After months of planning, the Eastern Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championship Officially kicked off last Friday, 1st December 2023 with players’ arrivals, and subsequent briefing held at the official venue – Sabah Oriental Hotel. A total of 59 players from 10 countries took part in the Malaysian edition hosted by the Sabah Chess Association.

For the Open event, 38 players from 8 countries took part with Malaysia – as the host, fielded the most players with 20. Leading the pack is IM Daniel Quizon of the Philippines, followed by IM Aditya Bagus Arfan of Indonesia and another Pinoy IM Michael Jr. Concio as the 3rd seeded player. The highest seeded Malaysian is youngster Nirish Kumar Siva Kumar as the 8th seeded player.

For the Girls event, a total of 21 players from 10 countries took part with Malaysia’s own WCM Chua Jia-Tien seeded 3rd behind WFM Boldbaatar Altantuya of Mongolia and WFM Samantha Edithso of Indonesia in 1st and 2nd seeded respectively.

Going into the 4th round tomorrow, IM Quizon is still leading the pack with a perfect 3 points followed by FM Munkhdalai Amilal of Mongolia having collected the same 3 points. The highest ranked Malaysian going into the 4th round is Muhammad Faqih Aminuddin in 5th place and half point adrift from the leaders.

For the ladies, Mongolian WFM Altantuya still leads the pack with a perfect score, tailed by Indonesian WFM Singgih Diajeng Theresa also with the same score line. Eight (8) players tied with 2 points each including Malaysians WCM Chua Jia Tien and local Sabahn Katerine Samantha Likoh.

The Championship will continue on Monday with a single round 4 to be played followed by double rounds on Tuesday before going for a one day break on Wednesday.

The Eastern Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championship is co organized by the Malaysian Chess Federation and Sabah Chess Association under the auspices of Asian Chess Federation. Chief Arbiter for the event is IA KK Chan of Hong Kong assisted by local Arbiters such as IA Collin Madhavan, FA Syawal Aqmar Shahrir Ariff, FA Charles Lucas and FA Olivia Madhavan – among others.

The Championship will continue until 8th December 2023 with players departing from Sabah on 9th December 2023.

MCF wishes all Malaysian players ALL THE BEST AND SUCCESSES in the tournament.