The Big Annual Chess Event For Malaysia

by Quah Seng Sun

Countdown to the Malaysian Chess Festival.

WE are just eight weeks away from the start of this year’s biggest local chess show. Unless you’ve been away on a prolonged leave, you will know that I’m referring to the Malaysian Chess Festival. This year, it starts on Aug 22.

As in previous editions, this year’s festival will consist of a few tournaments cramped into several days of activity. There will be 10 days of intense, non-stop chess that starts with the IGB Arthur Tan memorial Malaysia open chess championship and culminates with the Merdeka team rapid chess tournament.


Tourist magnet: Last year’s Malaysian blitz open final between grandmasters Saidali Yuldachev (left) and Zhang Zong. The Malaysian Chess Festival is a major event that draws players from around the world.

The latter tournament is a three-day fun-filled event which attracts a lot of local participation from around the country. Players who come to Kuala Lumpur for this tournament usually find the time to renew friendships amidst rivalry.

For many players, the Merdeka chess tournament is also about getting to know people. If their teams are no longer in the running for a prize, why not squeeze in the opportunity to touch base with other players? That’s what many players do at the Merdeka chess and this year, the Merdeka team rapid chess tournament will take place on Aug 29-31.

Since some six years ago, the focus of the Malaysia chess festival has moved away from the Merdeka team chess event to the Malaysia open.

In its present format, it has become a memorial event to remember Arthur Tan, a son of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) honorary life president, Datuk Tan Chin Nam. Initially, the understanding was that the Malaysia open championship would be a sponsored event for five editions, and last year was supposed to be the fifth and last year of corporate sponsorship.

There was some speculation on whether the sponsorship would continue beyond the five years but, seeing how the IGB Arthur Tan memorial Malaysia open chess championship has assumed a life of its own, it did not take the sponsors long to agree on extending their custom.

The Malaysia open is a mainstay in the local and regional chess calendar. It is also in the calendar of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), and that is where many foreign players get to learn of this event. Some foreign players make it a habit to return year after year just to play in this event.

If there’s any event that contributes to sport tourism in this country, this is one of them. It brings in players and their families who stay here for at least a week and they contribute to the nation’s earnings and bring back with them pleasant memories of their stay here.

Prizes aside, in order to make it attractive enough for foreign players to take part, the MCF generally makes it a point to waive the entry fee for participating grandmasters, international masters, and all other players – foreign or local – who are rated at least 2,500 points in the latest FIDE rating list.

Anyone else who wishes to play in the Malaysia open are subjected to an entry fee scale that goes up as the player’s international rating goes down. So for unrated players or those whose FIDE rating is below 2,000 points, it becomes increasingly more expensive for them to play in the Malaysia open. In a way it is good because it encourages participation from players who come here to seek their chess title norms.

If you are a reasonably strong player who has the ambition of gaining an international master or grandmaster title norm, you wouldn’t want to waste your chance by playing someone who is unrated or has a low rating. You would want to take your chances against better players because that’s about the only way to go up the title ladder.

Therefore, the high entry fees become a natural deterrence for the weaker players. But of course, the Malaysia Chess Festival is not only about the Malaysia open or the Merdeka team rapid chess open tournaments only. There’s also the Chess Challengers tournament that runs concurrently with the Malaysia open.

For all practical purposes, the Chess Challengers is similar to the Malaysia open. The main differences are the lower prizes and entry fees, and easier entry requirements. So it’s a tournament most suitable for those people with less than 2,000 rating points.

The Malaysia Chess Festival will be held at the Cititel Ballroom at MidValley Mega Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Part of the festivities is the Malaysian blitz open, on Aug 28.

(as published in The Star, 3rd July 2009)