International Master (IM) Yu Tian Poh of Malaysia won the 16th Penang Heritage City International Chess Open 2024 Chess Championship held December 23-27, 2024 at the UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College (Georgetown) in Malaysia.
Yu Tian Poh’s performance was highlighted by impressive victories against strong contenders, Vishant Naidu Patini of Malaysia (Round 1), AIM Yun Rui Lee of Malaysia (Round 2), Tianyu Jiang of China (Round 3), Jan Francis Mirano of the Philippines (Round 5), IM Ronny Gunawan of Indonesia (Round 6) and IM Rao Sharan of Indonesia (Round 8) in succession to emerge champion in the Open category with 7.5 points in nine outings which attracted 90 chess players in this FIDE aid project week-long event being held in coordination with Penang Chess Association President and Malaysian Chess Federation Deputy President Madam See Swee Sie.
He also held his ground with draws against strong woodpushers in the likes of IM Alexey Polschikov of Russia (Round 4), IM Pavel Shkapenko of Russia (Round 7) and FM Alexander Chernyavsky of Russia (Rund 9).
The tournament proved pivotal for Poh and boosted his FIDE rating by 7.3 points with a Performance rating of 2455.
Poh who holds a FIDE standard rating of 2444 finished the tournament with 7.5 points.
Shkapenko, Chernyavsky and Polschikov settled for second to fourth placers with 7.0 points each.
Mirano, WIM Chuqiao Wang of China and CM Zaidan Zulkipli of Malaysia wound up fifth to eight placers with 6.5 points each.
Wei Hom Isaac Tan of Malaysia topped the Challenger section with 7.5 points, followed by 2nd placer Yoggenraj Ramakrishnan of Malaysia and 3rd placer Xin Ran Claire Wang of Malaysia who totes 7.0 points apiece.
10-year-old Gabe Butarbutar Georgio, the newest chess sensation from Jakarta, Indonesia, a student of IM Dede Lioe, split the point with the top seed Almario Marlon Bernardino Jr. of the Philippines in the last round to score 6.5 points and finish in a tie for 4th to 10th placers.
After the tie breaks were applied, Georgio took 4th.
Other 6.5 pointers are Yeoh Wei Shen of Malaysia (5th), Wong Kah Meng of Malaysia (6th), Bernardino (7th), Abdur Rahman Mohd Afif of Malaysia (8th), Dhanpal Rajkumar Manish of Malaysia (9th) and Rezuan Khaizuran of Brunei (10th).
Completing the top 12 are NM Leonardo Alidani of the Philippines (11th) and Yang Yichen of China (12th), both tallied 6.0 points apiece.
Chew Ming Thomas Hoe of Singapore notched 6.0 points and won the top Veteran (senior player) award.
The Challenger section saw 110 chess players participate.-Marlon Bernardino-