It is crunch time this weekend at the Cititel MidValley in Kuala Lumpur. Tomorrow, we shall be having the valiant fighters from the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) facing the might of the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) at the annual Malaysia-Singapore chess match. This year, we are the hosts.
The Singaporeans have been winning by big margins in this encounter for the past few years but, as I mentioned a fortnight ago, I hope we can close the gap.
It is not impossible because, in the past, we have won this encounter several times before. There were good years in the 1990s when it was an embarrassment for the Singaporeans to play this match. Although times have changed in the intervening years, I’m sure our players can rise to the occasion again.
Unfortunately, we always go into the match with a handicap. The toughest games are between the two countries’ senior boards; this is always where our players find themselves up against a brick wall.
It is very puzzling why our male players – who are not short on talent or imagination – have consistently under-performed in this section. It is a problem which I believe the MCF has yet to find a solution for.
Since it is not going to be much different this year (correct me if I’m wrong – I would love to be wrong about this), the objective for them then, if not to beat the Singaporeans in the section, will be to minimise the damage.
If the Malaysian senior players are able to do this, the results will boil down to the side that is able to perform better in the junior sections. At least, in this section, we have a reasonable chance to excel. Many of our junior players do not know anything about glass ceilings and that is good.
Talent aside, all they need to do is to learn how to approach each game as a new game against a faceless opponent. Forget about reputations and past results or even the fact that they are foreigners. My advice to our junior players is to play the board and not the person sitting in front of them.
During those years when we consistently outshone the Singaporeans, our junior players never had the opportunity to undergo serious training under qualified trainers. Oh, yes, we saw the need for proper chess development but we never knew how or where to begin.
So, our junior players grew up on natural talent alone. If anyone showed promise, the only support that the MCF could offer was to sign the registration papers for the players to play in some regional events. No fund-raising. It all depended on whether their parents could pay for their children to play.
I suppose it was much the same in Singapore. Anyone wishing in play in regional chess events would have to go through the SCF for the registration. Like us, the Singaporeans saw the need to improve through proper training.
But unlike us, there were people in Singapore who saw opportunities and were able to turn them into business activities. They brought in experienced chess players from overseas who became coaches, and parents had to pay commercial rates for the coaches to teach their children.
We always snigger whenever we label the Singaporeans as kiasu but, to me, parents are the same everywhere. If they can afford it, they will want the best for their children. When it comes to developing a child’s mind, parents will not mind paying for chess coaching the same way they pay for tuition.
But Singapore had some advantages.
First, it is a small island state with a good public transport system. Commuting from one end of the island to the other end is not a big problem. Malaysia is too diversified even within the Klang Valley and you know how the traffic is when it rains.
Second, the buying power of the Singapore dollar is so much more than that of the ringgit. How many Malaysian parents are able to pay the equivalent of what a qualified chess coach would get in Singapore?
These advantages notwithstanding, I am glad to see some recent serious effort to bring organised chess coaching into the country. It is a good move. There will be challenges but if this endeavour can succeed, perhaps within the next three years, we can proudly see the results of the annual Malaysia-Singapore match overturned.
About the author
Quah Seng-Sun has been writing about chess in The Star newspaper in Malaysia since Aug 1980. This article originally appeared in the Lifestyle section of the newspaper on 24 Nov 2006.