Chess Meeting in Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Center‏

Dear Fellow Chess Player:

This letter is to extend my personal invitation to attend an important chess meeting on Sunday, January 17, at 10 a.m. The venue is the Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Centre, at the 4th floor parking lot in Wilayah Kompleks.

Please rsvp my secretary Nancy Chin as soon as possible at nancy@goldis.com. or En Hamid at aham@pc.jaring.my, Choo Min Wang at choomw627@yahoo.com, and En Najib Wahab at najib.wahab@hotmail.com.

Chess coaches, officials, club operators all have different, if not necessarily contradictory, understandings of what the phrase, “to promote chess,” actually means. Different interests, outlooks and suggestions. We need a brainstorming meeting to see how far we can go to promote chess by seeking unity of purpose and to lessen the spirit of faction and friction among many chess groups.

Since I became involved in chess some 40 years ago, and if I speak candidly, I must say that although there have been improvements, the overall face of Malaysian chess appears relatively unchanged. Many in chess demonstrate the ancient Chinese saying that two together are okay, but add a third, and you get The Three Kingdoms. Tun Mahathir, as well as Tengku Razaleigh, once told a group of Malaysian Chinese leaders to bring him solutions, not problems.

The purpose of the Chess Centre at Wilayah Kompleks is to offer solutions – to show what can be done. As promoter of the Centre, my idea is to involve as many others as possible in mutually beneficial arrangements by privatizing many of the functions. I want to know how the Centre can better serve you. You can offer your chess ideas as possible solutions, and we can become involved with the Centre together.

The Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Centre deserves two years to prove itself by harnessing the energy of you, the movers and shakers of Malaysian Chess. If the Centre succeeds in attracting a significant membership, then it will continue for many years. We will not be back to square one, each of us alone seeking a niche in a small Malaysian chess world.

I hope that you can attend this meeting on January 17, for the benefit of all concerned. A buffet brunch will follow.

And don’t forget this year’s Malaysian Chess Festival from August 28 – September 8. I hope to meet all of you, since I will be playing in the Chess Challenge event as the youngest 84-year-old in the tournament.


With best chess regards,
Dato’ Tan Chin Nam