KL Open start tomorrow !

The 2010 Kuala Lumpur Open will start tomorrow! The venue is at Olympic Sports Hotel, Jalan Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur.

According to chess-result.com, the latest numbers of participants is 116 and 12 GMs will take part along with many more title and untitled players. The main site for this tournament is here

Among big names who will take part is Georgian GM -  Mikhel Mchedlishvili (2634), China GM -  Hou Yi Fan (2570) and German GM - Thomas Luther (2559).

3rd Kuala Lumpur Open 2010

The 3rd Kuala Lumpur Open Chess Championship will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from  6-12 April 2010.The Championship is organised by Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) with sponsorship from Masterskill University of Health Sciences and the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation. The tournament is supported by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) and managed by Effective Commerce Sdn. Bhd.

At the moment, the list of players who has register acoording to  chess-results.com  is as below-

Starting rank list

No.		Name	FED	Rtg
1	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	GEO	2634
2	GM	Megaranto Susanto	INA	2525
3	GM	Iuldashev Saidali	UZB	2519
4	GM	Vakhidov Tahir	UZB	2516
5	GM	Marat Dzhumaev	UZB	2515
6	IM	Franco Alonso Alejandro	ESP	2472
7	IM	Wohl Aleksandar H	AUS	2458
8	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung	VIE	2445
9	IM	Swapnil S, Dophade	IND	2429
10	IM	Irwanto Saidikin	INA	2425
11	GM	Murshed Niaz	BAN	2419
12	GM	Wong Meng Kong	SIN	2416
13	IM	Mok Tze-Meng	MAS	2414
14	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	VIE	2409
15	IM	Saptarshi Roy	IND	2407
16	IM	Prathamesh Sunil Mokal	IND	2403
17	IM	Tirto	INA	2402
18	FM	Chan Nicholas	MAS	2398
19	GM	Zaw Win Lay	MYA	2382
20	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha L.	ECU	2354
21	FM	Novita Anjas	INA	2350
22	WIM	Muninova Nafisa	UZB	2347
23	WGM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	INA	2325
24	FM	Smith Robert W	NZL	2289
25	FM	Reilly Tim	AUS	2281
26	IM	Desmukh Anup	IND	2271
27	IM	Gokhale Chandrasekhar	IND	2271
28	WIM	Caoili Arianne	AUS	2235
29	WIM	Wang Xiaohui	CHN	2208
30		Zhou Guijue	CHN	2208
31	WFM	Steil-Antoni Fiona	LUX	2198
32		Navalgund Niranjan	IND	2168
33		Kalugampitaya R.S.	SRI	2135
34		Legaspi Edmundo	PHI	2126
35	WIM	Mendoza Beverly	PHI	2080
36		Yeoh Phee Leong Marcus	MAS	1999
37	WCM	Lopang Tshepiso	BOT	1938
38		Bersamina Paolo	PHI	1927
39	WCM	Iin Dwijawanti Kadek	INA	1900
40		Sathiyanarayan R V	INA	1833
41	WFM	Smith Vivian J	NZL	1806
42		Edodage Keshan	SRI	1786
43		Shenvi Pratik	IND	1778
44		Vivek M	IND	1694
45		Ann Legaspi Kaye	PHI	0

For further details click here

For update click KLCA blog here

Source-  KLCA blog

Kuala Lumpur Open Chess Championship 2009 start on 4th September !

Although the Malaysian Chess Festival officially ends on 31st August 2009, "the festival" actually will continue with another International chess tournament which is the Kuala Lumpur Chess Championship Open 2009 ! This tournament will be organised by Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) with sponsorship from the Malaysian Intellectual Development Foundation (MIDF) and the Masterskill University College of Health Sciences.

The tournament will start on the 4th September till 9th September with 9 rounds Swiss System format. The venue is the Shah's Village Hotel in Petaling Jaya. This is the second time the tournament being held, last year it was held in Bukit Jalil, KL.

According to KL Chess blog, a number of GMs and titled players will play in this tournaments. Among the big names is GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, GM Dao Tien Hai and GM Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam), GM Marat Dhzumaev and GM Saidali Iuldachev (Uzbekistan), GM Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia).

You can refer to chess-results for the list of the players and KL Chess blog for info.

KL Open 2008 in the local newspaper !

This is quite late but i think it's still good to note that local chess news was in the main stream newspaper again ! On 22nd December. BERNAMA.Com (above) and Utusan Malaysia (below)publish an article about the closing ceremony of the KL Open 2008 .

GM Analysis in KL Open 2008 !

While waiting for the official closing ceremony of the KL Open 2008 start, a bunch of GM's and IMs analysed an endgame position which i think must arise from some of their game. Indonesian GM Susanto Megaranto was defending the black side in a difficult and tricky endgame position. In the end, he managed to defend a rook + two pawns ( a & h pawn) against rook . The others GM's and title players lead by FM Sebastian Simanjuntak and GM Dao Tien Hai were amused how white can't win the position in the end.

My fellow friend - The GM killer - "Mr. Fritz" indicate that the "Megaranto's position" is a win for white. Although according to endings theory books, some position is drawn. Unfortunately, the video didn't cover the whole analysed . But lets have a look.

King + Rook + 2 pawns ( a & h) vs King + rook
KL Open, 24.12.2008

Analysed by Hairulov and Fritz 11

FM Sebastian Simanjuntak suggest 1.Nxg4 Fritz 11 show the correct move 1..Bc1! which free white rook from defending the bishop and at the same time black pawn at h6 will drop, however i'm more interested to analysed the resulting rook + 2 pawn ( a and h ) vs rook endgame which arise after 1...Rxb2+ 2.Rxb2 Rxg4 3.Rb6 Rg2? With hindsight, this move looks like a mistake . Black can have strong drawing chances with 3...Rg3 4.Ka2 Rg2+ 5.Kb3 (5.Rb2?! Rg5 6.Rh2 Kd6) 5...Rg3+ 6.Ka4 Rg4+ Just checking white's king untill 7.Rb4 the rook have to left the 6th rank and black h6 pawn will not be captured. (If 7.Ka5 Rg5+ 8.Rb5 White rook have to left 6th rank anyway so the h6 pawn is still safe. 8...Rg4; 7.Ka5 Rg5+ 8.Rb5 Rg4 transpose.) 7...Rg5 8.Rb5 Rg4+ 9.Ka5 Rh4 4.Rxh6 Now black is winning, however GM Megaranto who defending the black side during the analysis manage to draw it against others( GM Dao Tien Hai + FM Sebastian Simanjuntak..etc !) . 4...Rh2 5.a4 Kd7 6.a5 Kc7 7.a6 Kb8 8.Kc1 Ka7 9.Kd1 Kb8 10.Ke1 Ka7 11.Kf1 Kb8 12.Kg1 Rh4 13.Kg2 Ka7 14.Kg3 Rh1 15.Kg4 Rg1+ ½–½

Unfortunately here i can't remember how the analysed goes on but after a couple of moves ( and take back !) by both side, Megaranto managed to show that it's a drawn endgame. Anybody can prove that it's a win for white?

KL Open 2008 - Closing Ceremony - Part 2

Below are the remaining photo's of the KL Open 2008 closing ceremony .

Why all this GM's and IM's smiling and gather at Peter Long ? - they actually wait for their cash prize money !

DYTM raja Nazrin Shah is saying something to IM Manuel Aaron during the chess legend simul.

The guys ( left) who is playing in the last round game had a Royal spectator on their side . An experience of a life time!

The Azman Hisham trio - from left : Nabil, Nabila and Najiha make their parent and country proud !

Indonesia youngster - Kaisar Jenius Hakiki (left) is a brother - "Kakak" for WGM to be - Irene Kharisma Sukandar. Interestingly in Malay , "Kakak" means sister whereas in Indonesia "kakak" means brother !

Indian chess legend - IM Manuel Aaron (left) with patzer blogger - Hairulov (right)




Indonesian IM Salor Sitanggang (right) is another chess legend in Indonesia. When i start to play chess about 20 years ago, his name always appear in the newspaper chess column . It's a honour for me to have this photo session with him.

KL Open 2008 - Closing Ceremony - Part 1

GM Anton Filippov (right) from Uzbekistan received the KL Open 2008 Champion trophy

from DYTM Raja Nazrin Shah

Nur Nabila Azman Hisham won the KL Open 2008 (Challengers) and received the prize

from Yang Amat Mulia Raja Dato Seri' Azureen binti Sultan Azlan Shah

The closing and prize giving ceremony of the KL Open 2008 was held successfully today at the Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The ceremony was officiate by the Raja Muda of Perak - Duli Yang Teramat Mulia (DYTM) Raja Nazrin Shah . Among the VIP's is Malaysian Chess Federation(MCF) President - Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib, FIDE and ASEAN Chess Confederation (ACC) representative - Ignatius Leong and - Dato' Edmund Santhara - Company Director of the Masterskill - University College of Health Sciences - the sponsored of the event. The tournament was organised by Intchess Malaysia lead by Peter Long.



Two VIP's - Dato' Edmund Santhara from Masterskill and Ignatius Leong - FIDE and Asian Chess Confederation representative delivered their speeches.

Dato' Edmund Santhara invite all the players to come back for next year edition... which mean that the tournament will continue next year ! This must be a very good news for local fans, especially after the uncertainty of organizing the previously only international open chess tournament in Malaysia - The Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian Open or famously known as DATMO which has reach it final year of 5 years "life span" last September.

Ignatius Leong also delivered a good speech. One interesting fact he mentioned was that the KL Open 2008 is the 6th international open chess tournament held in Asia - for this month... and four (4) of it is in ASEAN countries !



Before the official KL Open 2008 closing ceremony, there's three side event being held which is the blitz ( 7 rounds) tournament and two simultaneous display. One by IM Manual Aaron (above) - a chess legend from India against national boy and girl junior players. Another simul is by IM Tirto from Indonesia who take on vissually handicap players in a special chess exhibition match.

IM Tirto in a simul against the visually handicap players

Mr.Latif (left) the chief arbiter and Peter Long (right) the chief organiser in "busy mode" right before the arrival of the VIP's

The Organiser - standing from left - Peter Long ( chief organiser) , Rezal (arbiter) , Rizal Ahmad Kamal (arbiter). Siting from left - Haslindah Ruslan ( participant and MCF official), Asmah and Duratul Ain ( arbiters).

In my opinion, this tournament has shown great cooperation between chess organization such as Intchess, MCF, KLCA with corporate sector - Masterskills to promote chess development in Malaysia. I hope that this will be a start for more and successful chess events in the future and let's try to forget all the differences and build on our similarities which is to flourish chess development in Malaysia ! .......sounds like i'm going to be a politician ...but you all know what i mean :)

I will post more photos and videos from the closing ceremony in the next part !

GM Anton Fillipov Won KL Open 2008 !

Uzbek GM - Filippov Anton (FIDE 2543) won the 2008 KL Open after finishing with 7 points from 9 rounds. He tied with Chinese IM Wang Rui who has the same points but Filippov (photo left) have a better tie break to claim the trophy.

Congratulation for Filippov for winning the tournament but...i hope..he would improve his HANDWRITING..because i found that it's almost impossible to read his score sheet!

The prize giving ceremonies will be held tomorrow at the Legend Hotel , Kuala Lumpur.

Nur Nabila Azman Hisham Win the Challengers Section !

Actually i've plan to go to the bed early tonight but after reading Marcus Yeoh's midnight posting about the Challenger Final standing, i was so shock to found that Nur Nabila Azman Hisham won the Challenger section of the KL Open 2008. She collected 7.5 points to finished clear first against 7 pointers - Edwin Lam - Chessbase.com columnist, Yeoh Li Tian and Singaporean Tan Kien Wei .

As many local chess fans already know, Nabila recently won the National Junior Championship and i predict a great future for this young girl. Congratulation to her parent especially Nabila father - Mr.Azman Hisham - my MAKSAK teamate who give 100% support for his kids to excell in chess.

P/S : Nabila photo is taken from the recent National Juniors Championship.

Round 7 - KL Open 2008

Below are the round 7 photos of the KL Open 2008, held in Commonwealth Hall ,Majlis Sukan Negara, Bukit Jalil.

The backdrop stated that the main trophy will be the DYTM Raja Nazrin Shah Trophy.

Dewan Komanwel or Commonwealth Hall is the tournament hall for the KL Open 2008

IM Wang Rui of China

Round 7 Table 1 saw GM Filippov Anton (left) beat GM Bong Villamayor (right) 1-0

IM Gokhale Chandrasekhar (FIDE 2332) from India

Hakiki Kaiser Jenius (FIDE 2189) - from Indonesia is brother to WGM to be - Irene Sukandar !

Did Justin Ong forget that there's no time increment?

Justin Ong (photo right below) was beaten by India WIM Meer Sai (FIDE 2155) (left) in the 7th round. I witness how the games ends and i was amused why Justin "let" his time drop easily. Actually in the time scramble ( both have about 1 minutes each) , Justin had about 10 seconds more but somehow he"freeze" and lost on time. Probably he was to used to play with increment time control and "forgot" about his time whereas the Indian WIM blitz her moves.

WIM Meera Sai (2155) - Justin Ong (2044)
KL Open 2008 (Round 7), 19.12.2008

Below was the critical position i witness during the game. Both players are in serious time trouble and have around 1 minutes each . If i'm not mistaken below is how the game ends.

1...Qd1+ 2.Kh2 d2 3.Rc5 Not just preventing Qh5+ by black, white also plan to play Rg5 and later Rxg7 3...Qe2 4.Rg5 Kh8?? A blunder that turn the table. 4...h6 making more room for his king is the winning move. 5.Rxg7+ Kxg7 6.Qe5+ Kg8 7.Qg3+ Kh7 and white have no more check left and black should win. 5.Rxf7 1–0 And Justin time drop in already difficult position. In fact Fritz announced mate in 9# (maximum)

Julio Catalino vs Tirto - Game of The Tournament !?

For Pinoy fans, below are the candidate for game of the tournament- in my opinion :) . The game is between Filipino - IM Julio Catalino Sandorra (photo right) (FIDE 2431) vs IM Tirto (2406) from Indonesia.



Analysed by Hairulov and Fritz 11



IM Julio Catalino Sandorra (2431) - IM Tirto (2406) [D31]
KL Open 2008, 19.12.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4

The Marshall Gambit .Now the main line runs 4...dex4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 (6.Nc3 saves the pawn but is not considered dangerous) Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 with sharp and unclear play.
4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nd7 Tirto avoid the main line 5...Bb4+ 6.Bd2 (6.Nc3 saves the pawn but not the critical choice ) 6...Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4 8.Be2 6.Nf3 Ngf6 7.Nc3 Bd6 8.Bd3 0–0 9.Bg5 9...Qc7 9...e5 ! break the centre is better considering white has not fully develop yet. 10.Qe2 Bf4 probably better for black is to complete his development first with 10..b6 and later Bb7 11.h4!? Aggressive reply by Julio. Alternative 11.Bxf4 Qxf4 which is a typical computer move 11... h6 12.g3! 12...Bd6 12...hxg5? would blunder a piece after 13.hxg5 13.c5 Be7 14.0–0–0 In the spirit of Kasparov and Topalov ! Many would probably choose the safer move 14.Bf4 Qd8 and then 15.0–0–0 ...but not Julio. He has shown from move 11. that he mean business! 14...b6 15.Bf4 Qb7 16.g4 Consistent. Black continue to play aggressively16... Nd5 black would be wise not to accept the pawn after 16...Nxg4 because white will have a dangerous initiative after 17.Rhg1 h5 18.Nh2 Ndf6 (18...Nxh2? would lead into a losing position after 19.Qh5! ) 19.f3 Nxh2 20.Qxh2 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.c6 Stronger is the immediate 18.g5! 18... 18...Qxc6+ 19.Kb1 e5 20.Rc1 Qf6 21.Bg5!! Probably the most beautiful move from the game (tournament!?) 21... hxg5 22.Bh7+! Another brilliant continuation 22...Kh8 23.Bf5 gxh4 24.Rxh4+ Qxh4 25.Nxh4 Bxh4 26.Rh1 g5 27.Rxh4+ gxh4 28.Qe3

After this move, my friend Mr. Fritz 11 announce mate in 6 (maximum) 28...Re8 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Bh7+ Kh8 31.Bg6+ Kg8 32.Qh7+ 1–0 (32...Kf8 33.Qxf7# checkmate)

A "Ghost" Draw Offer in...KL Open !

Today i witnessed a "scary" moment in round 7 of the KL Open 2008. A dispute occured in a game between Malaysian - Tan Khai Boon and Singaporean - Benjamin Foo . One of the player claim that his opponent offered a draw... and when the draw offer was accepted, the player who was accused to offer it... denied such thing. Unfortunately there's no witness or arbiter near the table at that particular moment.

The players called the arbiter - Mr. Latiff, and i think Mr.Latiff made the correct decision to order the game to proceed. The game eventually ended in a draw! I think this is the most scary chess moment i ever experience ...in my whole live...ever :)