The Olympiad team won the first place in the 2024 PMX Trophy- National Team Open Chess Championship. Comprising five talented players, the team’s composition was as follows:

Board 1: FM Wong Jian Wen

Board 2: CM Ang Jie Anderson

Board 3: Kavin Mohan

Board 4: WFM Tan Li Ting

Board 5/Reserve Player: FM Sumant Subramaniam

The team won all seven rounds and actually secured the first place in round 6 with one round to spare. FM Wong Jian Wen had only 1 loss and it was in final round against FM Chan Kim Yew. Same goes to WFM Tan Li Ting as she only lost one game in round 5. CM Anderson and Kavin Mohan each scored an impressive win against FM Saragih and FM Nicholas in final round, making sure the Olympiad Team went undefeated.

Team Sukma Selangor (M) with 5 wins, 2 draws, and 17 match points grabbed the second place. In round 7, they were paired against formidable opponents, team Penang that was aiming to finish in top 5. Led by Uzair Shahar on board 1, followed with FM Lye Lik Zang on board 2, Shen Ree Herng on board 3, Genkeswaran Genivan on board 4, and Razman Muhd Asyraf on board 5 (reserve), they convincingly defeated team Penang by 4-0. This tournament is perfect for them to prepare for the upcoming SUKMA event in August.

Team Akademi Catur Ariez Azman (ACAA) won the third place. In final round the team was paired against the 2024 National Interschool champion, SMJK Chung Ling from Penang and managed to beat them 2-1 thanks to the victory by Wan Azmie over Lim Wei Yang on board 1 and the win by Abdullah Che Hassan over Lim Feng Wei Ferris on board 2. Syakir Mohd Zin on board 3 played against CM Lai Hong Jun who had amazing run in this tournament, individually he won every single game. On board 4, both teams fielded a junior player, 12 year old Gan Wen Han drew against 13 year old Ong El Win.

Team JCA 1 with 5 wins 1 draw,1 loss and 16 match points won first place for the best state category. They drew against team Penang and lost to team Olympiad 2 ½ – 1 ½. Lai Jia Rong on board 3 had an outstanding performance; he did not lose a single game throughout this event. Chong Jin Cheng on board 4 also had a good performance. He only lost one game and won the rest of them and his notable win would be in round 5 as he was the only one that managed to defeat WFM Tan Li Ting in this tournament.

Sixth-seed KL Knights managed to place themselves in the top 5 overall and secured second place for the best state category. In final round, Emir Emran who played on board 1, won against the 2023 National Rapid champion, Nirish Kumar. Reinforced by CM Zaidan Zulkipli on board 2 and Nik Ahmad Farouqi on board 3 each scored a win, plus a draw from board 4, Aqil Alauddin who is also one of the players in this tournament that did not lose a single game. With that, they scored 3 ½ – ½ over Perak Eagles.

24th-seed team Penang Junior defied the odds to finish in top 10 overall and won third place for the best state team. Penang Junior logged 5 wins and 2 losses. Remarkable achievements would be victories against higher seeded teams EMT Pintasan (M) Sdn Bhd and MAKSWIP Combatants.

Team MBSSKL grabbed the best secondary school category meanwhile, team Tactical Titans settled for the second best secondary school.

For the best two primary schools, first place went to team YUK CHAI with 10 match points. Second place went to team The Chess Warriors with 7 match points.

In the best corporate/goverment category, team CIMed Healthcare clinched the first place with 13 match points, closely followed by the second best team MAKSWIP Combatants with 12 match points.

Two teams won the best veteran category namely EMT Pintasan(M) Sdn Bhd led by Jusoh Hashim and Fueled by Hope led by Jax Tham.

Team ChessQueenMY secured their spot in the top 15 overall and as well won the best women’s team category. Composed of former national players namely WFM Alia Bakri, WFM Nabila Azman, WFM Najiha Azman and Yeung Ruby, the team racked up 13 match points. Team JCA Girls from Johor grabbed the second spot for the best women’s team. The team led by WNM Ainul Afif, Koh Chen Xi, Tan Huai Mint, and Lim Zhi Ting managed to draw ChessQueenMY in round 4.

Aside from team Penang Junior, two more junior (U18) teams made it to top 15 overall, team First Knights and team Chess Knights. First Knights’ commendable achievements would be a victory against higher seeded team KL Knights and a draw against third place ACAA. Meanwhile Chess Knights had one applaudable victory against the eighth seed MAKSWIP Combatants.

14 junior (U12) teams took part in this event, only two qualified for the best U12 teams, team Trailblazers and team Dragon Warriors with 10 and 9 match points respectively.

A total of four OKU teams participated to test out their strengths for the upcoming PARA SUKMA that will take place in September this year. Two teams emerged as the best OKU team, and both are from Negeri Sembilan, PARA N9 A and PARA N9 B.

Congratulation to all winners!