I remember sitting next to Siti Zulaikha's mother and she made a comment that stuck with me. It was about attending prize giving ceremonies. Even though the event was small, their family always made it an effort to stay till the end for the prize giving ceremony whether any family member won a prize or not. Later I got to observe that the entire Foudzi family always stayed back for any prize giving be it a small or big event.

"It shows respect to the organisers", she said. Also it shows respect to the host or sponsors of the event. But she lamented many wanted to rush back right after their children finished the last round.

Back in the National Championship, for the men's section only  4 out of the top 10 winners turned up to collect prizes. I was taking the pictures so I find it pretty rude that not only did those did not win a prize not turn up, the prize winners themselves did not turn up for one reason or another.

I am not being too judgmental but this is a sad and discouraging trend on attitudes of parents and chess players today which I don't think is encouraging for any potential sponsors for chess.

In addition, isn't the prize giving the most festive and merriest period of a tournament? We can wait for hours for a game to finish but can't wait an additional 10-20 minutes for the prize giving before going home?




p/s: Sumant had to leave early but he informed the organisers first and we took pictures of him getting his medal and prize. Later I find out that some of the other reasons for not attending is unsure of the prize giving time, bus ticket bought in advance etc.