By QUAH SENG SUN
“This is a game that needs more publicity and aggressive promotion to bring in the fans,” he said when opening the Malaysia Chess Festival in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday.
As a first step, he said that his ministry would meet with the MCF to draw up a development programme.
He was impressed by the good turnout at the chess fest which attracted about 600 local and foreign players as well as their families. The foreigners hailed from 21 countries, some coming from as far as Uzbekistan and Australia.
New champion: Parimarjan Negi (left) with Malaysian Chess Federation honorary life president Datuk Tan Chin Nam
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Shabery observed that this was a game that defied boundaries. “It is not a game of physical strength, not how big or how small you are, young or old, man or woman, or nationalities. Rarely do we see a sporting event that allows for both genders to compete on equal terms,” he said.
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Earlier, in his welcome speech, MCF president Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib stressed that the MCF has had no financial assistance from the Government in the past five years.
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“We are a sports organisation recognised by the Olympic Council of Malaysia and yet we do not receive any funding at all. We appeal to the minister for assistance and greater recognition of our efforts and activities in contributing to nation-building.
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“We undertake more than 10 competitions every year and send contingents to compete at international level. We are now undertaking a project to establish our first grandmaster.
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“I can confidently say that more than 40,000 people in this country are active in the game in one way or another: people from all walks of life, of all ages and physical abilities, from schoolchildren to working adults and senior citizens, playing competitively or socially.
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“Chess has a good following in this country; it gives good exposure to our country and the game helps in promoting awareness of Malaysia,” Ramli said.
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Speeches aside, one of the memorable moments of the 10-day Malaysia Chess Festival must be the tight finish at the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia open tournament.
When I arrived in Kuala Lumpur after the end of the seventh round, I was wondering whether China’s Yu Yangyi would be able to hold on to his slim, sole lead.
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At that stage, he had earned six points, dropping only two early draws to Malaysia’s Yeoh Li Tian in the first round and Iranian grandmaster Ghaem Maghami Ehsan in the fifth, and winning all the other games.
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Right behind him was a crowded field of five players with 5½ points each, all waiting for the slightest mistake from him.
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In the eighth round, Yu did make a mistake. Careless play against Emmanuel Senador of the Philippines doomed him to defeat. Suddenly Senador found himself thrust into the role of tournament leader with 6½ points.
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In the meantime, the players who were chasing after the leader had grown to nine players, all only half a point behind.
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In such circumstances, I would consider the tournament to be wide open. That half a point notwithstanding, any one of the 10 players could become the next Malaysia open champion.
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For the final round, Senador found himself paired with Parimarjan Negi. Other critical last-round match-ups saw Ronald Dableo paired with Susanto Megaranto, Ghaem paired with Darwin Laylo, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son with Yu, Gerhard Schebler with Nafisa Muminova and Saidali Yuldachev with Li Chao.
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Negi and Dableo found inspiration in their games as they carved out wins. So did Schebler who won his game and thus ended the tournament with 6½ points. All the other encounters were drawn.
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So by the time the dust finally settled on the Malaysia open, Negi and Dableo were the only two players left standing with seven points each. Eight players, including Schebler, finished with 6½ points.
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Originally, I thought there would be a play-off for the title but the tournament organisers told me there wouldn’t be one. If more than one player were to tie at the end of the nine rounds, the tie would be broken by tie-breaks. As it turned out, Negi had a slightly better tie-break than Dableo.
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The event was a thrilling fight from beginning to end. Spectators came to the tournament to see whether Li Chao could do a hattrick by winning the Malaysia open tournament for a third time.
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Instead, they found a new hero in the young Indian grandmaster, Negi. Now 16 years of age, Negi was once the youngest grandmaster in the world. On July 1, 2006, at the age of 13, he became a grandmaster when he earned his third and final GM norm at a tournament in Russia.
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Up next
The Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament at Shah’s Village Hotel in Petaling Jaya starts today. Except for Sunday, there’ll be two rounds daily until next Tuesday, with games starting at 8am and 2pm.
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According to the organisers, there will be six grandmasters and nine international masters in the 56-player field.
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The round-by-round results can be followed almost instantaneously from the tournament website,http://www.klchess.com/.
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> Quah Seng Sun can be contacted at ssquah@gmail.com. -The star
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