Malaysia sent a total of 49 strong delegations in the Singapore Chess Festivals 2010 and took part in all of the events being contended which is U8 Open, U8 Girls, U11 Open, U11 Girls, U14 Open, U14 Girls, U17 Open, Asean Chess Men, Asean Chess Women and Singapore Open. The Singapore Chess Festivals which starts from 26th to 30th December 2010 at Stansfield Residence, Singapore. Malaysia kicks off with the bang at the age-group categories and mixed fortunes in the Asean Mens, Asean Women and Singapore Open on its first day.
Under 8 Open
Wong Yinn Loong will solely spearhead Malaysia challenge in the U8 Open Category and whom is also the first seed. So far he won his respective games against Morgan Lee & Bryan Ng whom both of them are from Singapore and score perfect 2.
Under 8 Girls
Zainoor Ikmal Mohd Noor will carry the Malaysia challenge in the Under 8 Girls category together with her 2 compatriot Tan Jia Xuan & Tan Jia Jin. Malaysia will have to fight against players from Vietnam which sent 1 titled player whom is WFM Le Tran Phuong and some Singaporeans. So far Zainoor had scored 1.5 points with a draw from Singaporean Valerie Soh and she will play against Korean Kang Solbee.
Under 11 Open
Malaysia sent a total of 9 players in this category. CM Amier Hamzah will spearhead the Malaysia challenge together with Penang juniors Ooi Zhi Yang, Teh De Juan, Tang Wei Kit & Teoh Ern Sheng, Mohd Noor Azam & with the remaining of the 2 players; Muhd Najwan & Tan Yin Kuang. The Penang juniors also fresh from the Penang Challengers tournament except for Teh De Juan who played in the Asian Schools. CM Amier Hamzah also just took part in the Sarawak Open while Mohd Noor Azam in the National Juniors. They will have to fight against Singaporean wonderkid FM Tin Jingyao and Ryan Ow and mostly like Malaysia vs Singapore affairs.
Three Penang juniors now carrying the weight with the perfect points of 2 in the Under 11 Open whom were Tang Wei Kit, Teoh Ern Sheng & Teh De Juan. 3rd seed Ooi Zhi Yang was hold to a draw in the second round by his compatriot Mohd Noor Azam with both of them 1.5 points. CM Amier Hamzah had slow start today and had to settle draw with 2 Singaporeans; Gregory Loh & Lee Jia Wei. GUYS U STILL CAN DO IT!
Under 11 Girls
Malaysia again sent 8 players which comprise of the notable ‘tiger’ girl players such as WFM Nur Najiha, En Azhar daughters (Puteri Munajjah & Puteri Rifqah), Asian School Champion U-9 Girls Teh De Zen for the challenge of the U-11 Girls Category together with Kelly Lim, Tan Jia Yun, Siti Khadijah, & Tan Wei Ting against Kazakhstan WFM Abdumalik Zhansaya, Vietnamese Hoang Minh Thu, 2 rated Indians; Sagar Tejaswini and Breasha Gupta & Singaporeans.
Malaysia suffered mixed fortunes today when WFM Nur Najiha suffered her shock defeat to Natanya Ng from Singapore in the first round. She will faced Kristine Quek of Singapore. However Puteri Munajjah, Puteri Rifqah & Teh De Zen regained the glory for Malaysia with their respective 2 wins. Puteri Rifqah, Puteri Munajjah & Teh De Zen will faced their ‘lion’ tomorrow against Indian Breasha Gupta, Indonesia Chandra Vania Vindy & Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh respectively. We are the Tiger of Malaysia and will fight for our territory. The rest of the Malaysian players scored 1 point each. Tamed the Lions.
Under 14 Open
Malaysia sent 8 players to the Under 14 Open category. It always seems to lucky number for Malaysia. Tan Jun Feng will lead the challenge together with his rated compatriot Muhd Irfan, Liew Ken Yew, Yap Wan Lin and Aron Teh. Kughan, Lim Chuin Khai & Teoh Ern Tek were the remaining players.
So far Liew Ken Yew is spearheading the Malaysia challenge with 2 points and will face his tough challenge against Phillipines Jerad Docena. There’s mixed fortune for Malaysia when Muhd Irfan suffered his first shock defeat against Indonesian Roid Attakaatsur and unfortunate to meet fellow compatriot Tan Jun Feng with 1.5 points in the next round. Aron Teh also dropped half point against Singaporean Arjun Vairavan. He will face Karthik Rao of USA next round. The remaining of the players scored 1 point while Kughan got half point.
Under 14 Girls
In this category, there are 5 players representing Malaysia whom the notables name were WCM Nur Nabila and Camilia Johari and the remaining were Penang Tang Kar Khei, Sabirin Siti Aisyah, and Nabilatul Nadia
There were minor setback when our 2 seeded player, WCM Nur Nabila & Camilia Johari were hold to draw by Singaporean WFM Raja Jawahar Monisha & Rachel Liu respectively in round 2. Tang Kar Khei brought cheer to Malaysia camp with 2 points and will have tough time with Vietnamese WFM Dao Thi Lan Anh. WCM Nur Nabila & Camilia Johari will exchange their round 2 opponents for the round 3. Sabirin Siti Aisyah got 1 point while Nabilatul hasn’t scored any points.
Under 17 Open
Malaysia is represented by 5 players whom were Muhd Nabil, Muhammad Syakir (National Junior Playoff finalist) and Toh Qin Kane. The rest of the players were Muhd Junaidi & Ajey Premanath. Muhd Syakir suffered the lost in round 2 but showed fighting spirit against Vietnamese 1st seed FM Nguyen Van Hai and will play Indon Kurniawan Erliy Candra. Muhd Nabil was hold by Singaporean WFM Danielle Ho in round 2 and will play against Peter Chin.
Asean Open
IM Mas Hafizulhelmi supposed to take part in this event but due to unforeseen reason he has to withdraw. However NM Edward Lee will carry the Malaysia flag for this event. Although Edward scored only half point, he still can hold his head high as for his opponents were titled & rating 2300+ with 200+ points difference of him. He lost to IM Steven Yap & hold FM Haridas Pascua. Both of his players were from Phillipines. The next round NM Edward Lee will play against Singaporean FM Timothy Chan.
Asean Women
WFM Alia Anin will carry the weight of the Malaysian women in the Asean Women Championship. WFM Alia recently won the Women National Junior and was awarded NJM title (National Junior Master). She also earned her recent WFM in the last Olympiad. She caused the biggest upset in the Asean Women category when she beaten Vietnamese WIM Hoang Thi Nhu in the first round. Another upset was caused by Indonesia Chess Princess WFM Dewi Aa Citra with a draw against WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung in the first round. However another Vietnamese WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An proved to be too tough for her to handle and she lost. Alia will face WCM Evi Lindiawati of Indonesia
Singapore Open
Malaysia sent 8 players for the Singapore Open. Recently crowned NJM Lim Zhuo Ren will lead the Malaysia challenge together with his rated compatriot season veteran Lim Kian Hwa, National Junior finalist Mark Siew, Richard Kimbin, Rosli Ahmad Afiq Afyfy, NWM Tan Li Ting, Olivia Madhavan, and unrated Ng Say Long.
NJM Lim Zhuo Ren is currently leading the Malaysian delegation with the perfect point of 2 will face his greatest battle against Indian GM Laxman. Rosli Ahmad Afiq Afyfy suffered his shock defeat to unrated Indonesian Sitorus Sangga. Lim Kian Hwa is leading the pool of players with 1 point followed by Mark Siew, Richard Kimbin, WNM Tan Li Ting, Rosli Ahmad, and Ng Say Long. Olivia still finding her first point.
GOOD LUCK TO THE MALAYSIANS IN THE SINGAPORE FESTIVALS!
