A Suspense Moment for Malaysian women's Team in Round 10

It is several minutes to midnight in Malaysia. It is near to 7 o'clock in Istanbul, Turkey.

It is a very suspense moment watching the match between Malaysia and its ASEAN neighbour, Philippine. The score is now 1.5 point each. Malaysia was trailing 0.5 to 1.5 point when Camilia lost to her higher-rated opponent and Nabila drew on board 2. Thank god, Li Ting provided the important one point to equalize. Now, Malaysia is depending on its first board player, Najiha. Her win will make Malaysia and its chess community happy and joyous. Her defeat will make Malaysia lost the match to the Philippines. If she draws, both countries will share the match point. 

What it is gonna be? GO Najiha GO!

The final battle

40th Istanbul Chess Olympiad - Round 8

It is 1.10 am o'clock right now. GiLoCatur is still awake following the Malaysian teams playing the eighth round.

In the women section, Malaysia is paired against Bosnia & Herzegovina (BIH) at table number 26. On paper, Malaysia has lower chance to win the match since its ranking is much lower than its opponent. Malaysia is ranked 83rd while Bosnia & Herzegovina is the 39th seed.

But with the spirit of "Malaysia Boleh", Najiha, Nabila, Li Ting and Camilia had made Malaysia proud by winning over their opponents 3 to 1. 

Playing on board 4, Camilia made her 200-ratings-higher opponent resign at move 26th. Her win gave Malaysia one important point. 

Board 4

Malaysia was up 2 - 0 when later Najiha upset her WIM opponent. It is really a big win for her since she beats a 400-rating-higher opponent. GiLoCatur was confident that Najiha would win after 41st move she gained winning advantage.

Board 1

When Malaysia was up 2 - 0, a crucial half point would seal the victory for Malaysia. It was a suspense moment whether both Nabila and Li Ting could at least draw against their respective opponent. Then Nabila who also played on board 2 in the 39th Moscow Chess Olympiad made sure that Malaysia won when she drew with her WFM opponent, Aleksandra Dimitrijevic. 

Board 2

Board 3

Li Ting made the victory for the Malaysian women squad sweeter when she also drew with her rated-at-2066 WFM opponent, Dijana Dengler. 

It was an excellent performance indeed. GiLoCatur wishes that  the Malaysian electronic and print media write about this. 

Syabas & tahniah! Keep it up. 

It was a double joy for Malaysia since its men's team had thrashed Libya with 3.5 - 1 score. 

40th Istanbul Women Chess Olympiad - MAS vs MDV in Round 4

Salam Kemerdekaan to all Malaysians.

Malaysia is celebrating its 55th independence today. Last night during the eve of the country's independence night Malaysian chess community must be joyous and proud when their chess heroes and heroines fought hard on the chess board over higher-rated opponents and had very commendable results. 

The Malaysian women chess squad managed to defeat the 64th seed Bolivia with the score of 3 to 1. Its second board player, Nur Nabila, stole the crucial winning point after she won against her higher-rated Bolivian WIM opponent. Both Mi Yen and Li Ting scored 2 important points earlier for Malaysia to make it 2 Malaysia, 0 Bolivia. After Najiha could not seal the victory for Malaysia, the burden went to her elder sister. GiLoCatur, as well as other Malaysian enthusiasts, was quite nervous to follow Nabila's game. Surely, it was a cheerful night for Malaysians when finally the game was over with victory for Nabila playing black. Syabas and tahniah to the Malaysian women's team.

Nabila (left) and her younger sister, Najiha (right)
photo from official website

It was a double joy for Malaysian chess followers since the two Malaysian IMs of the Malaysian men's squad playing in Round 3 last night against the 37th-rank Egypt won their respective games. Both IM Mok and IM Yee Weng won against their respective 2600-rated Grand Master (GM) opponents. Ofcourse, the Malaysian chess community hoped that a miracle to happen for the other two junior Malaysian men's team members - Li Tian and Zhuo Ren, to provide the important half point to seal the victory over the stronger Egyptian team. Unfortunately, both could not follow their seniors to have magical wins. Thus, Malaysia could only draw 2 - 2 with 37th rank Egypt. Well done boys! It is still an excellent result and performance.

In Round 4 tonight, Malaysia will face much tougher and stronger opponent, Moldova which is ranked 41st in the women section. While in the open's section, the Malaysian men's team will play against Finland. Best of Luck to both Malaysian teams.

Click here for full Round 4 team-pairings

Eight teams have full six match points up to Round 3. They are India, Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Serbia, Russia, Poland and Argentina. These eight nations are in the top four tables in the fourth round in about two hours time.

40th Istanbul Women Chess Olympiad - MAS vs JPN in Round 2

The first round of the 40th Istanbul Chess Olympiad is over. Most higher-rated teams have no problem thrashing their respective lower-rated teams. But there a number of upsets when few lower-rated players either win or draw against their respective higher-rated opponents. It does not happen to the Malaysian women's team but gladly it happens to the Malaysian men's team who was playing in the top 10 boards.

Syabas and tahniah to both IM Mok and NM Zhuo-Ren for their achievement in the first round. Mok who is seeded 363rd and rated at 2354 managed to win against the 41st seed, super GM Van Wely of Netherlands who has International Ratings of 2691. Meanwhile Zhuo Ren who is the 555th seed with ratings of 2120 managed to draw with his 84th seed opponent, GM Stellwagen, who is in the 2600-ratings club.  It means Zhuo Ren's opponent has more than 500 rating points than him. Hopefully, all the Malaysian players can have more excellent results like this.

The Malaysian lady's team only managed to grab 1/2 points from its opponent, Slovakia. Li Ting who is seeded 406th among the total of 600 plus women players and with ratings of 1834 drew with Slovakian WIM Alena Mrmova at the fourth board. WIM Mrmova is ranked 137th. Surely,  a draw against 400-rating- points opponent is a good news for the Malaysian chess community.

So, which team will be the next opponent for the Malaysian young ladies in Round 2 tonight?  The answer is JAPAN. Malaysia and Japan will have the battle at table #43. Japan is seeded 104th with rating average of 1569. Even though Malaysia is seeded higher than Japan, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE AND UNDERRATE the opponent. Anything can happen because every player has syrely been making preparation to play in the Chess Olympiad. 

Let's get to know with the Japanese team members. 

What GiLoCatur found about the Japanese women players in the 40th edition of Chess Olympiad from Mr Google are as the following.

The Japanese women's chess team consists young and veteran players. The team's veteran and experienced player is its second board player, WCM Emiko Nakagawa. She is making her 13th appearance in the Chess Olympiad. She may be the oldest participant too since she is 70 plus years old. She was born before the Japanese occupation in Malaya. In chess, age is not a factor. This can be a motivation to the Malaysian chess community especially to Ilham who dreams to become a GM by 58 years old. Emiko had won the Japanese national women championship six times. Emiko once had the International Ratings above 2000. So, she shall not be underestimated even though her current rating is 1798.

Najiha's most probable opponent is Mirai Ishizuka. GiLoCatur believes she is a bit well known to some of the Malaysian chess players especially BadBishop and Ilham. Both had played against her in 2008 AmBank Chess Challenge as narrated in their respective blogs here and here.

As per GiLoCatur's research, there are two young players in the Japanese chess women squad. They are Karen Hoshino and Arisa Kikuchi. The former is just 11 years old while the latter is the same age as Anis Fariha, GiLoCatur's daughter which is 14 years old. Arisa made her maiden appearance in the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk two years ago like Nabila and Mi Yen.

The last member of the Japanese women's chess team is Emi Hasegawa. Not much info about her except she was born in 1979. 

Arisa Kikuchi
photo from fide website

Click here to view Arisa's games in the 39th Chess Olympiad. 

WCM Emiko Nakagawa (yr 2006)
photo from chesspics.com

Lots of Emiko's games can be found in 365chess.com and chessgames.com websites. 

Mirai Ishizuka (yr 2006)
photo from chesspics.com

If you are interested to see Mirai's games in 2006  37th Turin Chess Olympiad, go to this link.

So, to all the Malaysian chess enthusiasts especially the juniors, if you have nothing to do tonight you may follow the battle between Malaysian and Japanese women chess players online. Don't just waste your precious time facebooking and playing online games. 

MAS versus SVK in the First Round of 40th Istanbul Women Chess Olympiad Tonight At 8.00pm

About six hours to go before the kick-off of the 40th Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey. Round pairings has already been published. GiLoCatur can't wait to find out the results of the first round especially the Malaysian teams, both men and women.

The opponent for the Malaysian women's team is SLOVAKIA who is ranked at 20th place. The Slovakian women's team consists of three WGMs, one WIM and one WFM. What will be the Malaysian players line up? Will Slovakia let its fifth board player,  WFM Veronika Machalova, to play? Based on GiLoCatur's research, Veronika had played against a Malaysian woman chess player several years ago. She lost to the Malaysian chess player. Can you guess who the Malaysian woman chess player would be? Click here to find out the answer. [Additional info, 4.30pm - Even the Slovakian top board player, Zuzana, had played against the same Malaysian woman player before. She almost lost the game. For sure both Zuzana and her Malaysian opponent were still under 16 years old during then. In what tournament the game was played? Where it was played? Enjoy the game here. To all the Malaysian chess community, let's pray that our Najiha can follow the feat by winning or at least drawing against Zuzana.]  

GiLoCatur hopes that each Malaysian women chess player will play her heart out when facing the Slovakian team. Do not be afraid. Study and research respective opponents' games. Keep in mind that a Malaysian player can beat a Slovakian opponent as been proven before.

Below are the Slovakian opponents that Najiha, Nabila, Mi Yen, Li Ting and Camilia will face. Check it out!

WGM Zuzana Borosova (IRtg 2280, yr2008)
photo taken from here

If you are interested to see and learn Zuzana's chess games, please go to 365chess.com website at this link and chessgames.com website here.

WFM Veronika Machalova  (IRtg, 2222, yr 2005)

From the 365chess.com website at this URL link GiLoCatur can view the chess games of Veronika. Surprisingly, GiLoCatur found a chess game between her and a top Malaysian woman chess player played in 2005.  

WGM Julia Kochetkova (IRtg 2305, yr 2007)
photo taken from chessbase.com

GiLoCatur believes Li Ting's deep knowledge on Sicilian opening is very crucial to give a tough challenge in her match-up against Julia. Looking at Julia's games in the chessgames.com website here hopefully will help GiLoCatur when playing against Sicilian opponents. :) 

WGM Regina Pokorna (IRtg 2353)
photo from chessgames.com

GiLoCatur found that Regina likes to play Ruy Lopez and Sicilian repertoires as shown by the statistics in the  chessgames.com website here. Most probably Regina will play against Nur Nabila at the second board provided that Zuzana plays in the MAS vs SVK match up.

SELAMAT BERJUANG SERIKANDI CHESS MALAYSIA! YAKIN MALAYSIA BOLEH!

The 40th Istanbul Chess Olympiad

Salam Eidul Fitri. Selamat Menyambut Hari Lebaran.

It is the tenth day of Hari Raya Aidil Fitri celebration. GiLoCatur came back from the festival holiday three days ago. Even though GiLoCatur and the kids did not participate in the Malaysian Chess Festival, GiLoCatur followed the chess event whenever possible. In fact, GiLoCatur also checked the results of three Malaysian players who took part in the just concluded World University Chess Championship held in Portugal.

And for sure, GiLoCatur as well as most Malaysian chess enthusiasts will follow the World Chess Olympiad which opening ceremony in Istanbul is taking stage at this moment. Fortunately, the games will not be played in the wee hours like the opening ceremony. All the round matches except the final one will kick of at 3 o'clock local time which is five hours later than the time in Malaysia. It will be 8 o'clock Malaysian time.

Who are playing for Malaysia in both the Women and Men teams? What is the starting rank? 

In the women section, Malaysia is represented by the Azman Hisham sisters - WFM Nur Najiha and WCM Nur Nabila, WCM Fong Mi Yen, NM Tan Li Ting and Camilia Johari. Three of them will be playing  their maiden Chess Olympiad while the other two are making their second appearance. The Malaysian women team is ranked 84th from the total of 129 teams with 1878 rating average. Two years ago in Russia, Malaysia is placed 64th out of 115 teams. 

China which is led by GM Hou Yi Fan is the top seed in the 40th olympiad women tournament. Among the ASEAN countries, Vietnam is ranked the highest at 27th spot. Indonesia and Philippines are ranked 46th and 56th respectively. GiLoCatur hopes that Malaysia will at least face one of the three ASEAN nations to see where Malaysia stand among the four ASEAN countries. It is a puzzle for GiLoCatur that WGM Irene Iskandar is not taking part in this edition of chess olympiad.

[Note: The starting rank for the ASEAN countries as per on 28th August 2012, 12.00pm Malaysian time has changed slightly. Vietnam (28th), Indonesia (54th), Philippines (57th) and Malaysia (83rd).]

Malaysian previous three chess olympiads 1st board player, IM Mas Hafizulhelmi, is skipping the 40th Chess Olympiad. In this 40th Istanbul Chess Olympiad, the Malaysian men's team is captained by IM Jimmy Liew who is making his 8th appearance. The other four team members are IM Mok Tze-Meng, IM Lim Yee Weng, Yeoh Li Tian and NM Lim Zhuo Ren. Both Li Tian and Zhuo Ren are playing for the first time in the Chess Olympiad. The Malaysian men's team is ranked 86th from the total of 158 teams.

The top seed is Russia who is led by GM Vladimir Kramnik. If not mistaken, it is the only team which all team members are in the 2700 ratings club. Like in the women section, Vietnam is the highest seed among the ASEAN countries. Its starting rank is 27th. Philippines who is led by its top player, GM Wesley So, is at 36th rank followed by Singapore at 55th. GM Susanto Megaranto lead the Indonesian team which is ranked at 68th. [Note: The starting rank for the Philippines has changed slightly from 36th to 35th while the other three ASEAN countries - Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, as per on 28th August 2012, 12.00pm Malaysian time remain the same. ]

taken from 40th Chess Olympiad official website

The chess enthusiasts all over the world will have eleven days of chess excitement starting today at 8 o'clock Malaysian time watching the world best chess players fighting over chess boards. 

GiLoCatur would like to say SELAMAT BERJUANG to all the Malaysian chess players. MALAYSIA BOLEH! 

The update and results on the 2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad can be viewed here.