Of Nf6 Events - The Final Result

The Nf6 2012 edition would probably be remembered as the one with high attrition rate with 4 players having to pull out from the 20 field players. The latest casualty was Zaidan Zulkipli who was advised by the doctor to take a rest due to extreme fatigue. 

When top seed Yeoh Li Tian won his Round 8 game against FM Johan Iskandar, it was clear that he would run away with the event with only one round to go and two points ahead of his closest rival. The battle in Round 9 is left between Kamaluddin Yusoff, Ismail Ahmad and Kamalarifin Wahiduddin to take up the second and third spot and interesting match up beckons with Kamalariffin facing FM Johan Iskandar, Ismail facing the solid playing style of Mohd Saprin and Kamaluddin against Lim Kian Hwa. 

With both Kamaluddin and Chin Seng at 5 points a piece, a win in their last round encounter would help them to maintain their respective 2nd and 3rd spot and in their way are Kian Hwa and Ismail Ahmad. Whilst Kian Hwa may not be able to break into the top 3 spots, his objective in the last round is just to maintain a winning game hoping to keep his rating points or steal from his higher rated opponents in Kamaluddin Yusof. Unfortunately, Kamaluddin proved to be too strong for Kian Hwa and the latter resigned after his 37th move. With the win Kamaluddin secured the second spot behind Yoeh Li Tian with 6 points out of 9 rounds.

For Yeoh Chin Seng, a win against Ismail Ahmad will maintain his position in third place but Ismail had other ideas in store. A brilliant performance in the morning round to secure a point from Mohd Saprin, Ismail was clearly on a hot streak. Although Chin Seng maintained the upper hand throughout the game, he was not able to maintain the initiative and Ismail equalized his position on move 17. Chin Seng still had the chance to continue pressing but missed a brilliant rook sacrifice on move 21, pulled back his Queen to d1 and the same happened to his game. With his win, Ismail has to wait for the result of the game between Kamalarifin and FM Johan Iskandar to see if he can leapfrog into the 3rd position.

With Chin Seng losing his game, the situation is open for Kamalarifin to seize the position but his last round draw with FM Johan allowed Ismail to claim the third spot.

In the Junior Section, it was a nail biting finish with Gabriel only half point behind leading brothers Muqqri and Ghaazi both with 7 points. A win in his last round would allow Gabriel to steal the top spot from Muqqri who had the better tie break against his brother Ghazi. Muqqri did well to secure his lead throughout the event but a surprising draw to Amira Farhana in Round 8 had put a stumbling block on an otherwise exemplary run. The draw with Amira cost him the pole finish and with Gabriel winning his last round match against Lim Ming Kang, Muqqri had to settle for the second spot while elder brother Ghaazi clinched the 3rd spot. Muhammad Faqih who did well to stop Gabriel in Round 7 and continued his fine run to overcome Lim Ming Kang in Round 8, could not continue his winning streak and lost to Ming Kang elder brother Ming Xian in the last round to settle for 4th place.

The final crosstable for both Masters and Juniors section are as follows:

Yeoh Li Tian, top seed and winner with 8 points out of 9 rounds - no losses

Gabriel Bick in first place followed by brothers Muqqri and Ghaazi

Kamaluddin last round win against Kian Hwa secured him the second spot

After his first round loss to Lim Kian Hwa, Ismail Ahmad (left) fought his way back to the top and winning his last round game against Mohd Saprin (in photo - right) helped him to secure the 3rd spot with some assistance from Kamalariffin who drew with FM Johan Iskandar in their last round encounter

The 3 Juniors top finishers - Champion Gabriel Bick in the center flanked by second placed Amir Muqqri on the right and elder brother Amir Ghaazi on the right at 3rd place.

2012 Nf6 Masters Chess Champion - Yeoh Li Tian, top seed and top finisher with 8 points out of 9 games - 2 draws and 7 wins