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.

UP NEXT

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).