Sarawak Open - The Final Round

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!

Sarawak Open - After Round 8

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

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

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.

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

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! 

Fide-rated Events - 3rd NJCC and Sarawak Chess Open

There were two FIDE-rated chess tourneys concurrently being held in Malaysia that just concluded yesterday. One was held in Kuala Lumpur specifically for the Malaysian Under 20 juniors while another one was held in Sibu Kuching. The former is known as The National Junior Chess Championship or NJCC in short while the later is the Sarawak Open Chess Championship.

So, how's the results or final rankings for the tournaments?

While GiLoCatur left the venue for the NJCC, playoff was underway to determine the champion since five players have same 7/9 points. For the chess tournament, tie breaks is not used to determine the champion if top final rankings have same points. In the final 9th round, Mark Siew could not earn the minimum 1/2 point when facing Syakir in the top table battle. Instead, Syakir who was trailing Mark by a point managed to equal the 7/9 score not only with Mark, the leader after Round 8, but also with three others - Sumant, Zhou Ren and Jian Wen. Nabil or Li Tian could not join the fray for the playoff when both just drew against each other and scored 6.5/9 points.

In the girls section, WFM Alia and WCM Nabila had to play the playoff when the two had 8/9 points. Eventhough, the former had better tie break, both of them had to play the playoff to the determine the new Malaysian NJWM, National Junior Woman Master.

click here for full results

GiLoCatur does not have the official result for the Sarawak Chess Open. But based on chess-results.com here, Jasur Madjidov from Uzbekistan, won the first place after scoring 6.5/8 points and better tie breaks than two other players - Foo Chee Kin and Morsin Ahmad, who have the same score. More than 50 players participated in the three-day event that started on Friday.

FULL Results 2008 Sarawak Chess Open

Due to some request for the FULL results of the 2008 Sarawak Chess Open, I hereby publish them as per the above. It is good to know that many have followed and want to know the details of the tournament. It shows a very high interest on local chess events. I hope the coverage of this tournament will spark more interest and appeal more chess players to participate in local tournaments especially rated ones either national or FIDE level.

... 10:15 am, Borneo Hotel 106 ...

The Final Results for 2008 Sarawak Chess Open Tournament

The closing speech from YB Dr Abang Haji Abdul Rauf :

• he is a chess player and loves chess
• once participated in Bangkok Open
• believes that chess is a very good activity for school children
• understands how FIDE-rating is very important to local chess players
• very supportive and committed to chess e.g. brought his son to play at international tournament in Brunei few years back eventhough the fee is US 200
• believes that Malaysian youngsters should be exposed to FIDE-rated and international chess tournaments
• hopes that more tournaments organized by SCA (Sarawak Chess Association) in future

Fikri and Irfan with the 1st runner up, Ian Udani

some of the tournament participants

Fikri and Irfan with new chess brothers from BRUNEI.

Me with Fikri and Irfan.

The 2008 Sarawak Chess Open Champion, NM Mohd Kamal Abdullah, with the organizing members.

Me and the boys with Mr Lim Kian Hwa, the president of Sarawak Chess Association.

Fikri and Irfan with Abg Mahathir Abd Mohd Nor and Afiq Afyfy Ahmad from Kuching.

The Results ...

Open category

1st - NM Mohd Kamal Abdullah (7 1/2 - TB: 52 1/2)

2nd - Ian Udani (7 1/2 - TB: 52)

3rd - David Hukom (7 - TB: 54 1/2)   INA

4th - Abdullah Che Hassan (7 - TB: 53)

5th - Lim Zhuo Ren (6 1/2 - TB: 53 1/2)

6th - Aaron Chua (6 1/2 - TB: 49 1/2)

7th - NM Kim Han Edward Lee (6 1/2 - TB: 48)

8th - Abang Mohd Reduan (6 1/2 - TB: 47)

9th - FM Mok Tze-Meng (6 - TB: 52 1/2)

10th - Lim Kian Hwa (6 - TB: 49 1/2)

U16 category

1st - Tan Ken Wei (6 - TB:42 1/2)

2nd - Afiq Afyfy Ahmad (5 1/2 - TB: 50)

3rd - En-Tian Mark Ho (5 1/2 - TB: 39 1/2)  SIN

4th - Faeznor Razali (5 1/2 - TB: 39 1/2)

5th - FM Daniel Howard Fernandez (5 - TB: 51 1/2)  SIN

6th - En-Huei Danielle Ho (5 - TB: 46 1/2)  SIN

7th - Aida Faridah Mohd Shaiden (5 - TB: 41)

8th - Muhd Irfan Haqqim Azhar (5 - TB: 40 1/2)

... 11:20 pm, Borneo Hotel 106 ...

The FINAL Round (9) Sarawak Chess Open

Final Round Pairings

Only three players have equal score of 6 and 1/2 points leading the group. On board 1, Ian Udani played white againts Lim Zhuo Ren. On board 2, the defending champion was up againts National Master (NM) Mohd Kamal Abdullah. 

As per the time of 4:30pm, both Ian Udani and NM Kamal Abdullah won their respective games. So the tie break will determine the champion of 2008 Sarawak Chess Open.

Tbl 28: Fikri vs Awang Mustapha Awang Mahbi (1/2-1/2)

Fikri managed to secure a draw when he was in losing position. He lost in the previous round. That is the game of chess. Once you made a mistake, known as blunder among the chess players, you may end up losing or draw eventhough you were in the winning position.

Thus, Fikri scored 3 and 1/2 points and played againts TWO Fide-rated players and won a game.

Tbl 20: Irfan vs Shahrin Abdullah (1-0)

Irfan managed to secure an important win in the final round. So, he has accumulated 5 points and managed to play againts THREE FIDE-rated players.

Tbl 26: Me vs Abang Aminurashid Naser (0-1)

Once again I was playing againts a Sarawakian state chess player. He moved his pieces very fast. In the end, I resigned when he had a rook and two pawns for promotion. It is a different style of play with fewer pieces attacking but ahead in development and aggressive too. It is a very experience for me, but that is secondary. The most important thing is the development of my son, Fikri, to advance in his chess career. My mission is to make him a Grand Master but let's see how it goes because lots of efforts need to be done and many obstacles need to tackle.

... 4:45pm, 3rd floor Ultimate Professional Center, Kuching ...

The final game of the tournament has just finished. It is between NM Edward Lee and WPM Ismail Ahmad on board 6. Both have 5 and 1/2 points. It is the former who won.

So it is the end of 2008 Sarawak Chess Tournament. Awaiting for the closing and prize giving ceremony.

... 5:15pm, 3rd floor Ultimate Professional Center, Kuching ...

Pictures at 2008 Sarawak Chess Open

Enjoy the pictures of 2008 Sarawak Chess Open, 31 October - 3 November 2008 at Ultimate Profesional Center, Jalan Bukit Mata Kuching.

Eighth Round Sarawak Chess Open

Round 8 Pairings

As per shown by the above pairings, Ian Udani was up againts NM Kamal Abdullah on board 1. They drew. So, they are among the leaders with 6 and 1/2 points. On board 2, FM Mok is having the winning edge. Provided no surprise news, he most surely join the leaders group.  On third board, NM Edward Lee is fighting againts Lim Zhou Ren. The winner will also join the leaders group. If they both draw, only three players have the highest score and will fight for the champion spot that offers RM 2,000.

Tbl 24: Fikri againts Toh Shen Nelson Kiu

Tbl 21: Irfan vs Awangku Kamarunsalehin (1/2-1/2)

Tbl 28: My opponent, Mark Song, is awaiting my move while I am taking pictures.

  My opponent is quite strong. He knows the basic openings and has smart moves. Our pieces were about equal, just I was down a pawn. We had a queen and both rooks as well as pawns. He offered a draw and I accepted it.

Irfan just gets down from the third floor and told me that he drew his game.

... 10:20 am, Restoran Wawasan 2000, Jln Bukit Mata Kuching ...

Cerita Ceriti Di Kuching

Di antara perkara yang menarik perhatian sepanjang aku berada di Kuching ialah kipas yang ada remote control. Kipas seperti gambar di atas adalah di  Restoran Wawasan 2000 tempat sebahagian pemain-pemain catur bersarapan pagi dan makan tengahari termasuk Ian Udani. Dan remote control adalah untuk setiap satu kipas. Kalau tak silap aku tak kurang dari 5 buah.

syeikh_cd di meja 32

Di samping itu dapat juga aku berkenalan dengan pemain dan peminat catur terutamanya yang datang dari Sarawak seperti Abang Azree, Faeznor, Afiq Afyfy dan Morshidi aka sheikh_cd. Di antara topik-topik perbualan ialah tentang opening apa yang bagus dan dilema samada nak tumpukan pada pelajaran atau catur.

Sempat juga aku buat coaching kepada yang masih baru dalam chess tournament. Berkongsi ilmu atau pengalaman mungkin lebih tepat sebab aku pun belum mencapai tahap expert lagi. 

... 12:02 tgh malam, Hotel Borneo 106 ...

Puzzle From Sarawak Chess Open Game

Black to move. Can black win this game? Or is it a draw? Please give your answers in comments or shoutbox.

Seventh Round Sarawak Chess Open

Round 7 Pairing

Six players share 5 points. On board 1, Ian Udani and Abdullah CH drew. FM Mok Tze-Meng, NM Kamal Abdullah, Masrin Erowan and Lim Zhou Ren won againts their respective opponents. The Sarawak CA president, Mr Lim Kian Hwa, won againts FM Soon Wei Yee. He scores 4 and 1/2 points. Three other players with the same point are Aaron Chua, NM Edward Lee and Japeri Reduan.

Tbl 27: Fikri vs Nadzri Izzbullah (1/2-1/2)

Tbl 17: Irfan vs Michelle Ho (1/2-1/2)

Tbl 29: Me vs Chee Han Mervyn Nyam (1-0)

Both the boys drew their games tonite. My expectation was that they both could win the games. But that's chess. You may win againts stronger opponent but you also may lose to weaker opponent.

As for me, I enjoyed my game tonite. The game can be viewed by clicking this link.

... 11:33 pm, Borneo Hotel ...

Sixth Round Sarawak Chess Open

Round 6 Pairing

The results become more interesting!! The top board of Round 5 drew. Thus Ian Udani and Abdulllah CH, both 4 and 1/2 points, will play each other on the top board. The defending champion will be playing on board 2 againts Morsin Ahmad who defeated Kamaludin Yusof  earlier. WPM Ismail Ahmad was defeated by Lim Zhuo Ren.

That's the latest update from 3rd floor, Ultimate Professional Center, Kuching Sarawak.

... 1:50 pm ... 

Tbl 22: Fikri vs Shahrin Abdullah (0-1)

Tbl 11: Irfan vs Kamaludin Yusof (0-1)

Tbl 26 : Me vs Awang Mustapha Awang Mahbi (0-1)

As per now, both me and Fikri lose our games. Irfan is still playing. Next round tonite we need to get back on our feets to win all our games especially for the boys who are on the mission to play againts FIDE-rated players and get FIDE rating points. Three more rounds to go!!

... 3:45 pm ...

The result of Irfan's game is he succumbs to a defeat! He lost a pawn where his opponent got the momentum. NEVER MIND! WE WILL COME BACK WITH VENGANCE (betui ka? hehehe) TONITE!

Sarawak Open Starting List

As promised yesterday, the starting list for the Sarawak Chess Open is displayed above.