The 4.30 am wake up call was a cruel start to the day. I had to leave my apartment by 5.30am to fetch another 2 participants to a chess tournament organized by Persatuan Catur Prestij Perlis – Tan Eu Hong and Cheng Zai Chern.

After fetching them, we leave Penang at around 6am and go straight to Kangar for “Kejohanan Catur Terbuka Rapid Perlis”. Although small in size, Perlis is not without its attractions, foremost among which is the unspoilt beauty with vast paddy fields.

The drive is smooth as it is very early in the morning and we arrived at SMK Syed Hassan at 8am. Quickly, I setup Arbiter desk, taking the registration and fees, then prepare pairing to start round 1 (swiss) :

And also there are chess equipment, souvenir and chess books for sales which were presented by PS Global Marketing.

Although this tournament is not a very important event (more like playing for fun, for knowing chess enthusiasms in Perlis), I wanted to start the tournament in time. And oops, before I forget, I’m the arbiter, the pairing handler and the photographer of the day!

There are 53 registrations and without much thought, I join the tournament to make it 27 pairs. Registration stops at 8.35am and Round 1 start off at 9.05am :

Round 1, Table 1 - 6

Round 1, Table 13 - 18

Expected result for the seeded players in Round 1 and 2 but Round 3 saw second seeded Marzuki (National Rating 1666) lost to Ex-Perlis Champion Md. Hairi who is without National Rating. Unlucky for Marzuki…

Second Seed Marzuki

Ex-Champion from Perlis, Md Hairi

Round 4 saw third seed Nazli Johardy loss to Cikgu Fauzi and in Round 5, I manage to beat Md Hairi. With 2 round to go, only Eu Hong and I have full point.

Third seed, Nazli Johardy, 1504

In game 6, we have position below:

White to Move.

Poay Sim - Eu Hong

Instead of careful retreat of Queen, 20.Qg4 (though, black is still better), I played 20. Rf1? (This is asking black to develop his last piece {Qe6 can be easily chase away with …Bd5} while White’s Ra1 and Bc1 are not going to develop in the near future.) And after 20…Raf8 white is in trouble and lost the game shortly.

So, top seed Eu Hong won his first 6 games and a draw by agreement on final game assure him the first place. Me, with only loss to Eu Hong on Game 6, miss a win in Knight endgame in time trouble and had to draw with Nazli Johardy. These allowed Md Hairi to climb to 2nd placing after beating Mohd Zahier Sadbin.

Prize giving ceremony is a simple one and all the participants were given a certificate of participation. The tournament came to an end at 5.30pm and it is a very tiring day for me – wake up at 4.30am, 2 hours drive, an arbiter, pairing handler, photographer, not to mention babysitter (who take care of Zai Chern who come along with us) and player itself (I feel like I’m playing simultaneous chess all the way). Nevertheless, I’m happy with my achievements – tournament run smoothly, in time and in control!

(Special thanks to Md Hairi and Nazli Johardy, Exco of PCPPs for organizing this event to Perlis people and their efforts in developing chess in Perlis)

Winners of “Kejohanan Catur Terbuka Rapid Perlis” are:

Some picture taken during and after the tournament:

U12 Champion, Zai Chern, 5 points, AL Mohamad present prizes to the winner.

U18 Champion, Mohd Zahier, 5 points

Open Champion, Eu Hong, 6.5 points

Best U12 Girl, Qasdina, 4 points; and hey Perlis people, watch out this girl!

Muhammad Taufiq come close of beating me in round 4.

A friend of mine who came late and thus, out of competition…

Qasdina analyzing her game

The next day before heading to Penang.

Zai Chern who treat us with fresh “HarumManis” Mango juice after winning the Under 12 category.

About the Author:
PS Lim is a chess enthusiast. He is also a successful coach in Penang, having produced two U12 Penang champions for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007.

Before becoming a coach in 2006, he was active in competitive chess for many years. His "retirement" from competitive chess has not stopped him from investing his time and efforts in the development of chess in Penang, especially in guiding young players to become successful chess players.

Editor's Note:

This news was created by PS Lim and was posted by Eu Hong on behalf of PS Lim.