THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

  My first encounter with Peter was in the 1983 Parkway Master's tournament where he was a player. Having lost a game against his compatriot Eddy Kwan, he was upset and wanted someone to accompany him to a meal. For the whole hour he was ranting all about his missed opportunities till the food came. That was one episode which made him realise that he could be better off as a trainer rather than a player. The next time we met, he was beamingly showing off his proteges, the Kumpulan Remaja (or National Junior)squads which comprises several of Malaysia's then top juniors. They played a few matches and swept away most of our crop. That was when his coaching endeavours truly paid off. For years he was corresponding and commenting on the local scene (both in Singapore and Malaysia) as a columnist for the New Straits Times. Emcompassing a sharp and sometimes barbed style of writing, he was controversial at times and soon realised that journalism was not for him. Which again led him to...

 After reviewing the games of the 3 students, my general observations is: UNDERSTANDING OF THE OPENING VARIATIONS     It is unfortunate that the students started with me only in 2025, so they had very little time to digest the opening notes given to them. The only way to bring their understanding to speed is to play several 5 + 5 (ie 5 min + 5 sec increment) games, review them with the notes and do it again. Owing to pressure from homework, this was not entirely done. Hence the opening positions ended with the first 12 moves in favour of the opponent. Trying to equalise from an inferior position is not an easy task. My opinion is to avoid getting into such positions in the first place. This can be done with some time reviewing the opening moves with the LiChess opening explorer to uncover the better lines to play. CHOICE OF THEORETICAL OPENINGS   Fanciful openings adopted by the current GMs are of course fun to watch and games from these openings are commen...

 The NSI took place at Our Tampines Hub on 15 - 16 March 2025 - a huge venue, but deemed cramped owing to the record turnout of 1728 participants and twice the number of parents and accompanying persons. So big was the crowd that the escalators on Lobby A (closest to the tournament hall) broke down each day owing to the weight stressed upon them! Walkways were crowded with mats and every seat was occupied. Hopefully a better solution to the crowd can be found in terms of holding areas for the accompanying parents/persons, or to simply separate the Primary and Secondary sections as was done last year.  The report as follows: U10 I had 2 students who took part, both joined my fold this year so they were relatively new in terms of OTB chess and did most of their chess-playing online. A few sessions of OTB sparring at Tanglin CC helped in Gabriel's preparation as he could manage the clock better. Luke had his OTB games at the SCF squad. Both finished reasonably given that Gabriel ...