Of Earning the Official FIDE Title - And more....

Congratulations are definitely in order for our 2 new FMs - FIDE Master Lim Zhuo Ren and Women FIDE Master Camilia Johari. What is more interesting was that Zhuo Ren also made his first IM norm and with it, he could be our next IM in the making, the 6th after Jimmy, Mas, Mok, Zi Jing and Yee Weng. And also, a big round of applause to Tan Li Ting for securing the Women Candidate Masters title for her effort - all in all, a surprisingly good outing for the team, both the men and ladies.

Our new Women FIDE Master - WFM Camilia Johari

Our new FIDE Master (with 1 IM norm) - FM Lim Zhuo Ren

For Zhuo Ren and Camilia, both were rookies collecting their first ever cap for the country in the grandest and most prestigious chess event of all. Their successes could not have come at a better time. For the Malaysian Mens' team, they were ranked 86th overall but finished in 64th placing, finishing higher than Indonesia (who fielded GM Megaranto Susanto), Myanmar and Thailand. Recapping the position of other countries from around our ASEAN region, Vietnam with GM Le Quang Liem was placed 7th overall with Philippines in 21st place headed by GM Wesley So and one of ASIA's most celebrated chess player, GM Eugene Torre. Our southern neighbor Singapore with GM Zhang Zhong, finished 5 places above us at 59th placing.

For the ladies team, we were ranked 83rd and finished 61st overall. Note: Uncanny but I can't help but to notice that both the Malaysian Men and Ladies team finished 22 placing above their starting rank! Comparing our Ladies team performance in the regional race, we were only better than Thailand but lost out to Indonesia (24th placing), Vietnam (26th placing) and Philippines (43rd placing). Mongolia did well to earned the 13th overall spot with Iran securing the 9th spot. Top Asian countries were China (top seeded for the ladies and coming in second behind Russia) and India (in 4th place)

Surprisingly, Brunei did not field any team at the Olympiad, and Singapore and Myanmar only fielded the Men's team.
 
In any event, both the Malaysian teams did well amidst the continuous (and amassing) concerns that were raised over the state of affair of our beloved Federation, and the continuous whining and complaining that one small quarter have cast over the selection of our players to the event (especially for the Olympiad men's team) and everything and anything else under the sun (the sky, the planet, the universe....). The good outing by the Malaysian team may just be enough to suppress and quash some of the growing concerns and should be able to turn a new page on our chess affairs for a fresh start. It is only right to end (and start....) on a high note rather than letting it drop again. It is probably apt to dub the recent Malaysian chess episode similar to the that of the classic spaghetti western movie which featured Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach but with a slight twist - The Good, The Bad and The Fool Gone Mad..... with the tagline - everything good, everything bad and one thing mad!

Now that the fat lady has sung its last chorus, and a swan song is being heard in the background, and the curtain ready to unleash the next chapter on stage, let us move forward to improve (the state of affairs) of the game the we love, and the Federation that we have.... 

Folks, its time to move on!

Unless of course, some party pooper might just stop us in our track again......