Forthcoming tournaments

So it seems like I have a few options to complete the final stretch before I head back to work. Of all of the following tournaments, I've only confirmed my attendance at the Raja Nazrin Shah Masters:

4 - 10 Sept: Raja Nazrin Shah Invitational, KL (http://thefidetrainer.blogspot.com/2011/06/raja-nazrin-shah-masters-international.html)
21 Sept - 1 Oct: Yangon GM Invitational (13 player round robin), Myanmar
1 Oct - 13 Oct: First Saturday GM Tournament, Budapest
17 - 24 Oct: Caissa GM Tournament, Kecskemet
5 Nov - 13 Nov: First Saturday GM Tournament, Budapest
26 Dec - 31 Dec: Asean Open Championships, Singapore

This looks like a very busy schedule but of course, I will not play all of them. Ideally, I would like to play at least 4 of the above events but because of a variety of reasons, I can't quite make up my mind which ones. Hopefully, the current murky situation will clarify in a couple of weeks time.

In the meantime, I will be travelling with the Singapore team to the World Universities Games in Shenzhen as their official coach. This is quite a novel experience and a refreshing challenge for me. Out of the 7 in the team, IM Jason Goh, WFM Liu Yang and WFM Jeslin Tay are experienced players who have been mainstays in the National Squad both past and present while Nathanel Ong, Ng Qingyang, Zhang Changjie and Cyril Chua while not quite having the same level of experience, make up for it by showing an abundance of enthusiasm and effort during training sessions.

It is particularly pleasing to have Jason back in competitive mode and he played his first game in classical time control in 5 years, in a training game against me. It is clear that he will take some time before getting back to the level he was at but his talent is certainly not in doubt. I am still amazed at the speed at which he can solve puzzles and lesser mortals like myself can only dream of having the same kind of tactical vision he possesses. It will certainly be interesting to see how he does at Shenzhen.