Game for the KL open?

CHESS
By QUAH SENG SUN

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Chess activities continue to heat up in Malaysia.

THE Kuala Lumpur Chess Association’s third KL open chess tournament next month will be quite an affair, judging by the number of foreign participants.

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The grandmasters who are expected to take part are Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia), Hou Yifan (China), Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh), Saidali Yuldashev (Uzbekistan), Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam), Niaz Murshed (Bangladesh), Wong Meng Kong (Singapore), Barus Cerdas (Indonesia) and Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia).

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Familiar names among the international masters will include Richard Bitoon (Philippines), Oliver Dimakiling (Philippines), Alexander Wohl (Australia), Irwanto Saidikin (Indonesia), Liu Dede (Indonesia) and Tirto (Indonesia).

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Impressive: Hou Yifan, 16, a chess prodigy from China will be playing in the KL open chess tournament.
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Mok Tze Meng will be leading the local challenge. He will be playing together with other top players like Jimmy Liew, Nicholas Chan and Lim Chuin Hoong. Altogether, there should be about 15 local representatives among the 90 registrants.

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In addition to all these players, the organisers expect a special guest from England to turn up towards the end of the tournament. Nigel Short, former world championship contender and many times Commonwealth chess champion, will be arriving from Bangkok and staying for the weekend.

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Whilst in Kuala Lumpur, Short will give a simultaneous exhibition to a maximum of 20 players on April 10.

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The KL open will be held at the Grand Olympic Hotel in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur, from April 6 to 12. There will be a total of nine rounds and on the last day, a blitz tournament is planned for the afternoon before the closing ceremony.

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Entry fees for the KL open are staggered. Grandmasters, woman grandmasters, international masters, woman international masters and players with Fide ratings of above 2400 get free entry into the tournament.

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Fide masters, woman Fide masters and players whose Fide ratings are between 2300 and 2399 are charged RM100. Thereafter, the entry fees go up to RM150, RM200, RM250, RM300 until RM350 for unrated players. Entry fees are to be paid fully to the organisers by March 16 or a 50% penalty will apply.

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For registration and more information, visit the KLCA blog at klchess.blogspot.com or contact Peter Long (013-392 0920 / peterlong@aol.asia).