Reminder - Ipoh Junior Chess Tournament

Hi guys

A friendly reminder. I am very appreciative of PICA AJK Zaki's effort to bring a junior tournament to Perak. The age range is from standard one. So I hope you will all support this. In the more advanced chess states the players enter the tournament circuit from the age of 5. In Perak the normal entry age is around 11 or 12 for MSSM. So if you think about it. Our boys and girls will meet 7 to 8 years battle hardened veterans when they first meet on the MSSM field in the same age group. Not a level playing field.

So do tell your friends, younger siblings and teachers. This is one event we really need in Perak. Look for details in my earlier post - Ipoh Junior Chess Tournament.

It is conducted by Insofar Chess Academy on the 5th of July. Good luck Zaki, I wish your tournament every success.

Raymond

Clearwater Sanctuary International Chess-results

Looks like I'm going to have to find the manual for the camera. For those of you with exceptional eyesight. This is the group photo with the winners and our AJK's.

Hi guys,

We just completed our event at clearwater. There were a few minor hiccups but all in all the event was fairly well run with our new president chipping in. Our apologies to Encik Azhar from Selangor for the confusion over the rating. The AJK responsible for the event was not present in our exco meeting where we decided that we were going to use National ratings for our events. We will have to improve our internal communication and procedures. We hope that all in all you and your family had a good time in Perak.

In this event we had good support from friends coming in from Selangor and KL (and of course our strong supporter the Subramaniam family from Camerons). A strong field was present for this event. National Senior player, Che Hassan, National juniors, Nabil, Shakir and Sumant. KL player, Jian Wen came with his parents.

We also had strong enthusiasts, Dr Paul, his nephew and Shiva coming all the way from KL. A special mention also for Nabilah and Najiha our national juniors who both brought back golds from Vietnam in the recent Asean games for the under10 and under12 categories. Congratulations! And thank you all and every one else I didn't get to mention for coming.

We had 71 players in all and I am glad to see there are a few Perak players in the top 10 for the Open category.

Here are the results. I have indicated Perak players by the side of their names. So you guys, work harder.

OPEN

1. Sumant Subramaniam
2. Abdullah Che Hassan
3. Muhammad Nabil
4. Mark Siew (Perak)
5. Fong Yit Ho (Perak)
6. Wong Jianwen
7. Ahmad Mudzafar (Perak)
8. Muhd Syakir
9. Fong Yit San (Perak)
10. Ahmad Fadzil Nayan (Perak)

VETERAN

Mat Zaki Yeop (Perak)

Zaki, our apologies for the mix up over your prize.

UNDER 12

Boy: Shreyes Subramaniam

Girl: Puteri Azha

UNDER 15

I am a little confused about the results. My apologies.

Raymond

Penang Open

Hi Guys

Just came back from Penang Open. Perak was represented by one player Mark Siew.
Click here: to see his results.

Mark did resonably well. He defeated a strong National Junior, Yeap Eng Chiam to get 13th place in overall standing. In the 8th round he was on table one and met with Fide Master Mok Tze Meng who was the final winner. If Mark had won or drawn his last round he would have finished top 10.

Penang was an amazing experience. From what I can see they are able to hold a FIDE event just from players in the state. I spoke to their President Mr Lee Ewe Ghee who said they would be happy to find ways to work together with PICA. He also said that they are very supportive of PICA events and have come in force for our past events. He then introduced me to their Secretary, Tan Eng Seong who said that they can send a bus load of players to our events if we can coordinate with them beforehand. I told him I will look into ways to increase coordination with him.

Perak now has 3 players active in the FIDE route and we hope to find sponsors to increase these numbers. Eng Seong also told me that Penang chess association sends about a bus load of players to tournaments nearly every week and send 2 bus loads for bigger national events.

I felt a little embarassed that Perak has sent only one player but I think he did make a little impact. I hope that very soon Perak too will be able send our players by the busload.

Raymond

Clearwater Sanctuary International Chess

VENUE: Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort

DATE : 21st June 2009

FORMAT: 7 rounds Swiss (computer pairing); 20mins first 4 rounds, 25 mins next 3 rounds

Schedule: Registration 8am
Round 1 9.20-10am
Round 2 10.20-11am
Round 3 11.20-12noon
Round 4 12.20-1pm
Lunch
Round 5 2-2.50pm
Round 6 3-3.50pm
Round 7 4-4.50pm
Closing and prize giving 5.15pm

Prizes
Champion RM 300+voucher (worth RM160) Best Lady RM50
Runner up RM 160+voucher Best U-12 RM30 (girl)
3rd pace RM 120+voucher Best U-12 RM30 (boy)
4th place RM 100 Best U-15 RM40 (girl)
5th place RM 80 Best U-15 RM40 (boy)
6th place RM 70 Best Veteran RM50
7th place RM 60
8th place RM 60
9th place RM 50
10th place RM 50

Registration: PICA members, ladies, U12 RM10
All others RM15

Registration by 18th June with En. Yunus 013 3908129 or En. Abu Bakar 014 2510852

Bercham Open - Results

The Winners. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!




Persatuan Kebudayaan India Bercham Open brought another chess event to Ipoh. The tournament portion was conducted with PICA volunteers. Old hand, Yunus, with two newbies, Khatib and myself managed to run the event with minimal hiccups.

After this first tournament the organisers want to make it a yearly affair. We only had 34 participants in all but the Limau Bali boys came in full force to support. The Subramaniams from Cameron Highland also came to support. My sincere thanks to them.

Many of the bystanders commented that they would have joined if they had known about it. Officials from other organisations who were present commented that they too will back future projects in chess and made many suggestions on how they can help in the future. One more small step.

Here are the winners.

OPEN

1st place Sumant Subramaniam
2nd place Ahmad Muzzafar
3rd place Mark Siew
4th place Sit Seng Yeow

UNDER 16

1st place Sarika Subramaniam
2nd place Vikna Roshan
3rd place Koh Chuan Hong
4th place Fatin Nabila

UNDER 12

1st place Shreyes Subramaniam
2nd place Fatin Nadhirah
3rd place Muhd Nasrul
4th place Eizhan Ishsal

Raymond Siew

Ipoh Junior Open Chess Tournament

Date: Sunday 5th July 2009

Place: Insofar Chess Academy, Silibin, Ipoh
Time: 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Fees: RM15 (PAY ON TOURNAMENT DAY ONLY)
Participants: Year 1 (Standard 1) - Form 2

Cash Prizes & Medals:

CHAMPION
Form 2: RM100 + Gold
Form 1: RM50 + Gold
Year 6: RM40 + Gold
Year 5: RM40 + Gold
Year 4: RM30 + Gold
Year 3: RM30 + Gold
Year 2: RM25 + Gold
Year 1: RM25 + Gold

2nd & 3rd place winners from each group: Silver
4th & 5th place winners from each group: Bronze

Registration:

1. Registration by phone ONLY. Call Insofar Chess Academy 017 528 6927 for details.
2. NO registration will be accepted on the day of tournament.
3. Bring own chess set.

National Close 2009

Putri Nurfariza on the board

Nur Munirah

Lawrence Teoh

Mat Zaki Yeop

Mark Siew

Fadzil Nayan

The Perak Team

We are back and this is the result.

Men's section:

Fadzil Nayan - 10th placing

Mark Siew - 26th placing

Mat Zaki - 28th placing

Lawrence - 34th placing

[ Out of a field of 55 ]

Women's results:

Putri - 16th placing

Munirah - 18th placing

[ Out of a field of 22 ]

Post mortem:

Fadzil was a child prodigy of Perak and last year's Perak Close champion, this is his second National Close (the last being in 2005). Lawrence was our under-18 champion and it's his first National Close. Mark Siew is the current under-18 champion, former under-12 champion and has played for the state for 5 years continuously making him the most senior Perak player, and this is his first National Close. Mat Zaki has played in the National Close almost yearly and this is the first time he has been sponsored by the state association.

Munirah is our current under-18 MSSM (national) champion and this is her first National Close. Putri plays for Perak and this is her first National Close.

Background:

When I sent Mark to the National Age Group this year, he and Azam (another state player) were the only Perak representatives. At the National Junior (Dec last year), Mark was the only player from Perak. At the KL Open there was only Mark and Mat Zaki to carry the Perak flag. And they were all self-sponsored. I was asked a lot of questions. What is happening in Perak? Penang is arriving by the bus loads etc etc. We were conspicous by our absence.

At FIDE rated tournaments, I see only Mat Zaki and Mark. And recently, Fadzil has been coming. At the Selangor Open he told me he wants to get his FIDE rating. And this boy has been our star from standard 3. What a waste. So the education and training committee decided that we will try our best to support any Perak player that actively pursues the FIDE route for that shows a commitment to continuous improvement and FIDE events are expensive.

Perak needs more than 3 players to carry the flag. But this is a start.

This year, the new committee sent 6 players to the National Close (a FIDE event). We hope they will benefit from the exposure and come back to share with their Juniors.

I am proud of our team's achievements. Although they started late in the day, and badly outgunned, they fought like lions and lionesses. With that spirit we can achieve anything we set ourselves. So come on the rest of you senior players, go out there and compete. Next year's National Close will carry a prize of RM4,000. But money isnt everything. I would like to see a Perakian National Master again in the near future. That honour is worth something too.

Raymond

Education and Training

Batu Gajah tournament

Hi guys

Just got back from National Close with our Perak team so had to miss the Batu Gajah event. From the reports I have received so far, it was a success. I am pleased that we have one Perakian on the top 10 winners list in the open category. Syamil got 5th place in a field that brought many strong national level players. Syamil has been a long time chess player for Perak but has dropped off for a while. Still sharp after all this time. So Congratulations SYAMIL!! I hope you will now pursue the FIDE route.

I don't want to repeat what Arshad has done in the terengannu blog. So go to that link to get a full report on this event. It's on the right hand side of this blog. Look for Terengganu Chess Association. Thanks Arshad. The results can also be found in gilachess.

Will post on our men and womens team in the National Close later. Do add yourself as a follower so you can be notified when there is a new post so as not to miss out.

Raymond