The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) is pleased to announce that the township of Pontian, Johor – led by the Persatuan Catur Daerah Pontian (PCDP), is set to host the 2024 edition of the Malaysian Chess Championship to be held from Sunday, the 21st of April to Thursday, the 25th of April 2024. With Dewan Jubli Intan Pontian set to be the event’s main venue, the premier national event is scheduled to be opened by Pontian District Officer – Tuan Haji Zainal Bin Eran, who has helped PCDP in securing the use of the historical hall by the sea.

PCDP – Led by its Deputy President Tuan Zaharul Azam Zainal Abidin, has provided a short list of hotels and homestays available in Pontian for players to contact and book their accommodation for the event. An indicator and gesture of how excited the small township of Pontian to host such an important event in Malaysia’s annual calendar. On top of that, Tuan Zaharul Azam has also offered his personal help to guide those who may have difficulty in getting rooms for the national event by contacting him for advice or clarification. Should this list runs out, or if the hotel is not the preferred one, players can also search for other hotels located in Skudai, Kangkar Pulai, or Johor Bahru as the traveling time should be less than 50 minutes to Pontian.

PCDP has also secured Southern Tip Hotel in Pontian to sponsor accommodation to MCC reigning 2023 champions – FM Lim Zhuo Ren and WNM Ainul Mardhiah Mohd Afif, as such both players will not have to worry about their staying arrangements throughout their 5-day stay.

For the MCC event – as this is an Olympiad year, the top 3 players from the Open and Women event will be given automatic slots to represent Malaysia at the upcoming World Olympiad to be held in Budapest Hungary in September 2024.

Similar to last year’s format, the event will be divided into 3 main events – Open, Women and Challenger, with slight changes due the upcoming revamp of the FIDE Rating system. As usual, MCF offers free entries to all IM/WIM and former champions NM/WNM should they are interested to participate in this annual event. To add more interest, MCF is also offering free entries to all players above a FIDE Rating of 2200. All they have to do is send an email to MCF at mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org to confirm their interest, and make their way to Pontian Johor come this April to participate in this event.

For other players, the Open event will be strictly for players above FIDE Rating of 1800, and above FIDE Rating of 1600 for the Women section. For the Women event, players within FIDE Rating of 1800 and 1600, are allowed to choose whether they want to play in the Women event or play in the Challenger event. Players who are below 1800 (Men) and 1600 (Women) including all UNRATEDS, are only allowed to play in the Challenger event.

Each state are allowed to send 2 reps each for the Open and Women event, at a discounted rate. States are also allowed to field players below FIDE Rating of 1800 (Men) and 1600 (Women) as long as it is within their 2 players allocation. There is no state nomination for the Challenger event.

The prize fund for the Malaysian Chess Championship is increased to RM10,000 with the Open Champion set to earn RM2,000 and the Women Champion RM1,200. The winner for the Challenger category will earn RM800 which is similar to last year’s purse.

This will be a FIDE Rated event and MCF will use the FIDE Standard Rating when referring to all the FIDE Rating mentioned. If a player does not have a Standard Rating – only has a Rapid or Blitz Rating, he/she will be considered as UNRATED. To play in the event, players must have both valid FIDE ID and MCF ID in order to participate.

To learn more about the event, please download and read the following brochures prior to registering. To register, please go to https://forms.gle/nny7e2XMmwV7znzZ8. The list of available hotels and homestays is provided below. Please take note that the hotel list is provided as references and any arrangement made with the hotel is strictly between the players/accompanying persons and the hotel management. MCF/PCDP shall not be held responsible nor involved for any issues or dissatisfaction arising from these arrangements.