The second edition of the Azerbaijan National Leader Day Celebration 2024 was held on the 18th of May 2024 at the University of Cyberjaya, Cyberjaya with 98 players from 5 different countries taking part in the annual event. Divided into 2 main events, the Open section had 76 players vying for the prizes offered while the Women section attracted 22 players.

The FIDE/National Rated event was contested over 7 rounds using the Rapid Time Control of 15 minutes with 5 seconds increment per move. Starting with Round 1 at 9:00am, the first four rounds were conducted before lunch with the balance 3 rounds completed after lunch.

The Open event saw a few of the top National players taking part including 4 players from the National squad bound for the 45th World Chess Olympiad 2024 to be held in Budapest, Hungary. Aside from the Olympiad squad, the event attracted Malaysia’s former No 1 player – IM Mas Hafizulhelmi, and last year’s champion FM Lim Zhuo Ren. The youngest participant for the Open event was 9-year-old Uwaiz Amir Abdullah Hidayat who commendably ended the event with 2.5 points out of 7 games. The event also saw the participation of Tan Sri Dato Dr Palaniappan – Pro Chancellor of the University of Cyberjaya, who was impressed by the interest and the show of strength from the chess community towards the event.

For the Women event, last year’s champion – WCM Nithyalakshmi, also took part along with another member of the Malaysian Women Olympiad Team – Nur Uzma Bazilah. The youngest player for the Women section and the entire tournament was 6-year-old Alisya Zehra Mohd Izuan, who ended the event with 2 points out of 7 rounds.

After the dust cleared, 13-year-old Kavin Mohan – also a member of the Malaysian Olympiad Team, took the open title with an almost perfect score of 6.5 points, earning himself the top prize of RM1,200. Kavin’s Olympiad teammate and 2024 National Junior Champion – Anderson Ang Ern Jie, came in second with IM Mas Hafizulhelmi rounding up the podium spot with former bagging RM800 and the latter RM300 for their effort.

In the Women event, WCM Nithyalakshmi almost clinched her 2nd consecutive title but had her celebration stopped short when she was edged by former National champion and eventual Champion – WFM Nur Najiha, who bagged the first prize of RM800 after scoring 5.5 points out of 7 rounds. Sister, and also a former National Champion herself – WFM Nur Nabila came second with RM500 while Nithya had to be contented with her prize fund of RM300.

The prize giving ceremony for the Category prizes were awarded by MCF Deputy President – Madam See Swee Sie, with Tan Sri Dato Dr Palaniappan giving away the main prizes for the Women’s event. His Excellency Irfan Davudov – the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan, handing over the main prizes to the Open event winners.

The prize giving ceremony were preceded by a short video presentation showcasing the beauty of Azerbaijan, followed by a singing performance, and ended with dinner for all attendees and dance performances by the students from the University of Cyberjaya.

The Malaysian Chess Federation extends its thanks and gratitude to the HE The Ambassador Mr Irfan Davudov and to the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for their continued support. Heartfelt thanks also to the Management, Staff and Student of University of Cyberjaya for being the gracious and wonderful host for this year’s edition. The Federation hopes that similar events and collaboration can be forged for more future events in our aim to elevate the development and progress of chess in Malaysia to a much higher standard.

Tournament results can be viewed at:
Open: https://chess-results.com/tnr939147.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES
Women: https://chess-results.com/tnr939145.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES