Wednesday, June 30, 2010

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 24th 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: 24th July to 22nd 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 1st term is scheduled to start next month from 24th July 2010 until 22nd August 2010, followed by the 2nd term to start in September, 3rdterm in November, 4th term in February 2011, 5th 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 19th 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!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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.

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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.

Friday, June 25, 2010

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
Also see my personal blog at

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

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!

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Open Category

Women Category

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

Saturday, June 19, 2010

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!

Friday, June 18, 2010

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.
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Thursday, June 17, 2010

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.

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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.

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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
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Women
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(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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

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)