OFA members' chess day

The OFA closed chess tournament was months in the planning before it saw the light of day. At the beginning of this year when I was attempting to interest the management committee of The Old Frees' Association in a third edition of the OFA Open, the request came back that the committee would prefer a closed tournament instead of an open event. 

However, me and my two cohorts - Ung Tay Aik and Terry Ong - sat on it until about two months ago after we came back from the Merdeka team event in Kuala Lumpur. It has to be organised, we agreed, and we began looking at possible dates. But the bigger problem was to decide on where to organise it. 

The multi-purpose hall at the Northam Road clubhouse was out of the question because it was undergoing a massive renovation. So we thought the library on the first floor would be a good choice. Then about two weeks ago, we learnt that the OFA Office was moving there temporarily on account of the said renovation on the ground floor. Finally, we decided on using the Bay Avenue premises and that was where the players gathered yesterday for the tournament. 

Since the tournament managed to attract only 10 players, it was decided to play it on a round-robin basis. I had looked forward to playing myself but two weeks ago had to pull back when my daughter said that she would be back from Kuala Lumpur on the same day to celebrate my birthday, although belatedly. Between chess and the jewel of my life, there is no prize for guessing correctly what is more important to me. 

Nevertheless, I turned up at OFA Bay Avenue in the afternoon to watch the final three rounds before going to my birthday dinner. Though it was a closed event and everyone knew one another, the games were taken seriously, with all the players deep in thought over their boards. Naturally, there were winners and losers, but I reminded them that the results were secondary to the camaraderie which mattered more. The day gave the chess members a chance to meet and play, a fact not lost on many of the players. There were proposals to organise a get-together again for a blitz tournament. Why not, if the response is there?

Another point I'd like to make is that rather than calling it the OFA Closed Chess Tournament, I’d rather think of yesterday as the OFA Members’ Chess Day, which we celebrated with a tournament. Perhaps next year, we can have another OFA Chess Day, making it bigger, livelier and with more members joining in the fun.

PS. With this closed tournament done and dusted, the OFA chess section's annual budget has been busted. Completely depleted. We'd like to send at least one team to this year's Penang Chess League but I doubt it is now possible.