SEA Games - MALAYSIA Won Bronze in Mixed Event

MALAYSIA won Bronze medal in the Mixed event (Chess) in the 26th SEA Games after recording 3 wins and scoring 6 Match Points (MP). Syabas and tahniah to the Malaysian Mixed pair, IM Lim Yee Weng and WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham.

The feat is very important especially to the Malaysian chess community to put CHESS in the Malaysian sports map. It is also important to show that CHESS has potential for Malaysia.

Final Rakning - Mixed Pair

In the first round, the Malaysian Mixed pair was defeated by the Vietnamese pair Grand Masters. But Malaysia came back in the second round to win over the lower-rated Siamese chess players. Malaysia made an upset in the third round. IM Yee Weng showed his capability as grand master beater. He defeated GM Susanto Megaranto, one of the top players in the event. Click here to view his victorious game. The victory became sweeter when WFM Nur Najiha managed to draw with the strongest female player in this event, WGM Irine Sukandar. It is an important feat to the Malaysian mixed pair.

complete results (chess-results.com)

Unfortunately, the Malaysian pair could not continue their sterling performance when played against the Philippines pair led by GM Oliver Barbosa. But they fought hard in the final round and won against higher-rated Myanmar pair. This time, WFM Nur Najiha provided the critical win. A draw by IM Yee Weng is enough to pip the Indonesian pair to claim the Bronze medal. GiLoCatur is not sure whether IM Yee Weng already knew the result of the Vietnam - Indonesia match. 

In the match, GM Thien Hai Dao won over his Indonesian opponent, but his pair WGM Thi Thanh An Nguyen could not against WGM Irine Sukandar. Thus, the Vietnam and Indonesia match ended draw.

Below are the detail results for each of the Malaysian Mixed pair.

Opponents of Yee Weng

Opponents of Najiha

GiLoCatur hopes Malaysia will win more medals in the other chess events. Best of Luck to all the Malaysian SEA Games chess contingent! MALAYSIA BOLEH!