GiLoCatur's Blog

Last January 2012 Weekend Chess Wrap Up

2012-01-30T02:39:00.004+08:00

It is 10 minutes past midnite. Monday, 30th January just began. Two more days to go and the second month of the year, February, will come. It will be a special February this year since it will have 29 days which occurs every four years.

There are three chess tournaments held yesterday as GiLoCatur aware of. A blitz event in Tambun, Ipoh. A state selection tourney in Kota Kinabalu. An Insofar chess tournament at DATCC, Kuala Lumpur. There were two chess tournaments took place in the eastern states - Terengganu and Kelantan, on Saturday. KC2012 or Kelantan Closed was held in Machang for two days on Friday, 27th and Saturday, 28th. A secondary school in Dungun hosted a one-day chess tournament for Terengganu school pupils. GiLoCatur was wrong to mention that the Insofar combined tournament is the first national-rated tournament of the year. Actually, the tournament in Dungun called Aizek Back-2-School chess challenge will be the first one.

Isn't this a good sign for Malaysian chess?

Let's look at the number of participants.

Insofar combined tournament - 119
Limau Bali Blitz - ?
NC2012 Sabah Chess Selection - 54
Aizek Back-2-School chess challenge - 198
KC2012 - 36 + 7 + 22 + 45 + 36 = 146

In total, more than 500 participants took part in five chess events in the weekend. Two of them are national-rated as per promoted by the organizers. Rating is one of the motivation for many Malaysian chess players. Based on rating, they know whether they improve or otherwise. GiLoCatur strongly believes that it is time for the MCF or national rating to be improvised. The rating should have an ID like FIDE rating. The DOB or Date of Birth needs to be included and updated. It is important to ensure the correctness of the database like to have the Top 100 Malaysian Juniors or Top 10 Malaysian Under 12 or etc.

One good factor for Malaysian chess progress is more and more chess tournaments are covered and published on the net. The pairings and results are published in chess-results.com. Thus, all the Malaysian chess enthusiasts are able to know who are the winners. GiLoCatur strongly believes that the Malaysian chess will keep progressing and improving. And chess tournaments will be held almost on every weekend. The big challenge is to attract more and more people to play chess.

Aizek Back-2-School Chess Challenge - The Winners, Final Ranking

NC2012 Sabah Chess Selection - Final Ranking, FR in chess-results.com

KC2012 - Open, Women, Under 12, Girls U18, Boys U18

Let's take a look at the Insofar combined tourney results.

Below are the Top 10 for both starting rank and Final Ranking.

Top 10 start rank

Top 10 Final Ranking
Click here for the full final ranking

It is interesting to note that Abang Bro could not be among the Top 10 in the final ranking even though he is the top seed. He lost only twice to Dr Zaidan and Sumant, the eventual champion. It is also interesting to note that two 1500-rated player won the final two slots. One of them is Jonathan Augustine, a player to watch for GiLoCatur. He has been participating in many local chess tournaments lately and performed quite well. He beat Camilia Johari and Abdul Haq in this tournament. If Jonathan maintains his well performance like this he may rise to the top and improves his rating.

It is also interesting to note that no woman or girl player among the Top 10 Final Ranking. The absence of several top women players like the Azman Hisham sisters - WCM Nur Nabila & WFM Nur Najiha, the Puteri siblings - Rifqah & Munajjah, and WNMs - Alia, Li Ting, Nisa' and Mi Yen, just to name a few, weakens the women challenge.

Congratulation to one of GiLoCatur's buddies, Ng6 for his quite-well performance after scoring 5/7 points. Go to his blog here to see the tourney's photo galleries. All below photos are taken from his blog. (Ng6, mohon izin guna pakai gambor2 kome ya! he he he )

GiLoCatur's chess buddy, Ng6

The champion, Sumant Subramaniam (below picture) came with his father and siblings to the tournament. His younger brother, Shreyes, performed quite well with 4 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat scoring 5/7 points. Syabas and tahniah to Sumant.

Sumant

Bravo and salute to Mr Zaki Mat Yeop, an active chess organizer and chess player. Hopefully, he will keep organizing more and more chess tourneys. Kudos to Stonemaster, another active chess organizer, too for promoting and marketing well the event.

Mr Zaki

Few Hours To Go for The 1st Malaysian National-rated Chess Tourney (INSOFAR Combined Tournament)

2012-01-29T06:11:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur heard that there are nearly 130 pra-registered participants for today's INSOFAR Combined Tournament, believed to be the first national-rated event of the year. Actually, there are three tournaments - Rapid Open, Junior Scholarship and Open (non-junior) Scholarship, combined in a single event. That is a good news for Malaysian chess.

Unfortunately, GiLoCatur and the kids can not participate. GiLoCatur would like to wish BEST OF LUCK to all who will participate. Play your best to improve your national rating. Or maybe to earn your first national rating.

Please contact Mr Zaki Mat Yeop at 017.203.2051 for further related inquiry.

7th JB Juniors Chess Open - Sunday, 19th Feb 2012

2012-01-29T05:37:00.002+08:00

To all Malaysian juniors chess players especially staying near JB! An age group chess tournament will be held for you.

Organisers     : Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy,
  JB Chess Association & Southerncity Giant Hypermarket.

Venue            : Concourse Area, Southerncity Giant Hypermarket,Tmn Suria,JB

Date&Time     : Sunday - 19th February 2012 from 9.00am to 6.00pm

Time Control   : Swiss System of 7 Rounds with 25 minutes
  per player to complete the game.

Entry Fee       : Under 12 - RM 13.00
                       Under 17 - RM 15.00

Prizes            : Under 17 :
                       RM200,RM100,RM80,RM60,RM50,RM40,RM40,RM30,RM30,RM30

                       Under 12:
                       RM100,RM80,RM60,RM50,RM40,RM40,RM30,RM30,RM30,RM30

Closing Date   : 17 February 2012

Late entries and entries without payment will not be accepted. Entry fees are non refundable.

For more information, kindly contact :
Mr.Narayanan Krishnan
Tournament Director
Tel. No: 013 7717 525
email : jb_chess_association@yahoo.com

PERCAWI City Day Age Group Chess Tourney - Sunday, 12th Feb 2012

2012-01-29T04:38:00.000+08:00

To all Junior chess players in the Klang Valley!

DARE to compete in the PERCAWI City Day Age Group chess competition? Check out below details sent to GiLoCatur by Candidate Master (CM) Collin Madhavan (below picture). Click here to download the entry form.

Collin

Percawi will be organising the Percawi City Day Age Group Chess Open on the 12th of February 2012.  Brief details of which are as follows:

Organiser: Percawi and assisted by MSSWP and Cheras Chess
                     Academy.
Venue: Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane, Jalan Cochrane,
               55100 KL

Type: Age-group tournament in KL (1 day rapid chess event)
          (under -12 and under-18 with separate categories and prizes
      for boys and girls)
Entry fee: RM 12 for 2011 Percawi members
                        RM 15 for others
Prizes & Certs:
There will be 5 cash prizes in each category, boys and girls.
The top 15 boys and top 10 girls will each receive a medal and certificate.
All participants will receive a Certificate of Participation.
     Thank you and kind regards.

Yours faithfully,
Collin Madhavan

Tel: 03-91316474 & Hp: 016-2123578

Website: www.kids4chess.com

Let's Blitz At Hentian Limau Bali

2012-01-21T00:14:00.001+08:00

Do you know what is the name of below fruit? Have you ever eaten it?

Actually, in Malay it is called limau bali. It is pomelo in English. Scientifically, it is known as Citrus grandis. During GiLoCatur's childhood, GiLoCatur used to eat this fruit because GiLoCatur's parents planted the fruit tree nearby the house.

Do you know where to find limau bali?

"Limau Bali" from virtualmalaysia.com

One of the popular spot to buy this fruit is Hentian Limau Bali located in Tambun near Ipoh. It is a good chance for the Malaysian chess community to go to the place because a blitz chess tourney will be held on Sunday, 29th January. The format of the tournament is 10-minute-per-player in a seven (7) SWISS rounds. The tournament is limited only for 50 participants and the champion will bring home one hundred Malaysian Ringgits. The tourney is organized by Persatuan Catur Daerah Kinta or Kinta District chess association.

tourney details

schedule & prizes

BRAVO AND KUDOS TO JOHAN JAMIL AND KINTA DISCTRICT CHESS ASSOCIATION (KDCA) FOR ORGANIZING THE BLITZ TOURNEY.

CAN JOHAN & KDCA ORGANIZE ONE TOURNEY EVERY MONTH?

Johan Jamil - 014-7531108, joeligolas@yahoo.com

To register, to get the registration form and for further enquiry please contact Johan either to his mobile or email.

Ape lagi yeop, moh kite makan limo bali sambil nolak buah catur!!!

Do You Love Your National or Traditional Costume?

2012-01-10T13:56:00.000+08:00

Do you know the lady in below photo who is in Kimono?

GiLoCatur believes many of you know who the man is, right?

For those who do not know, the lady in kimono is Homare Sawa. Who is she? What award she won?

Ms Sawa is the captain of the Japan's women football team. The award she won is FIFA Women's Player of The Year in a ceremony held in Zurich last night. She led her national football team to win the 2011 Women's World Cup.

What impresses GiLoCatur is that, Ms Sawa loves and prouds her national or traditional costume. She would like the whole world to know about it.

So, how about us? How about our children, the Malaysian young generation? Don't we should instill our children to love our traditional or national costume?

photo from japantoday website

2011 Flashback (Part 3)

2012-01-09T13:30:00.002+08:00

One of GiLoCatur's chess-related sweet memories in 2011 is the match between GiLoCatur and the top seed, Mohd Huzairi Hussin, in the 1st Kompleks 3C chess tournament held on 3rd December. The match was in the third round after both of us had won the previous two rounds. Being an "amateur" as per Stonemaster's players classification and having national rating of 1430, GiLoCatur played black against the humble UPSI chess player who is rated at 1574.

GiLoCatur did not expect the match could attract many viewers. They were interested in the match most probably hoping that GiLoCatur could make an upset against the top seed. Or was it because the match was the last board still playing? he he he ...

photo from stonemaster collection

Huzairi (white) vs GiLoCatur (black) - position 1

Black tried to attack white in the Queen + Rook endgame at the above position. GiLoCatur made the following moves ... Qa8+ 2.Kh3 Rc6 3.Qb5 Qc8+ 4.Kg2 Rc2+ after white moved his King to g2. GiLoCatur forgot on what row the white King was moved, either back to row 1 or forward to row 3.

After several moves, the position ended up to the following.

Huzairi (white) vs GiLoCatur (black) - position 2

At this position, GiLoCatur had 33 seconds left while Huzairi had 48 seconds. And it was GiLoCatur's turn to move. Finally, GiLoCatur lost on time. Do you think that GiLoCatur could win from the above position?

Even though GiLoCatur lost, the match is the best for GiLoCatur in the year 2011. Actually, GiLoCatur plays much better in G/45 (45 minute time control) or G/60 (60 minute time control) time format compared to G/20 or G/25. But GiLoCatur will look forward to meet Huzairi again in another tournament. Who knows we will meet again this weekend in 2nd Cerdik Catur. he he he ...

N9 Open Age Group

2012-01-08T02:38:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, GiLoCatur went to Seremban Parade using the commuter. GiLoCatur brought along Fahim and Anis. It took us more than two hours for the commuter ride from Batu 3 station to Seremban. Both Anis and Fahim took part in the Negeri Sembilan Open in the age group category - U18 and U12 respectively.

Do you want to know the Final Ranking after Round 7?

Under 12 category

The total players took part in this category is 46. Puteri Rifqah Fahada came out as the champion. She won six games and drew one. She scored 6.5/7 points. She was awarded prize money reward of three hundreds Malaysian Ringgits.

Below is the Top 25 Final Ranking after Round 7.

U12 Champion

Fahim lost his final round when he played against Amir Muqqri Mohd Saprin. Therefore, he missed to be among the winners.

Under 18 category

In U18 section, Rifqah's elder brother Syakir Shazmeer Azhar won all his seven rounds to become the champion. He beat other 125 participants in this category. He received the prize money award of four hundreds Malaysian Ringgits.

U18 champion

Anis Fariha lost only two games so that she scored 5/7 points. She was placed 24th. It was a very tough competition.

Today, the open category will be held. The champion will be rewarded ONE THOUSAND Malaysian Ringgits. A number of players who played in the age group yesterday will take part today. GiLoCatur was told that IM Mas and FM Nicholas Chan will be taking part. Besides the two of them Malaysian-based Filipino Ian Udani will also take part. All of them are among the top players (have MCF rating of 2200 and above) to beat in the local chess competition.

Will one of them become the champion? Or will other player make an upset to win the N9 Open?

The New National Rating Will Be Out On 15th JAN

2012-01-05T23:41:00.000+08:00

7th JAN 2012

is the deadline for all national-rated tournament organizers held between October and December 2011 to submit their relevant files to Mr Lim Tze Pin, the Malaysian rating officer. Click here for his announcement.

GiLoCatur hopes they will do so because many Malaysian chess players who had participated in the rated tournaments can't wait to know their new national rating.

As mentioned in Tse Pin's blog, the new rating list will be released on 15th January. GiLoCatur also hopes that the Malaysian chess community will not be in state of "keep asking when the national rating will be out" because it will be released on every 15th Day of every new quarter. Just not sure it is either 3-month or 4-month quarter.

A Look At Malaysia's (Active) Women FIDE Rating List

2012-01-01T18:26:00.000+08:00

Today is the first day of the new year, 2012.

For some Malaysian chess players, surely they are happy because some of them get their FIDE ratings and other some of them gain rating including Anis Fariha and his elder brother, Fikri. Even though the rating gain is not that much BUT it is a good start to improve further in the new year.

Let's check on the new Rating List for the Malaysian women (active only) published by FIDE in its website. As GiLoCatur observed, the number in the list has increased from 28 to 33. Four Malaysian girls just got their FIDE rating. Well done for their effort and determination. This is good for Malaysian chess especially in the women section.

Who are the they?

Norhaida Hussin (1683)
Siti Aisyah Sabirin (1602)
Chuah Yi Ning (1540)
Kelly Lim Pei Ying (1456)

source : fide.com

But the rating of our ladies in GiLoCatur's opinion is generally low. Malaysia does not have any women grand master (WGM), not even an International Master (IM / WIM). (GiLoCatur : inactive players not included). Malaysia has only TWO WFMs and THREE WCMs.

How about if we compare with our neighbouring ASEAN countries. We are so far behind Vietnam. There are 85 active women players in the FIDE rating list. Vietnam has 4 WGMs and at least 10 WIMs. How about Philippines? Sorry, no data available in the FIDE website. Don't know why. Indonesia? Singapore?

The list for both Indonesia and Singapore is about half of Malaysia. To be exact, Indonesia has 15 active women chess players who are FIDE-rated while Singapore has 14. But our top female chess player will only be at the 8th spot in the Indonesian list. Meaning, Indonesia has more higher-rated female players than us (Malaysia). So, it is important to the Malaysian chess community to work towards improving the ratings of our female chess players. This feat will not be achieved if our female chess players do not participate in rated chess tournaments, RIGHT? How to make them play or participate in more rated tourneys? One answer is to have more local rated (FIDE, GiLoCatur means) chess tournaments.

GiLoCatur hopes more and more Malaysian ladies and girls will get FIDE rating in 2012. And all the rated Malaysian ladies and girls will improve their rating as the highest as possible. Let's all the chess parents, chess authority (MCF), chess associations, chess coaches, chess clubs and ofcourse, chess players work hard and make it happen.

"MAJU CHESS UNTUK SEMUA"

2011 Flashback (Part 2)

2012-01-01T03:11:00.000+08:00

This is the first entry in the year of 2012. The entry is about the visits statistics of this blog in the year 2011.

GiLoCatur uses three different counter services to keep track the number of visitors to this blog. They are widgeo, sitemeter and statcounter. Serious bloggers monitor and keep track the visits information and data to help them improve the content of their blogs.

So, let's take a look at GiLoCatur's Blog visits statistics.

From the above Sitemeter's Visits By Month chart and data, it is very obvious that the top month is December. June is next followed by March. GiLoCatur's blog had more than 3,000 visits only twice - in December and in June.

Below StatCounter's chart and data confirm and verify the visits pattern and trend. Why GiLoCatur's Blog received many visitors in December 2011; BUT not in December 2010? Why in June and March every year, the number of visitors are high?

The answers are:

There are several chess tournaments held in December 2011 where GiLoCatur had covered or wrote about the majority of them. The Penang Open was held in the first week. Then the Sarawak Open in the second week followed by the 4th NJCC in the third week. In the fourth week, there was the 8th Singapore International Chess Festival.

GiLoCatur wrote 20 and 38 entries each in November and December last year respectively. But ZERO and only 16 in the same months in 2010. GiLoCatur was in Mecca to perform the pilgrimage or Hajj in the whole month of November and first week of December in 2010.

MSSM Chess Championship is normally held in June while NAG (the National Age Group) is in March. These two tournaments are the main attraction for the Malaysian chess followers and enthusiasts. All the Malaysian chess bloggers should take note of this fact. The coverage on such chess tournaments should be done as best as possible.

Based on the statistics, the average visits to GiLoCatur's Blog is about 2,500 per month. The blog had more First Time visits than Returning visits.

GiLoCatur would like to SAY THANK YOU very much to all the visitors and readers. Positive and constructive feedbacks are very welcome.

2nd Singapore International Youth Championships Updates - The Boys (Open) Categories

2011-12-31T23:55:00.001+08:00

Highlighted below are the names of Malaysian boy chess juniors who are among the Top 10 winners in the 2nd Singapore International Youth Championships.

No champion from the Malaysian contingent. The first runner up in Boys U17 category won by Syakir Shazmeer is the best place won by any our boys. It is the first chess tournament for him after his SPM exam.

Three (3) among 70 participants in Boys U8 category are Malaysians. But only one of them was among the winners. Scoring 6/9 points, Tan Jun Ying i splaced 7th. He won SGD 300.

Boys U11 category had the highest number of participants which is 98. Five Malaysians participated in this category. Unfortunately, no one from them won any top 10 spots. The best placing for the Malaysian players is 11th.

In Boys U14 category, 43 participants took part. Ten (10) of them are from Malaysia. Irfan Haqqim, Faizal and Zhi Yang managed to be among the Top 10 and won the total of SGD 1,300 among them. Filipino players were dominating the top 2 positions.

Seven Malaysian players are among 19 participants in this category. Three of them are among the Top 10 in the final ranking. Syakir is SGD 1,000 richer for being the first runner up. Placed fourth, the reigning National Junior Master, Nabil won SGD 600. Jun Feng is placed tenth and won SGD 200.

Congratulation to all the winners!

2nd Singapore International Youth Championships Updates - The Girls Categories

2011-12-31T23:53:00.003+08:00

Below are the winners (Top 10) for the 2nd Singapore International Youth Championship (U8, U11, U14 & U17) for the Girls categories based on chess-results.com

Four Malaysian U8 Girls took part in this event from the total 25 number of participants. Two of them are ranked among the top 10 (above picture). Chua Jia-Tien won the second spot after collecting 7/9 points. She won SGD 800. While Goh Jie Yi won SGD 200 for winning the 9th place with 5/9 points.

Six Malaysians played in the Girls U11 category led by Puteri Rifqah as the top seed. Three of them are among the top 10 placings. Rifqah was placed 6th (SGD 300) while her younger sister Munajjah was placed 10th (SGD 200). De Zen won the 8th spot with 6/9 points. She gets SGD 200 for her efforts.

GiLoCatur believes that Malaysia had the best results in Girls U14 category. Two of four Malaysian representatives in this category dominated the top two spots. Nur Najiha brought home SGD 1,000 for being the champion with 7/9 points. Having same point but lower tie break, Tan Li Ting is the first runner up and won SGD 800. Kelly who took part in Asian Amateur, Penang Open and NJCC before going to Singapore is placed 9th with 5/9 points.

Syabas and tahniah to all the Malaysian girl players!

2011 Flashback (Part 1)

2011-12-31T15:45:00.002+08:00

2011 will leave us in less than 12 hours.

Today GiLoCatur and the kids just stay at home. Both Fikri and Fahim are playing computer games crazily. While Anis is either watching TV or reading her novels.

In this post, GiLoCatur would like to "flashback" our Chess Ratings Mission in the year 2011. What are the mission? Are they achieved?

The mission:

for Fikri to improve his FIDE-rating to 1750
for Anis Fariha to get FIDE-rating
to improve National Ratings

Fikri : to 1650
Anis Fariha : to 1500
Fahim Al-Faqeh : to 1300
GiLoCatur : to 1300

Fikri, who celebrated his 15th birthday in November, got his FIDE rating in 2010. He completed playing nine rated opponents after two FIDE-rated tournaments. The first one is the 37th Selangor Open in the end of April. In that tourney, he played against six rated players with 2/6 points. For information. Fikri started playing in the Selangor Open two years earlier, in the 35th edition. Both GiLoCatur and Anis participated as well. He played against four rated opponents.

In the 2010 National Championship, four out of his total nine opponents are rated. Unfortunately, he lost all the four rated games. But it is enough for him to complete the requirements to earn an Elo rating. Thus, Fikri got his Elo rating beginning July 2010. The rating was 1701.

In the FIDE calender of 2011, Fikri played only six rated games - one in the National Junior Chess Championship (NJCC), 2010 edition which was held in December and five in the 2011 National Championship. In these two tournaments of six rated games, Fikri lost 11 points. Thus his Elo rating goes from 1701 to 1690. It is not an increase but a decrease. So, the mission to improve Fikri's FIDE rating to 1750 is NOT ACHIEVED.

Actually, Fikri played in two FIDE-rated tournaments in this month - the Penang Open and the NJCC. In the former tourney, he had five rated games. Only one of them has Elo rating lower than him while the rest have Elo rating more than 300. Even though he lost 16.80 points in that tourney, the exposure is more priceless in GiLoCatur's opinion. It is a bit odd when Fikri just met three out of nine rated opponents in the NJCC. Actually, both of us, GiLoCatur and Fikri, expected more rated games. Hey, it is in ALLAH's power to decide not HIS slaves. In NJCC, Fikri earned 18.90 rating. So, minus 16.8 the rating change is plus 2.10. It will be added in next year's January rating list.

How about his national (MCF) rating for the above item No 3?

In general, Fikri improved his national rating and achieved the target to improve his rating to 1650. In January, his rating was down from 1564 to 1521. But he improved his rating to 1727 in April. It was a 206 rating increase. And for the first time also, Fikri entered the Malaysian Top 100 Juniors List. He was ranked 32nd. By July, Fikri lost 31 points but gained just two points to make it 1698 in October release. He dropped ten ranks in the list. GiLoCatur is not sure when the new National Rating will be released? GiLoCatur believes it will be January next year. The month of December is going to end.

GiLoCatur is so grateful to the mighty ALLAH because Mission 2 has been accomplished. Anis earned her FIDE rating after two tournaments - the National Women Championship in March and 17th Asian Cities Chess Championship held in Jakarta in April. Her FIDE rating was released in July. Her rating was 1588. In November release, Anis lost 30.30 points from two tournaments. 12th ASEAN+ Age Group in Tarakan, Indonesia and the KL Open held during the Aidil Fitri month in early September. Anis is listed among the 40-only Malaysia FIDE ratings list (Only Women) whom only 28 of them are listed as active.

Like his elder brother, Anis took part in both the Penang Open and NJCC. She lost 14.40 points in the former playing against only one rated opponent. But she performed quite well in the NJCC where she gained 21.30 points playing against five higher-rated opponents scoring 2/5 points. So, calculating these two numbers, Anis managed to gain 6.90 points.

Let's check her national rating. In January, her national rating was below 1400. Three months later, she gained more than 140 points to improve her national rating to 1533. She improved further within next three months gaining 69 more points to 1602. Having such rating, Anis entered the Malaysian Top 100 Juniors List ranked 72nd. But she lost 63 points by October. In the next release, GiLoCatur believes her rating will improve based on her performance in both the Penang Open and NJCC. In general, Anis has improved her national rating and achieved the mission to pass the 1500 mark.

Fahim?

source : here

Based on the above chart, it is very obvious that Fahim's national rating has improved steadily and successfully reach 1300 target . In January, his rating was just 1172. He gained more than 200 points by October. His current national ratings is 1409. Hopefully, Fahim keeps improving such rating.

GiLoCatur thanks the Might Allah because not only all the three kids achieve their national rating target but GiLoCatur himself too. The target for GiLoCatur is the same as for Fahim. Alhamdulillah, GiLoCatur's national rating had increased to over 1300 mark by April. It was 1233 in January and 1337 in April. Then, it is a bonus when it becomes 1430 in July.

In short, Praise to God Missions No 2 and No 3 are accomplished. Just Mission No 1 has yet been achieved. So, what the 2012 Chess Ratings Mission for the family of GiLoCatur would be?

for FIKRI to reach 1800 in both National and FIDE ratings
for ANIS FARIHA to reach 1650 in both National and FIDE ratings
for FAHIM AL-FAQEH to get FIDE-rating and reach 1600 in National rating
for GiLoCatur to reach 1550 in National rating

The mission for Fahim to get a FIDE-rating looks promising entering the new year because he has scored 2.5 points from seven (7) rated games in the 4th NJCC. What he needs is a minimum 3 rated games in a single tournament.

Fahim's FIDE id - 5713544
source : here

GiLoCatur hopes the above mission can be achieved in the new year 2012. To accomplish the mission, GiLoCatur and the kids need to work hard, learn and practice more. May the Mighty ALLAH provides us more strength, will and determination and blesses us with good health, prosperity, success and rahmat. Amin ya rabbal alamin.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Malaysian Players At Singapore International Chess Festival (SIFC)

2011-12-30T09:27:00.001+08:00

Today is Friday. It is the second last day of the year 2011. The new year 2012 will emerge in three more days.

About fourty (40) Malaysian chess players are currently participating in their final chess tournament in the year 2011. The tournament is held in Singapore. The name of the tournament is Singapore International Chess Festival or its abbreviated name, SIFC. Most of them are accompanied by their parents. The majority of them are using their own money for the expense that includes travelling, lodging, food and fees. Since the Sing dollar (SGD) is more than twice higher than the Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) ofcourse the expense is not cheap. Just imagine, the entry fees for a player in the youth categories is MYR 610 (SGD 250). It is much more than the entry fees for both Fikri and Anis in the Penang Heritage City International tournament which is only MYR 400.

SIFC

GiLoCatur has to fork out MYR 750 each for travelling and lodging and another MYR 300 for food. That is MYR 1, 800 in total not including the entry fees. Adding the fees, GiLoCatur spent MYR 2,200 for both Fikri and Anis to participate in the Penang Open. So, just imagine how much money the parents of the Malaysian chess juniors have to spend to participate in the SIFC.

So, GiLoCatur salutes all the dedicated Malaysian chess parents who are in Singapore accompanying their chess playing children.

Enough for that. Let's check the performance of the Malaysian chess players after Round 6 had completed. Three more rounds to go. Round 7 will begin in an hour while Round 8 starts at 4.00 in the afternoon. The final round will be played tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is the last day of 2011.

Under 17 category

Seven (7) Malaysian boys and one girl participate in this category. In the boys section, three of our chess juniors are in the top 5 after Round 6. Nabil Azman Hisham who just won the recent NJCC is ranked second trailing a Filipino player named Medina, Vince Angelo 1/2 point. His chess buddy, Syakir Shazmeer, is third with the same point (4.5/6) but with lower tie break. It is Syakir's first chess tournament after his SPM exam. Tan Jun Feng is fifth in the ranking list with 4/6 point. The other four Malaysian players are Liew Ken Yew, Lim Chuin Khai, Dinesh Siddharthan and Lim Joshua. Chuin Khai has travelled from his hometown Penang to KL and to Singapore. In Penang, he played against Fikri while in KL he played against Fahim.

SIFC U17 Boys

In Round 7, Syakir will try to stop Medina on the top board while Nabil is paired with another Malaysian player, Jun Feng. Will Syakir succeed to outplay his Filipino opponent? Can Jun Feng beat the new National Junior Master (NJM)? Click here to find out later.

SIFC U17 Girls

Olivia, the daughter of Candidate Master Collin Madhavan, is the sole Malaysian player in the girls section. She is one of the nine only participants in this category. She scores 1.5/6 points in the Girls Under 17 category where two unrated Filipino players are dominating.

Under 14 category

In the boys section there are 43 participants which includes three Fide Masters while only 21 in the girls category. After Round 6, Irfan Haqqim Azhar is the best Malaysian player in the boys U14 category at the fifth place with 4/6 points leading nine (9) other Malaysians - Faizal Roslan, Ooi Zhi Yang, Yap Wan Lin, Daniel Iskandar Noor Akbar, Ong Wei Bin, Darrel Yap, Lim Bing Yi, Ang Zhen Yuan and Lim Jun Yi. In Round 7, Irfan is paired against Wan Lin at Table 4 playing black. At Table 3, Zhi Yang will play white against higher-rated Thai opponent, Khumnokeaw Tupfah. While Faizal is challenged by a Singaporean player at Table 5. At the top board, it is an FM battle between the top two seeds. FM Paulo Bersamina, the current leader with perfect 6/6 score, will play black against Vietnamese FM, Tran Tuan Minh. Would you like to know their results? Click here a couple of hours later, okay!

SIFC U14 Boys - Top 20

It is glad to know that the girls section are dominated by Malaysian players as per shown by below Rank after Round 6 picture. WFM Nur Najiha Azman (below picture) is leading with 5/6 points. While WNM Tan Li Ting is second with same score but lower tie break. Both of them drew against each other in the third round and against the top seed, a Filipino player named Marie Antoinette San Diego.

WFM Nur Najiha

Two other Malaysian girls in this category are Kelly Lim Pei Ying and Tan Jia Yun. Kelly who had participated in both the Penang Open and NJCC like Najiha drew four games and won one to score 3/6 points. Meanwhile Jia Yun scores 2.5/6 points.

SIFC U14 Girls

In Round 7, both Najiha and Li Ting play white against their respective opponent on the top two boards. GiLoCatur wishes them Best of Luck to make Malaysia proud in this event. Here is the link to check on their results.

***** 9.23am : GiLoCatur needs to rest for a while to have breakfast. *****

DARE To Blitz at DATCC on the 2nd Day of 2012?

2011-12-29T16:37:00.000+08:00

A couple of days ago, GiLoCatur was wondering if there would be any chess tournament in Klang Valley during this weekend especially on the New Year's eve. GiLoCatur was hoping Najib would organize a rapid or a blitz tournament in DATCC to celebrate the coming of 2012. Indeed he does. GiLoCatur just received his email as per below about an hour ago. Unfortunately, Najib chooses the day for the event on the second day of the new year which is on Monday.

GiLoCatur needs to send Anis back to her hostel on that day. Even though Fikri and Fahim are available on the tournament's day, it is quite troublesome to drive around between Kuala Selangor and KL. Furthermore, both of them need to be around when Anis goes back to her school.

But GiLoCatur believes many Malaysian chess enthusiasts especially blitz players and fans are able to participate in the event. GiLoCatur hopes and urges Najib to register the event at FIDE to make it a FIDE-rated event. If Najib does so, it will become the first Malaysian FIDE-rated blitz chess tournament.

GiLoCatur is not sure whether all the Malaysian chess organizers are aware about "Rapid and blitz rating list" announced by FIDE in its website. If not, read below copy and paste from FIDE website.

"The Executive Board meeting in Krakow approved the launch of "Rapid" and "Blitz" rating lists in 2012. We hope that all federations will take note of the regulations regarding these lists, and that they will ensure that tournament organisers in their nations are informed, as well as encouraging them to register their rapid and blitz events for FIDE rating."

Click here to read the full article.

How about the first Malaysian FIDE-rated Rapid chess tournament? Candidate Master Mohd Fadli aka stonemaster has promised that his 2nd Cerdik Catur Semi Pro tournament to be held on 15th January 2012 will be FIDE-rated. GiLoCatur can't wait to play in the event.

Najib's email:

Folks

What better way to usher the New Year than playing blitz! After all the partying and happening that you may experience on New Year midnight, and nursing the hangover, the tiring and "painful" experience of celebrating the coming of 2012, perhaps it is best to relax and enjoy some chess - on the 2nd day of the New Year - Blitz Chess DATCC style!

A total prize fund of RM500 has been set aside with the winner set to take home RM200 for his (or her!) effort. It will be a 15 rounds of pure fun chess with entry fees set at RM20 each player - regardless of age and title. J

Registration starts at 10:00am with Round 1 schedule at 10:30am. The first 8 rounds shall be played before lunch (until 12:30pm) and Round 9 will restart at 2:00pm with the last Round 15 expected to start at 3:30pm. The prize giving ceremony is tentatively set at 4:00pm.

Entry forms can be downloaded via www.chess-malaysia.com/Blitz2012.pdf

Have a Great NEW YEAR blast and wishing that all your dreams for 2011 had become a reality, and plenty more inspiring moments for 2012!!

Najib Abdul Wahab

Chess Deco At A Shopping Mall?

2011-12-28T01:48:00.000+08:00

About ten days ago, GiLoCatur and family went to a shopping mall. Interestingly, at one of the mall's lobbies CHESS pieces like pawn, queen and knight are used in the decoration like in below pictures. Can you guess what shopping mall it is?

GiLoCatur in front "Queen" tree

chessly decorated tree?

4th NJCC Blitz Masters

2011-12-24T07:07:00.002+08:00

At 2.30pm after the Friday prayer, a chess Blitz event was held at the DATCC. Thirty two (32) players took part where many of them are Under 12 players including Fahim Al-Faqeh, GiLoCatur's youngest son. This is the first blitz tournament for him.

top boards section

lower boards section

the participants

GiLoCatur did not have the final ranking because left the venue early as soon as the competition was over. GiLoCatur hopes more and more blitz tournaments to be held in Malaysia next year. It would be better if such events held next year as well as the Rapid tournaments to be submitted to FIDE for Elo ratings.

2011 NJCC Champions

2011-12-24T02:02:00.000+08:00

The fourth edition of NJCC is just over. The champions are Mohd Nabil Azman Hisham for the Boys category and his younger sister, WCM Nur Nabila Azman Hisham for the Girls category.

Both of them scored 8/9 points. Nabil lost a game to Roshan Singh while Nabila drew twice, one to her younger sister and another to Nur Sabrina Aliya Asman from Pahang.

As GiLoCatur recalls, a national-level competition won by a sibling in the same year are NM Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli and his twin sister WCM Nur Shazwani Zullkafli. They became the champions in the National Chess Close in 2007.

2011 NJCC Champions, Nabil and Nabila, with Greg Lau, Dato' Tan Chin Nam and IM Mok

Congratulation from GiLoCatur to both new NJMs. Hopefully, both of them will continue this success in future tournaments and become Malaysian Grand Masters.

National Junior Master (NJM) Mohd Nabil

2011-12-23T10:11:00.000+08:00

After 45 minutes and about 40 moves, the match between Mohd Nabil Azman Hisham and Yee Jian Yang at the top table was over. Nabil won. He scored 8/9 points from eight (8) wins and one defeat.

Therefore, Nabil is the new Malaysian National Junior Master (boys).

Mohd Nabil Azman Hisham

versus

Yee Jian Yang

Nabil's opponents in 4th NJCC
(note: opponents' Pts are up to R8 only)

SYABAS & TAHNIAH to NABIL!

Who Will Lift the 4th Edition NJCC?

2011-12-23T08:50:00.000+08:00

"Milik siapakah trofi ini?"

NJCC champion trophies

It is 8:15am now. In 15 minutes the final round of the 4th NJCC will begin. Yes, today the game will start half hour early because today is Friday. So, who will lift the trophy?

The Boys Under-20 category

Top 10 Rank before the final round

In the Boys category, Nabil is leading by one point. In the final round he is paired against Under 12 opponent, Yee Jian Yang who has 6/8 points. The other two six pointers, Mark Siew and Roshan Ajeet Singh play against 5.5 pointers on Table 2 and Table 3 respectively.

GiloCatur's eldest son, Fikri, who is ranked 10th and the lowest 5.5 pointers play white against strong unrated opponent, Teh Wee Zhun.

The Girls Under-20 category

Top 10 Rank before the final round

In the Girls category, in GiLoCatur's opinion, WCM Nur Nabila is set to win the champion trophy. It is a tough challenge for Nur Faqihah Aminuddin who scores 5/8 points to stop Nabila. SEA Games medalist, WFM Nur Najiha who is ranked 2nd with 6.5/8 points is the opponent to beat by Ee Sun Xin at Table 2. While another SEA Games player, Camilia, is challenged by Nur Sabrina Aliya Asman at Table 3.

Anis Fariha who drew her two games yesterday in Round 7 and Round 8 will play white against Goh Xin Yen who just got her PMR results yesterday. GiLoCatur would like to congratulate her for scoring all As in her PMR.

DATCC, 8:15am

Tomorrow, THURSDAY 22.12.2011 Is The BIG Day For FIKRI

2011-12-21T23:13:00.001+08:00

GiLoCatur's eldest son, Fikri, who is currently participating in the on-going NJCC or National Junior Chess Championship is one of 481,292 PMR candidates. Others include Low Jun Keat, Vinton Wong Hsien Loong and Goh Xin Yen. Surely, all of them are eager to know their results. Fikri is quite nervous about his result. He is in dilemma whether not to play Round 7 tomorrow morning to go to his school to get the PMR result or otherwise.

Round 6, Table 7 - Vinton Wong (grey shirt) versus Fikri (orange shirt)
The result is 1/2 - 1/2

GiLoCatur advises him to play instead of going for the result because it can be checked online via sms. His mother will get the result slip. GiLoCatur understands Fikri's mind and focus is not on his games at the moment. He is counting the clock. Hopefully, Fikri will get the best PMR results. The same goes to all the names mentioned above.

Checking through sms

Dare To Blitzing On This Friday At DATCC?

2011-12-21T22:31:00.000+08:00

CALLING TO ALL MALAYSIAN BLITZ MASTERS!

DARE TO SHOW OFF YOUR BLITZ SKILLS?

LET'S FIND OUT WHO IS THE REAL MALAYSIAN BLITZ KING.

WHEN? WHERE? HOW MANY ROUNDS? HOW MUCH THE FEES? WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Details on NJCC Blitz Master

4th NJCC - Boys Category Players List

2011-12-19T01:20:00.001+08:00

In the Boys category, about fifty (50) players have registered for the championship. Mohd Nabil is the top seed. Along with Mark Siew and Tan Jun Feng, Nabil were among the top 10 winners in last year edition.

Starting list 1 of 2 for the Boys category

Starting list 2 of 2 for the Boys category

Based on GiLoCatur findings while checking the players FIDE ratings, both Lim Winsen and Kughan Ravindran have two FIDE ids. But both of them do not have yet the ratings. It is important for them to make sure that only one id is being used and updated.

GiLoCatur just also noticed that Teo Boon Kee should be listed in the Girls category.

4th NJCC - Girls Category Players List

2011-12-19T00:22:00.000+08:00

The time has come for Malaysian juniors to fight for the 4th National Junior Master titles. The championship will start tomorrow morning. Where it will be held? The playing venue is DATCC located at the fourth floor of the Wilayah Shopping Complex. All the three GiLoCatur's kids will take part in the championship.

Let's check out the starting players list for the Girls section.

Starting list for the Girls category
source: MCF's Biro Catur Wanita blog

The number of participants for this 4th edition is not encouraging. It is only 21 players listed. GiLoCatur adds Cheong Keat Zhen to the list because she is a female / girl player. Last year, she was in the Girls category whose number of participants was more than thirty (30).

Based on the ratings info compiled by GiLoCatur, WCM Nur Nabila and her younger sister, WFM Nur Najiha, will be the top two seeds. For GiLoCatur, they are the hot favourites to be the new WNJM since the defending champion does not take part this year.

Obviously, several names are missing this year. Or would there be more names tomorrow before Round 1 kicks off?

Sarawak Open - The Final Round

2011-12-17T02:31:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur would like to apologize to the visitors who come to check on the Sarawak Open update especially on the climax day. Actually, yesterday (it is already Saturday at the time of this writing) GiLoCatur had to drive near 100 kilometres north to Pasir Panjang to attend the burial of a close relative.

The wife of GiLoCatur's late uncle on maternal side is passed away. Not only she was married to the younger brother of GiLoCatur's mother, but she is also GiLoCatur's first cousin. Quite confusing ha! In other words, GiLoCatur's uncle married his cousin's daughter. It took GiLoCatur three hours for the journey.

Forget about that, let's see the results of the final round.

Results of top 10 boards in Round 9

At the top board, Jianwen managed to secure a draw with the leader. Meanwhile, at the second board Benjamin Foo of Singapore beat his opponent from Germany. Therefore, two players have 7.5/9 points. That means only tie break will decide who will become the champion. As clearly shown by below Final Ranking, Benjamin Foo of Singapore is the Sarawak Open champion his countryman, Jerome Eng Andre is the first runner up.

Top 20 Final Ranking

Wong Jianwen who played in the World Junior Chess Olympiad recently is the second runner up. He had better tie break than "Abang Bro" Kamaludin Yusof who also score the same 7/9 points. IM Lahiri Atanu, the top seed of the tournament, is fifth with 6.5/9 points.

Congratulation to the champion and other winners. The Sarawak Chess Open has come to the end. The National Junior Chess Championship or simply known as NJCC is next! GiLoCatur had just make payment for the fees of all the three GiLoCatur's children. SEE YOU AT DATCC, NEXT WEEK!

Kinta Blitz Chess Tournament

2011-12-16T03:02:00.001+08:00

MERIAH CATUR DI PERAK YEOP.

Ini yang membuatkan GiLoCatur jealous ni. Selain, Kejohanan Catur Tertutup Perak weekend ini ada satu lagi kejohanan catur yang akan di adakan di Ipoh, Perak dalam bulan Disember ini.

Ingat, BILA dan DI MANA

Jadual Kejohanan

Hadiah

Untuk sebarang pertanyaan dan yuran penyertaan, sila hubungi Encik Mohd Johan Bin Mohd Jamil hp:014-7531108 atau emel:joeligolas@yahoo.com

Satu kategori hadiah sahaja yang dibenarkan bagi setiap peserta yang menang.

Format pertandingan : 7 pusingan

Kawalan masa : 5 minit

Mata pemutus seri (tie-break) : Solkoff, SB (Sonneborne-Berger), Kumulatif

*TARIKH TUTUP PENYERTAAN PADA 20 DISEMBER 2011. SEGALA PEMBAYARAN PERLU DIBUAT SEBELUM ATAU PADA 20 DISEMBER 2011.
*PENDAFTARAN LEWAT AKAN DIKENAKAN DENDA RM 5/=.

Sarawak Open - After Round 8

2011-12-16T01:52:00.002+08:00

Kuching. Thursday, 16/12/2011

Playing in two back-to-back chess tournaments in Malaysia seems have effect to Indian IM, Lahiri Atanu. He lost the two rounds played today. In the afternoon, Jianwen is the happiest person for being the second person to beat the top seed in the Sarawak Open.

Singaporean player, Jerome, continues his superb performance by winning against Filipino Bagamasbad Efren on the top board. With that win he becomes the leader in the tournament, half point ahead the rest of the players after Round 8. He will play black against Jianwen on the top board battle. A win will ensure Jerome to become the tournament's champion. Jianwen can be the champion if he wins his game while Thomas Bueder of Germany at least draw with his opponent on second board.

Top 20 Ranking After Round 8

Entering the critical final round, Malaysia's best hope is on Jianwen who is ranked third. Chess veteran, Kamaludin or also known as Abang Bro is ranked fourth with 6/8 points. Can both of them win their respective games to improve the placing.

Top 10 Boards Round 9 pairings

Sarawak Open - After Round 7

2011-12-15T17:45:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur did not expect that the results for Round 7 of the Sarawak Open had been posted already at chess-results.com. In the past three days, it was published after both rounds in the day had been completed.

There is a big upset indeed. IM Lahiri Atanu was defeated by a Singaporean player named Jerome Eng Andre on top board. His countryman, Benjamin Foo, drew with Filipino player on second board. Now the ranking has changed. Jerome jumped to the top spot with 6/7 points having better tie break than Bagamasbad Efren who is now ranked second.

The best Malaysian player is Jianwen who is currently ranked fifth with 5.5/7 points. In Round 8 that began about three hours ago, Jianwen is paired with the Indian IM on second board. Will Jianwen succeed to defeat an IM?

R7 results for top 15 boards

Sarawak Open - After Round 6

2011-12-14T23:40:00.000+08:00

The Sarawak Chess Open is entering Day 4. Six rounds has completed. Three more rounds to go, two rounds tomorrow and the final one on Friday.

So, who is (are) leading the tournament right now?

Indian International Master (IM), Lahiri Atanu is in the lead with 5.5/6 points. In second place is Filipino chess player named Bagamasbad Efren who also has same score. They drew with each other in the fifth round held today. Two Singaporeans are in the third and fourth place. Both of them are the only 5 pointers in the tournament.

The best Malaysian is MSSM KL player, Wong Jianwen followed by recently-crowned Asian Amateur Master (AM) Ahmad Fadzil Nayan. Both of them have 4.5/6 points. The tournament's second seed, Filipino Legaspi Rhobel, scores 4/6 points and is placed 14th.

Top 20 After Round 6

The top seed, Indian IM

One of two Filipino players in Sarawak Open

"Abang Bro" Kamaludin

Abang Bro takes two weeks off from office to participate in two back-to-back chess tournaments, the Penang Open and the Sarawak Open.

The sole PCNK representative, Nik Farouqi

credit: all the above photos are from http://www.facebook.com/PenangChess

Top 10 boards Round 7 pairings
click here to view the complete R7 pairings

Can Singaporean chess players - Jerome Eng Andre and Benjamin Foo, win over their respective top two ranked opponents? Let's find out tomorrow night after the results is published online at the chess-results.com.

Perak Close This Weekend

2011-12-13T19:46:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur just realized that Perak Chess Close or in Malay "Kejohanan Catur Tertutup Perak" will be held this weekend, 17th & 18th December 2011 in Ipoh. The event is jointly organized by PICA, the state chess association, and SMK Seri Putera, a secondary school.

The registration deadline is tomorrow, Wednesday 14th December 2011. Go to PICA's blog here for further info and to download the entry form. Good luck to all the Perakians who will participate in the tournament. "YEOP, JANGAN MIKE KEJOR, TAPI PIKIO JANGAN TAK PIKIO!" :)-

GiLoCatur wonders whether Selangor will ever have its Selangor Close this year or next year? Or will Selangor have only the Selangor Open? Its chess association, Chess Association of Selangor, seems to be inactive for quite some time. GiLoCatur misses the Allegros that it uses to organize. GiLoCatur wishes and hopes CAS will become active again.

GiLoCatur's beloved state

Sarawak Chess Open - (2008) A Look At GiLoCatur's 2nd Round Game

2011-12-11T20:33:00.000+08:00

As mentioned in the previous entry, GiLoCatur took part in this tournament three years ago. Let's take a look at one of GiLoCatur's games in the tournament. It was in the second round where GiLoCatur played against a Sarawakian teenager named Faeznor Razali who at that time had Elo ratings of 1927. GiLoCatur did not (still is) have FIDE ratings yet. Even GiLoCatur's national ratings was only 939.

Below is the game. GiLoCatur welcomes any comment, feedback and analysis from anyone.

Saleh Abd Latif (939) - Faeznor Razali (1927) [A31]

Sarawak Chess Open (2.17), 01.11.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 d6 5.Bf4 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.e3 Nh5 8.Nc3 Nxf4 9.exf4 Nc6 10.Be2 0-0 11.Rc1 Qb6 12.b3 Qa5 13.Qd2 Rd8 14.0-0 h6 15.Nd5 Qxd2 16.Nxd2 e6 17.Nc7 Rb8 18.Nb5 a6 19.Nc3 Nd4 20.Bf3 Bd7 21.Rfd1 b5 22.Kf1 b4 23.Nce4 (better Ne2) Bc6 24.c5 Bb5+ 25.Nc4? (allowed black to fork the Knights, GiLoCatur should move Ke1 or Kg1) d5 26.a4 bxa3 27.Nc3 dxc4 28.Nxb5 axb5 29.b4 Nxf3 30.Rxd8+ Rxd8 31.gxf3 a2 32.Ra1? (cannot stop the pawn from Queening anyway) Bxa1 0-1

To those who are not familiar with chess openings especially the Benoni Defense, it is a group of chess openings generally characterized by the opening moves 1. d4 c5 2. d5. Old Benoni, Czech Benoni and Modern Benoni belong to this group.

Based on the registered players list, Faeznor will take part in the Sarawak Open next week. GiLoCatur would like to wish him Best of Luck!

Sarawak Open Is Next

2011-12-11T07:34:00.003+08:00

Penang Open is over. Sarawak Open is next. It will start on Monday, 12th December 2011 (12.12.11) and end on Friday, 16th December 2011 (16.12.11).

To flash back, GiLoCatur played in the Sarawak Open three years ago. GiLoCatur flew to Kuching, Sarawak with Fikri and Mohd Irfan Haqqim, Azhar's son. Mind you, in 2008 GiLoCatur took part in two standard chess competitions - Selangor Open and Sarawak Open. GiLoCatur's MCF ratings at that time was below 1000.

GiLoCatur at 2008 Sarawak Open

Checking the registered players list in Mr Lim Kian Hwa's website here, several players who played in the recently concluded Penang Open, will play in the Sarawak Open like Kamaluddin Yusoff and Nik Farouqi (local players) and IM Atanu Lahiri, Rhoebel Legaspi and Efren Bagamasbad (foreign players).

After the Sarawak Open, a chess tournament for Malaysian juniors (Under 20) will be held at DATCC. The name of the tournament is the National Junior Chess Championship (NJCC). This year will be its fourth edition.

(note: You can read the report on 2008 Sarawak Open under 2008 Blog Archive, choose November.)

Penang Open Coverage

2011-12-10T15:59:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur knows that many Malaysian chess enthusiasts are following the Penang Open. They want the updates and results to be put up online as immediately as possible. They seek for coverage.

As a chess blogger, GiLoCatur also wants to make the coverage as best and fast as possible. This is for the benefits of the Malaysian chess specifically. GiLoCatur believes other Malaysian chess bloggers like Gilachess and Fireyrook also want the same thing. But we have our own limitation and obstacles.

For example, Fireyrook right now is having a family vacation in Terengganu (based on his facebook updates). But he tries to cover the event on his own busy time. Gilachess came down to Penang on the second last day, most probably from his own pocket money and after settling his work.

GiLoCatur has to find time to make the coverage. GiLoCatur has to manage the needs like the travelling, lodging and food for the family especially for both Fikri and Anis who are playing in the event. The budget needs to be taken care of ( ... smiling ...). GiLoCatur also has to share the broadband with wife because she needs to do her study assignments. Surely, GiLoCatur needs to monitor the children when they are playing. Like other chess parents, GiLoCatur is also nervous, tension, and worry when the children are playing. It is very tiring during a chess tournament for a chess parent.

What GiLoCatur wants to highlight is PLEASE DO NOT CONDEMN THE CHESS BLOGGERS. GIVE MORAL SUPPORT AND CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACKS. It does not necessarily a compliment or a praise.

KOMEN, PANDANGAN, FEEDBACK DAN KRITIKAN ADALAH DIALU-ALUKAN. TETAPI BERHEMAHLAH BILA MEMBERI SEPERTI DITUNTUT OLEH BUDAYA MASYARAKAT KITA. It hurts GiLoCatur when reading in shout box negative and abusive comments to fellow chess bloggers like Gilachess, Hairulov and Fireyrook.

Enough with that, check out also below blog on the Penang Open (GiLoCatur assumes) created by Gilachess, the Malaysian otai chess blogger. You can find Gilachess' trademark interactive final ranking cross table for both Open and Challengers sections and photos.

http://penangopen.blogspot.com/

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - DIMAKILING OLIVER is the Champion for the Open Section

2011-12-10T14:25:00.001+08:00

DIMAKILING OLIVER is the champion in the 3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Open held from Tuesday, 6th until today, 10th December 2011. He scored 8/9 points from seven wins and two draws. In the final round today, a draw is enough for him to claim the championship with one point difference. Another Filipino, Olay Edgar Reggie, is the first runner up after winning on tie break over the tournament's top seed, IM Nguyen Van Huy from Vietnam.

Top 20 Final Ranking - Penang Open

Eight Malaysian chess players are among the top 20 in the tournament. Malaysian chess wonder kid, 12-year-old Yeoh Li Tian, is the best Malaysian player after winning the fifth spot with 6.5/9 points. In the fifth round, Li Tian recorded an amazing win over Filipino IM, Dableo Ronald who has FIDE ratings of 2445. It would be more amazing if he could win over Vietnamese IM, Nguyen Van Huy.

The second best Malaysian is NM Tan Khai Boon. A draw in the final round with the eventual champion has pushed him to the sixth spot. IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and FM Ronnie Lim Chuin Hoong are 8th and 12th respectively. The former is the best six (6) pointers.

Click here for the complete final ranking.

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - GEENEISH is the Champion for the Challengers

2011-12-10T13:43:00.000+08:00

Based on the Final Ranking results from chess-results.com, GEENEISH SIVALINGAM is the champion in the Challengers section for this year edition. He won his final round against Soh Isaak Ethan Hong Han who has 1/2 point more.

Geeneish won seven games and drew two of them. Very impressive. The players he drew with are Mohd Faizal Roslan and Mat Zaki Yeop in the third and sixth round respectively. Still very clear in GiLoCatur's memory the double rook endgame in his match against veteran player, Mat Zaki. (Ofcourse, because GiLoCatur captured it on photo ... LOL). Congratulation to him.

Below is the Top 20 Final Ranking.

Top 20 Final Ranking for Challengers setcion

Tin Jun Hao, the defending champion, is placed tenth with 6.5/9 points.

To view the complete Final Ranking, go to this link.

R3 T3 - Mat Zaki (black) vs Geeneish (white)

GiLoCatur thought black had advantage after its both rooks had been placed at the white's back rank. Black's King is very active but open (vulnerable) for white attack. Any comment?

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - R9 Challengers Top 10 Boards Unofficial Results

2011-12-10T12:29:00.000+08:00

The final round of the 3rd Penang Heritage City International chess tournament - Open and Challengers, are going to end. Some matches are completed.

Below is the unofficial results for the Challengers section top 10 boards as the time of writing. Two more boards are still playing including the top board which will decide who will become the champion. Coincidentally, the important match is between a Malaysian and a Singaporean player. On the top board, it looks that white is winning.

Geeneish (white)

Soh (black)

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - The Family Battle

2011-12-10T05:49:00.001+08:00

On the fourth day of the tournament, people may not notice that there is a family battle - between TIN versus SALEH. In the morning round in the Open section, TIN Jingyao (FIDE 1986) played white against Fikri SALEH. The former who is a Singaporean Fide Master won the match. In the afternoon, Jingyao's younger sister, Ruiqi, played white against Fikri's younger sister, Anis Fariha. The TIN's daughter won the game.

Fikri (left) versus Jingyao (right)

GiLoCatur was still in Penang when Ruiqi and Anis Fariha started their match at Table 4. By the time they finished the game, GiLoCatur and wife had already touched down the LCCT located in Sepang near the KLIA airport.

Round 8 - Anis Fariha (left) versus Ruiqi (right)

GiLoCatur started to know and notice about Ruiqi during the KL Open tournament. In fact, she had played Anis in the eighth round playing white. Ruiqi who is currently rated at 1574 won the game. So, it is 2 - 0 between them.

[ It seems 8 is the "Ong" number for Ruiqi and otherwise for Anis Fariha. Both faced each other in the eighth round in two tourneys - KL Open and Penang Open. ]

Ruiqi is a strong player as shown by below results. She only lost and drew once each. She lost to Mohd Faizal Roslan in the fifth round playing black.

List of Ruiqi's opponents

Statistics On MAS Junior Chess Players FIDE Ratings

2011-12-10T02:40:00.001+08:00

(Note: MAS = the code country for Malaysia in world chess)

As part of the Malaysian chess community, do you know how many our junior chess players have FIDE ratings? Who are the top in respective age groups - U10, U12, U14, U16, U18 and U20? What have been done to increase the number? What is the progress of their ratings? Increase? Decrease? Where Malaysia stands among the ASEAN countries?

So many questions, eh? Let's check the first two questions first.

Under 10

Under 12

Under 14

Under 16

Under 18

Under 20

It is so unbelievable that Malaysia has less than ten players aged 19 and 20 years old who have FIDE ratings.

Two names seen missing from the list. They are Goh Xin Yen and Latifah Kaiyisah. The reason being is their birth years are missing in the FIDE ratings. Both of them should be in the U16 list.

So, the total number of FIDE-rated Malaysian chess juniors?

7 + 12 + 20 +19 + 14 + 7 = 79 + 2 = 81

How Malaysia is compared to other ASEAN countries? Check out below table.

Surprisingly, Malaysia has higher numbers of FIDE rated players for juniors compared to Indonesia (INA), Philippines (PHI) and Singapore (SIN). From GiLoCatur's observation, there are many missing birth years for both Indonesian and Filipino players. Vietnam, on the other hand, has complete profile for its players. We should follow Vietnam in keeping good database info for its players in the FIDE ratings database.

source : here

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - Random Matches

2011-12-09T11:32:00.000+08:00

Below are several random matches GiLoCatur extracted from the Chess Bulletin.

match 1

match 2

match 3

In the first round, Nik Farouqi who is rated at 2070 had an upset defeat against his much lower-rated opponent.

match 4

Do not afraid to take part in internationally standard chess tournament even if you lack exposure or just regular rapid chess player. Alias Hanafi proves that he can win against a "Mat Salleh" and higher-rated opponent. Check out his game below.

match 5

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - Chess Buletin

2011-12-09T10:56:00.000+08:00

Two of GiLoCatur's children, Fikri and Anis, are participating in the Penang Open. At the time of this writing, they are playing their seventh round. It has passed the one hour mark. Actually, this is the first time that GiLoCatur and the kids participate in the tournament which is also known as the Penang Heritage City International Chess tournament.

As far as GiLoCatur remembers, GiLoCatur and the kids have participated only in three chess tournaments in Penang. National Age Group (NAG) two years ago, MSSM Chess Championship in last June and the 3rd Penang Open.

Penang Chess Association or its short name, PCA, led by its President, Mr Lee Ewe Ghee, lives up to its reputation in organizing chess events.

Among the commendable efforts done in the tournament.

Spectators are allowed in the tournament hall

The decision to allow spectators to be in the tournament hall is very commendable. Coaches and parents can monitor the players games and progress. The majority of the participants especially in the Challengers sections are kids and teenagers. Spectators including the amateur and junior players can also watch the masters and chess pro playing. Spectators must appreciate this by not making noise and interrupt the participants like taking pictures using flash light.

Fikri played his same-age Indonesian opponent in Round 5

Players Names

It is very common in internationally standard chess tournaments, players name with their national flags are put on table near the table numbers. For GiLoCatur, the players name in this Penang Open (only in the Open section; not in the Challengers section) increases the prestige. Fikri commented that he is so proud to be playing in this tournament and Open section even though he has much better chance to be on the podium in the Challengers category.

Penang Open chess bulletin front cover

Chess Bulletin

This morning, chess bulletin has been distributed to all the players for both sections. It is simple; not fancy, BUT important to all participants. BRAVO to the organizer and the volunteers who key in the record sheets into PGN database. It is not an easy job. GiLoCatur could watch them doing the key in at their notebooks in the tournament hall. GiLoCatur hopes other standards chess tournaments held in Malaysia can distribute the chess bulletin before the event ends.

Syabas and well done to the Penang Open organizing crew members.

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - Day 2 Photo Gallery

2011-12-08T06:07:00.002+08:00

photo 1

photo 2

photo 3 - IM Chiong (PHI) versus Lim Kian Hwa (1/2 - 1/2)

photo 4 - Fairin (left) versus IM Lahiri Atanu (IND)

photo 5

photo 6

photo 7

photo 8 - Challengers section

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - Day 2

2011-12-08T02:59:00.001+08:00

Four of the total nine rounds had completed. GiLoCatur and family left the tournament hall quite late because Anis, GiLoCatur's daughter, were among the six last players (meaning, three boards) in the Challengers section to finish their games. Both boards 3 and 5 were finished at about the same time. The last board to finish is board 14 between Teh De Zen and Lim Yu Chia. Their match resulted in a draw.

Anis was playing on board 3. His opponent was Ramone Mikgail Kok. Meanwhile, Kelly Lim Pei Ying of Penang won the board 5 battle. He She defeated Daniel Iskandar Noor Akbar. (note: what a big grammatical error! It's like a blunder in chess. :( - 10 Dec 11, 12.12am )

Teh De Juan is leading the Challengers section, which the majority of participants are youngsters, with the perfect 4/4 score having better tie break than three other players who have similar score. Trailing half point, five other players including Anis are vying to be among the leaders by the end of the third day.

Let's find out later.

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - Indonesian Youngster Drew With IM Mas

2011-12-07T07:13:00.000+08:00

Round 2, Table 5 - Sean Winshand Cuhendi vs IM Mas

Indonesian youngster drew with IM Mas in the fifth round. He stopped IM Mas from being in the perfect 2/2 score list.

3rd Penang Heritage City International Open - Round 2 Pairings

2011-12-06T15:04:00.001+08:00

Round 2 is going to start. Click here to check the pairings for the Open section.

Click here to check the pairings for the Challengers section.

3rd Penang Heritage City International Chess Tournament - 1st Round

2011-12-06T13:56:00.002+08:00

The first round of the 3rd Penang Heritage City - both Open and Challengers, had started this morning. More than 200 chess players are taking part including two of GiLoCatur's children - Fikri and Anis Fariha. The former is playing in the Open section while the later takes part in the Challengers section.

photo 1 - get ready for the first round

photo 2 - Challengers section

Anis Fariha, GiLoCatur's only daughter is playing in the Challengers category. She won her first round match against Ang Jing Xuan. Seeded 14th, Anis played white.

photo 3 - parents can't wait the tourney to start

photo 4 - Amir Qayyim (left) vs Iskandar Abdullah (SIN)

Amir Qayyim (above picture), the son of the reigning Malay champion, Mohd Saprin, also takes part in the tournament. He is playing in the Open section while his younger brother is playing in the Challengers section.

photo 5 - Fikri (right) against Mari Joseph Turqueza (PHI)

GiLoCatur's eldest son, Fikri, was paired against a Filipino player at table #12 whose Elo ratings is 2277. More than 500 ratings gap. The match is already over when Fikri 0, Mari Joseph 1.

The official results has not come out yet. One upset result acknowledged by GiLoCatur is the match at table 23 between unrated Ang Zhen Yuan and Nik Ahmad Farouqi who has 2070 Elo ratings. Woud there many more upsets? Check out this blog more often or follow GiLoCatur's twitter.

Are You Ready For Penang Chess Open?

2011-12-06T01:50:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur and family had arrived in Penang several hours ago. GiLoCatur believes all the participants for the Penang Chess Open have already arrived too. The venue of the tournament is Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel (below picture).

Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel

Fikri will play in the Open with 73 other chess players. He is seeded 49th with Elo ratings 1690. In the first round tomorrow morning, he is paired with the 12th seed, a player from Philippines who has Elo ratings of 2277. A tough opponent indeed for Fikri.

While Anis will take part in the Challengers category. With Elo ratings of 1588, she is ranked 14th out of total 138 participants.

GiLoCatur hopes both of them will play their best in the tournament.

GiLoCatur will try to update the tournament from time to time via twitter. So, FOLLOW GILOCATUR's TWITTER, ok!

The 1st Kompleks 3C MPSJ Chess Tournament - Photo Journalism

2011-12-04T23:59:00.000+08:00

photo 1

photo 2

photo 3

photo 4

The Main Winners

the champion - Muhammad Anuwar

the first runner up

the second runner up

4th

5th

6th

The 1st Kompleks 3C MPSJ Chess Tournament - The Final Round Pairings

2011-12-04T23:54:00.000+08:00

Today a chess tournament for local amateur chess players was held at MPSJ 3C Complex. Only participants who have national ratings of 1600 and below could take part. GiLoCatur accompanied both Anis and Fahim in the tournament. Anis has 1500+ national ratings while both GiLoCatur and Fahim have 1400+.

It was a big turn out since more than 150 chess players took part. A dedicated Cikgu Sabirin drives all the way from Dungun, Terengganu so that his two daughters could participate in the tourney.

Below are the pairings of the final round which is the eighth.

page 1 - The top 25 boards

page 2 - Next 36 boards

page 3 - the bottom twelve boards

Asian Amateur Open Update - Haslindah And Kin Keuw Joined The Perfect 3/3 Scorer List

2011-11-27T17:42:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur and family just got back home from kampung after a busy weekend having a wedding ceremony of sister in-law.

We would have a short break before having another family program.

Immediately after arriving home, GiLoCatur went online to chess-results.com. GiLoCatur would like to know the results of the on-going Asian Amateur Open which Malaysia is hosting. Apparently, 110 chess players from eight different countries are participating. The majority is from Malaysia with 77 number of participants followed by United Arab Emirates or UAE (15) and Singapore (10).

Three rounds had completed. The fourth round is under way while GiLoCatur is writing this entry. The results are interesting and unpredictable. The top three seeds are not among the top 5 tables. In GiLoCatur's eyes, Haslindah Roslan, Chek Kin Keuw and Mohd Ezmi Mahmood recorded the most interesting results. With Elo ratings of 1658, Haslindah managed to win against higher-rated opponents - Bernard Ng (rated 1999) and Shrestha Rajendra Prasad (rated at 2040), in the second and third round respectively. She is among the perfect 3/3 scorers.

Having national ratings of 1641 and no FIDE ratings, like Haslindah, Kin Keuw won all his rounds so far. In the first round, he beat Mooi Kok Onn Osric who has 1900s Elo ratings. Then, he won against Syazwan Zulkifli (1993) in the second round. Then, in the third round, Amri Ibni Hajar who is rated at 2010 became his next victim.

Kelantan-born Mohd Ezmi Mahmood

Still without FIDE ratings, Mohd Ezmi upset Chan Mun Fye in the first round. Then he defeated Malaysian veteran chess player, Lim Kian Hwa in the second round. Ezmi's sterling performance ended when he played Mohd Nabil in the third round.

In the first round, about eight unrated players beat their rated opponents. Besides the opponents of the above three players, both Roshan Ajeet and Fairul Yusoff were among the unlucky rated players to be defeated. The former was beaten by Foo Che Kin while the latter went down to 13-year-old Harleiff Hanif.

In the second round, three unrated players won over their rated opponents. Both Chuah Yi Ning and Kelly Lim Pei Ying joined Chek Kin Kuew to win over their respective opponents. While in the third round, six rated players went down to their respective opponents who have no FIDE ratings yet. In this round also, Ahmad Fadzil Nayan, the 12th seed, defeated his first seed opponent.

Would it be more surprises in the tournament? Just wait and see. Best of luck to all Asian Amateur Open participants!

CHECK OUT! Tomorrow, Saturday 26th November 2011, 8.00 am, TV2

2011-11-25T12:22:00.000+08:00

Check out guys!

Tomorrow, Saturday 26th November 2011, 8.00 am.

Turn on your TV channel to RTM TV2.

A Kid TV Programme

Radio Televisyen Malaysia

FAHIM WILL BE ON AIR ...

4th NJCC - 19th to 23rd Dec 2011

2011-11-24T15:48:00.000+08:00

Finally, the Malaysian National Junior Chess Championship or simply known as NJCC, the fourth edition, is confirmed to be held from Monday, 19th until Friday 23rd December 2011.

GiLoCatur received an email with the entry form and details of the tournament from Mr Greg Lau, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) secretary, sent yesterday.

4th NJCC

Event : (1) Boys U-20 (2) Girls U-20

Format : Nine (9) SWISS rounds

Time Control : 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move 1. All moves must be recorded.

The Schedule

The closing date : Friday, 16th December 2011

ENTRIES AFTER CLOSING DATE WILL BE ACCEPTED ONLY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE ORGANIZERS AND A LATE PENALTY (RM 50) WILL BE CHARGED.

MALAYSIAN CITIZENS ONLY CAN PARTICIPATE IN THIS TOURNAMENT.

For further enquiries, please contact :

Mr Gregory Lau at 012-2577123 - (email: msianchess2010@gmail.com)
Pn.Zuraihah Wazir at 017-2837808
Pn Haslindah Ruslan at 019-2069605

SEA Games - Malaysia Won Gold Medal In Football

2011-11-21T23:46:00.000+08:00

GiLoCatur had a "teh tarik" session after work at a "kedai Mamak" in Putrajaya with a long-time-not-seen buddy.

Check out below pictures, how passionate the Malaysians are when it is a football final match. No doubt, football is the number one (numero uno) sports among the Malaysians. It is envied by other sports like chess.

They cheered very loudly.

photo 1 - Recurve BlackBerry

photo 2 - Recurve BlackBerry

Malaysia defended the gold medal it won two years ago. Malaysia beats Indonesia, the host country, in the penalty kick after 1 - 1 score during normal 90-minute playing time and goaless extra 30 minute.

Congratulation to the Malaysian football team!

SEA Games - The Blitz Champions

2011-11-21T23:15:00.000+08:00

Arrived home from work, immediately GiLoCatur went online to chess-results.com website. GiLoCatur would like to know the results of the Chess blitz event held today.

In this event, Malaysia is represented by IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and Sumant Subramaniam in the Men category and Azman Hisham sisters - WCM Nur Nabila and WFM Nur Najiha, in the Women category.

Philippines and Vietnam each won Gold medal in this event.

The only Gold medal in chess won by Philippines is contributed by its top chess player, GM Wesley So (below picture). He came back strong from his disappointment for not winning gold in the Men Standard event. Impressively, he won all his nine games including against the top seed, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam. Truong Son got Silver while So's countryman, GM Mark Paragua, gave Bronze medal to Philippines.

Wesley So - Gold medallist in Men Blitz
(from SusanPolgar blog)

Men Blitz
source : chess-results.com

IM Mas was placed fourth with four wins, four losses and one draw. He had 4.5/9 points. Meanwhile, Sumant who is last in the starting list based on Elo ratings managed to win two games. The two opponents he defeated are grandmasters - Mark Paragua of Philippines and Cerdas Barus of Indonesia. GiLoCatur hopes such wins will boost Sumant's confidence that he can beat masters.

WIM Hoang, Thi Nhu Y
source : fide.com

Men Blitz
source : chess-results.com

In the Women Blitz event, a Vietnamese Women International Master (WIM) Hoang Thi Nhu Y emerged the gold medallist. She won five games and drew the other four to record 7/9 points. It is the sixth gold medal in chess for Vietnam. Both Silver and Bronze medals went to the host country, Indonesia. Its chess princesses - WFM Warda Aulia Medina and WIM Chelsie Monica Sihite contributed the medals. Both of them had same 6.5/9 points. But Warda had better tie break than Chelsie.

The Malaysian players are placed fifth and eighth. Nabila had 5.5/9 points while her younger sister scored 3/9 points. GiLoCatur believes the two young players are at par with other players even though they have the lowest Elo ratings. In next SEA Games, GiLoCatur strongly believe that both of them will provide medals to Malaysia.

In summary, the medal tally for Chess Blitz event

VIE - 1G, 1S

PHI - 1G, 1B

INA - 1S, 1B

Congratz To The Malaysian Shooting Princess!

2011-11-17T23:40:00.007+08:00

The Malaysian chess community needs a "Chess Princess" or Puteri Catur like Nur Suryani who is the Malaysian "Shooting Princess" or Puteri Menembak in the on-going 26th SEA Games to make chess stand tall in the Malaysian sports. Who among the four Malaysian female chess players will take the challenge?

Nur Suryani, the Malaysian Shooting Princess
Image © AFP, from Astro Arena

The 29-year-old Malaysian shooting princess had won TWO GOLD medals for the country. She won the first Malaysian Gold medal in the 26th SEA Games in the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Position event. Then, she won the second Gold medal in the Women 10m Air Rifle event. Syabas and tahniah to her from GiLoCatur!

SEA Games - Standard Chess Event

2011-11-17T13:00:00.004+08:00

The Standard Chess event will start today at 2.30pm. Malaysia will be represented by IM Jimmy Liew in the Men category and 13-year-old Camilia Johari in the Women category.

Based on the starting list below, only six contestants in the Men category and five contestants in the Women category. GiLoCatur strongly believe Malaysia has a good chance to win medal in both categories. The top and hot favourites to win the Gold medals in this event are GM Wesley So from Philippines for Men and WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar from Indonesia for Women.

Three events in Chess had completed. Vietnam has won two (2) Gold medals and Thailand has won one (1). Vietnam won Gold in Blindfold and Mixed Pair events while Thailand won Gold in Asean Chess.

source : Greg Lau

The schedule for IM Jimmy

17th, Round 1, GM Cao Sang (VIE), White

18th, Round 2, GM Wesley So (PHI), Black

19th, Round 3, FM Kyaw Lin Naing (MYA), White

20th, Round 4, GM Susanto Megaranto (INA), White

21st, Round 5, FM Teerapabpaisit Wiruwat (THA), Black

All matches start at 2.30pm except the fifth which will start at 9.00am

source : Greg Lau

The schedule for Camelia

17th, Round 1, Bye

18th, Round 2, WIM Thi Mai Hung Nguyen (VIE), White

19th, Round 3, WFM Rulp Ylem Jose (PHI), Black

20th, Round 4, Isawan Srijontong (THA), White

21st, Round 5, WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar (INA)

All matches start at 2.30pm except the fifth which will start at 9.00am.

GOOD LUCK! to both Malaysian players.

SEA Games - MALAYSIA Won Bronze in Mixed Event

2011-11-17T09:43:00.003+08:00

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!

SEA Games - Vietnam Grabs Gold in Blindfold Chess

2011-11-17T08:26:00.000+08:00

Vietnam grabs GOLD in the Blindfold chess event in the 26th SEA Games in Palembang. Its Numero Uno chess player, GM Le Quang Liem, scored 7/9 points to emerge as the Gold medallist. Both the Silver and Bronze medals went to The Philippines. Even though has same points as the champion, GM Paul J Gomez was awarded the Silver medal because GM Quang Liem has better tie break. With 5.5/9 points, GM Darwin Laylo provided the second medal for his country in this event.

Below is the final ranking cross table after 9 rounds for the Blindfold chess event.

FR Blindfold Chess Event (chess-results.com)

GM Le Quang Liem (from chessdom.com)

SEA Games - Starting Rank List For Rapid Event

2011-11-16T09:31:00.001+08:00

Rapid is one of the events for Chess in the 26th SEA Games. Two GOLD medals are vied by six countries which participated. Surprisingly, Singapore does not take part.

Vietnam is the hot favourite in this event. The players from this country dominate the starting rank list. In the men's category, Vietnam is represented by one "super" GM and "very strong" GM. Le With Elo ratings of 2714, Quang Liem is the hot favourite to win the Gold medal. He will be challenged by his country man, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son who is at the second rank and the only 2600-rated player in the list.

Men Rapid Chess

The Philippines' chess wonder boy, Wesley So, does not take part in this event. The country is represented by IM Oliver Barbosa and GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. While Indonesia, the host country, is represented by two FMs - Kasmiran and Hamdani Rudin.

How about Malaysia? The Malaysian top player, IM Mas Hafizulhelmi who has Elo ratings of 2398, is ranked fifth. He is Malaysia's best hope to grab a medal in this event. IM Mas is accompanied by Sumant Subramaniam who is the second last in the starting list with Elo ratings of 2083. GiLoCatur hopes Sumant will play his best and has strong will and determination to make an upset.

Women Rapid Chess

In the Women event, only 10 players take part. Both Myanmar and Thailand has only one player taking part. Two WGMs from Vietnam who have 2300s Elo ratings are the top seeds followed by two Indonesian players. The Philippines players are right above both the Malaysian players.

In the Women Rapid Chess, Malaysia is represented by WCM Nur Nabila Azman Hisham and WNM Tan Li Ting who are among the bottom three in the starting rank list. But GiLoCatur believes both of them have a chance to be on the podium. They must believe in themselves and be proud to play for the country. DON'T BE AFRAID! BE CONFIDENT!

For this event, nine rounds will be played starting on 17th November and ending on 20th November. YAKIN BOLEH to all the four Malaysian chess players. MAKE MALAYSIA AND ITS CHESS COMMUNITY STAND TALL AND PROUD.

Bravo IM Yee Weng N WFM Nur Najiha!

2011-11-15T04:50:00.000+08:00

After just completed reading a thriller novel titled PENUNGGU RIMBA TOMBIRUO by Ramlee Awang Murshid bought on last Sunday, GiLoCatur quickly went online to check on the results of chess Mixed pair event in the ongoing SEA Games.

Six countries including Malaysia are taking part in the five-round Mixed pair category. Malaysia is represented by IM Lim Yee Weng and WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham. The former is the seventh seed while the latter is the second last seed out of total 12 participants.

Today Round 3 had been held. Malaysia was paired against the host country, Indonesia. GiLoCatur is so glad and surprise that Malaysia won. The Indonesian pair - GM Susanto Megaranto and WGM Irine Kharisma Iskandar is the hot favourite to win the Mixed pair category. Syabas and tahniah to both Yee Weng and Najiha on the win. It shows that Malaysia Boleh!

Mixed pair event R3 results

In the first round, Malaysia lost to Vietnam 0 - 2. Then, Malaysia came back in the second round to beat Thailand by 2 - 0 score. The fourth round is very important to Malaysia when it will be paired against Philippines which also won over Indonesia with the same score, 1.5 - 0.5.

3rd Ole Ole Chess Championship - Drama 1

2011-11-14T00:15:00.001+08:00

In a rapid chess tournament there would always have matches with drama or dramatic games. A dramatic rapid game where both players blitz when the time is critical and going to end. During such time pressure, mistakes and inaccurate moves are common even to players who spar a lot.

One of the dramatic games in the 3rd Ole Ole Shah Alam Open last Saturday witnessed by GiLoCatur is the match between Max of 17ChessClub and his 1626-MCF-rated opponent in the fourth round.

R4, Tbl 19 - Max (white) vs his opponent (black)

Playing white, Max just moved Qb2+ as per the above position. In GiLoCatur's opinion, piecewise both have equal pieces and pawns. But white has better position.

... some time after that ...

Surely several minutes later, Max has the winning edge as shown by the above diagram. Black is one pawn down and need to defend its open King. Having less than one minute left on the clock, and having a King plus a Queen + a Knight versus only King for the black, Max blew the winning opportunity when the game became stalemate.

How it became stalemate?

The white Queen is at the 7th rank. A knight is at the 6th rank and same file with the black's King. If GiLoCatur is not mistaken, white checks using a Knight, 1. Nf6+ Kf8! (the King is moved in front (same file) of the Knight. Out of the blue, white (Max) moved other pieces (either a pawn or the King); NOT the Knight to enable the black to move along the 8th rank. So, STALEMATE it is.

Max in very deep thought .... so focus ...

FIKRI, HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY!

2011-11-13T14:54:00.000+08:00

Today 13.11.2011, Fikri is 15 years old

"Ala godang anak amak, ala bujang anak ayah,

Ayah dan amak doakan Fikri jadi anak yang soleh, belajau pandai-pandai, berjayo dalam pelajaran, berjayo dalam apo juo bidang yang diceburi, termasuok catur.

Tunjuokkan contoh teladan yang baiok pado adiok-adiok, sayangi dan jago naangko du. Hormati ughang tuo-tuo, para guru, respect kawan-kawan, jadi ikon pado adiok-adiok.

Ingeklah, ibu dan ayah sentiaso mendoakan yang terbaiok untuok Fikri, anak suluong kami yang lahir pado tanggal hari ko 15 tahun yang lalu."

fikri saleh

note : the above birthday greeting wish for GiLoCatur's eldest son, FIKRI, is in the KAMPARIAN dialect, our Malay ethnic.

3rd Ole Ole Chess Championship - Open Category

2011-11-13T02:22:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 12th November 2011

GiLoCatur was among the eighty (80) participants in the 3rd Ole Ole Shah Alam Chess Championship held today at the Ole Ole Shah Alam Shopping complex. Some participants came all the way from Pahang, Kelantan and Johor to have fun playing chess in the tournament. Check out the photos below to see the faces of the participants during the tournament.

photo 1 - "long time no see" chess buddy (green shirt), AKMAL SALLEH

In the final round, Akmal was playing on the second board against the 1st edition champion, NM Zarul Syazwan Zullkafli. Not bad, scoring 5/7 points for a player with 1541 MCF ratings and seldom participate in local chess tournament.

photo 2 - Nik Mohd Nazri

GiLoCatur was told that Nik Nazri came by bus all the way from Kelantan. He is a school teacher there.

photo 3

photo 4 - Haji Salim Maarof (wearing ketayap)

GiLoCatur played Haji Salim, a 70+ years old veteran from Temerloh Pahang, more than three years ago in the Temerloh Open. GiLoCatur salutes his passion in playing chess.

photo 5 - the top boards

photo 6 - Two masters (FIDE title player) in the tourney, IM Mas and FM Johan

photo 7 - Ezmi and WNM Nisaa against their opponents

photo 8 - "Abang BRO"

photo 9 - Tournament Director, Abdul Haq, and YB Khalid Samad

The Shah Alam Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Khalid Samad is the guest of honour giving the prizes to all the winners. During his speech, he encourages the participants especially the youngsters to keep playing chess and gives his support for the chess community especially to IM Mas in his pursue of the Grandmastership. Go to the MP's website here to know more about him.

photo 10 - the Open category winners with the MP

3rd Ole Ole Chess Championship - Under 12

2011-11-13T00:46:00.001+08:00

About thirty Under 12 chess players took part in the 3rd Ole Ole Shah Alam Chess Championship including GiLoCatur's youngest child, Fahim Al-Faqeh. They played in seven SWISS rounds of a 20 or 25 minute rapid. Below are the picture report for such category.

U12 section participants

Round 6 - Nithya vs Fahim (1 - 0)

Nithyalakshmi from Seremban, the champion for the 3rd edition

Nithya lives up to her top seeding to emerge as the champion to win a trophy and a hundred Malaysian Ringgit money prize. She won all her seven rounds and scored 7/7 points. Congratulation!

The winners photographed with YB Khalid Samad, the Shah Alam MP

Today Is The Unique Day

2011-11-11T11:13:00.002+08:00

WOW!

In about 15 minutes, it would be all 1s. 11.11.11 at 11.11 which is 11th November 2011 at 11.11am and another 12 hours later at 11.11pm.

Importantly, Thank GOD it's FRIDAY! (TGIF)

A beautiful date

GiLoCatur does not crazy about numbers. Neither into numerology. But today's date is simply unique, once in 100 years.

Isn't it memorable if we do or have something special today? A friend will have a wedding ceremony today. He is an artist, a singer to be exact. Click here to know who he is.

11.11.11 is close to 13.11.11 right? What is so special on 13th November 2011? Actually, it is the birthday of GiLoCatur's son, FIKRI. He will be 15 years old.

Click the following links if you want to find out the frenzy info about this date.

Link 1 Link 2 Link 3

Oh My God, No Chess Tournament In November For GiLoCatur & Kids?

2011-11-10T17:55:00.000+08:00

Oh My God. There are so many chess tournaments in Malaysia in the month of November. BUT GiLoCatur and the kids will miss all of them.

In October, GiLoCatur and the kids had participated in chess tournament in all the weekends except one, the fourth, when went back home town.

In the first weekend, both Anis and Fahim took part in the 2nd National Rapid Chess Championship (NRCC).

In the second weekend, Fahim emerged as the first runner up in the 7th Insofar Junior Chess Scholarship tournament.

In the third weekend, GiLoCatur scored 5/8 points in the 5th UPSI Open while Fikri had his first tourney after a break for PRM examination. Both Anis and Fahim were playing in their respective school categories.

In the last weekend of October, both Fikri and Fahim took part in the Ampangan age group category.

BUT in November, no chess tournament for GiLoCatur and the kids. So unbelievable eh.

The kids will miss the National Scholastic Age Group Chess Championship (NSAGCC).

GiLoCatur can't participate in the 3rd Insofar Open Scholarship chess tournament.

Anis will have to wait longer to play in the Insofar Juniors Scholarship chess tournament.

Fikri will miss the opportunity to play against top Asian amateurs in the Asian Amateur Open.

The kids surely will also miss the opportunity to be at the Berjaya Times Square in the last weekend of November for its first chess tournament.

The reason is there are important family functions and activities. The youngest aunt of GiLoCatur's kids is getting married this month. Their grandparents have urged and insisted GiLoCatur's kids to "balik kampung" to assist in the wedding preparation.

MAYBE Fahim could participate in only one tournament this Saturday. His elder brother and sister won't join him since they are not coming home this weekend. And if possible, GiLoCatur will accompany him to be among its participants. :)-

http://whitenaval.wordpress.com/

Another "PUTERI Catur" In The Making!

2011-11-09T21:21:00.001+08:00

Another chess PUTERI or princess in the making?

Who would that be?

Below PUTERI is a well-known Malaysian chess player already. Last month, she won one GOLD and one SILVER for Malaysia in the 5th APSSO held in Jakarta. She is PUTERI RIFQAH FAHADA AZHAR MS.

the first Puteri

Below PUTERI is also a popular Malaysian chess player. She is the younger sister of Puteri Rifqah. Among her achievements is winning for her country, THREE Golds and TWO Silvers in Girls Under 10 category of the 12th ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championship last June. Click here for further story. She is PUTERI MUNAJJAH AZ-ZAHRAA AZHAR MS.

the second Puteri

The new PUTERI in the making is below four-years-old girl named PUTERI RABIATUL ADAWIYAH MAT ZAKI.

the new Puteri

Puteri Rabiatul has been chosen to represent Malaysia in the 7th Asian Schools Chess Championship to be held in India in this coming December in Girls Under 5 category. BUT SHE CAN'T PARTICIPATE IF HER PARENTS ARE UNABLE TO RAISE NINE THOUSANDS MALAYSIAN RINGGIT FOR THE EXPENSE.

It is a hard reality for a Malaysian chess player. Chess is NOT a popular sport like football, tennis or badminton. The fund and sponsorship for travelling and lodging expense for international competition is difficult to get.

For those who are interested to sponsor her to fulfil her dream, please call 012-3415030. Her plight is covered in the Malay Mail here.

P/S: Actually, there is another Puteri that would enlighten the Malaysian chess in years to come. She was just born several days ago, on 1.11.11 to be exact. Congratulation to Azhar MS and her wife for their newborn baby girl, Puteri ~~Dalisya~~ Delisya Zhansaya (the last one sound familiar eh ... :) ).

Update On 4th DATCC KL Open Team Chess Championship

2011-11-09T14:27:00.005+08:00

DATCC KL Open Team Chess Championship is underway. It is a FIDE-rated tournament organized by Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Center or simply known among the Malaysian chess community as DATCC. For its fourth edition, twelve (12) teams are participating in the nine rounds of 90 minutes + 30 seconds tournament held once a week.

Neither GiLoCatur nor the kids participate in the event. Maybe in the next edition, GiLoCatur's eldest son can participate.

The fourth round was held last night. Below is the results.

R4 Results

At the top two tables, Najib's Rojak Team lives up to its top seeding by defeating Too Less Ordinary, the fourth seed. Both Sumant and Wai Cheng drew against their higher-rated opponents. Both Li Tian and Cheok Fung won their respective games to make it 3 to 1.

As expected, IM Mas of Kelantan Chess Team won his match against the first board player of Seahorse PETRONAS. Even though their respective opponents are about 500 Elo ratings higher, both Farhan and Zulhairi of the latter team managed to get a draw. But Ezmi Mahmood, the Kelantan Chess Team's last board player won the crucial point to make it Kelantan Chess Team 3, Seahorse PETRONAS 1.

Of the two well-known Malaysian chess clubs and rivalry, Nusa Mahkota Chess Club and 17 Chess Club, the former is much too strong to handle by the latter. The latter just managed to get half point via its fourth board player, Syazrin.

For the other results, please check the above.

So, how is the ranking so far?

The ranking after R4

Najib's Rojak Team is leading right now even though its R4 opponent, Too Less Ordinary, has the same points. The Kelantan Chess Team is third trailing half point even though it records 3 wins and 1 draw similar to the leading team. Six other teams has 1 win while only two has not recorded a single win yet after Round 4.

So, who is playing who in the next round? Check out below R5 pairings.

R5 pairings

The top table match is very crucial for both Kelantan Chess Team (KCT) and Too Less Ordinary (TLO). GiLoCatur believes their top players - IM Mas and Ian Udani, will not be rested. Can Nusa Mahkota Chess Club (NMCC) stop Najib's Rojak Team (NRT)? GiLoCatur strongly believes that both KCT and TLO are hoping that NMCC will do them a favour. A draw of 2-2 score will be a happy news to them. Can Swordfish have its first win in their "PETRONAS brotherly" match over Seahorse? Can BERNAMA Chess Team also have its first win over the Seniors of DATCC Seniors Team? Can Saprin inspire his young boys of Carikomputer Dot Com to win against the Renegade Chess Team? We have to wait, haven't we?

Let's go to the DATCC on next week's Tuesday night if you have free time. Let us the spectators provide the pressure to push them to the limit. What do you say?

A Chess Camp For School Holiday Activity

2011-11-08T21:45:00.003+08:00

A long school holiday is coming in about two weeks.

Are you sending your kids "balik kampung"? If you aren't, what your kids would be doing at home? Playing video or computer games? Facebooking? Watching television?

Don't know what program or activity for them? How about CHESS CAMP?. GiLoCatur believes many such camps are held during this long school holiday. Below is one of them.

A chess camp organized by Mr Collin Madhavan. GiLoCatur's kids did participate in Mr Collin's chess camp four years ago. Click here for further story.

the map to the camp's venue at Pandan Lake Club

Click here to download the form.

Ampangan Under 18 & Under 12 Chess Open

2011-10-29T22:10:00.002+08:00

GiLoCatur was at Ampangan Plaza located near Seremban, Negeri Sembilan today because both Fikri and Fahim Al-Faqeh took part in the Ampangan Age-Group chess tournament. The former played in the Under 18 category together with 64 other participants while the latter was among twenty three (23) Under-12 players.

The Under-18 section played six (6) rounds whereas the Under-12 category played five (5) rounds only. Below are several interesting photos of the tournament.

photo 1 - 88 participants played at the tournament

photo 2 - "Ketayap" player

photo 3 - "Songkok" player

THE CHAMPIONS

photo 4 - U-12 category, Nithyalakshmi (right)

photo 5 - U-18 category, Mohd Faizal Roslan (right)

NEW STYLE OF PLAYING CHESS

GiLoCatur had witnessed a new style of playing chess in this tournament. Both players were standing while playing. Never GiLoCatur seen in any chess tournament before. Maybe this new style of play is due to the chess table and chair.

photo 6 - Round 4, Subramaniam vs Jonathan

photo 7 - Under 12 players were standing too ...

photo 8 - Round 6, Subramaniam vs Pavithran Vellan

WHO SAY CHESS IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT. TWO PICTURES BELOW CONFIRM THAT A CHESS MATCH CAN ATTRACT LOTS OF VIEWERS ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS DRAMA.

photo 9

photo 10

The Open category will be held tomorrow. GiLoCatur believes new entry will still be accepted and no late fee will be charged. Just come before 10.00 am. Please contact Kamar Dani (below picture) at 019-344 5343.

Kamar Dani

FIVE Chess Tourneys This Weekend, Ya'll!

2011-10-29T04:08:00.000+08:00

It is going to be fun and thrilling for all the Malaysian chess lovers this weekend.

At least FIVE chess tournaments to be held. What are the tournaments?

17th Kepong Juniors
Royal Selangor Club Annual Rapid Open
Johor Rapid Chess Open
Ampangan Chess Open
Insofar Kamunting Chess Invitational

The first one is a nationally rated tournament to be held at SJK (C) Kepong 2. The tournament is for the age groups of U8, U10, U12 and U16. The junior participants will play seven rounds of 25-minute-per-player match.

The second tournament is held on two weekends. The venue of the tournament will be at Bukit Kiara Royal Selangor Club. Three (3) rounds will be played this weekend and the other four (4) will be held on next weekend on the Hari Raya Haji. The champion will be awarded six hundreds Malaysian Ringgit and a trophy.

The third one is organized by Johor Chess Association. There are three categories - Open, Under 16 and Under 12, in the tournament. Interestingly, the tournament will be held at the 35th floor of JB City Square Tower.

While many N9ers will travel to Shah Alam on the weekend night to support their state team in the final Malaysian Cup, its Ampangan Plaza will host a chess tournament during the weekend. The age group - Under 18 and Under 12, will be held on Saturday while the Open category is scheduled on Sunday. In this tournament, only SIX rounds will be played.

The last tournament is organized by Insofar Chess Academy. It is for the first time that its tournament to be held in Perak, KAMUNTING to be exact. The registration is still open and the tournament fee is only RM20.

sms your name to the above hp no

So, you can choose any of the above five chess tournaments. Lots of prizes to be won. What a treat for the Malaysian chess community. Where GiLoCatur and the kids will be? Let's wait and see!

Good Luck To Malaysian Team In The World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad

2011-10-24T00:33:00.000+08:00

http://wyco2011.tsf.org.tr/

GiLoCatur would like to wish GOOD LUCK to the Malaysian team that will take part in the World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad scheduled from 24th October until 1st November.

Malaysian WYU16CO team

ranked 10th out of 27 teams

Below is the email from Mr Jeffrey Wong:

To Malaysian Chess Bloggers:

The Malaysian squad left for Izmit, Turkey for the World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad at 10 AM, 23rd October. The squad consists of Roshan, Jianwen, Eng Chiam, Elgin and Li Tian. The Team Manager is Mr. Lee Ewe Ghee. The send off at KLIA was officiated by MCF Deputy President, Tuan Haji Ibrahim Abu Bakar.

There will be 27 teams participating this year. Russia is ranked first with an average rating of 2455, followed by Azerbaijan (second) with rating of 2361 and India with a rating of 2351. Malaysia is ranked 10th with an average FIDE rating of 2058. There will be three GM's and three IM's with numerous FMs participating in the Under 16 Chess Olympiad this year.

The official website for the tournament is on http://wyco2011.tsf.org.tr/, and it is reported that the all boards will be broadcast live. Get more details of the players, schedule and results from the tournament that will start at 10PM KL time, 24th Oct.

5th UPSI Chess Open - GiLoCatur "MengKerojekan" Or "Dikerojekan"?

2011-10-20T15:24:00.001+08:00

Of the five UPSI Chess Open editions, GiLoCatur only had participated in two of them. GiLoCatur took part for the first time in the 2nd edition in 2008.

During then, GiLoCatur's national rating was just 939. GiLoCatur scored 3.5/7 points and was placed 43rd out of 81 total players. In that tournament, GiLoCatur consistantly played Queen Gambit when playing white. GiLoCatur also had an interesting and balanced match against a 1600+-rated opponent. Obviously at that time, GiLoCatur's endgame far weaker than today.

After three years, GiLoCatur has improved much better. The ratings has jumped from below 1000 to more than 1400 better by 400 points.

Last weekend, GiLoCatur won five (5) games and lost the other three (3). A good result for GiLoCatur to be among the top 40 out of total 130 participants. GiLoCatur was seeded 41st. The seeding is actually not accurate since many more rated players whom ratings were not listed. It is either the player himself or herself does not know or remember his or her ratings. Or it is simply missing in the process.

By the way, a chess player should know and remember his / her ratings. Yes, our national ratings need further improvement but it requires time. Insya Allah, GiLoCatur will try to talk about this matter in other time. You can check your ratings at Gilachess website at below link.

http://myrating.gilachess.com/index.php

So, back to the seeding. GiLoCatur should be seeded more than 60th since based on GiLoCatur's check at the above link at least 20 more players have 1500s and 1600s MCF ratings.

GiLoCatur's first opponent is a novice or beginner. He played black. We were at table #41. As usual, GiLoCatur played Queen Gambit and GiLoCatur believes the opponent did not have a clue what opening is being played. He gave away (blundered) two pieces - a knight and a rook during the opening stage. One more thing, he kept asking GiLoCatur while recording his moves.

Recording is very important when participating in chess tournament. Malaysian chess players especially the beginners need to take note of such importance. It is very common in the Malaysian chess scene especially in the rapid format that many players do not record. The discipline in recording chess moves of IM Mas should be followed by us. That's why GiLoCatur prefers G/45 and G/60 format or time control because normally record moves is compulsary like in this tournament. It gives GiLoCatur comfortable time to record and keep a copy of it.

Chess Clubs in Malaysia must teach their members about this aspect. Make it a practice to record during club practice.

In the second round, playing black GiLoCatur played French Defense against a non-rated player. A check at Malaysian Chess Rating, he has actually about equal ratings as GiLoCatur. He castled queen-side and left the d file open for GiLoCatur. His strategy was to capture as many pawns as possible but leaving the king open for attack.

16. Rd4 c5 17. Rd6 Nf5 18. Rxa6

In the third round, having full 2/2 points GiLoCatur was paired against Mohd Fadzil Nayan at table #4 who is rated 500 points higher. Surely, GiLoCatur is a no match for him. GiLoCatur had a bad move on the 10th resulting in a fork.

GiLoCatur's next opponent was Muhammad Hairul Masdol (below picture). He is a non-rated player. After his 32nd move, GiLoCatur has the winning edge when one piece up and managed to fork his rook and queen. But unfortunately, due to the time pressure and inaccurate moves GiLoCatur lost the game when his two pass pawns were unstoppable. Due to his lack of tournament exposure, he did not claim when GiLoCatur's time had already ended. Hairul told GiLoCatur that he normally has the sparring session near KL UTAR near Wardieburn Camp.

long-haired Hairul

In the fifth round and the final game of the tournament's first day, GiLoCatur was paired against a University student named Mohd Haniff Sidek. GiLoCatur was late about 7 minutes since need to send GiLoCatur's wife, Anis and Fahim to the chalet where we stayed over the night. It was the lowest board for GiLoCatur at the tournament after two wins and two defeats.

25. Rf3 Rfc8

GiLoCatur got the advantage when managed to have double rook in the 32nd move. What made GiLoCatur happy is that GiLoCatur managed to convert the advantage to a win and did not fumble in the endgame stage. So, GiLoCatur had 3/5 points at the end of the first day.

During the same round however, GiLoCatur's eldest son, Fikri lost to his opponent whose name is also Hanif. After having three consecutive wins, Fikri had two consecutive defeats.

In the second day of the tournament, GiLoCatur won another two games and lost one.

Once again, GiLoCatur had a double rook combination. It was lethal because GiLoCatur managed to capture opponent's rook. Then, the win was GiLoCatur's when the opponent allowed GiLoCatur to have double rook combination at the 7th rank.

In the seventh round, GiLoCatur was paired against below player.

Norzaiasron Yahaya

Based on the name in the pairing list, GiLoCatur quickly identified him. He was the first runner up in the recent Cerdik Catur Semi Pro tournament. He said that he just made a comeback to chess tournament as a warm up for his coming inter-BSN chess competition.

GiLoCatur had already found out about his old ratings. He was rated at 1556 but under "Nor Zaisoon Yahaya". Surely, GiLoCatur found out that he is a very strong opponent and played solidly.

R7 - GiLoCatur vs Norzaiasron

GiLoCatur did not reply correctly when he made 8. .. e5 move. GiLoCatur thought that 9.e4 is the best move. His e pawn need to be stopped from marching to e4 square or else a fork for GiLoCatur. GiLoCatur's low-version Fritz suggests to move the white bishop on d3 square. Any other suggestion?

Saleh Abd Latif (1430) - Norzaiasron Yahaya (1556) [E61]

5th UPSI Open (7.18), 16.10.2011

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e3 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 Re8 8.0-0 e5 9.e4 exd4 10.Nd5 Nxe4 11.Re1 Ndc5 12.Bxe4 Rxe4 13.Rxe4 Nxe4 14.Nxd4 c6 15.Ne3 Qh4 16.Qe1 Bxd4 17.Ng4 Bxg4 18.Qxe4 Qxf2+ 19.Kh2 Be5+ 20.Bf4 Qxf4+ 21.Qxf4 Bxf4+ 22.g3 Bxg3+ 23.Kxg3 Be6 24.b3 b5 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.Rc1 Rc8 0-1

GiLoCatur did not anticipate the danger of the Queen. 15. .. Qh4 really suprised GiLoCatur. GiLoCatur could resign at this stage but GiLoCatur continued to see how GiLoCatur "dikerojekan".

In the last round, GiLoCatur was very lucky for being escaped from "dikerojekan" by the only GiLoCatur's lady opponent. If in the previous rounds, GiLoCatur used the lethal "double rook" combination to win, this time around GiLoCatur's opponent had the combination.

Round 7 - 28. Rde2 Reb8 29. Rxe3 Rxb2

Luckily, with one knight down GiLoCatur managed to "mengKerojekan" her. GiLoCatur believes she would be so frustrated that she lose and could not "mengKerojekan" GiLoCatur. That is chess. You have to fight until the end especially if you play against amateur chess players like GiLoCatur.

In short, GiLoCatur is very happy with own performance in the 5th UPSI Chess Open. Hope GiLoCatur will play again next year. DARE TO PLAY AGAINST GILOCATUR? :)-

The National Scholastic Age Group Chess Championships

2011-10-19T14:03:00.000+08:00

ATTENTION, Malaysian chess parents!

WHAT? WHEN?

Part 1

Part 2

WHERE?

The respective Age-Group category Champions shall be Malaysia’s Official representative at the Asian Schools Chess Championships to be held 16 - 23 December 2011 in New Delhi, India.

source : Mr Greg Lau, MCF Hon Secretary

5th UPSI Chess Open - Photo Journalism

2011-10-18T13:56:00.053+08:00

Several pictures taken by GiLoCatur during the UPSI chess open for all to see ...

Waiting for the tournament to start ...
"amacam PMR ko? senang ke susah?" ... maybe
that's what Nabil asked Fikri

"Abe, buleh ko kite mene hadiah ni?
hebat2 belako hok mari bertanding ni ..."

TWO below photos show among players who had the golden moment playing against the top two seeds on the podium.

the golden moment playing on the podium ... 1

the golden moment playing on the podium ... 2

"Dua keping gambar di bawah membuktikan betapa popularnya abg Bro Mudin yang terkenal dengan skill MAMAKnya"

Lawan yang ini susah abg Bro nak MAMAK ...

Abg Bro vs Khairul Nizam

Abg Noorahim Abdullah (kiri) rajin sertai chess tournament
di sekitar negeri Perak

Kelantan versus Terengganu - versi chess

"Hang ambik gambaq aku cun cun
punya no ... " pesan Cikgu Zull

Several secondary school pupils - like Najihah, Fikri & Li Ting,
competing in the Open category

5th UPSI Chess Open - Final Ranking (Open category)

2011-10-17T13:52:00.002+08:00

Below is the final ranking of the 5th UPSI Chess Open for the Open category emailed to GiLoCatur by Kelab Catur UPSI 90 minutes ago.

Final Ranking - page 1/4

Final Ranking - page 2/4

Final Ranking - page 3/4

Final Ranking - page 4/4

note : please double click at the picture for larger view

UPSI Chess Open - The Champions

2011-10-17T10:04:00.001+08:00

Sunday, 16th October 2011
Tanjung Malim

During the closing and prize giving ceremony for the UPSI Chess Open today, all the winners came to the podium to receive their medal and prize money after two days of gruelling chess matches. Three categories were competed in the tournament. Due to low participation in both primary and secondary school categories, the number of rounds were reduced from seven to six rounds. The format of play is 60 minute (G/60) per player. Three rounds each day.

While in the open category, the number of rounds is increased from seven to eight. This is because the number of participants is close to 130. Due to majority vote, one more round is added in the first day to make it five rounds. The time control is reduced from 60 minute (G/60) to 45 minute (G/45) per player. But the time control is as per schedule, 60 minute per player, in the second day. Thus, the tournament ended at 10pm in the first day, two hours late than the schedule.

What a gruelling first day of chess tournament for a five rounds of 45-minute time control. Normally, only four rounds for such time control in one day. It is really tiring especially for GiLoCatur since has to send Anis and Fahim as well as their mother to a chalet resort where we stay for the overnight before the last round for the Open category starts at 8.00pm. It is about 15-minute drive to the chalet known as Kalumpang Resort & Training Center (KRTC) that is located 10 kilometers from the tournament venue.

GiLoCatur has many to update on the tournament. In this entry, let's GiLoCatur first update on the champions for each category of the tournament.

Izzah (left) in Round 6 against her sister

The champion in the primary school category is Izzah Halim. She won all her first five rounds. In the last round, she drew with her younger sister, Farhana. Izzah came all the way from Segamat, Johor with her family where his father and younger brother also took part in the tournament.

The champion in the secondary school category is Mohd Aziz Farhan. He scored 5/6 points from 4 wins and 2 draws. He came to play in this tournament with his elder brother, Daniel Iskandar, who is the second runner up in the same category.

Aziz Farhan (right) in Round 5

As expected, the Malaysian top chess player IM Mas Hafizulhelmi has a rivalry with the former UPSI chess open champion, Ian Udani the Malaysian-based Philippines chess player. They drew against each other in the seventh round and won all their other rounds. Both have equal score of 7.5/8 points. But IM Mas is declared the champion due to better tie break.

IM Mas vs his Round 4 opponent

Syabas and Tahniah to all the category champions in the fifth edition of UPSI Chess Open. Until we meet again, Insya Allah, in the sixth edition next year.