It was an incredible showing from Team Malaysia – 2 wins and 1 draw in their opening day of Division 2 Pool B match up.

Malaysia started with a 4.5-1.5 win against Wales in the opening rounds with 3 wins from FM Lim Zhuo Ren, WIM Puteri Munajjah and FM Chan Kim Yew, with the remaining 3 players notching drawn games.

In the second round against Uzbekistan, Malaysia again won their games with the same margin with FM Chan Kim Yew, Poh Yu Tuan and WCM Chua Jia-Tien securing wins and the remaining team members drawing their games.

The first test came in round 3 as Malaysia was matched against Austria who fielded GM Markus Ragger (2630) on Board 1 and IM Georg Froewis (2484) on Board 2. And Malaysia played well to draw 3-3 against the seemingly higher rated team Austria with Poh Yu Tian securing a draw against the IM and FM Chan Kim Yew clinching a nail biting draw in the final game of the round. At one point, Kim Yew definitely had the advantage but alas, in time scramble with a few seconds left to play, both players exchanged the remaining rooks to record an inevitable draw between the two players.

So, Malaysia is now in second place behind Latvia who have maintained a perfect score having bulldoze everyone on their way to the top with an almost perfect game points. Italy suffered a surprising defeat against Uzbekistan which allowed Malaysia a 1 match point cushion to separate the remaining teams.

Team Captain IM Mok Tze Meng is excited over the energetic performance by the players, but not commenting further on Malaysia’s chances as the coming encounters will be more challenging and tougher as Malaysia begin to meet the stronger team within the Division.

In any event, it was a great showing from the team.

#MALAYSIABOLEH