Malaysia meets Monaco next!

29 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia will now meet the 93rd seeded team, Monaco in the second round of the 40th Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Monaco team lost to Poland 0-4 in the first round. However they do have one GM, by the name of GM Efimov Igor and two FIDE Masters on their team. Malaysia needs to treat their opponents with respect and win all four boards as Malaysia is seeded higher and should, in theory, win this match.

Meanwhile Netherlands, the 9th seeded team, will meet Venezuela in round 2. While the Malaysian women’s team will meet Japan, the 104th seeded team in the women’s section in round 2. Japan lost 0-4 to Moldova in round 1.

 

Close Fight, Malaysia 1.5 – Netherlands 2.5!

29 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – The Malaysian Open Team lost 1.5 – 2.5 Netherlands in the first round and IM Mok Tze-Meng made the first scalp by winning against GM Loek Van Wely on first board. Meanwhile Lim Zhuo Ren’s debut stalled Netherlands’s GM Daniel Stellwagen on fourth board when a drawn finish was agreed.

Mok finished a dark-coloured bishop and a pawn against Van Wely’s two pawns. The diagram below illustrates Mok’s winning end position. Congrats to IM Mok for his win.

Here is the winning game on Malaysia’s first board between IM Mok Tze-Meng against Netherland’s GM Loek Van Wely during round 1 of the 40th Olympiad 2012 Open, Istanbul, Turkey on 28 August 2012.

 

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In the Women’s section, our Malaysian girls went down to Slovakia 0.5-3.5, the half point from Tan Li Ting on fourth board against WIM Alena Mrvova.

(Photos from official website of Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul)

Malaysia vs Netherlands, Round 1, Olympiad 2012

28 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – At the chess olympiad, Malaysia will meet Netherlands, the ninth seeded team in round 1.

Netherlands packed all GMs on all four boards. Wherelse Malaysia has two IMs and two new rookies on third and fourth boards.

Games in progress (status of round 1-courtesy of playchess.com)

Chess Olympiad Opens!

28 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – The 40th Chess Olympiad 2012 was officially opened by the FIDE President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov held yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey.

Mark Crowther of TWIC reported that the Opening Ceremony for the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul took place on Monday 27th August 2012. Turkish music and dance was celebrated. The flags of the nations were brought in. The head of the Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nizhat Yazici highlighted the progress in Turkish Junior Chess since 2000 when they last hosted the Olympiad. He thanked the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sport who he said supplied 90% of the budget and supported Turkey's bid for the 2020 Olympics. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov speaking mostly in English praised Yazici's leadership. Suat Kilic the Youth and Sport minister condemned killing and terrorism in the wake of a recent attack a point probably lost on most of the international audience. There was an athletes oath sworn, standard in the Olympics but maybe new to chess. There was a final draw for colours before the large audience filed out. Links: Official site, Facebook Page,http://www.chesstv.com/ have Russian and English commentary by the team that brought the excellent Tal Memorial and World Championship coverage. ChessDom are a media partner. Chess Results have the pairings.

(Photo from official website of Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey)

T.V.Chess : The Master Game Gligoric - Byrne 1981

youtube link : http://youtu.be/UyOT3FFWN8M

40th Chess Olympiad – Starting Rank of Teams!

27 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia’s starting rank is 85th with a team rating of 2299. Top seeded is Russia with a rating of 2769.

Chess.com reported that it's nearly here! The 40th Chess Olympiad takes place from 27 August - 10 September in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Chess Olympiad is the world's premier international team chess competition - a huge biennial celebration of chess for the biggest team prize of them all.

Over 160 countries and more than 1,200 players will be taking part in the 11-round competition, with some of the best players in the world fighting for their country.

The 2010 champions Ukraine will be defending their title, with a number of teams having realistic chances of taking their crown.  They are represented byVassily Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Moiseenko, Andriy Volokitin and Pavel Eljanov.

The top seeds are Russia, who finished second last time, with Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Dmitry Jakovenko.

Armenia are always dangerous opponents, and are at full strength with Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran L. Petrosian.

The US team are seeded 7th, represented by Hikaru Nakamura, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian and Ray Robson.

2012 World Chess Olympiad Up Next!

26 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – Next up would be the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. This will take place from 27 August 2012 till 10 September 2012.

The tentative schedule of the Chess Olympiad is shown below:-

Official website: http://www.chessolympiadistanbul.com/

Quezon City Chess Team ASTRO Team Champions!

Quezon City Chess Team wins ASTRO Rapid Open

 

25 August 2012, Kuala Lumpur – As the Arthur Tan Chess Festival 2012 draws to a close, Quezon City Chess Team claims the 32nd ASTRO Rapid Open Team Chess Championship 2012 scoring 7 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 15 Match Points and 24.5 board points. The team comprise of GM Antonio Rogellio Jr, GM Darwin Laylo, Bengt Largo and Marlon Constantino scored brilliantly. They beat Malaysia’s Chess Tigers in round 7, 3-1. Quezon City Chess Team was rated as the 10th seeding but they ended the champions!

Quezon City Chess Team performance of rounds 5-9:

Team Performance Quezon City Chess Team:

Round 9 Results:

Round 8 Results ASTRO Rapid Open Team

Here are the round 8 results and team rankings after round 8 of the ASTRO Rapid Team Open Chess Championship 2012.