Of Ramadhan Events - Insofar Chess Weekends

Usually, Ramadhan will be a quiet month for chess. Considering that chess tournaments usually will take an entire day to conclude - and fasting being a religious activity, organizers tend to shy away from conducting any chess event during the Muslim's month long fasting period for obvious reasons. The only event that is usually conducted during the fasting month is the Malaysia Chess Festival as August is its traditional event month in order for it to coincide with Merdeka Day. And also, because it is an International event as such, the primary target audience are not Malaysians, instead the organizers are luring foreigners from all corners of the world to come to Malaysia for the lucrative event. 

But for 2012, with 31st August coming in after 1st Syawal - that is Hari Raya, and with the Chess Festival now shortened from 10 days event to only 7 days, even the Festival is being quickly organized immediately after the fasting month providing just enough time for it to end sometime during our 55th Independence Celebration so, Ramadhan would once again be a quiet month. But then again, in previous years, we never had Insofar and Mat Zaki Yeop, and with aggressive move towards organizing more events this year, guess what....? It will not be a quiet Ramadhan after all..... And to top it off, Zaki and his Insofar Academy has decided to "break all rules" and organized not one, but two events back to back weekend during the fasting month! Talk about being aggressive! But for me, it is a good move - e4! Just because it is fasting month, does not mean that we have to fast from playing chess as well. And there you have it - 2 events from Insofar Chess Academy.

The first event is the Insofar Age Group event to be held on 22nd July in Shah Alam on the 5th floor of the Ampac Building located at No 33 Jalan Tengku Ampuan Zabedah F9/F, Section 9, Shah Alam. Registration confirmation is at 9:00am and the entry fees is RM20 for each participant regardless of their ages. Event will be conducted over 4 rounds using Swiss pairing system with a time control of 25 minutes each. Players will be divided into their respective age groups and the event is expected to conclude at about 4:00pm - just enough time for parents to pick up their kids, hit the best "param" (short for "Pasar Ramadhan" - a galore of food stalls selling traditional, mouth watering and tantalizing arrays of kueh mueh and rarely seen Malay food for Buka Puasa) to pick up food and hit home just in time for Buka Puasa time.

A total prize fund of more than RM 1,000 in cash and much much more in the form of vouchers are up for grabs, and of course, a certificate of attendance to be given to each player for their participation in this extra curricular activity.  So parents, grab that phone and start calling!

The second Insofar event for Ramadhan will be held the weekend after on 29th July and this time around, the venue will shift to Kuala Lumpur for the Insofar Combined Tournament (July Edition). The event will be held at the Arthur Tan Chess Center located on the 4th floor of the Wilayah Complex building located on Jalan Munshi Abdullah, right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, next to the Masjid India business center. As per previous edition, the Combined Tournament offers a unique event format where players are allowed to choose whether to register and qualified for a single prized event or a double prized events. And if that is not confusing (but interesting enough), both category events run concurrent in a single event! Yup... you have to play it to understand its unique format. And if you sign up for the double category, you can win 2 prizes and there are a lot of prizes to be won. From the usual open, ladies and rating winners, the Insofar event stretches the prize category beyond imagination to almost everything and anything under the sun - best government, best IPT, best Teacher, best Primary Student, best Secondary, best Mother, best Blogger, best Veteran over 45, over 55 and over 70. Unfortunately, there is no prize for best Arbiter *LOL*.


The total prize fund with all the cash prizes and vouchers offered exceeds RM2,000, and the unique monthly pay out means you will not run out of cash for at least the next 60 months! 

As the Arbiter for the event in the last 3 editions, running the Insofar event has its obstacles (just like any other event) but the most challenging part of running the Insofar Combined event is trying to figure out the winners of each of the category that is being offered! It is challenging (at times confusing and mind boggling) but interesting, and the event as a whole is beginning to catch up with many local players. Despite the dwindling numbers (the last edition attracted the least number of players), Insofar under the leadership of Mat Zaki Yeop has done a wonderful job to continue invigorate the local chess scene with interesting and unique chess tournament format and with that, his Insofar event will continue to pick up new followers and players.

For more information on the Insofar Age Group event to be held on 22nd July 2012, please click HERE to download the event information.

For more information on the Insofar Combined Tournament to be held on 29th July 2012, please click HERE to download the event information.

Else, you can pick up the phone and call or SMS your full name and details to +6017 203 2051 to register for the events

Most importantly, come and join the Insofar events this coming Ramadhan and enjoy the unique tournament format, and the great host and hospitality from the organizers - especially from Mat Zaki himself! See you there!

Mat Zaki Yeop is also an avid chess players and actively participates in many local and International events