Usually this event will be over by mid-April with 6 weeks of preparation before competing in MSSM Final during mid-year school break. Due to unforeseen circumstances, MSSWPKL Final for Primary Schools category has just started yesterday. While, the Secondary Schools category will be conducted next week. This leaves the Organiser with just 2 weeks of preparation before competing in MSSM Final during mid-Aug in Kelantan.
The zones level were conducted back in March and April with the top 6 schools from each zone comes to the Final to compete against each other. Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the 4 zones had failed to organize the zone level. Hence, we saw 18 teams from 3 zones + 2 teams from hosting school competing in this year edition.
In the Girls section, the top teams that compete are Defending Champion SJK(C) Kepong 2, SJK(C) Salak South, SK Taman Bukit Maluri and SJK(C) Jalan Davidson. While, the Boys section, we have Defending Champion SJK(C) Kepong 2, SJK(C) Jalan Davidson, SK (L) Methodist, SK Bukit Damansara, SK TTDI 1 and SJK(C) Kuen Cheng 1.
As the team event unfold, there are few shocking elements along the way. Among the notable one is the Organiser has paired 2 title contenders in the first round i.e. SJK(C) Kepong 2 vs. SK Bukit Damansara (SKBD). What's shocking was SKBD is given a very low 11th seed despite all players have high-enough national ratings for at least a top 4 seeding as a team. Even if the Organiser didn't look at national ratings, SKBD is one of the top finishers in last year edition. Moreover, SKBD is under the coaching of panel of MSSWPKL teachers which means they should know their own students strength. Do they deserve a lowly 11th ranked? Anyway, the match has ended in a 2-all draw. This pairing has disrupted the preparation of some strong teams and at the same time some other strong teams have benefited from it.
Lets cut the long story short and fast forward to the final results:-
SJK(C) Kepong 2 continues to dominate the Girls section with 4 Wins & 1 Draw after 5 gruelling rounds of competition which ended today.
While, SK (L) Methodist has snatched the Boys Title from SJK(C) Kepong 2 in a mouth-watering clash among Best of the Best with both teams enter into the Final round as Top 2 positions with 7 Match points each. A win by either side, that team will emerges as Champion. While the former just need a draw to be declared as Champion due to superior game points tie-break. The match ended with the former scoring 2.5 game points over 4 boards. This result gives the former who is better known to many as MBPS their first ever Chess Championship title at State level since a chess programme started 10 years ago by Coach Lim.
A big congratulation to both schools for their spectacular achievement.
