Hallmark of champs

Champions are judged on their deeds and by their peers.

WHEN I stepped into the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago, my anticipation was high. I was eager to see what kind of field the national closed chess championships had attracted.

I came away with disappointment. I had questions but unfortunately, I did not have the answers. Specifically, I wanted to know what had happened to last year’s two champions. Where were they, Zarul Shazwan Zulkafli and Nur Shazwani Zulkafli? Why had they given this year’s championship a miss?

  National chess champions 2008 Edward Lee with the Tun Hussein Onn trophy and Alia Anin Bakri with the Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik trophy.

If they had thought that defending their titles was not important enough, they were mistaken. If they had thought that they had nothing more to prove, they were equally mistaken. Champions, and strong players for that matter, should not shy away from accepting challenges such as the defence of their titles.

The hallmark of champions is that they can prove time and again that among equals, they stand head and shoulders above their peers. Champions are judged on their deeds and champions are judged by their peers. So I hope that next year, Zarul Shazwan and Nur Shazwani will make an effort to come back again and play in the national closed championships.

But my initial disappointment quickly faded away when I saw some familiar faces among the players, among them, Khairunissa Wahiduddin, Nurul Huda Wahiduddin and Mohd Kamal Abdullah who were all former national champions. And there were also many participants who had played in last year’s national closed championships in Penang.

This year’s championships sprang two surprises. Of course, it was expected that we would be seeing two new champions. But to my mind, I had not expected the championships to end the way they did. At least, not in the men’s competition, anyway.

But let me say first that the winner of the women’s event was never in doubt. Alia Anin Bakri was simply too good. She powered her way to win the national closed women’s championship rather easily.

On the other hand, the men’s event was nail-biting all the way. For the most part of the event, it was a close race between two pre-tournament favourites, Ismail Ahmad and Leong Mun Wan. They set the pace early and after they had drawn with one another in the fourth round, they threatened to gallop away unhindered towards the finish line.

Fate has a nasty way of intervening. In the sixth round, both these players fell off their horses. Both suffered defeats. Leong lost to Muhd Aizuddin Che Hassan while Ismail lost to Abdullah Che Hassan. Suddenly, the tournament leaders were no longer among the front-liners.

Muhd Aizuddin and Abdullah had leapt over Ismail and Leong in the standings but more surprisingly, they were now quietly joined at the top by Edward Lee Kim Han.

Edward quickly overcame Muhd Aizuddin in the seventh round to take sole lead in the championship after Abdullah could only draw with Leong. This was perhaps the most critical round in the whole championship because after the sole leader emerged, the rest of the field seemed likely to fade away into the background.

With only two rounds remaining, there was actually very little time for anyone to play catch-up to Edward, short of a disaster happening. Edward reinforced his position by winning his eighth-round game. Leong also won his game but he was still half-a-point behind the leader.

The final round pitched Edward against Leong. Incredibly, both had missed playing one another in the earlier eight rounds so it was quite fitting that they should meet in the last round of the championship. Leong’s game, however, was without inspiration and Edward coolly collected his desired final half point to become the new national champion.

Now, the most interesting aspect of both Edward and Alia winning the national closed championship and the national women’s closed championship respectively is that both are junior players.

Edward is 15 years old while Alia is one year younger at 14. Junior players and yet they are already national chess champions. But the story gets better.

Just two days before the start of the national closed championships, Edward and Alia had also won the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) chess championships in Malacca. They had competed in their respective under-15 events and came away clear winners.

It has happened before that a winner at the MSSM chess event would also win the national closed but it’s unprecedented that we have two junior MSSM champions becoming national chess champions together at the same time. I can only say congratulations to them. They are deserving winners.