Halim Shuhaimi & His Young Chess Masters Academy

I started to notice and know about Halim Shuhaimi (below picture) in 2009. He is an avid chess player and very enthusiastic chess parent. We were both at two editions of AAG or ASEAN Age Group Chess Championhsip - 2012 in Vietnam and 2014 in Macau.

Johari, Halim FIDE: 4303369

Last month, Halim had opened his learning and chess academy named Young Chess Masters Academy. He is very serious in sharing his chess knowledge and experience and promoting chess in Malaysia. His academy is located in Section 7, Shah Alam. 

Besides chess lessons, the academy is also the venue of mini chess tournaments and sparring sessions especially among the 17ChessClub members.

GiLoCatur would like to encourage parents especially in Shah Alam to learn chess at his academy. Drop by to the academy to take a look and preview. Below are some photos of Halim's Young Chess Masters Academy.

class info

YCM Academy

BE THERE!

SETIA ALAM Open Chess Championship

To all chess enthusiasts and players, book you date on this coming 28th December 2014 for SETIA ALAM Open Chess Championship. Jointly organized by Setia Alam TESCO and Kedai Buku SINAR, the chess tournament is only for Malaysian chess players. 

The format of the tournament is 7 SWISS rounds of 20-minute-per-player time control. The tournament fees is only MYR 25. It is limited to the first 100 participants. For more info and registration, go to http://syazrin.com/.

Joint Organizer - Kedai Buku SINAR

Joint Organizer - TESCO Setia Alam

2014 UiTM Chess Open

UiTM Chess Open will be held today, Saturday 15th November 2014 at Melati College.

2014 UiTM Chess Open Flyer

GiLoCatur and all the three children - Fikri, Anis and Fahim, will take part, In Sha Allah. Even though it is the first edition as per in the flyer (above), actually it is the second edition. The first one was held way back in April 2010. 

Believe it or not, GiLoCatur and all GiLoCatur's children took part in the 2010 edition. In Sha Allah, GiLoCatur will update and write more about this later. Right now, GiLoCatur is getting ready to go to the Melati College of the Shah Alam UiTM. See you there!

KTJ Age Group Chess Tournament

What is KTJ?
KTJ stands for Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar. Go to this link to find out what KTJ is all about.

Why GiLoCatur is talking about KTJ in this entry? It should be obvious based on the entry title, shouldn't it?

To all Malaysian chess parents who have children aged 19 years and below, you can bring your children to take part in the KTJ Chess Tournament that will be held this coming Sunday, 2nd November 2014. 

KTJ Chess Tourney

There are two categories or types of tournaments. Tournament A for Under 12 and Tournament B for Under 19. The money prizes are quite attractive.

For further details and registration please email to Jian Wen (below picture) at jianwenwong@gmail.com or ktjchess@ktj.edu.my.

Jeremy Wong Jian Wen (MSSM 2012)

Sudah Daftar UPSI Open?

SUDAHKAH ANDA MENDAFTAR UNTUK KEJOHANAN CATUR TERBUKA UPSI atau UPSI OPEN?

Jika belum, dafarlah sekarang. Tarikh tutup pendaftaran adalah pada hari ini, SELASA 28/10/2014. Pendaftaran selepas tarikh tutup ini akan dikenakan penalti sebanyak RM 5.00.

2014 UPSI Open

Kejohanan ini akan berlansung pada hujung minggu (1 dan 2 hb November 2014) ini selama dua hari. Format kejohanan adalah Swiss 7 pusingan dengan 45 minit time control. 

Kepada yang telah mendaftar, jumpa anda di UPSI.

GiLoCatur and Family at UiTM Melaka Alor Gajah For KARISMA 2014

UiTM Melaka Alor Gajah, 26th October 2014

Writing this entry, GiLoCatur, wife, Anis and Fahim are at the library of the campus. The reason being to be at the university campus is to give moral support to GiLoCatur's eldest son, Fikri, who is taking part in the on-going KARISMA chess competition. Having just completed his Part 1 at UiTM Segamat, Fikri represents UiTM Johor. 

GiLoCatur having dinner at a restaurant located in front of Alor Gajah Fire Department

Asam Pedas Alor Gajah

The Selfie of GiLoCatur's Family in the Lodge, Room 210

The Klebang Besar Town Lodge

Actually, GiLoCatur and family left Shah Alam home yesterday after Maghrib prayer at about 8 o'clock. After checking the UiTM Melaka location and having dinner, we searched for lodging. Finally, we ended up staying at Klebang Besar Town Lodge. 

We checked out and left the Lodge at 9 something and stopped for breakfast on the way to the UiTM Melaka. We reached at the campus at about noon. The first round of the KARISMA chess have completed. The KARISMA chess competition is being held at the library from 26th until 29th October 2014. 

The banner

The venue for KARISMA Chess Tourney

Round 2 will start at 2 o'clock. 

To follow the chess competition, visit the following URLs. 

Men's category:

http://chess-results.com/tnr149754.aspx?lan=1

Women's category:

http://chess-results.com/tnr149885.aspx?lan=1

To follow the live for the top two boards both Men and Women categories, go to http://broadcast.kedaicatur.com/

Best of Luck to all players taking part in the KARISMA Chess Championship especially to Fikri and his UiTM Johor chess team.

2014 UiTM Johor Chess Team

Have You Registered for the 6th IIUM Chess Invitational Tournament?

The hectic life of attending local chess tournaments for GiLoCatur will begin on this coming weekend after a lay-off for about three months. 

On Saturday, GiLoCatur plans to bring GiLoCatur's youngest son, Fahim, to take part in the 6th IIUM Chess Invitational. Having completed both UPSR and UPSRA, Fahim is very enthusiastic to compete in chess tournaments. He has less than three months having eligibility to compete in the Under 12 category. 

2014 IIUM Chess Open

BUT hey, GiLoCatur has yet registered and pay the tournament fee. Better to be quick since the closing date is until tomorrow ie. Wednesday, 15th October 2014. 

Regarding the tournament fee for Under 12 category, GiLoCatur is very happy since it has not been increased since GiLoCatur's children took part in the second edition in 2009. The fee is still twenty Malaysian Ringgits. (Hopefully it will be the same for few more years. Please do not increase it after this entry.)

So, see you at IIUM Gombak this weekend.

After the tourney, GiLoCatur and family will straight balik kampung. On Sunday, GiLoCatur and the children will take part in the Sungai Besar Chess Open sponsored by Din's Frozen & Supplier. The tournament will be managed and handled by Cerdik Catur Enterprise.

GiLoCatur would like to welcome the Malaysin chess players and community to Sungai Besar which is in the Sabak Bernam district and situated in the northern part of Selangor.

To register for the Sungai Besar Open online, please go to http://www.catursgbesar.blogspot.com/

Al-Fatihah to Wan Ali Wan Manan

The Malaysian chess community has lost one of its member yesterday (Saturday, 11th October 2014) after the demise of Wan Ali Wan Manan who was based in Pahang. As GiLoCatur recalls, GiLoCatur started to know about the late Wan Ali since the Temerloh Chess Open (not sure if first edition in 2008 but surely second edition in 2009). 

Being humble and simple, Wan Ali had shared his chess knowledge and skills with many Malaysian young chess players especially during local chess tournaments. Thanks to NWM Khairunnisa of Kuantan Setia Chess, GiLoCatur just got to know that Wan Ali is a university graduate.

Info of the demise by NWM in facebook

the late Wan Ali against a Filipino player, Jelvis
(photo credit to Catur Melaka)

photo credit to NWM Khairunnisa

“May ALAH bless his soul… forgive him of his sins… make his grave a garden and grant him the highest levels of paradise….. Ameen“

2014 UPSI Chess Open

As GiLoCatur was thinking yesterday that there would be NO UPSI Chess Open this year, GiLoCatur was wrong when Huzairi has published the flyer and info on the chess championship in GiLoCatur's Fan Club facebook group here. GiLoCatur is so excited because UPSI Chess Open is one  of GiLoCatur's favourite local chess tournaments. GiLoCatur and family have participated in some its editions and also missed some. 

GiLoCatur and family mostly will take part this year provided free and available. When the championship will be held this year? Check out below announcement by Huzairi and flyer.

UPSI Chess Open flyer

UPSI Chess Open announcement by Huzairi

Wow, the main prize is Malaysian Ringgit ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDREDs! GiLoCatur is confident many top chess players both local and foreign will surely take part.

SEE YOU AT University Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) folks!

Some 17 Chess Club Players

Going to GiLoCatur's chess album collection, below are the pictures of some of 17 Chess Club players taken in a chess tournament back in the year of 2009.

Akmal

Younger GiLoCatur (LOL)

Syed (17CC VP)

Max (17CC President)

Sam (dark blue shirt)

Sahir (white shirt) and Cikgu Azmi (yellow shirt)

17CC Friday Night Chess Fever

Friday, 10th October 2014

GiLoCatur planned to join a mini tournament held in a chess center located in Klang and organized jointly by the chess center owner and 17 Chess Club. But since GiLoCatur has to wake up early on Saturday morning to drive to Malacca for an important program, the plan has to be cancelled. 

GiLoCatur wants to share some uniqueness of the mini chess tourney.

Not many chess tournaments in Malaysia being held at night. 17 Chess Club regularly organize its mini chess tournaments as well as sparring sessions at night.

Food and drinks like the famous nasi lemak are common with the players take part in the sparring sessions and mini chess tournaments organized by 17 Chess Club. The obvious reason is the venue is a bistro cafe or a restaurant. 

17 Chess Club sparring sessions and mini chess tourneys are commonly being held at Friday nights.

warm up session before the tournament starts

Stuck in the traffic jam is not an obstacle for 17cc chess players

A hamper sponsored by SM Fadli

Nasi Lemak for 17cc players sponsored by Ng6 

GiLoCatur hopes 17 Chess Club will stay active in organizing sparring sessions and mini tournaments for the better of Malaysian chess.

BRAVO 17 Chess Club!

2014 Chess Olympiad - Round 4

Round 4 of the 2014 Chess Olympiad is in progress. The round is getting to its first hour mark.

So, which teams that the Malaysian teams are facing right now?

Men : MAS vs GUA

Scoring 0.5 point when playing against 79th ranked South African team in the third round, in the fourth round, the Malaysian Men's team is paired against 93rd ranked Guatemala. 

Women : MAS vs VIE

Whereas the Malaysian Women's team is paired against the highest rank ASEAN teams which is Vietnam. It is an uphill battle to defeat the Vietnamese ladies. But who knows, with the high spirit after defeating higher seeded Chile with 3 - 1 score, Malaysian women chess team can make an upset.

GiLoCatur is very impressed with the third round results for both Women's Indonesian and Philippines teams. Indonesia led by WGM Irene Kharisma Sukandar defeated the 6th seed Romania by 2.5 - 1.5 score. Both Medina and Chelsie, Indonesian 2nd and 3rd board respectively, upset their higher-rated opponents. GiLoCatur believes the 10th seed Armenia which is the Indonesian ladies are playing against at this moment will not under estimate the strength of the Indonesian women team.

Whereas, the Filipino ladies managed to draw with their 8th rank Poland opponent. At this moment, they try to make an upset against 11th rank Spain. For information, the Philippines is ranked 43rd.

Best of Luck to both Malaysian teams - Men and Women.

SYABAS & TAHNIAH PASUKAN CATUR OLIMPIAD WANITA MALAYSIA

Syabas & tahniah to the Malaysian Women's team (below picture) in the second round of the Chess Olympiad currently being held in Tromso, Norway.

(from left) Li Ting, Nur Nabila, Mrs Zazaluma, Nur Najiha & Puteri Rifqah
photo from Puan Zaza's facebook

Women's section, Round 2, Board 43, MAS vs UGA

UGANDA (left) versus MALAYSIA (right)

They managed to win over UGANDA with 3 - 1 score. 

Now, focus on and prepare for the next round.

2014 Chess Olympiad - Round 2

Round 2 of the 2014 Chess Olympiad will begin in about 15 minutes. If yesterday Round 1 kicked off at 3.00 PM Norwegian time, today Round 2 will begin at 2.00 PM or 8.00 PM Malaysian time.

Both Malaysian teams just managed to score half-point against their respective higher seeded opponents. In the Men's team, only Aron Teh who plays on the second board managed to draw with his opponent. While, in the Women's team, only Nur Nabila managed to get the draw. She plays on the third board.

So, who the Malaysian teams will face today? 

It is KENYA for the Men's team and UGANDA for the Women's team. GiLoCatur hopes that both the Malaysian teams able to win with big margin playing against lower-ranked  opponents. The first board player for both teams will rest today. It means that Ahmad Fadzil Nayan and Puteri Rifqah Fahada Mohd Azhar will play the last / fourth board. 

Any big upset or interesting result?

Not many as GiLoCatur sees it. One interesting result that GiLoCatur notices is the match between the first host team which includes the world champion, Magnus Carlson and Yemen. The 100th rank Yemen managed to score 1.5 to 2.5 based on the results at chess-results.com. Yemen's 2nd board player managed to draw with his 2600-opponent while its 4th board  player who has 2254 Elo ratings upset his 2528-rated opponent. 

Let's follow and watch the second round.

The Photos of Malaysian Teams - 2014 Chess Olympiad

Below are the photos of the Malaysian teams - both Men and Women, that will take part in the 2014 Chess Olympiad held in Tromso, Norway. The first round will start in less than 7 hours.

Malaysian Women team captained by Mr Greg Lau (most left)

The opening ceremony

Malaysian Women team captained by Mr Nik Farouqi (most right)

note : All the above photos are courtesy of Mrs Zazaluma Harun.

2014 Chess Olympiad - Kick Off

GiLoCatur is excited to follow the 2014 Chess Olympiad which will kick off today at 3.00 PM Tromso's time. Since Tromso is behind six hours of the Malaysian time, it means that the first round kick off will at 9.00 PM Malaysian time. 

That means, GiLoCatur can follow the event closely from home. 

The team pairings for the first round has been published in the chess-results.com. So, what the opponents for the Malaysian teams would be? 

source : chess-results.com

Our Men's team is paired against the 16th seed which is SPAIN. Based on average ratings, it would be 2100 versus 2600. 500 ratings difference. Ofcourse, it would be an uphill battle. But anyway, as the popular saying, "LAWAN TETAP LAWAN".

source : chess-results.com

Whereas, our Women's team is paired against FRANCE, GiloCatur's favourite World Cup team. France which is the 9th seed in the women's section has the average ratings of 2389. 

BEST OF LUCK to both Malaysian teams. Give the best fight. Do not give respect too much to the opponents.  

IDEACHESS - Check It OUT!

GiLoCatur received the following via email.

received via email

GiloCatur would like to share with all the visitors to this blog. Hopefully, it will be beneficial and useful especially in improving in chess.

CHECK IT OUT! IT IS FREE!

Ideachess website

2014 Chess Olympiad Is Around The Corner

Today is Tuesday, 29th July 2014.

It is the second day of Eidul Fitri, one of the Muslim's festive celebration.

Four more days before the kick-off of the 2014 Chess Olympiad held in Tromso, Norway.

logo

There are 139 countries competing in the Women's section in the event as per in the chess-results.com. China who is led by GM Hou Yifan is the top seed followed by Russia and Ukraine at the second and third spots respectively.

How about among the ASEAN countries? What is the starting rank for Malaysia?

Malaysia is seeded 75th out of the total 139 teams. Vietnam is leading the ASEAN countries in the ranking. It is ranked 20th with 2309 average ratings. Ranked 22nd with average ratings of 2281 is Indonesia. Philippines is the third best ASEAN countries in the starting rank. It is ranked 44th with average ratings of 2153.

Top 10 + ASEAN
Click here for full list

INA team

MAS team

PHI team

THA team

VIE team

BEST OF LUCK to the Malaysian women team in the 41st Chess Olympiad. Make our country proud. Being in the Top 50 is a reasonable target and achievement for the Malaysian team for GiLoCatur. 

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

SPG 5 Village