Sunday, August 22, 2010

The ASTRO Merdeka Team Rapid Is Coming To Town


Come next Saturday, the Malaysian Chess Festival will be kicking alive. Unfortunately, GiLoCatur won't be at the Midvalley Cititel Hotel to watch or be part of the event. GiLoCatur and family will be at kampung during the weekend. The first event that will take place is the Merdeka Individual Rapid. GiLoCatur will not write about it in details in this entry, maybe later. What GiLoCatur wants to write about is the second event that will be held from 29th to 31st August. It is the ASTRO Merdeka Team Rapid event.

As of now (based on this link), 67 teams have registered for the event that will include eight foreign Grandmasters. The last team just registered is Crusher that is led by Indian GM, Laxman R R who has FIDE ratings of 2503. One of his team mates is also fellow countryman GM named Arun Prasad. Besides the Grandmasters, the event will be also participated by most of our elite and top players. In fact, leading the starting rank list is a Malaysian team, SMS Gold, comprises of IM Mok, FM Nicholas Chan, his brother Marcus, Khor Shi Hong and IM Yee Weng.

It is good to note that many Malaysian juniors team up as a team to challenge all the titled players. Surely it will be difficult to beat their master opponents but they should cherish the moments of playing against them. They should have the courage to at least give good fight and strong will to play their best games. Do not give up before putting a fight. For our golden chess boy, Li Tian, GiLoCatur believes this is the stage where he should shine and show his prowess to the chess world.

Which team is GiLoCatur's pick to win the event? The Uzbek Connection! Who are the top challengers in GiLoCatur's eyes? SMS Gold, Bengal Tigers and Chesskidz Team A.

Which team won last year? Which team won in the year 2003? Do you know?

GiLoCatur would like to wish "BEST OF LUCK" to all the participating teams especially to Sergeant Ismail Ahmad and his Uzbek Connection. :)

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