NAG 2012 - The Winners (Under 10 category)

The Boys

U10 Boys

The Girls

U10 Girls

NAG 2012 - The Winners (Under 8 category)

The Boys

U8 Boys

The Girls

U8 Girls

NAG 2012 - The Final Day, Before The Final Round

At the time of this entry, the Round 7 results and the Round 8 pairings for two categories - U8 and U10 Girls, had been published at chess-results.com.

In U8 Girls, Goh Jie Yi the defending champion is certain to be the champion. She is leading with one full point. In the final round, she is paired with Siti Nur Haziqah Mohd Haslam. The first runner up looks also certain to be won by Zainoor Ikmal Munirah. She has 6/7 points. She will play black against Eunice Tang En Shi. The third and fourth placing are still in the race.

In U10 Girls, the top three placing are almost in the hand of the current ranking provided they win their respective final round. Leading the pack is Chua Jia-Tien with 6.5/7 points followed by Nurul Farhana Halim with 6/7 points. In the third place is Zainoor Ikmal Maisarah scoring 5/7 points.

For full results and pairings, click below links:

Under 8 Girls, Under 10 Girls

In U8 Boys, the top seed Lye Lik Zang from KL won all his seven rounds to become the leader in this age group category. GiLoCatur has no doubt that he will emerge as the champion. In the final round, he will be challenged by Chew Zhi Qi at the top board. In second place is Ng Shi Yang who only lost once to the top seed in the fourth round. 

Under 8 Boys

NAG 2012 - The Second Day (Under 14 Boys)

Under 14 Boys is quite tough and unpredictable. GiLoCatur notices that many of them are MSS district or/and state players. GiLoCatur hopes that most of them continue to be active in the local chess scene and try to improve their chess level and rating. None of them has rating above 1700. They should learn and practice more and participate in many chess tournaments including the rated ones. They should break the 1700 and 1800 national rating.

William Lee Kah Howe of Penang is the sole leader with 5.5/6 points. He beat the top seed in the sixth round. He will become the champion in this age group provided that he wins his final two rounds. He is paired against Ang Zhen Yuan in the 7th round. Can he handle the pressure to be at the top board? 

Top 20 Ranking after R6

Top 10 Boards R7 pairings

The photo gallery:

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photo 4

NAG 2012 - The Second Day (Under 16 Girls)

The players in the Under 16 Girls age group category play in the round robin format. This is because the number of participants in this category is only eight (8). The final round will be held at 12.30pm on the third and final day of tournament.

U16 Girls - Round 4

Nur Nabila is currently the leader in the age group with one full point ahead of the other participants. GiLoCatur strongly believes that she will win her seventh round and emerge as the champion. And the first runner up should be won by Hoh Tjin Hui of Penang.   

Ranking as of Round 6

R7 pairings

NAG 2012 - The First Day (Under 18 Boys)

Three players in the Under 18 Boys age group category have the full 3/3 points. Wong Jianwen is leading the pack. Jonathan Augustine is the giant killer in the first day. He defeated higher-rated Eng Chiam of KL and Jun Jian of Selangor.

It will be an interesting Round 4 matches between Jianwen and Yit San on the top board. Who will emerge winner? OR will their match end up draw? And it is also an interesting match at the second board. Can Jonathan continue his giant killing act when he is paired against one of the favourites, Muhd Nabil?

Top 20 Ranking after R3 - click here for full ranking

Round 2 pictures.

Board 1 & Board 2

Board 3 & Board 4

Board 5 & Board 5

NAG 2012 - The First Day (Under 8 Boys)

In the U8 Boys age group category, the top seed Lye Lik Zang from KL is on his way to become the champion. In Round 4, he will be challenged by Ng Shi Yang. Will Lik Zang continue his winning streak? OR will Shi Yang stop him?

click here for further details

NAG 2012 - The First Day (Under 8 Girls)

In Under 8 Girls category, two players are leading the pack after Round 3. Goh Jie Yi, the defending champion from Penang, will face with Zainoor Ikmal Munirah from Selangor in the fourth round. Both of them have the full 3/3 points. Who will win? OR would the match be  a draw?

U8 Girls category

source : here

NAG 2012 - The First Day

The first day of NAG or Malaysian National Age Group was over. Three rounds had completed. GiLoCatur is so tired that GiLoCatur just woke up from a three-hour sleep after having dinner and Maghrib prayer.

GiLoCatur and the children arrived at the tournament hall at around 10.00am. GiLoCatur was a bit surprised to find out that the perimeter of the tournament hall was packed and crowded with more than 400 participants and their parents as you can see at the following photo gallery.

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GiLoCatur is happy with the seating arrangement. It is comfortable and nicely organized; NOT cramped and crowded.

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Both players and parents were so eager to enter the tournament hall. After checking the pairings the players could not wait to sit at their tables to begin their 2012 NAG chess competition. While taking the above picture, GiLoCatur and the children were at the upper level. We waited for a while before checking the pairings.

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The above three pictures show both players and parents were looking at the board numbers.  Thumbs up to the organizing committee for putting up the age group section or location.

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The parents at the upper level watching over the tournament hall observing the players as well as some parents getting into their board tables. Some of them are new while some others have attended chess competitions before. 

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NAG 2012 - U18 Boys Starting List

30 participants had registered in the Under 18 Boys age group category. Wong Jianwen from KL is the top seed. Nabil Azman Hisham is the second seed. Yeap Eng Chiam from KL and Fong Yit San from Perak are the third and fourth seed respectively. Syakir Shazmeer from Selangor does not participate. His MSSM Selangor team mate Low Jun Jian is the fifth seed.

Who will emerge champion? 

It will be an interesting fight for the title. It will be the last NAG for the MSSM Selangor players - Nabil, Jun Jian, Sheng Yip and Tariq Ziad. Good luck to all the participants. 

source : Mr Hamid Majid

NAG 2012 - U12 Boys Starting List

Under 12 Boys is the highest age group category in the 2012 NAG. It had attracted 87 players aged 11 and 12 years old.

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

NAG 2012 - U8 Boys Starting List

Below is the starting list for Under 8 Boys age group category. 22 aged below 8 years old boys had registered in this category. It is the lowest number of participants among the boys age group categories. GiLoCatur believes if the number becomes higher and higher, Malaysia has better chance to have its first chess Grand Master.

The top favourite in this category is a player from KL, Lye Lik Zang who has national rating of more than 1500.

source : Mr Hamid Majid

NAG 2012 - U16 & U18 Girls Starting List

It is quite sad that both U16 and U18 Girls age groups had attracted only a small number of participants. The U16 category has only eight participants pre-registered while the U18 category has only five. The Malaysian chess community especially the authority needs to think how to encourage the girls to keep playing until they become adults.

GiLoCatur's bet is on WCM Nur Nabila and Sarika to become the champion in their respective age group category. Do you agree?

source : Mr Hamid Majid

NAG 2012 - U12 Girls Starting List

Thirty four (34) girls aged 11 and 12 years old had registered for the NAG in the Under 12 Girls age group category. In the absence of Puteri Rifqah from Selangor, N9 MSSM state player, Nithyalakshmi, is the top seed with national rating of 1654.

Teh De Zen of Penang and Nur Faqihah of Selangor are the second and third seed respectively in this category. Can De Zen continue her champion performance last year to grab the title in this category? OR will it be the first age group title for N9 delivered by Nithya? Can the monopoly by the three chess horse powers - Selangor, Penang and KL, be broken? What's your prediction?

part 1

part 2

NAG 2012 - U10 Girls Starting List

Twenty one girls aged 9 and 10 years old will compete in the Under 10 Girls age group category. It is about the same number last year. The top three seed based on the national rating are Zainoor Ikmal Maisarah,  Lum Ting Fang and Nurul Farhana from Johor. Can one of them emerge as the champion? OR the rating does not count here?

source : Mr Hamid Majid

NAG 2012 - U8 Girls Starting List

There are 14 girls aged below 8 years old will compete to become the champion in the age group category. Can Goh Jie Yi defend her title won last year? OR can Selangor win the gold medal from its two players who are seeded 2nd and 3rd respectively?

source : Mr Hamid Majid

NAG 2012 To Start Tomorrow

It is less than 24 hours before 2012 NAG will kick off.

Based on the participants list sent by Mr Hamid Majid, the number of Malaysian junior chess players who will take part in the NAG this year is 425 with 319 boys and 106 girls. It is an increase of 93 players compared to last year.

Such increase is a good news. BUT there is also bad news. GiLoCatur believes that the statistics for U16 and U18 in the girls age groups is the lowest in the last five years.  

GiLoCatur will try to write more on the NAG statistics later as well as publish the participants starting list. GiLoCatur will also try to update and cover the chess event as much as possible but no promise due to work commitment.

The coverage for the age group in which GiLoCatur's children take part will be updated in their respective blogs. While the other age groups will be covered in this blog.

Under 16 Boys category, please check out Fikri's blog here.

Under 14 Girls category, please check out Anis' blog here. [The starting list had been published!]

Under 10 Boys category, please check out Fahim's blog here.

Today Is The Closing Date for NAG 2012

Today is 7th March. It is now 5 minutes to 1 o'clock.

What is the importance of today to the Malaysian chess? Today is the closing date for Malaysian National Age Group or popularly known as NAG.

11th - 13th March 2012

And why NAG is so important to the Malaysian junior chess players?

Besides MSSM Chess Championship which will be held in June this year, NAG is important to the Malaysian young chess players (in GiLoCatur's opinion) because :

1. It is the benchmark to see the level of chess skills and knowledge of the Malaysian junior chess players among their respective age groups
2. The top four winners in each age group SHALL be selected to represent Malaysia in age group chess competition namely at world, asian or ASEAN level
3. It is an event to find the national age group champions
4. As a co-curricular activity because all the winners will be provided with certificate of achievement   

GiLoCatur's children are so lucky for having the opportunity to participate in several national-level chess competitions unlike GiLoCatur was at their age. Both Fikri and Anis started to take part in NAG in its 2008 edition while Fahim had his debut two years later (2010). This year edition will be the fourth time for both Fikri and Anis and the second time for Fahim. They skipped last year edition because GiLoCatur had an urgent and important matter to attend to. 

Just that GiLoCatur has wishes regarding NAG:

• It has money prizes or additional rewards like laptop, iPad and mobile handphone
• the tournament info and entry forms being submitted to and received by many many more schools including SBPs 
• It is being  covered by the media both electronic and paper

SO, HURRY UP REGISTER TODAY!  Click here to download the full details and entry form.