Open to ALL Schools in Malaysia – Public, Private, and Internationals

In line with the inaugural World School Team Championship introduced by FIDE last year, the Malaysian Chess Federation has taken the initiative to introduce the first ever National Inter School Chess Championship 2024 to be held on 11th and 12th May 2024. Partnered and hosted by IGB International School (IGBIS) located in Sungai Buloh, the 2 day event will be contested using a standard time control of 30 minutes + 30 seconds over 6 rounds of play.

MCF is honored to have the IGB International School as its newest partner in introducing the first ever event to crown the best Primary and Secondary Chess School in Malaysia. Named the MCF – IGBIS National Inter School Team Chess Championship 2024, the purpose of the event is to crown the best Primary and Secondary School Chess Team in Malaysia, and the option to become the country’s official representative to the 2024 edition of the World School Team Championship. While the host country for the event has not yet been named, the WSTC event is expected to take place sometime in early Quarter 3 of 2024. Last year, the event was held in August and the first 50 teams registering for the events were offered free accommodation. While no firm offer has been mentioned by FIDE, MCF is hopeful that the same will be provided again for 2024.

The Inter School event is open to all schools registered in Malaysia be it public schools, private schools, international schools or any other learning institutions that are registered in Malaysia. For primary schools, all players must be below the age of 12 and for secondary schools, all players must be under the age of 18 years old. Each school is allowed to field at least 4 players (as main players) with no more than 2 reserves. For coed schools – schools that have both boys and girls students, at least one of the player playing in the main line up must be of the opposite gender, while single gender schools are waived from this requirement.

The event is limited to 64 primary school teams and 64 secondary school teams with IGB International school itself given a single slot each to participate in the tournament. Each state chess association will be given the option to name no more than 2 primary and 2 secondary schools to take part in the event with the balance 33 teams for each the primary and secondary category to be selected from open entries. Teams applying via Open entry will be selected based on the top 33 average rating points of its best 4 players (FIDE Rating or National Rating equivalent), and unrated players will be given a default rating of 1400 as per FIDE current ruling. Additional open slots will be available should the State association decided to nominate lesser slots to represent their state.

For the state team, the entry fees is RM250 per team (to be submitted by the state association) where as for Open entries, a non refundable application fee of RM50 is required for schools to submit their forms. Teams that are selected to participate will then have to pay an additional RM350 once their application is accepted in order to enter the tournament. Closing date is 26th April with the final list of schools playing to be selected and announced by 1st May 2024.

There is a total prize fund of RM3,000 for each school category with RM1,000 given to the champion, RM800 to the runner up, and RM600 for the 3rd team. A special prize of RM600 is given to the top all girls chess team at the tournament.

Registration form, event regulations and overview are available below. Please read the regulations and complete the Regulation with the necessary payment to mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org before 26th April 2024.

COME and JOIN US for this exciting new event, and the chance to be crowned the BEST CHESS SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY!