Singapore Chess Festival - Commonwealth U20_U16

In this category, Malaysia has 13 players participate besides players from another three countries - Singapore (the host country), India and Australia.

Out the total 13 players, only three of them have ELO ratings. Yeap Eng Chiam, MSSM U15 Boy Champion is the highest rated with 2118. He is ranked fourth. Ranked 8th, Justin Ong Way has ELO ratings of 2018. Another player is Tan Jun Feng. Ranked 22nd, he has 1801 ELO ratings.

Both Eng Chiam and Justin will play tomorrow in the last round on the top five boards. Eng Chiam has an uphill battle against the only International Master from India and the top seed with 2460 ELO ratings. His opponent is Lalith Babu M.R. Eng Chiam scores 5.5/8 points.

Meanwhile, Justin will play black against Mohana Priya from India. He has 5/8 points so far.

The other Malaysian players :

Tan Jun Feng - 4/8

Renitha Narayanan - 3.5/8

Lim Chuin Khai - 3.5/8

Chong Yan Meng - 3/8

Nurislam Yahaya - 3/8

Gabriel Soong - 3/8

Toh Qin Kane - 3/8

Alexander Hoon Thien Qing - 2.5/8

Lim Jin Hong - 2.5/8

Hew Zhenjing - 2.5/8

Yap Wing Heng - 1.5/8

Singapore Chess Festival - Commonwealth Open

Just got home from GiLoCatur's hometown. Quickly access the internet to check on the Singapore Chess Festival results. Some interesting results.

IM Mas succumbed to a defeat to the top seed, an Indian IM named Ashwin Jayaram. Meanwhile his two other compatriots - IM Yee Weng and NM Edward Lee, drew their games.

In the 7th round, IM Mas drew with IM Gokhale Chandrashekhar of India whose ratings is nearly 200 below him. GiLoCatur believes IM Mas is not happy with the result. Edward, on the other hand, had a superb win against the 2nd seed, IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy of India whose ratings is more than 300 ELO than him. IM Yee Weng could only manage to draw against a Singaporean FideMaster.

So, some upset results do happen. In the next round, IM Mas became another victim. He was upset by the young Singaporean FM Howard Fernandez. Edward drew with his Aussie opponent while Yee Weng won his game.

Going to the ninth round, both IM Yee Weng and NM Edward Lee has 4.5/8 points each. Meanwhile, IM Mas just managed to score 4/8 points.

IM Paciencia Enrique of Singapore is the champion before the last round is played. It is because his score of 7/8 is unassailable by other players. He is in front by 1.5 points.

Unfortunately, IM Yee Weng will meet the champion in the last round at the top table. Could he win? Let's wait and see. Edward will play against Singaporean FM while IM Mas will play black against Indian IM, Phadke Sohan.

Singapore Chess Festival - Commonwealth Open

Two 2009 Malaysian Masters semi-finalist, IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and IM Lim Yee Weng, are participating in the on-going Singapore Chess Festival in the Commonwealth Open category. Joining both of them is NM Edward Lee, who is also one of the Malaysian Masters contenders.

About 20+ players whom most of them are International and FIDE Masters from five different countries - Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and South Africa. The top seed is an Indian IM, Ashwin Jayaram. IM Mas is ranked fourth, IM Yee Weng is ranked eighth while NM Edward is ranked 22nd with ELO 2114.

In Round 5, all of Malaysian players won all their respective games. So, their accumulative points so far up to the fifth round.

IM Mas - 3.5/5

IM Yee Weng - 2.5/5

NM Edward Lee - 2.5/5

In the next round (Round 6), IM Mas will meet the top seed at Table #1 playing white. It is a challenging match, but based on ELO ratings, it is not that wide gap. IM Mas is capable to beat his opponent.

While IM Yee Weng will play black against Indian FM at Table #6. Based on ratings, he has the upper edge but in chess anything can happen. You need to be on top form during the game. Hopefully, he can win this game to be on the top. Same thing goes to NM Edward Lee. He will play black against an Aussie (Australian) player. His decision to enter this section, in GiLoCatur's opinion, is wise. He can gain more experience and exposure for top level play.

So, Good Luck guys!

Singapore Chess Festival - Commonwealth U12

In the on-going Singapore Chess Festival, about ten Under 12 years old Malaysian chess players are participating in the Commonwealth U12 age-group category. The group is led by the top seed, Tan Wei Hao (Elo 1870). Since it is a school holiday and Singapore is not far away, their parents have registered these young chess talents to have international chess tournament exposure.

GiLoCatur salutes such parents for their efforts and sacrifice to produce world-class beaters. GiLoCatur hopes that all parties take note of such effort in promoting and developing chess among the Malaysian youngsters.

So, who are the ten chess players?

Tan Wei Hao

Muhammad Nuriman Yahaya

Subramaniam Sivanesan

Nithyalakshmi Sivanesan

Yap Wan Lin

Kelly Lim Pei Ying

Ian Teh Eu Shien

Wong Yinn Long

Wong Yi Chee

Dilwen Ding Tze How

( from chess-results.com )

These Malaysian future chess hopefuls are currently playing in the fourth round that just began about half-hour ago. How they fared so far?

Three of them - Wei Hao, Nuriman and Wan Lin had perfect two points going into the third round this morning. Unfortunately, only Wei Hao managed to win while the other two lost to their respective opponents as per the above Round 3 results.

Who else winning? Only Wong Yi Chee. The rest just had a draw. Not a bad results actually for the ten Malaysian chess juniors - One with the perfect 3/3 who has the best chance to be the champion, the other four with 2/3, the other three has 1.5/3 and the other two has 1/3.

So, come on Malaysian juniors! Show your capability and prowess in chess. MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Tan Wei Hao from KL

( picture from mssmkl blog )

Subramaniam Sivanesan - MSS Negeri Sembilan U12 champion

( picture from gilachess.com )

Muhammad Nuriman Yahaya of Kedah

( picture from syedchess blog )