IN CASE you have not heard, Malaysia have just gained our latest Woman International Master, but there is no prize in guessing correctly that the new holder of this title is none other than our six-time women’s national champion, Siti Zulaikha Foudzi.
She accomplished this feat at the World girls’ chess championships which has just ended in Cochin, India. Siti Zulaikha, participating in this event, finished with 7½ points from 13 games.
However, long before the tournament had ended – in fact, it was just after nine games – that Siti Zulaikha had earned her third and final woman international master norm.
According to the tournament’s website, Siti Zulaikha drew her ninth game with the white pieces against India’s Raghavi in just five moves.
“It is a special day for me. I messaged my father, a doctor in Kuala Lumpur (to tell him the good news),” Siti told the website, adding that her objective now was to become a woman grandmaster.
She started the event as the 18th seed and had expressed the hope to finish among the top 15. Her wish was answered because Siti Zulaikha eventually finished in joint ninth to 12th places.
The top placings among the girls were winner WGM Ekaterina Korbut (Russia) 10½ points; WGM Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany) and WIM Eesha Karavade (India) 9½ points each; Kruttika Nadig (India) 8½ points; WGM Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), WFM Vinuthma (India), WIM Marlies Bensdorp (Netherlands) and Sivasankari (India) 8 points each; and Zhang Jilin (China), WFM Siti Zulaikha, WIM Tania Sachdev (India) and Ramya Krishna (India) 7½ points each.
Malaysia had another player in Cochin, Soon Wai Cheong, who obtained 4½ points playing in the World junior chess championship.
It was only last October in Calvia, Spain, that Siti Zulaikha had obtained her second WIM norm at the women’s chess Olympiad. Riding on that crest of success, Siti Zulaikha’s search for their third norm was achieved in Cochin. However, I had to go further back to year 2000 to dig up her first WIM title norm, which she obtained in Mumbai at the Commonwealth chess championship.
Incidentally, Siti Zulaikha’s achievement makes her only the second woman international master in Malaysia. Our first WIM was Audrey Wong, but she has long retired from the game.
But Siti Zulaikha is now our latest flag bearer and our ladies chessplayers – and also her male counterparts – must look to her success as an encouragement to work even harder to gain more titled players for this country.
A miserable collection of two international masters, two woman international masters, seven Fide masters and two woman Fide masters from the last 30 years of chess does not reflect very well on the state of Malaysian chess.
It was only about two weeks ago that Jimmy Liew, our first international master whose time is now firmly divided between his family and work as a programmer, had lamented in the chess-malaysia mailing list that the chess world is moving forward and yet we are still stuck in the 1980s.
During the Chess Olympiad in Calvia, he had been scanning through the daily pairings from the Olympiad website when he noticed several familiar names from the 1980s, a period when Liew was still very active in chess and had represented Malaysia at several Olympiads.
“Players from countries that I have met are, to my surprise, now grandmasters! They were just beginners when I played with them. Malaysia used to relish meeting these countries and we used to beat them 4-0 or 3½-½,” Liew wrote, adding: “What has happened 20 years later? We are getting beaten by them! They are strutting their GMs on first board while we only have an FM.”
“Who is to blame?” asked Liew. “The players or the officials or the education system? It is time for everyone to sit up and take notice and do something. It is so embarrassing!”
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Perak tournaments
The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will hold two events this weekend together with the state’s Youth & Sports Department and Perak Gerakan Youth. The Perak closed chess tournament will be run on two consecutive days on Dec 4-5 while on Dec 5, the Anak Malaysia chess tournament will be organised.
Entry fees for the Perak closed are RM15 for PICA members and under-16 players, while non-members will be charged RM20. For the Anak Malaysia event, the fees are RM5 and RM10 respectively. Entries received after Nov 30 will be surcharged an additional RM5. For details or registration, contact Yunus (013-3908129) or Martin Abu Bakar (019-5121888).
PCA grand prix, 4th leg
The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will hold the fourth leg of their annual PCA Grand Prix at the clubhouse of the Residents’ Association of Bayan Baru (RABB) this Sunday. Only the first 100 entries will be accepted.
Entry fees for PCA members are RM15 (adults), RM10 (under-18 players) and RM7 (under-13 players) while non-PCA members are required to pay RM20 (adults), RM15 (under-18) and RM10 (under-13). Entries submitted after Nov 28 are subjected to a surcharge of RM5. For more information, contact Marcus Yeoh (012-472 3873, marcusypl@yahoo.com) or Tan Eng Seong (012-429 9517, estan64@streamyx.com).
USM team open
The Universiti Sains Malaysia will organise their 11th USM team open tournament at the university grounds on Dec 11-12. Entry fees are RM60 for schools and institutes of higher learning, and RM100 for all other teams. Closing date for entries is tomorrow.
For more details, contact Choo Chee Wai (012-6127712) or Tan Chooi Nee (012-4344339) or email the Kelab Bridge& Catur USM (usm_chess_club@yahoo.com). Members of the chess-malaysia mailing list can download the entry form from http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/chess-malaysia/files/.
Clearwater Sanctuary chess
The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the Clearwater Sanctuary international chess tournament at the Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort on Dec 19.
Entry fees are RM10 for PICA members, ladies and under-12 players, and RM15 for all others. For enquiries, contact Yunus Sharif (05-545 8453 or 013-390-8129) or Abu Bakar Martin (019-512 1888).
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