Table 1 - Both Chesskidz Team From Singapore.

GM Mariano vs IM Barbosa on table 1

Klang Valley Koalas vs ASTRO Ladies

Battle between ladies..

MSIAN CHESS FESTIVAL IS NOW OFFICIALLY STARTED

Organising chairman Daniel Yong starts the game for table 1 by simple d4.. And let the game begins!

MY TEAM - WE ARE READY FOR MERDEKA TEAM!

My original team - WIM Nafisa Mumjnova, Samantha Lee, Alana Chibnall and Chai Hweimeen.

GM Wang Rui Champ!

Meet GM Wang Rui the champ of 2nd Merdeka Rapid Individual Chess Championship.

Razali Hamzah a.k.a Ng6

Thinking hard during Merdeka Rapid..

Some Locals Competing

Seen in pic is Mohd Irman, Mohd Ezmi, Syazwan and Ooi Zhi Yang.

Round 4 Table 1 Merdeka Individual Rapid

Battle between Sanchez and Vakhidov.

Using LCD Projector For Rapid

Seen in the pic the large screen and the arbiters of the event - Kaber and Haslindah.

Merdeka Individual Rapid Starts Now

Congrats To Winners

Congrats to Dimitri Kayumov - champ of Seniors Section, Sarvinov Kurbonboeva - champ of Ambank Challenge and GM Li Shilong - this year  champ of DATMO. Picture with the officials.

Dato' Tan Give Away His Winning Prize..

Dato decide to give away his prizes to the committee.. And he said that he will sponsor again.. Great huh!

Final Blitz Between Yu Ruiyuan and Lu Shanglei

Witness the finale by Dato Tan and Tan Sri

Final Round Blitz between Lu Shanglei and Oliver Barbosa

Blitz Is Underway..

Round 9 - Final Day

Round 8 - 23/8/2011

GM Wang Rui is also with 6 points

GM Li Shilong Is Leading With 6 points

The Intense Battle Between IMs

And our IM Jimmy won the battle. With this victory, GM Kayumov looks solid to become eventual champ with 1 point above the rest.

Table 1 - Zaidan vs SM Sharon

If Zaidan beat this guy he will be in the lead. After all this years perhaps it is about time that the trophy goes back to the locals. But can "Warrior Zaidan" do it?

Unfortunately, he could not exploit the winning position and only managed to draw. Both of them are now the leaders of the Ambank pack.

Luis Chiong Zacarias Romero

This guy made an upset yesterday by beating the last year champ GM Kayumov. Now all 3 people with 5 points each - GM Kayumov (RUS), Ferdiman Tersiman (INA), and IM Chiong (PHI).

Round 7 Underway

The Tension in Round 6

Last year champ (on the right), Cao Sang is in deep thought to win against Jahongir Vakhidov.
The battle between GM Li Shilong and IM Oliver Dimakiling caused a lot of spectator crowding the game, because Li Shilong have been battling in few seconds to think while Dimakiling was entirely in comfort with more times in hand. When i took this pic i saw Dimakiling time was 1 hour and Li was at 1 minute.

And The Princess it Tamed

and it wasnt by the Prince of Persia, but by the charming Dr Zaidan...

Round 6 - 22/8/2011 Is On The Way..

It's Showtime!

We are almost in severe headache when all 300++ children storming into the hall on the first round of Merdeka Age Group today.. Do hope everything is going well towards the end..

Ready to welcome 370 kids

We are ready for the merdeka age group tomorrow!

Prince meeting the Princess?

Could it be the "Prince of Persia" conquering the "Princess"? Hahah..we shall see..

A GM Is Always a GM No Matter How Many Years He Left Competitive Chess..

And my statement is proven here.. GM Kayumov displayed his GM strength against Jimmy.

Time Trouble

Good game showed by Bai Jingshi against Wan Yunguo.

Do you recognise him?

I hardly recognised him on the first day. Someone told me the new look resemble "Prince of Persia". Err.. well..

DATMO Round 4

Both IMs playing together on table 1, while on second table both GM facing each other. On table 1 is the battle of IM Lu Shanglei (2526) - IM Oliver Dimakiling (2414).

Malaysian Chess Festival 2011

I forgot to bring the charger (who wouldnt, since i am borrowing my sister's camera), so I cant take as many pic as I usually take every year. But i am trying to update pictures using my handphone. It is kinda slow compared to using laptop to do the posting but at least it will keep the readers updated.

To follow the news on the DATMO 2011, Ambank 2011 and Seniors Open 2011 you can also follow this link:

Official Site
Gilachess blog by Andrew
Biro Wanita updated by Haslindah
Results are updated at chess-results

From the official site there's a link to to the DATMO blog where you can read a lot interesting stories and games, and also from the official site you can download games from DATMO. And its FREE!!

Tomorrow is a free day for the players but not for us as arbiters and helpers, we will be busy welcoming about 400 kids tomorrow Merdeka Age Group! awsome turnouts right? hahaha i bet all of us will have headache tomorrow to control all the kids esp the young ones..

The boy that made the biggest upsets yesterday..

This 12 years old Bai Jingshi may not be of everybody's radar before this. But when he won against WGM Ju Wenjun yesterday he made the headlights.. Who would believe the score when the rating is so huge gap. Bai Jinshi - 2151 and Ju Wenjun - 2515.

Seniors Open Round 4

Only 2 players in the seniors section with perfect score after round 3 and they met today. I think Winner of this match will be the champ of this category.. GM Kayumov vs IM Jimmy Liew.

8th Ambank Challenge Round 3

Second seed SM Sharon vs Masrin Erowan. While on Table 3 WIM Christine vs Zaidan Zulkifli. Do hope to hear good news today..

8th Ambank Challenge - Round 3

On table 1 Fadli vs Kurbonboeva. Is Fadli going to be the one that stop this girl?

Round 2 - Table 1

This is the girl that i spoke off in my earlier post. Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz rated at 2133 from Uzbek.

Round 2 - Table 7

WGM Ju Wenjun rated at 2515 from China. I found her name so familiar, then i realise that she was the champ of 1st Hangzhou WGM tournament this year.

Round 1 Board 1 - Li Panru (CHN) - GM Salvador Roland (PHI)

Still playing..

Test from Android

I am using my handphone to keep readers updated.. i think this is a success... ;-))

Ready for Malaysian Chess Festival 2011

I am currently at Cititel Hotel Midvalley. Malaysian Chess Festival is underway right now with lots of interesting stories. I will try to keep updated with the events but just incase you want a fast updates login to Gilachess's blog or the official blog for more info.

Though it is a surprise that not many Malaysian players take up the challenge to play at either events, but at least there are some that willing too. Cant blame the others too, coz it is after all ramadhan month and unfortunately this festival is held on a non-school holidays time.

IM Mas is not in the list, coz he is currently pursuing his GM norm playing at Los Angeles. IM Mok is missing in action too. But surprisingly IM Lim Yee Weng is here, good to know that he still interested in chess after working in Singapore and having a married life!

IM Jimmy is also playing but - not in Open section.. he is playing in Seniors Open (aged 50 and above category). Since the age is change in this section many local regular players turned up to play, that includes Mat Zaki Yeop, Mustafa Said, Jax Tham and others.

In the Ambank section - we have a female player from Uzbekistan in the first seed named Kurbonboeva Sarvinov rated at 2133. If she wins this event, then it is going to be the first time that a female champions it.. :-)) But we have others to challenge her, that includes our local Zaidan Zulkifli, Masrin, Abdullah Che Hassan, Khaushal, Muhd Syazwan, and few others plus one WIM Cristine Mariano (GM Nelson's sister) from the Philippines.

So, lets kick start the tournament!