Melaka International Event is ON!

Words have it that the 1st Melaka International event has been finalized and that the event will be hosted by the Historical City of Melaka starting from 20th April right up to 1st May 2012. The event will be marked as one of the major international event to commemorate the 750th year of Melaka since it was first founded and built

The event shall start with an 11 round International Rapid event offering a prize fund of USD 20,000 to be played over the 2 days weekend, followed by Classical event over 9 rounds for 2 categories - Open International and Challenger, offering a total prize fund of up to RM 50,000.

The total prize fund is one of the biggest purse ever offered for a local tournament surpassing that of the Malaysian Chess Festival. Entry fees for the event and other details are being fine tuned before it is officially released

The 12 days chess gala will be hosted at the Hang Tuah Hotel right in the heart of Melaka City where Mahkota Parade, Dataran Pahlawan, Historical Museums, popular night spots and eateries, are all located within walking distance from the playing venue.

An opening dinner is also on the agenda and it is very likely that it will be officiated by the YAB Ketua Menteri Melaka with many local, regional and international chess dignitaries expected to attend the festival. 

Event schedule that has been tentatively agreed earlier today is as follows: 

Be on the look out for more information on the event which will unfold within the next few days. Players who are interested to have a good start and learn more about the event, please get in touch with:

Haslindah Ruslan - MCF Vice President at +6019.206.9605

Gregory Lau Beng Hock - MCF Honorary Secretary at +6012.289.8215

Najib A Wahab - Technical Director +6016.338.2542

Come and join the fun!

January 2012 - Chess Activity continues....

The following has been planned at DATCC for the next three weeks, with at least one event filling up the weekend activity at our center. It is a mix of Open and Invitation events but players, supporters, fans and spectators are welcome to join the fun!


15th January 2012 - TOMORROW!
Cerdik Catur Enterprise will be conducting its first 2012 Semi-Pro series starting at 8:30am tomorrow with players registration. The 7 round event is expected to attract more than 100 players and interested players are advised to register early as spaces would be limited.


20th to 24th January - Next Weekend
The 17 Chess Club will be organizing its first 17CC Invitational FIDE Rated Round Robin tournament starting from Friday, 20th January at 7pm. The 9 round chess event is expected to close by 24th January 2012 at 6:00pm. The event is divided into 2 groups of 10 players who have been invited to participate in this 2012 inaugural 17CC event


On 21st January, PETRONAS will be having its quarterly chess event at the Center for its Chess Club. The small in-house event usually sees 10 players from various department within PETRONAS competing in its quarterly championship.


Although both events are invitational and limited events, spectators are welcome to join and watch the matches as it happens. Sets and clocks are also provided for those who would like to play a match with other visitors within the center.


29th January 2012 - The last weekend in January
For the last weekend in January, InSoFar Chess Academy makes it return to the calendar with its first series of tournaments for 2012 on Sunday, 29th January starting at 8.30am.


3 events are being held concurrently starting with Rapid Open event offering a prize money worth more than RM2,800 - vouchers and cash prizes combined. For the first time, the event will be submitted for National Rating calculation hence players have the opportunity to improve their National ranking if they do well in this event.


The next 2 events are the Open and Junior Scholarship event which offers staggered payout of more than RM5000 over the next few months. 


Entry fees are set at RM20 and RM50 depending on the type of events that the player is interested to play.


For more information on the InSoFar event, please call En. Mat Zaki Yeop at +6017.203.2051


FURTHER INFORMATION?
For further information on other events at DATCC, or if you are interested to conduct events at the center, please call Najib Wahab at +6016.338.2542 or email him at najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com

DATCC New Year Blitz

What better way to usher the New Year than playing blitz! After all the partying and happening that you may experience on New Year midnight, and nursing the hangover, the tiring and "painful" experience of celebrating the coming of 2012, perhaps it is best to relax and enjoy some chess - on the 2nd day of the New Year. 

It will be a good time to reflect with others - on chess related issues, on how we (or I) can improve our chess playing skills for 2012. For me, perhaps its about reflecting whether I should continue (or discontinue with chess) and seeing friends and chess players, may just nudge that desire into higher gear (or lower - looking at the flip side of the coin).

In any case, do drop by at DATCC on 2nd January for us to get some serious cracking on Blitz Chess - DATCC style!

A total prize fund of RM500 has been set aside with the winner set to take home RM200 for his (or her!) effort. It will be a 15 rounds of pure fun chess with entry fees set at RM20 each player - regardless of age (and title!!! Just in case Mok Tze Meng wants to play....)

Registration starts at 10:00am with Round 1 schedule at 10:30am. Round 1 to 8 will be played before lunch (until 12:30pm) and Round 9 will restart at 2:00pm and Round 15 is expected to start at 3:30pm and conclude at 3:45 pm, just in time for the prize giving ceremony at 4:00pm.

Entry forms can be downloaded via www.chess-malaysia.com/Blitz2012.pdf and inquiries can be directed to Najib Wahab at +6016.338.2542 or via email najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com

4th DATCC KL Team Open Chess Championship - A hectic Round 7

Folks.... Round 8 on Saturday to start at 9:00am and Round 9 at 2:30pm.


As for Round 7, the traffic in KL was unbelievable and with scattered flooding in certain areas in KL, and the SMART tunnel was closed to divert rising waters, many players found themselves stuck in traffic jams and a few games were forfeited due to non-arrivals. Saprin and family was 10 minutes away from giving away 4 points to their opponent PETRONAS Seahorse and on Table 1, whilst young Yeoh Li Tian had to forfeit his game, Najib on board managed to arrive at the tournament hall with only 1 minute to spare - and the opponent not arriving on time (Max came in about 8:45pm and was disappointed that he had to give away the point). Yeoh Li Tian also arrived just before Max but opponent Nor Ilhamuddin already left the crime scene.


Suffering worse were PJMIM who had to forfeit 2 boards and BERNAMA Team forfeiting 3 boards.


With the conclusion of Round 7, and the remaining 2 rounds to be played this Saturday, the race for the lead is very tight between 3 teams - Kelantan, Too Less Ordinary and Najib's Rojak Team. Kelantan and Too Less Ordinary both scored perfect 4 points to stay ahead in the lead at first and second respectively, followed closely by Najib's Rojak Team at third place - with only 1.5 points separating the 3 teams.


Following behind with 2.5 points behind Najib's Rojak Team is 17 Chess Club and another 1 point behind the DATCC Senior'S Team.


Round 8 will be the telling points as the top team will vie to continue their good run and maintain their lead but, with the bottom teams having the ability to steal 1 or 2 valuable points, the event is not over until the fat lady sings! The pairing for the last round will be very crucial and teams that can score a perfect 4-0 in the last 2 rounds will definitely jump up the table. 


Results for Round 7:

Teams position after Round 7

And the most awaited table of all - Pairing for Round 8, an interesting one indeed.

4th DATCC KL Team Open Chess Championship - The Game Continues....

After 2 weeks break to make way for the ASIAN Amateur and the Penang Heritage Open, the 4th installation of the DATCC KL Team Open Chess continues with Round 7 on Tuesday, 13th Decembe2011 at 7:00pm.


The pairing for Round 7 is as follows:

The current standing of teams playing the event is:

The championship will conclude this weekend on Saturday, 17th December 2011 starting at 9:00am with Round 8 and Round 9 to start at 2:30pm.