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Youngster Yeoh Li Tian finished first place with 9points in the recent Thaipusam Open. Even though only 14 participants took part the field, it was hardly easy in a field of strong players such as Muhd Fadli Zakaria, Jax Tham and Lim Zhuo-Ren. Here are the results:-

Ranking after round 10 of TP123
No.  PNo.  Name                       Score WP    SB     PS    rat.  TPR  W-We
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.    2  YEOH LI TIAN                9.0  56.0  47.50  50.0  1807 1967 +1.25
  2.    4  MUHD FADLI ZAKARIA          8.5  58.0  46.50  43.5  1749 1883 +1.22
  3.    3  JAX THAM                    8.0  57.0  41.00  42.0  1785 1820 +0.32
  4.    1  LIM ZHUO REN                7.0  55.0  33.50  38.5  1885 1732 -1.47
  5.    5  LOW JUN JIAN                6.5  47.5  18.50  31.0  1711 1671 -0.38
  6.    8  JOSHUA FOONG                6.0  49.5  17.00  32.0  1547 1593 +0.41
  7.    9  TIN JUN HAO                 5.0  51.5  15.00  26.0  1500 1454 -0.26
        6  LOW JUN KEAT                5.0  50.5  11.50  27.0  1590 1554 -0.31
       10  ISKANDAR DANIAL ADAM        5.0  48.5  10.00  28.0  1228 1448 +0.76
10.    11  ARVINDH CHANDRAN            3.5  45.5   5.75  23.0  0000 1272  1272
11.    13  MUHD AMIR RIDWAN            3.0  46.0   3.50  18.0  0000 1282  1282
12.     7  DANIYAR NAZARBAYEV          2.0  46.5   1.50  15.0  1550  951 -2.34
13.    12  KAEVIN CHANDRAN             1.5  44.0   1.75  11.0  0000  882   882
14.    14  WONG KAH WENG               0.0  44.5   0.00   0.0  0000  896   896 

Youngster Yeoh Li Tian finished first place with 9points in the recent Thaipusam Open. Even though only 14 participants took part the field, it was hardly easy in a field of strong players such as Muhd Fadli Zakaria, Jax Tham and Lim Zhuo-Ren. Here are the results:-

Ranking after round 10 of TP123
No.  PNo.  Name                       Score WP    SB     PS    rat.  TPR  W-We
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.    2  YEOH LI TIAN                9.0  56.0  47.50  50.0  1807 1967 +1.25
  2.    4  MUHD FADLI ZAKARIA          8.5  58.0  46.50  43.5  1749 1883 +1.22
  3.    3  JAX THAM                    8.0  57.0  41.00  42.0  1785 1820 +0.32
  4.    1  LIM ZHUO REN                7.0  55.0  33.50  38.5  1885 1732 -1.47
  5.    5  LOW JUN JIAN                6.5  47.5  18.50  31.0  1711 1671 -0.38
  6.    8  JOSHUA FOONG                6.0  49.5  17.00  32.0  1547 1593 +0.41
  7.    9  TIN JUN HAO                 5.0  51.5  15.00  26.0  1500 1454 -0.26
        6  LOW JUN KEAT                5.0  50.5  11.50  27.0  1590 1554 -0.31
       10  ISKANDAR DANIAL ADAM        5.0  48.5  10.00  28.0  1228 1448 +0.76
10.    11  ARVINDH CHANDRAN            3.5  45.5   5.75  23.0  0000 1272  1272
11.    13  MUHD AMIR RIDWAN            3.0  46.0   3.50  18.0  0000 1282  1282
12.     7  DANIYAR NAZARBAYEV          2.0  46.5   1.50  15.0  1550  951 -2.34
13.    12  KAEVIN CHANDRAN             1.5  44.0   1.75  11.0  0000  882   882
14.    14  WONG KAH WENG               0.0  44.5   0.00   0.0  0000  896   896 

Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son from Vietnam seeded first at the start of the tournament won the KL Open 2009 outright with 7.5 points out of 9 games half a point ahead of his nearest rivals. For his efforts he takes home first prize of  RM 10,000.

In clear second place is Indonesian Grandmaster Susanto Megaranto who had a bad start in the tournament with 2 losses to weaker opponents. However all his other games were wins including his last round against second seed Grandmaster Dao Tien Hai of Vietnam. As second place winner he takes back RM 5,000.

Uzbekistan Grandmaster Saidali Iuldachev also finished strongly with a score of 6.5 points just half a point behind Megaranto. His third prize includes RM 3000 cash.

In shared 4th to 8th places with RM 1,000 each were Dao, GM Marat Dzhumaev and IM Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan, CM Nguyen Hoang Nam from Vietnam and IM Richard Bitoon from the Philippines.

According to Chessdom website the marriage of 19 years old Ukrainian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin to 20 years old WGM Kateryna Dolzhikova on Friday, July 24th makes them one of the strongest chess couples in the world.

Sergey Karjakin and Kateryna Dolzhikova knew each other for a long time as they are both from Ukraine. However, their real relationship started right after the Dresden Chess Olympiad last year. They are having a short honeymoon in Yalta is and on both husband and wife will be going to the Grand Prix tournament starting on August 7th. Karjakin is participating in the event.

The Kuala Lumpur Young Talent Championship is the first event that the newly set up Polgar Chess University arm in Malaysia is supporting. The event is also supported by the Malaysian Chess Federation and the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA). Susan Polgar has set up a unique chess video tutorial system at www.polgarchessuniversity.com.

With only 3 age categories, the event has attracted a respectable 121 participants taking part in the Under-13, Under-11 and Under-9 age group.

The event is unique as other than the offers cash prizes and trophies to the winners, the organisers also promises the following for the top 3 winners:-

1. 12 weekend training sessions throughout the year.

2. Free entry to KL Open and representation of KLCA in team competitions where possible.

3. Special 4 day boot camp during long school terms break.

4. Financial support in consultation with MCF if selected to represent Malaysia in designated ASEAN/Asian/World Youth competitions.

Just like the Malaysian National Age Group 2009 tourneys, the KL Young Talent Chess Championship is held at the 2nd floor of the Pearl Point Shopping Complex.

Although it is in a shopping complex, the playing hall is sufficiently cordoned off  from the other shops so it’s not too noisy.

The parties that made this event possible.

My team mate, Tan Jun Feng, in the DATCC chess league. Currently one of the leaders in the Under 13 section. He has 4.5/5 and is playing against Daniel Iskandar who has the same score. A crucial game is this is the second last round.

Aziz Farhan who is the current leader after 5 rounds in the under 11 section. He has 4.5/5 and is playing Subramaniam Sivanesan (4 points).

Subramaniam Sivanesan. Beside him playing on board 2 is NWM Tan Li Ting. The event is gender neutral. Both boys and girls are not segregated. Both are playing in the Under-11 section. It will be interesting to see how NWM Tan Li Ting will do as she is Malaysia’s youngest National Woman Master (at 10 years old!!) beating WFM Siti Zulaikha’s previous record by four months.

Daniel Iskandar playing on board 1 in the Under-13 section.

Round 6 pairings. One more round to go after this.

Arbiter for the event. Kevin. Familiar face for me as I’ve known him since two DATMO’s ago.

MCF Secretary Gregory Lau (on the mic) with last minute announcement before the start of Round 6.

It’s an all out GM clash on the top 10 boards going into the 11th round of the Asian Continental Chess Championship 2009. The only non-GM playing in those boards is Chinese Yu Yangyi.

The current leaders are GM Ganguly Surta Shekhar and GM Zhou Weiqi who at 7½ out of 10 rounds are just half a point a head of their nearest rivals.

15-year old Hou Yifan who took part in the Open instead of the Women section of the Asian Continental is showing her mettle too in shared 3-7th position with 7/10 points. The heavily anticipated clash between the two junior superstars Hou Yifan and Wesley So took place on Round 10. The game ended in a draw.

Round 11 on 2009/05/23 at 14:00

Full round 11 pairings here.

Also it looks like Anton Filippov got to play after all despite the visa problems.

With an ELO of 2507 by April 2008 rating list, Joseph Sanchez has already fulfilled all the requirements for the GM title. He becomes the Philippines 11th International Grandmaster.

From GMANews.TV:-

MANILA, Philippines – Add the name of 39-year-old Cebuano wood pusher Joseph Sanchez to the growing roster of Filipino chess Grandmasters.
A Mandaue born chesser who’s now based in Europe, Sanchez become the country’s 11th Grandmaster after the International Chess Federation (FIDE) confirmed his GM title last week during its 1st Quarter Presidential Board meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. Sanchez’s new status will take effect April 1.
Sanchez, who had served second to GM Mark Paragua during his early years, clinched his third and final GM norm by accumulating 6.5 points at the 23rd Cannes International Chess Festival in France last month. He was actually a strong contender for the championship through eight rounds but eventually settled for third after dropping his final round assignment.

The Cebuano pride, whose ELO rating is expected to reach 2482 next month, thus joined Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas Jr., Rogelio Antonio Jr., Buenaventura Villamayor, Nelson Mariano II, Paragua, Wesley So, Darwin Laylo, Jayson Gonzales and John Paul Gomez in the Philippines’ elite club of GMs.
Meanwhile, the country welcomed two new International Masters (IMs) in its ranks after the FIDE promoted Virgilio Vuelban and Kim Steven Yap.
The 27-year-old FIDE Master Vuelban is based in Italy while the 18-year-old Yap also hails from Cebu, born to a chess-playing family. His father is National Master Lincoln Yap while his uncles are IM Rico Mascarinas and FIDE arbiter Marvin Ruelan.

It was neck and neck between Koneru and Hou Yifan. However Koneru managed to win her final round vs Marie Sebag while Hou drew her game vs compatriot Shen Yang.

After the win Koneru said reservedly that "Overall I could not really play up to my level". (full interview at FIDE website)

Full story: http://istanbul2009.fide.com/humpy-koneru-wins-istanbul-grand-prix.html