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.

Teh De Juan – Under 9 champion

Aziz Farhan – Under 11 champion

Roshan Singh – Under 13 champion

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.

50 year old veteran coach and Grandmaster Daryl Johansen won the Sydney International Open after drawing a 100 move game in the last round against compatriot GM Zhao Zong Yuan. Grandmasters Gawain Jones of England and Abhijit Kunte of India plus Sydney International Master George Xie all won their last round games to join Johansen in equal first place. Johansen was awarded the SIO title on tiebreak and the four players shared $10,000.

Last Round results

Top 10 standings

The 5 day international chess tournament known as the Doeberl Cup ended with International Master Sengupta Deep winning the event on tie-break over 2 other GMs, Jones Gawain and Deepan Chakkravarthy all of whom had 7/9. Despite losing his last round game Sengupta still manage to take first place as he lead throughout the tournament.Sengupta also achieves his 2nd GM norm in the Doeberl Cup. He is the first Indian to win the Doeberl Cup.

Also notable was Indian WFM Pon, Nkrithika achieving a WIM result.

Results from official website : http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/DBL2009_results/premier/index.html