Of Reopening DATCC.... Blitz Event

The size of the crowd that came over to play was about the number expected. But, there were as many people, supporters and curious visitors who came over to view the new center including from as far as Seremban and Terengganu! It was nice to see Muhammad Arshad, Terengganu's recently appointed Secretary dropping by to say "Hi". A blast from the past was owned by Jamsyid (eerrr.... I forgot his last name), a chess player from the same era as Saprin, Jusyeri and Hirmiadi who came over with his kids to see the place. Of course, what is DATCC without Dato Tan? Albeit still recovering from his minor eye surgery, Dato also dropped by to see the new place and enjoyed a short game of chess with Hamid. 

A surprising visit came from Mr Rajesh, who is attached with the Indian Embassy, coming over with his son to view the new center (and inquiring about DATCC chess classes). Other familiar faces who took the time to visit were Rusdi Sidi, Alfred Ting and Lohanathan from Seremban.

For the blitz event, 36 players took part with Yeoh Li Tian leading the pack as the top seeded player followed by Ahmad Fadzil Nayan, Kamaluddin Yusof and Wong Jianwen. Other notable players were Tian's father, Yeoh Chin Seng, Kamalariffin Wahiduddin, Sumant Subramaniam, Muhd Syazwan Zukifli and Zaidan Zulkipli - who decided to play only yesterday evening.

15 rounds of play and by lunch break, it was already clear that Tian would be the runaway champion - already leading the pack by a full point at half way point. Although Zaidan was the only player who managed to stop Tian from scoring a perfect score (they drew in their 3rd round encounter), most players were at awe at how easy Tian was able to defeat player after player. 

When Zaidan drew with Tian on the 3rd round, it was also expected that former would be the next favorite player to follow Tian's steps. After his draw with Tian in the 3rd round, Zaidan ended up with another draw against "old timer" Kamaluddin Yusof. Following 2 drawn games, he was paired against Sumant and the youngster proved to be too much for Zaidan to hold. That was the only loss recorded by Zaidan and from then on, it was a perfect 10 points out of 10 games, enough for him to secure the second spot. 

4th seeded player, Wong Jianwen finished a step higher than his ranking by securing the 3rd place spot with 11.5 points. Sumant Subramaniam was next, also with the same 11.5 points but losing on tie break to Jianwen.

3rd seeded player Ahmad Fadzil Nayan came in 5th with 10.5 points followed by Nor Ilhamuddin who played well to finish 5 steps above his seeding of 11th to end up in 6th spots. Ilham said he played in the event for fun and was happy that he got to finish in the top 10.

Rounding up 7th and 8th spots were Kamaluddin Yusof and Syazwan Zulkifli

Sangetavathy won the Best Lady award and Amira Farhana was the Best U12 performer.

Full results can be viewed HERE

Crowd enjoying the light refreshment served

Practice sessions - just before the start of Round 1

Crowd mingling during lunch break

Abdullah Khairi KZ taking on Yeoh Li Tian (left)

Having knocked out most of the higher seeded player, Tian (right) faced Kaber Azzad (left) in the last round. Kaber was 6 points behind during this face off - a clearly lop sided match

Sangetavathy won the Best Lady prize

Azizul Azlan Zainuddin striking a pose!

Amir Ali Taghikhani, an Iranian FA/Chess player who currently resides in Malaysia, playing in his first local event