Thursday, January 02, 2014

2014!

Happy new year 2014! another year has passed, and time to move on again..

My new chess resolution would be very different this year.. SCC will be operating for this one whole year 2014, and after that I m thinking on closing it down. I think I have done enough chess in Kuantan, and its about time somebody else do their shares to develop chess in Kuantan.

Since I came back to chess (after long retirement in 1996 after I got back from Chess Olympiad in Yerevan, Armenia) in 2006, I started off with one student. During the times, i have been to many chess courses, asking for advises on how to improve my coaching, became the arbiter and learning so many things about chess in total! in 2007 with the support from friends and family, i made a bold move organizing the first chess event in Kuantan (after so many years), with only RM300 on hand, i managed to get 167 players participating! in 2008 we had formed "Kelab Catur Kuantan", and in 2009 "Persatuan Catur Daerah Kuantan", after that the rest is just history.

I love what i did back then, organizing chess events, arbitrating, coaching and see the joy in their eyes when they qualify to MSSM or manage to get better spot in any tourney they participated... That is what kept me going all those years. But in 2013, i m tired.. i don't have the passion for chess inside me anymore.. with so many politics, feud, and those that dislike me since the very beginning, i think i had enough.. I m still keen to give one last kick through out this 2014, but after that i have to think about the future..

The flood that hit my home last December has made me realize that my family is above all. I have a mom with parkinsons, and my dad who will be 76 this year is not doing well too.. Both of them are aging rapidly and i m missing my times with them before, busy with chess and work. I have sacrifice my money and my time with chess.. now its the time to spend all that to my family.

I welcomed 2014 with all the positive note on chess in Pahang! And i pray to see more tournaments, more new talents, and more improvements of chess here in Pahang!

Happy new year!