Of Melaka Chess Festival - Going to Day Two

Experience triumphed over Fadzil Nayan as he lost to GM Alexander Fominyh in a marathon 129 mover that saw him being out played by the seasoned Grandmaster. The last game to finish from Round 1, the pairing for Round 2 was only published at 8:00pm as Arbiters, players and spectators eagerly awaits the conclusion of the game. FYI, all the games from Round 1 of the Historical Melaka International Chess Championship can be downloaded (in PGN format) from www.chess-results.com at the following link HERE

GM Alfonso Romero Holmes of Spain

With a small field of 38 players and almost half comprised of titled players, Round 2 marks the start of the battle amongst the chess heavyweights with 2 Grandmasters from two continents battling it out on Table 1 - GM Laxman of India handling the white pieces against GM Alfonso Romero Holmes of Spain playing the black pieces. With GM Arun Prasad surprising draw against Anasrullah in their earlier game yesterday, GM Holmes shall take command of Table 1 for Round 2 and it will be interesting to see if he can hold his position at the top of the field.

On Table 2, GM Alexander Fominyh is paired against IM Rathnakaran of India whilst on Table 3, IM Karthikayen will face Hungarian GM Adam Horvath.

GM Alexander Fominyh of Russia

All eyes will be on Table 5 where Malaysian hopeful IM Mas Hafizulhelmi will be playing against GM Deepan Chakkravathy of India and a win here will definitely help Mas to get back on the right track to regain his confidence after a dismal outing in Brunei. Another Malaysian hopeful, young Yeoh Li Tian will be playing against IM Oliver Dimakiling on Table 8 where Oliver will be playing white against Tian's black. This would be an interesting encounter as Li Tian now have the opportunity to avenge his loss to Oliver in the recently concluded Brunei Campomanes Memorial Grandmaster event. It will be an exciting match as the two had also met in the second round of the Brunei event with both players paired the same color. Will history repeat itself or will it be a sweet revenge for Tian?

IM Oliver Dimakiling of Philippines

Other notable pairing in Round 2 are GM Arun Prasad playing against Hendrik Maha of Indonesia on Table 9 - GM Prasad with 1/2 points after his surprising draw against Hendrik's compatriot Anasrullah whilst Hendrik Maha score his full point after an upset win against Prasad's compatriot WGM Nadig Kruttika.

Yeoh Li Tian of Malaysia

Notable Malaysian pairings for Round 2 are Sarawakian Lim Kian Hwa against ASIAN Master Champion Ahmad Fadzil Nayan on Table 12, youngster Camilia Johari against Dr. Zaidan Zulkipli on Table 14 and Ismail Ahmad facing young Ooi Zhi Yang on Table 17. Melaka hopeful, WFM Alia Anin Azwa Bakri will be playing the black pieces against Suharto Moh Wahyu Repelita of Indonesia on Table 13.

For the Challenger section, the top 5 seeds in Eddy Fong, Abdul Rahim Ramli, Fairul Yusof, Mohd Ezmi Mahmood and Latifah Kaiyisah are still holding their position but with Eddy and Fairul being paired against Indonesian Endang and Gatot respectively, the situation may change at the end of the round. As far as experience goes, many Malaysian chess players understands well enough that unrated Indonesian chess players must not be taken lightly and despite the absence of a FIDE rating point, their playing performance is easily beyond the Amateur level.


Enthusiast can catch the results of the Historical Melaka International and Challenger results at www.chess-results.com. 

More news later on this same website at the conclusion of Round 2!