Penang In 18th, Asian Cities Jakarta

24th April 2011, Kuala Lumpur – In Jakarta, the 17th Asian Cities chess championship is on-going from 22 April 2011 till 29th April 2011. After round 3, Penang chess team representing Malaysia is in 18th position with 2 points comprising of one win and two draws.

Meanwhile Malaysia’s second team, Putrajaya, is pegged at the bottom with no points to show after three rounds. Hopefully the second team would get valuable exposure and experience.

TWIC reported that there are 24 teams competing. Leading players: Wesley So, Yu Yangyi, Li Chao B, Murtas Kazhgaleyev. Ehsan Ghaem Maghami etc. Bulletins and results are available on the official site.

Asian Cities Chess Championship history

The Asian Cities Chess Championship was the brainchild of the Hong Kong Chess Federation. It was first held in the former British Colony in 1979 (and was won by Singapore). It quickly gained renown in the Asian chess world as an iron item in annual chess calendar in Asia.

The first four editions took place in Hong Kong with the participation of many strong cities from all over the continent. The 1980s were totally dominated by the Chinese who won all five editions. There were no championships between 1985 to 1990. Since then the tournaments take place on a biennial basis.

During 1990s United Arab Emirates hosted the Asian teams three times and Malaysia were the hosts twice. Dhaka of Bangladesh were surprise winners from 1990, then Jakarta took the trophy twice. In 1996 Uzbekistani capital Tashkent took the title followed by Shijiazhuang in 1998, the fourth Chinese city to win the Championship.

In 2000 the games arrived on Lebanese soil (the first international team tournament in Lebanon) and Pavlodar (Kotsur, Vladimirov) from Kazakhstan won. They managed to defended the title next time in Yemen. In 2004 the event was awarded to the Philippines and it was also the first time when Filipino city won.

The system of play is four board Swiss (all-play-all alternatively if circumstances make it possible) with each team having right to field up to six players. Each Asian country has right to send one city team to the championship. In some cases the organizers may admit one additional city from a federation. The winning city in the Asian Cities Chess Championship is awarded custody of the challenge Dubai Cup. [Source OlimpBase]

Asian Cities Championship summary

no.	Host city	Year	Winners	System	Boards	Teams
1.	Hong Kong	1979	Singapore	S-7	4	12
2.	Hong Kong	1980	Guangzhou			14
3.	Hong Kong	1981	Shanghai			26
4.	Hong Kong	1983	Beijing			30
5.	Penang	1984	Shanghai			26
6.	Hong Kong	1985	Shanghai			26
7.	Dubai	1990	Dhaka			32
8.	Dubai	1992	Jakarta			36
9.	Kuala Lumpur	1994	Jakarta			28
10.	Dubai	1996	Tashkent			40
11.	Genting Highlands	1998	Shijiazhuang	S-9	4	27
12.	Beirut	2000	Pavlodar	S-9	4	22
13.	Aden	2002	Pavlodar	S-9	4	18
14.	Manila	2004	Tagaytay	S-9	4	19
15.	Teheran	2007	Pavlodar	S-9	4	18
16.	Beirut	2009	Tehran	S-9	4	20
17.	Jakarta	2011		S-9

Links:

17th Asian Cities 2011 (Jakarta INA)
Fri 22nd Apr 2011 - Fri 29th Apr 2011 - Official Site - Results

17th Asian Cities (9 Rds Swiss Team TC:90m+30spm(1)) - Games in PGN: Games