Saturday, December 16, 2006

Jason Chan's Blog

Here I am, on this dreary Saturday morning, researching some topic to write about when suddenly I found an interesting incoming link to my blog. I thought the URL looked a bit familiar - "1mingrandmaster". Well there is only one and genuine 1-minute grandmaster I know. Lo and behold, the incoming link was Jason Chan's blog - "Life and the Universe According to Jason Chan"!

I had no idea Jason has been a regular blogger. He's been at it since December 2005. The blog, surprisingly for me though, is a lot less about chess (since I met and know him mainly through this beautiful game). Jason's post are quite personal and thoughtful. But while not about chess, a handful of chess personalities do make an appearance.

This post, under the category of "Amazing People I Know", about my good friend Nick Kordahi made me LOL. And it is difficult to disagree with this one about another friend of mine, Jose Escribano.

It is probably true that Jose could make his life a little easier and improve his image as seen by others, but I think he is largely a very considerate person and does not want to cause trouble. He is not perfect, but he usually thinks from the perspective of other people and tries to treat them well.

Canberra chess organiser, Jenni Oliver is also featured. We're just not sure if we agree with this: "She does not seem to make any enemies."

Jason Chan is presently completing his PhD thesis in Computer Science. He is actually one of the most intelligent I know. This guy once created a rating system for the chess players at Hyde Park, in Sydney. I remember that we all used to get quite excited about how we went after a day's play, what was our rating, who was on top, and so on. I miss those days actually.

Finally, I must say, Mr Chan might consider switching careers to Psychology! He seems to have the feel for it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This site makes me laugh. Very true some things.

Anonymous said...

Chesslover,oh chesslover...make a return to chesschat and stir up the hornets nest. lol

Anonymous said...

How sweet of Jason - I was feeling very soft and melty when I read his blog entry about me. :)

I have to agree with Amiel - I have made enemies. I can only think of one where it is irrational - David Beaumont and I clashed heavily on the infamous BB and it sometimes amazes me, because I often found myself in agreement with his ideas. Just one of those things I guess.

In some other cases where I have made enemies, it tends to have been where I had a low tolerance of bad or unsporting behaviour.

Having threaded myself through the maze of chess intolerance for 12 years, I am actually stunned that I didn't make more enemies than I did.

I always tried to listen to all sides in arguments and tried to stay friends with everyone - managing for e.g. to maintain a friendship with Rowena and Geoff (now that's a feat).

However when it came to what I considered major points of principle, or areas where I had to defend the rights and conditions of juniors, then yes I definitely made enemies.

The only way you can make no enemies after 12 years of chess administration is by being a spineless jellyfish. :) Ask Libby - she has made them in droves as well.

However unlike most chess people I do not hold grudges and am quite happy to establish good relationships once the cause of the disagreement is over.

Unfortunately this is not the norm in the chess world where there is endless propensity to continue to fight the same battle for the next 100 years. Only death seems to end the quarrels.

Jenni