Long post again ^_^ but since my posts are coming so infrequently, I'm sure my loyal readers won't mind.

Okay today I'm going to talk about the first love of my life. It comes in two colours and thirty-two parts. It is 6.25% female and 93.75% male.

It's Chess :)

I spent the last 3 days reading chess books, which I rediscovered after clearing my storeroom. And reading them certainly brings back lots and lots of memories..

I remember during the december hols in p3, I chanced upon a book on Chess in Cheng San Library. For two weeks, I was the proud owner of that book, and that book was my very first chess teacher.

When the new year started, I was posted to Rosyth primary, and I joined their chess club, even though I had never touched a chess set in my life. During the first month, I felt like a complete noob. Back then, I managed to buy the mini magnetic chess set from the school's bookshop and then during recess, I would play chess with Kenneth or Jingxian. And I always got trashed.

But chess was such a fascinating subject and I just kept reading, playing, and dreaming about it. Most of the time when I'm stoning, or when I'm asleep, I would picture chess boards in my head and the pieces moving around as if it was a real game, except that I'm playing myself >.<>.<)

Out of 9 games in that competition, I won 6, lost 3, and got a merit prize. Haha I was super happy, because it know it was quite an achievement given the fact that I've only learned the game for 3 months. At that time, the Singapore Chess Federation gave out invitations for all players who got 5.5 points and above to join their Junior Squad. Both xuewen and I joined :D

And that's where I met Matthew and Andrew Chua. Haha Matthew, another pivotal person in my life. Actually lots of the geppers and smart people are good in Chess. Because its a game that requires vision and imagination. You have to think of what happens on the board the next move, or even what's going to happen in 10 moves, 20 moves. And to do that, you need to be able to visualise everything in your mind. In addition, you need creativity and imagination to employ novel ways of attacking/defending. I love games which involves epic sacrifices and a flawless combination that leads to the ulitimate checkmate of the opponent king. Top chess players in the world usually have IQs of around like 160++.

Anw, playing chess has been a super memorable experience in my life. I remember primary 5, during the National Schools Team Championships, our team initially came in first at the end of the competition, beating powerhouse ACS. Our score was 18, compared to ACS 17.5. And everyone was ecstatic, until the organizers suddenly disqualified us, on the basis that we did not follow the proper seating arrangement T_T (absurd right?) We were supposed to sit according to our rating, but I played second board even though my rating was lower than xuewen (3rd board) and ian (4th board). So actually its my fault D:

But that same year, in December, I came in individual first in the New Generation Chess tournament, pearl category. 6.5 points out of 7, and I got a huge trophy along with it. Haha :DDD

I DSA-ed into RI using Chess, but it was ironic because I didn't join the chess club in RI at all xD In RI, Chess started to disappear in my life, and instead, Scrabble slowly surfaced.

Scrabble was an awesome experience for me as well. Again I indulged in it for 3 years, from sec 2 to 4, but this time not so hardcore as chess haha. Anyway, I'm sure Haiwei or Xuewen would understand the process and joy of playing Scrabble, as like how I played Chess, they learned the game from scratch in 3 months and went for the National Schools competition. Our awesome team got first place :D and there are no absurd rules to disqualify outright champions)

I have two interesting thoughts my Chess and Scrabble playing experiences :) I shall list them in an organized manner like how Charlotte does it.

1. Nemesis
For both Chess and Scrabble, there is always a nemesis school that my team will get owned when pitted against them.
For chess, Rosyth's nemesis is Henry Park Primary. I remember our team meeting them twice in the team chess championships, once in p4 and once in p6. During both encounters, Rosyth was the hot favourite to win the match, but both times we got trounced. And against the same opponents.

Call it bad karma or something, I can still remember their faces and names. In board 1, Our star player Jared Jason Neubronner lost to Steward Retnam via back-rank mate T_T For those of you who play chess regularly, this is one of the most unforgivable flops that a player should never make. In board 2, I've lost to Michael Chee both times. In fact I've had a few individual encounters with him before, but I always get trounced. In board 3, xuewen would lose to this guy called Jiarong.

Sigh, I still hope to have a match with michael chee again someday :) I've defeated Jiarong and Steward before, but I can't sleep properly knowing I have never won michael in like our past 4 encounters x)

For Scrabble, RI's nemesis has been St. Nicks. In our epic game last year, Kenneth lost by 9 points, I lost by 11 points (i lost 12 points from wrong word challenges) and Xuewen lost by 32 points if i'm not wrong. In sec 3, my RI team was knocked out in the prelims by St. Nicks. Both encounters ended with a 1-4 scoreline.

2. 3 years Chess, 3 years Scrabble, what's next?
I played Chess for 3 years in primary school. I played Scrabble for 3 years in secondary. I haven't found a game to occupy myself for JC, unlike my Scrabble gang who's now indulging in Bridge.

Yes its not a game, but I'm certain that Music is what I'm going to indulge in for JC :) And like Chess and Scrabble, I'm gonna own it :DDD

But what's going to happen after JC? Is it going to be music all the way? That's what I'm thinking of now, but can I last? And besides, I'm feeling quite nostalgic for chess now. Someday when I'm bored performing, teaching, conducting or composing, I shall quit my job and go back to playing chess competitively again, just for the thrill of it.