THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) has outlined its funding for 2011 yesterday and it seems that chess is once again out of the limelight, or I'd say, gone right into the shadows. $67m dispensed into the other sports, with dancesport,petanque and sepak takraw getting meagre mention but Chess? So once again we in the chess-playing community have to fend for ourselves for another year of high entry fees, high participation fees in any SCF initiated projection (from Junior Squad to overseas competitions) as long as the snub from the authorities persist. Although the SCF acting Treasurer has replied to me that steps are taken to make SCF a charity (in line with SSC's guidelines to ensure good governance and accountability with raised funds), we have yet to hear of the SCF's initatives for presentation to SSC for multi-year funding., as well as the dialog with the MOE on the status of chess in schools. Should there be any SCF official reading this post, I'd appreciate some i...

I got to see my students for a brief moment between Rounds 4 to 5 yesterday at the Scouts Association. Though playing conditions were a little claustrophobic, the sequence of events was orderly. Most of the students fared reasonably well, some less so. O had 5.5 pts while Q had 5 points, which is very good in view of the field. The other unrated female student got 4/7 which is commendable given her usual timid self. SH lost to someone who later withdrew, thus affecting his tie-break of 4 pts which set him back. He lost the other to the tournament winner and drew 2 games against 1400+ players. So really, his performance is deemed more than satisfactory. Of course there will be some who'd had a bad day, hence its best to let them reflect on their performance a little while first.Overall, only 1 of the 8 students scored less than 3.5 which is in a way a consolation.  With more exposure in future tournaments, I expect to see their results improve, with a little more consistent practice...

The 63rd National Schools Individual Championship shall be convened at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel at Kim Seng Road. Entry fee for each student with school endorsement is $60. This to me is rather exorbitant. How many schools I wonder would have the budget to send students to the competitions if they have 10 or more ? I have noticed that the entry fees have crept up over the years, from $25 to $40 and now $60. Students without school endorsement now pay $100. Granted that it is a hotel venue, but again I ask the SCF is it pertinent to host a school competition in a hotel and passing the buck to the schools or to parents (if the schools can't pay)? Let's see if this fee structure is sustainable. For those reading this who are involved in other sports competitions at the school level, I'd appreciate your feedback for this post. Are national school competitions in other sports costing as much for each student? We need to have some perspective on this - otherwise, I canno...

Where does one get to play a human opponent face to face on Fridays ? Fret not, Thomson CC Chess Club opens its doors on the 3rd floor activity room next to the elevator. The Chess Club starts 7.30pm and ends 10.00pm . Members are advised to sms 97985479 to check if the club is open for that day as we depend on volunteers to open the premises each week. To join, annual membership for children 12 and under is $10 and $12 for all others. You will need to be a Passion Card Member to join the chess club, which is $10 for children 12 and  under or over 60. For those aged in between, its $12. PassionCard membership is valid for 5 years. Chess sets are available, players with chess clocks are advised to bring one. Address : 194 Upper Thomson Road (Opp Long House Eating House)

At the behest of a chess-parent, I respond with this article on how new chess parents should be involved with a child who's just started on chess. Playing chess involves many components of logic and knowlegdge, so I would not encourage younger children to start with the full 32 pieces laid out at the start. A better way is to start with only the pawns on the 2nd and 7th rows. The objective is to show how pawns move and promote. The side that promotes first wins.  Try playing this with the children to get them to understand how pawns move and can capture. They will grow up learning to push their pawns carefully. After considerable hours are spent, perhaps introduce the Kings into the starting position of pawns alone. Then after some time, add the pair of Bishops. Then the Rooks. Then the Knights. Finally the Queen. A gradual introduction of the pieces would gradually expose the new player into the powers of each piece through play. The child can start as early as 3 or 4 with this ap...

After performing a search on the MOE's School Information Service on the schools offering Chess as a CCA, my findings are: Primary Schools      - 36 out of 182  Secondary Schools - 23 out of 153  Tertiary Institutions -   9 out of 12    What seems worrysome is that for a useful board game such as chess, the representation rate at primary and secondary level is max 20%. Surely this is cause for alarm. Although looking at the number of participation schools from the 2010 National Individuals, which stands at 145 and having 1280 participants, there could have been schools which have no official Chess CCA but have students signing up individually. There are also several institutions outside the MOE school system competing as well.  Someone raised the point about why Chess is not looked upon as a sport but a Club and Society activity? Has this distinction impacted the popularity of chess in schools? Should chess-players be pena...

We have had a healthy exchange about how to involve parents into the current chess activities. Having followed the junior chess scene for most of the last 30 years, there has been a healthy growth of players taking up chess and the players are getting younger. However, what worries me is the high attrition rate of players from the  local chess scene. I am sure we have had many  who followed the game since the Fischer-Spassky era of 1972 ( I did when I was 9). Many are in their 50s - 70s today and what's alarming is that they have not been seen at the tournaments. This crop of players are in their time relatively good to give any junior a good sparring , therefore they are critical to raising the level of chess-playing in my opinion. However, not many will have the time to spend a full day at tournaments given the demands of work and family, hence perhaps a few hours at a chess club a week may be helpful. Thus there lies the need to promote chess club activity in order to reviv...

In my early years of involvement with chess, I have worked most of the time with junior students direct - being their mentor, guardian sometimes. It is of course good once in a while to meet their parents, as their support for their child is ultimate key to success. I used to remind myself that not every parent is like mine, intent to stopping their child's interest in chess , believing that they should be spending their time and energies on school books rather than chess books. Today, the scene is quite the opposite - more non chess-playing parents are keen to see their children take up this fabulous (in their opinion) game. It makes the child concentrate, think about what they want to do before doing it, focus and it helps in their mathematical faculties too. A radical change of opinion in just about 25 years.Parents today are keen to be involved in their kids' activities and would want to show their care and concern. So though I see parental support as a good thing, parental...

1984 was George Orwell's peer into the future world when he wrote it in 1948 - a dark world with rigid control devoid of human freedom of expression. "Big Brother is watching you" pretty much underlines the theme. Yet in 1984 I wrote anonymously to a chess publication Singapore Chess Digest about the chess club scene.  Our club scene was much better back in the 70's till 1982 but went downhill since. I was stating my point that we in Singapore did not do enough to promote a chess culture amongst our chess players, in the promotion of chess clubs and non-competitive chess activity then. I wrote that we should encourage more to take part in chess playing by attending chess sessions at the clubs, without having to compete only in tournaments. It will be much more cordial, relaxed and most importantly socially healthy for chess-players to interact, discuss and further their interest in chess. The club scene would have been further developed into a league that can attract ...