Who are the most active players in Malaysia - FIDE wise?

It is very interesting to see the top 10 most active FIDE rated players in the country, and to see that it is led by a lady player, even the more interesting.

Rank	Name	FIDE	Games	Local Games	Local Events
1	Nur, Nabila Azman Hisham	1845	58	36	4
2	Lim, Yee-Weng	2248	49	0	0
3	Ismail, Ahmad	1991	47	45	5
4	Lee, Kim Han Edward	2144	45	27	3
5	Mas, Hafizulhelmi	2423	45	9	1
6	Mohamed, Abdul Haq	2096	43	18	2
7	Nur, Najiha Hisham	1791	43	36	4
8	Chan, Nicholas	2375	42	18	2
9	Azman Hisham, Mohd Nabil	2029	41	45	5
10	Nik, Nik Ahmad Farouqi	2066	40	36	4
11	Amier, Hamzah B. Mohd Zuhri	1743	38	27	3
12	Che Hassan, Abdullah	2080	38	27	3
13	Haslindah, Ruslan	1661	38	27	3
14	Lee, Kah Meng Elgin	1936	37	27	3
15	Tan, Jun Feng	1854	37	27	3
16	Yeoh, Li Tian	2122	36	45	5
17	Yusof, Kamaluddin	2060	36	27	3
18	Tan, Ken Wei	2022	35	27	3
19	Mok, Tze-Meng	2394	33	9	1
20	Ting, Shih Chieh Alfred	1799	32	36	4

(Note: The local games are estimated at 9 games per event played in Malaysia so if a player played in 2 FIDE rated events in Malaysia, the estimate is that he/she had played 18 FIDE rated games. The listing provided by FIDE does not indicate the events that the player played so an estimate was used.)

The list is led by WCM Nur Nabil Azman Hisham who played 58 games of which 36 games are estimated to be played locally (as she had played in 4 local FIDE rated events). Since Nur Nabila had represented the country in various Junior events, it is not surprising that she played a lot of FIDE rated games.

Even without playing a single FIDE rated game in Malaysia, IM Lim Yee Weng still managed to get to the second spot with 49 games.

Ismail Ahmad is one of the 3 most active player playing in the local FIDE rated events in the country (together with Yeoh Li Tian and Mohd Nabil Azman Hisham) and it clearly shows that even with minimal playing abroad, Ismail can still chalk up the number of FIDE rated games that he has played in 2010.

Edward Lee next in 4 spot and our number 1 player in the country, IM Mas Hafizul is at 5th spot with 45 FIDE rated games (some of which were from the Olympiad) but with only 1 FIDE rated event played locally.

It was rather surprising to see Mohammed Haq at the 6th spot as he only played in 2 local FIDE rated events but he did play in the UKM Masters event and the DATCC League which may gave contributed to the high number.

At 7th spot is Nur Nabila younger sister, Nur Najiha followed by FM Nicholas Chan at number 8, and Nabila/Najiha brother Mohd Nabil at the 9th spot, and Kelantanese Nik Ahmad Farouqi rounding up the 10th spot.

Yeoh Li Tian, together with Mohd Nabil and Ismail Ahmad, are the most active players playing in our local FIDE Rated circuit and all 3 are listed in the top 20 of the most active players.

Surprising enough, 8 of our top 10 FIDE rated players have played at least one rated FIDE game in 2010 - the only 2 missing being 2nd seed IM Wong Zi Jing and FM Anas Nazreen both of whom are studying abroad. The least active in the top 10 is Ng Tze Han (seeded 9) with only 6 games to show for.

From the top 10 players, IM Mas is the most active with 45 games, followed by FM Nicholas Chan at 42 games, IM Mok Tze Meng at 33 games, IM Jimmy Liew with 29 games and FM Peter Long at 28 games. IM Lim Yee Weng (ranked 15th) is the most active top 20 players in Malaysia with 49 games.

Based in these figures alone, I can safely say that MCF can use the FIDE rating list as part of the selection criteria to select players to represent the country because these players, albeit their lack of participation in the local circuit, do have enough FIDE rated games to boost their credibility (and still maintain being at the top of our list).

Some of the other surprising active FIDE list that are in the top 30 are:

1. Kamalariffin Wahiduddin
2. Cheah Cheok Fung
3. Alfred Ting
4. Ahmad Fadzil Nayan
5. Low Jun Keat
6. Tan Ken Wei
7. Kamaluddin Yusoff
8. Abdullah Che Hassan

Except for Cheah Cheok Fung (who played in the Philippines), the others only concentrated their participation in the local circuit (correct me if I am wrong).

We seem to have a great mix of players who play in the local and international FIDE rated games but we need to merge those who are active in the international field to play more in the local circuit to help pass around and share "the knowledge"

So, what can we do?