Lim Chong Memorial Chess Tournament (27/03/2011)

In recognition of his vast contributions to Malaysian chess, the Lim Chong Memorial Chess Championship 2011 will be held next month on Sunday, 27 March. An avid chess player, the late Lim Chong was a noted columnist with his weekly Chessmate articles in The Malay Mail for more than a decade beginning 1983 and more recently with his online Chess Overboard writings for the Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) Blog. He was also a Council Member of the Selangor Chess Association.

“Lim Chong shared his passion for the game with so many of us by diligently writing about goings-on in the chess fraternity. His was one of the local chess columns that gave enthusiasts regular updates on the home scene,” said Abd Hamid Majid, organising chairman of the tournament to be held at the DATCC in Wilayah Kompleks here.

“Even when he was promoted to senior general manager of IT publications of the New Straits Times Group, he made it a point to attend or play in tournaments and to lend his support to various chess organisations,” added Abd Hamid, who is also a member of the Malaysian Chess Federation.

Lim, 56, who joined the Bernama economic news service as a sub-editor in 2004 after opting for early retirement from IT Publications, succumbed to a heart attack on November 26 on a flight back to Malaysia from London where he had been sent on assignment. The holding of a tournament to honour Lim was mooted by Dato’ Tan Chin Nam, Honorary Life President of the Malaysian Chess Federation who noted that Lim steadfastly managed to write about chess at a time when “space in newspapers was so precious”.

The late (Tan Sri) Dr Noordin Sopiee, then the group editor of the NST, once even told me when I approached him for a chess announcement, that even if one-square inch of space was given, the politicians – 168 members of Parliament then – would start clamouring for (the whole chess board of) 64-square inches of publicity.”

In view of Lim’s invaluable contributions to the chess fraternity, Dato’ Tan has offered to donate and match ‘ringgit for ringgit’ by friends and members of the public towards the organisation of the tournament. “No amount is too big or too little in support of this tribute to a respected journalist,” he added. Lim’s wife Jan Tan Hong See, who is also assisting in organising the tournament, said his family members were touched by the efforts of the chess fraternity as well as others in honouring her husband. Lim incidentally was aware that he was to receive the Darjah Kebesaran Ahli Mahkota Selangor (AMS) in conjunction with Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s 65th birthday on Dec 11. The posthumous award was accepted on Lim’s behalf by his son, Yue Seng, 22.

More than 100 participants are expected at the Lim Chong Memorial Chess Championship 2011 to be held in conjunction with Lim’s birthday on March 27 at the Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Centre in Wilayah Kompleks, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur. Entry forms and further details can be obtained by contacting the Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Centre – Abd Hamid (Tel: 019 3158098 or email to aham@pc.jaring.my)

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