It was an interesting event with 33 teams from 9 states taking part in Malaysia’s first ever National Inter State Online Chess Championship 2020. With more than 132 players (and officials, parents, managers and captains) logging into chess.com, divided into two(2) Zoom meeting rooms, a huge list of participants in whatsapp group and constant update in chess-results.com, it was a first time experience for many players including officials and parents who participated in the historic event. A total prize fund of RM 7,850 has been set aside for the tournament with RM1,500 going to the eventual winner and RM 50 for each of the best board player, this is the biggest prize fund to date for an online events for local Malaysians.

Players who played in the event included Malaysian players from as far as Pennsylvania USA, New Zealand and United Kingdom. The players list also includes some of Malaysia’s top players such as FM Wong Jianwen, FM Chan Kim Yew, FM Lye Lik Zhang, FM Wong Yinn Long, Capel Evan Timothy, Lim Weisheng, Abdullah Che Hassan and Looi Xin Hao.

Although the event had a rocky start as Arbiters struggled to perform the pairing over chess.com platform due to incorrect IDs provided by players, the event eventually pick up pace during the second half of the day and managed to make up time to finish without much delay. It was an totally new experience of playing chess for many players and those who witnessed the event was surprised that the event had completed with minimal challenges and went smoother than expected despite having to use webcams, zoom application and submitting results via whatsapp.

In executing the event, the Malaysian Chess Federation would like to express its gratitude to Penang Chess Association who acted as the co organizer for the event, and also for putting up 12 teams to participate in the event. A special thanks to Melaka for registering 4 teams including one Para Team, and Perak who provided the other Para Team playing in the event. Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor also showed their support for the event by registering 4 teams to the event including one school team from SK Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam.

After the smoke had cleared, MCF hereby published the final results of the event and once this is confirmed, the PCA will start to contact the respective Team Captains or Managers to disburse the Prize Fund.

For a more detailed information on the final result, please click HERE to go to chess-results.com website.

Again, the Malaysian Chess Federation would like to congratulate the winners of the event and thanked all the states and teams that have participated in the event. Due to the current COVID19 situation, the Malaysian Chess Federations is confident that more states would have taken part in the event. The Federation would also like to thank the Penang Chess Association for their effort in making this event a reality especially to the group of qualified Arbiters and Organizers that have worked very hard to make this event a success.

The success of the event has prompted MCF to plan for more online event in the near future with similar concept that will involve both Individual and Team concept for local chess enthusiasts.

CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS to EVERYONE! GENS UNA SUMUS

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