Segamat Challenge Won By Herman!

7 August 2010, Segamat – LATEST NEWS –SEGAMAT CHESS CHALLENGE just concluded today in Segamat and the winners are :

1. HERMAN b Rahman with 6.5 points

2.Mohd ZAKI b Yusof, UTHM PT.RAJA BATU PAHAT(sparring partner Mohd Zullghafari Saparmin)

3.KAMALUDIN b Yusof

4.MARZUKI b Yaacob.

Picture message on the full final results as below:-

About 29 players participated in Segamat Chess Challenge over a seven round rapid.

(results courtesy of Mohd Zullghafari b Saparmin, posted by fireyrook)

Black to play and win!

 

Malaysia Chess Festival 2010

The long awaited event is almost here…. It seems only yesterday that we concluded the 6^th edition of the Malaysian Chess Festival and before you know it, we are 3 weeks away from the start of the 7^th edition, and this would be the grandest of all the Malaysia Chess Festivals since its inception in 2004.

Whilst the IGB Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open series (fondly known as DATMO) will be (it has and will always be – should the event continue…) the anchor event during the festival, the accompanying events have varied slightly. Whilst the AmBank Chess Challenge event seems to go hand-in-hand with DATMO since it started, the inclusion of other events have been rather inconsistent. There was one year where the ASTRO Team Rapid Event was staged at a later date in a separate venue. There was also one year where we had the Women National Closed event being held at the same time with the Festival. In its first year, we had simul exhibition matches by the Vietnamese and Chinese GMs but in the subsequent years, the simul matches went missing from the festival calendar. There was also one year where we had the individual rapid event and again, it received the same fate as the simul – it was there for one year but erased from the schedule in the subsequent years. On the bright side, in 2007 the blitz championship was included as an ad hoc event and 3 years down the line, it became a permanent fixture for the festival.

What is different about this year Malaysia Chess Festival? This year, ALL the missing events are making a comeback into the schedule, making it a true gala for chess lovers and enthusiasts – locally and internationally. Not only that we will get the ASTRO Rapid individual and team events, not only that we will be able to see professionals slugging it out in the IGB Malaysia Open, or the not-so professional pitting out their wits in the AmBank Chess Challenge section, we will also be able to see for the first time, a section dedicated to the Veterans in the KLK Seniors Open. The simul exhibition matches are also making a comeback, again sponsored generously by ASTRO and a new sponsor joining the fray, Swensen – famous for its ice-cream, who will be sponsoring the National Age Group Chess event. Blitz is no longer an ad hoc event as it has become a permanent (and most awaited) fixture during the event and instead of a single blitz event; it has become two – as the finale for both the ASTRO Team Rapid and the IGB Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open.

Yours truly has again been given the task of running all the events as the Chief Arbiter, my fourth consecutive outings, an outing that I eagerly look forward to be a part of. Actually, my wife looks forward to it more than I do as it will give her reasons to shop and laze around Midvalley Megamall day in and day out… and there is nothing I can do to stop her from doing so. I have been a part of the festival since it started and the funny thing is that the only time I missed out on the Malaysia festival was in 2006 when the then DPM Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak came to officiate the opening of the festival. So in reality, ‘Najib’ was at all the events since the first edition – my first outing in 2004 was as the Bulletin Editor and my second outing in 2005 was as the Arbiter for the AmBank Chess Challenge section. In 2006, the “other” Najib came to be a part of the event, and I picked up the baton back in 2007

The 7^th 2010 edition promises excitement and true festive environment with 9 mouth watering events for various chess categories, playing levels and age group, that can cater to both the individual spirit and teams camaraderie. There are also talks about GM Anatoly Karpov making a second visit to Malaysia during the event with his running mate for FIDE Deputy President, Richard Conn. To make it even more interesting, there is also a strong possibility that GM Garry Kasparov may make a surprise entrance to show his support for GM Karpov who is in the running for the FIDE Presidential post. As this is election year for FIDE, and with GM Karpov as a real and serious contender for the post, Malaysia Chess Festival has also become the unofficial platform to spread Karpov’s wing and garner support for him from around this part of the world. But wait…. Is it not that the Philippines will be organizing a Campo Memorial Event during the same period?

Someone said that if Campo were still alive, he would definitely not approve of such a move (a double question marks) – I am sure he is ‘rolling over’ in his grave knowing the atrocities of what his fellow countrymen has done, but since Philippines are strong supporters of the “other candidate” FIDE Presidential Candidate and incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the event is a clear and direct attempt to hijack Karpov’s momentum in the region. Albeit the fact that DATMO has been advertised long before the Campo event was penned in, the Philippines Chess Federation decided to continue its plan of going head to head against our festival. But surprisingly, whilst the Campo event may offer bigger prize money, the impact towards our Festival has been minimal with more and more players continue to register for the event. For those who have been here over the years, Malaysian hospitality is rather addicting and spoiling hence, chess players continue to flock our soil knowing how hospitable we are towards our guests, and how pampering the local folks can be.

Whatever it is, this is a Malaysia event and this has been etched in the minds of all chess players – Malaysians or otherwise, and it will always be an event that we, the Malaysian chess players, will be proud of. There is only one thing left to say – SEE YOU at Malaysia Chess Festival 2010!!!

Yours Truly (thanks Jimmy! .....)
Najib Abdul Wahab....

Note: Please visit the Malaysian Chess Open/Malaysian Chess Festival blog or click here.

Mike Palma Wins Tebrau Open 2010

5 Aug 2010, Thursday – Here is a slightly better image of the full final chess results of the Tebrau Open held over last weekend courtesy of Mr Ng Say Long of GPM Technology Sdn. Bhd.

Mike Palma won the Tebrau Open 2010 with 6.5 points over 7 rounds of play and superior tie-break points. In second place was Abdullah Che Hassan with a similar 6.5 points, third was Rabani Che Hassan with 5.5 points, fourth position went to Kristopher with 5.0 points and in fifth place was Bernard Lee. In sixth position was Herman with 5.0 points. Seventh rank went to Marzuki with 5.0 points, Eighth, Shamri with 5.0 points, too. Ninth, Mohd Anuas with 4.5 points and tenth, Hafizul with 4.5 points.

(courtesy of Ng Say Long; posted by fireyrook)

Dato Tan’s GM Move !

Abdul Hamid Majid vs Dato Tan Chin Nam

Friendly

DATCC

Black to move

1... Rc7!? Fritz suggest ...Kh6 but Dato Tan move Rc7 is also interetsing. The idea is to divert white's rook on d7 from d-file. 2. Rxc7?? Qd1+ 3. Kg2 Nf4+ "The sting in the tail" like Bobby Fischer once said. *

Dato Tan proved that he is no ordinary chess player by making the "Right Move" and beat Hamid majid in this friendly

Picture Gallery 2, Razzmatazz Weekender

3 August 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Here are a few of the scenes of the Razzmatazz Weekender held at the DATCC, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on the 1st August 2010, Sunday over a seven round rapid play.

GM Ziaur Blazing Through......

The DATCC organizes its Razzmatazz Weekend Rapid on 1^st of August and the event was well attended by a lot of chess players and enthusiasts. GM Ziaur Rahman headed the list of 52 players who took part in the event which also included CM Fadli Zakaria, Kamaluddin Yusof, Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham and sisters, Nur Najiha and Nur Nabila, and MCF VP Haslindah Ruslan. Despite missing some of the more regular rapid players like Ian Udani and Abdullah Che Hassan, the tournament did not lack the nail biting and intriguing match ups and duels between some of the top ranked players. It was also one of GM Ziaur more challenging outing having to face tough oppositions from the young Puteri Munajjah in the first round of the game, Nur Nabila in the 4^th round and Kamaluddin Yusof at the last round. According to Ziaur, this was one of his tougher events in recent outings and he was impressed with the strong showing by some of the junior players notably Tan Jun Feng, Puteri Munajjah, Low Jun Jian, and siblings Nur Nabila and Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham.

After the smoke cleared, GM Ziaur prevailed and came out on top with Low Jin Jian tight at his tail at a close second, followed by Muhd Nabil, Kamaluddin Yusof and Tan Jun Feng rounding up the top 5. CM Fadli Zakaria donated 2 chess sets which were presented to Puteri Munajjah as the best U-12 girls and Amier Hamzah Muhd Zuhri as her counterpart for the boys section.

UPNM (University Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia) showed up in strong support for the event with 12 aspiring players, half of the team whom has never played in a rated event before. At their request, in response to their support, a special prize was allocated for the best UPNM player which went to Mohd Izwan Idris.

Other notable winners were Nur Nabila Azman Hisham as the Best Lady player, Haslindah Ruslan for the best player with a rating below 1600, and Vinton Wong Hsien Loong for the best player below a rating of 1400. Mohd Raimi Rahim bagged the best unrated player.

The final table and list of winners are as follows:

Final Ranking	Seeding	Name	Rtg	Pts	BH.	Placing
1	1	Ziaur Rahman	2550	7	34½	First
2	5	Low Jun Jian	1740	6	33½	second
3	2	Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham	1918	5½	30½	Third
4	3	Kamaluddin Yusof	1870	5	34	Fourth
5	7	Tan Jun Feng	1713	5	33	Fifth
6	6	Nur Nabila Azman Hisham	1732	5	31	Best Lady
9	17	Haslindah Ruslan	1508	5	25½	Best U1600
10	22	Sim Chung Seng	1441	5	24	Second U1600
12	27	Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahra Azhar	1403	4½	30	Best U-12 Girls
13	12	Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar	1604	4½	27½	Second U-12 Girls
14	21	Mohd Izwan Idris	1441	4½	24½	Best UPNM
16	30	Vinton Wong Hsien Loong	1356	4	26½	Best U 1400
17	16	Amier Hamzah Bin Mohd Zuhri	1523	4	25½	Best U12 Boys
19	32	Hemant Sathish	1355	4	25	Second U1400
22	35	Cheong Yi Yao	1276	4	18½	Second U12 Boys
25	47	Mohd Raimi Rahim	0	3½	27½	Best Unrated

The event was well managed as it started and ended as per the tournament schedule with the first round at 10:00am and prize giving ceremony started exactly at 6:00pm. DATCC will be organizing another Rapid Weekend sometime after Hari Raya i.e. late September, and another one sometime in December with a Rookie Tornado event scheduled in between the two rapid events.

Those who would like to learn more about events and happening at DATCC, including the upcoming Malaysia Chess Festival 2010 scheduled to start on 28 August until 8 September, do contact Najib Wahab at +6016 338 2542, or write to najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com

Full result Tebrau Open