There are several more chess events held this weekend. One of them is MAKSAK Chess Tournament that just started today in Ipoh. MAKSAK is just for government servants and agencies. For this year edition held in The Ipoh Heritage Hotel, 13 teams divided into three groups take part in the chess event. WP KL, Johor, Melaka and PDRM (Malaysian Royal Police) in Group A. Four other teams - Terengganu, Perlis, Selangor and ATM, are in Group B. While Group C comprises of Sarawak, Pahang, host Perak, Penjara (Prison Department) and Negeri Sembilan.
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| Law Zhe Kang (from gilachess) |
The Selangor MAKSAK team is represented by Law Zhe Kang (above photo), Aimi Nazri Mahat, Salleh Zaki Talib, Mohd Hafez Hilmi Harun, Syed Abdul Rahman Syed Mohamed of 17ChessClub and Azmi Othman. So, how is the Selangor team performance in the group stage? In the first round, Selangor beat Perlis convincingly by 4 - 0 score. Zhe Kang, the highest rated Selangor player (1867), was rested. Aimi, Hafez, Syed and Azmi won over their respective opponents. The group's hot favourite team, Terenganu, also won convincingly 4 nil over ATM.
In the second round, Selangor had another excellent result when it defeated ATM with 4 - 0 score with similar line up. On the other hand, Terengganu lose one point against Perlis. That means Terengganu 3, Perlis 1.
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| Hafez Hilmi (from hairulov.blogspot.com) |
The third round was very important to both Terengganu and Selangor as to determine the champion for Group B. At the first board, Zhe Kang played against Nor Azmi. Fortunately, the former who is a medical doctor GiLoCatur believes managed to win the match. Terengganu won the second board when Hashim Jusoh beat Aimi Nazri. So, it is one point each. Terengganu-born Hafez Hilmi gave Selangor a point when he defeated Professor Rahim Ramli who is also the Terengganu Chess Association (TCA) president. Selangor 2, Terengganu 1. What a result for Selangor, GiLoCatur believes. Can Selangor upsets Terengganu, 2007 and 2008 champion? Syed Abdul Rahman of 17ChessClub is the Selangor fouth board player. His opponent is Indera Shahrin Mokhtar. Indera managed to save Terengganu reputation when he scored the critical point. With that, Selangor drew with Terengganu. Selangor emerged the winner for Group B after scoring 10 game points while Terengganu became second, trailing just one game point.
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| Group B |
In Group A, WP KL is too strong for the other three teams. It emerged the winner with 9 game points - 3-1 over PDRM, 2.5-1.5 over Johor and 3.5-0.5 over Melaka. PDRM led by Sergeant Ismail Ahmad came up second leading one full point over Johor (6 points). The former team beat the latter 2.5-1.5 in the third round.
How about Group C? Which team emerged the top team? Both Sarawak and Pahang shared 11.5 game points. But the the former has better second tie break which is the match point. So, Sarawak came on top followed by Pahang. Negeri Sembilan led by Aziz Jaafar is at the third place. Both Perak, the host, and Penjara is fourth and fifth respectively.
The preliminary or group stage is completed then. The top two from both Group A and Group B as well as the top 3 from Group C will play in the Winners pool whereas the other teams will play in the Losers pool. GiLoCatur hopes the Selangor team will play excellently in the Winners pool in the next stage.
The preliminary or group stage is completed then. The top two from both Group A and Group B as well as the top 3 from Group C will play in the Winners pool whereas the other teams will play in the Losers pool. GiLoCatur hopes the Selangor team will play excellently in the Winners pool in the next stage.
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