More Information Of Karpov’s Team

1 July 2010, Kuala Lumpur – From chessbase.com, the full bio-data of the Karpov’s Presidential team, which includes Malaysia’s Abdul Hamid Majid, is revealed as below or you may go to chessbase.com or click here.

Karpov2010 FIDE Presidential Board Ticket

Candidate for FIDE President:
Anatoly Karpov
Nominating federation: Russia

Bio: He learned the rules of chess when he was four. At the age of nine he reached first category. Before his twelfth birthday he became a candidate master. He earned the Master title at 15 and won the World Junior Championship at 18. He became an International Grandmaster at 19 and World Championship Challenger at 22. In 1975, at the age of 24, he became the World Champion.

His battles on chess Olympus against Viktor Korchnoi and later Garry Kasparov are some of the most-watched and best-known chess events in history. Karpov went on to amass one of the greatest tournament records of all time, with over 160 first-place finishes. He won the Chess Oscar nine times and has three individual gold medals from the Chess Olympiad. Well into the 90s Karpov remained one of the top players in the world, retaining his FIDE title in matches against Timman and Kamsky and, in 1994, producing arguably the greatest tournament result in history at Linares.

Since 1982, Karpov has been President of the International Associations of Peace Foundations. He's also President of the Chernobyl Help Organization that helps victims of the 1986 nuclear disaster. Mr. Karpov's acclaimed chess instruction program has taken root in 26 countries around the world. Since 2000 he has been a regional ambassador for UNICEF and has worked to bring UNICEF and UNESCO funds and involvement into youth chess programs.

There is a very interesting 20-minute interview with Karpov here.

Candidate for Deputy President:
Richard A. Conn Jr.
Nominating federation: USA
Bio: Richard Conn, a USCF member with a rating of 1943. If elected, he will be the highest ranking American in FIDE history. Conn is Managing Director of Conn International Group LLC, a Moscow/NY-based financial and legal advisory firm. Prior to founding CIG in 2003, Conn practiced international corporate law for nearly twenty years as an equity partner with the international law firm Latham & Watkins. He founded the firm's Moscow office in 1992 and managed it for four years prior to returning to U.S.

A longstanding member of the Board of Directors of the U.S.-Russia Business Council, Conn regularly consults with the World Bank, Members of Congress, and the Administration regarding Russian economic issues. He co-chaired the U.S.-Russia Business Council and American Chamber of Commerce (Moscow) joint initiative to facilitate Russian accession to WTO. He now serves as Strategic Advisor to DLA Piper US LLP, a 3,500 lawyer international law firm with 67 offices worldwide.

Candidate for Treasurer:
Viktor Kapustin
Nominating federation: Ukraine
Bio: A prominent financial and banking specialist who from 2005 until April was the Chairman of the Board at JSC Ukreximbank. In the 1990s Viktor Kapustin was a key figure in transitioning the Ukrainian bank system into the international arena, performing the first operations with European institutions. He later served as president of the Ukrainian Fund for Development. He was the first deputy of the Finance Committee of the Ukrainian parliament from 2002-2005. In 2007, named Ukraine's "Financier of the Year." In 2010 he was elected the President of the Ukrainian Chess Federation.

Candidate for General Secretary:
Abd Hamid Majid
Nominating federation: Malaysia

Bio: After serving a period as Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) treasurer, he assumed the post of Federation general secretary in 1994, a position that he held until 2008. In this capacity, he ran the day-to-day affairs of the Federation, working closely for many years with Dato' Tan Chin Nam, a member of the Karpov team Board of Advisers. A FIDE international arbiter since 1990, Hamid is a founding member of the ASEAN Chess Confederation. He first cut his teeth at the full international level as an official at Kuala Lumpur Karpov-Timman candidates' match in 1990.

Khanty-Mansiysk will be Hamid's tenth FIDE Congress and his eighth as Malaysian FIDE Delegate. High points as an organizer within FIDE include acting as an organizing secretary of the 1990 FIDE Women's Interzonal in Malaysia; deputy chief arbiter for Karpov-Kamsky 1996; chief organizing secretary for the 2002 World Youth Olympiad in Kuala Lumpur; and chief organizing secretary for seven Malaysian Chess Festivals from 2004 – 2010.

Candidate for Vice-President:
Dr. Aguinaldo Jaime
Nominating federation: Angola

Bio: One of the most respected names in finance and politics of his generation in all of Africa, Dr. Jaime is currently the director of the national investment agency ANIP and an deputy to the Prime Minister of Angola. As the ANIP chairman he has traveled the world negotiating investments in both the private and public sectors. He is also the president of the Angolan Chess Federation. Dr. Jaime was his nation's finance minister in the early 1990s and later the head of the National Bank and president of the African Investment Bank.

Candidate for Vice-President:
Alisa Maric
Nominating federation: Serbia

Bio: One of the greatest-ever players from the mighty chess nation of Serbia, Maric is an IM and WGM and has been among the top few women players in the world for two decades, with excellent performances at world championships and team events. She was winner of prestigious national awards such as National Sports Award 2007, National Saint Sava Award 2007 and Belgrade's October Award 1988. She was member of the Presidential Board of Olympic Committee of Serbia. She is Vice President of Belgrade Chess federation.

Maric studied Economics at the University of Belgrade, received a Ph.D and has been teaching since 2003. From 2005 to 2008 she was Professor of Marketing at University Braca Karic and since 2008 she has been Professor of Marketing at University Megatrend. She is author of the textbook "Principles of Marketing". She was a member of European Olympic Committee Working Group "New Ways of Communication" and attendee of the International Olympic Academy in Olympia.

You may read more by going to chessbase.com or click here.

Young Talent Chess Development Program

30 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Something big is afoot and the email from Najib Wahab and this flyer below says it all!

This is a program that was developed to help promote and accelerate the talent of our young chess players who are between the ages of 8 and 14. The entire program covers 15 months and is divided into 6 terms of 30 days each. The first term is schedule to start on 24^th July 2010.

Each student will experience 68 hours of chess education (comprising of 60 hours of group session and 8 hours of personalized session) during the 30 days duration. The main trainer for the program is GM Ziaur Rahman and 2 local IMs have been identified to help him and this will only be confirmed by next week. The program is also aimed at using local expertise to couple with GM Ziaur in helping to improve the standards of local chess players. For the first term, we are looking to take 10 players into this program (we can probably increase it to 12) and subsequent terms may see us enrolling more students (up to a maximum of 24).

YOUNG TALENT CHESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Term 1: 24^th July to 22^nd August 2010

The wait is finally over as we have received confirmation that a generous organization has agreed to sponsor the YOUNG TALENT CHESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM to help develop our potential and talented young chess players. This will be one of a kind training program designed to help promote and accelerate the potential talent that we have amongst our youngsters, to help improve and develop their playing skills towards becoming a world class chess player.

The YOUNG TALENT CHESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM is aimed at developing and improving our junior talents between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. Older youths are also welcomed to join but the focus shall be for the younger players as they represent the future of our chess achievement.

The training program is divided into 6 terms of 30 days each and will run from July 2010 until September 2011. The 1^st term is scheduled to start next month from 24^th July 2010 until 22^nd August 2010, followed by the 2^nd term to start in September, 3^rdterm in November, 4^th term in February 2011, 5^th term in April 2011 and the final term in July 2011.

The training approach is divided into 2 major sessions; a group session where all students will learn the common fundamentals and basics of chess, and a personalized session where students will be paired with either the GM or the IM to participate in a more detailed study mode. The personalize session is focused on fine tuning the student in accordance to his/her playing style, opening repertoire and specific weaknesses and areas for improvement.

The group class runs for 5 consecutive weekends and the individual classes are arranged over the weekdays. Alternatively, personalized sessions can also be arranged on weekends (after the group classes especially for those from areas out of KL) or a separate arrangement can also be made between the student and their respective trainer, with the agreement of the latter. At the end of the 5 weeks term, each student would have experienced a maximum of 68 hours of classes of end-to-end chess improvement experience and learning.

This program will feature GM Ziaur Rahman as the main trainer, complemented by some of our local IM who has been invited to be a part of this program.

The fees for the 68 hours of chess lessons will be below RM500 per student which works out to be less than RM7.50 per student per hour. In normal circumstances, such training program can cost a student anything between RM 4,000 and RM 6,000 which is between RM58 and RM88 per hour per student.

Those who are interested to sign up for the program needs to do so before the 19^th July and due to space constraint, and trainers availability, we are limiting the first term program to only 10 students. Take note that the students need to be of certain playing strength and skills as such, the organizer may request for additional information to substantiate the students playing strength before confirming his/her inclusion in the program

For further inquiries, or to request for program prospectus, please contact the program organizer, Najib Wahab atnajib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com  or you can reach him at (6016)3382542. We look forward to meeting some of the brightest young chess stars for the program!

Abdul Hamid Nominated As FIDE Sec-Gen

30 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Just read from Fide.com and Hairulov’s blog that our very own, Abdul Hamid b Majid is nominated as the FIDE Secretary-General of FIDE under the Karpov’s Presidential team.

You may read more from fide.com or click here.

II.Presidential ticket of Mr. Anatoly Karpov:

1.President - Mr. Anatoly Karpov nominated by France, Germany and Switzerland,
2.Deputy President - Mr. Richard Conn Jr nominated by USA,
3.Vice President - Dr. Aguinaldo Jaime nominated by Angola,
4.Vice President - Prof. Dr. Alica Maric nominated by Serbia,
5.General Secretary - Mr. Abd Hamid Majid nominated by Malaysia,
6.Treasurer - Mr. Viktor Kapustin nominated by Ukraine.

We wish him well and hopes that he wins and maybe able to bring in more support for chess activities in Malaysia.

Study Linking Physical Fitness and Chess Players

25 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Here is an interesting article about a study on the importance of physical exercise for chess players from the chess queen, Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Hello Everyone!

As chess players we spend a lot of time sitting at the board and at the computer. But physical fitness and a regular exercise program is essential for chess players. Physical fitness in relation to age and body build of young chess players is the subject of a study conducted by Agnieszka Fornal-Urban (pix left below), Anna Kęska (pix right below). The University of Physical Education in Warsaw, the European Chess Union and the Polish Chess Federation have supported the study.

 
Dr. Agnieszka Fornal-Urban        Dr. Anna Kęska

The following interesting conclusions were drawn from the study:

• 
  
  It is worth obligating the organizers of the chess tournaments to make it possible for the chess players to participate in attractive and active forms of recreation in their free time.
• 
  
  It would be advisable to undertake the efforts aiming at making the parents and coaches aware of the significance of the regular physical exercises for the health and high sport achievements.
• 
  
  In the training process of the chess players, more attention should be paid to their fitness preparation, particularly to the exercises developing their strength.
• 
  
  The results of the conducted study are significant not only for the chess players themselves, for their coaches and parents. The characteristics of this population of sportsmen can also be used in much broader perspective, because of the sedentary lifestyle of children and teenagers who do not play chess.

You can read a detailed report on the study at chessbase.com or details of the methodology of the study here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see my personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com

New Season Of Training At Excel Chess Academy!

22 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur - The Excel Chess Academy is starting off a new season of chess training and they are doing it with a bang. So come have a look on the 26th June 2010, 2.30 pm, Excel Chess Academy, Overseas Union Garden, Kuala Lumpur and see what he has to offer to you for chess training for you or your children or the interested chess enthusiasts. You are kindly advised to come early to catch the  limited number of seats available at the academy.

To read more of his promo for Excel Chess Academy, please go to the "Chess Tigers, Excel Chess Academy" posting or click here. Or you may visit the Excel Chess Academy blog or click here.

Tan Khai Boon and Fong Mi Yen Are NM and NWM!

20 June 2010, Bangi – Here are the final ranking results of the National Championship 2010 which ended today, 20 June 2010. Mr Tan Khai Boon (pix bottom left) is the new National Champion and the new National Master (NM) while Ms Fong Mi Yen (pix bottom right)is the new lady National Champion 2010 and the new National Woman Master (NWM). Congratulations to both players and all participating players and officials alike for making the National Championships 2010 a success!

  

Open Category

Women Category

(results are courtesy of Kelab Catur Setia Kuantan’s blog@Khairunissa’ Wahiddudin)

Edward Lee Overcomes Masrin Erowan In 8th Round Game, MNCC 2010!

19 June 2010, Bangi – Latest News! Finally, NM Edward Lee has won his 8th round game on the fourth board with a pawn, a knight and King vs a King. Edward Lee was playing against Masrin Erowan. Edward’s King was nicely centralised winning against Masrin’s off positioned knight earlier in the game.

Tomorrow morning, 1st board – Tan Khai Boon vs Nik Ahmad Farouqi, 2nd board – Edward Lee vs Mohd Nabil, 3rd board – Sumant vs Kamal Ariffin. It is expected that no playoff and no play safe is allowed. (sofia rules kot!) Best of luck to the players!

Round 6, MNCC 2010 Fong and Nabil still leaders!

18 June 2010, Bangi – In the fifth round of the women category, Fong Mi Yen won her game against Alia Anin, making Mi Yen as outright leader with 5 points. She now meets with Shahmina Amira Zulkafli (pix left) in the sixth round on first board. Surprise, surprise, Haslindah Ruslan has four points from five rounds and is in the top four of the current women’s category leaders. She will meet Camilia bt Johari on second board of the sixth round this afternoon.

Meanwhile in the open category, Nabil and Swee Leong drew on first board and now Nabil will meet with Tariq Mohd Amru who won his fifth round game against Mohd Khair of Wahiddudin family. While NM Edward Lee (pix right) meets with Yeoh Li Tian, who has 4.5 points on the second board.

       

Round 5 In Play!

18 June 2010, Bangi – Here at the Pendita Zaaba College in UKM, Bangi, the round 5 has started at 8.30 am this morning with M Nabil playing against Loo Swee Leong on board 1 and on the adjacent board are Ahmad Fadzil Nayan versus NM Edward Lee Kim Han on board 2.

Meanwhile in the women’s category, Fong Mi Yen (left, below) is playing against Alia Anin Azwa Bakri on board 1 in round 5 of the National Chess Championship 2010.

Best of luck to all participating players in their respective games!

Round 5 Pairings, MNCC 2010

18 June 2010, Bangi – Here are the round 5 pairings for the Open category and Women category to start at 8.30 am this morning at Bangi, Selangor.

OPEN

Women

(source: MNCC’s blog)

Mohd Zullghari vs Mohd Firdaus, Round 3, National Championship 2010

17 June 2010, Bangi – Here is a freshly concluded chess game between Mohd Zullghafari Saparmin against Mohd Firdaus Afiq during the third round of the National Championship 2010 held at UKM, Bangi, Selangor. During the game, Zull managed to trap the black Queen using several sacrifices and the poisoned pawn.

The Slav Defence transpired during the game where Mohd Zullghafari played white and Mohd Firdaus is black. The picture below shows black played 7….e6.

At move 17, white invites the desperate sacrifice 17. g4 and black took the white knight at e5.

By move 23 the black-colored white bishop was brought to the c1 square in order to control the d2 square and to allow the a-rook to move freely from Ra1 to Ra2 to trap the black Queen. Diagram below, shows the white move 23. Bc1.

Black took the poisoned pawn e4 at move 24 and the trap is sprung!

By move 30, the rooks moved in and the bishop at c1 moved to g5 to seal the fate of the trapped black Queen shown below. Black immediately resigned giving white, Mohd Zullghafari, his first point of the championship 1-0.

An excellent game from Zull in the Slav defence entrapping and circling the black queen, unnoticed. Let’s hope we can see more wins from Mohd Zullghafari in this edition of the National Championship 2010 and a new full fledged FIDE rating to boot!

(source: email from M Zullghafari Saparmin)

Results of 12th CAS-Octagon Allegro 2010

14 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Here are the official results from Lim Tse Pin (courtesy of Malaysian Chess blog) of the Sunday’s chess tournament held at DATCC, Kuala Lumpur as part of the 12 CAS-OCTAGON Allegro 2010 organised by Chess Association of Selangor.

You may visit Malaysian Chess blog to read more of his analysis of the day’s tournament and comments, or click here.

Website For Malaysia’s National Closed Championship 2010

13 June 2010, Bangi – The new website for the Malaysia's National Chess Championship 2010 has been activated and everyone may visit the website at

 

 http://nc-2010.blogspot.com/

The men will compete for the Piala Tun Hussein Onn (Open) and the women for the Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik Trophy.

National Closed Championship, Pre-Registered List

13 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Here is the list of pre-registered list of players for the upcoming National Closed Championship 2010 to be held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor from 16-20th June 2010.

The players are ranked based on their International Rating point first (as per FIDE May listing), followed by their National Rating point (as per MCF April listing).

For any inquiries with regards to the listing, rating points, seeding, name spelling, name not listed, etc, please forward an email to najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com before 15th June 2010.

Open Section

No.	Name	Rtg	State
1	Loo Swee Leong	2162	Pulau Pinang
2	Lee Kim Han Edward	2148
3	Tan Khai Boon	2129	Pulau Pinang
4	Wahiduddin Kamalarifin	2122
5	Zainal Faiezul	2117	Negeri Sembilan
6	Pok Wern Jian	2107
7	Yusof Kamaluddin	2104	Johor
8	Nik Nik Ahmad Farouqi	2102	Kelantan
9	Che Hassan Abdullah	2101	Johor
10	Leong Zhi Wen	2090	Sarawak
11	Wahiduddin Mohd Khair	2088	Pahang
12	Subramaniam Sumant	2066	Perak
13	Lim Zhuo Ren	2055
14	Ismail Ahmad	2044	Selangor
15	Tukiran Taulani	2041	Johor
16	Erowan Masrin	2025	Sabah
17	Yeoh Li Tian	2018	Selangor
18	Amru Muhd Tariq	2015
19	Fong Yit Ho	2010	Perak
20	Kamal Rizal Ahmad	2000
21	Giridau Guadis	1996
22	Nayan Ahmad Fadzil	1995	Perak
23	Thong Yung Cheng	1992	Pulau Pinang
24	Siew Kit-Tze Mark	1987
25	Lim Kian Hwa	1975	Sarawak
26	Mahmood Nasrul Humaimi	1971	Kelantan
27	Shah Atan Noor Muhd Azlan	1965
28	Tan Ken Wei	1957
29	Rosli Ahmad Afiq Afyfy	1944	Sarawak
30	Lucas Charles	1936	Sabah
31	Zulkifli Muhd Syazwan	1916
32	Low Jun Jian	1907	Selangor
33	Wising Abdul Sahim	1900	Sabah
34	Azhar Muhammad Syakir Shazmeer	1859	Selangor
35	Fong Yit San	1856	Perak
36	Chin Choong Wee Kenneth	1853
37	Low Jun Keat	1841
38	Shah Syed Iskandar	1803	Perak
39	Liew Ken Yew	1802
40	Sivanesan Subramanian	1796	Negeri Sembilan
41	Ting Shih Chieh Alfred	1794
42	Amier Hamzah B. Mohd Zuhri	1711	Kelantan
43	Hamzah Razali	1671
44	Yeop Mat Zaki	1669
45	Abu Kasim Kamar Dani	1658	Negeri Sembilan
46	Ibni Hajar Amri	1744	Kedah
47	Mat Marzuki	1728	Perak
48	Che Aziz Mohd Hezri	1687	Negeri Sembilan
49	Azhar Muhd Irfan Haqqim	1658
50	Mappa Saharuddin	1644
51	Mohd Rodzi Ahmad Firdaus	1644
52	Kamin Al-Kamil	1625	Sabah
53	Kamaruzaman Norazwan	1616
54	Ooi Zhi Yang	1599	Pulau Pinang
55	Mohd Noor Mohd Amin	1592
56	Wan Sulaiman Wan Tarmizi	1588	Kelantan
57	Sritharan Sanjeevwa	1585	Pulau Pinang
58	Saleh Fikri	1572
59	Johari Nazli Johardy	1568	Perak
60	Jaraidi Mohd Jan	1559	Sabah
61	Wan Sulaiman Wan Mahadzir	1559	Kelantan
62	Abdul Rahman Ismail	1547
63	Ahayat Izuddin	1545
64	Yahaya Muhammad Nuriman	1531	Kedah
65	Tan Kian Seng	1518
66	Wong Yinn Long	1503	Pulau Pinang
67	Yeoh Li Yuan	1503
68	Juarih Norazlin	1491	Kelantan
69	Lim Chuin Khai	1476
70	Chi Yin Phin	1473	Sabah
71	Subramaniam Shreyas	1451	Pahang
72	Ismail Muhd Azmi	1446
73	Saparmin Mohd Zullghafari	1433	Johor
74	Mat Zaki Muhd Zikri	1423
75	Jonathan Augustine Francis	1398
76	Mohd Hisham Muhd Fareed	1372	Johor
77	Tan Soon Wei	1351
78	Yap Wan Lin	1320
79	Mohd Zamani Muhd Khidhir	1275
80	Mohd Hisham Muhd Hafiz	1243	Johor
81	Aminuddin Muhd Faris	1241
82	Asman Muhd Firdaus Afiq	1192	Pahang
83	Iskandar Danial Adam	1179	Selangor
84	Abdul Rahman Syed Azizi	0	Kelantan
85	Bisri Mohd Zin	0	Kedah
86	Hj Buang Mohd Hisham	0	Johor
87	Odaiyappan Naren	0
88	Yaacob Mohd Rosli	0	Kedah

Women Section

No.	Name	Rtg	State
1	Bakri Alia Anin Azwa	1926
2	Fong Mi Yen	1894	Perak
3	Tan Li Ting	1879
4	Narayanan Renitha	1718	Johor
5	Camilia Bt. Johari	1690
6	Haslindah Ruslan	1688	Selangor
7	Nithyalakshmi Sivanesan	1681	Negeri Sembilan
8	Hoh Tjin Li	1655	Pulau Pinang
9	Wahiddudin Fadzilah	1615
10	Ahmad Fuad Fairuz Hamizah	1605	Kedah
11	Azhar Puteri Rifqah Fahada	1600	Selangor
12	Sarika Subramaniam	1592	Perak
13	Latifah Kaiyisah Bt. Mohd Lati	1566
14	Kwan Tszee Yeung	1521	Johor
15	Yahaya Nur Islamurni	1418	Kedah
16	Azhar Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahra	1417	Selangor
17	Hoh Tjin Hui	1412	Pulau Pinang
18	Mohd Latib Latifah Syamimi	1412
19	Ahmad Darji Putri Nurfariza	1408	Perak
20	Ee Sun-Xin	1407	Selangor
21	Mat Rahim Nur Munirah	1400	Perak
22	Aminuddin Nur Farihah	1390	Selangor
23	Mohd Saufi Najihah	1379	Kelantan
24	Asman Nur Sabrina Aliya	1378	Pahang
25	Saleh Anis Fariha	1369
26	Nurfarhana Atiqah	1367	Pahang
27	Mat Rahim Fatin Nur Nadhirah	1354
28	Mohd Haslam Siti Nur Afiqah	1341	Kelantan
29	Aminuddin Nur Faqihah	1329
30	Abdul Rahman Nor Ilyana	1303	Kedah
31	Tan Wei Ting	1288
32	Wong Yi Chee	1278	Pulau Pinang
33	Mohd Hisham Nadia Syafiqah	1171	Johor
34	Ahmad Syukri Ummu Rumaisha	1162	Kedah
35	Che Mohd Azemi Aina Farzana	1155
36	Mohd Hisham Nur Sabrina	1145	Johor
37	Pang Hwei Yih	0

(List is courtesy of Chief Arbiter, Najib Wahab)