FRANK GOON CUP 2009

IM Julio Catalina Sandorra successfully defended the Frank Goon Cup for 2009.He scored 5.5 points to take home RM1000.Mok Tze Meng Finished second to win RM600 followed by Philippine Michael Angelo with 4.5 points.Local chess hero Leong Mun Wan finished 4th place with 4.5 points.Ian Udani suffered one loses to Mok Tze Meng.Full result for open section below.

TERENGGANU TO ORGANISE MORE RATED EVENTS

Terengganu is planning to organise at least one more rated before May or after the Selangor Open with an option another one in Disember 2009.The planned event is to compliment the PJCT Grand final.This move is to made at least 3o rated Terengganu players in FIDE rating list.The first event is open to everybody and will offer smaller prize money.So chess players in Terengganu keep your finger cross.More details will be published later after I have more information about this.

LIST OF TERENGGANU PLAYERS WITH FIDE ID

Create history among Terengganu Chess Players

The first FIDE rated player for Terengganu is non other then Nur Ilhamuddin Sheikh Ali who is working at EON Bank Kuala Lumpur.He was listed in the Fide rated player last year with a starting rating of 2058, but in the January 2008 listing his rating dropped to 2025 after he played in AMbank chess challenge in Ogos last year.Working in Kuala Lumpur making him easyier for him to take part in rated event such as the Selangor Open.

When the PJCT 08 started early last year I quite hesitate about organising the rated event because I never involved directly organising such an event, but it turn out very succesfull event with the support from rated players.They are making my ambition comes true.I somehow would like to thank every body who are involved especially the rated players who played in the grand final of PJCT 08.Below is the list of Terengganu players who have FIDE ID and I think my former padawan Mohd Hafez Hilmi Harun will be included in April rating list.Some of the Terengganu players may need to play 3 to 4 rated games in order to get FIDE rating.Here are the list of Terengganu players with FIDE ID.

1. Hashim Jusoh 5706238
2. Ruzenan Abu Bakar 5706130
3. Abdul Rahim Ramli 5706327
4. Gani Kadir 5706254
5. Hisamullah Harun 5706173
6. Abdul Latif abdul Halim 5706084
7. Ahmad Rizal Othman 5706300
8. Md Syazwan Zulkifli 5706408
9. Suhaidi Mustaffa 5706289
10. Fairul Yusuff 5706378
11. Abdul Kadir Jailani 5706319
12. Alias Md Amin 5706262
13. Muhd Asyraf Zakaria 5706394
14. Siddiq Husainy Hasbullah 5706181
15. Najwah Aziz 5705410
16. Salleh Omar 5706297
17. Zulkefeli Jusoh 5706246
18. Peteer Jabir 5706220
19. Md Huzaimi Abd Jalal 5706092
20. Rozam Zam Ibrahim 5706203
21. Wan Aizuddin Wan Razali 5705371
22. Nor azma Adilla Alias 5705320
23. Mohd Pouzi Hamzah 5706165
24. Mohd Khairul Nazrin A, Nashir 5706068
25. Che Mohd Rizal Ibrahim 5706190
26. Md Amirul Zahanuddin 5706386
27. Md Aiman Azani 5706157
28. Siti Nor Raihan Md Shaifuddin 5706270
29. Siti Aisyah Sabirin 5706343
30. Siti Khadijah Sabirin 5706351
31. Ahmad Syukri Ismail 5706211
32. Ahmad Akif Abd Rahim 5706106
33. Ahmad Ariff Abd Rahim 5706114
34. Zaimah Abdullah 5706122
35. Ramli Setapa 5706360
36. Md Ariff Ramli 5706335
37. Zailan Abas 5706076

MAS HAFIZUL HELMI GOT MARRIED RECENTLY

IM Mas Hafizul whom I know for the past 22 years, recently got married with a girl from his hometown.His spouse accompanying him during the Grand finale of Pencarian Jaguh Catur Terengganu (PJCT) and the couple sportingly agreed with my request to take photo.Its not too late for all of us to say selamat pengantin baru.

FACT AND FIGURE OF PENCARIAN JAGUH CATUR TERENGGANU

1. 1700 participants took part in qualifiying round in all district
2. 900 chess set used in the process ( well almost )
3. 150 available analog chess clock used in qualifiying round
4. RM28,000 spend for qualifiying round for all districts
5. 100 arbiters and assistance involved.
6. RM50,000 spend in the 5 series tournament.
7. RM40,000 spend in the grand finale
8. 66 took part in the grandfinale
9. Budget for advertisement in newspaper ,banner and etc
10. Now available 200 unit dgt easy plus clock and set
11. Countless hours of workmanship and preparation.

In the end what the local players gained ?

ANALISA PENCARIAN JAGUH CATUR TERENGGANU 2008

It was a great year for chess in Terengganu especially when Pusat Minda Terengganu (Mindcet) established by Dato Seri Idris Jusoh.Every chess players in Terengganu are very eager and very excited when they heard that MindCet announced to hold tournament in all districts and the state level.The programme started well with all district organised qualifying round to select 30 players to represent every district in state of Terengganu.

Then MindCet organised five series of tournament at state level to select players in order to play in the grandfinal which is a FIDE rated event.That a dream come true for local chess players with generous prize money for very categories.Conducive playing venue and more then enough chess equipment.Surely what MindCet has spend surely cannot match by others State Government in Malaysia.

Commenting on qualities of play of Terengganu players performance , I think we need to raise our knowledge in chess theory basically as well as to raise the qualities of our local competitors standard.For instance in seven round of swiss event seeded players may only play 3 or 4 strong players while the rest of the round they maybe played with a weaker opponents.The effect of this clearly shown in the Grand Finale when several top ranked Terengganu players were unable to handle experience of the rated players.

To improve this situation I would say that top Terengganu players will only play among themselves in different categories in local tournament.Let say 8 players in first division , only five players will win prize money and last two players will be downgrade to second division.The first 2 winners of second division will be upgrade to the first division.The second division consisting lower ranked players and all juniors state players.We must make a bold decision in order improve our game.In the past ours players may have won many national level tournament but with Internet era we unable not catch up with the latest development in chess.