The 2 days INDIVIDUAL Event will see around 240 players pitting against one another in 6 different categories where 6 players from each category will be chosen to represent Selangor in MSSM Perlis June 2010.
The favourites (at least on paper [National Rating] but listing is not ranked according to strength) for U18 Boys are Muhd Nabil (KS), Muhd Syakir (KS), Low Jun Jian (PP), Nor Izzuddin (HL), Tan Chee Seng (KG), and Poon Jit Wai (PU).
The favourites for U15 Boys are Muhd Irfan (KS), Low Jun Keat (PP), Roshan Singh (PU), Fikri Saleh (PP), Mirnash Chandran (HL), and Tiang Chang Sheng (KG).
The favourites for U12 Boys are Mohd Noor Azam (KS), Ethan Wong (PU), Mohd Fikri (KL), Yee Jian Yang (PU), Tin Jun Hao (PP), and Emir Rusyaidi (KG).
The favourites for U12 Girls are Ee Sun Xin (PP), Nur Najiha (KS), Puteri Munajjah(KL), Puteri Rifqah (KL), Anis Fariha (PP), and Zainoor Ikmal (HS).
The favourites for U15 Girls are Amira Syamina (HS), Nur Nabila (KS), Vickie Hong (PP), Seri Aisyah (SP), Dhanusya Chandran (HL), and Goh Xin Yen (PU).
On 15th April, a team event will be organised where the 10 districts will come together to compete against each other for the honour of BEST DISTRICT for the year 2010 in Selangor.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
MSSD Chess In Selangor
In Selangor, there are 10 districts namely (i) Hulu Selangor (HS), (II) Hulu Langat (HL), (iii) Kuala Selangor (KS), (iv) Kuala Langat (KL), (v) Sabak Bernam (SB), (vi) Petaling Utama (PU), (vii) Petaling Perdana, (viii) Sepang (SP), (ix) Gombak (GB), and (x) Klang (KG).
Unlike KL, the geographical location between districts are far apart. It is not possible for any trainer to cover more than 5 districts on a regular basis (Special projects not counted). As for myself, I have students from 3 districts who have qualified themselves into the MSS Selangor Final which is currently ongoing from 12th (Arrival) to 15th April (Departure) at Sabak Bernam. The 7-round event is played on 13th and 14th April.
To qualify oneself from hot districts like PP, PU, KG, KS for Boys Category, and PP, KL, SP for Girls Category into MSS Selangor Final is an uphill battle for all participants. These districts either have too many good players competing against one another or have too many players taking part at district level (more than 130pax per category) where qualifying into top 4 is like striking all 7 numbers correctly in a lottery ticket, that alone is not enought if a person wants to claim the jackpot of super 1st prize where the 8th number must be correct too. Each correct number indicates each winning round.
The scenario mentioned above did actually happen in this year PP U-12 Boys edition. PP has many strong players and was reported to have 158 players vying for the top 4 position. A boy (D) won 6 rounds in a row and drew round 7 with the other boy (M) who also has a perfect score after 6 rounds. With the 7 rounds result, it looks like both players have sealed their place in top 4 BUT a twist just happened. D was pitted against another strong player (T) who had lost a round in the process. Unfortunately, D lost this game. While, M continues his form with another win to lead the field by 1/2 point over T and several other players who have 7 points.
The irony thing was at least 2 players who score 7 points actually had lost to D in the first 6 rounds and never meet with M or T in any of the 8 rounds. Just imagine if this is a 8-round competition, D will be eliminated from top 4 placing. Will this be a fair result?
Lets examine the 9th round, D was practically exhausted after battling the two strongest players in the field at Rd 7 and Rd 8. He salvaged a draw from a losing position in this round and got 7 points alongside with another 8 to 12 players (Final result was never published, so no one knows how many students got 7 points. Since, I too have other students who scored 7 points who did not make it into top 10 list. My guess was around 10 pax). He was rewarded with a 4th place finishing (No. 1 among the list of 7 pointers due to Bucholtz scoring), however he could easily missed it if other players (among them, is another student of mine, N, who finished at 7th place by losing the last round. N could finished 4th if he drew his last round and push D into 5th placing) were smart enough to fix a draw in their last game and pipped him by 1/2 point. There goes his chance of representing PP in the MSS Selangor Final. Luckily, this fixing thing never happen and the 3 strongest players in PP qualify. At the point of writing, all three of them are having 2 points from 3 rounds in MSS Selangor Final. From other reliable sources, the bigger boys in U18 (PP) were smart enough to draw the last round between themselves to qualify into top 4, and thus eliminating other boys in the process.
How can this problem be solved?
The Organiser must have enough rounds e.g. 158 players must have 8 rounds to get Champion accurately, 9 rounds to get top 2 placing accurately, 10 rounds to get top 3 placing accurately, and 11 rounds to get all top 4 placing accurately. This translate to Min. Round (8) + 3 which is also the ideal number of rounds for below 256 pax.
Unlike KL, the geographical location between districts are far apart. It is not possible for any trainer to cover more than 5 districts on a regular basis (Special projects not counted). As for myself, I have students from 3 districts who have qualified themselves into the MSS Selangor Final which is currently ongoing from 12th (Arrival) to 15th April (Departure) at Sabak Bernam. The 7-round event is played on 13th and 14th April.
To qualify oneself from hot districts like PP, PU, KG, KS for Boys Category, and PP, KL, SP for Girls Category into MSS Selangor Final is an uphill battle for all participants. These districts either have too many good players competing against one another or have too many players taking part at district level (more than 130pax per category) where qualifying into top 4 is like striking all 7 numbers correctly in a lottery ticket, that alone is not enought if a person wants to claim the jackpot of super 1st prize where the 8th number must be correct too. Each correct number indicates each winning round.
The scenario mentioned above did actually happen in this year PP U-12 Boys edition. PP has many strong players and was reported to have 158 players vying for the top 4 position. A boy (D) won 6 rounds in a row and drew round 7 with the other boy (M) who also has a perfect score after 6 rounds. With the 7 rounds result, it looks like both players have sealed their place in top 4 BUT a twist just happened. D was pitted against another strong player (T) who had lost a round in the process. Unfortunately, D lost this game. While, M continues his form with another win to lead the field by 1/2 point over T and several other players who have 7 points.
The irony thing was at least 2 players who score 7 points actually had lost to D in the first 6 rounds and never meet with M or T in any of the 8 rounds. Just imagine if this is a 8-round competition, D will be eliminated from top 4 placing. Will this be a fair result?
Lets examine the 9th round, D was practically exhausted after battling the two strongest players in the field at Rd 7 and Rd 8. He salvaged a draw from a losing position in this round and got 7 points alongside with another 8 to 12 players (Final result was never published, so no one knows how many students got 7 points. Since, I too have other students who scored 7 points who did not make it into top 10 list. My guess was around 10 pax). He was rewarded with a 4th place finishing (No. 1 among the list of 7 pointers due to Bucholtz scoring), however he could easily missed it if other players (among them, is another student of mine, N, who finished at 7th place by losing the last round. N could finished 4th if he drew his last round and push D into 5th placing) were smart enough to fix a draw in their last game and pipped him by 1/2 point. There goes his chance of representing PP in the MSS Selangor Final. Luckily, this fixing thing never happen and the 3 strongest players in PP qualify. At the point of writing, all three of them are having 2 points from 3 rounds in MSS Selangor Final. From other reliable sources, the bigger boys in U18 (PP) were smart enough to draw the last round between themselves to qualify into top 4, and thus eliminating other boys in the process.
How can this problem be solved?
The Organiser must have enough rounds e.g. 158 players must have 8 rounds to get Champion accurately, 9 rounds to get top 2 placing accurately, 10 rounds to get top 3 placing accurately, and 11 rounds to get all top 4 placing accurately. This translate to Min. Round (8) + 3 which is also the ideal number of rounds for below 256 pax.
MSSMWP Zone Pudu (Primary)
Alongside with Putrajaya zone, this is the other zone that I did not have student competing at Inter-School level. The boys category is basically controlled by 3 schools with regular chess classes i.e. SJK(C) Salak South (SS) by Trainer K, SJK(C) Chong Fat Phit Chee (CF) by Trainer J, and Sri Garden (SG) by Trainer C.
CF has 8 boys qualify into the Final, followed by SS has 7 boys, then SG has 5 boys. Other strong individuals come from SK Seri Bintang Utara. The outlook for this zone is going to be a continuing tussle between these 3 trainers unless other schools invite other trainer to join in the fray.
For the Girls category, 4 schools namely SG, SK Perempuan Pudu 2 (PU), SK Bandar Tun Razak 1 (TR) and SK Puteri Pandan 2 (PA) were competing for the lion share where SG has 4 girls, PU (4), TR (4) and PA (3). Looks like the younger SG is going to rule this category for the next 2 to 3 years.
CF has 8 boys qualify into the Final, followed by SS has 7 boys, then SG has 5 boys. Other strong individuals come from SK Seri Bintang Utara. The outlook for this zone is going to be a continuing tussle between these 3 trainers unless other schools invite other trainer to join in the fray.
For the Girls category, 4 schools namely SG, SK Perempuan Pudu 2 (PU), SK Bandar Tun Razak 1 (TR) and SK Puteri Pandan 2 (PA) were competing for the lion share where SG has 4 girls, PU (4), TR (4) and PA (3). Looks like the younger SG is going to rule this category for the next 2 to 3 years.
MSSMWP Zone Bangsar (Primary)
In this zone, 4 schools from the Boys category were competing against each other for the lion share of players who can qualify into the Final. These schools are Global Indian International (GII), Sri Cempaka (SC), SJK(C) Jalan Davidson (JD) and Methodist Boys (MB).
GII is the only school in KL that has chess includes into the School Official Curriculum which means all students have compulsory chess lessons. No wonder, this school has been excelling in chess for the last 3 years. This year, one-third of the boys' qualifiers came from GII.
SC has seen better results during the older days with the Koh's brother. The same goes to JD with the Low's brother. MB is relatively a new school in term of number of students involve in chess, the pioneers for this school were Albert Ang and Derek Poon who have moved to MB secondary school.
MB is the other school I take charge in KL. The school yet to reach her peak though with 2 national players among the ranks in the past. This year the school has 4 reps in the final, an improvement from last year. Alongside with private students among the other schools mentioned above. I have 6 boys from this zone.
As for the girls category. GII again dominated the scene with 6 girls qualified into the final. SK Bukit Jalil (BJ) will be a new force in making. We will see more promising results from them over the next 2 years. SK Bukit Damansara is slacking behind other schools with the departure of Natasha Kavina (a rep of KL to MSSM) into secondary section. Other notable schools in this zone are JD, SK Seri Hartamas, SK Bukit Bandaraya.
I believe this category will see a direct tussle between GII and BJ in next 2 years. As for myself, I only have one student for this zone. She too has qualified into the Final. Wish her all the best.
Next installment, Pudu Zone (Primary)
GII is the only school in KL that has chess includes into the School Official Curriculum which means all students have compulsory chess lessons. No wonder, this school has been excelling in chess for the last 3 years. This year, one-third of the boys' qualifiers came from GII.
SC has seen better results during the older days with the Koh's brother. The same goes to JD with the Low's brother. MB is relatively a new school in term of number of students involve in chess, the pioneers for this school were Albert Ang and Derek Poon who have moved to MB secondary school.
MB is the other school I take charge in KL. The school yet to reach her peak though with 2 national players among the ranks in the past. This year the school has 4 reps in the final, an improvement from last year. Alongside with private students among the other schools mentioned above. I have 6 boys from this zone.
As for the girls category. GII again dominated the scene with 6 girls qualified into the final. SK Bukit Jalil (BJ) will be a new force in making. We will see more promising results from them over the next 2 years. SK Bukit Damansara is slacking behind other schools with the departure of Natasha Kavina (a rep of KL to MSSM) into secondary section. Other notable schools in this zone are JD, SK Seri Hartamas, SK Bukit Bandaraya.
I believe this category will see a direct tussle between GII and BJ in next 2 years. As for myself, I only have one student for this zone. She too has qualified into the Final. Wish her all the best.
Next installment, Pudu Zone (Primary)
Friday, April 9, 2010
MSSMWP Zone Keramat (Primary)
This is probably one of the more competitive zone for the boys among 5 zones. This zone has many schools with proper chess development either all year round or some kind of intensive training projects prior to this event.
If Sentul has SJK(C) Kepong 2, then Keramat has SJK(C) Lee Rubber. The latter has National Women Master for 2009 Tan Li Ting as their U12 representative. She is the youngest ever NWM at age 11, elisped the previous record holder held by WIM Siti Zulaikha Foudzi who set the record in 1999 when she was 11 too. Few other girls from her school do get inspiration from NWM and benefits from the training.
As for the boys, they have a relatively strong team consisting Max Wong (U10), Ng Jen Sheng (U10), Dawson Tan (U12) and Dilwen Ding (U12). This team will be favourite to win the Boys Team title if there is a Team Category. These players are trained under rapid and blitz play which is a big advantage over SJK(C) Kepong 2 boys. However, the Kepong Boys alway did better (relative term) in the Individual Category due to the time control of 45min per player. Btw, Individual Category is the criteria for selection of KL players to MSSM (time control is 90min per player). Maybe this is the missing secret that puzzles Lee Rubber's Coach when comes to analyse the Individual result and more important What happens?
So, why am I writing this article? Well, I just want to share some insight on zones that I have students competing. Unlike Sentul zone, I do not teach any school in particular for Keramat zone and have 2 private students currently. As I recalled 2 years ago, one parent from Lee Rubber who is eager to see how best can she helps her son who just started chess not too long ago to improve in the game. Through word of mouth during NAG2008, she contacted me during the NAG as I was the Chief Arbiter.
Frankly, I'm the type who choose students to teach and many occasions I have to explain to parents on not wasting their money in private chess lessons if the interest is not great after 2 or 3 months. I'm a strong believer that timing is very important essense in life. Lets come back to these "new" students consists of Tan and his older brother, Ding, and Lee, they remind me very much of those earlier generation of Kepong 2 Boys when I started at SJK(C) Kepong 2 back in 2003. What's the similarity? The answer: Blitz player with good intuition for their age. I know I'm in for a "hell time" because these kids are aged 9 and 11 y.o. Why Blitz for a newbie? Fun, i guess. BUT there is no way they can be good in long term, just imagine going into a F1 race without actually knowing the fundamental of the car that they are driving.
Fast forward ......here today both players who can control themselves much better had finished as Champion and 2nd in U12 Boys category. Let see how far can these 2 boys go from here ........
Next installment, Bangsar Zone (Primary)
If Sentul has SJK(C) Kepong 2, then Keramat has SJK(C) Lee Rubber. The latter has National Women Master for 2009 Tan Li Ting as their U12 representative. She is the youngest ever NWM at age 11, elisped the previous record holder held by WIM Siti Zulaikha Foudzi who set the record in 1999 when she was 11 too. Few other girls from her school do get inspiration from NWM and benefits from the training.
As for the boys, they have a relatively strong team consisting Max Wong (U10), Ng Jen Sheng (U10), Dawson Tan (U12) and Dilwen Ding (U12). This team will be favourite to win the Boys Team title if there is a Team Category. These players are trained under rapid and blitz play which is a big advantage over SJK(C) Kepong 2 boys. However, the Kepong Boys alway did better (relative term) in the Individual Category due to the time control of 45min per player. Btw, Individual Category is the criteria for selection of KL players to MSSM (time control is 90min per player). Maybe this is the missing secret that puzzles Lee Rubber's Coach when comes to analyse the Individual result and more important What happens?
So, why am I writing this article? Well, I just want to share some insight on zones that I have students competing. Unlike Sentul zone, I do not teach any school in particular for Keramat zone and have 2 private students currently. As I recalled 2 years ago, one parent from Lee Rubber who is eager to see how best can she helps her son who just started chess not too long ago to improve in the game. Through word of mouth during NAG2008, she contacted me during the NAG as I was the Chief Arbiter.
Frankly, I'm the type who choose students to teach and many occasions I have to explain to parents on not wasting their money in private chess lessons if the interest is not great after 2 or 3 months. I'm a strong believer that timing is very important essense in life. Lets come back to these "new" students consists of Tan and his older brother, Ding, and Lee, they remind me very much of those earlier generation of Kepong 2 Boys when I started at SJK(C) Kepong 2 back in 2003. What's the similarity? The answer: Blitz player with good intuition for their age. I know I'm in for a "hell time" because these kids are aged 9 and 11 y.o. Why Blitz for a newbie? Fun, i guess. BUT there is no way they can be good in long term, just imagine going into a F1 race without actually knowing the fundamental of the car that they are driving.
Fast forward ......here today both players who can control themselves much better had finished as Champion and 2nd in U12 Boys category. Let see how far can these 2 boys go from here ........
Next installment, Bangsar Zone (Primary)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
MSSMWP Zone Sentul (Primary)
This event started on 30th March and ended on 1st April. The Organiser begins to inform schools about 3 weeks before the event dates. It gave many schools ample time to do their own selection and submit a list of players to the event organiser.
In my profession of training, I teach one school only in this zone. This year selection process for me has been made easier without having to submit a list of 4 players (boys and girls respectively) to take part in the Team event. I heard the team event was scrapped in every zone in KL due to budget constraint. The same goes to the Final without Team event.
With the Individual event at play, I can give full concentration to all players who are in the School team squad without favours. Some may asks, what's the problem if there is a Team Category. Well, first of all the team always uses 25 min/player time control, while the Individual category uses 45 min/player. A player that is good in Rapid, may not be as good under 45 min and vice versa. I believe people who are familiar with chess will know what I mean.
Over the years, training has to be divided into 2 parts to accomodate different time control. It's a very difficult thing to implement on students especially they have to get adjusted to both speeds at the same time and some students end up just concentrate on 1 speed. That explain why a "relatively good" player can perform below par in the one of the time control of the same event. How this happen?
For those who still could not figure out the explaination, let me gives an example. Say, a runner is supposed to train for 400m and 800m run at the same time. He or she may not able to do well in both races, unless he or she is clearly way above other runners by standard (let us remove this scenario because it translates to non-competitive race). Chances of winning both races under competitive environment is very slim.
Without the team event in the fixture, how they had fared in the Sentul Zone Individual Chess Competition?
To start off, the school none other than SJK(C) Kepong 2 had sent 8 boys for U12B Category, 7 boys for U10B, 1 girl for U12G, 3 girls for U10G.
The results (extracted from MSSMKL blogsite) can be seen as below:
As from the result, we can see that the school made a clean sweep from 1st to 5th placing for U12 Boys Category, another clean sweep from 1st to 4th placing for U10 Boys, the lone representative in U12 Girls finished the event as Champion, and the other 3 new girls qualified themselves into the Final. Besides these 13 students, 2 other students also make it to the Final. This is the most impressive results (top finishing) ever recorded for the school as a result of single time control implementation.
Next installment, Keramat Zone (Primary).
In my profession of training, I teach one school only in this zone. This year selection process for me has been made easier without having to submit a list of 4 players (boys and girls respectively) to take part in the Team event. I heard the team event was scrapped in every zone in KL due to budget constraint. The same goes to the Final without Team event.
With the Individual event at play, I can give full concentration to all players who are in the School team squad without favours. Some may asks, what's the problem if there is a Team Category. Well, first of all the team always uses 25 min/player time control, while the Individual category uses 45 min/player. A player that is good in Rapid, may not be as good under 45 min and vice versa. I believe people who are familiar with chess will know what I mean.
Over the years, training has to be divided into 2 parts to accomodate different time control. It's a very difficult thing to implement on students especially they have to get adjusted to both speeds at the same time and some students end up just concentrate on 1 speed. That explain why a "relatively good" player can perform below par in the one of the time control of the same event. How this happen?
For those who still could not figure out the explaination, let me gives an example. Say, a runner is supposed to train for 400m and 800m run at the same time. He or she may not able to do well in both races, unless he or she is clearly way above other runners by standard (let us remove this scenario because it translates to non-competitive race). Chances of winning both races under competitive environment is very slim.
Without the team event in the fixture, how they had fared in the Sentul Zone Individual Chess Competition?
To start off, the school none other than SJK(C) Kepong 2 had sent 8 boys for U12B Category, 7 boys for U10B, 1 girl for U12G, 3 girls for U10G.
The results (extracted from MSSMKL blogsite) can be seen as below:
As from the result, we can see that the school made a clean sweep from 1st to 5th placing for U12 Boys Category, another clean sweep from 1st to 4th placing for U10 Boys, the lone representative in U12 Girls finished the event as Champion, and the other 3 new girls qualified themselves into the Final. Besides these 13 students, 2 other students also make it to the Final. This is the most impressive results (top finishing) ever recorded for the school as a result of single time control implementation.
Next installment, Keramat Zone (Primary).
MSSD fever has began .........
In the past 3 weeks, many schools are busy finalizing the namelist of their players in representing them in chess at Inter school competition or better known as MSSD (for Selangorians) or MSSMKL Zone (for City boys/girls).
Schools that have regular chess classes can leave the selection process to the Coach/Trainer. It's a pretty easy task for the school. While, schools that have no coach/trainer have to either call for a snap selection among students which is done over few hours (may not be a fair one) or just hand pick students who they know can play the game (usually favour bigger boys/girls, sorry to those strong players who just enter the school).
Many teachers think that U12 must be represented by 12 y.o. for a better chance of winning, the same goes to F3 students for U15, and F5/F6 students for U18. As to people who familiar with chess will know that this theory IS NOT TRUE. A classic example, Yeoh Li Tian (Selangor) at 10 y.o. can easily champ the Daerah U12, Sel U-12, and Nat U-12. With his current playing strength, he might as well become MSSM U18 champion and well he is just 11 y.o. Check him out in the ongoing KL Open 2010, he's definitely making a huge impact with a draw against IM and GM, and defeated elo 2370 player in his first 3 rounds. I hope anyone who read this article, please do your part to explain to others that Chess is not measure by physical built of a person. It's the % of brain utilised that counts (bigger head does not imply better utilization of brain).
Also, it is sad that many schools from few districts in Selangor are not aware of the Inter-school dates until the event was over. How about "relatively strong" players who may have left out in this process?
As the Hon. Secretary of CAS, I hope the Selangor District Organisers can give ample notification time to school to prepare their players for the event in future. As I know, many schools who aware of their respective district event had received notification ranging between 1 and 7 day. In this aspect, KL Schools Organisers have done a very good job. Kudos to KL.
Whatever it is, all things seem to be in auto-cruise mode and the show will continues to the next level i.e. MSS Selangor (13 to 15 April) and MSSMKL Final (early May). All the best to all qualifiers...............
Schools that have regular chess classes can leave the selection process to the Coach/Trainer. It's a pretty easy task for the school. While, schools that have no coach/trainer have to either call for a snap selection among students which is done over few hours (may not be a fair one) or just hand pick students who they know can play the game (usually favour bigger boys/girls, sorry to those strong players who just enter the school).
Many teachers think that U12 must be represented by 12 y.o. for a better chance of winning, the same goes to F3 students for U15, and F5/F6 students for U18. As to people who familiar with chess will know that this theory IS NOT TRUE. A classic example, Yeoh Li Tian (Selangor) at 10 y.o. can easily champ the Daerah U12, Sel U-12, and Nat U-12. With his current playing strength, he might as well become MSSM U18 champion and well he is just 11 y.o. Check him out in the ongoing KL Open 2010, he's definitely making a huge impact with a draw against IM and GM, and defeated elo 2370 player in his first 3 rounds. I hope anyone who read this article, please do your part to explain to others that Chess is not measure by physical built of a person. It's the % of brain utilised that counts (bigger head does not imply better utilization of brain).
Also, it is sad that many schools from few districts in Selangor are not aware of the Inter-school dates until the event was over. How about "relatively strong" players who may have left out in this process?
As the Hon. Secretary of CAS, I hope the Selangor District Organisers can give ample notification time to school to prepare their players for the event in future. As I know, many schools who aware of their respective district event had received notification ranging between 1 and 7 day. In this aspect, KL Schools Organisers have done a very good job. Kudos to KL.
Whatever it is, all things seem to be in auto-cruise mode and the show will continues to the next level i.e. MSS Selangor (13 to 15 April) and MSSMKL Final (early May). All the best to all qualifiers...............
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