Thursday, June 18, 2009

SelangorChess News- DATCC Kuala Lumpur Commercial & Recreational Chess League (Round Robin For Teams) 2009

Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) recently initiated the team chess event on a round robin format at her premises in Kuala Lumpur. 10 teams are participating in this FIDE Rated event with time control of 90 min + 30 sec increment from move 1. The game kicked off last April and scheduled every Wednesday of the week from 18:00hr to 21:00 hr. The timing allows for flexibility to the working populace and students in and around KL to participate. Apart from minor hitches at the start, the event runs smoothly so far and is now half way through with the completion of the 9th round last night.

This is a laudable effort to further improve standard chess in the country on a sustained basis. Currently most of the tournaments in the country (as in many pubs or social groups in Europe and Australia) are on the shorter time control or Rapid format, which to many serious players is not chess. CAS too is guilty in promoting such weekend chess such that it is now the mainstay in the Malaysian chess scene. But aside from Selangor Open we did in the past organise 2-day events with longer time control for the juniors whom we felt should most benefit but in time fell through due to lack of support.

Results of the DATCC Chess League after Round 9

# Team Ranking















# Individual performances



























# Team performances


























Chess enthusiasts who may like to watch the games currently in progress every Wednesday should call IA Hamid Majid (tel: +6019 3158098) for confirmation

Monday, June 15, 2009

SelangorChess News - A weekend of Chess happenings

CAS players are a very active lot and everywhere they go would certainly leave their mark in the chess scene.

In the recently concluded Penang Heritage City Open, CAS VP Mok
Tze Meng (Fide Master) swept the top prize with a convincing 7 wins and 2 draws in a 9-round standard time control to prove once again
that this veteran is still one of the top players in the country to be reckoned with. It is up to present crop of juniors to rise to the
occasion and earn the top spot, and respect from this 'old' guard and the chess community. Otherwise chess will remain in the backwaters
or a mere recreational activity to while away your weekend or serve as a fun trip for both the players and officials. We would also like to see the seniors contributing towards excellence in chess for the sports to gain a broadbased recognition


FM Anas Nazreen Bakri is not from Selangor but his chess prowess developed in Selangor or CAS to be precise. He soon represented CAS or Selangor in national chess tournaments on numerous occasions. Like many of our top chess players he also excelled in his studies. He left for the US last Saturday to pursue his studies in Chemical Engineering. He did express hope to continue to hone his chess skill in the Uncle Sam country. We would like to put on record 'Tahniah dan Selamat Maju Jaya' to FM Anas.



The Azman Hisham girls, namely Nur Najiha and Nur Nabila brought honours to the country to win the Under 10 (G) title and runner-up in the Under-12 (G) respectively in the recent 10th ASEAN Age Group+ Championships in Vietnam. The newly crowned WFM Najiha in fact hauled in another Gold in a Rapid Under-12 (G) event while WCM Nabila took Gold in the Blitz event for her category over the weekend



With this impetus the two juniors (and the others too), should move on and to at least be on par with the likes of the senior women players of recent times like WIM Siti Zulaikha and WCM Nur Shazwani. Malaysian juniors are no different from their counterparts in the region or the world but only at the lower age-group. More needs to be done, and doing it in a different way perhaps to progress further

Selangor State witnessed a flurry of chess activities too. The Ole Ole Shopping Centre in Section 18 Shah Alam had her maiden chess championship last Saturday. Helping out in the running of the tournament was our newly appointed Committee Member Puan Suffiah. MCF Deputy President Hj Ibrahim Bakar was present to give away the prizes. By the way he was also instrumental in bringing chess to this part of Shah Alam. In the picture is one of the winners Abdul Haq (in chequered shirt) receiving a hamper from the GM of Ole Ole Shopping Centre. The tournament was won by NM Zarul Shazwan


Finally last Sunday, the Tanjung Karang Open 2009 was held through the iniative of a group of chess enthusiasts in the district. WCM Nur Shazwani (in the pic receiving the prize from the main sponsor Hj Mohd Yahya Mat Sahri) held her own amongst the many male players to be among the top 10 finishers. Her brother NM Zarul Shazwan again swept the top prize


In short Selangor has a large pool of talents and it is time for us to unite and pull our resources together for Malaysian chess to move forward


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Malaysian Chess Championship 2009 - Final

The Selangor representatives fared not too badly especially in the National Woman Championship category. Amira scored 5 1/2 points or 2 points behind the eventual winner to earn the 5th position. There was high expectations on her compatriot Nabila who could only obtain 7th position. She was definitely playing well below her strength. Haslindah on the other hand did well to get 8th. on tiebreak, and Selangor's 4th entry Najiha was placed 15th

In the National Championship however, only Kamaluddin featured in the top 10, with an 8th position collecting a commendable 6 points. His last two games against Zhuo Ren and Saprin both ended in draws. In the meantime Ismail was placed 13th with 5 1/2 points, Li Tian was 18th with 5 points and finally Fadli in 20th position also with 5 points. 

55 players took part in the National Championship and was won by Evan Capel of Penang. In the National Women Championship 22 players took part. A 12 -year old KL girl Tan Li Tian took the NWM title. Full results can be accessed at http://malaysianchessfederation.blogspot.com