Royal Selangor International Open Chess Tournament 2008 - The Final Day 5

The Final Ranking

The Battle was fought right to the end with no let up by any of the players. There was no walk out by any of the participants which is a record in the local scene.

The eventual winner FM Lim Yee Weng had earlier in the 6th Round obtained a Bye but continued on to win all his games thereafter, the last two rounds brushing aside the challenge from Ian Udani, one of the pre-tournament favourite and up-and-coming junior Justin Ong. Yee Weng had 10 years earlier won this Tournament and the 4th person to ever capture the Trophy more than once, while doing his SPM revision in between the Rounds then. He had since completed his law degree but saw his personal commitment requiring him to miss the 6th Round (a working day Friday) which again did not hamper this young man's drive for chess excellence.

Ronnie on the other hand was neck to neck with Yee Weng but was stopped in the final round by Kamalarifin to finish with a Draw. The extra pawn was not sufficient to break Kamalarifin's tight manoeuvres. If he were to win the top spot would have to be determined by a very interesting tie-break decision taking cognizance Yee Weng's earlier Bye.

Another record of sort was Alia's unbeaten record in the Tournament where she accomplished 2 wins in Rounds 2 and 5 while the rest of the Rounds ended in Draws, to emerge overall 12th in ranking with 5 1/2 points. (Yee Weng too was unbeaten with only a draw but with an 'Unplayed' match in Round 6). Alia went on to take the Best Woman title, a commendable feat given a strong field of titled and higher rated women players in this Tournament line-up.

Two other juniors that deserve mention are Justin Ong and Yeoh Li Tian. Justin Ong put up a gallant show in the top boards of this Tournament to finish with 6 points while 9-year old Li Tian had a fine finish when he stopped NWM Roslina Marmono to end with 5 points. They feature regularly in the Selangor-based CAS organised chess activities which contributed to their finesse in chess skill.

Those interested to gauge how they fare in this Tournament can refer to these statistics:
FIDE Rating statistics
MCF Rating statistic


The People behind the Scene

There would be many to mention but as in any organisation there would be a core team. It is a daunting task to keep up with a tradition, and a long and illustrious one at that. The CAS President would like to especially thank IA Lim Tse Pin and CAS Hon Secretary who had to come up with a viable plan and executing it ( bearing in mind he had other matters to attend to at the same time) and Life Member Norhana Othman for handling the tedious paperwork and the many tiny details. At the Tournament proper we had IA Hamid Majid and his assistant CAS Vice President Kamarul Zaman Khalid aka KZ to ensure efficient conduct and compliance with internationally accepted competition rules. At Royal Selangor we had personnel on stand-by to ensure the venue in good order. Last but not least we had good support from none other than Andrew 'Gilachess' Ooi who provided pre-Tournament and up-to-the-minute on-line news coverage of the event, as well as the Star newspaper columnist Mr SS Quah to reach out to both the chess and non-chess public.

The Challenge Trophy - Royal Selangor International Open Chess Tournament

Also known as the '35th Selangor International Open' initiated way back in 1974 Royal Selangor came into the picture 9 years later to adopt this Tournament and gave us this exquisitely designed Challenge Trophy.




A bouquet for our Sponsor -Datin Paduka MK Chen
Datin Paduka MK Chen, Director of Royal Selangor receiving the bouquet from CAS President En Shafruddin. A big Thank You for your support as well as to your staff for their untiring efforts to ensure this Tournament a success.

Congratulatory message to the Hon Secretary
We took the opportunity to present a wedding gift to our just-elected Hon Secretary IA Lim Tse Pin due in a few day's time. It was a big present and a heavy one too to commensurate with his heavy responsibility now that he has obtained his 'Mastership' and saying goodbye to his 'Bachelor'hood. Congratulations Tse Pin and his bride Isabella!

The gathering of the Winners
The winners of the Royal Selangor International Open Chess Tournament 2008 with CAS , Royal Selangor, MCF and Tournament officials.

The Prize Giving Ceremony

The Top Ten Winners Main Category
Champion - FM Lim Yee Weng







2nd - Ronnie Lim











3rd - FM Nicholas Chan









4th - Abdullah Che Hassan









5th - Kamalarifin Wahiduddin








6th - FM Tedy Sukirman (Indonesia)







7th - Abdul Aziz Abdul Shukur








8th - Mohd Kamal Abdullah







9th - Hendry Jamal's







10th - Marcus Yeoh







Best CAS Players Category
1st - Justin Ong








2nd - Yeoh Chin Seng










3rd - Ismail Ahmad










Best Women Category
1st - Alia Anin Azwa Bakri







2nd - WIM Lisa Karlina Lumongdong







3rd - Evi Lindiawati








Best Under-12 Category
1st - Yeoh Li Tian







2nd - Fikri Saleh






3rd - Ee Sun-Xin