25th Selangor Juniors Open on 30th March 2014

Source: CAS website

CAS will kick-start the year with the 25th edition of Selangor Juniors on 30th March. This is the last National-rated event before next rating release to be used at NAG 2014. This event is very important to players (I) who would like to go to ASEAN+ Chess Championship but yet to fulfil minimum rating ceiling set by MCF; (II) who don't have a chance to play in any national rated event to have their rating changes in order to reflect their current chess playing skill for a better seeding @ NAG; (III) who don't even have a National Rating.

The event will be divided into 3 categories  i.e. Under-08, Under-12 and Under-16. The venue for the event: 2nd Floor, Wilayah Complex, KL. It is a make-shift venue that will be refurbished for the upcoming National Closed Chess Championship from 12th to 16th March.

There will be 15 prizes to be won by players in EACH CATEGORY. In addition, 4 players from the same school contesting in a same category can vie for Best Schools prize as well. All-in-all, there may be up to 57 prize winners in this event.

Due to limitation in venue space, CAS hopes players can pre-register early to avoid disappointment.

A snapshot of the entry form:-

Click here to download a copy of the entry form.

Who have pre-qualified into Malaysian Masters 2014 (Women)

The strongest 7 players based on 2013 MM performance that have formed the current cycle National Women Squad are listed below:-

1.      Camilia Johari [Ranked 7th in FIDE March 2014 release]

2.      Nur Nabila Azman Hisham [Ranked 3rd in FIDE March 2014 release]

3.      Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar [Ranked 6th in FIDE March 2014 release]

4.      Fong Mi Yen [Ranked 4th in FIDE March 2014 release]

5.      Nur Najiha Azman Hisham  [Ranked 5th in FIDE March 2014 release]

6.      Tan Li Ting [Ranked 2nd in FIDE March 2014 release]

7.      Nithyalakshmi Sivanesan  [Ranked 14th in FIDE March 2014 release]

All players listed above are eligible to take part in this year MM. However, only a maximum of 5 players listed above will be able to retain their places in National Squad 2014. Unless these players are willing to take part in National Closed and able to finish top 3 to guarantee themselves a place in National Squad just like Nabila, Rifqah, and Najiha did last year.  

The top 15 active players (besides players that are listed above) based on FIDE March 2014 release are:-

1.      Alia Anin Azwa Bakri [Ranked 1st in FIDE March 2014 release]

2.      Lee Lee Yin [Ranked 8th in FIDE March 2014 release]

3.      Renitha Narayanan [Ranked 9th in FIDE March 2014 release]

4.      Ruby Kwan Tszee Yung  [Ranked 10th in FIDE March 2014 release]

5.      Olivia Madhavan [Ranked 11th in FIDE March 2014 release]

6.      Nurul Najmi Bakar  [Ranked 12th in FIDE March 2014 release]

7.      Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Azhar  [Ranked 13th in FIDE March 2014 release]

8.      Pavithranayagi Jayamurthey  [Ranked 15th in FIDE March 2014 release]

One player from the above list will be eligible to take part in this year MM. Alia has the first right to accept, followed by Lee Yin, Renitha and so on. Of course these players can also opt to play in the National Closed and try to qualify automatically into the National Squad by finishing top 3 in NC.

It will be interesting to see all these fifteen players come together in NC to pit their skill against one another and serve as prelude the MM 2014. Unlike the Men, this dream scenario can actually happen. If it happens, at least 70% among them will finish in the top 10 i.e. no one outside this name list can finish inside top 10 based on Malaysian girls elo rating historical data. Of course, this statistic will be distorted drastically if our inactive girls such as (8-time NWM) WIM Siti Zulaikha, (NWM) WCM Nur Shazwani, (NWM) WCM Roslina Marmono, (NWM) Khairunnisa Wahiduddin, (NWM) Eliza Hanum, WCM Wan Khye Theng among many others can make a comeback to the chess scene. All these girls have a rating higher than our 4^th ranked girl in the Active list.  

Who have pre-qualified into Malaysian Masters 2014 (Men)

The strongest 8 players based on 2013 MM performance that have formed the current cycle National Men Squad are listed below:-

1.      Lim Yee Weng [Ranked 4th in FIDE March 2014 release]

2.      Aron Teh Eu Wen [Ranked 8th in FIDE March 2014 release]

3.      Mas Hafizulhimi [Ranked 2nd in FIDE March 2014 release]

4.      Lim Zhuo Ren [Ranked 11th in FIDE March 2014 release]

5.      Wong Jianwen  [Ranked 14th in FIDE March 2014 release]

6.      Ng Tze Han  [Ranked 7th in FIDE March 2014 release]

7.      Fong Yit San  [Ranked 12th in FIDE March 2014 release]

8.      Ronnie Lim Chuin Hoong  [Ranked 5th in FIDE March 2014 release]

All players listed above are eligible to take part in this year MM. However, only a maximum of 5 players listed above will be able to retain their places in National Squad 2014. Unless these players are willing to take part in National Closed and able to finish top 3 to guarantee themselves a place in National Squad just like Aron, Jianwen, and Yit San did last year.  

The top 15 active players (besides players that are listed above) based on FIDE March 2014 release are:-

1.      Nicholas Chan  [Ranked 1st in FIDE March 2014 release]

2.      Yeoh Li Tian  [Ranked 3rd in FIDE March 2014 release]

3.      Jonathan Chua Jin Hai  [Ranked 5th in FIDE March 2014 release]

4.      Jimmy Liew Chee Meng  [Ranked 9th in FIDE March 2014 release]

5.      Marcus Chan  [Ranked 10th in FIDE March 2014 release]

6.      Leong Mun Wan  [Ranked 13th in FIDE March 2014 release]

7.      Francis Chin  [Ranked 15th in FIDE March 2014 release]

One player from the above list will be eligible to take part in this year MM. Nicholas has the first right to accept, followed by Li Tian, Jonathan and so on. This one player can only get his place in National Squad if he finishes among top 5 (excluding NC qualifiers). Of course, these players can also opt to play in the National Closed and try to qualify automatically into the National Squad by finishing top 3 in NC.

It will be interesting to see these fifteen players come together in NC to pit their skill against one another and serve as prelude to the MM 2014. However, it is only a dream scenario that is very unlikely to happen in view several players are living overseas. If it happens, at least 60% among them will finish in the top 10 i.e. 9 of them are inside top 10 based on historical data of Malaysian elo ratings.