Commonwealth Championship 2009 is Back to Singapore

In the last few years the month of December has seen a Singapore Open – the Singapore Chess Convention with a Masters and a Challengers plus various seminars – always a certainty because it was also apparently one individual’s main claim to successful international organisation in his own country.

With the collapse of the attempt by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) to save the Singapore Chess Federation the cost of the Commonwealth Championship, this same individual had essentially no choice but to announce it as part of the Singapore International Chess Convention, but also surprisingly announced as under the auspicious of the Asian Chess Federation.



I was a little confused as I did not understand that the Commonwealth Chess Association needed its Championship to be endorsed by anyone other than the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and in fact it is already, like the ASEAN Chess Confederation, a part of FIDE.

But how would I know? This very individual who asked for help from KLCA earlier also proudly claims to lead chess in the Commonwealth, ASEAN and Singapore (and his position in FIDE is sold on that too).

Well, Singapore via this individual apparently had the money to bid for the World Championship Match Anand-Topalov so why has the Masters disappeared and all the events have a prize fund totalling just USD 14,500?

A moment ago I had a quick look up of the Commonwealth Championship at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr27873.aspx?art=0&lan=1&m=-1&wi=1000 and guess what? I saw a grand total of 5 countries participating. India, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore (there is a huge total of 24 entries in the Open!).

Well, India has kept the Commonwealth Championship going for years now, Australia and South Africa has token representation and of course Malaysia is next to Singapore.

But no Grandmasters, no one at all from Great Britain (are they not the very reason fro the Commonwealth?) and not even an African nations or the usual suspects from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan?

My reaction – relief and a big thank you to the Malaysian Chess Federation for objecting to KLCA doing the Commonwealth Championship.

And a hope that our Mas Hafizulhelmi, the fourth seed (in a very weak event) can win it for Malaysia and himself.

Results of the FIDE Trainer Awards 2008

The FIDE Trainers' Commmission (TRG) is pleased to announce the results of the FIDE Trainer 2008 Awards as approved by the Kallithea Halkidiki FIDE Congress 2009.

Botvinnik Medal (Men): Arshak Petrosian (Armenia)

Furman Medal (Women): Ye Jiangchuan (China)

Euwe Medal (Juniors): Adrian Mikhalchisin (Slovenia)

Boleslavsky Medal (Book - Build Up Your Chess Series): Artur Jussupow

Petrosian Medal (Special Achievement): Smbat Lputian (Armenia)

Hall of Fame: Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR)

The full story is of course at http://trainers.fide.com/.

I was part of the nomination commitee and am really pleased that I was able to ensure that Asia was represented in the process through Ye Jiangchuan being recognised for his work with Hou Yifan and previously with their first ever World Champion Xie Jun!
 
But his winning against tough competition from Yuri Razuvav who of course is the trainer of current World Champion Alexandria Kosteniuk was a very big bonus indeed!
 
Also, with Uwe Boensch, Director of the FIDE Trainer Academy in Berlin, we were able to share and recommend our positive experience with the excellent work of Artur Yusupov (listed above as Artur Jussupow) and that of Quality Chess books in general.
 
Of the others, Mikhail Botvinnik was always going to be our first Hall of Fame inductee and two back to back Olympic Gold Medals is impossible to beat for Arshak Petrosian!

Asian Team Championship 2009 to be in Kolkata

Some of us might not know this but the Asian Team Championship was started by Malaysia, and first held in Penang in 1974 with the challenge trophy named for and provided by Tun Abdul Razak, our second Prime Minister and father of the current leader of Malaysia, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak!

I remember that a few years back, before the previous event (it is held every two years), I had called then MCF (Malaysian Chess Federation) Secretary Abdul Hamid Majid and asked him if Malaysia would be sending a team and when he finally had to answer, the reply was no money!

That was so typical of Hamid in his time, no information and when caught out he would say: “I like senang (easy life)”. To be fair, there is consistency in that it was exactly the same response for Asian Junior Championship in Mumbai that year where if I remember correctly our big young talent then, Anas Bakri, was keen to play.

Well, as you can see from the title of his blow and the introduction and link below, this event has come along again and while it seems we don’t know now if our trophy still exists, I do think we have no reason not to send a team because as I said before to Hamid, we started the event and it even bears the name of our Prime Minister’s father!

This time around I have called current MCF Secretary Gregory Lau (greglau64@gmail.com) and told him I would be happy to play if others are not available and would even be prepared to help organise (and manage?) a team of young talents if that turned out to be the case as this would be a one time opportunity for them as well as fantastic exposure.

So do read on for details…


The All India Chess Federation on behalf of FIDE and Asian Chess Federation cordially invites Asian Federations to participate in the Asian Team Chess Championsip-2009 Men & Women to be conducted 20-29 December 2009 in Kolkata, India. Download invitation.

Full article at: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/4146-asian-team-championship-in-kolkatta

Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son wins the KL Open 2009 and Indonesia the Young Talent Teams Challenge

Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son from Vietnam lived up to his top billing by winning the KL Open 2009 with an impressive 7.5 points from 9 games and take the first prize of RM 10,000 while half a point behind, boasting seven wins, was Indonesian Grandmaster Susanto Megaranto whose victory over Grandmaster Dao Tien Hai of Vietnam earned second place and RM 5,000.

Veteran Uzbekistan Grandmaster Saidali Iuldachev, now primarily a trainer, had a strong finish to score 6.5 points for sole third place and RM 3,000 while sharing 4th to 8th places and RM 1,000 each were Grandmaster Dao Tien Hai from Vietnam, Grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev and International Master Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan, Candidate Master Nguyen Hoang Nam from Vietnam, and International Master Richard Bitoon from the Philippines.

The KL Open participant mix was optimised for International Master norm and rating opportunities so it was gratifying when Nguyen Hoang Nam and Candidate Master Farid Firman Shah from Indonesia were able to earn their first International Master title norms and a new star for the future may have been found in Indonesia’s Masruri Rahman whose calm and mature play impressed all present.

In the KL Young Talent Team Challenge, Indonesia as expected proved a convincing winner of the Young KL Talent Team Challenge with 38.5 points from a possible 54 with Singapore, represented by Serangoon Chess Club, edging PCU Asia for second place while the KL team which focused on giving its players exposure was the bridesmaid.

Individual standouts were Luftu Ali (Indonesia), Joel Chan (Singapore), and Aziz Farhan (KLCA) in the under 14 section and Mohammad Firmansyah and Novendra Priasmoro (Indonesia) and Ryan Ow (PCU Asia) in the under 10 section.

The KL Open & Young Talent Team Championship 2009 attracted representation from 11 countries and was organised by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association in partnership with Polgar Chess Asia with sponsorship from the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation and Masterskill University College of Health Sciences.

Official website is at www.klchess.com

KL Open & Young Talent Teams Begins

The Kuala Lumpur Open & Young Talent Team Chess Challenge has officially started today with a technical meeting at 8 p.m. where a total of 82 entries have been confirmed, amongst which are 6 GMs, 7 IMs, 2 WIMs, and 5 FMs and 7 other titled players.

Of the 58 entries in the Open from 11 countries, 27 are titled and 49 have FIDE ratings, a turnout that has successfully built on last year's inaugural KL Open Chess Championship.

In the KL Young Talent Team Chess Challenge, 4 teams of 6 players each, 3 under 14 years of age and 3 under 10 years of age, are playing using the Scheveningen System and they are Indonesia, the Serangoon Chess Club (Singapore), KLCA (Kuala Lumpur Chess Association) and Polgar Chess University Asia.

Held from 3-9 September at Shah's Village Hotel in Petaling Jaya, the 9 round swiss system tournament which is the flagship event of the KLCA boasts a total prize fund of 35,000 Ringgit (US$ 10,000).

As with all KLCA events, the Kuala Lumpur Open & Young Talent Team Chess Challenge, is to support the development of chess in KL and Malaysia, and so is positioned as an event to provide International Master title opportunities for players from the ASEAN region.

In the Open, once again there is a large and comprehensive turnout from our Indonesian neighbours and this year they have shown that they are good friends indeed of the KL Open with 17 entries represented by players from all over Indonesia and at all levels, amongst them Grandmaster Susanto Megaranto, International Masters Sadikin Irwanto, Dede Liu, and Tirto, FIDE Masters Wahono Awam and Mahmud Sharif, Candidate Master Farid Firman Shah, and so on.

Singapore has 10 players, led by FIDE Masters Timothy Chan Wei Xuan and Daniel Chan Yi-Ren (unrelated), both who are amongst their countries best young talent and genuine International prospects today.

Uzbekistan Grandmasters Saidali Iuldashev and Marat Dzhumaev are no strangers to Malaysia but the KL Open is new to them and they are for sure in the absence of their defending champion countryman Anton Filippov, and joining them is their National Champion, International Woman Master Nafisa Muminova.

Of the six Grandmasters playing, Vietnam is contributing three - half the total! They have five players, three of which are members of the Vietnam National Team that was the big surprise of the Dresden Olympiad late last year where they were the top Asia team!
Grandmaster Nguyen Anh Dung was always coming together with Nguyen Van Nuy but it was a big surprise when one of their rising stars, young Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son also asked to play and then Grandmaster Dao Tien Hai informed us he was just back to Vietnam and that he would be coming together with Nguyen Hoang Nam!

So, from a planned event for International master title norms for the 2300 level players and opportunities to increase their ratings for others we had in one stroke become a Grandmaster event!

Last year the KL Open was a disaster for the strong Philippine delegation but it is a clash with a national elimination event that has seen a much smaller group this year, just four players (or officially five if including locally based Ian Udani who is a constant top prize winner at all Malaysian events), International Master Richard Bitoon, 2362 rated Rustum Tolentino, International Woman Master Beverly Mendoza, and National Master Edmundo Legaspi.

Notables from the other countries participating are Yevgeniy Pak, the young 17 year old Kazakhstan National Champion with many International Master norms already, and our good friend from Sri Lanka, Luxman Wijesuriya who recently agreed to a developmental partnership with KLCA and has started the ball rolling by entering two prospects, that of R.S. Kalugampitiya and R.D.A.C. Dissanayake.

Glenda Chen I-Chen is the sole entry from from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and we also welcome this brave young lady who is about to start a Masters program in University as the KL Open will indeed be a baptism of fire for someone who has not touched a chess piece in anger since the Dresden Olympiad in November 2008!

Malaysia of course is represented by both veterans and some youngsters for the future.

Ismail Ahmad is a seasoned campaigner as is Haslindah Ruslan and even Najib Abdul-Wahab who is usually an arbiter has joined in. Edward Lee, 16, and Tan Li Ting, 11, are National Champions and Wong Jianwen is perhaps the most promising young player to emerge recently.

Official Website is http://www.klchess.com/, The Official Media Partner is Chessdom at http://www.chessdom.com/ and KL Open Press Releases, Results, and the Games, with Photos, and Videos can be found on http://www.chessasia.net/.

One Week to the KL Open 2009 - So what does KLCA Hope to Achieve?

With one week to go, the KLCA has confirmed the majority of international participants for the 2nd Kuala Lumpur Open Chess Championship 2009 (see http://www.chess-results.com/tnr24792.aspx?lan=1) – and there are more than we expected given the switch of dates to dovetail the Malaysian Chess Festival and so join in our national day celebrations but also a bit stronger than I wanted - and so I must apologise to the many grandmasters and international masters who wished to take part but simply could not without help with hotel and meals.

Very simply, the KL Open is not meant to be a big event like what leading chess nations in the region (who have many grandmasters and numerous professional players) successfully host annually (and sometimes as in the case of the Philippines, even multiple times in a year!).

Yes, indeed some smaller (but aspiring) chess nations also try to do this too but KLCA is a small association in a country with just a handful of professional players and we have always to balance our member needs together with our long term vision of what chess can offer to national building.

There is after all, already a Malaysian Open, and our prize fund was deliberately made attractive only to the biggest winners – I really do not see any point in having an event that does not further KLCA's stated agendas and making a strategic contribution to the development of the game in KL (and Malaysia) and frankly do want to get it right as everything costs us both valuable time and money and that is a luxury today.

Personally I see the KL Open, now in its second year, aspiring more to be a long standing regional event like the Bangkok (now Thailand) Open, and which offers something to the enthusiast who tries to combine his hobby (passion?) for chess with demands of career and family as well as the young player looking to improve his game in serious competition and perhaps even to valid his talent by achieving an international title norm.

KL (and Malaysian) chess players are basically those who have largely missed the boat (or whose best time has gone) but still enjoy the game or young talent who need opportunities and a benchmark to understand where they are and perhaps even what else might be required to excel.

After all, our guests (the chess players from overseas participating) do seem to think that Malaysia is a most attractive destination with a great deal to offer and so we will continue to capitalise on this when organising the Kuala Lumpur Open Chess Championship in 2010 and beyond!

Walikota Bima All Indonesia Open

The Taipei International Airport is a marvelous place to be at even when having to wait a couple of hours to catch an flight back home to KL. For a mere USD 150 or return so I was flying AirAsia X on an ultra modern Airbus (as you can see below, plenty of leg room too).

  

I then got a call from Sebastian Simanjuntak inviting me to come to Bima for a new event that would start the next day! To be fair he had mentioned this possibility a month or so ago because some new organiser in a remote province was asking for PERCASI (All Indonesia Chess Federation) endorsement for a national open that boasted the largest local prize fund ever!

That was an amazing USD 23,000 and it was really on. I was of course suitably intrigued.  A quick search on one of the many  Internet stations in the airport and soon I had discovered that Bima was in West Nusa Tenggara and best known for horses and as the jumping off point for those on the way to Komodo Island (of the Komoda Dragon fame).

A few clicks later and confirmation via SMS, I would be on a plane to Bali the next day (again AirAsia) and then on to Bima on Merpati Air.

  

The opening ceremony! Grandmaster Utut Adianto, Member of Parliment and Deputy President of PERCASI, is all smiles as you can see. Below you can see why and that was just a portion of the 7,000 who participated in a hour long parade!

 

 

Yes, this is the Major of Bima who is gracefully accepting the accolades for making it all happen!

Grandmaster Megaranto was top seed, the big favourite, and the only unbeaten player. He fought every game to the end (as all Indonesian players did) but this draw with stable mate and Dresden Olympiad teammate International Master Tirta Chandra Purnama cost him the championship on tie-break even though some USD 3,250 in prize money (after sharing first and second places) probably made it up a little.

  

What’s all the excitement about? Of course young Dewi Citra like her friends and national team mates Chelsie Monica and Medina Warda Aulia were a special attraction for the locals but mainly because of the excellent chess they played throughout.

And to be honest, this was the crowd at practically every table where a top player played!

The people of Bima were very hospitable and gave all they could to each and every guest and I have never ever thought I would enjoy the carnival atmosphere where the player having the White pieces had to provide the chess set and clock, everyone (including spectators) talked loudly during the games, and the chess championship was the centre piece of a sports carnival where soccer games and activities like rock climbing were held concurrently.

None of this affected the great chess on display – all the chessplayers appreciated being treated so respectfully - and so accepted this unusual playing environment in the best spirit possible!

Well done Bima and next year I will for sure not be the only non local there, wild horse milk notwithstanding! Too bad I had to leave before the end…

The 3rd Asian Dragons Invitational Chess Tournament 2009

From 1 to 9 August 2009, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) will again play host to the 3rd Asian Dragons Invitational Chess Tournament.

The sponsors and organisers are again the Sports Affairs Council, Executive Yuan, and Chinese Taipei Chess Association, with the main difference is that it is now held in the vibrant capital city of Taipei instead of beautiful Kaohsiung as in the previous two years.   

From its start, the Asian Dragons has been an international regional developmental event and so has involved players from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, and Singapore.

So this year it is no different, two 11 round robins, for players rated 2100 and below, and for players under 16 years of age, and both will be played at the Engineering Faculty of the prestigious National University of Taiwan.

The participants registered via invitations to their respective National Chess Federations are:

FED	CATEGORY	SURNAME	NAME	GEN.	BIRTH	RATING
JPN	OPEN	KENICHI	HAMANE	M	1951.08.07	1923
JPN	OPEN	OSAMU	YUKI	M	1956.03.04
KOR	OPEN	SONG	JIN WOO	M	1973.12.01	1990
KOR	OPEN	LEE	KI YUL	M	1993.12.09	1963
KOR	U16	GU	IN JUNG	M	1995.02.15	1667
KOR	U16	PARK	HYUCKMIN	M	1997.01.06
MAC	OPEN	WONG	KAI MENG	M	1990.08.18
MAC	OPEN	MAK	TONG KUAN	M	1991.02.02
MAC	U16	CELIS	JOEL CHANG	M	1994.07.19	1652
SIN	CAPTAIN	HENG	GUEK KWEE, ANNIE	F	1972.12.11
SIN	ACCOMP	KOH	PUAY HWA	F	1959.01.02
SIN	OPEN	NED	XIUWEN , CHRISTABEL	F	1994.11.24	1732
SIN	OPEN	ISKANDAR	BIN ABDULLAH	M	1996.09.16	1815
SIN	U16	OW	JUN WAI , RYAN	M	2000.03.23	1743
SIN	U16	CHENG	JIE LING , ZERLENE	F	1995.07.18	1826
TPE	COACH	YUEH	WEI PO , JOE	M	1976.12.15
TPE	OPEN	LIU	YI YOUNG	M
TPE	OPEN	LIN	CHIEH SHENG,JASON	M	1994.05.22	1686
TPE	OPEN	LIU	YUNG HUNG , HENRY	M		1833
TPE	OPEN	LIN	YU TONG , ELAINE	F	1994.08.30
TPE	U16	CHEN	PIN HUNG	M	1997.10.19	1733
TPE	U16	SHIAU	SUEN WEN	M	1997.03.08	1772
TPE	U16	TSENG	WOEI HAWY	M	1995.10.30	1479
TPE	U16	CHEN	YAN FANG,TOMMY	M	1998.08.28	1782
TPE	U16	HO	MENG WEI , ALBERT	M	2000.12.02	1534
TPE	U16	LIAO	JO KAI	M	2000.01.23
TPE	U16	YOUNG	AUSTIN	M

To be a part of the Asian Dragons, please contact Ms. Dina Chen by calling 886 921474 802 or email her at dinasa1992@yahoo.com and you can follow the event at the following links: Open, U-16.