Collin Madhavan in Susan Polgar Blog !

Collin simul attempt in Susan Polgar Blog!

Today i noticed that Susan Polgar has write an interesting article in her famous blog about our local player & coach, Candidate Master Collin Madhavan simultenous attempt for a record breaking chess feat on May 18 at the RB Land office in Seremban 2. Collin Madhavan will play against 88 chess players simultaneously and he'll be monitor by the Malaysia Book of Records representative. Susan refer the information about this feat from The Star.

Collin playing a simul in Terengganu in 1998.

Photo from http://www.kids4chess.com/

Having an article written about Malaysian chess in a famous chess blog like Susan blog, it must be a great mileage for local chess development. Collin in his own way has done good things to spark interest especially among kids and parent to play chess. Unfortunately however, i read one negative comment made by anonymous reader (which i believe a Malaysian) about Collin Madhavan effort. Below is the comment:-

“Actually Colin is a professional chess coach (who also gives maths tuition to kids) and who is only able to teach beginners and players under 1400. At best a mediocre player when he plays, (and even in his youth that was very occasional due to his fear of losing), he never won any kind or level of tournament. He has in recent years somewhat rewritten his chess resume as to how he obtained a 2200+ rating and represented Malaysia. At close to 50 years he has to be admired for applying for the Candidate Master title and showing it off but is not surprisingly satisfied with that "achievement". His latest self promotion gimmick builds on setting a "record" by playing a simultaneous exhibition against mainly beginners.

The real Malaysian records involving 100s of strong players was set yearly in the 90s at National University Team Championships involving National Champions and even included a blindfold simultaneous exhibition by a genuine Malaysian player and FIDE Master Mok Tze Meng. But this was done for love of the game and not to gain an entry in a Book of Records.”


Usually I don’t like to write about local chess politics or gossip in my blog but i felt so sad when i read the comment above. I hope that Collin won’t be disturbed by this comment and he will carry on doing his level best to contribute for the development of chess in Malaysia.

Collin Madhavan in a simultaneous game against former World Champion-Mikhail Tal in Shah Alam, 1990!