Result: Kepong Juniors Chess Tournament 2007

The Category U-08 was won by Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar (one of pre-tournament favourites) with 5.5 points from 6 games, followed by Chong Wui Foong (another pre-tournament favourite) and Chua Yee Ler. Also, there are 2 newcomers to nationally-rated chess tournament namely Ryan Athanasius and Chew Esheng who finished 8th and 9th respectively.

The Under-10 category saw a five-way tie with 5 points from 6 games. The category won by Mohd Faisal Roslan (one of pre-tournament favourites), followed by Wendy Tan and Tan Wei Hao finished 2nd and 3rd respectively after tie-break count. There is a newcomer, Wong Zhen Yau, who finished at 10th place.

The Under-12 category won by Lim Chin Shen (one of pre-tournament favourites). He registered 5 wins in a row that includes defeating Nur Nabila Azman Hisham (tournament top seed) and Low Jun Keat (another pre-tournament favorite) in round 4 and 5 respectively before agreed to a draw in an advantage position over Wong Jian Wen (another pre-tournament favorite). With the draw, Jian Wen finished 2nd, ahead of Joshua Teo after tie-break count.

The Under-14 Category won by pre-tournament top seed, Edward Lee Kim Han, who is the only player in this year Kepong Juniors that won all the 6 games. He disposed of two other pre-tournament favourites namely Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham and Muhd Syakir Shazmeer in round 4 and 5 respectively. At the end of the tournament, Syakir and Nabil finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The Under-16 Category saw a dramatic fight back by Tariq Amru (one of the pre-tournament favourites) after he lost to Lim Zhuo Ren (pre-tournament second seed) in Rd 4 when he defeated the clear favourite, Francis Tan, who lead the whole field by 1 point into the last round. Tariq scored an upset win against Francis by winning his last game convincingly. Based on the ruling that Personal Encounter is to be used as 1st tie-break, the title is awarded to Tariq even though his other tie-break counts were very much inferior compare to Francis. While, Zhuo Ren finished 3rd ahead of Tan Ken Wei after tie-break count.

This year edition results showed no major upset between competitors where all pre-tournament favorites had emerged as Champion in all the categories contested. Also, a total 35 players from the list of top 10 seeded players in each category (five categories in total) had emerged as top 10 prize winners at the end of the tournament.

Lastly, the Organiser, PIBG of SJK(C) Kepong 2 had agreed to submit this event for National rating purpose. The school hopes to see more participation in this event next year since this will be Nationally-rated event.

Pre-tournament Favourites for Kepong Juniors Chess Tournament

A total of 69 players have registered for the Under-08 category. For the first time in Malaysian history that girls have occupied the 3 highest seeding in an Open category. Pre-tournament favourites are:
1. Nur Najiha Azman Hisham (N.Rtg: 1445) --> 2007 Nat. U-08 Girl's 2nd
2. Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar (N.Rtg: 1328) --> 2007 Nat. U-08 Girl's Champion
3. Nurulhana Syuhada Mohd Sulkifly (N.Rtg: 1243)
4. Chong Wui Foong
5. Tan Yong Zhao

The Under-10 category has received the best response from parents where entries from 69 players have been accepted and the Organiser had closed the registration for this category on 2nd Oct. Several entries that arrived after 2nd Oct are pushed to U-12 category. Pre-tournament favourites are:

1. Tan Wei Hao (N.Rtg: 1519) --> 2007 Nat. U-10 Open Champion
2. Yeoh Li Yuan (N.Rtg: 1485) --> 2007 Nat. U-10 Open 2nd
3. Mohd Faizal Roslan (N.Rtg: 1438)
4. Derek Poon Guo Liong
5. Ee Sun-Xin

The Under-12 category has 56 players have registered. Pre-tournament favourites are:
1. Nur Nabila Azman Hisham (N.Rtg: 1561) --> 2007 Nat. U-10 Girl's Champion
2. Wong Jianwen (N.Rtg: 1526) --> 2007 Nat. U-12 Open 2nd
3. Low Jun Keat (N.Rtg: 1505)
4. Lim Chin Shen
5. Nicholas Lee Kim Hua

As for the Under-14 Category, there is a total of 41 players have registered. Pre-tournament favourites are:
1. Edward Lee Kim Han (N.Rtg: 1793) --> 2007 Nat. U-14 Open 2nd
2. Muhd Syakir Shazmeer Azhar (N.Rtg: 1632) --> 2007 Nat. U-14 Open Champion
3. Low Jun Jian (N.Rtg: 1629)
4. Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham
5. Winnie Hong Wee Ni

Lastly, the Under-16 Category has received a very dissapointing response with 21 players have registered. Pre-tournament favourites are:
1. Francis Tan (N.Rtg: 1800) --> National representative to 2005 Zonal 3.3
2. Lim Zhuo Ren (N.Rtg: 1757) --> 2007 Nat. U-16 Open Champion
3. Amir Hamzah Kamarul Zaman (N.Rtg: 1750)
4. Tan Ken Wei
5. Muhd Tariq Amru

MCF Chess Rating List (Oct 2007 release)

The MCF chess rating list has just released. The MCF chess rating is approximately 250 rating points lower than the FIDE elo rating used by World Chess Federation.

The top 10 juniors for the period from July to Sept 2007:
1. Anas Nazreen Bakri (N.Rtg: 2007) --> 2006 Olympian, National representative to 2007 Asian Indoor Games
2. Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli(N.Rtg: 1903) --> 2007 National Men Champion, 2004 Olympian
3. Sumant Subramaniam (N.Rtg: 1853) --> 2007 Youth Olympian
4. Abel Yap Jinwei (N.Rtg: 1802) --> 2006 National U-20 Champion, Record holder for any player in M'sia by winning Kepong Juniors Championship U-08, U-10, U-12, U-14, and U-16 category within 7 years.
5. Francis Tan (N.Rtg: 1800) --> National representative to 2005 Zonal 3.3
6. Edward Lee Kim Han (N.Rtg: 1793) --> 2007 RS Grand Prix Champion
7. Kaushal Khandhar (N.Rtg: 1779) --> National representative to 2007 Zonal 3.3
8. Yeap Eng Chiam (N.Rtg: 1770) --> 2005 World Youth U-10 6th, MSSM U-12 Champion
9. Lim Zhuo Ren (N.Rtg: 1757) --> 2007 National U-16 Champion
10. Leong Zhi Wen (N.Rtg: 1752) --> 2007 National U-20 Champion, MSSM U-18 Champion

You may download the entire rating list either from Malaysia's Biggest Internet Chess Circle (you need to subscribe to chess-malaysia group)or Malaysia's leading chess portal.