NAG 2008 Medal Tally

This year National Age-Group has come to an end on Wednesday. Unlike last year, there will not be another round of competition among the prizewinners in each category. There are two main reasons for the change and this year format is very likely to be used as the format for National Age-Group in future.

The first reason is the event is now running using the standard time just like any International event (minus the 30 seconds increment from move 1). The second reason is that more rounds have been added to accommodate for a better result especially for the top 4 in the standing.

For your general information, a good swiss pairing tournament must have at least minimum rounds based on the number of players per category plus 2 additional rounds. Meanwhile, a very good tournament will be required to have minimum rounds plus 3 additional rounds.

So for a group that has maximum of 32 players, then 5 rounds would be the minimum rounds required. While, group that has maximum of 64 players will has 6 rounds as the minimum rounds.

This year Championship is conducted over 8 rounds which means most groups have minimum rounds + 2 rounds, while some groups which has smaller turn-out is enjoying minimum rounds + 3 rounds.

After a grueling 3 days of competition, the medal tally as follows:
Selangor >>> (6 gold - 0 silver - 4 bronze)
KL >>>>>>>>> (2 gold - 5 silver - 4 bronze)
Malacca >>>> (1 gold - 0 silver - 0 bronze)
Johor >>>>>> (1 gold - 0 silver - 0 bronze)
Penang >>>>> (0 gold - 3 silver - 2 bronze)
Kedah >>>>>> (0 gold - 1 silver - 0 bronze)
Perak >>>>>> (0 gold - 1 silver - 0 bronze)

Selangor for the first time in recent years has been so dominant in chess. Congratulation to Selangor. With the statistic, Klang Valley players have contributed 80% of the medal tally. Kedah and Perak have made some in-road to the Championship.

A separate selection tournament for the top 4 players in each group will be held at Wilayah Complex on 13th and 14th March at Wilayah Complex for players to vie for a place in this year World, Asian, and Asean Age-Group. The outcome of this selection competition is not related to the concluded NAG and will not affect the status of prizewinners in the NAG 2008. Any qualifier who has no intention to compete in any of the 3 events need not join the selection. Their seat will be offer to the next in-line based on the NAG 2008 result.