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).
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