It is quite rare that chess news are shared in the national news main stream and when it is, it uplifts the spirit of the community and puts chess closer to being at par with main stream sports. It also indicates that chess has a strong and loyal following that continues to support and contribute towards the development and progress of the sports in the country. What more, with Malaysia being the defending Gold medalist at the Regional biannual SEA Games, the hope is that Malaysia will not only able to maintain its performance, but added medal tally will be the main target that MCF aspires to achieve in this year’s Hanoi edition.

Video is from RTM News Portal which was aired on RTM1 at 8:00pm on 31st January 2021

While the PKP enforced throughout the country has impacted MCF plan to conduct Over-The-Board events to identify the country’s best players as part of the contingent to SEA Games Hanoi, the Federation is grateful that chess is able to flourish via Online platform including the Hybrid format – which has been approved by FIDE for Rating purposes. With the successes of the first 2 Hybrid events in December 2020 and January 2021, another bigger Individual Hybrid FIDE Rated event has been planned for March 2021. 

The Committee is also planning additional National Training Program to kick off by Quarter 2 which will include established Grandmasters and Coaches as trainers that will help our National Squad to prepare for the Regional Sports Festival, and also the ASIAN Games in China for 2022. With quality events and programs being planned for 2021, it is hoped that chess will continue to grow and develop to become the sports of choice for many Malaysians in the years to come.