On 26 May 2007, we(Zai Chern and I) again travel to Perlis to participate in chess tournament at Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Indra organized by Persatuan Catur Prestij Perlis. This is our second chess trip to Perlis but without Eu Hong(See “a chess trip to Perlis”). However, we have another 2 talented players from Penang – Chuin Khai, U12B and Kelly Lim, U08G...

Due to my carelessness(also in chess J), I forgot to charge my battery and end up snapping only limited number of photos in the morning. Sorry, miss out the cute little girl’s photo.

  Chuin Khai, National Rating 1287                       

This time, we arrived quite late – about 8.20am as a result of wake up a bit late… we rush to setup Arbiter’s desk, chess clocks, taking the registration and fees….

Arbiter’s desk and chess clocks

The canteen is the “playing hall”

Expected result for the seeded players in Round 1 and 2 but Round 3 saw top seeded Marzuki (National Rating 1666) escape in the lost endgame to Muhammaud Taufiq. Marzuki lose another half point when he drew with Abdul Khair(U12B) in round 4. Abdul Khair in round 4 After round 4, only Ex-Perlis Champion Md. Hairi and I scored full point. I played dubious opening as White : 1. d4 d5 2. c3 trying to build Stonewall attack with dark square bishop putting at Bg5 instead of Bc1. However, Md. Hairi played well to equalized in the opening and get advantage in the middlegame and he pressed on to a win. 

However, luck smile at me at round 6 when I win a losing position as black against Anas Aziz with White’s 1R, 1B + 4 pawns against my 2Ns + 4 pawns… how did I do it? “In blitz, Knight is stronger than Bishop!” And I might add, “In blitz, Knight is also stronger than Rook” J. In addition, Marzuki beat Md Hairi in round 6. This has resulted 4 tie at 5 points after 6 round : that Marzuki, Md Hairi, Hasfarizal and I; so if I beat Marzuki, I might become champion… 

Round 7 start off with an aggressive attack by Marzuki against me; however, after he misses a tactics, he ended up with exchange down(Rook + pawn for Knight) in the middlegame. Over-confident, I sacrificed my Rook for the Knight to get a passed pawn it turns out that the endgame is theoretical draw while Hairi convincingly take full point against Hasfarizal…. My luck ran out after round 6? No, no, it’s pure carelessness! 

The tournament end at 4.10pm and prize giving ceremony only takes another 20 minutes. Then, we rushed back to Penang! By the way, the most memorable for me is one sentence quoted by Marzuki in his closing ceremony’s speech to the participants : “Perlis chess development is just started,  we are a long way behind Penang and other states and we hope that you all would help to encourage more friends to join this amazing game “. Ya, quite amazing for us to rush to and fro! Winners of “Kejohanan Catur Terbuka SK Seri Indra” are : 

About AuthorPS 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.