NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic 2-09 : Chigorin Defense!

Next Friday, Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) will organised the NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic 2-09 : Chigorin Defense . This will be the second edition of this thematic tourney. The 1st edition saw Abdullah Che Hassan won the tournament which features the Sicilian Dragon as the theme.

The Chigorin Defense is a chess opening named for 19th century Russian grandmaster Mikhail Chigorin.

A thematic chess tournament is a tournament with every game is played with a certain opening variant. And for next Friday, the Chigorin Defense (below) have been selected as the starting position. ( with white to play) .You will find the board set up for this variant at the start of the game. So all white player will start the game on move 3! And black player will start after white's 3rd move.

NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 2/09 : Chigorin Defense

White to move !

For further details, visit NMCC blog here

REMINDER - Engitex 09 Games : Chess - 28 February and 1 Mac 2009.

International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) is organizing two chess tournament - Engitex 09 Games : Chess on 28th February and 1 march 2009. The chess tournaments is one of the subprogram of the Engitex 09 Games which is totally focused on sports activities.

Click the image below for details.





Source : Mr. Muhammad Muhaimin
Programme Manager
Organizing Committee
Engitex 09 Games : Chess

Abdullah Che Hassan Win The NMCC Blitz Thematic 1/09 : Sicilian Dragon !

Abdullah Che Hassan ( right) received the cash prize from Shamsol Bahrin for winning the 1st NMCC Blitz Thematic Tournament : Sicilian Dragon. You can spot a disappointed face of the NMCC owner - Shamsol Bahrin ( left) who lost the play-off final against Abdullah :)

28th February 2009 - Abdullah Che Hassan emerged as the winner of the first edition of the (Neo Manhattan Chess Centre) NMCC Blitz Thematic Tournament held at the NMCC, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur last night. This thematic chess tournament is a tournament with every game is played with a certain opening variant. And last night, Sicilian Dragon position ( below) have been selected as the starting position ( with white to play) .You will find the board set up for this variant at the start of the game. So all white player start the game on move 8! And black player start after white's 8th move.

Seven players took part in this double round robin blitz tournament with 5 minute time control for each player. Many interested players couldn't make it to the tournament because of last minute announcement by NMCC and we feel highly regret for it.

Read the full report here

Ismail Ahmad Attempt To Break Malaysian Book Of Record - Correction!

Ismail Ahmad inform me that the current Malaysian Book of Records for the Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents by Collin Madhavan is actually against 88 players not 101 players as i mentioned in my previous post.

NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 1/09 : Sicilian Dragon !

Neo Manhattan Chess Centre will organised a thematic Sicilian Dragon blitz tournament this friday. A thematic chess tournament is a tournament with every game is played with a certain opening variant. And for this Friday, Sicilian Dragon position ( below) have been selected as the starting position. ( with white to play) .You will find the board set up for this variant at the start of the game. So all white player will start the game on move 8! And black player will start after white's 8th move.

NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 1/09 : Sicilian Dragon !

White to move !

The details is as follow.

Tournament : NMCC Firday Blitz Thematic Tournament : Sicilian Dragon

Location : Neo Manhattan Chess Centre, No.42B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1,

Taman TunDr.Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Date : 27 February 2009 ( Friday)

Time : 9 pm - 11 pm


ONLY the first 24 participants will be accepted for this tournament! So be quick !


FEES : RM 10.00.


Prize: Only the champion will receive the prize ( winner take all) . The prize will depend on the numbers of the participants but a minimum RM 70.00 cash prizes will be guaranteed for the winner !


Payment can be made to AlRajhi Bank , Current Account : 10300-001-0001080211285 under the name NEO MANHATTAN CHESS CENTRE or pay at the chess centre from 8.00pm -8.45 pm on Friday 27th February 2009.

Ismail Ahmad Attempt To Break Malaysian Book Of Record!

Ex-World Police Chess Champion - Ismail Ahmad (photo right) will try to break the Malaysian Book of Records for the Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents . The current record is currently held by Collin Madhavan who did it against 101 players last year.

The world record however is held by GM Susan Polgar who play against 326 players in 2005 ! For the record , Susan is a women and to be more precise...a chess mom ! ( Latest News - Bulgarian - GM Kiril Georgiev has break the world record yesterday by playing against 360 players ! ) I once played simul against 6 players and my head feel like it want to explode!

Anyway, The Malaysian Book of Records for the Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents by Ismail Ahmad is planned to be held on the 26th of March this year in conjunction with the celebration of the National Police Day .

I will post the details after i get the confirmation from Ismail.

Ismail photo from Utusan.com

Catching up with International Chess Events !

Lately i'm being busy promoting a new chess centre - NMCC and "forgot" to write about international chess tournament/match . For example the Kamsky-Topalov match, Linares - Super GM Tournament and Aeroflot Open which feature my favourite ASEAN player Wesley So.

In term of priority, local chess news will always be on top of my list because there's already a lot of brilliant chess site which cover international chess news compare to local news. However, being a chess maniac , i couldn't resist to write about international chess news .


Topalov-Kamsky 2009 Match

As i mentioned before, i route for Kamsky to win this match. I choose Kamsky because he is a great fighter and at his best form - can beat anyone. Even the current World Champion - Vishy Anand suffered heavy defeat several times against Kamsky - before and after Kamsky short retirement in 90's.

In my opinion, Topalov who is also a great fighter however have small chance to beat Anand because Topalov didn't have a good score against the current World Champion.

If Kamsky win this match, Anand will have a worthy challenger who is capable to beat him in the Final World Championship match. I didn't like a one sided match as what happen in the Anand-Kramnik match last year when Anand win at ease.


Linares

This year Linares is the first tournament for the World Champion - Vishy Anand after his last year match against Kramnik. However the downside is this annual super GM tournament clash with Kamsky-Topalov match, so the focus from chess fan is significantly affected.


Aeroflot Open 2009

My favourite ASEAN player Wesley So who is fresh from his recent success in Corus Group C tournament is having a tough time in Aeroflot Open. So far he "only" collect 4 points from 7 round. Aeroflot Open maybe a less prestige event compare to Corus but because it is held in Russia , so there's many unknown but super strong Russian chess players compete in this event. I still remember a story about former British World Championship Candidate - GM John Speelman who once play a chess game against a Russian taxi driver in one of the Moscow park... and.... lost the game !

NMCC Blitz 1-09 - Winner Take All !

Yesterday after the chess talk by National Master Kamal Abdullah , NMCC organised a blitz winner take all tournament. 8 players took part in this mini round robin blitz tournament. The players paid RM 10 each and the Champion will receive 70% of the collected fees . No prize for second or third so there must be a sole winner - the concept is winner take all ...not all really because 30% will be given to the organiser for operating cost.


NM Kamal Abdullah (left) is the Champion of NMCC Winner Take All 1/09 !

The players competing is the 1st seed - NM Kamal Abdullah, Mohd Zambri Syarif , Shukeri Shukor, Mohd Irwan Zulkanean, Shamsol Bahrin, Khairul Annuar, Mohd Arshad and yours truly.

Below are the crosstable.



As expected, the 1st seeded - NM Kamal Abdullah won the torney quite easily. He collect 6.5 points from 7 rounds. He only concead a draw against Shamsol Bahrin when his flag fell but fortunately Sam only have a king left.

The second place goes to yours truly and Shukeri Shukor who both score 5 points each. However as i mentioned, the re's no price for second place ! Below is one of the interesting position occur in my game against Zambri :-

Hairulov vs Zambri Syarif

NMCC Winner Take All, 1-09

22.2.09

In my game against Zambri, i managed to turn the table in a very difficult and hopeless position. After blundering a piece in the middlegame, i try my best to hold the game and to confuse matter. Fortunately i found ....

19.Rxh7! 19... Kxh7? also bad is 19...Nxh7 20.Qxg6+ Kh8 21.Qg7# checkmate ; black only hope to prolong the game is by giving the queen with 19...Qf7 but after 20.Rxf7 Kxf7 21.Nh6+ white has a clear advantage. 20.Qh6+ black resign because of 20...Kg8 21.Qg7# checkmate 1–0

Chess in the eye of National Master Kamal Abdullah! - Part 1

Shamsol Bahrin (left) NMCC owner giving the welcoming speech

Today as scheduled, National Master (NM) Kamal Abdullah give a chess talk at Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC), Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. The talk was organised by NMCC in conjuction with the official opening ceremony of the chess centre.

Kamal Abdullah is a former National champion who has played many international tournaments such as Olympiad and Zonal . In this session, Kamal share a lot of story, tips and his opinion about chess .

NM Kamal Abdullah discussing one of the immortal game of Paul Morphy in 1857!

Among the participants who attend this talk is ex-National player - Mohd Fairin Zakaria and his daughter - Liyana , Mohd Saprin Sabri ( also former National player) , Muhammad Arshad - Secretary of Terengganu Chess Association , Mohd Zambri Syariff, Khairul Annuar, Shukri, Rizal Ahmad Kamal and his kids. Two famous local chess blogger - Marcus Yeoh and Andrew Ooi(gilachess) also turn up to give support!

One interesting story shared by Kamal is when he was once affected by unusual " chess syndrome". In the past, many times he faced a situation where he will see or think about chess everywhere he looks or go but he can't think about chess when he was at the chess board. From my own experience, i myself faces this kind of syndrome but probably not as bad as Kamal.

After telling his chess experience, Kamal ask the participants to form a group and play a group chess game . The participants are divide into three groups and they have to play a chess game where they have to choose a move alternately . The funny things is at several stages, the players have to proceed with a "not so favourable position" which was produced by other participant.

At the end, all participants seems to enjoy this group game. Kamal said this is a good exercise because the idea is you will not only look/analyze your move but your opponent move as well.

Kamal also show and discuss an interesting immortal game from the legendary chess player - Paul Morphy . The game against Napoleon Marache create a lively discussion among the participants because everyone was eager to find the best reply but in the critical position below, no one found the correct answer.

Napoleon Marache - Paul Morphy [C52]
New New, 1857

White has just play 19.Qe4 here. Try guess black best move in this position

In the above position, the particpants suggest moves such as 19...Ne2, 19...Nh4 ; and 19...c2. However all that move is not the best answer . Mohd Fairin Zakaria suggest a good move 19...Qg4 threatening 20...g5 pinning the bishop which good enough for a win . However the best move is actually 19...Ng3 !

White queen on e4 is being attack and if 20.Qxg6 Nde2++ checkmate !

One excellent tips from the Master is he suggest to chess players to study 100 chess diagrams every week. What he means is to solve chess diagrams which contains opening, middle game or endgame position . He said this type of study has give him good results.

Photos of the event

From left: Fairin Zakaria and his daughter , Khairul Anuar, Zambri Syarif, Irwan and Marcus Yeoh.

From left : Andrew Ooi ( Gilachess), Muhammad Arshad (Secretary of Terengganu Chess Association), and Rizal Ahmad Kamal.

Irwan Zulkenain the host giving a short brief about NMCC


After the chess talk, a NMCC Blitz Winner Take All Tournament were organised. 8 players tooks parts. The details and results of this tournament will be publish in part two report...

Reminder : NM Kamal Abdullah Chess Talk Tommorow !

Reminder to all chess fans. Tommorow National Master (NM) Kamal Abdullah will give a chess talk - "Chess in the eye of National Master" at Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) . The talk will start at 2 pm tommorow ( 22nd February) at No.42B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman TunDr.Ismail, Kuala Lumpur . Everybody are welcome .

The centre is located at the 2 nd floor. Nearby shop is Golf Tech Shop and Video Ezy. The centre is about 50 meter from Celcom, TTDI branch .

After the session, visitors are welcome to join a blitz session or read plenty of chess books there.

For details read here

Tribute To Edhi Handoko

FM Peter Long wrote a special tribute to the late Edhi Handoko - Indonesia 4th Grandmaster who died recently. Peter have many personal experience with Edi who is one of the Indonesian chess legends . read the full tribute at his blog here

NMCC Sunday Chess Talks : "Chess In The Eye Of A National Master " by NM Kamal Abdullah

National Master (NM) Kamal Abdullah (photo right) will give a chess lecture at the new Chess Centre in KL - Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC). NMCC vision is to provide all chess related services such as chess coaching,training, simultaneous display, arbiter services and tournament organising. This centre is also plan to sell chess equipment such as chess books, magazines, clocks, chess sets , demo boards and other equipments.

However for time being, NMCC only provide chess coaching/training package/ chess talks and simul.

Details of the chess talks is as below:-

Topic : "Chess in the eye of a National Master" by NM Kamal Abdullah

Location : No.42B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman Tun
Dr.Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Date : 22 February 2009 ( Sunday)

Time : 2pm - 4pm

ONLY the first 30 participants will be accepted for the first session ! So be quick ! An attractive promotion fees ( as below) is offered to the participants who registered.

PROMOTION FEES : Adults : RM 10.00, Student ( below 18 years old) : RM 5.00

*** accompanying parents/teachers is invited and will not be charged but seat are limited and priority will be given to the participants.

For further details, please contact : Shamsol Bahrin o129363119 or Irwan Zulkenain 0193866587 or email us at neo.manhattanchess@gmail.com


Everyone is welcome to join this session on Saturday, 22nd February 2009 at our chess centre.Please feel free to fill up the form given below.

NMCC Sunday Chess Talk


Maps to NMCC, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad, TTDI, KL ( red colour !)





Visit NMCC official blog for updates !

Fikri & Anis In The News !

What's more brilliant then two chess articles appear in local newspaper on the same day ! That's what happen today. After posting about Nur Nabila Azman who appear in one of the articles in KOSMO, i found that another chess article appear in today local newspaper - Sinar Harian(Selangor & KL edition) who publish an article about two young talent Fikri and Anis . Unfortunately the article is not available in the online version so i have to capture the image of the article manually (above).

Nur Nabila Azman Hisham in the News !

Thanks tu CATUR ITU BULAT( chess is round ?!) for informing me about today's KOSMO newspaper article about Nur Nabila Azman Hisham - Malaysia new chess wonderkid. Congratulation to Azman ( my MAKSAK team mate) and his wife.

This is the link for the online article . ( In Malay)

Photo from KOSMO.com

Topalov - Kamsky Game 1 : Draw

Tonight , Topalov - Kamsky World Championship Challenger Match start. The Match is held in Sofia, Bulgaria - the country of Topalov. Many suggest that playing in his own country will gave more pressure to Topalov then Kamsky !

I'm rooting for Kamsky to win this match because i'm get bored with Topalov and Anand. Furthermore Kamsky is well known as a fighter and i think he has the better chance/record to beat Anand.


Topalov (2796) - Kamsky (2725) [D87]
Candidate Match Game 1 (1), 17.02.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0–0 10.0–0 Na5 11.Bd3 b6 12.Qd2 e5 13.Bh6 cxd4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.cxd4 exd4 16.f4 f6 17.e5 Bd7 18.exf6+ Qxf6 19.Ng3 Kh8 Kh8 20.f5 gxf5 21.Bxf5 Bxf5 22.Rxf5 Qd6 23.Raf1 Nc6 24.Ne4 Qe7 25.Qh6 Rxf5 26.Rxf5 Ne5 27.h3 Ng6 28.Rh5 Rg8 29.Nf6 Rg7 30.Nxh7 Rxh7 31.Qxg6 Qe3+ 32.Kf1 Qc1+ 33.Kf2 Qd2+ 34.Kg3 Qe3+ 35.Kh2 Qf4+ 36.Kg1 Qc1+ draw.

GM Edhi Handoko Died

Indonesia fourth GM - Edhi Handoko died today at 49 years old in his house at Jawa Barat, Indonesia. Heart attack was believed as the caused of the death.

For Malaysian fans, Edhi Handoko once played for the Indonesian team - Bali Jeff Chess Club at the 1997 MERDEKA Team Event in Kuala Lumpur. I also played at the tournament and watch how he beat local players quite easily. Handoko playing as the first board, lead his team to win the tournament . For ASEAN chess community, this will be a sad news.

In his best year, several strong GM and top players such as Jan Timman, Lajosh Portisch, Tony Miles, Eugene Torre, succumb in the hand of Handoko.

Below is one of his famous victory against former World Championship Challenger - Jan Timman.

source : Indochess.com

Mashafizul Will Play In The 2009 Thailand Open !

IM Mashafizul (photo right) will play in the 2009 Thailand Open 2009 ( previously know as Bangkok Open) which start from 1-6 April 2009. He will fly to Pattaya with NM Kamal Abdullah special package ! So far two Malaysian - FM Peter Long and FM Mok Tze Meng has confirm their registration and Mas registration should probably be confirmed soon.

If god willing , i will be there too but not to play but blogging !?

Malaysian Chess History Update : Simuls in Malaysia

In this cozy Sunday morning, i glanced trough a chess book written by our first IM - Jimmy Liew , title - Chess Malaysia which was first published in 1986. Thanks to the owner of this book - Ilhamuddin who borrowed it to me ...- i hope he won't charge for late return :) . One interesting fact i read is about simultaneous chess display by international players held in Malaysia. excerpts from the books :-

..." The first local simul by a grandmaster was given by World Champion, the late Dr.Max Euwe in the 60's. Then there was a visit by Soviet Champion, the late Alexander Kotov followed by American Champion - John Grefe in 1975. Grandmaster Fridik Olafsson of Iceland and Raymond Keene of England also gave many simuls on their visit here a few years back...."

IM Jimmy Liew , Chess Malaysia 1986

Now this would be an interesting facts for me to update my Malaysian Chess History . However i would appreciate if anybody could feed me with more details about the events. For e.g what the exact years for the Dr.Max Euwe, GM Fridik Olafsson and Raymong Knee simul ?

Details can be submit to me by email hairulov@gmail.com or just leave a comment in this article.

Neo Manhattan Chess Centre Coaching Programme

Shamsul Bahrin (right) do the briefing to the NMCC guest

Today Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) organised a briefing about it chess coaching programme to interested chess players /coaches . The briefing was conducted by Shamsol Bahrin at NMCC, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. The six of the guest is ex-National player Mohd Fairin Zakaria, Kamaluddin Yusof, Mohd Zambri Syarif , Ahmad Nazri , Shamsudin Mat Isa and Haslindah Ruslan.

The surprised name in the today's NMCC guest is Ahmad Nazri who has been "idled" in local chess scenes for years ( Probably a decade ?). However from my observation on his play during the blitz session right after the briefing, he still have the touch which once brought him among country top players. Interestingly he mentioned that he once play 600 online games ( bullet-1minute) in 3 days !

After the briefing the guest proceed with compulsory "agenda"- chess blitz!

Wong Zi Jing played in the 4 Nations Chess League !

Last night i chat with IM Wong Zi Jing (photo above) via facebook. He told me that i missed the news about him playing in the 4 Nations Chess League (4NCL) recently ! The Four Nations League is a team tournament over three divisions, with over 850 players taking part and almost £10,000 in cash prizes on offer. It is the most prestigious team chess event held in the United Kingdom.Two games are played in every two months or so.

Actually i didn't noticed at all that Zi Jing played in that event. Probably because 4NCL is not that famous such as the German Bundesliga but after surfing on the 4NCL official site, i found that the there's several top players playing... for example the top team Guirford fielded top GM's such as Emil Stuvosky and Laurent Fressinet !

Back to Zi Jing, he played 1st board for the Cambridge University team . He joined the Cambridge University team to play in the December 2008 season. His teammates is basically Cambridge alumni . He lost to a French GM and drew with an English IM. Not bad for someone who has been inactive for quite a while.

He also mentioned that he was very surprise when he checked the latest FIDE rating for Malaysians and found out that Francis Chin also played in the very same event!

According to Zi Jing he found that i didn't noticed a small drop on his latest FIDE rating publish recently. Yes Zi Jing .. i really missed it..if not... i must definitely blog about it!

Anyway, below are his draw against a well known English IM - Richard Palliser. The author of the Fighting the Anti Sicilians book which i have a copy and is now with Fairin Zakaria !...:) p/s : don't worry Fairin..i didn't really use the book so much..you can continue using it . Just to make a stupid point that i have one of Richard Palliser books !

Zi Jing photo from facebook

Happy Birthday IM Mashafizul Helmi!

Tommorow is IM Mashafizul birthday. I would like to wish Mas much pleasure and joy with his family. May each hour and minute be filled with delight, and your birthday be perfect for you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for the No. 1 Malaysian chess player !

Be Punctual or...0 point you get !

I read an interesting information about "zero start" rule from sifumycatur blog. It's about an important change by FIDE in waiting time rule at the start of a chess game . As i know, the rule about waiting time is unclear- at least for me. What i mean is a clear guideline of waiting time for a player if your opponent happen to turn up late.

I remember one of my own experience playing in Merdeka Team Tournament in 90's. My opponent turn up late and have 5 minutes left and i have about 1 hour but he still be allowed to play. My opponent is quite a strong player but i managed to win the game because of time factor. In another case, one of my friend which i will not mentioned his name :) ...always had problem with time . In many occasions whether a long or rapid time control he will came up late and usually had about 5 minutes left but....still won the games!

This time FIDE won let this kind of situation happen anymore. So be punctual guy's ..if not ....0 point you get !

Chess Centre "House Cleaning"

The Classroom

Sam - a multi talent chess player ! :)

After the "gotong royong" we proceed with the "compulsary agenda" - chess blitz! Mr.Sam (left) and Mr.Irwan - (right)

Today my friends and i did some house cleaning (gotong royong) for the new chess centre in Taman Tun Dr.ismail, Kuala Lumpur which will be launch on the 22nd February 2009. The first event for the chess centre on that day will be a chess lecture - Chess In The Eye of a National Master by NM Kamal Abdullah .

Further detail will follow soon.

Klang Open 2009 - Final Standing

Thanks to the organiser - Mr.Azhar Mohd Said, below is the final results for the Klang Open 2009 which was held yesterday . Interesting fact about the tournament is the tourney saw 411 players participate including 4 foreign players . The foreigners are from the Philippines , Myanmar, Zambia and Indonesia. Of course the Filipino - Ian Udani who live here is a frequent guess in our local chess scenes . However for the rest , i only noticed one of them which looks like an African, so he must be the Zambian. Being at the tournament for only about half an hour , i couldn't noticed the Burmese and the Indonesian, however from the final standings i can guess their names. The Zambian must be Kaoma Kateule and April Pyone Maung Maung - the Burmese. The Indonesian is hard to guess because their names is similar with Malaysian Malay.

Ian Udani ( far left) in his last round game against Kamaludin Yusof ( result - draw 1/2 - 1/2)

The players wearing the red cap and white shirt must be Kaoma Kateule from Zambia.

Below is the link for the full standing of each group.

1. Click Open Section

2. Click Under 18 Section

3. Clik Under 12 Section

4. Click Paid Under 12 Section

In the final round pairing (photo below) , the champion - Ong Thian Loo with 7 point meet FM Anas Nazreen Bakri ( 6 points) . If you click the open section final standings, you will see that both Ong Thian Loon and FM Anas Nazreen collect 7 points each so Anas must have beat Thian Loo in the final round. However Thian Loo have the better tie-break and was declared as the champion.

click the image for larger view

Ong Thian Loon Win Klang Open 2009 !

Ong Thian Loon emerged as the unexpected champion in the 2009 Klang Open held at the Pusat Sumber Pendidikan, Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS), Kampung Jawa, Klang . The second place goes to FM Anas Nazreen Bakri followed by FM Mok Tze Meng.The tournament managed to attract a large number of participants. According to one of the organiser - Mr. Azhar, 400++ players participate in this 8 round swiss system and National rated tournament organised by Badan Kebajikan Kakitangan Pejabat Agama Islam Klang dan Majlis Guru Besar Daerah Klang .

Ong Thian Loon - Klang Open 2009 Champion !

Big names such as FM Mok Tze Meng, FM Anaz Nazreen Bakri, NM Kamal Abdullah, NM Kamal Ariffin, National player and ex World Police Champion - Ismail Ahmad , Filipino - Ian Udani, WNM Nurshazwani Zulkifli, WJM Nur Nabila Azman, Kamaluddin Yusof, Mohd Fadli Zakaria, Abdullah Che Hassan turn up in this event... so... Thian Loo victory is quite an achievement.

The last round . From left ( Kamaluddin Yusof vs Ian Udani , FM Mok Tze Meng vs Ismail Ahmad, Ong Thian loon vs FM Anas Nazreen Bakri)

Round 8: Sam (right) vs NM Kamal Abdullah

My fellow friend - Sam also play and he finish in 12th place ( not bad result -Sam !). In the last round, he draw against NM Kamal Abdullah who arrive to this tournament straight from Johor Bahru (JB). Last night he was with me and Irwan at Kelana Mall ( Kelana Jaya) till 11pm before going to JB and this morning he is in Klang - thanks to Ali Cafe we drink last night ! Both Sam and Kamal finished with 6 points.

The players in deep concentration during the last round

source : Mr. Azhar