As the heat for the upcoming Zonal 3.3 Chess Championship begins to build up, ACF and FIDE have announced two more major chess events in the form of ASIAN Continental Chess Championship (via Hybrid mode) and the FIDE World Cup 2021 to be held in Sochi, Russia via Over-The-Board format. While the dates for the Continental has been set from 20th May 2021 to 30th May 2021, the dates for the World Cup 2021 is still up in the air but is estimated to be in August 2021.

While the Zonal 3.3 Chess Championship only offers the top 2 finishers to automatically qualify for the FIDE World Cup 2021, the Continental Chess Championship awards automatic qualification to the top 8 finishers to the same event. On top of the qualifications given to Zonal and Continental winners, FIDE also allows selected countries to send a single representative to the World Cup Championship and Malaysia has been offered to send one Men and one Women representative to the grand event.

For the Continental event, only a handful of Malaysians are qualified due to the ELO 2300 rating requirement but, similar to the zonal event, MCF will appeal for the organizer to allow lower rated players to join with strong justification presented for their inclusion. As of today, MCF has received three (3) applications to participate in the Continental event with only one (1) player above the required ELO 2300. Nonetheless, MCF is confident that the organizer will allow those below the threshold to join the event for junior development purposes. On the same, MCF is opening up the opportunities for other players to apply for the Continental event before 1st May 2021 for their names to be submitted to the organizing committee for approval – if they are below ELO 2300. Similar to Hybrid event, the current rate to participate is RM 1,500 per player (to pay for the cost of Hybrid Centers and Arbiters) with additional USD 150 (RM 600++) as the entry fees. Please CLICK HERE to read more the Continental Event Regulations

For the FIDE World Cup 2021, MCF would like to invite applications from those who are eager to match wits with some of the best chess players in the world to submit their application to represent Malaysia at the prestigious world event. Closing date to apply is set at 31st May 2021 as players would need to consider the financial commitment that they need to have available in order to participate in the event. While no processing fees shall be imposed at the point of application, MCF may impose minimal levy as processing fees to register the selected/approved player to play in the event. For more information on the FIDE World Cup 2021 event, please CLICK HERE.

For both applications, please write to mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org and include the following information:
1. Event: CONTINENTAL or WORLD CUP
2. Full Name:
3. FIDE ID:
4. FIDE Rating (Standard):
5. Mobile Number
6. Recent Achievements/Notable Achievements:
7. Why MCF should choose me?
8. Other relevant/supporting information
9. Source of Funding: Self / Sponsor / School / Company (name) / Others (Please specify)

For Continental, please write in before 1st May and for World Cup, please write in before 31st May.