37th Selangor Open Results

For the latest result on 37th Selangor Open , please visit here.

29th Astro Merdeka Rapid Open Team Chess Championship 2009 - Day1 & 2

The SelangorChess Teams for the first time in recent years struggled to stamp their presence in the Merdeka Chess Championship. There will be 2 more rounds in the third and final day tomorrow and we hope notwithstanding the challenges and maneuvers faced to rise to the occasion.

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'

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!!

Malaysia National Closed Championship 2008 - Results

This year's National Closed attracted 72 participants in the open category and 20 in the woman's section.







Edward Lee drew the last game with Leong Mun Wan to capture the NM title and enabling both to be eligible for the Selection Tournament. Alia had an expected easier path to the NWM title needing to just draw the last two rounds.


CAS selection for Selangor, Ismail Ahmad contemplating his moves later went on to earn him a 3rd placing in the championship.
Two other Selangor representatives Justin and Zaidan however did not fare too well at 22nd and 33rd position respectively.

Royal Selangor International Open Chess Tournament 2008 - The Day After

The Royal Selangor International Open Chess Tournament remained as one of the more successful Tournaments organized by The Chess Association of Selangor or CAS. Success is measured by the participations of current top and active players in the country although the fees seemed to be prohibitive to many, time is not right and the logistics never ideal. Nonetheless these participants were able to overcome such obstacles to show their support and mettle. The journey for Malaysian chess however has still quite a distance to go requiring the self-reliant and independent spirit of these, and other players and supporters who want to see breakthrough results in chess in the country along with sustained and selfless efforts of forward thinking organizers and promoters.


The objective of Selangor Open Tournament from the player's standpoint is not just about winning or outplaying one's opponent. With the long list of strong local and foreign players with equally impressive credentials vying for the top spots the probability of winning cannot possibly be the sole reason. The recently concluded Tournament saw a number of changes at both Fide and MCF Rating List. These rating systems on the other hand serves as a yardstick of one's performance or 'strength' and is widely followed of late.

But whichever way we look at it we need not be too obsessed with the figures to the extent of say, not wanting to play out of fear of rating loss or to go to the other extreme of chest thumping.


But chess tournament is not just about winners, beating your opponents or gaining rating points. In this Tournament we witnessed the Wahiduddin siblings KamalArifin and Khairunnisa' taking part, both established players in their own rights as National Champions. Chess brings out the common interest in them.












They are not as active as before but chess seems to be in their blood. In this Tournament the brother Kamalarifin could still show a thing or two as to draw over Ronnie in the last round despite a pawn down in the end game. In a rapid game one can easily fall into a blunder but definitely not easily so in a Fischer time control.

Another common scene is to see a generational kinship in this Tournament. The current NWM and WCM Shazwani was seen playing in the Tournament alongside his father Cikgu Zulkafli. NM Yeoh Chin Seng introduced his son Yeoh Li Tian to chess only recently and the kid is now making waves in the local junior circuit. Also in the Tournament is a new family from Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam starting to make their presence felt. The Saleh family is only starting out but looks like the son is already making an impact in this Tournament to secure a place in the Under-12 Category.

Father and daughter - The father giving comfort to his dear daughter Wani







The Yeohs - Can he provide the unwavering support to his son to achieve excellence in chess?







Side by side in the Tournament - a new family in the chess scene from Shah Alam








This is a strong Tournament and it can be an expensive affair if the only reason is to win. On the other hand this is about the handful game where a family can take part in a competitive environment, on equal terms.

On a final note, chess in Malaysia has still a long way to achieve the due recognition it deserves. Chess needs the all-encompassing commitments of the players and chess enthusiasts to support themselves and to demonstrate their worthiness, or be outplayed by little fortune-hunters and glamour seekers along the way.

Views of
Shafruddin

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