The Eastern Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championship 2023 which started on 1st December 2023 came to a conclusion yesterday with the 9th round being played starting at 9:00am.

For the Open event, it was a tight race between Filipino IM Quizon Daniel and Mongolian FM Amilal Munkhdalai with the latter edging the top spot going into the 8th round after Daniel lost to Indonesia IM Arfan Aditya Bagus in their 7th round encounter . However, FM Amilal was not able to seal the deal and had to be contented with a second place finished – having drawn both his remaining games, with IM Quizon Daniel winning both his remaining rounds to squeeze the top spot due a better tie break. Both Daniel and Amilal had 7.5 points from 9 encounters with 3rd placed Indonesian IM Arfan Aditya Bagus accumulating 7 points rounding up the podium slots. Malaysia’s top finisher in the Open Section was 12 year Kavin Mohan in 7th place with 6 points.

Nirish Kumar Siva Kumar – Malaysia’s highest ranked player at the event, managed to secure 5 points in 12th place alongside compatriot Wee Yin Lin (11th) and Hiew Jing Yung (14th) who were the two surprising performers at the event. Another Malaysian – Muhd Faqih Aminuddin, also ended the tournament with 5 points in 13th place.

On the Girls event, It was a close race between Indonesia’s WFM Singgih Diajeng Theresa and Mongolia’s WFM Altantuya Boldbaatar. After drawing their 4th round encounter, it was a foot race between the two with the Mongolian losing to local WCM Chua Jia-Tien in the 5th round, and 2 rounds later, Singgih lost to fellow nation mate WCM Liuviann Cecilia Natalie. After the dust settled, despite having accumulated the same 7.5 points each, WFM Singgih was declared the winner due to a better tie break, with WFM Altantuya in the 2nd spot. WCM Liuviann completed the podium slots with WCM Chua Jia-Tien – despite winning her last round encounter with WCM Liuviann, had to settle for the 4th spot as the top Malaysia performer.

Malaysia’s other top performers in the Girls section were Nureen Darwisyah Insyirah, Katherine Samantha Likoh and Suchita Mathan, finishing at the 11th, 12th and 14 respectively with 4.5 points each.

The Closing and Prize Giving Ceremony was attended by Senior Private Secretary to the Sabah Chief Minister – Datuk Caesar Mandela Malakun, who gave away the main prizes, along with MCF President – Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi, and SCA President – Muammar Julkarnain.

CONGRATS to all the WINNERS and CONGRATS to SABAH CHESS ASSOCIAITON for a well organized event.