UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE … 13 March 2020
In view of the numerous circulations that has been issued by various sports bodies and government departments and ministries, please take note that the Malaysian Chess Federation WILL NOT BE APPROVING any further applications to organize FIDE rated or KPM accredited events that are scheduled until May 2020. For events that have been approved previously, MCF requests the respective organizers to postpone or cancel the event to a later date in view of the rising concerns. As the approvals were given before the ban circulations were published, MCF will not be held responsible for any complications or issues that may arise should organizers continue with their plan despite the circulations and request made for them to postpone or cancel.
PREVIOUS RELEASE … 12 March 2020
In view of the current situation and rising concern with regards to the spread of Covid 19 within the country, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) recommends that all organizers to exercise discretion whether to continue or to postpone/cancel chess events that are being planned/organized from now until June 2020. While there is a no formal directive to postpone or cancel events issued by the Ministry of Health or the Government, organizers should evaluate the importance of their event, the number of expected participants, the nationalities of the participants – especially Open events with International players, and the availability of the necessary screening devices to monitor the crowd and participants to ensure that the situation is contained and controlled. All in all, it is best to follow the general guideline of “when in doubt, better to be safe (which is to cancel) than to be sorry” when evaluating the need to hold such an event.
For now, the Johor International Rapid Championship and the Selangor Open Championship have been postponed indefinitely until such a time when the situation subsides and/or improves. Other smaller events that has been postponed are the Mini Penang Open organized by the Penang Chess Association and the BICC 2.0 event organized by the Sabah Chess Asscociation.
On the international front, The Asian Chess Federation (ACF) has issued a statement to postpone all of its event which includes the the Asian Amateur Chess Championship which is planned to be held in Oman in April. Please click HERE for an official statement issued by ACF. The same has also been decided on the World Amateur Chess Championship to be held in Greece which FIDE has announced formally at its website as per the following link. https://gamesmaven.io/chessdailynews/news/more-major-events-postponed-by-fide-ecu-5KF3HKNK0UGlwGcpaNcDfw
For now, there is no statements yet being issued for Olympiad which is scheduled to be held in August 2020 as the situation may improved by then.
For major local events, there has been no official statement for MSSM which is schedule to be held starting next week and as of today, the Malaysian Chess Championship 2020 – which is scheduled to be in June 2020, will proceed as planned but will be evaluated from time to time.
In any event, the Malaysian Chess Federation would like to advice the local chess community to stay safe and follow the recommendations made by the Director General of the Ministry of Health (MOH) – Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah as follows: https://kpkesihatan.com/2020/03/11/kenyataan-akhbar-kpk-11-mac-2020-situasi-semasa-jangkitan-penyakit-coronavirus-2019-covid-19-di-malaysia/
