Merdeka Rapid Team - The final R9 Pairings of Top 20 Boards

Round 9 Pairings - Top 20 boards

It is the final round now. GiLoCatur believes many matches have completed since the round started an hour ago at 11.00am. So, what would be the results? Can Chesskidz Men's Team that includes two Pinoy GMs win the event? Or can the Klang Valley Koalas stopped them? Can all-Malaysian-team-players SMS Gold led by IM Mok makes the Malaysian chess community proud by winning the top three placings?

How about another all-Malaysians team, Young and Danger? Can they outclass Rusty Nails? If they can, it is quite a sterling performance for the team that comprises MSS Selangor state players. Being on the top 5 boards in the final round itself is already an achievement in GiLoCatur's opinion. Another two all-Malaysians teams among the top 10 boards are Petronas led by IM Mas and Mamak, the Sequel whose members are Nik Farouqi, Saprin, Fairin and Abang Bro Kamaluddin. Two state teams - Penang and Sabah, face each other on the 10th board.

For the rest teams especially comprise our juniors, GiLoCatur hopes they will learn and gain a lot by participating in the Merdeka Rapid Team event. Keep learning and playing chess especially in quality chess tournaments like this so that Malaysia will have a very big pool of excellent chess players. Keep the dream of becoming title chess players especially Grandmaster to make Malaysia proud in the world chess map.

Merdeka Rapid Team - The R8 Results of Top 20 Boards

Round 8 Top 20 boards Results

(source : Kelab Catur Setia Kuantan Blog)

Thanks to NWM for her immediate posting of the pairings and results of the on-going Merdeka Rapid Team being held in the Cititel Hotel in Midvalley. The 8th round just completed and the players are fighting in the final 9th round. It is the critical and crucial round to decide who will be the winners. GiLoCatur's pick team, the Uzbek connection, was defeated by the Bengal Tigers with 1 - 3 score. While Magic could not stop Chesskidz Men's Team from having the advantage to lead with 1 match point. The latter won by having 1/2 more points than Magic with 2.5 - 1.5 scoreline. On the 3rd board, SMS Gold just managed a draw of 2 - 2 againts Rusty Nails led by IM Goh of Singapore On the 4th board, the Australian team of Klang Valley Koalas won against the International Rhapsody that includes Ian Udani. On the 5th board, Mamak, the Sequel unfortunately was crushed by Crusher that includes two Malaysian players, Soon Wai Cheong and MSSM 2010 U15 champion, Yeap Eng Chiam.

Merdeka Rapid Team - The R4 Results of Top 15 Boards

The above is the 4th Round results of the top 15 boards. Click here for the full results.

The 2nd seed, Chesskidz Men's Team, won convincingly to setup the match with ASTRO Arena on the top board in the 5th Round. The team is leading right now with the full 8 match points after four wins going to the fifth round. While their 4th Round opponent, the Uzbek connection, will play Crusher that drew with SMS Gold. Click here for the 5th Round pairings.

GiLoCatur's View On Merdeka Rapid Team Event

As GiLoCatur writes this entry, the 4th round of the Merdeka Rapid Team is on going. Based on the above top 15 Round 4 pairings, five teams have accumulated the full 6 match points. 2 match point for a win, 1 match point for a draw and 0 match point for a loss. A team will win and get 2 match point even it scores 2.5 - 1.5 similar to 4 -0. GiLoCatur's pick team, the Uzbek connection, is playing on the second board against ASTRO Arena who includes Malaysian current chess prodigy Li Tian and youngster Muhd Izz. On the top board, Chesskidz Men's Team plays againts the Bengal Tigers. While Crusher, the other team that scores full match points challenges the top seed, the SMS Gold.

Based on the info that GiLoCatur has, the latter will play against Mohd Syazwan who replaces Sabirova Shakhnoza. While the former will face former World Police champion, Sergeant Ismail Ahmad. On the first board an Uzbek GM will meet a Bangladeshi GM. Who will win this match? We'll find out latter. On the top board, Chesskidz Men's Team plays against the Bengal Tigers that include Malaysian youngster, Elgin Lee.

the Uzbek connection

(picture from datcchess.blogspot.com)

The ASTRO Merdeka Team Rapid Is Coming To Town

Come next Saturday, the Malaysian Chess Festival will be kicking alive. Unfortunately, GiLoCatur won't be at the Midvalley Cititel Hotel to watch or be part of the event. GiLoCatur and family will be at kampung during the weekend. The first event that will take place is the Merdeka Individual Rapid. GiLoCatur will not write about it in details in this entry, maybe later. What GiLoCatur wants to write about is the second event that will be held from 29th to 31st August. It is the ASTRO Merdeka Team Rapid event.

As of now (based on this link), 67 teams have registered for the event that will include eight foreign Grandmasters. The last team just registered is Crusher that is led by Indian GM, Laxman R R who has FIDE ratings of 2503. One of his team mates is also fellow countryman GM named Arun Prasad. Besides the Grandmasters, the event will be also participated by most of our elite and top players. In fact, leading the starting rank list is a Malaysian team, SMS Gold, comprises of IM Mok, FM Nicholas Chan, his brother Marcus, Khor Shi Hong and IM Yee Weng.

It is good to note that many Malaysian juniors team up as a team to challenge all the titled players. Surely it will be difficult to beat their master opponents but they should cherish the moments of playing against them. They should have the courage to at least give good fight and strong will to play their best games. Do not give up before putting a fight. For our golden chess boy, Li Tian, GiLoCatur believes this is the stage where he should shine and show his prowess to the chess world.

Which team is GiLoCatur's pick to win the event? The Uzbek Connection! Who are the top challengers in GiLoCatur's eyes? SMS Gold, Bengal Tigers and Chesskidz Team A.

Which team won last year? Which team won in the year 2003? Do you know?

GiLoCatur would like to wish "BEST OF LUCK" to all the participating teams especially to Sergeant Ismail Ahmad and his Uzbek Connection. :)