Blog GilaChess

Of course, the event was a success but my work on coverage of the event was a disaster.

First off, because of budget cuts that year, helpers were using a different hotel, and not Cititel Hotel like in previous years. In all fairness, we should thank Mr Sirajudeen for helping sponsor the hotel as it would have been even more difficult if he hadn't stepped in.

The hotel is not far - only 2 LRT stations from Cititel Mid Valley but takes like 20-30 mins from the hotel to the playing hall. In the previous years, helpers were housed in Cititel itself so it was like 2-5 mins to get from the hotel room upstairs to the playing hall (depending on the lift "traffic").

Because of that change, I didn't bring my full PC setup (with two monitors) like I always do and relied only on my iPad and Mac mini without a monitor but on the hotel TV as a monitor when I got back to the room.

This "small" change had a big impact on my coverage of the event. First off, totally my fault, I forgot to bring the power cord so the PC component was totally not there, and had to rely only on the iPad and phone which was very inadequate. That meant the first 3 days of the festival I was totally not posting much but thanks to Siraj who saw my postings explaining why I was slow in my updates. He quickly got me that power cord on the same day! It was amazing how I could not even get the power cord at Mid Valley and Gardens when they literally have 2 Apple shops there. None of the PC shops were any help either and I wasted my time visiting each. So a big thanks to Siraj for that!

On the 4th day, I got to posting more easily and regularly. Spent RM 300+ to buy a monitor to use at the event itself and not have to wait to get back to the hotel room at the end of the day to post. 

The other "blunder" was not backing up my toilet sentry system I did for the previous year and had to rewrite it from scratch. Granted the main libraries are freely available on places like GitHub, but it still took time to choose the ones that were working (only 2 out of 5 or 6 systems were suitable). Thankfully that was done in a day and was in time for use in the main time control events.

Additionally, of course, things can't get worse but I got a sore throat and started coughing for days during the event. Thanks to Helen for the Manuka honey which helped ease the painful sore throat. I got some Listerine to gargle periodically throughout the day.

The last blunder was not being able to attend the final closing prize-giving and dinner ceremony because I was too drained and tired.

So what have I learned for the coming chess festival on September 12, 2024? 

- Bring the power cord to the PC!!

- Bring a monitor

- Don't do too many things and concentrate on the 2 core job functions:

  a) Video recap and the end of the day

  b) Pictures of every player if possible

- of course, don't forget to update the blog and official tournament website

- learn video editing tools like Da Vinci Resolve and Cap Cut that can run on mobile devices

- use your own money and book a room at Cititel for the last night so can cover the dinner and prize giving.