Reunion dinner

I RECEIVED a telephone call from Datuk Tan Chin Nam’s office last week. Tan, in case you don’t know, is the president of the Malaysian Chess Federation. The call was an invitation to dinner in Kuala Lumpur.

“You must come,” insisted Choo Min Wang, Malaysia’s first national master. “Datuk wants this to be an informal reunion of the people who had contributed to the game here in Malaysia.”

Who am I to refuse this invitation, I thought, especially when it gave me the opportunity to renew my acquaintance with some of my old chess pals? I told Choo, yes, I shall be there.

Chess cronies: (main pic) Datuk Tan Chin Nam, (top row) Victor Vijiarungam, Audrey Wong, Azmi Ariff, (middle row) Tay Chong Thai, Mok Tze Meng, Chew Soon Keong, (bottom row) Woo Beng Keong, Bernard Ng, Chan Mun Fye, Chan Kwai Keong, Lim Chong.

So last weekend saw me travelling all the way from Penang to KL for the dinner. I’m not about to start giving a roll call of who was there and who was not. Let me just say that while I was glad to meet people whom I’ve known for more than 30 years, I felt a little sad that there were some who could no longer attend due to their physical frailty.

One of them is Fang Ewe Churh. For a long while, he was one of the vice-presidents of the MCF. Indeed, he was one of the founders of the federation and played an active part in its activities in the 1970s.

I had also hoped to meet Lew Chin Chuan, a past secretary of the MCF, but he was not at the dinner too. Other stalwarts that I noticed missing included J.J. Singam and Lawrence How.

Where’s Lawrence, I asked around. Well, said Chan Kwai Keong, one of the organisers of this dinner, Lawrence sent his regrets at missing this function. There was a major English Premier League game on the same night and being the football fanatic he now is, it was a game that he could not miss. In case you don’t know, Lawrence How runs the Manchester United Fan Club in Petaling Jaya. Ever since he stepped down as the MCF secretary sometime in the 1990s, that passion with Man United has grown to be all-consuming.

When I wandered from table to table that night, I couldn’t help thinking that there were some other chess personalities who should have been there, but were not. For example, our former Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik. Chan mentioned that he was invited but he couldn’t come. And of course, Dr Foo Lum Choon would have been a guest too but he had passed away last year.

But I did meet up with the MCF’s first treasurer, Azmi Ariff. He was a very low-key figure in the MCF. Until I met him again that night, I don’t think I would have recognised him, if we were to meet anywhere else. But his name remained fresh in my mind. I do remember an Azmi Ariff elected into the MCF’s very first council.

There was also Victor Vijiarungam seated at the same table. Victor was the MCF’s first secretary. The last I met him was two years ago at Tan’s 80th birthday function. He eagerly showed me one of his photo albums.

Pointing to one photograph, he asked me to identify two people. Somehow, he couldn’t remember Chan Swee Loon and Hu Yu Kuang. Together, we had all visited China as part of a goodwill tour of that big country. It was 30 years ago, almost to the very month. Time really flies, right?

I kept telling myself to circulate during the dinner. Hey, we’re not there just for the good food; we were there to get together with old chess friends. I was seated between Chew Keng Kuang, another former MCF treasurer, and Lim Chong. Way back in the 1980s, Lim was in charge of the chess column in the Malay Mail. Today, he’s with the national news agency Bernama.

Also at the same table with us were four former national champions. I was in good company. There was Tay Chong Thai, national champion in 1979. There was also Mok Tze Meng, national champion in 1992. Then there were Jimmy Liew and Audrey Wong.

Most chess players will know Jimmy was Malaysia’s first international master. He doesn’t play that much competitive chess nowadays but he still keeps himself active in the game whenever he has the time.

As for Audrey, I would bet that hers is a name that will not strike a bell today. She hasn’t played competitively for how long? Fifteen or 20 years? Anyway, it was a long time ago and I’d like to re-acquaint you with Malaysia’s first international woman master.

Yes, Malaysia had an international woman master long before women’s chess in Malaysia was dominated by Siti Zulaikha. Audrey earned this title but strangely, her name isn’t registered with the World Chess Federation (Fide) at all. It’s a complete mystery why this is so but she has the diploma from Fide to prove it.

So who were the players that I would have liked to see present at this reunion but were not? Not that I’m blaming the organisers for not inviting them but it does happen that names are often left behind in the mists of time. Players like Lee Keng Cheong (colourful to a fault), Fide master Christi Hon (another colourful name in Malaysia’s chess history), Phuah Eng Chye (who was Malaysia’s first representative in Fide’s world junior chess championship and for a short stint, he too was writing on chess in the Malay Mail) and Wahid Karim.

But at this reunion, I was glad to see people like Chan Mun Fye, Woo Beng Keong, Chew Soon Keong and Bernard Ng. People like Woo and Chew go back with me a long, long way.

So I’m glad that we have had this reunion of old chess fogies. We may not have talked a lot about the good old days of chess but it doesn’t mean that we don’t appreciate each other’s contribution to Malaysian chess history. Yes, we do and we all owe it to Tan who made it happen from 1974 to 2008. Thirty-five years of the Malaysian Chess Federation.