Malaysian Chess Festival - 6th Ambank Just Kicked Off

The Malaysian Chess Festival just kicked off minutes ago. Three different tournaments - The Malaysia Open, The Malaysia Chess Challenge, and International Seniors Open, are held concurrently at the Midvalley Cititel Hotel. 

In the Malaysia Chess Challenge, there are 43 participants based on the above Round 1 pairing. 32 are Malaysians and the other eleven are foreigners including one WIM from Philippine. Can WIM Cristine Rose Mariano who is seeded sixth continue her country dominance of being the champion consecutively for the past three years? In 2008, the unrated Leonardo Carlos emerged champion from seven Filipino players. In 2009, it was Samson Jr who became the champion. Not only that, the Filipino players also were both the first and second runner ups. Last year (2010), the Philippines sole representative, Luffe Magdalaga, won the Ambank Challenge by pipping an Indian player by better tie break. Or will the top seed, 17-year-old Uzbekistani named Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva emerge champion? We have to wait until the championship is over, right?, to find out.

The Malaysian players is led by Dr Zaidan Zulkipli. Along with Abdullah Che Hassan, CM Mohd Fadli Zakaria or better known as stonemaster, Masrin Erowan, Kaushal Khandar and Muhd Syazwan Zulkifli, he will lead the Malaysian youngsters to spice up the event.

BEST OF LUCK to all the participants. Have fun playing chess and enjoy the Malaysian Chess Festival!

Merdeka Age Group Open Rapid Chess Championship (Part 4 - The U8 and U10 Winners)

Merdeka Age Group Open Rapid Chess Championship (Part 3 - The Winners)

Merdeka Age Group Open Rapid Chess Championship (Part 2)

Below are the final ranking of the four age group sections.

U8

U10

U12

U14

U16

In each age group section, both boys and girls played in one category but the prizes were seperate. In U4 category, a Thai youngster named Suvich Tachaplalert, emerged champion and won all his rounds including beating Fikri, GiLoCatur's son in a critical time pressure. The U10 age group category attracted the most number of participations of 78.

Merdeka Age Group Open Rapid Chess Championship (Part 1)

Yesterday (Sunday, 5th September) GiLoCatur was at the Citil Midvalley Hotel because GiLoCatur's two boys - Fikri and his younger brother, Fahim, were participating in the Merdeka Age Group Open Chess Championship. Actually, it was the free day for the DAT Malaysian Open, Ambank Chess Challenge and the Seniors Open. That means Encik Hamid and his arbiter crews do not rest since 28th August. Actually, it is the first day that GiLoCatur set foot at the hotel during this year Malaysian Chess festival.

In the championship, there are five age groups contested, U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8. Fikri contested in the U14 age group category while Fahim competed in the U8 age group section. What was the number of participants?

U8 age group category

total participants = 57

the top 3 seeds

1. Jagathees a/l Gunabalan (nat. ratings, 1366)
2. Muhammad Faqih Aminuddin (1285)
3. Zainoor Ikmal Maisarah Mohd Noor (1263)

U10 age group category

total participants = 78

the top 3 seeds

1. Tan Yong Zhao (nat. ratings, 1469)
2. Teh De Juan (1460)
3. Lim Ming Kang (1417)

U12 age group category

total participants = 53

the top 3 seeds

1. Ooi Zhi Yang (nat. ratings, 1607)
2. Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar (1604)
3. Shreyes Subramaniam (1477)

U14 age group category

total participants = 34

the top 3 seeds

1. Mohd Irfan Haqqim Azhar (nat. ratings, 1619)
2. Tan Wei Hao (1616)
3. Fikri Saleh (1558)

U16 age group category

total participants = 11

the top 3 seeds

1. Mohd Syakir Shazmeer Azhar (nat. ratings, 1779)
2. Yat Guo Jie (1611)
3. Patrick Lim Kong Hui (1565)

Global Indian International School had come to the tournament in a big group. Its students were wearing yellow shirts as in the above pictures. Their participation had made the tournament become more interesting and alive.

The boys and girls who participated in the one-day event must thank their dedicated parents for their strong support and huge effort to make them become good chess players.

The Malaysian Chess Festival Heats On

The Malaysian classic chess events start today. Three events - DAT Malaysian Open, Ambank Chess Challenge and Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors Open, are being held concurrently. The seventh edition of DATMO has attracted 133 participants that include 54 title players. Malaysia, as the host country, has the largest number of participants as shown by below Federation statistics. It is also obvious that China and India have big number of players as well as Indonesia.

Sixteen Grandmasters or GMs are among 54 title players participating in the event. It is quite a strong chess tournament. Below are the list of the twenty six Malaysian players that participate in the DATMO. IM Mok whose FIDE ratings is 2416 is the best Malaysian seed at 32nd. Among the elite Malaysian players missing in the starting list are IM Mas, IM Yee Weng and FM Nicholas. GiLoCatur believes that they do not participate due to work commitments. GiLoCatur wish BEST OF LUCK to all the Malaysian players in the events.

In the first round yesterday (Wednesday), most Malaysian players lose to their respective opponents. Our current chess prodigy, Li Tian, managed to draw against GM Saidali. In the second round, he will play against IM Mok who also drew his first round.

Below is the list of the sixteen GMs led by the top seed, GM Abhijeet Gupta from India that embrace the 2010 Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian Open.

Merdeka Rapid Team - The final R9 Pairings of Top 20 Boards

Round 9 Pairings - Top 20 boards

It is the final round now. GiLoCatur believes many matches have completed since the round started an hour ago at 11.00am. So, what would be the results? Can Chesskidz Men's Team that includes two Pinoy GMs win the event? Or can the Klang Valley Koalas stopped them? Can all-Malaysian-team-players SMS Gold led by IM Mok makes the Malaysian chess community proud by winning the top three placings?

How about another all-Malaysians team, Young and Danger? Can they outclass Rusty Nails? If they can, it is quite a sterling performance for the team that comprises MSS Selangor state players. Being on the top 5 boards in the final round itself is already an achievement in GiLoCatur's opinion. Another two all-Malaysians teams among the top 10 boards are Petronas led by IM Mas and Mamak, the Sequel whose members are Nik Farouqi, Saprin, Fairin and Abang Bro Kamaluddin. Two state teams - Penang and Sabah, face each other on the 10th board.

For the rest teams especially comprise our juniors, GiLoCatur hopes they will learn and gain a lot by participating in the Merdeka Rapid Team event. Keep learning and playing chess especially in quality chess tournaments like this so that Malaysia will have a very big pool of excellent chess players. Keep the dream of becoming title chess players especially Grandmaster to make Malaysia proud in the world chess map.

Merdeka Rapid Team - The R8 Results of Top 20 Boards

Round 8 Top 20 boards Results

(source : Kelab Catur Setia Kuantan Blog)

Thanks to NWM for her immediate posting of the pairings and results of the on-going Merdeka Rapid Team being held in the Cititel Hotel in Midvalley. The 8th round just completed and the players are fighting in the final 9th round. It is the critical and crucial round to decide who will be the winners. GiLoCatur's pick team, the Uzbek connection, was defeated by the Bengal Tigers with 1 - 3 score. While Magic could not stop Chesskidz Men's Team from having the advantage to lead with 1 match point. The latter won by having 1/2 more points than Magic with 2.5 - 1.5 scoreline. On the 3rd board, SMS Gold just managed a draw of 2 - 2 againts Rusty Nails led by IM Goh of Singapore On the 4th board, the Australian team of Klang Valley Koalas won against the International Rhapsody that includes Ian Udani. On the 5th board, Mamak, the Sequel unfortunately was crushed by Crusher that includes two Malaysian players, Soon Wai Cheong and MSSM 2010 U15 champion, Yeap Eng Chiam.

GiLoCatur's View On Merdeka Rapid Team Event

As GiLoCatur writes this entry, the 4th round of the Merdeka Rapid Team is on going. Based on the above top 15 Round 4 pairings, five teams have accumulated the full 6 match points. 2 match point for a win, 1 match point for a draw and 0 match point for a loss. A team will win and get 2 match point even it scores 2.5 - 1.5 similar to 4 -0. GiLoCatur's pick team, the Uzbek connection, is playing on the second board against ASTRO Arena who includes Malaysian current chess prodigy Li Tian and youngster Muhd Izz. On the top board, Chesskidz Men's Team plays againts the Bengal Tigers. While Crusher, the other team that scores full match points challenges the top seed, the SMS Gold.

Based on the info that GiLoCatur has, the latter will play against Mohd Syazwan who replaces Sabirova Shakhnoza. While the former will face former World Police champion, Sergeant Ismail Ahmad. On the first board an Uzbek GM will meet a Bangladeshi GM. Who will win this match? We'll find out latter. On the top board, Chesskidz Men's Team plays against the Bengal Tigers that include Malaysian youngster, Elgin Lee.

the Uzbek connection

(picture from datcchess.blogspot.com)

The ASTRO Merdeka Team Rapid Is Coming To Town

Come next Saturday, the Malaysian Chess Festival will be kicking alive. Unfortunately, GiLoCatur won't be at the Midvalley Cititel Hotel to watch or be part of the event. GiLoCatur and family will be at kampung during the weekend. The first event that will take place is the Merdeka Individual Rapid. GiLoCatur will not write about it in details in this entry, maybe later. What GiLoCatur wants to write about is the second event that will be held from 29th to 31st August. It is the ASTRO Merdeka Team Rapid event.

As of now (based on this link), 67 teams have registered for the event that will include eight foreign Grandmasters. The last team just registered is Crusher that is led by Indian GM, Laxman R R who has FIDE ratings of 2503. One of his team mates is also fellow countryman GM named Arun Prasad. Besides the Grandmasters, the event will be also participated by most of our elite and top players. In fact, leading the starting rank list is a Malaysian team, SMS Gold, comprises of IM Mok, FM Nicholas Chan, his brother Marcus, Khor Shi Hong and IM Yee Weng.

It is good to note that many Malaysian juniors team up as a team to challenge all the titled players. Surely it will be difficult to beat their master opponents but they should cherish the moments of playing against them. They should have the courage to at least give good fight and strong will to play their best games. Do not give up before putting a fight. For our golden chess boy, Li Tian, GiLoCatur believes this is the stage where he should shine and show his prowess to the chess world.

Which team is GiLoCatur's pick to win the event? The Uzbek Connection! Who are the top challengers in GiLoCatur's eyes? SMS Gold, Bengal Tigers and Chesskidz Team A.

Which team won last year? Which team won in the year 2003? Do you know?

GiLoCatur would like to wish "BEST OF LUCK" to all the participating teams especially to Sergeant Ismail Ahmad and his Uzbek Connection. :)