How does it takes to support your children passion...

First chess tournament - March 2015

Representing his school for the first time

Without any hesitation everyone knows that Emir’s favorite subject or Emir’s Hobbies or Emir’s bestfriend or whatever you want to name it- is Chess.

It started all the way in 2015 when he decided to sign up for school selection for chess and amazed us when he managed to secure a place to represent his school despite being the super duper beginner.

We as a parent never know that Emir has potential in chess as we never thought that he knew how to play chess. Being the kiasu parents, once we received the confirmation that he is one of the school player for zone bangsar, mulaah tugas kami to ensure at least Emir shows that he deserved a place to represent his school at such a young age.

That is where we started to sign up for chess classes and joined as many tournaments as we know and also the beginning of no more weekends for us.
At first he joined the school chess club and later we signed him up for Polgar (chess centre in Sri Hartamas).

Of course in the beginning of his chess years, Emir is “lauk” for the seniors and achieving 3 points in every tournament is considered  Fantastic!!
As a parent on the other hand, ok i personally thank my husband for his dedication towards chess. To be honest, dalam setiap apa yang Emir minat dialah yang akan bersungguh sungguh. On a side note, sometimes i have to always remind myself to be grateful. Yelah some of you is blessed with super rich spouse, some of you with hardworking husband and me is blessed with a spouse yang tak kisah pasal hal anak. So is rezeki masing-masing.

Back to the note, husband slowly gathered all information on chess and he started to find chess group for parents. And we learnt that to be successful in chess, you must have a dedicated personal chess coach (i first terkejut chess pun ade coach) This is due to the fact that at chess centre, selalunya akan belajar basic in chess saje, so when your child has reach that level, his performance becomes stagnant and as parents, nak dapat hadiah luxury bag or owning a luxury bag, mimpi je sebab now its time to invest on chess!!

Emir with his Coach



So, we have been recommended to get Emir a personal chess coach and wahlah tak sangka harga dia (to cry or to smile) 😂. We are lucky to get someone who introduced us to Coach Kamal as his personal coach till today who is very passionate about chess and understand kids!! U know lah budak2 kejap perangai dia malasss..  Kejap asyik nak mainnn jer. Or sometimes waktu kelas nak tido! Its so common among the kids..

Slowly we could see Emir’s progress in Chess. Instead of having one personal chess coach, honestly Emir has few personal coaches depending on the availability of the coaches because some of the coaches are from other countries. And belum lagi chess class that catered for certain topics with his teammates.

Me with crazy chess mothers



Why suddenly this madness happen. Senang.. because we have been surrounded by other crazy parents who want their children to excel in chess.
I always thought chess players are all nerd and work in silo, of course part of it i cant deny but overall they are not. Normal macam budak lain cuma mungkin mereka satu group nampak macam budak baik. Get it?

Emir with his favorite gang



Im glad Emir found his friends in chess. Chess has changed him tremendously. Emir is always known as someone who is quiet and very reserved. But with chess, he is now more confident and able to speak up. He is still quiet in class but the teachers said, during the lesson, he is the boy who always raised his hands until teachers have to stop him asking. 😂😂

Besides, Emir has “opened” his own chess academy at school and now he has two students. And sometimes he received requests from our friends to teach their children. Tapi itulah.. masa emir yang takde. Kalau satu sekolah senang sikit.

Emir with his "student"



From this networking, i have learnt that few overseas universities allocate scholarship for chess players and i want him to get that opportunity after he has sacrificed his time for chess.

Well, Of cos along the way my husband and i always has disagreement for Emir’s time management. Husband is serious to develop Emir in chess and me, sometimes i want my Emir back in my arms doing nothing especially during weekend.

How is Emir? My friend and even my family said Emir is a busy kid and some of them think that we forced, or put too much pressure on him.

My say? He is fine. To be honest, he would rather skip his school for chess. And so does his friends. In my entire life, i never had a friend who is chess freak, so i myself susah nak digest why do people love chess.

But I realized, you cant force anyone to follow your plan, let alone your own child. As a new generation of parents, I believe that the new breed of kid knows what they want but as a parent, we have to always monitor them and giving advise appropriately.

So, whats next for me.. honestly I just want him to concentrate on his UPSR.. but of course im having a hard time to convince his father that he is 12 years old now *sigh..

Let me end with some of Emir's achievements for the past two weeks..



(1) Champion for Individual Category Age 12 and below for Bangsar Zone
(2) Champion for Team Category Age 12 and below for Bangsar Zone
(3) Champion for Individual Category Age Group 12 at 6th International KUSESS
(4) Champion for Team Category Age Group 12 at 6th International KUSESS
(5) Champion for Open Category Group C Round Robin at Global International School