Malaysian Chess Festival 2009

The month of August every year is the year where I had the most fun chess activities! We have the Malaysian Chess Festival, where we have the Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian Open (DATMO), Ambank Chess Challenge, Malaysian Blitz Chess Open, and Merdeka Rapid Team. During the rest day of Datmo and Ambank, we have this Merdeka National Open Rapid Age Group Chess Championship dated this 26th August 2009 (wednesday), only for those age U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, and U-16. It will be held at the same venue of DATMO.

Previous years, I had the fun of joining the DATMO and Merdeka Rapid, where that is the only chance we get the chance to play against those higher rated players, and titled holder such as those GMs, IMs etc.... BUT

This year, I am involved in Malaysian Chess Festival as an arbiter! I admit it is not an easy job handling task in a big event as this, but I learned a lot. Today is the only first day of DATMO and Ambank Chess Challenge, but I learned how the Technical of Malaysian Chess Festival did their job, handling the starting out of the event and during the event.

I am incharge of the Ambank Chess Challenge and working with the group of UM students as helpers, and surprisingly they are doing a good job!.. ok enough with the excitement of being an arbiter :-)) now lets proceed with the details of the event.

Pic left : Result of Round 1 of Ambank Challenge concluded today.

Pic right : Pairing of Round 2 tomorrow.

Pic of the Round 1 at Ambank

Tough participants for this year is only about 45 players, and not many as compared to last year, but I still think with the present of last Ambank Challenge winner - Roel Abelgas (as being informed by Mr Name on the shoutbox, the last year winner was Leonardo Carlos - Thanks to him. My sincere apology for the wrong post) from the Phillipines, and other Filipinos, Malaysians playing at Ambank will still face a hard time to compete. All bets to break will lies in the hands of locals such as Fadli Zakaria, Jax Tham, Nor Ilhamuddin, among others...

While on the DATMO, there are about 12 GMs present this year! I think that is a huge number of GMs present! With an interesting facts that the fav which is also the 2 times DATMO champ, GM Li Chao from China is playing again to defend the title. Also looks interesting, is the second seeded GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son. But what makes the competition more fascinating to come and watch at 5th Floor, Ballroom at Cititel Midvalley Kuala Lumpur, are the players like GM Parimarjan Negi - one of the youngest GM in the world from India, Iranian number 1 chess player GM Ehsan Maghami, GM Marat and Saidali from Uzbez, regular turn up like GM Ziaur Rahman, GM Susanto, also the ladies WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan from Iran who caused a sensation in round 1 where she drew with GM Darwin Laylo from Philippines, also present were WGM Irene Sukandar.

Result of Round 1 - DATMO

Pic left : GM Li Chao B from China

Pic right : GM Parimarjan Negi From India

The scene from the DATMO 2009.

I will try to keep the fans with the updates, but if you want more, kindly check bloggers like hairulov, gilachess blog, and Gilocatur from the link. Also, there are special blog that created specifically to all the DATMO fans which is - http://malaysianopen.blogspot.com/

5th Asean Para Games 2009 - The Ceremony

Dato' Sharizat - The Women Affairs Minister came earlier to the event, she later on sign on a chess board as a momento of the Games.

A group photos of the Technical Team and Malaysian Coaches with the Minister. From left seated; Gregory Lau - Techincal (secretary of MCF), Dato' Aminah - Head delegates of Malaysian Chess Team, Dato' Sharizat, and Dato' Zainal Abu Zarin - Organising Chairman, but I bet he must be someone really important) and Ibrahim Bakar (VP of MCF). Standing from left; Duratul Ain - Techincal, Rizal AK - Malaysian Coach, Alina - Technical, Aswan - Chief Arbiter, Mohd Zambri - Tournament Director, Asmah Ahmad - Malaysian Coach, Roslina - Malaysian coach, and Haq - Malaysian coach.


Pic left : Before they reached the Ultimate decision, a thorough discussions and details checklist of the winners were made between the Technical Group of the Games... I can feel the tension is there.. there can be no mistakes this one!
Pic right : And the Duratul Ain a.k.a the MC is ready to announce the medal winners

Pic left : The happy faces of the Coach Asmah and the Gold medallist - Nur Feiqha
Pic right : Smiling all the way till the end.. Coach Hashim Jusoh

Seated from left : Latif Mohamad - Chief Malaysian Chess Coach, Gregory Lau, Malaysian Chef de Mission of the 5th Para Games, and Dato' Aminah.

And here goes the winners ;

Pic left : the bronze medallist from Myanmar - Aye Lwin (to actually get to know the visual impaired players and was once used to taught some of the VI players a thing or two, is quite a touching moments for me, so imagine this guy who is not just unable to see but he is mute too..)
Pic right : NM Choo Min Wang - was once the first ever National Champ back in the 70s. He brought Gold home in Men Individual.

Pic left : The prize giving for Women Individual
Pic right : The Men Team medallist. In the Malaysian squad were included Mah Hassan Omar - the first Blind Lawyer in Malaysia.

Pic left : Women Team winners
Pic right : The Men Individual winner (the full pictures)

Pic left : I dont know why, but Negaraku songs always touches my soul. Especially at the moments where I was there witnessing the historical event... (wonder when it will be my turn to actually stand tall on a podium and sing a long Negaraku songs in the Games as big as this!)
Pic right : The Malaysian Team posing! Congrats to all!

Without these guys, the Games seems impossible to go on! These are the important faces throughout the days the event was held - Good job guys! Job well done! (to all the helpers, volunteers, arbiters, technicals, TD, etc, etc, etc!)

5th ASEAN Para Games : 15-19 Aug 2009 (Result)

Here are the updates :

CONGRATS! CONGRATS! CONGRATS!

We have won all the GOLDs contended today!

Combined Event of B1/B2/B3 Men (Individual) :
GOLD - NM Choo Min Wang (Malaysia)
SILVER - Francis Ching (Philippines)
SILVER - Aye Lwin (Myanmar)

Combined Event of B1/B2/B3 Men (Team) :
GOLD - Malaysia
GOLD - Phillipines
BRONZE - Myanmar

Combined Event of B1/B2/B3 Women (Individual) :
GOLD - Nur Feiqha M Halil (Malaysia)
GOLD - Nguyen THi Hong CHau (Vietnam)
BRONZE - Ni Ketut Mursi (Indonesia)

Combined Event of B1/B2/B3 Women (Team) :
GOLD - Malaysia
SILVER - Vietnam

Why you see there are two same medals awarded in the same category, that is because the points are the same for the winners, therefore as a country of generosity, Malaysia decides to give away the medals.

Pictures and stories will follow later....

5th ASEAN Para Games : 15-19 Aug 2009 (pic of players)

5th ASEAN Para Games : 15-19 Aug 2009 (updates)

Pic left : Coach Asmah and coach Rizal - preparing Norain for her last game today..
Pic right : Norain concentrating on her game, watched by others.


Pic left : The happy Chief - En Latif Mohamad (on the right), also in the pic are, NM Choo Min Wang and Ho Hea Keang.
Pic right : All of us in the pic : on the left - Haslindah, Coach Roslina, Standing - Athirah, Nur Feiqah, Aqilah (the member of Physical Gold Team)

5th ASEAN Para Games : 15-19 Aug 2009

Pic left : in red shirt is Malaysian - Mahadzir vs another Malaysian in orange uniform - Mah Hassan Omar. Both are helping in total score of Gold in Team Event.
Pic right : On the first board and future Gold Medalist in Individual event is NM Choo Min Wang vs another Malaysian Shaharuddin Sidek (also helping out in total score of Malaysian Team)


Pic left : Malaysian Women battling in the Team Gold - Seen in black Tudung is Nur Feiqha (she previously won 2 golds for Malaysia), vs Teo Suat Nei. Both competing in helping for the total women Team.
Pic right : is the crucial moment for Malaysia. If on the right Norain won or at least draw against Vietnamese - Nguyen Thi Thuong Chau, then another individual gold belongs to Malaysian - Nur Feiqha

Currently I am in Dewan Komanwel at Bukit Jalil reporting live for the last day of KL09. Lets all hope and pray for another 3 golds from Malaysian Chess!

Kuala Lumpur Paragames 2009 (KL09)

Paragames is a game that normally start when SEA Games has ended, but since Laos has withdraw from hosting the event due to limited facilities for the disables.. therefore KL in turn played the host for Paragames this year!

In Korat 2007, in Chess our Paragames Athlete bags 2 Golds! however this year, in order for chess to be in category A, the target of 6 golds in chess has been put into bet by our Chief Coach / Captain of the chess squad - En Latif Muhammad. Chess will be divided into 2 categories, one - visual impared and another one - physical diabilities. Malaysia competing in all categories (as we are the host).

The coaches for this year Chess Paragames are : Asmah Ahmad Hambadley, NWM Roslina Marmomo, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Hashim Jusoh, Abdul Haq Muhammad.. (hmm.. did I miss anyone?).. Yeah, another helper.. Haslindah Ruslan and Ghazali Che Kob (sms from Roslina.. thanks :-))

While I was at home, crossing fingers and pray hard that the dream would come true, who would have thought! Just received a sms from Asmah and a call from Roslina... Women squad just bag 3 Golds and Men 1 Gold! The total is 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and 4 Bronzes!

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! this is a celebration for all of us chess fans! CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS....

2 more Golds guys.. then 6 Golds will be a mission completed! :-))

2nd Kuantan Master Rapid Open 2009 - in SINAR HARIAN today!

Here goes the news of 2nd Kuantan Master Rapid Open / Junior 2009 in Sinar Harian published today August 14th 2009! Congrats to all the winners!

Pictures of 2nd Kuantan Master 2009

Pic left : Category B in action! Mubin vs Sabrina (both wearing face mask in protection against H1N1)
Pic right : The leader of the Category A, Abdullah Che Hassan vs Fairul Yusof (TRG)


Pic left : Khairul Nazrin (TRG jr) vs Khairil Helmi (PHG jr)
Pic right : Abd Khalid Musa vs the recent Temerloh Champ - Nor Azmi Mohd Nor


Pic left : on the right you can see Muhammad Arshad (TRG) also taking part, besides him is Suwardi Andri (former Pahang Player in the early 90s)
Pic right : Presiden of Kelab - Kamal Azmi, besides him is Presiden TRG chess - Prof Abd Rahim Ramli, and besides him is Mohd Khair)


Pic left : The youngest participant in Category A - Zulkarnain Safri from Muadzam (the next National Junior perhaps?)
Pic right : Suwardi Aris Sidek wearing protection against H1N1 vs Azraai Othman

2nd KUANTAN MASTERS RAPID OPEN / JUNIOR 2009

Alhamdulillah! Kelab Catur Kuantan second tourney for this year has ended. Though just before the date of Kuantan Open, Kuantan had its first victim of H1N1 cases, and more schools and higher institution closed, And we finally have the new champion this year. Many people in and outside of Kuantan have come and gather in this tourney, and for that, as a tournament director, what can I say.... but a deepest appreciation from the bottom of my heart! With so many obstacle in running the event before... where we have it almost cancel, and during the first morning of the event, things got a little out of hands in the beginning. But later on, the event went out in accordance to our plan. As a token of that appreciation we put initiative to increase the prize a bit. Not that much, coz this is our first try in welcoming you guys to Kuantan, but there is an increase. Hope in the future we may make it big.

The champion in the open section not just got away with the cash prize of RM300 but also, an electronic Quran Handphone worth RM500. The second prize initially was RM100 cash, we increased to RM150, and so the rest of top 4. we also decided to give away hamper to the number 11th and 12th spot in the open section! And the champion for the Remaja Terbaik also received cash prize of RM100 and with his name carved on the challenge trophy. For category B, we added a little incentive by giving away top 3 placing a hamper, just to honour the achievement of the best top 3. Well, those are the additional prizes given, while the rest remains as what we promised... And not just about the prizes increased, but due to the H1N1 cases, and how we are concern about the safety of this gathering, free face mask is provided to all players and some parents too..

Our motto has been for the benefit of the players, we wish the players can gain something from each and every tourney we organised, that is why we are trying hard improve in many aspect of organising such event. Whatever comments posted in the shoutbox, either good or bad, we take it seriously and aiming our best in making everyone feels worth playing. I am a chess player too, so I know how it feels as a player, as I also know what a player needs. Hope in future we can have it bigger than before.. InsyaAllah..

A total of 69 players took part in the Open section and 36 players took part in the Category B (Under 12 & under 9 years).. I am very blessed for the number of participants... thank you for taking part guys!

Here goes the results :
Category B :
Consolation prize for youngest participant goes to Siti Balqis bt Norizan - aged 6 years old.

Under 9 Boys :
Champion - Muhammad Asyraf bin Razman
Second - Kirenraj Subhas Baghar
Third - Muhammad Ehsan Mazlan

Under 9 Girls :
Champion - Norfatinhah Nazri
Second - Siti Aisyah Norizan
Third - Siti Balqis Norizan

Under 12 Boys :
Champion - Mubin Nor Azmi
Second - Alif Hidayatullah Md Kail
Third - Muhammad Muzakkir Aiman Nazri

Under 12 Girls :
Champion - Nur Sabrina Aliya Asman
Second - Ummu Hani bt Safri
Third - Nor Wahida Zailan

The best of Categori B :
First - Mubin Nor Azmi - 6.5 points
Second - Alif Hidayatullah Md Kail - 6 points
Third - Nur Sabrina Aliya Asman - 5 points

Category A :
The best U-9 in Open Section - Zulkarnain Safri
The best Veteran - Nordin Othman

Under 15 Boys :
Champion - Izzat Abd Muhaimin B Jafri
Second - Mohd Ameersyah Adhwa
Third - Amirul Ilmi Mohd Rosli

Under 15 Girls :
Champion - Goh Xin Yen
Second - Nor Aina Syamimi Nazri
Third - Nor Saffa Syamimi Semaon

Under 20 Boys :
Champion - Muhammad Khairilhelmi Rosseli
Second - Sharif Mod Zaki
Third - Mohd Qhaider Zulkafli

The Best 2nd Kuantan Master Rapid Junior this year is :
Muhammad Khairilhelmi Rosseli (5 points) - He was also the champion the first edition last year. He brought home cash RM100 + Medal + Cert + Hamper + Celcom Starter Pack + his name on this year Challenge Trophy.

Open Section :
Champion - Abdullah Che Hassan (perfect 7 points!) - He brought home RM300 + Handphone worth RM500 + Medal + Cert + Hamper.
Second - Hamidi Taib - 6 points
Third - Abdul Khalid Musa - 5.5 points
Fourth - Mohd Khair - 5.5 points
Fifth - Muhammad Arshad - 5.5 points
Sixth - NM Kamal Arifin - 5.5 points
Seventh - Suwardi Andri Sidek - 5 points
Eighth - Sulaiman Johari - 5 points
Ninth - Effendi Zakaria - 5 points
Tenth - Mohd Khairul Nazrin - 5 points
Eleventh - Nor Azmi Mohd Nor - 5 points
Twelveth - Fairul Yussof - 4.5 points

Full results is published on chess-result.com Thanks to Muhammad Arshad from caturterengganu.blogspot who did that job!

And once again to all the players, the helpers (Nurul, Nordin, Fadzilah, Uma, Sathiarani, Kumara, Shin Wei, Tasya, plus all the volunteer helpers including en Nordin's children), the AJK's, and the sponsors.. Thank you so much!

2nd Kuantan Master - List of players

sorry, a little later now that i can only upload. Kategory B, will be upload much much later..

2nd Kuantan Master Rapid Open 2009 - IS CONFIRMED!

There have been more and more cases of H1N1 recently in Pahang, and more and more schools and few higher education institution have been closed due to the outbreak. For the moment I was paused and our Kuantan Open was almost at the point where it shall be postponed or worst cancelled! I had never ever as a tournament director cancelled an event that I announced to be held! Luckily for me...

After a long hard fought among AJK during the meeting last night at the presiden's house, it is now concluded, the tourney is ON as usual, but will be at the different venue. Kelab is willing to take the risk of having less participants than submit to the fact of no tourney at all! Because, once a promise is made, then it is a promise to keep!

However, those who have yet to register, kindly do so soonest possible because this time we are going to limit the participants. The closing date will be extended until 5pm on 7th August 2009 (friday).

Prizes will be the same as offered but the group category might have a slight changes where we might merge the two categories together, but the prizes will be given to the best under age group category as promised!

Tourney : 2nd Kuantan Master Rapid Open 2009
Date : 8th August 2009
Venue : Dewan KRT Berjaya Permai (not far from the original venue - SMK Sungai Soi)

All the best!

2nd Kuantan Master Rapid Open 2009

To interested Chess Players of The Kuantan Open 2009, kindly take note :

The entry is limited to 180 participants only, therefore kindly register by;

1. Our Kelab's AJK namely - Cik Khairunnisa' (019-9699879), En Nordin (012-9017143), En Kamal Azmi (019-9282787) or Pn Nurul (016-9334088)
2. You can email your registration to Cik Khairunnisa at nwmchess@yahoo.com
3. However, we accept registration with payment to confirm your registration. Kindly make payment by cash to the above AJK or bank-in to Bank Islam (M) Bhd under the name of KELAB CATUR KUANTAN. Or make a cheque payable to the same name. Please bring your payment slip during the reconfirm registration time.
4. Any queries on the location / tournament venue, kindly call En Nordin at 012-9017143.

Bear in mind - the closing date is on 6th August 2009 at 5pm.

After the closing date I will upload the players' name here.

All the best,
Regards,
Khairunnisa'

Map to SMK Sungai Soi (Kuantan Open Venue)