After Round 9,
Under 8 Open
Two Iranian players dominated this section. GHOLAMI Aryan who is the second seed with 1950-ratings lead the pack after collection 8/9 points. His countryman, TABATABAEI Mohammad Amin, is trailing with 7.5/9 points. Four players with 7/9 points including the American VASUDEVA Tanuj whom GiLoCatur picks as one of the favourites while nine others including AMIER Hamzah Mohd Zuhri, one of the two Malaysian players participated in this section score 6.5/9 points. Amier is placed 11th after the tie breaks.
In Round 9, Amier defeated SHIRINOV Farid of Azerbaijan at Table #9 while Teh De Juan defeated KESGIN Halit Kaan, the host player at Table #37.
Hence, Amier who has collected 6.5/9 points will meet with ZALMAKHANOV Ramazan from Kazakhtan at Table #6. Amir will play white. While De Juan who is ranked 53rd after Round 9 and with 5/9 points will play KUCUK Dogukan, another Turkish opponent, at Table #25. Like Amier, he will also play white.
Under 8 Girls
An American player by the name of PALAKOLLU Samritha is leading the pack by halfpoint. Scoring 8/9 points, she is in front of CHU Ruotong, one of De Zen's opponents. CHU who hails from China accumulated 7.5/9 points. A Kazakhtan player and another American player, WANG Annie, are placed third and fourth respectively. Both of them are the only players with 7/9 points.
With 5/9 points, De Zen is ranked 32nd out of 85 players after Round 9 behind five other 5-point players. Not bad for her since if not mistaken WYCC 2009 is her first international tournament. In the next round, she will be at Table #20 playing black against Turkish player, ONUR Cigdem who has 4.5/9 points.
Under 10 Open
Malaysia has no representative in this age group. Leading the pack is the unrated Chinese player named BAI Jinshi. He collected 8/9 points. Trailing half point are Indian and Russian player who has 7.5/9 points. Three other players score 7/9 points whom two of them are unrated Chinese players. Asian players are dominating the top 10 after Round 9.
Under 10 Girls
An Azerbaijan player, MAMMADZADA Gunay Vugar Qizi, is leading the pack with 9/9 points. The 9th seed with 1732-ratings is 2 points in front of the second rank player, DROGOVOZ Irina of Russia, after Round 9 who is among four players with 7/9 points. Another two players score 6.5/9 points. Needing only half point, MAMMADZADA will be the champion of this section.
The Malaysian player in this section, Nur Najiha, is ranked 53rd with 4 points. She needs to win the next two rounds especially if against rated players to achieve more than 50% win and get FIDE ratings.
Najiha lost to Georgian player at Table #21 in the 9th round. In Round 10, she will play white against Croatian player, BLAZEKA Mihaela at Table #28.
***** GiLoCatur needs to get ready for DATCC Individual tournament, not as a player but as a driver to bring the children who are participating. GiLoCatur will try to continue this update from the center. Sat, 21/11/09, 12.45pm *****
Under 12 Open
Based on the ranking after Round 9, two players are leading the pack with 7.5/9 points. They are both from Russia and USA. While the top seed from India, VAIBHAV Suri, is leading the five 7/9 pointers. FM TRAN Tuan Minh from Vietnam is one of them. Another familiar player to GiLoCatur is Bobby Cheng from Australia is also among the group.
Malaysian sole representative in this age group, Mohd Irfan, won his R9 game against a rated Swedish player named AGREST Anton at Table #61. It shows that he is capable of beating 1800-rated and 1900-rated players. As of Round 9, Irfan has accumulated 3.5/9 points. GiLoCatur believes Irfan can do better, maybe lady luck is not on his side. In round 10, he will play white against Japanese player with ratings of 1830, ABE Mahiro. A win is also crucial here for FIDE ratings.
So, IRFAN CUBA MENANG GAME NI. IRFAN SURE BOLEH KALAHKAN LAWAN. PAKCIK DOAKAN IRFAN MENANG. INGAT ABAH DAN MAMA KAT MALAYSIA SERTA ADIK-BERADIK MENDOAKAN KEJAYAAN IRFAN!
Under 12 Girls
The top 6 boards for U12 Girls section
In Round 9, Nabila who was playing white against a Russian WFM at Table #5, had to settle for a draw. Therefore, she is currently with 6.5/9 points together with seven other players. Two players with 7/9 and 8/9 points. The top 2 seeds - WFM Sarasadat of Iran and WFM Anna of Russia are the leaders and will play their respective 7-point opponents. If the top two seeds win their respective games and Nabila win hers, Nabila can climb further to be ranked third (to what GiLoCatur believes) since she is the top of the 6.5/9 group.
As of Round 9, Nabila is ranked fifth behind the 8-point and 7-point players. Nabila needs to win the remaining two rounds. And it would be an uphill battle and a tough challenge since she may meet one of the top two leaders - the 2000+-rated players.
In the next round, Nabila will play black against WCM CHIANG Sarah from USA, a familiar name to GiLoCatur AT Table #3. Another live game for Nabila which can be viewed at http://web4.tsf.org.tr/ tonight that starts at 9.00pm Malaysian time. GiLoCatur urges all the Malaysians not only in Malaysia but all over the world to support and pray for her success. Based on ratings, Nabila has the edge and better chance. GiLoCatur is hoping that Nabila can win the crucial game. GiLoCatur also hopes that her experience playing in previous WYCC and ASEAN age group tournaments will give her more confidence and motivation.
GO NABILA GO! GRAB THE GOLDEN CHANCE! YOU'RE ROCK, GIRL!
***** Updating from DATCC Kuala Lumpur during the 5th round of the DATCC Individual Weekender tournament on Sat, 21/11/09, 3.45pm *****
