Mas and Mok at The 1st ASEAN Chess Circuit , Tarakan, Indonesia.

Two Malaysia players – IM Mashafizul Helmi and FM Mok Tze Meng is playing in the 1^st series of the Chess Circuit at Tarakan, East Kalimantan held from 8-19 January 2008.

Tarakan is a town on an island of the same name in East Kalimantan. 100km south of Nunukan, it also serves as a visa-free border-crossing between Indonesia and the Malaysia town of Tawau in Sabah.

The four-series ASEAN Chess Circuit organized by the ASEAN Chess Confederation (ACC) have been confirmed and will be held in Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand. Another 2 legs circuit are yet to be confirmed .

The tournament were divided into three categories: Grandmaster (GM), International Master and Women International Master. Each category will feature 12 ASEAN players; six of which will be the host players. The aim of the Circuit was to help the ASEAN players to gain titles and rating points without spending much and playing to far in Europe or USA .

Malaysian players results in first round was not very encouraging. FM Mok Tze Meng(photo left) competing in Grandmaster B category lost to Indonesian IM Salor Sitanggang .
IM Mas Hafizul (photo right) competing in Grandmaster “A” category draw with another Indonesia FM Tirta Chandra Purnama.

The tournaments is a 11 round robin sytem with time control 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to finish with 30 seconds increment starting from the first move.

Participants:-

GM Circuit A:

Category 9 (AR: 2452)

GM Zhang Zhong (Singapore) 2617 GM Susanto Megaranto (INA) 2563, IM So Wesley (PHI) 2526, GM Eugenio Torre (PHI) 2519, IM Danny Juswanto (INA) 2467, IM Barlo Nadera (PHI) 2417, Salor Sitanggang (INA) 2410, FM Cecep Kosasih (INA) 2408, ,IM Nasib Ginting (INA) 2393, IM Mas Hafizulhelmi (MAS) 2382 , IM Moh. Ivan Situru (INA) 2375, and Donguines Fernie (PHI) 2345.

GM Circuit B:

Category 7 (AR: 2398)

GM Mark Paragua (PHI) 2521,GM Cerdas Barus (INA) 2479, IM Jayson Gonzales (PHI) 2455, IM Ashot Nadanian (ARM) 2431, Rolando Nolte (PHI) 2412, Barbosa Oliver (PHI) 2410,GM H. Ardiansyah (INA) 2409, FM Tirta Chandra P (INA) 2383, FM Mok Tze Meng (MAS) 2346, FM Syarif Mahmud (INA) 2344, Sugeng Prayitno (INA) 2312, and WIM Irine Kharisma S (INA) 2266,