CHESS is not a popular sport in Malaysia. Unlike football, chess is not well known among the Malaysians. It does not have strong followers. In schools, it is not a "sukan teras". Therefore, chess does not get good media - both electronic and paper, coverage. Therefore, GiLoCatur believes we, the chess fraternity, should work harder and have good rapport with the media journalists.
Below are some chess coverage in Utusan Malaysia, a daily Malay newspaper.
Coverage #1
"About 7% Malaysian population is the senior citizens or simply called as Warga Emas in Malay. DBKL or KL City Council has initiated and supervised clubs of the senior citizens or Kelab Warga Emas whose activities include playing chess."
Shouldn't we, the chess community, outreach them for our chess events?
Coverage #2
"permainan catur juga dapat menajamkan lagi daya pemikiran serta membina keyakinan di kalangan generasi muda.""Saya sangat setuju jika pertandingan catur ini dapat diadakan sepanjang tahun dengan melibatkan semua kaum,"
Senggarang state assemblyman, Ja'afar Hashim, said the above while presenting a RM500 cheque to Batu Pahat Chess Association in November 2009. According to him, the younger generation especially the kids should be encouraged to play chess to ensure the government effort to build the society that has intelligence and smart thinking. He also hopes that the event will attract parents and teachers to promote the sport among the society.
Coverage #3
GiLoCatur just found out about an annual chess event organized by Jabatan Pendidikan Khas Negeri Terengganu. Last year, it was held in October at the Permai Hotel. In 2009, it was held in August and won by Muhammad Danial Zainuddin.
Another proof that chess is very beneficial for the school children. A very good effort by the Terengganu state education. Keep it up!
Coverage #4
arkib : 20/10/2010 (nice date huh!)
"Wei Bin juara Catur Terbuka Bawah 12" - that is one of the news title in Utusan Malaysia, Johor segment dated 20th October last year. The name seems very familiar to GiLoCatur. Sure enough, GiLoCatur wrote a special entry about him and his family - the Ong family, sometime ago.
GiLoCatur is very happy because the tournament had attracted many school children around JB to participate (as can be seen in the above photo) even though money prizes are not in stake. GiLoCatur also hopes that the tournament is not the last one organized by Sekolah Rendah Agama Bersepadu JB.
(GiLoCatur : If a "district" chess event like this gets the media / news paper coverage, a "national" chess event like the incoming Malaysian National Closed Chess Championship should get more media coverage. DON'T U THINK SO?)
Coverage #5
In May 2009 (arkib : 18/5/2009), Utusan Malaysia covered about the results of the Kilang Gula Felda Perlis Chess Open. As far as GiLoCatur knows, Kilang Gula Felda Perlis is an excellent and active organizer for the chess tournaments. GiLoCatur and the kids had participated in last year edition held in June right after the MSSM. Hopefully, we can participate again in this year event.
Encik Shaiful and his organizing crew
Anis received her prizes as the Wanita category champion from Perlis MB, Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu
Coverage #6
In September 2009 (arkib : 10/9/2009), Utusan Malaysia reported about an OKU chess player named Choo Min Wang who represented Malaysia in 2009 KL Para ASEAN V Games receiving a monetary incentive reward from MSN. The incentive known as Skim Hadiah Kemenangan Sukan amounted about RM 9,500. So, who says that chess athletes can not make Malaysia proud and produce gold medal in international sport event? Can chess gives medals to the country during the SEA Games in Indonesia in November?
Coverage #7
A chess tournament held in Kuala Langat was once reported by Utusan Malaysia here. The Kuala Langat Chess Open which was held in October 2008 had attracted more than 200 chess players. Nearly RM 6,000 in monetary prizes were offered to participants in the tournament organized by MDKL or Kuala Langat District Council.
Coverage #8 and #9
In February 2009 (arkib : 25/2/2009), the coverage is about the record made by GM Kiril Georgiev for the most opponents in the simul chess event. He played against 360 opponents simultaneously with only 6 losses and 70 draws while he won the rest. In Malaysia, there are two players who are popular for chess simul. Can you name the two Malaysian chess players? Easy uh!
While in September the same year (arkib : 26/9/2009), Utusan Malaysia wrote about the classic chess encounter between two chess legends - Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. The chess fight was held in Madrid, Spain and won by the former.
Surely, there are lots more media coverage about chess in local daily news papers. GiLoCatur urges chess event organizers especially chess associations to provide PRESS RELEASE to all the media so that chess can outreach to more people and has excellent promotion.
[GiLoCatur : took about 3 hours to write this entry.]
2 comments:
Salam Saleh
In the late 80's and early 90's, Utusan Malaysia had a regular chess column called Petak 64. The column was managed by Mustafa Said and Ismail Ahmad and provides news and chess puzzles on a weekly basis.
Later on, (I could not remember whether it was Berita Harian or Utusan Malaysia), Sabar Hashim manage a similar chess column but towards the late 90's, all chess related spaces were discontinued.
It is great to see that Quah Seng Sun has managed to provide continuous chess news and that Peter Long had started one for the Selangor State newspaper. Perhaps, we should rekindle support from Utusan or NST/Malay Mail in reviving such a column.
Najib Wahab
W.salam Najib,
thanx for the info. appreciate it.
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