10th CAS-Octagon Third Quarter Allegro Chess Championship 2008 - The Results

The 10th CAS-Octagon Third Quarter Allegro 2008 is a success with satisfactory turnout of 121 players. This Allegro series continue to attract strong chess players not just in the Klang Valley but from neighbouring states of Perak, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan as well. En Mazlan Ali, CEO of Octagon Consolidated Berhad (seated) who sponsored this event was present for the Closing Ceremony to give away the prizes. It was an eye-opener for him to see such strong interest in chess in the country with wide and harmonious participations from all walks of life irrespective of age, gender or race.

Main Prize Winners

Ian Udani receiving his First Prize from En Mazlan Ali. Ian earlier won the top prize in the First Quarter but dropped to 5th place in the subsequent Second Quarter Allegro series.

2nd placing - Edward Lee Kim Han


















3rd - Mohd Kamal Abdullah


















4th - Sumant Subramaniam

5th - Mark Siew Kit-Tze


















6th - Fariz Shafruddin


















7th - Mohd Saprin Sabri


















8th -Kamaluddin Yusof


















9th - Ismail Ahmad


















A qualified Veteran, Woo Beng Keong squeezed his way in 10th Place through a tie-break with 15 other players.

Category Winners

A broad smile from Veteran winner En Mat Zaki Yeop upon receiving his book prize. For the record, he is one of the newly elected Committee Member of CAS.

At the playing hall of The Chess Network
Complete list of participants and winners .....

.....and the cross-table

Gearing up for the Malaysian Chess Festival 2008

CAS is calling out senior and junior (U16) players to register interest in representing Selangor in the upcoming annual Malaysian Chess Festival*. All players either born, resident, schooling or working in Selangor will be eligible and selection criteria will inter-alia include merit performance in national and CAS-organized events such as this Allegro.

Forms

Contacts:
En Lim Tse Pin (012 2984922)
En Shafruddin (012 3852420)


*Note: Three special prizes for State Teams are on offer this year namely, the 'Best State Team' in the Astro Merdeka Rapid (to be held on the opening day 16th Aug to 17th Aug at Cititel Midvalley Hotel) and the 'Best State Team' and 'Best State Jr Team' in the Astro Merdeka Open (to be held on the final days of the chess festival 30th Aug to 1st Sept at Wilayah Complex). In addition both the State Teams can still vie for the more lucrative top prizes along the way.

The chess festival features individual events as well, the highlight being the IGB 5th Arthur Tan Open. Running concurrently with this event is the 3rd Ambank Group Chess Challenge. The third individual event is the Malaysian Blitz Chess Championship slotted after the closing ceremony. Players can participate in these events too as they do not clash with the team tournaments mentioned above.

For more details surf http://malaysianchessfederation.blogspot.com

10th CAS-Octagon Third Quarter Allegro Championship 2008 - 13th July 2008 at The Chess Network

We are pleased to announce our new corporate sponsor Octagon Consolidated Berhad ('Octagon') for our Quarterly Allegro series. The Chess Association of Selangor ('CAS') and the whole chess community in the country are proud to be associated with this dynamic yet environmentally caring company.

Note: Octagon is a public investment holding company listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia whose principal group activities encompass the manufacturing and trading of industrial coatings, paints, inks and related chemical products, and the development of renewable and alternative energy operations with state-of-the-art technologies. Besides Malaysia, the Octagon group have established international presence in Indonesia, Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China,Vietnam and most recently Sri Lanka. In the news recently are plans to further expand the global reach into markets in the US, Canada and Mexico through strategic technical agreements with international companies.

10th CAS Allegro series 2008 - A prelude to the 13th July Third Quarter Allegro encounter

39 players turned up in the last CAS Second Quarter Allegro 2008 with the top 10 winners well entrenched amongst the who's who in the Klang Valley. We know the eventual champion Kamaluddin as well as Ian Udani, Fariz Shafruddin, Sumant Subramaniam, Ismail Ahmad, Shahanizzam, Chow Mon Ben , Ilhamuddin and even Ronnie ( ehr.. what was he doing in 10th place?). And we did have a surprise in 2nd placed Zaidan proving once again preparation and determination can do wonders. But these elite positions are never anybody's first name....

Norazman missed the top ten when he lost the 6th round to Ian Udani. He especially thrives in time-trouble but unfortunately succumbed to the hectic pace himself. Looking on next to Ian is Fadli aka 'Stonemaster' who scored a respectable 13th position, taking cognizance allegros is not his forte.

Young man Tariq is trying to pick up again after a short lay-off. His 12th position should be a strong impetus for him going forward




Rarely joins the local circuit but has a reputation in Rapid or Blitz. Razak Saidin was at 14th position but could spring a surprise if he can come in time or has the time to compete in this upcoming Allegro



This is our future hope, and he is quite comfortable playing and rubbing shoulders with the adults. Li Tian is steadily leapfrogging to his 15th position in the last Allegro and will be knocking at the top 10 any time.



Abdullah Che Hassan is a seasoned campaigner in the local circuit but he was pushed to a poor 20th placing in the last 2nd Quarter Allegro. However he is no pushover and should rebound if he makes his appearance in this Allegro next month


While the participations had a strong field the numbers however were poor in the last two outings. CAS has no choice but to review the championship and prize structure. There is now an understanding that there should not be unnecessary clash of events in the Klang Valley. The juniors or particularly the lower rated players were not seen to want to compete with the stronger counterparts which defeats the purpose of of trying to better oneself. Playing with a fellow players with almost similar ratings may only slower the process towards excellence. One way is to reintroduce the single tier game which should encourage players to move up rapidly.

It is fortunate that CAS has this time succeeded in securing sponsorship to continue with this event with better prize monies but will not otherwise risk too much without support of the players. It is important that both the Association and the members especially to reap long term benefits rather than treat this Allegro as a weekend outing. It is not just about winning prizes, albeit a good motivator, but this competition should serve as a practice ground.

This is your passion, so please sharpen your arsenal and decisively make a date this coming 13th July CAS Third Quarter Allegro 2008 at The Chess Network.

SelangorChess News

SelangorChess shall from time to time endeavour to update group activities and other chess happenings at national and affiliate levels. Members are also invited to contribute by e-mailing us the details

Received a faxed newspaper clippings from En Michael Kimin, President of Sabah Chess Association today on the recent Malaysian Chess Federation AGM 2008. En Michael Kimin earlier indicated Sabah Chess proposes to organize a major chess tournament in the state.

On Negeri Sembilan chess, under the new committee headed by Tuan Hj Shaharuddin Sidek and his officials Kamar Dani and the rest, chess is now up and running south of the border. A number of tournaments were completed including the above Seremban Parade Open 2008 held last weekend, and a few more in the pipeline.

The Negeri Sembilan Allegro Open 2008 held earlier on in Rembau last March received overwhelming response from schools in the area as well as attracting players from other states including Selangor. Participants were also treated with F&B in conjunction with the General Election rally held in the vicinity.

The Malaysian Chess Federation hosted the visit from Ashtar Club for Chess from Babylon, Iraq in February this year. A friendly match was arranged with our local players. The friendly Malaysians triumphed but with a slim margin.









The last game of the evening when the Iraqi outwitted our player into an interesting end game draw.







Selangor chess officials were on hand as Technical Delegates to assist in the smooth running of the Chess tournament in the 4th Asean Para Games held in Khorat Thailand last January. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam took part in the Tournament. The Malaysian chess contingent had a successful outing with 2 gold and 2 silver medals and was placed Second in the gold medal tally after Philippines who won 3 golds.