We have seen the Men's Chess Olympiad teams for Malaysia and its ASEAN neighbours. Now let's take a look at the Women's Olympiad. Malaysia did not participate in the last Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. In this year edition, Singapore and Thailand will join Malaysia as well as the other three countries namely Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines. Singapore is making a comeback after missing the last three editions. Meanwhile, Thailand will make its debut in the Chess Olympiad since it had not participated in any olympiad before at least since 2000.
Malaysia will be represented by the players as per the above table. As far as GiLoCatur knows, the first three board players will be playing their first Chess Olympiad. Only Nurul Huda and Roslina have appeared in the event before. The former had participated in 1992 and 1996 editions. While the later had played in three previous editions - 1996, 2004 and 2006. Hopefully, both of them will guide and lead their other younger team members to earn good and decent placings or standings.
For the record, Malaysia was placed 60th / 86 in 2000 (Instanbul), 62nd /90 in 2002 (Bled), 40th /87 in 2004 (Calvia) and 44th / 103 in 2006 (Turin). Among the former players in the past decade are Siti Zulaikha Foudzi, Wan Khye Teng, Nur Shazwani Zullkafli, Eliza Hanim, Jean Nie Lim (sorry if not correct) and Lim Han Ying.
Vietnam is the strongest team among the ASEAN countries. In this olympiad, it is seeded 24th with average ratings of 2288. All its players are titled players - 2 WGMs and 3 WIMs. Vietnam's best placings in the past decade was in 2002 (12th) and 2006 (15th). It was among the top 30 in the other three editions - 2000, 2004 and 2008. GiLoCatur believes Vietnam will still be the team to beat by Malaysia and other ASEAN countries in Khanty-Mansiysk
WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar will lead the Indonesian team. No doubt she is the best chess player from our region with ELO ratings of 2372. Her team is seeded 48th with ratings average of 2144. Indonesia is represented by young ladies. Surely, WGM Irine will guide and lead her young and inexperienced team mates including Warda Aulia Medina that GiLoCatur is very familiar with. In her maiden appearance for Indonesia in the Women's Chess Olympiad in 2004, WGM Irine had scored an impressive 10/12 points after 8 wins (including the only win against Malaysia in the ninth round) and 4 draws. She won the silver medal for the third board.
Philippines is seeded 2 ranks lower than Indonesia. The team is led by WFM Camacho with ELO ratings of 2186. The country's best result in the past decade is during the 2006 edition at 26th placing. In other editions, it placed in the 40s placings.
The last time Singapore played in the Women Chess Olympiad was in Bled 2002. It was placed 48th among the 90 participating teams. Such result was much better than in Istanbul 2000 where Singapore was 79th out if the total 86 teams. GiLoCatur hopes Malaysia will get better placing or standing than Singapore in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Come on Malaysian chess lady players! Don't get afraid and intimidated with the reputation of the players from other countries. Believe in yourself. Get focus and rest well. It is very important. Give your best. Be motivated. Don't put pressure on yourself. Enjoy the games. The results will come.
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