Be A Champion Wherever You Are!

Which chess school team is it, the above picture? Can you guess? Is it a Malaysian chess school team? The answer is NO. Actually, it is the Lincoln Primary School chess team of New Zealand which is located in a city named Christchurch. Christchurch which is also known as the Garden City, is the second largest city in New Zealand. So, what is so special about the team that GiLoCatur wants to share here?

If you look carefully at the picture, you will notice Malaysian faces. Yes, indeed, the team that had won the Christchurch interschool chess competition recently comprise of Malaysian kids. The champion in the scholastic tournament is the 8-year-old Nurul Farhana Halim Shuhaimi (same age with Fahim, GiLoCatur's youngest son) with a stunning full 7/7 points. GiLoCatur wrote about her last year in this blog - here. Her siblings - Nurul Izzah and Aiman, are also in the team.

Syabas and tahniah to Farhana for winning the tournament. The same also goes to her dedicated and chess-loving father, Mr Halim. Keep up the good and hard work. Who knows, she will be the first Malaysian chess grandmaster. Malaysia needs more potential and very determined chess youngsters to put it on the world chess map.

While browsing http://chesskids.co.nz/, the New Zealand chess website dedicated for its chess juniors, GiLoCatur thinks that we, the Malaysian chess society, should learn and emulate what should be done to develop and promote chess among the Malaysian youngsters from it. If other countries can develop chess, have various chess programs, have an excellent chess website to disseminate chess-related info and news and promote chess, why can't us? It doesn't matter whether it is commercial or non-commercial. If it is too difficult to get the fund for chess development (GiLoCatur believes the government can help by the way) from the government, be it commercial. Learn from the chesskids!

(GiLoCatur : Check out the chesskids website. Download its Knights Times newsletters. It is free!)

If you want to view the full report or story, click here.

Click here to view the full results of Farhana's rounds.

(GiLoCatur : thank you to zovic and Jaiz Anuar for pointing out the info and news.)

Thank GOD It's Friday! (TGIF)

Sewaktu membelek-belek akhbar Utusan Malaysia pagi (GiLoCatur : jarang-jarang beli akhbar ini, tetapi cuba cari kelainan di pagi Jumaat ini) ada dua berita yang benar-benar menarik minat dan perhatian :

Fin Keheller dari Sandy, Utah.

1. Di muka hadapan terpampang tajuk berita "Bank silap masuk RM22j ke akaun sepasang kekasih" - Sepasang kekasih di New Zealand telah mendapat durian runtuh dalam akaun bank mereka apabila permohonan overdraft mereka sebanyak NZ$10,000 iaitu bersamaan lebih kurang RM21,000 dari sebuah bank telah tersilap bayar dengan jumlah NZ$10 juta. Wow! apalagi terus hilang pasangan kekasih tersebut, dipercayai ke luar negara.  (GiLoCatur: Kalau perkara sebegini berlaku kepada anda, apakah tindakan anda? Ambil duit tersebut dan melarikan diri. Atau adakah anda terutamanya yang beragama Islam akan memulangkan semula wang tersebut? Pastinya anda dalam dilema samada mahu menjadi seorang yang jujur atau sebaliknya. Jika ini berlaku pastinya satu dugaan dan ujian yang besar.
2. Satu lagi berita tentang seorang kanak-kanak di Utah, USA yang bernama Fin Keheller telah mencipta satu rekod dunia dengan melekap siput di atas mukanya. Rekod tersebut ialah "Most Snails On A Face" di mana beliau yang baru berusia 11 tahun telah berjaya melekapkan sebanyak 43 siput jenis mollusks di atas mukanya. Macam-macam kerenah manusia di muka bumi ini. So, bagaimana dengan kanak-kanak di Malaysia? Tidak bercita-cita ingin memecahkan sesuatu rekod dunia yang boleh diiktiraf oleh Guiness World of Records? Jika ada cita-cita bolehlah akses dan lawati laman web ini untuk mencari idea rekod apa yang ingin dipecahkan mengikut kebolehan yang ada pada diri.

Selain itu, GiLoCatur juga sangat gembira pada hari ini kerana laman blog ini telah melepasi 10,000 hit semenjak 9 Oktober 2008. Ini memberi galakan kepada GiLoCatur sebagai seorang blogger untuk terus mengemaskini dan membuat posting di laman blog ini terutamanya yang berkaitan dengan catur. TERIMA KASIH! THANK YOU! SYUKRAN! to all who have visited this blog.