1st Malaysian Female & Youngest International Arbiter - Ellie Emira Syamimi, Ahmad Nazari
A proud moment for the Malaysian chess community when 22-year-old Ellie Emira becomes Malaysia's First Female International Arbiter!
CHESS NEWS
Ellie Emira Syamimi
4/8/2023
Arbiter at the 6th Eastern Asia Youth 2022 in Thailand
Hi! I'm Ellie, and welcome to my story! :)
There will be 2 parts to this article. This is the kind of but still not-so-short version of the story, and then there's the full story version, enjoy!
My name is Ellie Emira Syamimi, daughter of Ahmad Nazari. I’m a Leo babe born on 14th Aug 2000 with a Diploma in Fashion Design. At 22 years old and 8 months, achieving International Arbiter is an insane achievement I’m quite proud of! Honestly, there’s still so much more for me to learn, but for now, let me bask in my glory! *proud happy face*
I've been arbitering for 6 years now since 2017, with about 80 events on my FIDE profile, and more unrated tournaments in the early days, my tournaments are probably close to 100 events (and more) by now, including online & hybrid events during covid lockdown. I'm capable of doing pairings, and have operated the DGT a few times. Something I'm a little proud of as not many women in chess (in Malaysia) are able to do so.
There it is! Approved at the 1st FIDE Council Meeting 2023, though, a small typo there for Asian Youth in Bali, Indonesia. I honestly thought I'd spend 2023 looking for IA norms, I can't believe at how insanely everything turned out. With the 3 practically back-to-back events. It was the most amazing opportunity to visit 3 different countries for the norms. I'm definitely grateful to the Asian Chess Federation, and Sir Abundo for this!
Here's me with all my norms from the different tournaments in different countries! But I may have missed taking the first norm picture at the Malaysian Festival, whoops.
Here's how my story began!
I started out in chess as a player in around 2008. I was an active chess player through primary & high school, going to rapid events over the weekend with my dad & brother. In 2015-2017, I managed to get into the Selangor team as their state player.
In February 2017, I took the National Arbiter seminar, by FA Najib & FA Kaber. After the seminar, I began my arbitering journey, gaining experience and recognition in tournaments. The events then were mostly local rapid events.
After a year of arbitering, I went to the FA seminar in 2018, then organized by Peter Long at his center - Institute for Chess Excellence in Puchong. The lecturer of the seminar was IA Casto Abundo. The seminar was insightful, and also the point we realized that apparently there were some recent changes in the regulations regarding the minimum age for a FA arbiter to 21 years old (I was 18 then), but that's fine! I spent the next few years collecting norms and experiences, so when the time comes, I want to be worthy of the title!
In 2021, I mostly did online events with supervision & hybrid events. It started out with the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), & then later on with the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). Later on in October of 2021, the Eastern Asia event by Thailand Chess was my first online event with ACF. As I'm multi-lingual, besides English I speak Mandarin, that's where my ability became helpful and I was mostly supervising players from China when ACF had online events. And that was where my connection with ACF started and grew.
National Arbiter seminar in 2017. There I am at the front! Proudly standing next to lecturer FA Najib (in black)
FIDE Arbiter seminar in 2018. I'm the one in pink next to IA Casto Abundo.
Left to right : Me, IA Shohreh Bayat, IA Kumar Dharmendra, IA Thiwanka, Thailand Cameraman, & NA Sanam at the Thailand Chess Festival 2019 I Picture by Thailand Chess Association
So there's the 3 years wait to be FA, but that never stopped me from going to events. I took the time to learn more about the pairing system and anything I could get my hands on. In 2019, I was lucky enough to have my first overseas event - Thailand Festival 2019, thanks to Mr. Sahapol. Among the best arbiters were there and that alone inspired me to be better. Also, my brother was also there, he played in the Challenger section and won champion, but anyway.
Me and my brother - Champion for the Challenger section at the Thailand Festival 2019 I Picture by Thailand Chess Association
87th Internet-Based FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar (South Africa) in August 2020
Arbiters at the Eastern Asia Online 2021 by Thailand Chess Association & Asian Chess Federation
In 2020 when it was the covid lockdown, I mainly focused on my final year at university, studying Diploma in Fashion Design. Around August 2020, I decided to take a FA online seminar (for the fun of it honestly, but I ended up using it as my FA seminar norm). It was the 87th Internet-Based FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar (South Africa) and the lecturer was IA van den Bergh, Gunther & IA de Winnaar, Benjamin. It was very insightful, I honestly learned a couple of things from it, and it felt a bit like a refresher as well.
In 2022 when OTB tournaments came back, besides doing some local events, I had the great opportunity to travel for tournaments, and complete my IA norms. I would like to thank Sir Abundo, & ACF for this chance! The tournaments were the Asian Youth in Indonesia, Eastern Asia Youth in Thailand, and Asian Juniors in the Philippines. Thank you all, (PERCASI, TCA, & NCFP), for having me, it was truly an honor to be in your country.
The first IA norm was at a local event - the Malaysian Chess Festival, by IA Hamid Majid, where he appointed me as Tournament Director & arbiter for the event, and where I designed and made a dress for the closing ceremony in theme for Year of the Woman in Chess, inspired by the FIDE Women's Commission logo as the event was funded by that commission as well.
I would especially like to thank the Asian Chess Federation - Sir Abundo, Mahdi, and Mehrdad, and the Malaysian Chess Federation for everything! And of course, my dear family! Thank you for sending & fetching me from the airport & supporting my dream all these years, especially my dad - Ahmad Nazari! :) Thank you also to all my friends, & organizers who have supported me in my career! There are many more individuals I'm thankful for, but that's in the long version of the story below.
I am proud & grateful for what I’ve accomplished. I hope to be an inspiration to many other women in chess out there! My dream is to travel around the world in class to chess tournaments. And hopefully one day, Asia (and the world) will have another Female Grade-A International Arbiter!
Right now, I’m just honestly figuring out what to do in life. It's a big big world and there’s still so much more out there, so I'll figure that out eventually & hopefully. What I'm still (and always) going to do is follow my heart, and see where that leads me. It's already brought me this far!
To whoever is reading this, I wish you all the best things in life! Great success and health, and for your dreams to come true! Take care!
With much love,
International Arbiter, Ellie Emira Syamimi
Thank you ACF & federations for the honor
Thanks my fam for the support
Also, a special thanks to my Bear Babe who's been there for me through all the tournaments and countries!
From the Malaysian Chess Festival, to Asian Youth in Indonesia, Eastern Asia in Thailand, and Asian Juniors in the Philippines! And not to mention the many other local events!
Cheers to many more tournaments together my love!
Arbiter at the 6th Eastern Asia Youth 2022 in Thailand
Hi! I'm Ellie, and welcome to my story! :)
There will be 2 parts to this article. This is the kind of but still not-so-short version of the story, and then there's the full story version, enjoy!
My name is Ellie Emira Syamimi, daughter of Ahmad Nazari. I’m a Leo babe born on 14th Aug 2000 with a Diploma in Fashion Design. At 22 years old and 8 months, achieving International Arbiter is an insane achievement I’m quite proud of! Honestly, there’s still so much more for me to learn, but for now, let me bask in my glory! *proud happy face*
I've been arbitering for 6 years now since 2017, with about 80 events on my FIDE profile, and more unrated tournaments in the early days, my tournaments are probably close to 100 events (and more) by now, including online & hybrid events during covid lockdown. I'm capable of doing pairings, and have operated the DGT a few times. Something I'm a little proud of as not many women in chess (in Malaysia) are able to do so.
There it is! Approved at the 1st FIDE Council Meeting 2023, though, a small typo there for Asian Youth in Bali, Indonesia. I honestly thought I'd spend 2023 looking for IA norms, I can't believe at how insanely everything turned out. I'm definitely grateful to the Asian Chess Federation, and Sir Abundo for this!
Here's me with all my norms from the different tournaments in different countries! But I may have missed taking the first norm picture at the Malaysian Festival, whoops.
Here's how my story began!
I started out in chess as a player in around 2008. I was an active chess player through primary & high school, going to rapid events over the weekend with my dad & brother. In 2015-2017, I managed to get into the Selangor team as their state player.
In February 2017, I took the National Arbiter seminar, by FA Najib & FA Kaber. After the seminar, I began my arbitering journey, gaining experience and recognition in tournaments. The events then were mostly local rapid events.
National Arbiter seminar in 2017. There I am at the front! Proudly standing next to lecturer FA Najib (in black)
After a year of arbitering, I went to the FA seminar in 2018, then organized by Peter Long at his center - Institute for Chess Excellence in Puchong. The lecturer of the seminar was IA Casto Abundo. The seminar was insightful, and also the point we realized that apparently there were some recent changes in the regulations regarding the minimum age for a FA arbiter to 21 years old (I was 18 then), but that's fine! I spent the next few years collecting norms and experiences, so when the time comes, I want to be worthy of the title!
FIDE Arbiter seminar in 2018. I'm the one in pink next to IA Casto Abundo.
So there's the 3 years wait to be FA, but that never stopped me from going to events. I took the time to learn more about the pairing system and anything I could get my hands on. In 2019, I was lucky enough to have my first overseas event - Thailand Festival 2019, thanks to Mr. Sahapol. Among the best arbiters were there and that alone inspired me to be better.
Left to right : Me, IA Shohreh Bayat, IA Kumar Dharmendra, IA Thiwanka, Thailand Cameraman, & NA Sanam at the Thailand Chess Festival 2019 I Picture by Thailand Chess Association
My brother was also at the Thailand Festival, he played in the Challenger section and won champion, but anyway.
Me and my brother - Champion for the Challenger section at the Thailand Festival 2019 I Picture by Thailand Chess Association
87th Internet-Based FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar (South Africa) in August 2020
In 2020 when it was the covid lockdown, I mainly focused on my final year at university, studying Diploma in Fashion Design. Around August 2020, I decided to take a FA online seminar (for the fun of it honestly, but I ended up using it as my FA seminar norm). It was the 87th Internet-Based FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar (South Africa) and the lecturer was IA van den Bergh, Gunther & IA de Winnaar, Benjamin. It was very insightful, I honestly learned a couple of things from it, and it felt a bit like a refresher as well.
Arbiters at the Eastern Asia Online 2021 by Thailand Chess Association & Asian Chess Federation
In 2021, I mostly did online events with supervision & hybrid events. It started out with the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), & then later on with the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). Later on in October of 2021, the Eastern Asia event by Thailand Chess was my first online event with ACF. As I'm multi-lingual, besides English I speak Mandarin, that's where my ability became helpful and I was mostly supervising players from China when ACF had online events. And that was where my connection with ACF started and grew.
In 2022 when OTB tournaments came back, besides doing some local events, I had the great opportunity to travel for tournaments, and complete my IA norms. I would like to thank Sir Abundo, & ACF for this chance! The tournaments were the Asian Youth in Indonesia, Eastern Asia Youth in Thailand, and Asian Juniors in the Philippines. Thank you all, (PERCASI, TCA, & NCFP), for having me, it was truly an honor to be in your country.
The first IA norm was at a local event - the Malaysian Chess Festival, by IA Hamid Majid, where he appointed me as Tournament Director & arbiter for the event, and where I designed and made a dress for the closing ceremony in theme for Year of the Woman in Chess, inspired by the FIDE Women's Commission logo as the event was funded by that commission as well.
I would especially like to thank the Asian Chess Federation - Sir Abundo, Mahdi, and Mehrdad, and the Malaysian Chess Federation for everything! Thank you also to all my friends, & organizers who have supported me in my career!
And of course, my dear family! Thank you for sending & fetching me from the airport & supporting my dream all these years, especially my dad - Ahmad Nazari! :)
I am proud & grateful for what I’ve accomplished. I hope to be an inspiration to many other women in chess out there! My dream is to travel around the world in class to chess tournaments. And hopefully one day, Asia (and the world) will have another Female Grade-A International Arbiter!
Right now, I’m just honestly figuring out what to do in life. It's a big big world and there’s still so much more out there, so I'll figure that out eventually & hopefully. What I'm still (and always) going to do is follow my heart, and see where that leads me. It's already brought me this far!
To whoever is reading this, I wish you all the best things in life! Great success and health, and for your dreams to come true! Take care!
With much love,
International Arbiter, Ellie Emira Syamimi
Also, a special thanks to my Bear Babe who's been there for me through all the tournaments and countries!
From the Malaysian Chess Festival, to Asian Youth in Indonesia, Eastern Asia in Thailand, and Asian Juniors in the Philippines! And not to mention the many other local events!
Cheers to many more tournaments together my love!
