04-08-2006 chess
From Malaysia Encyclopedia
allisi Friday August 4, 2006
Impressive list
CHESS by QUAH SENG SUN
EARLIER this week, I was looking at the list of foreign players who had either registered or shown an interest in playing in the Arthur Tan Memorial Malaysia open championship in 17 daysâ time. Impressive list by our regional standard, I must say. Although the organisers, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) cannot say for sure that all those foreign players will eventually turn up, the tentative playerâs list is still impressive.
I note with regret the possible absence of the Chinese players and this includes last yearâs winner, Wang Hao. What I heard is that the Chinese are involved in their own chess league back home. This is a pity because Wang Hao was the biggest hit at last yearâs event. He was smashing his way through the event and cutting a path through all the resistance that terrified opponents were attempting to put up before him. One of his high-profile victims from last year will also be missing and this will be Ian Rogers.
Nevertheless, we shall still have a good list of grandmasters and international masters. Leading the pack shall be Indonesiaâs top grandmaster, Utut Adianto, weighing in with a hefty Fide rating of 2589.
Other familiar names among the grandmasters will be Indonesiaâs Susanto Megaranto (rated 2524), Vietnamâs Dao Thien Hai (rated 2560) and Nguyen Anh Dung (rated 2542), the Philippinesâ Joey Antonio (rated 2539) and Nelson Mariano (rated 2437).
A trio of grandmasters from Uzbekistan (Alexei Barsov, Safin Shukrat and Saidali Yuldashev), possibly two from India (Abhijit Kunte and Praveen Thipsay), Ziaur Rahman and Reefat Sattar from Bangladesh and Yu Shaoteng from China will be present.
Among the international masters, the more familiar among them will be Tirto and Irwanto Sadikin from Indonesia, Ravi Lanka from India, and Wynn Zaw Htun and Myo Niang from Myanmar. Meanwhile, the MCF also expressed confidence that there will be a big influx of entries between now and next weekâs closing date, Aug 10, for the AmBank Group Malaysia Chess Challenge and the Astro Merdeka team chess championship.
There have been numerous enquiries from both local and foreign players. The Chess Challenge, in particular, will provide local players with an opportunity to gain an international rating or improve on their rating points if they already have one, since the event will be played using international time control.
Only a few local events can qualify as a rated event and this is one. If you have been eyeing an international rating, do not waste this opportunity. All you need is to play against three other internationally rated players and score at least a point from them and you are on your way to accumulating your points.
The Merdeka team open championship, however, is not a rating event. But there are good prizes which are too attractive to ignore, prompting news that some of the more active state chess associations are planning an assault on this event. This will be good for both the organisers and states as the move will bring quality from around the country to Kuala Lumpur.
You can download all details pertaining to these events, including the entry fees and prizes, from The Chess Network website at tcn.sourceforge.net. Alternatively, you can call the Malaysian Chess Federation secretary, Abdul Hamid Majid (% 019-3158098 or e-mail him at aham@pc.jaring.my).
UP NEXT Selangor Merdeka open
The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will hold a one-day event at Sunway University College this Sunday to select players to represent the state at this yearâs Merdeka team open championship. There will be two categories of event â an open section and a under-16 section â with each category limited to 60 players only. To pre-register for this event, e-mail your name and age category to selangorchess@gmail.com
Chess clinic
The chess club of SM Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang has brought in Fide master Brian Jones from Australia to conduct a chess clinic for junior chess players on Aug 19. This four-hour clinic will be held at the schoolâs library starting at 1pm and the fee is RM50 per participant. For more information or to register, contact the schoolâs chess club at starschool_chessclub@yahoo.com.
MBS open
The Methodist Boys School in Penang is organising its first open chess tournament on Aug 20. To register, contact Gerald Goh (% 012-4100998), Paul Ma (016-469 3102) or Thomas Chua (016-476 0902). Closing date is Aug 19.
JB Merdeka open
The Johor Baru District Chess Association will hold the 16th JB Merdeka open chess tournament at Giant SouthernCity in Taman Suria, Johor Baru on Aug 27. For details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (07-333 8215 / e-mail: naraa@tm.net.my).
UTP Convofair
The Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak, will organise a one-day tournament at the Foyer Chancellor Hall in conjunction with the universityâs Convofair on Aug 13.
The organisers are aiming to attract around 900 players in an attempt to get into the Malaysia Book of Records. To accommodate this expected number of players, the closing date for entries has been extended to Aug 9.
In addition, the organisers have arranged buses to transport players from Syuen Hotel in Ipoh at 7am on the day of the competition.
Altogether, there will be 10 categories - the open and institutions of higher learning (men and women), the under-12, under-15 and under-18 (boys and girls).
For more information on the entry fees, prizes, transportation and accommodation, contact Raja Farah (012-774 9891 / e-mail: etakarina05@yahoo.com), Ku Nor Azmira (012-595 1065 / e-mail: ku_miera@yahoo.com), Mazila (012-657 3683 / e-mail: mazilamohamad@yahoo.com), Rosfadilah (017-606 0914) or Mat Nor (017-968 3376).
Quah Seng Sun can be contacted at ssquah@gmail.com. Join Malaysiaâs biggest chess mailing list by registering yourself at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chess-malaysia.
