Olympiad Round 9 - Updates

I am too tired to kept myself with the games tonight, so i said to myself i got to have a couple of hours of sleep. And I did. When i woke up the first thing to see the result of the ladies.

And yeay! though we lost to the Netherlands (with much, i mean much much higher rated than us) that fielded their first board with a full GM!, we still put up a fight! Proud of them! Although Alia and Nabila lost, but the seniors - Nurul Huda and Roslina drew with the WIM! which gave us 1-3 against Netherlands. Good job! For Alia - you still have 2 more rounds to go for the shot at WIM norm!

While, for the guys - its a different story. Mok drew and Peter won his game which gives us 1.5 - 2.5 against Andorra. Our IM Mas lost to a GM and also Tan Khai Boon.

There are still 2 more rounds to go - so all players, give it all out ok? I know you can do much better! I always have faith in the Malaysian team, and I believe so much in it!

Olympiad Round 8 - Updates

Pic of Alia with Hou Yifan (CHN) - the chinese prodigy.

Our ladies and men won with a margin of 2.5 - 1.5. It looks like it is a good for all of us indeed! Bravo!

Olympiad Round 7 - Updates

On Round 7 report, we have good news and bad news. The good news is Ladies won against Pakistan 4-0 (yeay!). Surely after this they will another higher rated team when they shoot up upper board (usually).

Perhaps inspiration from Magnus that the Ladies won their game? (hahaha.. thanx for pic Roslina, really.. really appreciate it)

And here goes the Bad news! Men lost to IPSC, 1-3. Tan Khai Boon made the surprise by winning his game while others including IM Mas lost. Its a tragedy to lose a game when you are so close to something (1st GM Norm for Msia). But things do happened.. if we feel the missed opportunity, can we imagine how Mas must have felt right at this moment.

Juz want you to know Mie, it is not over until it is over! you still have 4 more rounds to go! Bring home good news for the coming rounds!

Olympiad Round 6 - Updates

Malaysian Men easily thrashed San Marino by 4-0 as many of us predicted.

Ladies playing against a much higher rated opponents from Ecuador suffered defeat of 1-3. Nabila, Nurul Huda and Mi Yen lost their game. While Alia Anin Azwa Bakri saves the day when she beat her opponent who hold IM title and rated at 2368!

And that is the upset of the day for Malaysia! Good Job!

What Malaysian Doing During the Rest Day?

I just came across this official website

I saw IM Mok n IM Mas participate in the Nation Cross. I guess it is some sort of a marathon. And Malaysian flag was there too! Proud to see that too!

Browsing thru the pic, saw others too (Megat, Greg, Nabila, Nurul Huda, Alia, Fong Mi Yen, Roslina, and I think it was Tan Khai Boon that was hidden from the pic).

Olympiad - More Pic

I have asked Roslina for more pic when she is not playing, coz i guess many fans back home wants to see more pic. I have specifically asked for pic from the top players and she grants my wish too. Thanks a lot!!

GM Sergey Karjakin - he holds the youngest GM in the world. He is now playing on 4th board for Russia 1 (Kramnik also in the team).

World No. 1 - GM Magnus Carlsen (wearing the G-Raw clothing line eh there Magnus?). He is playing for Norway, Norway is not a fav in this Olympiad even though they have Magnus. In the 4th round he suffers a defeat in the hand of Georgian - GM Baadur Jobava. Its a shocked to me at first but GM Jobava keep his momentum right by beating GM Le Guan Liem (Vietnam).
GM Fabiano Caruana - Playing first board for Italy.

The chinese team - with GM Wang Yue, GM Wang Hao, GM Bu as seen here. China came to Olympiad with the hope of winning the medal contested.

Malaysian women team before the match against Iraq in round 5. Standing in the pic is Roslina.

The ladies with the one that has helped them a lot (according to Roslina). He prepared their game at the night and tabled to the ladies next morning. Well the ladies needs as much help as they can get.

Olympiad Round 5 - Updates

In the Open - Malaysia was paired against Bolivia. Based on ratings, we have the advantage on winning against Bolivia. But however, it looks like IM Mas can only draw his game (fatigue perhaps Mie?), same like Peter who is obviously aiming for a draw on fourth board. While bravo Tan Khai Boon drew against a higher rated opponent (phew). Unexpectedly, Mok lost! I thought he was winning.

Malaysia 1.5 - Bolivia 2.5

In the Women - Malaysia vs Iraq. Alia, Fong Mi Yen won, Nabila and Nurul Huda drew. Overall we won by 3-1. Good job Ladies!!! I was a bit worried because of the lost yesterday. Glad that today they got the victory. To Ladies, forget about what people said back home. Just play your best! Its you on the board, its you that struggle during the games, so play like you play back home!

Tomorrow is the rest day for the players. Round 6 will resume on monday. Have fun!

Olympiad Round 4 - Pic

**Pic courtesy from Roslina. Thanx Jie!**

It is almost autumn there in Khanty-Mansiysk

The tournament hall

IM Mas is perhaps pondering what to play against GM Pelletier (SUI). The GM manage to get the draw against Mas. After 4 rounds Mas is still undefeated. An impressive score against 3 GMs so far. There are still many rounds to go. Keep it up Mie!

The ladies before the Round 4 started. They were up against Sri Lanka. Who would thought we suffer defeat from the lower rated Sri Lankan! Only Alia won her game.

A group pic of the Malaysian Ladies.

Olympiad Round 4 - IM Mas's Game

At 10.25pm - watching IM Mas game, and i find it funny! Coz the GM is the one that is looking for a draw against Mas!

Olimpiad Round 4 - Pairing

In round 4 at 5pm Malaysia time :

86 Malaysia (MAS) - 47 Switzerland (SUI)
IM Mas Hafizulhelmi (2422) - GM Pelletier Yannick (2592)
IM Mok Tze-Meng (2416) - GM Gallagher Joseph G (2517)
Tan Khai Boon (2160) - IM Kurmann Oliver (2452)
FM Long Peter (2302) - IM Buss Ralph (2433)

74 Malaysia (MAS) - 83 Sri Lanka (SRI)
Bakri Alia Anin Azwa (1904) - Muhandiram R M M U (1744)
WCM Nur Nabila Azman Hisham (1829) - Basnayake I U (1746)
Wahiduddin Nurul Huda (2020) - Premanath Dinushki (1853)
Fong Mi Yen (1905) - Ranasinghe S D (1822)

I was up late last night, and have a brief chat with IM Mas. Hope he is not tired today, I slept at 3am imagine how late was it over there! When I asked him who will be the first board line up for the swiss, he said GM Pelletier. And he was right, it is GM Pelletier! Yesterday's opponent, he studied his opponent game and he is familiar with the lines, hopefully he manage to study against Pelletier and will create another impressive performance!

Since Roslina is not playing today, hope I can get the pic of players as she promised me last night :-))

All the best!!

p/s - i found this interesting blog check it out , it was funny, esp on the part the octopus got fried in the end for the wrong prediction.. hahaha

Olimpiad Round 3 - UPSET!

Our Men drew with Lithuania in Round 3, where our opponents not just rated higher than us but with 3 GMs and 1 IM as their line-up, clearly most of us predict that Msia would have lost this round. Although that is the prediction, as the fan of Msian team when IM Mas is playing, I was hoping that Mas could encourage the others with his play.

And yeay! Mas won!!! He made the upset against that GM, while Mok drew his game with another GM and Peter drew too. Mas salvage the lost of Tan Khai Boon to give Malaysia a 2-2 draw against Lithuania. I bet Lithuania wasnt expecting this outcome, eh!

Congrats guys, esp to Mie!

Meanwhile, as the whole nation (the chess fans) celebs the victory of Mas, the ladies on the other hand produce a different result (cant see any bloggers commenting any games on the ladies - but only on comments of the result, I guess non of them interested, so ladies do something will ya!). They lost to Austria by 3-1, Nur Nabila and Fong Mi Yen drew, while Alia and Roslina lost.

Olympiad - Round 2

Here is the round 1 photo. I was browsing thru the official website and found this. It was also posted in the Hairulov's blog. (My father was asking me that day is he could see her daughter in action, I guess thanks to the organiser for the pic).


IM Mas vs GM Michael Adams (ENG) - who was once on the top ranked of the world. It is truly a surprised to us Malaysian, but for those that familiar with IM Mas, the upset (he drew with the GM) is just something that he can do at any moment when he sees it coming! (just like the time when he beat GM Korchnoi in the previous Olympiad). Lets just hope he maintain the momentum for the rest of the games there.

My sis in action. She lost her first round yesterday. My bro and I was looking at the position expecting that she could turn the position, but obviously her opponent is too strong for her. She will have her first rest today, and her spot for board 3 will be placed by Roslina, and Fong Mi Yen will be playing her first game.

Today at approximately 5pm Malaysia time, we get to watch live our players in action. I try to watch the games just like yesterday :-))

I was wrong by assuming that the fielding of Malaysian Women is based on the Malaysian women master tournament. Only Alia and Nabila remain on the top 2 board, while Fong Mi Yen was put as the reserve. Perhaps the captain think she is inexperience compared to others.

All the best to the players! Bring home 4-0 victory, will ya!

Round 1 - Olympiad

Did I just mentioned "can someone bring home at least half point from the english?" I think someone out there hear my thoughts while I was writing this blog.. hahaha.. and truly Mie did hear it! I was at the meeting during the game was live on the internet. But I take time off for few minutes to catch result as often as I could (hope my boss doesnt read this.. hehehe)

Yes, Malaysia lost on both Men and Women. But we lost with high spirit! The guys got themselves half point from the english (not bad, considering we are the underdogs here!) From the way the games were played, it looks like they underestimate the malaysians. Well, that half point sure going to cost them later on!

I am obviously cheering for the Malaysian Women since my sis is playing too. I thought she will not play in round 1. As what I understood the priority is for the 3 juniors, while the 2 seniors are there more as a support system. But something must have come up that Fong Mi Yen wasnt able to play in the first round.

In round 2 - The men will play against Hong Kong while the ladies is up against Ethiopia. Sounded easy huh? But, to me all that came to Olympiad are with high hopes to make upsets, so the malaysians still need to be careful and dont take whoever the opponent lightly (but 4-0 win ok?)

All the best!!

39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010

39th Olympiad has just begun yesterday with the colourful opening ceremony. I think Malaysian Team had just arrived in time to catch the opening. You can catch the report at chessbase
Lucky me, I was up last night and while browsing thru the internet looking for something else, I juz remember about the opening ceremony, and it was broadcast live (well for few minutes). You can find more info on the official website .

For the first round at chess result Malaysian Men team is up against England on Table 12! Whoa! it is certainly a tough challenge in the first round. Lets hope we wont get thrash with the likes of 4-0, can someone bring home at least half point from the english? Malaysia will definitely line up the top 4 players (if I am guessing correctly, Greg Lau will not be playing at all unless someone is sick and cant play). It looks like Nigel Short is taking the rest against Malaysia.

In the women section Malaysian team will faced Slovakia on Table 15!. Top 4 Malaysian Women will definitely play. It seems like Fong Mi Yen is taking the rest today (wonder why?), and our Alia is up against IM Eva Repkova. (the name does sound familiar, I think I played against her in the World Junior 1991).

And the first round will start at 3pm daily in Khanty-Mansiysk, as Hairulov mention in his blog, is it about 5pm Malaysian time. All the best guys!

Malaysian Team off to Khanty-Mansiyk Today!

Malaysian Women Team - (L-R) : NWM Nurul Huda W, WCM Nur Nabila, NWM Fong Mi Yen, NWM Alia Anin, NWM Roslina Marmono and their captain - Megat. (Msia is seeded 73 from 119 countries)
Malaysian Men Team - (L-R) : NM Tan Khai Boon, FM Peter Long, IM Mok Tze Meng, IM Mas Hafizul and reserve also as their captain - MCF Secretary - Gregory Lau. (Msia is seeded 82 from 159 countries)

I was at the KLIA this morning sending off my sis and the Malaysian 39th Olympiad team. Their journey is from KL to Moscow (with transit in Dubai for few hours). From Moscow they will stay there for 2 days to wait for their charter flight to Khanty-Mansiyk, Siberia. The first round will commence on Tuesday. So I guess, the players will have their rest before the game start. This once in 2 years event is the largest chess event with more than 159 countries taking part!

I bid all the best to the players! and hope to hear good news soon!

Its Cao Sang!!

GM Cao Sang (VIE) is the newly crowned DATMO champ!!

Congrats also to IM Mok, Ronnie Lim for putting up an impressive performance in this DATMO by beating the higher rated and titled players!

DATMO - 3 way tie..

Tie break will decide who will be the eventual winner of the last edition of DATMO 2010...

Who shall it be? GM Zhou Weiqi? GM Cao Sang? or IM Sethuraman?

oh! wait! juz heard that it is GM Zhou Weiqi from China the overall winner!!

still waiting for the official result...

DATMO - Final Round info

The final round pictures can be found here

and the live games here

Thank You!

I thank you all the UM students that make it all happened! This year UM students are very dedicated and commited to the work and thus making all our lives easier! (esp during the hectic Merdeka Team, Merdeka Rapid, Merdeka Blitz and the Merdeka Age Group!). Also thanks to Son Asya (UZB) and Irina Kayumova (RUS) who has also helped during the Ambank, Seniors, and the Merdeka Age Group. Thank you to dear chess friends that has helped a lot, to Haslindah, Roslina, Alia, Hadi, Andrew, Marcus and the kids (Jun Feng and the gang).

And a very special thanks to En Hamid for hiring me, and esp to En Najib for giving me all the infos and knowledge about chess. The things that I learned thru out the days at Malaysian Chess Festival will not be forgotten and I will make full use of it here back home!

All the best guys in the final day of Malaysian Chess Festival!

**juz arrived in Kuantan at 9.30am and went straight to the office, will only be home on the before buka puasa time. And right now, my mind is definitely not focus towards the pile of work in front of me, but the Final rounds of DATMO and the Blitz that I wish I could participate this time as this is perhaps the final edition of Malaysian Chess Festival (sob.. sob..sob..)**

DATMO - Round 8 Updates!

Pic left : Interesting battle on table 1 between GM Gupta and GM Zhou, you can catch the game live at datmo.net
Pic right : On the right is Bakliwal Gaurav, on the left is Uehara Shinpei (JPN), next to him is Nabil (MAS)


Pic left : Nguyen Anh Dung seems to be at the average play in this year DATMO edition. But somehow he managed to climb back up, and on Table 4 he is up against the sensation Guo Qi (CHN)


Pic left : Fong Mi Yen vs Masruri Rahman (another promising Indonesia junior player)
Pic right : This cute shubby, is also another promising junior from Indonesia - Azarya Jodi Setyaki. Next to him is Malaysian - Elgin Lee Kah Meng.

Updates! Ian Udani had juz join the "club" when he beat GM Laxman in 30 moves! And he is the first to submit his result for round 8!