Champ at last

Two years ago, Lim Zhuo Ren met with the greatest of his heartaches. At the national closed chess championship of that year, 2009, he was leading a close pack of players going into the final round of the tournament. A draw was all he needed to clinch the title but he played over-cautiously to lose the game.

Because of that result, three other players caught up with him at the top of that year's championship. All four had finished with equal points and it forced the Malaysian Chess Federation to arrange a quick play-off tournament to determine a winner. 

Lim never recovered totally from that last-round loss. The disappointment showed. In the play-off, he was outplayed and could only finish third among the four players.

It has been two years since that great experience. Or maybe, I should call it his great inexperience. Last year, he again played in the national closed championship but it was as though he was still reliving the past. A lukewarm 14th position was about all he could achieve.

By the end of the year though, his confidence was starting to creep back into his games. At the national junior chess championship in December, Lim played well enough to force a five-way tie at the top. In the play-off tournament that followed, Lim won.

Fast forwarding three months to March this year, it was now time for the national closed championship. Again, Lim – now 19 years old – decided to throw his hat into the ring but this time, he had a new status as the national junior champion.

Maybe Lim did not have great expectations of himself but suddenly, like two years earlier, he found himself in a similar position: sole leader after seven rounds, and people already talking of him like the new national champion. 

In those first seven rounds, he had played and defeated players like Yeap Eng Chiam, Loo Swee Leong and even former champion Edward Lee. However, there were still further challenges facing him. 

In the eighth round, he met and navigated safely through a test with Yeoh Li Tian. He retained his lead but in the meantime, two other players – international master Jimmy Liew and fast improving youngster Sumant Subramaniam - had successfully climbed up the tournament to stand just one point below the leader. Lim would have to face either one of them in the final round.

As providence would have it, he was paired against Liew. Surely this would be his sternest test, a make or break attempt to land the national closed championship title. All that Lim required was half a point in his final game but would Liew hand it to him easily?

There were now questions asked of Lim. Would the demons from his past come to haunt him? Would he have learnt his lesson well from two years earlier? Cautious play had cost him the title then; would he repeat the same mistake? In short, people wanted to know whether or not he has matured as a player. The tension was indeed high.

At the same time, Liew understood that he had to win his game at all cost. With the black pieces, it would be an uphill task but not an impossible one. If he were to win, there was a chance that he could even be the champion. But there was now a new complication. Sumant had already beaten Edward Lee in their final game. 

Even if Liew were to win his game and tie on equal points with both Lim and Sumant, all he would achieve was to force another play-off in the national closed championship. Whether he could win the play-off was a different matter but right at that moment, he knew that honour was also at stake too. It was no longer possible for him not to give Lim a fight for his money. So in a way, this was also a make or break game for Liew.

To both players’ credit, their game turned out to be the highlight of the championship. Both players had chances with Liew taking the greater risk and Lim defending well. Theirs was about one of the last games to finish, a fitting end to one of the great local chess debates. At the end, from a superior position, Lim propositioned a draw which was then accepted by Liew.

That precious half-a-point meant that Lim is the new king of our local chess game. He is the latest player to become a national master but I believe significantly, he has succeeded in exorcising the last of the chess demons from his mind. I shall look forward to him playing in more tournaments.

Up next

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur this Sunday. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

JB youth chess

The Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing the sixth Johor Bahru youth chess tournament on Sunday. Venue is the concourse area of the SouthernCity Giant Hypermarket in Taman Suria, Johor Bahru. Seven rounds, 25-minute games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM12 (players under 12 years old). Closing date for entries is Mar 25. More details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@jyahoo.com). 

PICA/YMCA chess

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and the YMCA Perak are jointly holding the PICA/YMCA chess tournament in conjunction with PICA’s annual general meeting on Sunday. Venue is the YMCA Hall in Jalan Raja Muda Aziz, Ipoh. Entry fees are RM15 (PICA or YMCA members and players under 15 years old) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is Mar 25. Contact  Yunus (013.3908129) to register or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com for the details.

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).

 

Age group focus

One of the most encouraging signs in local chess is the continuing willingness of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) to allow their state chess affiliates to play active roles in organizing some of the national-level chess competitions. 

Take the annual national age group chess championships as an example. 

Last year, the Penang Chess Association was given the go-ahead to plan for this competition in George Town on behalf of the federation. This year, the challenge was offered to the Perak International Chess Association (PICA).

 

PICA did so in Tronoh, Perak, in a joint effort which involved the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. By all accounts, this year’s edition of the national age group championships was a great success for the organizers. A total of 380 players took part in the three-day competition which, I was told, proceeded without any hitches. 

As was to be expected, the most closely watched contest was the boys’ under-18 event. There were a few junior heavyweight players in the field, the most notable among them being the top-seeded Evan Timothy Capel who was a former national closed champion and last year’s winner of the boys’ under-16 event. This year, though, the 17-year-old would be playing in the under-18 section, no longer eligible for the younger age group event. In fact, many of his rivals who played with him in Penang last year had also been elevated to the under-18 section.

Past successes, however, do not guarantee future gains, and Capel found this out pretty quickly. By the third round, he had already dropped a point to the second-seeded Sumant Subramaniam. By the tournament’s end, he had dropped two more points to Patrick Lim Kong Hui and the new winner of the boys’ under-18 event, Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham.

This was also a sobering experience for Sumant. After his heady win against Capel, he was brought down to earth with two consecutive losses to Muhd Nabil and Low Jun Jian. A further loss to Chong Shao Hong also ended his hopes in this tournament.

For Muhd Nabil, though, everything fell into place for him perfectly. He had lost to Capel in the boys’ under-16 event last year but this year, he exacted revenge on the top seed. By also defeating the second seed, there could only be one description for Muhd Nabil: worthy winner. His draws were with Low Jun Jian and Mark Siew Kit Tze, but he won all the other six games.

Here are the top winners of the various age group sections:

Boys’ under-18: Muhd Nabil 7 points; Mark Siew and Low Jun Jian 5½ points; Sumant, Capel, Patrick Lim, Fong Yit Ho, Keok Kai En and Chong Shao Hong 5 points; (field of 22 players). Girls’ under-18: Latifah Kaiyisah Mohd Latib 5 points; Adele Lau Chuey Theng, Fatin Nur Nadirah Mat Rahim and Winnie Hong Wee Ni 4 points; (field of seven players).

Boys’ under-16: Wong Jian Wen 8 points; Yeap Eng Chiam 6½ points; Elgin Lee Kah Meng and Jeff Tan Jun Feng 6 points; (field of 49 players). Girls’ under-16: Pavitraneyagi Jayamurthey 6½ points; Sarika Subramaniam and Hoh Tjin Li 6 points; Amira Syahmina Zulkafli 5½ points; (field of 21 players).

Boys’ under-14: Roshan Ajeet Singh and Aron Teh Eu Wen 6½ points; Tan Wei Hao, Muhd Irfan Haqqim Azhar, Subramaniam Sivanesan 6 points; William Lee Kah Howe, Muhd Nuriman Yahaya, Shreyes Subramaniam, Harleiff Haniff and Ang Zhen Yuan 5½ points; (field of 58 players). Girls’ under-14: Tan Li Ting and Nur Nabila Azman Hisham 7 points; Camilia Johari and Hoh Tjin Hui 6 points; Fatih Nor Sahariah Abdul Jalil 5 points; (field of 22 players).

Boys’ under-12: Ooi Zhi Yang 7 points; Mohd Noor Azam Mohd Noor and Tan Yong Zhao 6½ points; Tang Wei Kit and Teoh Ern Sheng 6 points; (field of 52 players). Girls’ under-12: WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham 7 points; Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar 6½ points; Nithiyalakshmi Sivanesan 6 points; (field of 35 players).

Boys’ under-10: Teh De Juan 7½ points; Wong Yinn Long and Benjamin Lee Kah Teng 6½ points; Kong Dak Nam and Max Wong Zi Quan 6 points; (field of 52 players). Girls’ under-10: Teh De Zen 8 points; Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa 6½ points; Teh Ming Min 6 points; (field of 25 players).

Boys’ under-8: Tan Jun Ying 7 points; Lye Lik Zang 6½ points; Muhd Faqih Aminuddin, Ng Shi Yang and Teh De Yong 5½ points; (field of 22 players). Girls’ under-8: Goh Jie Yi 8 points; Chua Jia Tien 7 points; Zainoor Ikmal Munirah 6 points; (field of 14 players).

Now with the national age group championships over, the focus this week is on the national closed and national women’s closed championships that are taking place at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur.

Today is already the third day of play and there are only five more rounds to go before the two competitions end on Sunday. So if you are not competing but have time on your hands, why not go and speculate who will emerge as the 2011 national champions?

The organizers tell me that as of the beginning of this week, there hasn’t been any change to the number of entries: still 89 players for the national closed and 34 players for the national women’s closed. At press time it is impossible to say whether there were any dropouts from the players’ lists or additions to it.   

Anyway, I have to set the record right in a slip of the finger that appeared in last week’s story. In my excitement to see our international master Jimmy Liew enter the fray as one of the competitors, I have inadvertently described him as a grandmaster. 

I’ve received a lot of ribbing privately from friends and chess players in the past week. Really, I’m a bit embarrassed. However, I hope that my personal embarrassment is contained and has not spilled over to Liew. I really don’t want this episode to distract him in this national event where he is clearly the top seeded player.  

So I shall wish “best of luck” to Jimmy Liew, as well as wishing the same to last year’s winners Tan Khai Boon (national closed defending champion) and Fong Mi Yen (national women’s closed defending champion) and all the hopefuls this year.

Both events are being played at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur until Sunday. The games start at 9am and 3pm daily. For more information, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Melody Amber

This year’s Melody Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Monaco promises to be a nostalgic event that goes down memory lane. After a 20-year run, there is closure coming to this fantastic event. This year’s final edition will end next Thursday. For old times’ sake, anyone who has Internet access should visit http://www.amberchess20.com/ to watch the live games. Some of the world’s best players are competing: Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Kramnik, Vassily Ivanchuk and Veselin Topalov among them. 

Up next

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade shopping mall, Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre and Cerdik Chess Enterprise are jointly organising the 10th Klang Parade open chess tournament at the shopping mall in Jalan Meru, Klang tomorrow and on Sunday. Tomorrow’s tournament is for players under the age of 18, while Sunday’s event is an open competition. Entry fees for the age group tournament are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (players under 18 years old). For the open event, the entry fees are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (all other players). Contact Siti Nor Faiza (03.33437889 office hours) or Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com) for details.

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

JB youth chess

The Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing the sixth Johor Bahru youth chess tournament on Mar 27. Venue is the concourse area of the SouthernCity Giant Hypermarket in Taman Suria, Johor Bahru. Seven rounds, 25-minute games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM12 (players under 12 years old). Closing date for entries is Mar 25. More details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@jyahoo.com). 

PICA/YMCA chess

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and the YMCA Perak are jointly holding the PICA/YMCA chess tournament in conjunction with PICA’s annual general meeting on Mar 27. Venue is the YMCA Hall in Jalan Raja Muda Aziz, Ipoh. Entry fees are RM15 (PICA or YMCA members and players under 15 years old) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is Mar 25. Contact  Yunus (013.3908129) to register or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com for the details.

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).

 

Teen titans

The biggest prize in women’s chess is the women’s world chess championship crown. Right now, it sits pretty with Hou Yifan, the 17-year-old wonder lass from China. She won it last December at the women’s world chess championship in Turkey and she is not due to defend her crown – and the title – until the third quarter of this year. 

But against whom is Hou going to defend her title? Has a challenger already been determined? 

The short answer to the two questions is, yes, India’s Koneru Humpy has just won the right to challenge Hou Yifan for the women’s chess crown.

I got pretty excited the first time I heard it last week. It’s unprecedented that both defending champion and challenger in an official world title match come from this part of the world. (Never mind the fact that the men’s world chess title is also being held by another Asian chess giant, Viswanathan Anand.)

Like Hou, Humpy was also a chess prodigy. Presently, Humpy is already 24 years old but in 2002 at the age of 15 years and two months, she qualified for the full-fledged grandmaster chess title.  (Only Hou was younger, at 14 years, six months.)

Humpy became the official challenger when she won the sixth and final leg of the FIDE women’s grand prix 2009-2011 in Doha, Qatar last week. Before this final leg began, Humpy was languishing fourth in the grand prix standings and her chances of qualifying actually looked quite bleak.

During the first half of the tournament itself, her play was rather insipid and she scored only 2½ points from her first five games. If she had any remaining hopes of qualifying, she would have to depend greatly not only on the results of the other players in the tournament but also her own rearguard action.

And what a magnificent fight-back for her! In the second half of the event, she scored 5½ points from her final six games, which brought her total tally of points to eight from 11 games. Inexplicably also, the front runners suddenly lost steam at about the same time. 

Before the start of the tournament’s final round, Humpy was still only in second place half a point behind the tournament trailblazer, Elina Danielian. Humpy needed a win to have any chance of tying for first place and she got it from her final-round opponent, the 2001 women’s world champion, Zhu Chen. 

In the meantime, Danielian had already agreed to a quick draw with Antoaneta Stefanova. Apparently, she was satisfied with this result although a win would make her the undisputed winner of the tournament. The draw meant that at worst, she would finish on equal points with Humpy, although the tie-break would be in the Indian grandmaster’s favour. 

Calculating the grand points was more complicated but in the end, Humpy’s success in this tournament meant that she leapfrogged several places over other contenders to finish second in the standings. 

Interestingly, Hou remained first in the grand prix standings but as she was already the women’s world champion, the qualifying spot was now filled by Humpy. 

How would Humpy fare against Hou later this year? On rating, Humpy is the higher rated of the two. That alone would make her the favourite to wrest the title from the defending champion.

However, chess is not solely dependent on ratings. Ratings only give an indication of how one player compares with another. Eventually, it will all boil down to the player with the stronger nerves, the one who plays better and is better prepared psychologically.

And in this aspect – the psychological aspect – Humpy trails Hou. In their last two high-profile encounters, in the women’s world chess championship cycles of 2008 and 2010, Hou had eliminated Humpy. The Indian grandmaster may yet become the next women’s world champion but she will have to overcome this mental barrier first.

National closed

This year’s national closed and national women’s closed chess championships are just five days away. According to information from the organizers earlier in the week, 89 players have registered for the national closed while a further 34 players will be contesting the national women’s closed. This is already more than the limit of 120 players that the Malaysian Chess Federation had expected collectively for the two competitions. 

Since I last wrote about these two events, the two winners of last year’s championships have confirmed their participation. So we shall have Tan Khai Boon (national closed champion) and Fong Mi Yen (national women’s closed champion) defending their titles.

There is also an added attraction which will make this year’s contest extra special, especially for the participants. I hear that international master Jimmy Liew has also decided to play. He will be the yardstick for all the other players to measure themselves with. 

Most people will know that Liew was Malaysia’s first grandmaster, but not many will realize that he is also a former national closed champion, having won the title in 1984. He is paying back his dues to the national closed championship cycle, giving it the recognition it deserves. Now, if only our other former national champions will do the same next year.

Both competitions will be played at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur from next Wednesday until Mar 20. There will be nine rounds with games starting at 9am and 3pm daily. For more information, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Up next

National age group

This year’s three-day national age group chess championships start tomorrow at the Chancellor Hall, Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak. This event is organized jointly by the Malaysian Chess Federation, the Perak International Chess Association and Universiti Teknologi Petronas. There are six age group events for boys and girls – under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – running concurrently. Eight rounds of 45-minute games with 30-second increments per move. Anyone still thinking about taking part should contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605) for the latest information.

Hillcrest chess camp

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Sri Gombak, Batu Caves, Selangor will be the venue for a two-day holiday chess camp on Mar 14-15. The chess camp will be conducted by international master Mok Tze Meng and his team of trainers. For more details, contact Wong (017.3577788) or Yen Lee (yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com).  

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade shopping mall, Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre and Cerdik Chess Enterprise are jointly organising the 10th Klang Parade open chess tournament at the shopping mall in Jalan Meru, Klang on Mar 19 and 20. The tournament on Mar 19 is for players under the age of 18, while the event on Mar 20 is an open competition. Entry fees for the age group tournament are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (players under 18 years old). For the open event, the entry fees are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (all other players). Contact Siti Nor Faiza (03.33437889 office hours) or Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com) for details.

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).

 

A true champion

If a champion is someone who has won a competition, how would you define a true champion? To me, it’s very easy: a true champion is one who successfully defends a title won in the previous competition.

There aren’t many such champions around but one that comes to mind in recent chess history is Vietnam’s leading grandmaster, Le Quang Liem.

Le is 20 years old. At this age in chess, you may actually be considered a veteran at the game already. In 2005 when Le was 14 years old, he became the Under-14 world youth chess champion. In 2006 and 2008, he played in the Vietnamese national team at the Chess Olympiads.

In February last year, he was a joint winner of the Moscow open tournament and he then immediately followed up this performance with an equally impressive victory at the ninth Aeroflot open chess tournament in Moscow.

So we know that Le is capable of winning some pretty strong chess tournaments. But is he a true champion? By my reckoning, yes. Just last month, he repeated his feat at the 10th edition of the Aeroflot open. Although technically, Le and two other players finished with equal points at the top, the Vietnamese was adjudged the winner on a better tie-break.

Despite being the defending champion, Le did not enter the tournament as the top seed. Indeed, he was over-shadowed so much by the higher-ranked players that he started this tournament only as the 19th seed. 

The top seed was the Russian-born American grandmaster, Gata Kamsky, and then there were also Sergei Movsesian, Dmitry Jakovenko, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nikita Vitiugov who dominate the world chess ranking list.

But the chess goddess can sometimes smile on the underdogs and in this case, she smiled on Le. While the seeds above him fell off one by one, he played steadily to gain ground on his rivals. He was helped by great results in his first four games which he won, and one of them, in the fourth round, was against no other than Kamsky himself.

Le Quang Liem (2664) – Gata Kamsky (2730)

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qb3 e6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Bf4 a5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.e3 Nb6 9.Bd3 Bg4 10.Ne5 Bh5 11.0-0 a4 12.Qc2 Bg6 (There is nothing to recommend about Black’s opening strategy in which he has lost time with his rook pawn, knight and bishop. White has a good lead in piece development and he now takes aim at Black’s uncastled king. But first, White strikes to open up the centre.) 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Be7 (It is a bit too late for this move. Here’s a little combination which should not be too difficult to spot.) 16.Bxc6+ bxc6 17.Qxc6+ Nd7 (17…Kf8 18.Qxb6 Qxb6 19.Nd7+ and White will be two pawns up.) 18.Nxg6 (18.Nxd7 does not regain the piece as Black plays 18…Rc8 first.) 18…hxg6 19.Rfe1 0-0 (This is not castling into safety.) 20.Bc7 Nb8 (20…Qe8 21.d5) 21.Bxd8 (Or 21.Qxa8 Qxc7 22.Qxa4 with rook and three passed pawns for two pieces in an endgame.) 21...Nxc6 22.Bxe7 Nxe7 23.Rxe7 Rfd8 24.Rd1 a3 25.b3 Rac8 26.Kf1 Rd5 27.Rd2 (Black sees the light; the game is lost for him.) 1-0 

After this win, Le took two draws before winning in the seventh round. Then disaster struck in the eighth round. He lost to Ivan Cheparinov and thereby allowed the Bulgarian grandmaster to level up with him on equal points. But this was as far as Cheparinov could go. In the final round, he succumbed to a bout of chess blindness and lost. 

In the meantime, Le assured himself of the top prize by drawing his game, knowing that any one else that finished with the same points would lose out on the tie-break. 

Up next

National age group

The Malaysian Chess Federation, the Perak International Chess Association and Universiti Teknologi Petronas will jointly organise this year’s national age group chess championships at the Chancellor Hall, Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak on Mar 12-14. There will be six age group events for boys and girls – under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – running concurrently. Eight rounds of 45-minute games with 30-second increments per move. Entry fees: RM25 (under-8, under-10 and under-12 events), RM35 (under-14, under-16 and under-18 events). Entry fees are doubled after Mar 5 deadline. For more information, contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605).

National closed

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organise this year’s national closed and national women’s closed championships with the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 16-20. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes, plus increment time of 30 seconds per move. Entry fees: RM60 (players with Fide rating above 2000), RM100 (players rated between 1600 and 1999), RM150 (players rated below 1599 or without a Fide rating). Players representing their states are eligible for a 50 percent discount on entry fees, subject to conditions. For more information, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade shopping mall, Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre and Cerdik Chess Enterprise are jointly organising the 10th Klang Parade open chess tournament at the shopping mall in Jalan Meru, Klang on Mar 19 and 20. The tournament on Mar 19 is for players under the age of 18, while the event on Mar 20 is an open competition. Entry fees for the age group tournament are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (players under 18 years old). For the open event, the entry fees are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (all other players). Contact Siti Nor Faiza (03.33437889 office hours) or Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com) for details.

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).