Thursday, December 31, 2015

TYM Grand Finale


Thursday, 31.12.2015

Today is the last day for the year 2015. How time flies.

Tonight at 9.00pm, the TYM Grand Finale will kick off its first round. Many don't know what TYM stands for. Actually, TYM is the abbreviation for "Tonomen Yuran Murah" or Inexpensive Fee Tournament in English. Ofcourse, it is a CHESS tournament. What do you think? 

"Pay Less, Play More" is the motto for the TYM. Thus, its fee is very cheap which is TWO Malaysian Ringgits. By paying such amount of money the participants will play six rounds of 10-minute-per-player chess game. The TYM which began on 1st September 2015 is held on weekday nights. The venue for the TYM is Pintar Bistari Chess Center located in Section 7, Shah Alam, and owned by one of Malaysian chess enthusiasts, Mr Halim Shuhaimi.

TYM Serie 51 participants 

There are about 70 series for the TYM championship. Both GiLoCatur's sons - Fikri and Fahim, were also taking parts in several series.

GiLoCatur strongly believes that this sort of chess activity should be held all over the country. It will surely benefits the Malaysian chess community.  

Who are the chess players that will compete in the TYM Grand Finale? Below are the photos of several TYM series champions who have confirmed their invitation.


Mr Halim (right) - Serie 28 champ

Abdul Haq (left) - 3 times champion

IM Mas Hafizul (right) - Serie 51 champ

Masrin aka Mr Magix (left) - 2 times champion

Mohd Amin (left) - 2 times champion

Kamaludin aka Abg Bro (left) - 5 times champion

AGM Nik Farouqi (left) - 17 times champion

Salam (left) - Serie 12 champion

Steven Leong (left) - 3 times champion

Razali Hamzah aka Ng6 (left) - Serie 5 champion
Syed aka Yedman (left) - 3 times champion

Who will emerge as the Champion of the TYM Grand Finale tonight? Let's go to Pintar Bistari Chess Center. 

GiLoCatur would like to wish Good Luck and All The Best to all the players who compete in the TYM Grand Finale tonight!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Johor International Open - Part 1


Penang International Open had just ended on last Sunday. Many of its participants go to JB from Penang to take part in Johor International Open which began yesterday.

source : http://www.johorchessassociation.com/

This morning, the second round is being held. 62 players take part in the Open section while 103 participants compete in teh Challengers category. 

Visit http://www.johorchessassociation.com/ for more details on the championship.

Visit http://chess-results.com/tnr199960.aspx?lan=1&art=0&wi=821 to follow the results for the Open section.

Visit http://chess-results.com/tnr199954.aspx?lan=1&art=0&wi=821 to follow the results for the Challengers section.

To watch live games of the Top 4 Boards of the Open section, go to http://broadcast.kedaicatur.com/

Visit Gilachess Blog here to get the updates on the championship.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

A Look at 2015 Penang Chess Open - Part 1


Five rounds has been played in the 2015 Penang Chess Open. Let's take a look at the Challengers section. There are 189 players taking part (note : based on the pairings in chess-results.com) including GiLoCatur's youngest child, Fahim. 

Round 5 pairings/results

There are nine (9) foreign players in the Top 5 boards in the 5th round as per above. Five (5) are from Indonesia and one each from Singapore, Philippines and Sri Lanka. The only Malaysian player in the list is Mohd Aziz Farhan, Fahim's school mate. Six of the foreign players have no FIDE ratings yet. 

GiLoCatur hopes the Malaysian players can rise to the top and provide tough challenges to foreign players. The Malaysian players especially the young ones should take the opportunity to learn and grab the experience to improve their chess performance.

MALAYSIA BOLEH! 

2015 Penang Chess Open


Hello to all,

It is about three weeks this blog has not been updated eh.

What's up dude? What's going on with the Malaysian chess scene?

There are lots of chess tournaments during the weekends in Malaysia. Penang Chess Open or its official name, the Penang Heritage City International Chess Open, is on-going right now. It is held from 7th until 12th December. There are two categories - the Open section and the Challengers section. 

GiLoCatur's youngest child, Fahim, is taking part in the Challengers section. Right now, the participants are in the sixth round.

Go to http://penangopen2015.blogspot.my/ to get the updates on the tournament and view the live games. Or you may go direct to http://broadcast.kedaicatur.com

To view the pairings and results of the Open section, go to >

To view the pairings and results of the Challengers section, go to >

Monday, November 16, 2015

CIU - 2015 UM-IPT Chess Championship

Sunday, 15/11/2015

By 4.00 PM today, the UM-IPT chess championship had completed its final round. Seventy six young chess players including GiLoCatur's eldest child, Fikri, from several local higher learning institutions had taken part in the three-day chess tournament. The seven-round championship had been held at UM Arena.

venue of the tournament


In the championship, both Women and Men are playing in one category. But the winners are separate for Women and Men category respectively. 

So, who are the winners? 

Top 20 Final Ranking - Women

Top 20 Final Ranking - Men

In the Men's category, Chan Sheng Yip of Sunway University lives up to its numero uno seeding. He won all his games except the fifth round where he drew with Nur Nabila Azman Hisham of UiTM, the top seed of in the Women section. Meanwhile, Faeznor Razali (UIA) and Mohd Ali Chor (UiTM) won the First and Second Runner Up respectively. The former edged UiTM player, Wan Mohd Azmie Wan Abd Rahim in the final round while the latter could not win against Sheng Yip.

In the Women's category, both Alia Anin Azwa Bakri of UM and Nur Nabila Azman Hisham of UiTM had the same point ie 5.5/7. The former lost once to Sheng Yip while the latter lost once to university team mate, Mohd Ali Chor. Since Alia has better tie-break, she was placed First in the Women Final Ranking. Thus, Nabila was placed second. The third place went to Najihah Mohd Saufi from UiTM scoring 4.5/7 points from 4 wins and one draw.

Top 20 Final Ranking from chess-results.com

Photo Gallery

Below are several photos GiLoCatur took using lenovo handphone during the tournament.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4
Congratulation to all the podium winners!

(note: GiLoCatur does not have the photos of the winners receiving prizes since missing the prize giving ceremony.)

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Klang Valley FIDE-Rated Tourney - 28 & 29 Nov 2015


A FIDE-rated chess tournament will be held as follows:

Cheras International Youth Center

KLANG VALLEY FIDE-RATED Chess Championship

Date : Saturday (28/11/2015) & Sunday (29/11/2015)

Venue : Bilik Bunga Raya, Cheras International Youth Center

Organizer : KL Teachers & Cheras Chess Academy

Time Control : 45 minute per player, 7 Swiss Rounds

Categories : Open & Girls Under 18

Fees : FIDE-rated - RM 60.00, Unrated - RM 100.00

Closing Date : Saturday, 21/11/2015


For further inquiries:

Cikgu Rezal 0133641001
Cikgu Shamsuddin 0165554956
Email your registration form to suhairihussin@yahoo.com

Payment: 
Maybank 164098473823 
Mohd Rezal Che Man


Schedule
Day 1 (Saturday, 28 November 2015)
0900 Players' Briefing
0915 – 1045 Round 1
1100 – 1230 Round 2 
         Lunch
1330 – 1500 Round 3 
1530 – 1700 Round 4

Day 2 (Sunday, 29 November 2015)
0900 – 1030 Round 5
1100 – 1230 Round 6
         Lunch
1330 – 1500 Round 7
1530 – 1615 Closing/Prize-giving Ceremony


Prizes plus medals

Open 
1st  500
2nd 350
3rd  250
4th  200
5th  150
6th  100
7th  80
8th  Hamper
9th  Hamper
10th Hamper


Girls Under-18
1st  200
2nd 160
3rd  120
4th  80
5th  60
6th  Hamper
7th  Hamper
8th  Hamper
9th  Hamper
10th Hamper


Certificate of Participation for ALL.

Certificate of Excellence for winners

Thursday, October 29, 2015

CIU - UiTM JOHOR Chess Team WON 2 Golds & 2 Silvers in KARISMA 2015


Thursday, 29/10/2015

KARISMA 2015 Chess Championship had ended today. 40 male and 41 female players from 11 UiTM Campuses all over Malaysia took part in the championship. Fikri, GiLoCatur's eldest child, represents UiTM Johor for the second time in the championship. 

Below are the champions and winners:

MEN's Category
  
Team Ranking - The Top 3
UiTM Johor accumulated 19.5 points from its four players - Daniel, Fikri, Hafiz and Ibnu Fahmi. Trailing one point is UiTM Perak. UiTM Shah Alam is placed third with 18 points. So, below are the medal winners. 

UiTM Johor - Gold
UiTM Perak - Silver
UiTM Shah Alam - Bronze
UiTM Perlis - Bronze (if 4th place also counted)

Individual Final Ranking - The Top 10
The above shows the Top 10 Final Ranking for Individual event in the Men section. Daniel Iskandar of UiTM Johor emerged as the champion having won 6 and drew 2 games making his score 7/8 points. While Wan Mohd Azmie of UiTM Shah Alam who won 4 and drew 4 games is the first Runner Up. He accumulated 6/8 points. Two other players - Muhd Syafiq and Hassan Al Basri, also scored 6/8 points. Both were the Bronze medalist.

Losing his final round, Fikri of UiTM Johor accumulated 5/8 points. The defeat has caused him to be placed 7th. Surely, it is very disappointing to not only Fikri but also to GiLoCatur and family. 

For full final ranking, please view here.


WOMEN's Category

Team Ranking - The Top 3
Both UiTM Puncak Alam and UiTM Johor have tie points which is 20. The former is ranked first because their first tie-break is higher. UiTM Shah Alam is placed third with 19.5 points. In medal prizes, GiLoCatur is not sure whether the fourth rank team is also awarded the Bronze medal.  If it is then, 

UiTM Puncak Alam - Gold
UiTM Johor - Silver
UiTM Shah Alam - Bronze
UiTM Perlis - Bronze

(note: GiLoCatur could not find the medal winners info in the KARISMA 2015 official website.)

Individual Final Ranking - The Top 10

The above shows the Top 10 Final Ranking for Individual event in the Women section. Nur Nabila of UiTM Puncak Alam won 6 games and drew the other 2 making his score 7/8 points. She became the champion and Gold medal winner. While Nuraini Syamimi of UiTM Johor was declared the first Runner Up having won 6, lost 1 and drew 1 games. She accumulated 6.5/8 points. Although Najihah of UiTM Perak also has the same point as Nuraini, since the former has lower tie-break, she is the second Runner Up. Placed fourth with 6/8 points from 6 wins and 2 defeats, the sole player from UiTM Negeri Sembilan shares the Bronze medal with Najihah. 

For full final ranking, please view here.

2015 UiTM Johor Chess Contingent

UiTM Johor Chess Team has won 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals. Both Gold medals won in the Men's Category one each in Individual and Team events. While its Women team has won both Silver medals. It is the best feat ever by UiTM Johor chess team thus far to GiLoCatur's knowledge.

Congratulations to UiTM Johor Chess Team! Keep it up!

CIU - Chess Tournaments Held At Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)


Before GiLoCatur forgets, would like to share chess tournaments that will be held at UTP.

1. 31/10/2015 & 1/11/2015

UTP TCC 2015


2. NRBCC - 21 & 22/11/2015

NRBCC 2015

GiLoCatur has checked which editions of the UTP NRBCC that GiLoCatur and family had attended. It is easy. Just key in "UTP" in the Search This Blog column, kebam kedebum the entries on UTP will be listed. 

Just realized that GiLoCatur and family had attended the first three editions (2010, 2011 and 2012) and had not been attended its next two editions (2013 & 2014). In fact, GiLoCatur took part in the second edition (2011). This year edition? Donno yet.


Legend : CIU = Chess In University

CIU - UM-IPT 2015 FIDE-rated Chess Tournament


2015 KARISMA Chess Championship had just ended today. The champions and the winners had been crowned. GiLoCatur will update later about this.

GiLoCatur would like to share a chess tournament organized by a University and KPM for the students of Malaysian Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) which include both private and public universities, community colleges, polytechnics and other colleges.


The tournament is by invitation and will be held from 13th to 15th November 2015. Before writing further, GiLoCatur would like to seek a thousands of apologies from Dr Ng Siew Cheok of Universiti Malaya for forgetting to publish early about this tournament. 

Dr Siew Cheok had emailed GiLoCatur the details and entry form of the tournament 13 days ago. GiLoCatur praises and salutes this effort by UM Sports Center for organizing the tournament to provide a FIDE-rated standard time control tournament for chess players from local Institution of Higher Learning. 

Below are the details of the tournament:


Introduction & Eligibility

Eligibility continues

Date, Venue, Format, Time Control & Fees

The schedule from 13th to 15th Nov 2015

Info on Tie-Break

The Prizes

ENQUIRIES AND CONTACT:
For further enquiries, please send an email to Dr. Ng Siew Cheok (siewcng@um.edu.my) or contact Mrs. Nurfadhilah at 03-79676980 (diylladania@um.edu.my).

    
     IMPORTANT DATES:

     26/10/2015 (before)  - Entry Form Submission
   
     29/10/2015  - Invitation

      3/11/2015 (before)  - Accept Invitation

      6/11/2015  - Invitation to KIV List

     13 to 15/11/2015  - Tournament days


Legend : CIU = Chess In University

Monday, October 26, 2015

UiTM Johor Chess Team for KARISMA 2015


For the 22nd Edition of KARISMA 2015 hosted by UiTM Kedah, GiLoCatur would only follow from home. The chess games are scheduled from Monday, 26th until Thursday, 29th October 2015. Fikri, GiLoCatur's eldest child will represent his university for the second time. 

2015 UiTM Johor Chess Team for KARISMA


Men Team

Daniel Iskandar Arif Noor Akhbar
Fikri Saleh 
Ibnu Fahmi Ibnu Hajar
Muhd Hafiz KamarunNiza 


Women Team

Aida Athirah Abdul Wahid
Nor Annis Mohd Iskandar Yong 
Nuraina Syamimi Nazri 
Nurul Ain Najla Kamarulnizam


ALL THE BEST to Fikri and his team mates from GiLoCatur and family. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The links to check the pairings and results:

Men Event : http://chess-results.com/tnr192495.aspx?lan=1

Women Event : http://chess-results.com/tnr192494.aspx?lan=1


Click here to read the entry on Fikri and KARISMA 2014.

KARISMA Chess Starts Today - 26/10/2015


Monday, 26/10/2015

KARISMA chess championship kicks of this morning. For info, KARISMA stands for Karnival Sukan Mahasiswa UiTM in Malay language. In English it means the Inter-UiTM Sports Carnival. This year edition is held at UiTM Kedah from 25th until 31st October 2015. Chess is one of the sports event in the carnival.

Karisma 2015 Chess Mascot

This year will be the second time participation for GiLoCatur's eldest child, Fikri. He is one of the UiTM chess team.

Based on the starting rank for the Men event, Fikri is the top seed. In last year edition, Fikri was the third seed. GiLoCatur notices that the Top 3 Winners namely - Hazzafri, Ali Chor and Abdul Rahman, of last year edition for the Men event are not in the list this year. All these three chess players are among the UiTM 2015 chess team which had emerged as the champion at MASUM this year.

The Chess game is scheduled from 26/10/2015 until 29/10/2015. GiLoCatur is not sure how many rounds it will be this year. Last year, the players had to play eight (8) rounds.

Let's check the results of the first round which had just finished a couple of hours ago. 

The Men Event

Round 1 results - Men category
For full results, click here
Based on the above Top 10 Boards Round 1 results from chess-results.com, the top two seeded-players drew with their respective opponents. Another interesting result is the 9th board. The 9th seeded player from UiTM Melaka was defeated by his opponent from UiTM Puncak Alam.


The Women Event 

Round 1 results - Women category
For full results, click here
Both the top two seeded players in the Women category are making their debut in KARISMA chess championship representing UiTM Puncak Alam and UiTM Perak respectively. While they won the first round game, it is a surprising result for the third-seeded player who are winner medalist in previous two editions. (Note: Hopefully the results in chess-results.com are correct.)

On the 7th board, the unrated player from UiTM Johor managed to hold draw against her rated opponent from UiTM Puncak Alam. Meanwhile, on the 10th board, an unrated player from UiTM Perak managed to win over the 10th seeded-player. 

The first round had just started. Will there be more and more "interesting" results in the 2015 KARISMA chess championship?

Please come again for more update and short analysis on the championship.

Good Luck and All the Best to all the chess players in the KARISMA 2015 especially to Fikri and his UiTM Johor team mates or fondly called "Abang" by family. Ayah, Ibu, Kakak and Adik will always pray for your success and achievement.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

MUICC's Thunder Blitz Open Chess Tournament


GiLoCatur could not resist to take part in the MUICC's Thunder Blitz Open Chess Tournament held on last Thursday night at Shah Alam UiTM. Eventhough all the three GiLoCatur's children are not at home, GiLoCatur went to UiTM Shah Alam accompanied by wife to participate in the blitz tournament.

(note : MUICC is the Malaysian UiTM Chess Club. Click here to follow this club.)

Seventy four (74) participants took part. GiLoCatur was seeded 20th. The tournament was held at the UiTM Sports Center.

All the participants had to play nine (9) rounds of 5-minute-per-player. So, how many wins that GiLoCatur had? 

GiLoCatur managed to win 5 games and lost the other 4. But GiLoCatur enjoyed playing in the tournament especially playing against young opponents who are mostly UiTM students. 


GiLoCatur in action

All the winners

Top boards

Blitz game is entertaining ...
Bravo and kudos to the Malaysian UiTM Chess Club (MUICC) for organizing the chess tournament. 

GiLoCatur is very glad and happy that more and more chess tournaments are held in the Malaysian universities. Hopefully, this trend will continue and more and more University students are active in chess and participate in chess tournaments.

photo credit : MUICC facebook

KUSESS Chess Open 2015, 3rd Edition


Saturday, 24/10/2015

The third edition of KUSESS Chess Open will be held today. This two-day chess tournament will kick of with the team event. There are two categories namely the Secondary School or Under 18 and the Primary School or Under 12.

It will be the last participation for GiLoCatur's daughter, Anis Fariha, since she will be the school alumni next year. At first, GiLoCatur thought Anis will not take part since her SPM examination will start in less than 10 days.

The elite KUSESS chess team ie KUSESS BERLIAN will defend their title. 

2015 KUSESS Chess Team

SM Sains Kuala Selangor (KUSESS) Main Gate

As the parent of KUSESS and on behalf of its Pengetua, Encik Mohd Shahadan Abd Rahman, GiLoCatur would like to welcome all the participants and their accompanying parents and teachers to Sekolah Menengah Sains Kuala Selangor or KUSESS.

Good Luck and All The Best to all the participants in the KUSESS Chess Open 2015.

Monday, October 12, 2015

The List of UPSI Chess Open Champions


No doubt the UPSI Chess Open is one of GiLoCatur's favourite local chess tournaments. Its ninth edition has just been concluded yesterday. GiLoCatur family have participated in four of them, namely - 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th editions.

GiLoCatur has also blogged about this tournament many times especially those editions where GiLoCatur and the children attended. You can use "Search This Blog" feature to view all the entries on UPSI Chess Open.

This year, GiLoCatur and the kids gave a miss to the tournament. GiLoCatur's eldest child, Fikri, is having his final exam in Segamat. GiLoCatur's only daughter and second child, Anis Fariha, is making final preparation for her SPM examination which is less than three weeks from now. The youngest child, Fahim Al-Faqeh, does not come home this weekend.

Luckily with the modern and advanced technology of today, GiLoCatur could follow and have updates on the UPSI chess tournament. 

GiLoCatur would be very very happy if the modern and advanced IT technology of today being used to keep the information, updates, photos and history of the local chess tournament including the UPSI Chess Open. This what is lacking in the Malaysian chess community.  

The Malaysian chess blogging is declining lately. GiLoCatur's Blog has not been updated regularly as used to be. GiLoCatur believes there are more and more local chess tournaments compared to several past years. Thus, lots of input for chess blogging. Sadly, the famous Gilachess is resigning from chess blogging. Malaysia is still far behind in chess compared to its ASEAN neighbours. Malaysia still does not have its GM or GrandMaster.  

Enough with that, GiLoCatur would like to present below the list of Top 3 winners of the UPSI Chess Open.

UPSI Open Top 3 Winners

Note: GiLoCatur does not have the winners for the first edition held in year 2007.

The above list table provides many information at what angle you want to see. As examples: 

  • Ian Udani is the most successful player having won four times and two times 1st Runner Up
  • The 4th edition winners are all Malaysians
  • The 6th edition winners are all foreign
  • The only female player who is in the Top 3 winners list is WCM Nur Nabila Azman
  • The youngest player to win the championship? 

GiLoCatur would like to give some idea for the 10th Edition of UPSI Chess Open. Make a newsletter of about 5 to 6 pages which have history, information of the winners, photos, and special games of the UPSI Chess Open. Share it with the Malaysian chess community. How about that?

Bravo and kudos to UPSI Chess Club for organizing the UPSI Chess Open for the past nine years. KEEP IT UP!

Ian Udani - 4-Time UPSI Chess Open Champion


Monday, 12/10/2015

Ian Udani has emerged as the champion of the UPSI Chess Open which is just concluded yesterday. The win is his fourth for the UPSI Chess Championship. Ian who is ranked 45th in the latest FIDE ratings for his country scores 6.5/7 points the same as his compatriot, Lorena Carlo.  Having lower tie-break, Lorena is placed second. 

The second Runner Up went to local player, Masrin Erowan, who hails from Sabah. He accumulates 6/7 points from 6 wins. 

Below is the Top 10 of the Final Ranking for UPSI Chess Open in the Open category. 

The Top 10 Final Ranking

Battle of the champions in the final round - Saprin (left) and Ian Udani (right)
photo credit to 17cc whatsapp group

Congratulations to all the winners in the UPSI Chess Open including the gangs of 17CC.