SelangorChess News - December 2008

CAS completed its chess calendar last November with the conclusion of the 10th CAS-Octagon 4th Quarter Allegro 2008. Most of the CAS officials are now either on holiday or busy with year-end work. But there were still a flurry of chess activities in the country in December. In addition to the just completed chess tournament in Bukit Jalil and the still on-going chess championship in Trengganu, our fellow affiliates north of the border namely Penang Chess Association ('PCA') and Perak International Chess Association ('PICA') had also successfully completed their chess programs this month
PCA recently held its annual 'Pertandingan Catur Terbuka 2008' in conjunction with the Pesta Pulau Pinang on 13th to 14th Dec 2008 at Dewan Sri Pinang. (Dewan Sri Pinang is strategically located near a beach as seen above). It was a team event attracting a number of players from the Klang Valley this time. GM Bong Villamayor were at the scene to add glamour to the event won eventually by 'Old Frees Association A' team . Full results are available at the PCA web site http://www.pca.bayanbaru.com



PICA is one other active affiliate having completed 5 tournaments this year. A major draw is that tournaments are held in various locations in the State. The Clearwater Sanctuary Chess Tournament is set in a beautiful country golf club outside Ipoh. For the record Sumant Subramaniam (in green shirt) won this year's tournament held last June.





Going further north to Taiping, PICA in collaboration with CRC held its 4th CRC Taiping Open Chess Tournament last Sunday. The Tournament again attracted a number of players from the Klang Valley, notably Selangor. It was a fine performance by Selangor although few in number made a strong presence in the competition. But it is more than mere competition, rather the bond seen amongst players of various States.











The organiser was gracious enough to print sufficient copies of the results for distribution to participants and observers


Finally we would like to wish our Christian friends 'Merry Christmas' and to all viewers ' Happy New Year'

10th CAS-Octagon 4th Quarter Allegro 2008 - Results

The final leg of the CAS-Octagon Allegro for the year registered a strong pool of 76 players. The newly refurbished TheChessCentre hall on 4th Floor of Kompleks Wilayah adequately fulfilled the required playing space. IA Hamid Majid who is manning the place promised to further upgrade the area to include air-conditioning system. CAS President Shafruddin reiterated the Association completed the task it set out to do for the year and hoped his Committee would receive the continued support from the sponsors, members and chess players. Ideas and volunteers were welcome so as to bring chess to the next higher level in Selangor and the country in general. Hon Secretary IA Lim Tse Pin confirmed the 11th series of the CAS-Octagon First Quarter Allegro 2009 would start off at the same premises on 18th January 2009. Given the support from the sponsor Octagon Consolidated Berhad and favourable response from the players the prize monies would be further increased. Finally to all Muslims 'Selamat Hari Raya Eidil Adha'


Nicholas Chan (in black shirt) blazed his way with a straight 7 points win. He earlier stopped Ian Udani in the 6th Round who had to settle for a second place. Committee Member/Hon Treasurer Fariz Shafruddin with 6 points was placed 3rd.








Full results














The winners' list

1st - Nicholas Chan








2nd - Ian Udani








3rd - Fariz Sharuddin








4th - Mohd Kamal Abdullah








5th- Muhd Tariq Amru










6th-Sumant Subramaniam








7th-Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli








8th-Justin Ong Way










9th-Abdullah Che Hassan









10th-Cheah Eu Gene










(Another view of the playing hall. To the far right is another corner, which in total will comfortably accommodate 80 players at any one time)

Consolation Prize Winners

Heading the list of Consolation Prize winners is Veteran and CAS Commitee Member Mat Zaki Yeop

10th CAS-Octagon 4th Quarter Allegro 2008

CAS will be holding the final event for the year this Sunday at the newly refurbished ChessNetwork as indicated in this SSQuah's Star paper news clip.
We have not really finalised next year's schedule , so members may want to forward ideas and better still to volunteer in the running of next year's program for the betterment of chess in the State.


SOME CANDID SHOTS FROM THE LAST 3RD QUARTER

Tips from the experts

Secrets revealed - whether its the sicilians or the english you need to tickle it behind the ears

Keep your mouths shut,

...with both hands if need be

... and hold your head together

But whichever way you look at it, its a game to be enjoyed with friends

...oh what the heck, I'm having fun . See if I can keep this glorious crown in the years to come

10th CAS- Octagon 4th Quarter Allegro 2008 - 7th Dec 2008

Reminder:

The final Allegro event for this year will be held next week 7th Dec 2008 at the Chess Network 4th Flr Wilayah Complex, KL. To participate kindly email us your name and telephone number by Thursday 4th Dec 08





Ref: Quah Seng Sun (Star newspaper 28th Nov 08)

Chess competition and activities

CAS plans to hold the final series for the year - the 10th CAS-Octagon Fourth Quarter Allegro on 7th Dec 2008. This is on the eve of Hari Raya Haji and is the only avalaible date to hold the tournament by CAS. So please keep the date open

The local chess scene is experiencing a burst of activities of late but there are concurrently reports of poor managent in the running of chess tournaments and issues of legitimacy being raised. Chess organisers will need to seek the approval or endorsement of MCF as the sole authority of international chess in the country under the provisions of the Sports Development Act 1997. For activities in Selangor CAS is given the delegated power to consider and approve the holding of any such tournament, and likewise the activities in other States through the respective State associations or such other MCF affiliates/representatives.

(Pictured above chess pieces from a Rajasthani museum, India)

All Quiet at the Malaysian Chess scene

(The man that made the Malaysian Chess Festival possible, past CAS President (1975) Dato' Tan Chin Nam seated at the centre, together with incumbent president En Shafruddin (seated right) and his grandson (left) a UK university economics undergraduate back for a short break at the GM Yasser Seirawan Simul recently)

It is all quiet for now in this holy month of Ramadhan and we wish the Muslims "Selamat Menyambut Bulan Ramadhan Al Mubarak". To the SelangorChess teams we once again wish you well done for the fine performance in the recent Malaysian Chess Festival 2008 and look forward to the continued excellence in chess in the coming years.

CAS hopes to hold at least two more events for the remaining part of this year, namely the Royal Selangor Junior Open some time in November and the final CAS-Octagon 4th Quarter Allegro in December. We will keep you posted on these events in due course.

(SelangorChess senior team was featured in Mr Quah Seng Sun's the Star column today. The team did well to fight to the finish to emerge as one of the well respected teams in recent years. In the article was a short note on the exploit of our Main Committee Member cum Hon Treasurer En Fariz Shafruddin's impressive end-game win in a simul with GM Seirawan. Congratulations!)

(It is in everyone's mind whether or not the Malaysian Chess Festival will live on. The present MCF Council Members will definitely put on their thinking cap to keep the fire on, with clear objectives and mission to further uplift Malaysian chess to the next higher level)

Malaysian Chess Festival - 28th Astro Merdeka Open Team Chess Championship 2008 - A sweet triumph for SelangorChess Teams

SelangorChess assembled a contingent of 15 players to make up the three teams. It was an astounding success recorded in recent years, capturing both Best State Medals that are on offer. In addition the two Juniors took the overall 1 st and 4 th positions while the Senior was the top Malaysian team, taking overall Second place with the Silver Medal and RM2,000 prize money. The success can only be attributed to the strong determination and team spirit of the players. Grossly missing in the picture however is CAS Hon Secretary IA Lim Tse Pin

The Open Category

(Two medals for Selangor senior team - Selangor emerged with equal points with the tournament Champion but settled with a Silver Medal in a tie-break, and won the Best State Medal as de-facto top State team in the country)


Day 2 started off with Selangor in the lead but the other teams are never far behind. Round 5 was against top ranked and star-studded ASTRO Malaysia but Selangor brushed aside the big name with a 3 - 1 win. In Round 6 was another strong 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 win against giant-killer Vandetta.




The final Round 7 was a nail-biting battle with the only foreign team Apocalypse-Manila who was by then narrowing the gap by only a point behind. Ian Udani had an early draw with IM Ronald Bancod, while Abdullah Che Hassan later lost his game. (Ian Udani who plays on Board 1 conceded only one other draw was later adjudged as joint top board winner with FM Nicholas Chan)

Fariz Shafruddin's deep attack on the opponent's king on the right flank on Board 4 forced the Filipino Albert Rivera to resign. So Selangor was 1 1/2 points up



The last battle on Board 3 saw NM Zarul Shazwan battling it out for at least a draw, but it was not to be. Both teams shared equal points of 20 1/2 and the decider tie-break favoured the Filipinos.



The Junior Category

(Selangor Generasi 8 in top position took the Challenge Trophy pictured with CAS President Shafruddin(far left), MCF President Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib (centre) and MCF Deputy President Hj Ibrahim Bakar (far right)). In addition to the Champion Gold Medal they were also awarded the Best State Medals)


In the Junior (Under - 16) Category, Selangor Generasi 8 nominated to represent the Selangor State had an insurmountable lead as the team was virtually unbeaten throughout the Tournament, amassing 24 1/2 points out of a maximum 28





In the last round the Team was so far ahead that no other team can actually surpass Selangor. But they sportingly played on collecting a further 3 points out of the maximum 4 from Perak Juniors, thereby helping Selangor Generasi 9 to a better overall position along the way


(Selangor Generasi 9 won 4th Placing pictured here with CAS President Shafruddin and MCF Deputy President Hj Ibrahim Bakar)

The younger Selangor Generasi 9 team was not to be out done either. They beat Chung Ling B of Penang 3 -1 in the final round and collected a total of 17 points to pip State teams Sarawak and Perak by a mere 1/2 point to the finishing line.



The Juniors also collected 3 out of 5 Board Prizes through:

Yeoh Li Tian on Board 2








Muhd Izz Saifuddin on Board 4







.... and Muhd Shakir Shazmeer Azhar on Board 5









Syabas Selangor!!