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
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
