Sat 18.5.2024
Wafa: 3 wins, 4 losses. Final position: 82 / 121.
Muadz: 4 wins, 3 losses. Final position: 54 / 121.
Those are the final accomplishments of both my grand-daughter, Wafa, 10, and my grand-son, Muadz, 9 in their first ever chess tournament. Both were introduced to the game by me only in February. The results are not great, but under the circumstances, not bad. And they made up the 5-member KGV School team. Muadz became no.1, Wafa no.4.
Incidently, this was also the first chess tournament I'd ever attended.
Kip Mall, Senawang, this morning, was the venue. Certainly there were surprises aplenty.
My own introduction to the game was late in life. I was already working, at that time posted to Seremban. Ari was also working in Seremban, and he would hang around some of his friends in their rented house in Ampangan, and one of them played chess. So I tried my hand, losing to the same guy every time we played. He always found his way around the board, and had me trapped again and again. But I never took the trouble to read up about it, until Bobby Fischer came around to beat the Russians and won the world title. That was in the early 70's I think. Only then did I browse round a few KL bookstores and bought a couple of books on chess I still have with me somewhere. Still, it didn't strike me to learn the concept and main principles of the engrossing game.
The Felda head office I was at also used to organize a few matches, but I never took part.
For the last couple of decades I did not touch chess at all. I used to have a nice tournament-standard chess board with solid wooden pieces with felt bases, but that was then, and with all the transfers and moving houses, they have disappeared.
Early this year, browsing in a bookstore in town, I came across some chess sets. I looked for a regular tournament set, but only found some plastic ones, and the tiny magnet sets. I buoght one tournament-size plastic set and one tiny magnet set. I started playing against myself. I thought it was fun. Then I went on-line on my pc and played against the computer.
Simultaneously, I introduced chess to my 3 school-going grandchildren. Wafa and Muadz liked the game straightaway, and we would play after school. Muadz, one of the twins, is particularly keen, more than Wafa. The other twin brother, Miqdad, shows little interest.
The surprises I mentioned were:
Our family, coming full strength to lend support, was the least prepared. Other families came well-stocked with food-and-drink, and parked themselves at chosen spots complete with matts and pillows. Obviously this wasn't their first time.
The contestants were provided with clocks to record the passing of the game-time. I knew this, but for my grandchildren it was a novelty, and clearly it was a distraction.
I'd warned the kids about touching the pieces when playing - to do so only when they have decided on the particular move. The big shock for them, because they were careless, was that their opponents made full use of the rule, and in one lost game each, both lost because of this "illegal move" brought to the officials' attention when they raised their hands to complain. This means that substance is not the only requirement of a chess match. Rules and etiquette reign supreme, too, fair or not. That was a harsh teaching experience for my first-timers. Muadz took his losses in his stride. Wafa was more emotional.
And of course, the calmness that can come from experience is vital for an intellectual game like chess. One match that Muadz was on the way to victory was lost simply because he was so eager to "Queen" his pawn, and had touched the offending piece before his opponent made his move. Of course the opponent was quick to protest, and was rewarded.
Hanif has ordered the chess clock which the household chess players will now use. Dekna has been asked to keep track of local competitions. Next time Wafa and Muadz should be better prepared.
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