Archives: News

By Ignatius Leong

The Eastern Asia Junior & Girls U-20 Championships finally took off at 3 p.m. 2^nd August 2018 after some uncertainty over the arrival of Mongolian players.

On 10 July, the Mongolian Chess Federation registered 19 players (and 44 accompanying persons!). Despite several reminders, only 2 players arrived (giving short notice) while there was no response from the federation. Couple of hours before the technical meeting, an email was received that 2 players will arrive (after 12 midnight).

Meanwhile 13 juniors and 7 girls presented themselves at the technical meeting. This created a problem as to what would be best to preserve the Direct Titles for those who showed up. The meeting agreed to postpone the start of the first round and re-scheduled the subsequent rounds. Fortunately, the 2 players who arrived were one each for the respective section. Hence the minimum requirement of 8 players from 5 federations was achieved with the girls playing a 7-round Swiss while the open category avoided the byes.

In the first round, late arrival FM Ganzorig Bulgankhan was unable to convert his strong position and drew against top seed Indonesian FM Jodi Setyaki who was suffering some stomach discomfort. 2^nd seed Mongolian FM Tsogbayar Bat-Erdene lost to little known Nguyen Hoang Duc of Vietnam. Malaysia’s Dawson Tan held Filipino young talent 3^rd seed Daniel Quizon to a draw.

In the girls category, top seed Indonesian Diajeng Singgih defeated local WCM Park Sunwoo. Vietnamese WFM Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh upset 2^nd seed Malaysian Rosamund Koo.

Kim Yubin’s win over Mongolian Tuya Khuslen was the only Korean win against any foreigner in this round.

Full results can be found at for Boys at http://chess-results.com/tnr369418.aspx?lan=1 and for Girls at http://chess-results.com/tnr369417.aspx?lan=1

The pecking order in Asian chess has been quite constant for many years now, and this is confirmed by the latest monthly FIDE rating list that ranks countries based on the average rating of its top ten players.

Men

China which is ranked number two in the world rankings and with the most number of 2700+ players leads Asia while their main rivals India which is ranked number six in ten world are in second place.

In third place is Iran, ranked 28th in the world, powered by a golden generation of young talent, in evidence at the ongoing Asian nations Cup where China’s second team and a representative Indian team have no proven to be as strong.

Next come the trio, in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Kazakhstan.

In seventh place is Australia and in eighth is the Philippines while Mongolia is in ninth place and Indonesia in the tenth spot.

Women

As far as the top two places in Asian women chess is concerned, it is World No. 1 China, now in a tie with Russia, which leads with India second with seventh place world ranking.

Kazakhstan, on the back of a rivalry between their top two equally talented young potential world beaters, are in third place.

Then comes Mongolia in fourth place and Vietnam in fifth.

Indonesia is sixth but not participating in the Asian Nations Cup but seventh placed hosts Iran lead by their own super talent certainly are!

Uzbekistan, Australia and Philippines in eighth, ninth and tenth places round up the Asian top ten.

The Asian Nations Cup as organised by the Iran Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation, is being held in Hamadan, Iran, from 26 July to 4 August 2018.

A total of twelve countries are taking part – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – with all the big boys (and girls) present!

In the Rapid event, a young Iran team both impressed and surprised, taking first place and Gold for the first time ever, and ahead of China and India which finished second and third respectively. Uzbekistan had the same score to to tie second to fourth places but failed to medal on tie-break.

There was less drama in the women’s section with China comfortably first, India second and Iran third.

Fill details of the results can be found at: http://chess-results.com/tnr368152.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30.

Also, see the official website at: http://asiannationscup2018.ircf.ir/

The Asian Schools Chess Championship 2018 was held from 7th to 15th July 2018 at Kaluthara, Sri Lanka and organised by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation.

Luxman Wijesuriya, Chairman of the Organizing Committee expressed his pride at the record more than 450 entries which surpassed by far the participation in the many previous Asian events held and thanked in particular, Sheikh Sulta Kalifa Al Nayan, President of the Asian Chess Federation and Hisham Al-Taher, General Secretary of the Asian Chess Federation for their support throughout.

Fifteen countries took part, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and hosts Sri Lanka.

In Standard Chess, Uzbekistan with seven gold, two silver and one bronze were the outstanding performers, their ten medals also the most number won.

Kazakhstan with two gold, one silver and two bronze far behind in second place while hosts Sri Lanka tied India with one gold, three silver and two bronze to share the third spot.

Uzbekistan was also the big winner in Rapid Chess, eleven medals, four gold, four silver and three bronze.

In second place was however a much more competitive India with three gold, two silver and three bronze with hosts Sri Lanka tying Kazakhstan in third place with two gold, two silver and one bronze.

For detailed results, see: http://chess-results.com/tnr364567.aspx?lan=1

There was a FIDE Trainer Seminar in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia from 5-7 July 2018 and co-organised by FIDE, the Asian Chess Federation, FIDE Trainers Commission and the Malaysian Chess Federation.

All 13 participants from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei were successful.

Full report: FTS-KLP 2018-Report

by GM Jayson Gonzales

Living legend Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre, commanding the white pieces, played superbly in round 4 of 41st International Barbera Del Valles by dominating his Indian rival all through out the game in their London Opening scrimmage.

Rejuvenated Torre displayed his extra ordinary acumen in technical endgame, good knight versus bad bishop. Anand Saurabh his adversary waved the white flag knowing the eminent defeat cannot be prevented. Thus, giving Torre a thundering triumph, reminiscent of his old form when he reached the World Candidates Finals in the 80’s.

Philippines’ First Woman World Chess Grandmaster WGM Janelle Mae Frayna settled for a draw against 6th seed International Master Venkataraman Karthik from India with a FIDE rating of 2514. Although, Janelle has a minuscule pull in their 31 moves English opening melee by notching a pawn it was not enough for much higher rated opponent to get rattled and for them to split the point.

2018 Asian Youth 18 under Champion International Master John Marvin Miciano seems to be out of form as he was crushed by Indian foe Gupta Saptorshi. Blundering and unexpectedly succumbed to simple combination of knight to f5 check followed by Queen to g5 check which will allow the white’s rook on d1 to capture his Queen on d8 in their Pirc defense battle.

Marvin needs to readjust his frame of mind, be tougher and to have stronger nerves for him to stop the downward trend of his play. And knowing his resilience, he will recover in time and gain his composure to play better.

GM Torre is on 3 points out of 4 games, tied from 5th to 19th places. While WGM Frayna is 2.5 points, tied from 20th to 35th places.