Of Selangor Open - The Final Standing

Although there were 11 draws recorded in the last round, five of which came from the top 10 tables, it was fighting draws all the way to the last move. Some of the more interesting ones were the games between former National Champion Kamalariffin Wahiduddin against CM Amier Hamzah (which I thought Amier could have won) on Table 6 and Eddy Fong against Darrel Yap on Table 9. These two games were some of the last ones to finish in Round 9. The last game to finish happened on Table 11 with Lim Kian Hwa triumphant against Zaiasron in a Queen and Pawn ending. 

On Table 1, with the draw happening on Table 2 between Zaidan and Udani thereby securing Nolte's position as the outright champion, one would thought that Nolte would probably go for the draw as well. But instead, and not entirely surprising, IM Rolando Nolte went all out for the win and in the process, created history by becoming the first ever Selangor Open Champion with a perfect 9 out of 9 score and that he did. The Filipino IM proved to be too strong for Sumant to handle and after the 24th move, the aviation engineering student decided to wave the white flag and with that, a perfect event for Nolte. 

Runner up went to Ian Udani after his short draw with Zaidan with Kamaluddin coming in at impressive 3rd place after his win against Jax Tham to break the Filipino dominance at the top of the leader board. Stewart Manaog, another Filipino came in 4th with Muhammad Nabil securing the 5th position after his win against Lim Ming Xian. 

The most impressive performance would be that of Cyrus Low, the sole representative from Singapore and one of the youngest participant to play in the Selangor Open who ended the tournament with 6 points placing him in the 10th position. His last round win against Roshan Singh was indeed a pleasure to watch on how he outplayed his slightly older opponent in a Rook and Pawn end game.

The final list of winners for the Selangor Open:

On Table 22 - one of the last few games to finish in Round 9. An intense battle between Amir Ghaazi (facing the camera) and Daryl Wong

The last and final game to finish between Kian Hwa and Zaiasron. At this point of the game, Kian Hwa has a distant pawn on the 5th rank that is unstoppable.

Cyrus Low of Singapore receiving his certificate and medal from CAS Vice President, Yeoh Chin Seng

The Champion - IM Rolando Nolte glancing at his Selangor Open Challenge Trophy with CAS President, Ahmad Shafruddin to his left. It is a 12 year quest for Nolte who also participated in the same event in 2000 which was won by his compatriot GM Eugenio Torre. Nolte was placed 3rd-4th in the event which was dominated by the Philippines.