Malaysian Chess in the Year 2009

Below are the Malaysian chess chronicles in the year 2009 that GiLoCatur had covered :

The year 2009 started with New Year's Eve Blitz at Jax Tham's Excel Academy. 15 players participated in the round-robin event including Fikri, GiLoCatur's eldest son. Who was the champion? Ian Udani. Click here for more details.

The Chinese New Year (CNY) Open had attracted about 70 participants. GiLoCatur also played in the 7-round tournament held on 26th and 27th January. The tournament, limited only to Under 1800 NRtg, was won by Zarul Syafiq Zullkafli. With 6.5/7 points, he won prize money of RM 500 plus hamper. Click here for more details.

On 1st February, Unitar Amateur Chess Open was held. Nearly 150 players had participated in the G/25 8-rounds tournament. A good turnout for a local rapid chess tournament. The champion was Cikgu Rizal of Sekolah Menengah Alam Shah, Putrajaya. GiLoCatur had a hard-fought game against him in the first round. Three U12 players were among the top 10 winners.

For more details, click here.

A record of highest participants for a local rapid chess tournament happend at Kelang Chess Open held on 8th February with 411. Ong Thian Loon had edged two FMs - Anas and Mok, to win the Open category. Nabil won the U18 category while Aziz Farhan won the U12 category. GiLoCatur had a chance to upset Cikgu Zullkafli in the tournament. The battle against him will continue forever, hopefully we will meet again in the coming Jeram Open. LOL! Click here if you want to know more.

In early February, Fikri participated in the MSSD of Petaling Perdana chess tournament. It was his first time representing his new secondary school. He was placed second in U15 and later played in the MSS Selangor chess tournament representing his district. While his younger sister, Anis Fariha, managed to win the gold medal for both individual and team events for U12 Girls. In fact, her school had an excellent result in the district tournament. Six out of the total eight players to represent the district were from her school, SK Bukit Jelutong. More? click here

In February there was also a chess tournament organized by CAS which had attracted about 100 players including big names like IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and FM Anas. Unfortunately, Ian Udani was the champion. Click here for more ...

GiLoCatur was quite sad to acknowledge that a rapid chess tournament held in one of the local universities in late February had a low turnout. GiLoCatur hopes such scenario will not happen in the year 2010.

In March, MSSM for chess event was held in Klang. Selangor was the overall champion and won four gold medals including U12 Girls Team category where GiLoCatur's daughter, Anis, was one of the players. It was a happy moment for GiLoCatur as a parent who supports and sacrifices for his children to excel in chess. To see pictures, here

On March 27th, Sargeant Ismail Ahmad had make a Malaysian Book of Records for "Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents". He had to endure for 10 hours playing simultaneously

against 120 opponents where his result was 90+, 21= and 9-. What a feat! Want to see the proof? Click here

Many chess tournaments in April last year.

• National Age-Group at Pearl Point OUG
• MBSA Chess Open
• KL Junior Chess Championship
• SM Sains Machang Open
• Bandaraya JB team Championship
• 36th Selamgor Open
• Sarawak Chess Closed

In June

GiLoCatur and family travelled to Batu Gajah from Sungai Besar in late May to participate in the Batu Gajah Chess Open. Fikri was the first runner up while Anis was placed third. Wanna read the travelogue? Click here, ok!

10th Asean Age-Group in Vietnam

• Nur Najiha won gold medal in the U10G category to earn the WFM title
• Nur Nabila won silver medal in the U12G catgeory to earn the WCM title
• The Malaysian chess contingent won 3 gold medals.

Nabil won the Open category while Roshan won the Under 12 category of the Kampung Jawa Chess Challenge. The link ... is here

Sumant won the Batu Gajah Clearwater Sanctuary Chess Open.

In July

On 5th July, two Malaysian WCMs - Nur Shazwani and Nur Nabila, dominated the SMK Taman Bunga Raya Chess tournament. Click here for more details.

On 13th July, WCM Shazwani's twin brother, NM Zarul Shazwan won the Laguna Park Chess Open. The URL to check, here

Ian Udani won the DUN Sri Andalas Chess Open. Besides, he also won the lucky draw of a chess clock. The details, here

Other tournaments - UTP Chess Open that was won by Sumant and KL Young Talent Chess Championship. ( here )

***** GiLoCatur is now very very sleepy, will continue next time! *****

KLCA Open 2009 - Day 2 (R5 Results and R6 Pairing)

Round 5 Results

On the top board, Farid Firmansyah, one of Indonesian 38th Dresden Olympiad team members, could not continue his sterling performance when he was defeated by the top seed, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son. This result with the loss of GM Marat Dzhumaev to another Vietnamese GM, Thien Hai Dao, has put GM Nguyen in front of others by half point. He needs to maintain his winning for the next four rounds to be the champion in this tournament. Could he? Let's wait and see.

On the third board, IM Dede Liu made an upset againts his countryman, GM Susanto Megaranto. Another interesting results are :

CM Nguyen Hoang Nam won againts GM Saidali from Uzbekistan

Ian Udani managed to win againts higher-rated Indonesian International Master, Tirto.

For the Malaysian camp, the results for Round 5 are not encouraging. Only Edward Lee managed to win againts another Malaysian fellow player, Najib while Sergent Ismail drew with his Indian opponent. Hopefully, good results for them tomorrow.

Round 6 Pairing

In the sixth round tomorrow morning, four Malaysian players will play againts each other. Ismail will meet Li Ting while Abdul Haq will meet Najib. Edward Lee will play againts Indonesian player, Hasian. Jianwen's opponent tomorrow will be a higher-rated Pinoy named Edmundo Legaspi. Haslindah, on the other hand, will meet a Singaporean player.

As for Ian Udani, he will have an uphill battle to win againts GM Susanto Megaranto on the 8th board. If he wins, it will be another interesting result and achievement.

So, GOOD LUCK! to all of them.

MBSA Chess Tournament Top 3 Winners

Open category Top 3 winners - Abdullah Che Hassan (RM500), Ian Udani (RM400) and FM Mok Tze-Meng (RM300).

Under 15 Category Top 3 Winners - Muhd Syakir Shazmeer Azhar MS (RM300), Muhammad Zikri (RM150) and Nor Izzudin Afendi Norazman (RM200)

Under 12 category Top 3 winners - Roshan Ajeet Singh (RM250), Irfan Haqqim Azhar MS (RM200) and Fikri Bin Saleh (RM150). They were among the 2008 Top 6 Under 12 MSS Negeri Selangor winners.

About 160 players participated in the MBSA Chess Open held at a hall in Section 4, Shah Alam on last 27th December 2008. It is very good news for Shah Alam residents especially since Shah Alam used to have many chess tounaments organized in the past. Shah Alam is also used to be called "Bandar Catur" or The Chess City. Hopefully, MBSA will organize many more  such tournaments every year. The winners were presented their prizes by the Shah Alam Deputy mayor, Encik Mokhtar Hani, and MBSA Zone 5 council committee, Mr Soo Kim Ling.