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
