Pearl Point National Junior Chess Championship 2008 - Results summary

There was no clear dominance by any of the leading 5 - 6 players in the Boys section, with Muhammad Tariq Amru reported to steadily moving up the ranks in the later matches to secure 7 1/2 points. His win against Sumant earlier on helped him clinch the Championship on a PE tie-break with the latter. It was a deserving win given the strong field of juniors notably NM Edward Lee, Justin Ong, Evan T Capel and Yeoh Li Tian, to name a few.

Nur Nabila on the other hand justified her top seeding to emerge a clear winner with a reported 7 1/2 points ahead of second-placed Renitha Narayanan. Her younger sister Nur Najihah was 3rd with 6 1/2 points ahead of players Sarika Subramaniam, Amira Zullkafli, Kwan Tszee Yeung, Latifah Kaiyisah and Latifah Syamimi

13th Rakan Muda GACC International Inter-Varsity Chess Championship 2008

(The annual Championship was held at Malaysia's oldest and premier university, University of Malaya. The event was run by the varsity students from Tuanku Bahiyah RC with technical advise and support from MCF. Some 24 Universities and institutes of higher learning or 124 students from Malaysia, Iran, India, China , Philippines and Singapore took part in this Fide-rated tournament held from 29th Nov to 5th Dec 2008.)

The Iranians took a clean sweep of the top titles this afternoon winning both the Open and Women individuals through GM Amir Bagheri and WFM Shirin Navabi. Their other team members GM Shojate Ghani ( 2nd placing), Amin Nazri ( 3rd), and Morteza Darban ( 7th) assured the top Team spot for Islam Azad University to complete the rout

The Malaysian challenge were ably led by the twin siblings Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli and WCM Nur Shazwani Zullkafli Wani, and Singapore-based Pok Wern Jian. Wani was 4th in the Women category while Wern Jian and Shazwan wrestled the 9th and 10th position in the Open.

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Information: Chief Arbiter IA Hamid Majid

website: http://www.gacc-chess.com/

The Chess Olympiad 2008, Dresden

The Malaysian Team returns today after a gruelling battle in Dresden Germany. There was high expectation on the Malaysian Team to perform, placed 73 in the list as to secure some title norms and maybe to spring a surprise or two. But the Olympiad is no ordinary meet where each country would only send in her top or leading players with the aim of success by whatever yardstick.


Our players indeed performed to their expected levels although the ranking did drop to 96. IM Mas did well to score against higher rated GM Mateo Ramon in Round 5 or later on even clinched a draw against GM Matamoros Franco Carlos. Likewise FM YW Lim were able to hold his fort with draws against his stronger opponents GM Gustafsson Jan, GM Markos Jan and GM Lenic Luka.


However to achieve success beyond the ordinary one must plan to win and given the everchanging environment, with breakthrough ideas.

For the records Armenia won the Open title while Georgia clinched the Woman section. Within Asean, Vietnam put up a strong performance with 9th position in the Open section while the Woman's team slipped marginally to 26th placing, with both teams well ahead of the other counterparts in this region.

Ref: http://chess-results.info

Pearl Point National Junior Chess Championship 2008

The Malaysian Chess Federation and Pearl Point will be organising the Pearl Point National Junior Chess Championship 2008 from 10th to 14th December of this year

The Champion in the respective Boy and Girl category will earn the coveted title of National Junior Master

Closing date is 3rd December 2008 (Wednesday)

The Chess Olympiad 2008, Dresden

MCF Council has finalised the travel arrangements for the 6-member Malaysian Chess Contingent to the 38th Olympiad scheduled in Dresden, Germany this month.

As reported earlier the select team members are IM Mas HafizulHelmi, FM Lim Yee Weng, IM Jimmy Liew, FM Mok Tze Meng and NM Edward Lee. Leading the Contingent is Deputy Pres Hj Ibrahim Bakar as Head of Delegation and Team Captain

The Contingent will leave for Dresden on Tuesday 11th Nov. 2008 on Flight Lufthansa (LH) 9743 at 21:00 hr KLIA and back again to Malaysia on 27th Nov. 2008, touchdown KLIA 19:15hr. We wish them success in our endeavour to bring glory to the country.

Note: The itinerary and tickets will be given out by Hon Sec Greg Lau . Players may also contact our Travel Consultant En Mohd Kamal Surin ( email: ttt@tamimitours.my or h/p tel: +60126112012 ) for clarifications if any, on the flight arrangements and other travel requirements.

National Rating List

Malaysia's current top player is IM Mas Hafizulhelmi (pic right ) with N/Rating of 2331 while top female player is WIM Siti Zulaikha ( pic above) rated 1961.


MCF have in recent years adopted the chess rating data of affiliate Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) as the official National Rating list. For easy reference the current October list can be found at this site and this will be updated from time to time.

Affiliates are urged to use this list as well as submit tournament results to MCF ( under portfolio of MCF Council member - IA Lim Tse Pin) for incorporation in the National Rating record. Other chess organisers may also refer to this record to rank the players in tournaments.

World Youth Championship 2008 - Vung Tau Vietnam

MCF earlier endorsed 10 junior players to represent Malaysia in the above Championship. Selection was based primarily on top placings in the respective National Age Group held earlier this year, and on a case by case basis the strong performances in this year's Royal Selangor Open and DATMO as deliberated and approved by MCF Committee.

The Championship ended last Friday. In the Open Section Yeoh Li Tian in the Under-10 Open Category scored a commendable 7 points out of 11 rounds in a field of 90 players. The best performance from this Malaysian hope was beating No. 7 Nguyen Ngok Minh Tri of Vietnam. His final 14th position is the highest achieved by the Malaysian contingent this time round.

In the Girls' Section Alia Anin Azwa playing in the Under-14 category scored 6 points to be placed 29th position out of 79 players. Her best performance was probably despatching her higher rated opponent in round 8, WFM Efroimski Marsel (FIDE 2052) of Israel.




Nur Nabila in the Under-12 who also scored 6 points and placed No. 27 in the Championship showed a glimpse of her potential beating 20th place Tereshechkina Maya (FIDE 1961) of Russia.





The other 7 results are Aron Teh (U-10) with 6 points, Elgin Lee (U-12) 6 points, Muhammad Shakir (U-14) with 4 points, Justin Ong (U-16) with 4 1/2 points, Puteri Rifqah (U-8) scoring 6 points, and Nur Najiha and Camilia both playing in the U-10 category collecting 5 points each.

On the Championship, India topped the table winning 4 out of 12 individual Gold medals on offer, followed by Croatia with 2 Golds. Amongst the Asean countries only Vietnam secured an individual Gold medal in the Open Under-8 section while Indonesia managed a Bronze.


Ref: FIDE and vietnamchess websites.

Flag Presentation Ceremony to the World Youth Championship 2008 - 19th Oct. to 31st Oct 2008 in Vung Tau, Vietnam

"The Flag Presentation Ceremony to the Malaysian players' delegation by the MCF President will be held at the Wisma OCM Jalan Hang Jebat (level 1) on Sunday, 19th October 2008 at 12:00 hr
All delegates are urged to attend the ceremony"

From
The Hon Secretary

Note: Please ensure all documentation and other necessary arrangements in order before adjourning to LCCT for departure

Malaysia GM Tournament 2008 - Final Results

GM Sermek Drazen ( pic right) topped the table with 7 points in the recently concluded double round-robin GM Tournament. Malaysia's IM Mas Hafizulhelmi missed the GM Norm but scored a commendable 5 1/2 points of 3 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses.

Chess Olympiad Selection 2008 - The Malaysian Team

The Malaysian Chess Federation has concluded the Olympiad Selection play-off held at The Chess Network recently. The successful candidates are NM Edward Lee, IM Jimmy Liew and FM Mok Tze Meng and they will join IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and FM Lim Yee Weng in the Men's Team to the Chess Olympiad 2008 Dresden, Germany

Letters will be issued to these successful candidates shortly together with training schedule and other relevant details

From,

Gregory Lau
Hon Secretary, Malaysian Chess Federation

Malaysia GM Tournament 2008

(A panorama of the playing hall in CitiTel Express Hotel with Chief Arbiter IA Maung Maung Lwin overseeing the Tournament)

The GM Tournament has just completed the 8th Round, with two more rounds to go tomorrow and the following last day on Thursday 4th September 2008. Tournament leader is GM Sermek Drazen with 6 points. The others are GM Saidali Iuldachev and GM Ziaur Rahman sharing 5 points, followed by IM Mas Hafizulhelmi with 4 points, WIM Zhang Xiaowen with 3 points and FM Myo Zaw Min with 1 point.

Mas is down with fever for the past few days and with the onset of the Ramadhan will pose a further challenge to him. Today however he gained the upper hand against WIM Zhang Xiaowen. With this win and possibly another win at the very least for the remaining matches against FM Myo ZawMin and GM Saidali Iuldachev he should be able to regain his FIDE rating points he lost in the recent DATMO

Malaysian Chess Festival 2008 - 28th Astro Merdeka Standard Team Chess Championship 2008 - Individual performances

(In his Closing Speech yesterday Tan Sri Ramli informed the audience that this would be the last event to be held at the Wilayah Complex hall as the space would be taken over by a third party. MCF had in the meantime finalised arrangements to rent a small office space at the OCM building where future tournaments could also be held there.)

Records on the individual performances as follows:

Open Category









Ian Udani and FM Nicholas Chan are joint First Board winners , both sharing 85.7% or 6 out of 7 points

Junior Category












Sumant won the First Board Prize in the Junior Category with 92.9% score or 6 1/2 out of the maximum 7 points

Malaysian Chess Festival - 28th Astro Merdeka Standard Team Chess Championship 2008 - Final Day

Apocalypse Manila sharing equal 20 1/2 points with Selangor eclipsed the latter to emerge Champion through a tie-break. The sole foreign team truly deserved the title making a strong comeback in Day 2 winning all the games then, including the final game against Selangor. Selangor took the Second place and Best State Medal as well

















In the Junior Category Selangor Generasi 8 took a commanding lead throughout the tournament and wrestled the Championship title and Best State Medal award.

After a hectic two weeks of chess the Malaysian Chess Festival has now drawn to its close. Wishing you Malaysians Selamat Hari Merdeka and Selamat Berpuasa to all Muslims, and safe journey home

Malaysian Chess Festival - 28th Astro Merdeka Standard Team Chess Championship 2008 - Day1

Day 1 Results











Pelikan is at the top of the table in the Open Category with 13 points after Round 4. ASTRO Malaysia is in second spot losing to the leader 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 but can always make a comeback tomorrow. The photo on the left showed Pelikan and Apocalypse Manila in Round 3, the result in favour of the Malaysian team at 3 -1. Likewise the leading State team Selangor collected 12 points so far, but the position remains fluid with other teams jostling close by. Competition is stiff with every point and strategy matters from now on









Selangor Generasi 8 representing Selangor is in the lead in the Juniors' Category with 14 1/2 points, or 1 1/2 points ahead of the team whom they will meet next.

Malaysian Chess Festival - 28th Astro Merdeka Standard Team Chess Championship 2008

(The University of Malaya GACC student volunteers were on hand to help in the smooth running of the Malaysian Chess Festival 2008 events)

The 28th Astro Merdeka Standard Team Chess Championship 2008 garners 78 teams of which 36 are participating in the Open Category and 32 in the Junior Category.

In view of the Ramadhan month which falls on 1st Sept 2008 and smaller number of teams the players agreed to reduce the number of rounds to 7 to be played over 2 days - 30th Aug to 31st Aug 2008. Time control is revised to 1 hour to the finish. 4 rounds will be played today while another 3 rounds will be played tomorrow followed by Closing and Prize Giving Ceremony.

Play has just begun this morning at about 0930hr. This will be the final series of this year's Malaysian Chess Festival 2008 and will be the last chess tournament to be held at the Wilayah Complex.

Open Category

The Senior category is led by "Pelikan". This category also attracts one foreign entry from the Philippines the "Apocalypse Manila". The Filipino team was in 5th position in the recent Team Rapid event

















































Junior Team Category



32 Teams are in this Category with Selangor State Team seeded at the top.