money in Singapore, but the buzz it creates for the local chess scene is tremendous. Can we do better? I am sure we can, so long as the business plan is well crafted and substantiated with the 3 factors. 

Securing sponsorship for such events is no easy task for any organisation, be it the recepient or the sponsor. How much of the budget is allocated as advertisement to the sponsor and the rest to the organisational costs has got to be carefully worked out. I have seen too many events where not enough was done to tend to the sponsors' needs and thus there was no continued support hence. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

This is perhaps the only weak link we face - the number of arbiters, volunteers to enter the scores, set up the boards and score sheets, etc. But can't we utilise the schools to send their children who are not playing to do this under the VIA scheme and earn CCA points for it? We should start to garner help by having enough parties to take up the FIDE arbiter course, then get them to officiate this event to earn their wings. 


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