Of Making A Run For It - Fong Yit San and Tan Li Ting

After 6 rounds of play, both the Boys and Girls section have produced a single leader who is a point clear of their nearest rivals. Top seed Fong Yit San has secured 5.5 points after a convincing win over CM Amier Hamzah whilst Tan Li Ting scored the same points after beating Nithyalakshmi in the Girls section.

After his loss to Yit San in the earlier morning round, Mark Siew suffered another setback with a drawn game against Nor Azam on Table 2. Whilst he was clearly the better rated player and with a slight edge of having the white pieces, Mark was unfortunate to not able turn the advantage to a full point. At one point in the game, Nor Azam was a pawn up but after a series of exchange, lost his extra pawn but managed to hold the position and with both players playing very cautiously in a Pawn/Knight ending, Mark was left little choice but to accept the draw from Nor Azam.

It was expected to be a good fight on Table 1 between top seed Fong Yit San and CM Amier Hamzah but the latter concede defeat rather tamely and quickly after 35 moves.  The win gave Yit San the sole lead of the event with 9 other players trailing 1 point behind at 4.5 points lead by Mark Siew, Aron Teh, Lim Kim Siong, CM Amier Hamzah amongst others. Aron Teh suffered another setback with a drawn game against relatively unknown Lim Kim Siong. Kim Siong was a piece up after Aron played the opening wrongly but was not able to turn the advantage into a win. On Table 4, Afiq Afyfy secured a point against Kung Kah Heng whilst on the next Table 5, Tan Jun Feng returned to his winning ways to edge Ong Wei Bin. 

For the Girls section, Tan Li Ting played extremely well to gain an overwhelming advantage against Nithyalakshmi on Table 1. After a few exchanges, Li Ting gave up her Rook pair for Nithya's Queen to continue hammering her into passive play with an open King. With the King wandering off too far into enemy's territory, Nithya unorganized forces began to drop one by one and left with no choice but to convede.

On Table 2 and 3, sisters Najiha and Nabila regained their composure to win their 6th round game against their respective opponents - Anis Fariha and Nur Faqihah. Sarika split another point on Table 4 against Nur Sabrina Aliya whilst Kelly Lim was triumphant against Ho Chen Ee on Table 5.

After 6 rounds, Li Ting is the sole leader of the Girls section with Nithya and Najiha a point adrift. 

It will be an interesting match up with the sisters playing against one another on Table 2 for Round 7 whilst Li Ting facing Kelly Lim on Table 1. 

Sisters at war - Najiha (left) against Nabila (right)

Its lonely at the top - Fong Yit San is a clear point ahead of his nearest rivals at 5.5 points with 9 players at 4.5 point

Another tough match up for Mark Siew (right) against third seed Aron Teh (left)

Andrew a.k.a. Gilachess (in red) putting on his thinking cap to resolve an internet issue with Arbiter Nik Ahmad Farouqi (in black)