Of Getting A Jump Start - A New Director, A Busy Month and Chess Classes at DATCC

Nik Ahmad Farouqi (left) with Dato Tan Chin Nam

As of late May 2013, DATCC Management welcomes Nik Ahmad Farouqi Nik Abdul Aziz as its new Chess Center Manager and Director who will be in charge of the daily operations and chess training programs. DATCC is proud to have Nik Ahmad Farouqi as part of the family and look forward for his contribution to take DATCC to another level. Nik currently holds the post of Vice President for the Persatuan Catur Negeri Kelantan (PCNK) and was recently voted into MCF as one of its Committee member. Nik is well known for his active association with the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) Mustangs Chess Team, working as their Head Coach and in terms of his chess prowess, Nik ranks as the top 25 active player in Malaysia.

For more news on our events at DATCC:

CHESS Blitz Event - 2nd June 2013

As for our activities in June, DATCC will be organizing and hosting several Blitz, Rapid and Classical events starting with this weekends Speedy Gonzalez Chess Blitz Event (Part 4) dubbed the School Holiday Crazy Fun Blitz to be held on Sunday, 2nd June 2013. The 13 rounds event will start at 10:00am with registration and Round 1 to clock off at 11:00am. Entry fees are RM15 for non members and RM5 for members. To get more information on the event and to download the entry form, please click HERE

FABULOUS Rapid Event - 9th June 2013

The event galore in DATCC continues a week later with the FABULOUS RAPID CHESS WEEKEND to be held on Sunday, 9th June 2013. This is the monthly DATCC Rapid held over 7 rounds starting with player's registration at 9:00am and Round 1 to start at 10:00am. Time control for the event is 25 minutes to finish. For more information and to download the entry form, please click HERE.

 

3rd Lim Chong Memorial Event - 16th June 2013

This will be the third year that DATCC will be hosting the Lim Chong Memorial Event, to commemorate Malaysia's most celebrated chess player, columnist and writer Lim Chong who passed away on November 2010. DATCC together with Jan Lim - Lim Chong's widow, have worked together for the past 2 years to make this an annual event to honor Lim Chong, for his contribution to our chess community with his writings and comments. Those who take part in the event are invited to a hi-tea at the end of the event and a chance to mingle with friends and relatives of the late Lim Chong, to learn more about the man, and forge new friendships with individuals from the newsprint community. To download the forms for the Lim Chong event, please click HERE

1st Ketoyong Classical Chess Event - 22nd and 23rd June 2013

This will be the 1st edition of a classical event sponsored by Ketoyong played over 2 days with a time control of 45 minutes + 30 seconds increment. Registration starts at 8:00am until 9:00am on Saturday, 22nd June 2012 with the first 2 rounds to be played before lunch, and Round 3 and 4 to be payed after lunch between 2:00pm and 6:00pm. The event continues on Sunday with 3 more rounds to complete the 7 rounds event.

The event offers a prize fund of more than RM2,500 with the winner to earn RM1,500 for his/her effort. Top 10 prizes including additional prizes for the Best Lady, Best Veteran and Best U16 awaits the top performers.

Please download the entry forms for this event HERE

Chess Classes for Beginners and Intermediate Talents

STARTING FROM 15th JUNE 2013

With Nik Ahmad Farouqi on board, DATCC is taking another major steps in providing chess learning program for Beginners (including Absolute Beginners) and Intermediate level to children (and adult) of all ages. The first class is set to start from Saturday, 15th June 2013 and will continue for eight (8) consecutive Saturdays until 3rd August 2013 - just before the Hari Raya and Mid Year School break. 

Course fees is RM400 per student per term of 8 classes (at RM50 per class) but for those who confirmed enrollment before 9th June will earn a 20% discount for entries at RM320 per student per term (at RM40 per class). DATCC members are charged only RM300 for the two months sessions.

DATCC will organize the classes at 2 separate sites - one in DATCC Kuala Lumpur, and the other in Setia Alam, Klang. Two (2) sessions are held starting at 9:30am for Session 1 and 11:00am for Session 2. Classes are scheduled for 1 hour and 30 minutes and each class will have no more than 10 students to ensure focus and minimize distraction.

For more information on the chess classes, please click HERE to download the information brochure

There are more events to come in July with CAS, Insofar and DATCC July Rapid event to be held before the center closes to observe Hari Raya and help to organize the 10th Malaysian Chess Festival to be held from 9th until 19th August 2013.

Come and join us in June!!! And more fun to come in July.....

 

Of Organizing An Amateur Event - 19th May 2013

After weeks of organizing Open event where players of all strength are able to play, it is time to open up the opportunities for the mere amateurs to try their skills amongst players of the same strength - without having to deal with the likes of IM Jimmy and IM Mas whom both took part in DATCC weekend event last Sunday.

For this weekend event, only Unrated players and players who are rated below 1600 in the April National Rating list are allowed to play in this event. Event will be held over 7 round Swiss using a time control of 25 minutes to finish. Registration starts at 9:00am with Round 1 to start at 10:00am.

Prizes are allocated for the top 3 finishers, the top 3 players with a rating of below 1400, the Best Veteran, the Best Lady and the Best Unrated including the Best and 2nd Best DATCC members playing in the event.

For best performer in the U16, U12 and U8 age group category, each winner will earn a medal and a certificate for their performance. Except for the Best DATCC member prizes, all other prizes must have at least 3 participants eligible for each category in order for the best player to earn the category prizes.

Entry fees are RM 20 for non members and RM 15 for U12, and for DATCC members, the entry fees are RM 10 and RM 8 for the U12.

Please download the entry forms for the events at the following URL: http://www.chess-malaysia.com/Amateur.pdf.

Come and join us for the fun!

Of Playing in Our AWESOME Weekend - 12th May 2013

Come and join us for our monthly rapid event with the DATCC  AWESOME RAPID CHESS WEEKEND to be held this Sunday, 12^th May 2013. Event will start at 9:00am with player’s registration followed by Round 1 to start at 10:00am. Event will be held over 7 rounds with a time control of 25 minutes to finish and is expected to complete by 6:00pm

Six(6) top winners will earn prizes with special prizes allocated for Best Lady, Best Veteran, Best Unrated, Best U12, Best U17, Best Player below National Rating 1600, Best below National Rating 1400 (provided there are at least 3 players vying for each category) and 2 additional prizes for Best and 2^nd Best DATCC members prize (regardless of number of members playing)

Fees are RM25 for non-members and RM 15 for members, and for those Under 12, fees are RM20 for non-members and RM10 for members.

For more information, please visit our blog site at http://datchessconnections.blogspot.com or download the forms at www.chess-malaysia.com/Awesome.pdf

OUR NEXT EVENT IS DATCC AMATEUR EVENT for players below National Rating of 1600 (and players without rating) to be held on Sunday, 19^th May 2013 – a week after the AWESOME Rapid Weekend.

Of Another Successful Selangor Open - A Dramatic Finish

The 40th Selangor Open offers one of the more intense and nail biting finish in the event history - at least as far back as I can remember which was since the turn of the century. The usual scenario is that by the 7th or 8th round, the winner of the championship is almost a sealed deal but for this year's edition, it goes right down to the wire, almost a photo finish!

When leader Wong Jianwen lost to Nelson Villanueva in the 8th round, the word around the floor was that GM Alexander Forminyh would definitely over take Jianwen to regain the top spot going into the last round but.... that was not to be. The party came crashing on Grandmaster Alexander Forminyh as Fong Yit San played well to hold the more experience Forminyh to a drawn game. And with that, 3 players - Jianwen, Nelson and Alexander, had 6.5 points going into the last round with Nelson going head on against Alexander on Table 1 and Jianwen having to face Sumant Subramaniam on Table 2. With Personal Encounter being the first level tie break, different results in each of the game will yield different winners for the event. For Jianwen, a win against Sumant will favor him as he had beaten Forminyh in the earlier rounds and the safe bet would be that the GM should triumph over Nelson but of course, Sumant is no easy meat for Jianwen.

When Jianwen and Sumant agreed to a draw, all eyes are now focused on Table 1. The only thing that Nelson had to do was to hold the GM to a draw and with that, he would have become the 40th Selangor Open Champion repeating the feat for a Philippines player as IM Rolando Nolte did it last year - with a perfect score but, it was not to be. Alexander played really well to secure his advantage and with that, squeezing the win out of Nelson to earn the title of the 40th Selangor Open Champion 2013. 

The most surprising performance from the event came from Bausch Koh who came out of nowhere to finish in the top 8 bracket - earning 6.5 points out of 9 rounds. Seeded 42 for the event, Bausch performed well in the very last day to secure a draw with Mark Siew in the 8th round and to everyone's surprise, beat 7th seeded Zaidan Zulkipli in the last round to catapult him into the top 7 finishers, sharing the 3rd spot with the likes of Sumant, Fadzil Nayan, Nelson Villanueve and Mark Siew. 

For more pictorial report on the event, please visit our FACEBOOK page at www.facebook.com/ChessMalaysia 

Prize giving and closing ceremony was officiated by CAS President, Ahmad Shafruddin and the prizes for the winners were given away by Daniel Yong Chen-I, Yeoh Chin Seng and Ahmad Shafruddin.

Final Winners Standings

WFM Nur Najiha won the U18 category - Prize given away by Daniel Yong

Amir Ghaazi Mohd Saprin earn the 17th spot overall - Prize given away by Yeoh Chin Seng

IM Jimmy Liew secured the 9th place - Prize given away by Ahmad Shafruddin

The surprise of the event - 42nd seed Bausch Koh secured the 7th spot. Prize given away by Ahmad Shafruddin

One for the album - 40th Selangor Open Prize Winners

GM Alexander Forminyh - Selangor Open Champion 2013