Of Going Into The Last Round

The curtain is set to close for the IGB Malaysia Open, AMBANK Chess Challenges and the KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors Open. But not the action nor the nail biting finish that is about to happen.

In the Open Section, the top 2 leaders separated by half point, are slugging it out on Table 1 to be the outright winner of the Open Section. GM Zhou Jianchao of China with 6.5 points - handling the white pieces, is trailing compatriot GM Xiu Deshun who is in front with 7 points. Whilst GM Xiu needs a draw to be in the lead and claim the event's title, GM Zhou Jianchao needs a win to overtake his opponent and earn himself the title.

On Table 2, another Chinese pair WGM Ding Yixin and GM Lu Shanglei - both with 6 points, are vying to close the gap and earn the top 3 spots for this year's edition. 2 other players with 6 points are paired on Table 3 between Vietnamese IM Nguyen Duc Hoa against Australia's IM Max Illingworth. The other player with 6 points, GM Ma Qun floated down to meet 5.5 pointer GM Laylo Darwin of the Philippines.

For the Malaysian players, Ng Tze Han continued his fine performance and currently faces IM Oliver Dimakiling of the Philippines on Table 13 with both players having secured 5 points after 8 rounds. A win by Tze Han should catapult him within the top 20 players in the championship. Similarly, young Yeoh Li Tian also can achieve the same feat if he were to win his final round game against Indian IM Siddharth Ravichandran with both having the same 5 points out of 8 rounds.

Another Malaysian player with 5 points is Jonathan Chuah Jin Hai who is playing against FM Carlos Leonardo on Table 16.

Other notable Malaysians playing the event are Fong Yit San, Evan Timothy Capel, (Dr) FM Ronnie Lim Chuin Hoong and Sumant Subramaniam all with 4.5 points after 8 rounds. FM Ronnie Lim did well in the first few rounds before the mid tournament break day but suffered a slight performance setback as the event continued

For the Malaysian ladies, former National Champion Tan Li Ting leads the pack with 4 points, playing on Table 32 against Philippines James Bitoon and half a point behind her are WCM Fong Mi Yen, WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham and Camilia Johari

In the AMBANK Chess Challenger section, a similar situation with both the top 2 players facing one another to determine the ouright title for the coveted title. Pinoys' Lorena Carlo with 7 points faces compatriot Largo Bengt with 7.5 points on Table 1 to decide the champion. On Table 2, locals Tan Eng Seong of Penang (who is currently running in 3rd place) faces Perakian Fong Yit Ho and the winner will have a chance to secure either the 3rd or 4th placing in the Amateur category.

For the Seniors Section, it is a runaway title for GM Dmitry Kayumov of Uzbekistan having secured 7 points out of 8 rounds with only one more round to go. GM Kayumov suffered a defeat at the hands of Malaysia's IM Jimmy Liew in Round 3 but managed to come back on top after IM Jimmy Liew surprising lost to Philippines Efren Bagamasbad in the 5th round. From then on, there was no turning back for the veteran GM Kayumov with IM Jimmy Liew hot on his trail. IM Jimmy Liew with 6 points is currently second and he is expected to maintain his position as the Seniors event draws to a close. Currently in 3rd place with 5.5 points is Efren Bagamasbad and in 4th placing, Singapore veteren IM Chen Peng Kong with 5 points

Full results of the event can be viewed at www.chess-results.com
 

Penangite Tan Eng Seong (in yellow) against Perakian Fong Yit Ho (right) on Table 2 in the AMBANK Chess Challenge Section

The top 2 boards in the Open Section in the last Round 9

Malaysia's IM Jimmy Liew - currently running in 2nd place for the KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors event

GM Dmitry Kayumov looks to secure his 3rd consecutive title as the Seniors Champion

WGM Ding Yixin (left) playing against compatriot GM Lu Shanglei (right)

GM Zhou Jianchao pondering for his next move

White screen displaying the games happening on Table 1 and Table 2

Of Running Another Festival Blitz Event

Its that time of the Festival where we do the Malaysia Open Blitz Chess Championship and for this year, the Blitz event shall be held on Friday, 16th August 2013 starting at 3:00pm. Entry fees are RM35 with the Top 16 players to win prizes at the end of the 9 rounds event. The top 8 players will then fight it out in a Knock Out Championship style play where the winner will earn RM500 for his/her effort. In the 2012 edition of the Festival Blitz, all the top 8 qualifiers were from Philippines and the best ever Malaysian to make it to the top 8 was FM Nicholas Chan who achieve the feat a few years back.

For more information and/or to sign up for the event, please approach the Arbiter's table at the Festival tournament hall. Unfortunately, as seats are limited, registrations through phone or SMS (and without any payment) will not be accepted. Only limited seats are available!

Running concurrently at the same venue will be the Malaysian Chess Federation Blitz Selection Event to select the top 2 Men and Women players to represent Malaysia at the SEA Games Blitz Championship to be held later in the year. The Nation Top 6 Men players and 7 Women players have qualified for the event which included FM Ronnie Lim, NM Lim Zhuo Ren, NJM Fong Yit San, WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham, WCM Fong Mi Yen and NWM Tan Li Ting.

Be there for the excitement!
 

Of Another SWENSEN Age Group Event - Announcement

The response to the SWENSEN Age Group event has been so encouraging that ALL of the vouchers offered to the first 200 participants have been taken up. Whilst registration are still open for young talented kids of all age groups to participate in the event, there will be no additional vouchers given out to those who registered to play from today onwards.

Last year, the event attracted as many as 420 players from all over the country including children from as far Iran, Australia, Hong Kong, India and our southern neighbor Singapore.

The SWENSEN Age Group event is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 13th August starting at 8:00am with prize giving ceremony to be held around 6:00pm. 

Those who would like to inquire more about the event, please contact Abd Hamid Majid at +6019.315.8098 or email him at aham@pc.jaring.my.

Of Running Another Chess Festival

It has been a long time since I last wrote and what a way to reenter the chess scene - with the 10th Malaysian Chess Festival 2013. Yup.... There were quite months - I did not even show up for the Lim Chong, Ketoyong and CAS event although there were all held at DATCC. My blog site has been relatively quite and there was not much activity at DATCC in the last 2 months - almost. Fasting month just makes the situation worse but.... I guess I am back!!! Or should I stay away???

I will touch on my absence later on separately for this is not the time to dwell on what had happened, about to happen or, is very very likely to happen. But to sum it all up in a very Malaysian way - "Kadavaleee.... Sungguh dramatik!!! Loller koster lide all the way....!!!" If colors were to describe our Malaysian Chess scene, the Stabilo pencil color box that we use to have as kids, just ain't gonna do it. You need all the colors you can get your hands on. And splash it all over.... Not paint, but splash!

Back to the main matter at hand, append below are the tentative list of players that have registered for the 10th IGB Malaysia Open, AMBANK Amateur Chess Challenges, and KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors Open which will start from 9th August (with players meeting at 9:00pm) and Round 1 to clock off at 9:00am the next day, Saturday, 10th August 2013. The final Round 9 to be played on Friday, 16th August 2013 with Blitz to follow after Friday prayers starting at 3:00pm and prize giving ceremony for the main categories a bit later in the evening.

Take note that these are tentative listings and you can expect the numbers to increase/decrease as the event day approaches. So far, there are 115 players for the Malaysia Open (the highest we had was 133 in 2010 or was it 2011?), 85 players for Amateur (the highest number of players in the Festival 10 year history) and 20 players for the Seniors.

If you have registered but your name has been left out, or your name has been included but you are not playing - or playing in a different category/event, please contact Abd Hamid Majid at +6019.315.8098 or email him at aham@pc.jaring.my to rectify the error.

See you at the 10th IGB Malaysian Chess Festival 2013. Be safe and to all Muslims, and Malaysians in general - SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI!

(You can click on the image to get a better view)
10th IGB Malaysian Open 2013

AMBANK Amateur Chess Challenge

KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors Open