When did you ever heard a chess tournament being held in Kelantan ? I think it's a tough question to anybody but recently Mohd Fadli Zakaria aka stonemaster (photo right) has announced that there will be an Amatuer Chess Tournament held next year on the 9th May in the state of Cik Siti Wan Kembang or Gomo Kelate Gomo state.Before i get further , i believe that all my Kelantanese friends understood that i'm not against any Kelantanese whatsoever but in this article i just want to stress the important of chess tournament held in state.
It's a strange facts to know that Malaysian best player ( IM Mashafizul - in case you don't know) is a Kelantanese ( although he was born in KL if i'm not mistaken, his family come from Kelantan and he generally considered as Kelantanese !). Unfortunately however, for the past years ( decade ?) there is hardly any tournament held in this particular state! In the past, Kelantan have produced many strong players during the Mashafizul's generation such as Ahmad Maliki ( ex-national player) , Abdul Haq and Azhari Nd.Noor - who is once beat the late GM - Eduard Gufeld in a simul and play in the Olympiad but unfortunately retired few years ago. Although Maliki and Azhari is much older then Mas but they shine more or less on the same time.
One of my observation is that there's no players from Kelantan to replace the Mashafizul's generation . Could this be the effect of no chess tournaments in Kelantan in the past years ? Hopefully the first amateur tournament next year will be the start of more chess tournament and development in Kelantan. I sincerely hope Kelantan will produced more "Mashafizul" for our country in the near future!
For details and update of this tournament, visit stonemaster.info blog
7 comments:
For the past 5 years there are at least 2 or 3 event in Kelantan.The last event are at HUSM Kubang Kerian Open and Kuala Kerai Open.The Kelantan open was held in July and won by Abdullah Che Hassan and I finished second incidently.Basically what I say is there are tournament in Kelantan from time to time organise by goverment department ,etc.The Mas Hafizul case is totally a different story it was sheer determination of his father that bring Mas to this level.
Thanks Arshad for the info. Still i think that it's a small number compare to other state. Kelantan need an annual tournament and i'm glad to promote it in my blog if anyone interested to organised it.
Kedah, Perlis , Pahang ,Perak ,Melaka Negeri Sembilan also sharing the same fate (maybe they are 2-3 event per state) it that enought to develop chess in those states? Organising chess need time and efford,enthusiasm and of course money.
Kedah, Perlis , Pahang ,Perak ,Melaka Negeri Sembilan also sharing the same fate (maybe they are 2-3 event per state) it that enought to develop chess in those states? Organising chess need time and efford,enthusiasm and of course money.
Yes Arshad, the states u mentioned also had the same situation although i think Perlis, Kedah and Perak seems a little bit active lately or at least they are going into the right direction .
Pahang and NS probably not that active because they are logisticly near to the Klang Valley so they probably choose to play there although i think that is not the right idea. Every state should have their own tourney, development and programmes.
Melaka and Sabah is another unactive state.
I agree that there should be lots of tournaments in Kelantan but there's no one who is determined enough to organise it. I really hope that Kelantan Open which is organised in conjunction with the Dam Aji tournament will be Kelantan's annual tournament. There are no shortage of talents in Kelantan, moreover in nearby states such as Terengganu and Pahang who can come over to participate.
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