A mad 10 days

 My little campaign in the Senior 65+ section of the 23rd ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships has come to an end. After the free day last Saturday, I managed 2.5 points from my final four rounds and clawed back a bit of my earlier deficit. Those four points were pretty valuable and helped me finish in a respectable enough spot.

I dropped about 70 to 80 rating points in the process – part of the plan, really, as I’ve felt for a while that my pre-championship rating was a bit inflated and didn’t quite reflect where my chess standard is at nowadays. It’s still too high, which means I’m not eligible to play in some of the local FIDE-rated tournaments with rating caps at 1600 or 1800. Getting down to that level’s going to take a fair bit more playing, and to be honest, the chances to do that are few and far between. So with the rating still a touch too high in my opinion and the opportunities drying up, maybe it’s time for me to go into hibernation mode again.

We had quite the memorable closing ceremony after the Standard Chess events wrapped up. Our special guest was Ramli Ngah Talib, who’s just been appointed Penang’s Head of State. Back in the day, he was the Malaysian Chess Federation president from 2007 till Dec 2016, so a lot of the chess folks knew him well. Despite the state protocol staff and police trying to keep things orderly, he got a hero’s welcome when he turned up at the Che Hoon Khor Moral Uplifting Society for the closing and official dinner. The current MCF committee were all over the official car as it arrived, while we from the Penang Chess Association simply hung back and let them have their moment. We had our own photo op with the Penang Governor later – no fuss, no drama.

Me, I was actually more concerned with keeping an eye out for Ernest Zacharevic’s arrival at the dinner, and I missed a medal call. I had gone back and forth with his rep for ages to get the green light to use his iconic Children on a Bicycle artwork for the Championships. A special invite had gone out to him, and I didn’t want to miss him when he walked in. When I brought him into the hall, he was treated like a bit of a celebrity. The Malaysians seemed more flustered by his presence than by Ramli’s! I couldn’t sit at the same table as Ernest, but I did some quick shuffling and made sure he was seated next to Berik Balgabaev, the FIDE President’s representative. Thought they might hit it off – Berik’s from Kazakhstan and Ernest is Lithuanian. Both ex-Soviet states, so maybe they’d find some common ground and not get too bored with the evening.

All in all, I’d say the closing ceremony and dinner went off brilliantly. There were a few minor hiccups, but nothing worth stressing over. Hats off to the organising team – and yes, I was part of it, but still – the real heavy lifting was done by Ooi Gim Ewe, Steven Hoh, and Chong Kean Foong. They handled everything from rooming and transport changes to endless hotel and protocol meetings. On the technical side, Jonathan Chuah was a proper workhorse as Tournament Director. Not an easy job working with the Chief Arbiter, all the arbiters and assistants, and the demands that go with the job.

The Championships aren’t quite done yet. There are two more days to go – today’s the Rapid Chess competition, and tomorrow’s the Blitz to wrap everything up. I was meant to play in the Rapid today, but instead I’m at the outpatient eye clinic at Penang General Hospital. An eye check-up I couldn’t miss – waited too long for the appointment! But tomorrow I’ll be back at the Championships, not as a player, but in my role as International Arbiter, helping out with the Blitz event.

It’s been a mad 10 days, that’s for sure!