Amira FarhAnA, CHAMPION - Catur Terbuka BELIAWANIS SelangorKU (U-12)

Event Blog Report, HERE
Official Results

( CHAMPION - CATUR TERBUKA BELIAWANIS 2013,Karnival SELANGORKU. U-12 Category )

( Amira Farhana Amirul. 2013 CATUR TERBUKA BELIAWANIS CHAMPION with Another Medalist)


...FINALLY, it had to happen and after the disappointment of 2-weeks back(Season is Over) the timing is impeccable - hAnA won the long awaited FIRST chess title for herself - JOHAN Catur Terbuka BELIAWANIS SelangorKU, Peringkat Sekolah Rendah.

The event was held at the SUK Building(Bangunan Sultan S.Abdul Aziz) in Shah Alam and was graced by the Selangor MB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. In my short "tenure" in chess, this is the first time I'd witnessed a Minister be it a Federal Minister or an MB/CM officiating an event. The highest ranked politician that I'd seen officiate an event which either or both kids attended were a DAP Penang State EXCO during last December's 4th Penang Heritage City International Open and BN's MP Dato Zulhasnan Rafique during the recent MSSWP State Finals. Spoke to Mr.Yeap(an official with MCF) and he said that all states should have a Piala MB or KM and later on, representatives of the states can fight for top honours in a Piala PM or, DYMM (...emmm, good idea).

I suppose the deciding game for hAnA was her 4th round encounter against Pavithra which started even before the secondary game for R4 started and ended after all but 2 boards in the secondary section had completed. hAnA had a 1-1 record against Pavithra, losing to her in NAG 2013 after winning against her in the 2012 5th NJCC. The game attracted a few onlookers as it was quite "intense"...first time I'd seen hAnA played that way in any event. On completion, her opponent had 23seconds left whilst hAnA had slighlty above 15minutes remaining.

A truly historic day for hAnA as now the cHEss pIRATE can't make fun of her anymore for not ever winning an event...but I suppose knowing him, he'll find ways to belittle his sister's achievement. i remember the time when he was either 4 or 5yrs old - his eldest sister was teasing him...." Faiz, BIG HEAD...BIG HEAD!" Amira was teasing him incessantly - his retort..."Kakak Amira SMALL HEAD, itu sebab kena pi tuition!". Everybody was stunned!

The RM250 prize money for finishing 1st is also a wonderful added bonus which brings hAnA's chess "income" closer to the RM500 mark.

Additionally, the organiser i.e. Cerdik Catur Enterprise is using a different kind of rating for tye first time for this event called the "Harkness System". It seemed the system was the predecessor to the present elo-rating system. It'll be interesting to see what hAnA's maiden rating will be under this system. Some details, HERE

Also had a good chat with a relative who's sending his kid after taking a break from chess for almost 5years.