Malaysia’s campaign in the 2021 Online Olympiad came to an end on Saturday after losing to Latvia 2.5 – 3.5 in penultimate round and Moldova 1.5 – 4.5 in the final round. Team Malaysia did salvage a win against Iraq with a 4.5 – 1.5 advantage in the opening Round 7 of Day 3 but it was not enough to plough its way through the crowd. In the final 2 rounds, Malaysia was pitted against the eventual Pool B winner Latvia and runner up Moldova and settled at 6th place in the Overall Pool B standing.

Overall, the team did well to amass 28 points out of the possible 54 that they could have achieved. And this year’s performance was already better than last year’s as Malaysia was not even able to pass the Division 3 group matches. The 3 main Women players – WIM Puteri Munajjah, sister WFM Puteri Rifqah and WCM Chua Jia-Tien, played all the 9 rounds in the Division 2 games to score 13.5 points out of a possible 27 points. Considering that both Munajjah and Rifqah also played in the Asian University games held on the same days – but different time of the day, it is amazing that both sisters had the stamina to endure 6 highly competitive games for 3 consecutive days and were still able to achieve a remarkable score for Malaysia. And while the sisters were not able to help Malaysia to progress in the Online event, they manage to help the Malaysian University Team to earn the bronze medal. But of course, that is another story.

For the Mens players, Junior Poh Yu Tian had the most impressive outing with 2 wins and 2 draws against GMs and IM, securing 4.5 points out of 7 points to outscore everyone else in the team. One of Poh Yu Tian’s more memorable win was against GM Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova in Malaysia’s final round match at the Olympiad which is covered by local blogger Hairulov at https://youtu.be/mBadKhhvYQ4

In any event, it was a great outing for the team led by IM Mok Tze Meng as the Team Captain and motivator. It was impressive to see Mok getting his hands dirty and be on top of matters that need immediate attention. He was also very passionate in driving and motivating the players to continue giving their best, and to continue fighting despite the odds that the team is facing. While Mok express his hope that more stronger players would come forward to register and have interest to represent the country in the future, he applauds everyone in the team for giving their best for the country as all of them had put their soul and spirit to show what they can do.

MCF thanks IM Mok Tze Meng for his contribution, and to all the players involved in the Olympiad for giving the best that they can give for the country.

#MalaysiaBoleh #staysafe #togetherwecan