Saturday Night Fever! or......

Photo from petak64 and Saturday night fever website

Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 movie starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a New York discotheque . The movie significantly helped to popularize disco music around the world, and made Travolta a household name.
In Malaysian Chess we have our own “night fever” that is the “Friday Night Fever”. Almost every Friday night, a group of chess player will gather at Jayanti Restaurant at Seksyen 17, Shah Alam (near Shell pump-station) for a round robin tournament. The gathering held on Friday night because it will save the weekends for chess tournaments or family activity. The tournament use certain time control (eg. 15 minutes) depending on how many player turn-up during that particular night. Players that have played this tournament before is Kamaluddin Yusof, Mohd Saprin Sabri, Kamal Ariffin, Kamarul Ariffin,Shamsul Bahrin, Rusdi Sidi, Izz Shaifuddin, your’s truly and many familiar names in local circuit.

Usually the tournament will start at 9.00 p.m and last until late morning (2-3 p.m). The prize amount will depend on the total of participants. Every participant should pay RM 10 and the total amount will be given to the champion (winner take all!!!). But that’s not all, the champion must pay for every meal and drink order by the player during the tournament. But don’t worry, there is always extra money left after you settle the bill. I have won once and receive about RM 100 and after settling the bill I still have something like RM 50.00 . So it still worth it but the more important thing is we have a pleasant night doing thing that we like. So for anybody who like to feel the “Friday Night Fever” you’re welcome. (you can call Shamsul Bahrin, President of Puncak Alam Chess Club at 012-9363119 if you interested to play).