MSSM 2009

MSSM (Malaysian Schools Sport Council) Chess Championship is on the way at Goldcourse Hotel, Klang. The 5-day event is being hosted by Selangor state this year. There are two events - Individual and Team for six categories - U12, U15 and U18 for both boys and girls each. Each state will be represented by two players in the individual event whereas the team event will follow the four-player format. Both events will use seven-round Swiss system. 

GiLoCatur's daughter, Anis Fariha, is playing for the host state team in the Team event. She plays the fourth board.

Below are the list of players for the Individual event for each categories.

In the Under 18 Boys section, Selangor is represented by Muhd Tariq Amru and Joel Tan Weng Yu who are seeded 2nd and 12th respectively. The top seed is Justin Ong Way from KL team. Can he be the champion? GiLoCatur believes Tariq (SEL), Sumant (PHG) and Afiq Afify (SWK) will be the challengers for Justin. 

For Under 18 Girls section, GiLoCatur does not know most of them. Only Nurul Akila from KL and Renitha Narayanan from JHR are familiar names. The top seed is Charlene Chaising Tien (SWK) and Siti Nuradila (PER) follows second.

In the Under 15 Boys category, Yeap Eng Chiam is the strongest player in the list. Selangor is represented by Low sibblings - Jun Jian and Jun Keat. Nabil Azman and Syakeer Azhar, the other notable players, are playing in the team event. The other players who are the challengers in GiLoCatur's opinion is Evan Timothy Capel from Penang and FongYit San from Perak.

In the Under 15 Girls section, Alia Anin Azwa from Melaka is the strongest player. She is the current NWM (National Women Master). Unless there is an upset, she will be the champion for this category. Can Amirah Syahmina and Vickie Hong Wee Ki, the Selangor players, make upset? Let's see. Olivia Madhavan, the daughter of Mr Collin, and Latifah Kaisyah, both from KL and Sarika Subramaniam from Pahang are the other strong challengers. 

Selangor are represented by strong players in Yeoh Li Tian and Mohd Irfan Haqqim. Li Tian is seeded first while Irfan is seeded 7th. The top challengers in  the opinion of GiLoCatur are Aziz Farhan (KL) and Shreyes Subramaniam (PHG). GiLoCatur would also like to follow the performance of Amier Hamzah from KL. This young talented player is still below 9 years old. No doubt he will dominate the Under 12 section in years to come.

In under 12 Girls category, Selangor's hope to win gold medal is on the shoulder of Nur Nabila Azman. Her younger sister also participates in the individual event. Can they make it 1-2 ? Another Selangor player, Chew Ee Wen, is also playing in the event. Can Tan Li Ting from KL and Siti Aisyah, the daughter of Cikgu Sabirin, from Terengganu challenge Nabila? Let's see how the results is gonna be on Friday.

To all players, GiLoCatur wants to wish them BEST of LUCK. You all should be proud to be chosen to play in the MSSM Chess Championship. Give your best and make your schools, parents, teachers, districts and states proud. It also very important that you have sportmanship. Make new friends and enjoy the games!!

(Note: GiLoCatur would like to thank you and give credit to Mohd Irshad from Terengganu for his big effort and time for keying in the results for the individual event on the net. Check out his blog here.)