SEPTEMBER 3 ― Last weekend, the local chess community largely celebrated Merdeka Day in possibly the only way they knew how: by playing in the KL Open Chess Championship held from August 30-31 at Cititel Hotel, Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur!

In some respects this KL Chess Championship, organised in two categories ― Open and U-16 ― could be considered a warm-up event for the upcoming Malaysian Chess Festival to be held at the very same venue.

The KL Chess Championship is the second local event to receive sponsorship from the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific, following the Selangor Open held at the end of March, but the KL Open also got a venue sponsor through IGB Corporation which is also sponsoring the Malaysian Chess Festival.

So what can one expect from the Malaysian Chess Festival which is now in its 12th year?

Well, pretty much what it has served up year in and year out: seemingly neverending chess and with something for everyone and this year several more events have been added to ensure there is hardly a moment of free time!

The Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific is sponsoring two Blitz chess and one Rapid chess event to add to the existing ASTRO Team Rapid Chess Championship, IGB Open Chess Championship, Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors Chess Championship, and the Malaysian Chess Challenge, and Swensen Age Group Chess Championships.

Nine Filipinos showed up for the KL Chess Championship and many more are expected at the Malaysian Chess Festival which always kicks off with the ASTRO Team Championship; this is a category long dominated by them due to their ability to put up teams which include lowly or unrated players much stronger than the average team rating ceiling of 2250.

Of course the flagship event is the IGB Open Championship where besides having the biggest prizes, FIDE title norms are possible for those who can play well enough to earn them. However, for some time now Malaysia does not yet seem to have talent ready to make this step up.

Held concurrently with the IGB Open is the Tan Sri Loy Seng Seniors which has grown over the years as more and more of our veteran players turn 50 and 65 and their contemporaries find it worth the time to make the trip to KL. The other event held concurrently is the Malaysian Chess Challenge which is for the amateurs and social players who find the Open much too strong.

A highlight for the kids is the Swensen Age Groups which has become essentially a day of fun.

With the additional sponsorship from the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific, there will be a Blitz chess event at the conclusion of the ASTRO Rapid Teams, the sole rest day will see the Lim Chong Memorial played as a one-day Rapid and just before the Awards and Closing Ceremony, one final Blitz chess event.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.