2012 Kingston Chess Club Championship Round 3

I lost my round 3 game against Peter Sibbald today. It was a very close game. I played the Gruenfeld against White’s d4. The opening was pretty solid. White had a strong attack on f7, but the Bishop ended up stranded there, blocked in by his own pawn on e6. We reached a comfortable middle game for Black, in my opinion, but there was a lot of counter play on both sides. Some inaccuracies led to a winning end game for White.

I think in this game, I would improve 2 things. There was obviously a lot of tactics in the middle game, and a lot of calculation. But once I felt comfortable with my middle game position, I stopped thinking about what the opponent was planning to do. I just kept pushing my passed a-pawn, hoping for a Queen promotion. Some of his attacks came as a surprise to me.

Secondly, I did play very positionally, which was good. But I don’t think I used my advantage very well. I need to think up more strategic advantages, instead of going for the tactical win every time. This game was by far very tactical with lots of opportunities and many different possible lines. But it made for a pretty exciting game.

I’ve updated my website with this latest game, along with my commentary. Link is below:

http://azroykandan.com/2012_KCC_Championship.html

Chess Goals and Commentary

2012 is underway, and one of my goals for this year is to win a few Kingston Chess Club tournaments. We’re halfway through the 2011/2012 season, and I managed to win the first 2 so far. I thought I’d be ambitious and aim to win the last 2 of the season. The 2012 Club Championship, which is the third of 4 tournaments, is currently underway.

I’d like to give a shout out to the KingsCrusher channel on YouTube. I have to say, I’ve learned a lot about positional play, and a bit about theory, through his commentary. I used to be a very tactical player with little to no regard for playing the position. I now have more tools at my disposal when playing chess.

Anyway, I thought I’d post my own commentary for the games I play this year. I’ve put together a web page for this. We play one game a week. I just finished Round 2 last Monday against Harry Jordan, and this coming Monday, I’ll be playing black against top-seeded Peter Sibbald. Our players are rated internally via CXRChess, so strength is relative to the other chess club members, which aren’t many.

Here’s the link again to my chess commentary and PGN:

http://azroykandan.com/2012_KCC_Championship.html

Wish me luck! And let me know what you think…

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

It’s been a crazy 2011. As you can tell, I haven’t blogged much about it. Too busy, I guess… or no motivation. I didn’t put together a dashboard for 2011 either, like I did for 2010 and 2009. Tsk, tsk…

Anyway, to start off the year, I’ve compiled my goals for 2012, and put them up on a new dashboard for 2012. Check them out at http://www.azroykandan.com. If you’re too lazy to click on the link, here are the goals for 2012:

• Memorize 12 surah
• Read translation of Al-Baqarah
• Run 1000 km
• Run a marathon (or 2 half-marathons)
• Lose 25 lbs (currently at 201 lbs)
• Post 12 articles to gokun2.blogspot.com
• Post 12 articles to gokun2.wordpress.com
• Post 12 videos to youtube.com/melur02
• Win all 4 KCC chess tournaments (I won 3 in 2011)
• Get Arman’s CMA rating to 1300 (currently at 1027)

Wish me luck!

It’s been a year…

… since my last blog post!

Hi everyone,

My last post to this blog is exactly a year ago, when I celebrated my 10th Wedding Anniversary. Yesterday marked the end of my 11th year of married bliss

I just got back from terawikh prayer, and thought I’d put in a blog entry. Which reminds me, to all my muslim friends, Ramadhan Mubarak. Tomorrow, we start our first day of fasting, and I pray that Allah accepts our doa on this blessed month of Ramadhan.

Today, my 8-year-old daughter surprised me with her determination and perseverance. She really wanted to learn to play “Love Story” (by Taylor Swift) on the piano. Up to that point, I used to think that playing by ear either came naturally or didn’t. But apparently, it can be taught. Last week, her piano teacher started Melur on her path, with some basic notes and concepts. Today, she spent an entire hour with me, practicing the song, without any notes, only a lyric sheet. And slowly, but surely, she was able to play the notes based on the melody of the song. I was impressed – I still am.

Anyway, that’s my 2-bits for the day, after a year of silence. Tomorrow is a fasting day, and I’m looking forward to making a few more entries this time around. I really want to talk about my trip to Montreal with the kids last weekend. It was a BLAST!

Have a good night!

10 Years Later

Hard to believe, it’s been 10 years since I got married. In the western world, that’s a really long time. But in Malaysia, marriages typically last a long time (even when it shouldn’t). But being a Malaysian with some western influences, I kind of get the best of both worlds. And I’m grateful to have my wife, my family, and everything else I have in life.