WYCC 2010 - The Schedule

Below is the schedule for the WYCC or World Youth Chess Championship held in Greece.

The time difference is plus 5 hours. 4.00pm or 16:00 hours in Greece is 9.00pm or 21:00 hours in Malaysia. Malaysia is GMT +8 while Greece is GMT +2. The daytime savings is +1.

APSSO 2010 - The Malaysian Chess Team

A parent emailed GiLoCatur this morning regarding APSSO that the Malaysian chess team consists of three boys and one girl will participate. APSSO which is the acronym of Asean Primary School Sports Olympiad will be hosted by Indonesia. This year is the fourth edition. For more info about it, check GiLoCatur's previous entry here.

In last year edition (3rd), the host country i.e. Indonesia was the champion after winning 11 out of 19 golds, 7 silvers and 11 bronzes. Malaysia just managed to win 1 gold, 5 silvers and 7 bronzes and placed fourth overall. The gold was won in Badminton discipline.

In chess category, 6 medals were up for the challenge. Indonesia won 4 golds while the other two were won by Vietnam. Click here for further news.

According to the parent, the Malaysian contingent will consist of 36 both officials and athletes from five sports - football, badminton, table tennis (ping pong), athletics and CHESS. The athletes are selected from this year MSSM.

One of the examples that GiLoCatur believes that the Malaysian chess community is still lacking and trailing behind compared to our neighbouring Singaporean chess community is that they have planned and prepared for the event much far ahead. The event had been covered and made publish for public few months ago in their official SCF website as per here. Thanks to the website because the regulations as well as other important info like the schedule and categories of the chess event is also available for us.

Who will represent Malaysia in chess for 2010 APSSO?

MSSM 2010 U12 Champions - WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham (P12) and Yeoh Li Tian (L12)

For info, Li Tian also played in the last edition with Nur Nabila, Irfan Haqqim and Tan Wei Hao.

Muhamad Faizal Bin Roslan (L12 chess player of Wilayah Persekutuan)

(photo of Gilachess)

Harlief Hanief (right in the above picture wearing the blue WP windbreaker in the recent 1st NRCC in UTP, L12 chess player of Wilayah Persekutuan)

Best of luck to the Malaysian APSSO contingent especially the chess team. Make Malaysia and the chess community proud. Win as many medals as possible especially the gold.

Thank you En Roslan for the info.

8.47-9.47am

MUSIM HAJI 1431H SUDAH BERMULA

TODAY IS 12TH OCTOBER 2010. OR 4 ZULKAEDAH 1431H. "MUSIM HAJI" OR THE PILGRIMAGE SEASON HAS BEGUN.

THE MALAYSIAN CANDIDATE HAJIs AND HAJJAHs HAVE STARTED TO FLY TO MEDINA (MADINAH AL MUNAWWARAH) AND MECCA (MEKAH AL MUKARRAMAH) TO PERFORM THE HAJJ SINCE LAST SATURDAY, 9TH OCTOBER 2010.

GILOCATUR MENGUCAPKAN,

"SELAMAT MENUNAIKAN FARDHU HAJI KEPADA SEMUA JEMAAH HAJI MALAYSIA!"

UTP NRCC - Report 6

Below is the official final ranking for U14 & U16 age groups.

Left- Ern Tek, Center-Fikri, Right-Nuriman

Open U14 Winners:

Champion : Fikri Bin Saleh

1st Runner Up : Teoh Ern Tek

2nd Runner Up : Muhammad Nuriman Yahaya

Left-Khar Khei, Center-Jun Feng, Right-Xin Yen

Open U16 Winners:

Champion : Tan Jun Feng

1st Runner Up : Goh Xin Yen

2nd Runner Up : Tang Khar Khei

UTP NRCC - Report 5

Below is the official final ranking for U12 age group.

Left- Azam, Center-Zhi Yang, Right-Wei Kit

U12 Open Winners:

Champion : Ooi Zhi Yang

1st Runner Up : Noor Azam Mohamad Noor

2nd Runner Up : Tang Wei Kit

Left-Fatih Nur Sahariah, Center-Jia Yun, Right-Anis Fariha

U12 Girls Winners:

Champion : Tan Jia Yun

1st Runner Up : Fatih Nur Sahariah Abdul Jalil

2nd Runner Up : Anis Fariha Saleh

UTP NRCC - Report 4

Below is the official final ranking for U10 age group.

Left- Danish, Center-Teoh, Right-Benjamin

U10 Open Winners:

Champion : Teoh Ern Sheng

1st Runner Up : Danish Hamzah Al-Hadi

2nd Runner Up : Benjamin Lee Kah Teng

U10 Girls Winners:

Champion : Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Azhar

1st Runner Up : Nur Faqihah Aminuddin

2nd Runner Up : Tan Wei Ting

UTP NRCC - Report 3

Below is the official final ranking for U8 age group.

Left-Fahim, Center-Jagathees, Right-Shi Yang

U8 Open Winners:

Champion : Jagathees Guna Balan

1st Runner Up : Fahim Al-Faqeh Saleh

2nd Runner Up : Ng Shi Yang

Left-Nur Islamurni, Center-Maisarah, Right-Jia Xuan

U8 Girls Winners:

Champion : Zainoor Ikmal Maisarah Mohamad Noor

1st Runner Up : Nur Islamurni Yahaya

2nd Runner Up : Tan Jia Xuan

[GiLoCatur : Please alert if the names are incorrect]

UTP NRCC - Report 2

Nearly hundred chess players had participated in the 1st UTP National Rapid Chess Championship (NRCC) held at University Teknologi Petronas or simply known as UTP on 9th and 10th October. The open category includes U18 age group and several other age group players. The championship is a national-rated event.

the Open category final ranking page 1

Sumant Subramaniam (right in below picture) lived up to its top seed status. He scored 7/8 points from 6 wins and 2 draws. He drew with Elgin Lee Kah Meng and Nor Ilhamuddin Shaikh Ali of http://2010chessodyssey.blogspot.com/ in the sixth and eighth round respectively. As the champion he had pocketed RM1000 money prize.

Playing on the top board, Sumant's games could be watched via the DGT screen

Ahmad Fadzil Nayan, an UIA student and a Perakian, (right in above picture) managed to be on the second spot after winning 7 games and losing one to Elgin (left in above picture) who emerged third in the final ranking 6.5/8 points.

the Open category final ranking page 2

Go to http://malaysianchesspairings.blogspot.com/ to view the pairings round by round of the UTP NRCC.

Syabas and tahniah to all the winners. Don't give up and keep practising and learning to the others.

UTP NRCC - Report 1

Bandar Seri Iskandar, Oct 10 (10.10.10)

The fifth round is almost over. It started at 9.00 am sharp. The waiting time is 10 minutes. Anis, GiLoCatur's daughter won against her opponent in U12 age group due to the 10-minute waiting rule. In the age groups category, both boys and girls are combined and played in one category due to low participation.

Let's see the Open category first. Five players have the full 4/4 points getting into the fifth round. Sumant, the top seed, has been winning all his games. He is playing Ing Kiat on the top board, while another junior player, Elgin, is facing Fadzil Nayan on the second board. On the third board, Ilham is playing black against WCM Nabila who just came back from the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. Both Nabil and Syakir plays in the 4th and 5th board respectively.

GiLoCatur is trying to upload all the pairings but encounters few technical issues. Try click here to view the pairings. GiLoCatur tries to upload the pairings into GLCFC. Please provide the feedback.

The pairings - Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round5

Travelogue To UTP National Rapid Chess Championship

Friday, 8th Oct, 7.45pm

After Maghrib prayer, GiLoCatur and family started a car journey from Shah Alam to Bandar Seri Iskandar where the Universiti Teknologi Petronas or simply UTP is located. The journey is about two to three hours. The reason going to UTP is for GiLoCatur's children to participate in the National Rapid Chess Championship.

9.00pm

We stopped at R & R Tapah for dinner. Filled up the fuel at the Petronas gas station. Also checked the tyres air pressure. The Avanza was not running smoothly on the highway especially when running fast.

9.50pm

Continued the journey. Back on the highway. Exited Simpang Pulai toll. Passed through the famous Kelly Castle. GiLoCatur and family visited the castle in May last year while participating in Batu Gajah Chess Open. Check here. Finally, after driving about an hour from Tapah R & R, we reached Bandar Seri Iskandar. We stopped for a while at the front gate of the UTP while looking for the homestay that GiLoCatur had booked several days earlier.

11.00pm

With the guidance from the homestay owner, GiLoCatur and family arrived at the booked homestay situated in BU8. It is a single 3-bedroom storey house. We are happy with the homestay. It's time to rest for the big day tomorrow.

So, see you at the tournament venue tomorrow! Good nite!

October Malaysian Chess Fest

Malaysian chess players have tournaments for every weekend in the month of October. This coming weekend in Tronoh held in conjunction of UTP's convo fair. GiLoCatur's children most probably will take part. It is a national-rated event. Then, two weeks after that it is the UPSI Chess Open. Below are the other tournaments.

1) USM Kubang Kerian, Kelantan (16th October 2010)

2) UUM Sintok, Kedah Open (16th October 2010)

[GiLoCatur : WOW! CHESS TOURNEYS AT FOUR DIFFERENT UNIVERSITIES. AMAZING! It is very good that an intellectual event like a chess tournament being held in Malaysian university. ]

3) Giant Kulai, Johor (31st October 2010)

GiLoCatur urges as many Malaysian chess players as possible to take part. Have fun playing chess, folks!

National Rapid Chess Championship (NRCC) at UTP, Tronoh

REMINDER!

3 more days ...

THIS WEEKEND, 9Th AND 10TH OCTOBER 2010, THE 1ST NATIONAL RAPID CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP WILL BE HELD IN TRONOH AT THE UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY PETRONAS. IT IS A NATIONAL-RATED EVENT.

HAVE YOU REGISTERED TO PARTICIPATE? THE REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN. CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

"YEOP DAN YONG, MOH KITE PEGI MAIN CATUR KAT UNIVERSITI DI TRONOH! TEMAN JUMPE MIKE-MIKE DI SANE YE! MOH PEGI RAMAI-RAMAI"

2010 Chess Olympiad (Part 18)

In the final round when Malaysian men played against Bahrain on Board 54, many of us would wonder what happened to IM MAS who was playing on top board. His opponent is just rated with 2134 ELO. IM Mas resigned after 23rd move while his time showed 1 hour 20 minutes left compared to his opponent 44 minutes as per below.

The reason for that is his mobile alarm clock rang during the play even though it was already off. The alarm is for his lunch reminder as already being set everyday since the beginning of the olympiad. It was just unfortunate that the final round was played at 11.00 am in the morning; not at the normal 3 o'clock for final closing. Below is the sms from IM Mas explaining the matter.

:) my phone alarm rang at 12.20, daily alarm for lunch.. Unfortunately last game is played in the morning.. Fon is off but still the alarm rang..

Yes, it is true. The mobile alarm will rang even though it is off. It needs to be set off for it not to ring. During chess tournament, GiLoCatur will make sure that mobile alarm is set to off even though GiLoCatur is not playing. Surely, Mas will remember and take precaution about this matter in future chess tournaments.

GiLoCatur hopes to avoid this sort of matter to happen again in the future, it should be one of the check list items for team captain or manager. Another important aspect that Malaysia should take a look during the post mortem is about having team coach(es). The women champion, Rusia 1, has two coaches during this chess olympiad. Mind that its players are world-class and Grandmasters. GiLoCatur believes our beloved country MALAYSIA can have this too provided that it is properly and well plan at least one year ahead.

Minus the defeat in the last round, IM Mas performance in this olympiad is great. His two defeats in the 7th and 9th round (as per below table) is against higher-rated. His draw with GM Mickey "Spiderman" Adams (England) and win over a Lithuanian Grandmaster are superb. Fatigue is the real challenge. It does not only affect our Malaysian players but also others. As per what GiLoCatur sees and notices, even better and top players like GM Truong Son of Vietnam also experiences it. GiLoCatur also salutes both IM Mok and FM Peter for their endurance and strength to play all the eleven rounds with respectable results taking into consideration of their ages.

Let's analyze the team performance of all the Asean countries as per below table.

Based on initial ranking, only Singapore has much better performance from 73rd to 58th. It improves 15th ranks. Indonesia is at the same standings of 67th. Thailand only better one rank from 94th to 93rd. Malaysia's final rank is down from 86th to 92nd. Both Vietnam and Philippines have poor results. Having two 2600-rated players does not help Vietnam to at least stay at their initial ranking of 27th. Instead, it is placed out of top 50 after just managed to be 52nd. Meanwhile, Philippines is also down 13th spot from 37th to 50th. The winning statistics also do not differ very much. Except Philippines with 5 wins, all just managed to win 4 games. In such, the match points also do not have big gap. It is either 12, 11 or 10 points.

Based on the previous olympiad (Dresden 2008) placings, Malaysia improves from 96th/146 to 92nd/149. Thailand also improves from 100th to 93rd. Singapore improves 4 rank from 62nd to 58th. Indonesia is down from 51st to 67th in this olympiad. Philippines is also down from 46th place to 50th. The worse is Vietnam, falling from 9th spot to 52nd. For both Asean chess horsepowers, Vietnam and Philippines, is it because their top board players are under huge pressure? Both GM Quang Liem and GM Wesley So were on the second board in Dresden 2008. Or is it because their opponents have prepared well since they are more well known now compared to then? Or is it the board order for the other team members affected?

So, MALAYSIA performs quite well and OK after all. Well done to the Malaysian team!

2010 Chess Olympiad (Part 17)

The World Chess Olympiad held in Khanty-Mansiysk ends on Sunday, 3rd October. The final results are known already. The players and officials are returning home bringing both sweet and bad memory and experience. GiLoCatur did not follow the last round because busy with some personal activities.

In the open category, the second seed Ukraine had emerged champion topping the top seed, Russia 1. Ukraine that consists of Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Eljanov, Efimenko and Moiseenko proudly brings home the golden medal after winning 8 games and drawing 3 games. It means Ukraine is unbeaten. Russia 1, the favourite, just managed to emerge the silver medallist after trailing behind with 1 point. Meanwhile, the bronze medal goes to Israel who wins on tie-break over Hungary who includes a lady chess player, Judith Polgar, after a tie with 17 points.

The top 10 performers in the open category

The champion's, Ukraine, score card or individual performance

In the women section, the Kosintseva sisters help the first Russian team to be the champion. The team scores the perfect 22 points after winning all the eleven rounds. Their strategy to put the two sisters on the top two boards and Kosteniuk, the reigning world women chess champion, on the third board really paid off. Meanwhile, China led by Hou Yifan lives up to their second seed by winning the silver medal. The bronze medal is won by Georgia, the 4th seed. The 3rd seed Ukrainian ladies team just managed to be 9th placing.

China and United Stateds are the other countries that are among the top ten for both teams - open and women. In the absence of World Chess Champion, Vishy Anand, and Humpy Koneru who is among the current top three women chess players, India could not manage to be among the top 10 in either categories.

Ampang Aidilfitri Chess Open - The Report

Pandan Indah, 2 Oct - 115 chess players had participated in a chess tournament held in the MPAJ (Ampang Jaya Local Council) building. The tournament is played using the swiss system of 7 rounds of chess rapid games. The first round started at about 10.30am, half hour late than the schedule, and finished by 6.00pm. All the players from different ages played in one category or section. In other words, an eight-year-old player like GiLoCatur's son, Fahim, may play against an adult. In fact he did when in the first round, he faced the top seed Ian Udani.

Participants were warming up before the tournament started and during the registration period.

The participants were ready to start their first round games. On the top board, Fahim (left) was paired with Ian Udani, a pinoy who has been residing in Malaysia and a well known competitor in the local chess tournaments for a couple of years.

Shukor (right) managed to beat the top seed in the 4th round. An example for other Malaysian players to follow.

GiLoCatur did not intend to participate but in the end ended up as one of the participants. Both Fikri and Fahim, GiLoCatur's boys, last played in a chess tournament about a month ago during the Malaysian Chess Festival in the Age Group Open tournament. Therefore, in this Ampang Aidilfitri Chess Open, GiLoCatur does not really concern about their results as they have not played regularly. Luckily, their performance and placings are not too bad. Fikri managed to win 5 games and lose another 2 while his younger brother, Fahim, scored 4/7 points. Fikri won the second place for the Secondary Schools category. How about their father?

Fahim was paired against the top seed in the first round. He who is currently rated at 1100 and just eight-years-old is still far to go until can match 2100-rated opponents. In the next two rounds he managed to win against unrated players. Then he lose to 1500-rated opponents in the 4th and 6th round respectively. In the last round, he defeated one of the six RMC boys.

Click http://malaysianchesspairings.blogspot.com/ to view all the seven rounds pairings.

GiLoCatur could only accumulate 50% from 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats as per above details. All the three defeats GiLoCatur were playing black and two much high-rated opponents. Obviously, GiLoCatur has to relook the black openings especially when playing against higher-rated opponents.

The chess tournament had attracted several chess players to make a comeback and playing debut. The above students of RMC (Royal Military College) are among few of them. They came to the tournament on their own. A good effort from them. GiLoCatur hopes they will participate in local chess tournaments more often. Another player who just made a comeback is Raymond Lee, GiLoCatur's opponent in the 6th round. We had a short chit chat after the game. He is an accountant by profession.

The above is one of GiLoCatur's games in the tournament.

Both breakfast and lunch (as the above picture) was provided in the tournament. Such is a good effort from the organizer. Participants can save their money and time for that. The lunch is a delicious nasi beryani.

Sixteen-year-old Muhd Syakir emerged as the champion and the winner of RM500 money prize. In the sixth round, he defeated Abd Shukor Arajah, a Sabahan and the giant killer in the tournament after winning against the top seed Ian Udani in the fourth round.

2010 Chess Olympiad (Part 16)

World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansisyk is coming to the end. Nine rounds down, two more to go. The tenth round will be played today, Friday, and the last one will be played on Sunday. Saturday is the second free day.

So, what is the current standing? Who are leading? Which teams look to be the champion for each category - the Open or the Women. Can the defending champion make it double? Who are the last (38th) Chess Olympiad in Dresden?

In the Open section, Ukraine is currently leading the pack. In Dresden two years ago, it managed to be at the fourth place with 17 match points from 7 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat. The champion then is Armenia. It records 9 wins, 1 draw and only 1 loss. Ukraine, the 2nd seed, is leading by 2 match points from 7 wins and 2 draws. Russia 1 and France are trailing behind with 15 match points while the defending champion Armenia is at the 10th place. Can Ukraine beat France in the 10th round as per following pairings on the top board to ensure its victory in the 39th chess olympiad edition? Let's wait and see.

How about Malaysia? GiLoCatur's beloved country thus far has accumulated 7 match points from 3 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses. Malaysia is currently ranked at 102nd placing far behind its seeding of 86th. Malaysia loses to Andorra 1.5-2.5 yesterday in the ninth round. It needs to win the final two rounds to earn better placing. Vietnam and Philippines are basically ranked according to their seeding. Singapore is the only Asean country that has better ranking than the seeding as per shown by below chart. It is just 4 ranks better.

In the 10th round, Malaysia will face Wales at table 51. Based on the starting rank, Malaysia should win this match. Malaysia has to. MALAYSIA BOLEH!

(GiLoCatur will continue this entry later ... Friday, 7.55am)