Top chess nations

ACCORDING TO to the World Chess Federation (Fide), Russia is the strongest chess-playing nation in the world today. Actually, we do not need Fide to tell us this, because all of us do know for a fact that Russia is untouchable as a chess-playing nation.

But how strong is Russia? And how do we measure the comparative chess strengths among countries? According to Fide (again), their definition of a country’s chess strength is the average rating of the country’s top 10 active Fide-rated players.

In this respect, Russia is way, way ahead of all the other countries. Their top 10 players have an average chess rating of 2717. This comes as no surprise as Gary Kasparov himself is already rated at 2804 while Vladimir Kramnik comes next at 2754. The other players in the Russian Top 10 are Alexander Morozevich 2741, Peter Svidler 2735, Alexander Grischuk 2710, Evgeny Bareev 2709, Alexey Dreev 2704, Konstantin Sakaev 2677, Anatoly Karpov 2674 and Alexander Motylev 2665.

Ukraine lies in an undisputed second place with an average rating of 2639 for their top 10 players. Vassily Ivanchuk at 2711 remains as Ukraine’s top player. Their other top 10 players are Ruslan Ponomariov 2700, Andrei Volokitin 2685, Alexander Moiseenko 2669, Pavel Eljanov 2643, Evgenij Miroshnichenko 2620, Zahar Efimenko 2601, Sergey Karjakin 2599, Vladislav Borovikov 2595 and Vereslav Eingorn 2587.

But after Russia and Ukraine, the chess strengths of the other Top 10 countries become rather debatable as their average ratings are often separated by only a mere point. 

For instance, third-placed Hungary has an average rating of 2618 while France has an average rating of 2617 and the United States, an average rating of 2614. The distinction between countries is equally blur as Armenia has an average rating of 2612, Israel 2608, Germany 2607 and England 2602.

Interestingly, there is a huge gap between ninth-placed England and the 10th-placed country, China.

Yes, despite having an average rating of 2589, China is regarded as the 10th strongest chess-playing country today. This makes them, of course, the strongest chess country in Asia, far ahead of the next chess-playing nation, India, which is in 14th place.

China owes its strong position to Ye Jiangchuan 2648, Ni Hua 2625, Bu Xiangzhi 2607, Xu Jun 2596, Zhang Zhong 2591, Peng Xiaomin 2590, Yin Hao 2583, Xie Jun 2573, Zhang Pengxiang 2560 and Wang Yue 2549.

By comparison, India is propped up by Viswanathan Anand who has a tremendously high rating of 2786, way ahead of their other players Krishnan Sasikiran 2657, P Harikrishna 2632, Surya Shekhar Ganguly 2585, Abhijit Kunte 2568, Chanda Sandipan 2554, Dibyendu Barua 2520, Humpy Koneru 2512, Praveen Thipsay 2488 and Tejas Bakre 2484.

Other Asian countries that feature in Fide’s Top 50 list include Kazakhstan in 23rd position with an average rating of 2542, Myanmar in 28th position with a 2523 average rating, Uzbekistan in 30th position with a 2521 average, the Philippines in 40th position with an average of 2489, Vietnam in 46th position with a 2476 average and Indonesia in 49th position with a 2456 average.

Malaysia lies in 82nd position among 143 chess-playing countries. Our average rating of 2302 comes from our Top 10 active players Mas Hafizulhelmi 2413, Lim Yee Weng 2354, Wong Zi Jing 2348, Mok Tze Meng 2337, Jimmy Liew 2320, Nicholas Chan 2313, Ahmad Maliki 2244, Lim Chuin Hoong 2239, Leong Mun Wan 2237 and Christi Hon 2236.

Fide does not consider inactive players in their calculations or otherwise, we could have included players like Peter Long 2350, Ooi Chern Ee 2325. Ng Tze Han 2283 and Francis Chin 2275 within our Top 10.

The total number of Malaysians, including the inactive ones, who have achieved rating points from Fide has now arisen to 111.

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Southern City chess

The Johor Bahru District Chess Association will hold their fifth Southern City Chess Tournament at the XTRA Hypermarket in Johor Bahru this Sunday. This is a six-round event with a 30-minute time control.

Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM8 for the under-16 section and RM6 for the under-12 section. There are 10 cash prizes for each section. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-3338215, email: naraa@tm.net.my

Chung Ling open

The Chung Ling High School Chess Club in Penang will organise an eight-round open tournament at their school hall this Sunday. First prize is RM300.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM15 for adults, ladies and veteran players, RM10 for under-18 players and RM7 for under-12 players. For non-members, the entry fees are RM20, RM15 and RM10 respectively.

For more details or to register, contact Tan Eng Seong (tel: 012.4299517, email: estan64@streamyx.com), Koay Wen Hoong (tel: 04.2826840, email: kwh1989@gmail.com) or Lim Wei Yang (tel: 04.6598199, email: wylim1990@yahoo.com).

Tsunami open 

The St Michael's Institution and the Jalan Pasir Putih school are jointly organising the Tsunami open team chess tournament at the St Michael’s school hall in Ipoh this Sunday. The aim of this tournament is to collect funds for the local victims of the tsunami. 

Entry fees are RM30 for a team of four players. To register or for inquiries, contact Gary Tan Kah Meng (tel: 016.5688745) or Andy Yeoh Aun Phin (tel: 019.5609221).

CAS first quarter allegro 

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organise their first quarter allegro chess competition at The Chess Network, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 6. 

This one-day event is played in two categories of 50 players each. The first category, with a top prize of RM250, is open to chess players with a national rating of 1400 and above, as well as non-rated adult players. Under-18 players and players with a national rating of below 1400 may join the second category event. 

Entry fees for the first category event are RM15 for CAS members and RM25 for non-members. For the second category event, the entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and RM20 for non-members.

To register, email your particulars and choice of category to chessmate@cas.com.kg 

Malay open

The Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia (PCMM) will kick off its activities for this year with the PCMM Malay open 2005 at The Chess Network, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 10-12. This seven-round event is open to only Malay chess players.

Prize fund is RM2,200 with RM700 going to the winner. Entry fee is RM25 for PCMM members whilst non-members will be charged an extra RM13 as PCMM membership. For inquiries, contact Haslindah Ruslan (tel: 019-2069605) or Najib Wahab (email: alinashab@scicom.com.my). 

UM 9th college open

The Tun Syed Zahiruddin residential college (ninth college) of University of Malaya will hold an open team chess competition at the college hall on Feb 19. The event is held over six rounds and each team can comprise only four players. Entry fee is RM60 per team, and the first prize is RM800.

For inquiries, contact Pang Yew Tom (tel: 016.6249018) or Geetha (tel: 016.7388557). Closing date for entries is Feb 12.

Malaysian chess calendar

IT IS a brand new year and with it, comes a brand new chess calendar from the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF).

But firstly, I have to caution you that the events in the chess calendar are all subject to change and it is best left to the organisers to confirm during the course of the year of whether there would be changes to their events or not.

Secondly, if readers are still looking forward to the resumption of a national allegro chess circuit this year, you will remain disappointed because there is no company to fill the void left by Bank Rakyat after the previous MCF president, Dato Rosli, had retired from the bank.

First up on the MCF calendar is the national age-group chess championship which is scheduled for Mar 12-15. This event takes advantage of the schools’ mid-semester break. 

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will then organise its annual Royal Selangor open chess tournament from Apr 28 to May 2. As usual, this event – the 32nd in a long unbroken series – will be sponsored by Royal Selangor.

Then, as the schools take a semester break towards the middle of the year, the MCF comes back with the national closed chess championship for men and women from May 28 until Jun 1. The CAS will hold their Selangor juniors open tournaments over two weekends on Jul 16-17 and Jul 23-24.

In August, we shall see the MCF organise the second Dato Arthur Tan memorial Malaysia open chess tournament. This tournament, with a huge prize fund that is set to lure many strong foreign chess masters to our shores, will be played from Aug 20 to 26. Immediately after its conclusion, the MCF will hold the Merdeka team chess championship on Aug 27-31.

If you are a university student, the tournament that should interest you greatly is the annual GACC inter-university tournament, organised by the Second College of Universiti Malaya. Normally, you will find foreign university teams playing too, with many titled players in their midst. This event will be held in October.

And December shall see the return of the annual Malaysia-Singapore chess match but this time, it will be hosted in Singapore by the Singapore Chess Federation. The dates are Dec 24-26.

In the meantime, the Penang Chess Association has also released its calendar of activities for the year. First off the block is the Chung Ling open chess tournament at the Chung Ling High School on Jan 30, and this will be followed by the Sri Aman junior (age-group) open tournament on Feb 20. 

A week later on Feb 27, the Penang Free School open chess tournament will be played. The Penang Free School will also organise the MSSPP chess championship on Apr 5-7 and Apr 12-14.

In May, there will be two tournaments organised by the Penang Chinese Girls’ High School and the Union High School. However, dates have not been fixed yet.

Further down the road, the PCA will hold its annual Penang Chess League at the Kolej Damansara Utama premises spanning July and August, and thereafter, there will be a long interlude until November when it is the turn of the Union Primary School to hold their Union Primary age-group chess tournament.

And finally, chess players will be interested in the PCA’s plans to organise their Penang open chess tournament in December. The dates are not confirmed but most probably it will straddle the end of the SEA Games and the start of the Malaysia-Singapore match.

Readers should note that these are plans by the MCF, CAS and PCA. The other main chess bodies in the country, such as the Perak International Chess Association, Terengganu Chess Association, Johor Bahru District Chess Club and Sarawak Chess Association, will also be announcing events during the course of this year and you should check this column regularly for announcements and updates.

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Brunei open

The Brunei open chess tournament starts today and will continue until Jan 20. According to the Brunei Chess Federation, the total cash prizes stands at more than US$5000. More information is available from the BCF website at http://www.bruneichess.org.bn. 

Southern City chess

The Johor Bahru District Chess Association will hold their fifth Southern City Chess Tournament at the XTRA Hypermarket in Johor Bahru on Jan 30. This is a six-round event with a 30-minute time control.

Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM8 for the under-16 section and RM6 for the under-12 section. There are 10 cash prizes for each section. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-3338215, email: naraa@tm.net.my

Chung Ling open

The Chung Ling High School Chess Club in Penang will organise an eight-round open tournament at their school hall on Jan 30. First prize is RM300.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM15 for adults, ladies and veteran players, RM10 for under-18 players and RM7 for under-12 players. For non-members, the entry fees are RM20, RM15 and RM10 respectively.

For more details or to register, contact Tan Eng Seong (tel: 012.4299517, email: estan64@streamyx.com), Koay Wen Hoong (tel: 04.2826840, email: kwh1989@gmail.com) or Lim Wei Yang (tel: 04.6598199, email: wylim1990@yahoo.com).