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By Najib Wahab

It' Good to be an Arbiter!! Really!

Contribution to sports can be in many forms from many angles i.e. as a player, coach, umpire, organizer, sponsor, contributor, etc. or even as parents or fans. I am proud to say that I have done most of that except for the parenting bit. Not that I am not supportive of my children but I would rather that they choose or discover the activities or games that they would like to be involved in. Most chess playing parents that I know are doing the same thing - not forcing their kids to take up the game – but it is not surprising that their children would eventually take up the game. For all purposes, I don’t see it strange that the child (or children) may have seen the parent going through some of the games that they have played and their children started asking questions such as "Dad... What are you doing?” Hence the interest may have come naturally or out of curiosity, and as loving parents, we will explain to the kids and so on and so forth and without realizing it, we will start showing the moves, the explanation, etc. etc. etc. But that is a different topic altogether and I envy parents who have taught their children very well in mastering the game, some at a very young age. Of course, if my children suddenly develop a passion for the game, I would definitely give them my support and provide them with the necessary training and learning for them to excel and be successful in this sport.

 My interest in becoming an arbiter or organizer was brought about realizing the fact that I am not able to improve my chess playing skills. Short of saying that I am hopeless, I have had my fair share of good days where I can hold my own, the latest was the recent Merdeka Tournament where I scored 5 points out of 6 games (4 wins and 2 draw) on board 5 for my team. I also drew with GM Dao Thien Hai (the only one to take that 1/2 point away from him) when I participated in a 30 boards simultaneous event given by him in Merdeka 2005. Regardless of all that, no matter how hard I try, no matter how many books I read, how many games I played, my chess-playing level does not seem to improve much. I resigned to the fact that I will never be able to be a good chess player and with that, I turned to something which is more realistic, by becoming an arbiter or organizer, where I can put forth my administrative and management skills to the fullest. 

On a selfish note, I realized that organizers or arbiters - no matter what happens - will get paid for any event that he/she is doing, no matter how badly organized the tournament is/was, or how big or small the prize money is/was, or whoever is organizing or sponsoring the event. On that thought, I think it is pretty cool to become an organizer or arbiter knowing that your outing has not been wasted, in terms of monetary value!! Carl Haessler quoted that if you enter a tournament and are able to win some kind of prize money that is able to cover your entry fee - in other words, you are playing for free, then the tournament would been a "good" outing which I tend to agree. Don't get me wrong though because it is still not "free" money!!! Organizers and arbiters still have to work and mind you, there is A LOT OF WORK that needs to be done i.e. planning, prize giving, pairing, etc. Its just that the work is devoid of that frustrating feeling of losing a game or games, having tried very hard to play well but lost because the queen was hanging, or that the time was running out. And that terrible feeling of having paid the entry fee but going home empty handed, not to mention the extra expenses that have been paid to make it to the tournament i.e. parking fees, taxi or bus fare, having to wake up in the morning to catch the rounds, the time spent, etc. These are sacrifices that some people are willing to make to improve their chess playing skills, for their love for the game but for me, its not that I do not love the game, its just that I hate to lose. [Don’t we all – Collin] Of course, there were days where I have said to myself, "let's play it for fun" because I have the extra time to spare or the extra money to burn and only then, I would play because then, I would play it for fun, to enjoy myself, to meet friends and to talk about chess. Until that time comes, I either stay away from the game, or I just stick to being arbiter or organizer!   

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From left: Hadi, Ibrahim Bakar and me!

I started my involvement in organizing chess events in Malaysia since 1989 and I even quit my job to venture into chess business where I thought I could make money out of it. I guessed having experienced how well chess is organized in the States (I was studying and playing the USA) I thought I could be the one man organization who would be able to improve the chess situation here in Malaysia. It was a good idea but it was not the good time. Come to think of it, 15 years have passed and it has not improved much since (I would save that thought for my other articles *grin*). The event that started it all was the Feri Muhibbah Chess Tournament where MCF organized a team chess tournament on board Feri Muhibbah that set sail from Kuantan to Kota Kinabalu, to Kuching to Singapore and the final dock at Port Klang. Teams pitted their wits when the ship sailed in the open seas and every time we hit the port, we would organize an event against the hosting ports. It was a fun event and I believe, it was the first event organized under Dato Sabaruddin Chik, our then MCF President, who have been very helpful and passionate about chess, and who has helped chess to grow in Malaysia. During one of the discussions that the MCF Committee had on board the ship, there were talks to have the ASIAN Team Championship to be held in Genting and I voiced my interest to help. Hamid welcomed the helping hand and I became officially involved in Malaysian Chess. The ASIAN Team was a success and we had some good times in Genting and from that point onwards, with the help of Dato Sabaruddin, a few more big events came to Malaysia such as the ASIAN Zonal and the Timman - Karpov match in 1990 (during Visit Malaysia Year). There was also another major event organized by our neighbor down south, the World Youth Chess Championship in Singapore, where I was helping the organizer to produce the daily bulletin, an event where we had Kramnik, Topalov and Judith Polgar participating as teenagers!

 Doing chess arbiter work came in slightly later for me because most of the tournaments that I got involved in previous tournaments were for Tournament Assistants, Bulletin Team or Editor, or Assistant Arbiter. But assisting an arbiter is not the actual arbiter's work, because, the decisions are still being made by the arbiters. Although I helped in explaining the situation to the arbiter, or as witness, or as a "marshal" to ensure that everything is under control, the final decision, was still being made by the Chief Arbiter. And as arbiters, you have to make the pairing (in those days where pairing software are still alien to most) and as far as I can remember, Hamid or Ibrahim Yaakob (these are the 2 International Arbiters that I have learnt a lot from) would be doing the pairing and I would be writing it down (computers are not readily available... not to mention laptop!). Imagine having to write long list of names every time a round is about to start.....

 My involvement in chess was minimal between 1992 and 2004 as I was transferred back to JB and as far as I can remember, my first actual arbiter work that I did was in 2004 when I was the chief Arbiter for the National Closed. I may have done some arbiter work for a few small tournaments during that period but the National Closed was the one that I remembered most, having been away from KL for almost 10 years and having decided that it was time to get back into chess. Hamid trusted that I can do the job and I gladly accepted. The challenges then was that the chess rules have changed slightly and the toughest bit was probably to get into understanding the new ruling and practicing "firm, strict and correct" decision in resolving a certain situation. Mind you, dealing with chess players who have their own interpretation of chess rules and regulations is not an easy task and having been away for some time, makes the task a bit more daunting. So far, it has been going on well and the learning experience from then until the recent Arthur Tan event has been worthwhile and satisfying, and as such, the learning will continue and will be so for many more years to come.

 I am proud with my involvement in this fine sporting art, being able to look at the game from different angles, having set a vision a few years back that chess in Malaysia will have its own professional community – well organized, self sustainable, proud, intellectual, dynamic, etc. We are still far away from it but that does not mean we can’t go for it. There is definitely, a lot of room for improvement and for that, we should, where we can, to contribute to the growth of chess in Malaysia.