THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

My FI card arrived yesterday !

DISCLAIMER: This post is written by a chess trainer. There is an acute shortage of chess educators on this island.  Back in the early 21st century we saw institutions like Intchess hiring as many as 32 trainers to cope with the demand for chess education in schools. Other institutions like Powerchess, Chesskidz, Chess Academy and over the last 10 years we have also seen more recent players like Checkmate and Master Move come into the scholastic scene as well. Freelance trainers like myself are but a handful. However, the pool could barely cover the demands of enrichment programs relating to chess from the primary schools locally.  With the government's policy of curbing foreign talent, employment passes for chess trainers are hard to get and existing ones not renewed when the term expired. Singapore is now facing a chess trainer crunch when the number of trainers available are dwindling and yet demand is on the rise. Many schools have placed their tenders on Gebiz calling for ...

It's taking place just around the corner, have you formed your teams yet? Take this opportunity to gather inactive and retired chess-players and join! School teams should take this opportunity as a warm up tournament for the coming National Inter Schools. We hope to do better than last year's turnout - let's make it a vibrant tournament ! Details are available here .

This year we had the privilege of joining the PA Corporate Partners group in the National Day Observance Ceremony at Teck Ghee, with the GOH none other than the PM himself with Ms Ho Ching. Parents and children from the NJS joined the newly elected President Mr Leonard Lau, myself, ED Thomas, EXCO members Toni and Adelin. We were 1 of 3 groups with a banner there. Everone was in high spirits as we sang our National Songs loudly and proudly! Just as we were to board the bus back to SCF, a call from EXCO member Philip beckoned us back to the venue for a rare photo opportunity! The PM graciously took this picture with us and thanked us for coming to the ceremony. We also had pictures with Mr Ang, CEO PA and Ms Ho Ching which were posted on Facebook. Many present took pictures of the SCF group which was a refreshing and welcome change as we made our presence felt. This is the first step the new SCF Committee is taking to rebuild its image as one relevant entity with the PA Strategic Partne...