How did Malaysians Fare In Kuala Lumpur Open 2010?

There were twenty players that participated in the recent Kuala Lumpur Chess Open 2010. Of this twenty, three players finished in the top half of the list. The three players included FM Nicholas Chan (16th), Lim Chuing Hoong Ronnie (40th), IM Jimmy Liew (55th).

Yeoh Li Tian ended with four points and in 66th position. So did Nik Ahmad Farouqi (72nd), Ismail Ahmad (73rd), Mohd Nabil Azman Hisham (74th), Evan Timothy Capel (81st), Lee Kah Meng Elgin (83rd) with 4.0 points as well.

Table 1. Final Ranking Crosstable After 9 Rounds, Kuala Lumpur Open 2010. (chess-results.com)

While players with 3.5 points were Rosli Ahmad Afiq Afyfy (85th), Mohamed Abdul Haq(86th), Marcus Yeoh (89th), Najib Abdul Wahab (90th).

In the 3.0 pointer group, Nur Najiha Hisham(97th), Amier Hamzah b Mohd Zuhri (99th), and Nur Nabila Azman Hisham (101st).

While in the 2.5 points group were two, Razali Hamzah (104th), and Ting Shih Chieh (105th).

While in the 2.0 point group was Wee Kah Howe William (109th).

The majority of the twenty players finished in the lower half of the tournament. This is expected as most of the Malaysians had lower ratings and just five players had titles. However, none of the Malaysians achieved norms of either FM, IM, WIM, or WGM or even GM standards. It is actually an opportunity for all Malaysians to gain a norm or to improve their FIDE ratings and standings among the competing nationalities.

To be officially granted an official title like IM or GM, one must gain at least three similar norms in three different FIDE-rated tournaments. (I hope this is right.) No doubt, exposure to Malaysians to international standards of play is most valuable here. Experience.