Malaysian Open and Merdeka 2009

The 3/4 Perak Team (Ipoh Limau Bali) in the Merdeka Team Event (from left: Mustapha Kamal, Fadli Zakaria - Selangor, Johan Jamil, Fadzil Nayan)


The Perak Juniors in the Merdeka Team Event (from left: Sumant Subramaniam, Mark Siew, Fong Yit San, Fong Yit Ho)


First, the highlights from the Malaysian Open (with players from 22 countries) - 22nd to 28th Aug.

Mark Siew, our MSSPK under-18 champion did very well in this category. A late comer to the national level games, he started to show his promise in the Penang Open recently. A KL trainer even said that he will have to start following his progress in future tournaments to prepare his players against him. A compliment indeed. In this tournament, Mark defeated a 2000+ player from Russia, and two 2100+ players from China and Japan, drew with a 2100+ from China and drew with a 2200+ from Australia. He lost to three 2300's and a 2400 International Master. By our calculation he should have a FIDE rating of 2000, a good jump from 1937 when he was first rated in July. So well done, Mark.

So now Perak has 2 Juniors that have a shot at the National Juniors. This will be determined at the National Juniors competition to select the national junior squad in December. The other player is Sumant Subramaniam who is born in Perak and has opted to play for the silver state. Sumant is a current National Junior.

So things are looking up for Perak. We have never been this close for years. And this year, PICA has agreed to sponsor this event.


Merdeka Team Event - 29th to 31st Aug.

Our Juniors came close to winning the U16 prize but were thrashed by the Indonesian Dream girls team at the last round. Only Sumant managed to get a half point. But all in all they did very well as they fought the top international teams towards the end. Sumant displayed remarkable stamina as both Mark and him just finished the Open and played the team the next day. Still this has been Perak's strongest Junior team with the 2 Fong brothers playing 3rd and 4th board. The Fongs were former Selangor players but are now residing and schooling in Perak. All in all the boys fought well. On the 8th round, Sumant came close to beating a Grand Master on Board 1, but lost on time. He and the others have done the state proud.

As for our other "Team", we got 3 Perak senior players who arrived for the Open but being short of one state player, they brought in Fadli from Selangor and now couldn't play for the state according to the rules. We even had a sponsor for the RM 300 fees but the sponsor would only sponsor the state team so they ended up financing themselves. Still they sportingly named their team the Ipoh Limau Bali team, so Perak got a mention at least. This team did fairly well considering the field. But on the second day 2 players were a no show because they had nowhere to stay the night before and so they arrived late after spending the night in UIA and got caught in a jam travelling by taxi. So 2 points were lost just like that. I hope that future organisers of our state teams will do a little extra to ensure our players are accorded more dignity and consideration.

Sadly we also did not send an under 12 team this year even though we had made the allocations in the committee. We need to focus on this age group as they will be our future going forward.

Raymond
Education and training and selection committee.
PICA

Malaysian Open 2009

Sumant Subramaniam in Open


Mark Siew in Open


Mat Zaki Yeop in Challengers

Hi guys

I'm reporting from the Malaysian Open. We have 3 players here from Perak flying the flag. Currently PICA is unable to sponsor events like this as they are too expensive, so these players have come up with their own money to play for the State. But there may be a little light at the end of the tunnel. Datuk Tan Chin Nam had a chat with me and asked me about Perak. He says he will consider sponsoring us if I can come up with a proposal.

Our Juniors are doing well in the Open. This is a very high level competition with even titled players having only half point at game 4. Sumant currently has 2 points and Mark 2 1/2. We will be in round 7 tomorrow. So with 3 more rounds, anything can happen.

Btw, for you chess followers, Sumant (National Junior) is now playing for Perak in all tournaments except MSSM. So Sumant, welcome to the Perak team.

From the last information I have, PICA is sponsoring a U16 team for the merdeka team event which starts on the 29th. The open ends on the 28th.

The team members are

1. Sumant Subramaniam
2. Mark Siew
3. Fong Yit San
4. Fong Yit Ho

So good luck guys. If any of you want to follow their exploits, go to gilachess on the right hand side of this blog. Both events will be extensively covered there.

Btw gilachess is also owned by a Perakian, Andrew Ooi.

Raymond

Announcement- Perak players from Syuen

As announced by the selection committee earlier on the criterias, these will be the players representing Perak for the merdeka team tournament.

OPEN
1. Ahmad Fadzil Nayan
2. Suhaimi Mustafa
3 Mohd Johan Mohamed Jamil
4. Ng Zhan Jian

Based on result from Syuen Tournament

U16
1. Sumant Subramaniam
2. Mark Siew Kit-Tze
3. Fong Yit San
4. Fong Yit Ho

Decision of Selection committee

U12

The top six were to have a play off with top district players. However we are not sure now how the JPN ban will affect the play off.

Based on result from Syuen tournament.

Mr Chan, our President, has kindly consented to take charge of this event on behalf of the selection committee. Please coordinate with him directly on any queries. His number is 019 5563027.

Raymond

Syuen Grand Prix - Results

Phew, Syuen is finally over. As the organising chairman of the event, there were many times the event appeared in trouble. Potential sponsors pulled out and finally after a long search Tenby came to the rescue. Syuen was firmly behind us all the way. For that, I would like to give them my heartfelt thanks on behalf of PICA. In the final week of the event, JPN issued a directive that all gatherings were to be aborted. As a result, from my feedback, we lost 3 busload of players. So the last few days were spent calling friends personally to invite them to attend.

Still the event was a success, arbiters from JPN came in to help in their own capacity. My heartfelt thanks to them too. We achieved a number of 119, slightly ahead of our other national rated event in Batu Gajah (106). So to date this is the new committee's largest event.

We also received many compliments for a well run event with many asking, when will be our next event in Perak! Kudos to the committee members who helped out despite the H1N1 scare as well as volunteers from St Michael.

In conclusion, out-of-state players outnumbered our local participants, with Penang coming with the largest contingent. So thank you Penang for helping make this tournament a success. KL and Selangor also came in decent numbers. :)

So Perak still has a way to go before we can compete in the National level. Nevertheless the much fewer diehard chess players in Perak still turned up.

But to me, it's an excellent start.

And finally I also want to acknowledge our chess blogging community, many of whom went the extra mile for us. We couldn't have done this without your help. Do check out their sites to see the explosion in chess throughout Malaysia. Their links are at the panel on the right.

Here are the results of the event:

OPEN - Final Ranking

OPEN - Table Tie-Breaks

U15 - Result

U15 - Cross Table

U12 - Result

U12 - Cross Table

Raymond

Attention Perak Players - Syuen Tournament

PICA is pleased to announce that we will sponsor 3 state teams to the Merdeka Team Tournament (under the following conditions) from the 28th to 31st August in Mid Valley KL.

The top 4 Perak players in the OPEN will be sponsored the entrance fee to the tournament. All other expenses and accommodation will be borne by the players.

An Under-16 team will also be sponsored, but the team selection and criteria will be determined by the selection committee of PICA.

For the Under-12 category, the top 6 players (boy or girl) will be eligible to represent Perak subject to a play-off with the top district players. Only the top 4 in this play-off will represent Perak. For this team, PICA will pay for the entrance fee and accommodation. PICA will also pay an allowance for an official to accompany this team. All other expenses to be borne by the players.

Raymond Siew
Selection committee.

Important Announcement - Syuen Grand Prix

Hello all

I have purchased masks for all participants that will be distributed free on the day. I hope all of you will have an enjoyable day with us at Syuen.

Attention all Perak players. It is very likely that Syuen will also double up as selection to the Merdeka Team tournament. We are having a committee meeting at 5pm today, to determine the criteria. So stay posted and check on this blog tonight.

Raymond

SYUEN GRAND PRIX- Accomodation

Hi again

I have had a few enquiries about accommodation in Ipoh for the Syuen grand prix. Well, Syuen is full for the 15th, I'm informed, as Maybank has booked all the rooms. A good place to stay that is within walking distance from Syuen is Ipoh's latest hotel, the Tower Regency.
Superior room goes at RM150++. Their phone is 05 208 6888 and Fax is 05 253 6888.

Hope you all have a nice stay in Ipoh and a good day of chess on the 16th.

Raymond

Looking for sponsors

Hi again

Thought you may like to see my new article in the Ipoh Echo.

For PICA to achieve its goal, we will need sponsors to run our programs. A little secret, we do not make money from tournaments. Sometimes there is a little surplus after expenses but that will be quickly used up for other programs.

We are trying to get Perak back to the National Level. So if you or anyone you know can help out drop me a line. BTW, we have now found a way to run the Syuen tournament - but we are hoping that someone can come in at the last minute to increase the prize money (especially for the Under-15 and Under-12 categories).

Raymond