Pesta Catur USM Ke-14

USM Bridge and Chess Club successfully organising "Pesta Catur USM" for the 14th times! This time, it is lead by Mr. Kue Chin Wei and the club's Advisor Prof. Dr.Teoh Siang Guan. With Mr. Kue and Co. the preparation for the tournament are in tip top condition :

Tournament is held in Dewan Utama Pelajar	Tournament hall - well arrange and superb lighting
Plenty of car park spaces	pairing handler, Mr. Lee Kuan Yong
Main sponsor for 14th USM Open - Farlim Group (M) Bhd, Penang Chess Association and USM's Bridge and Chess Club	Result reporting desk with helpers
USM Bridge and Chess club sales corner with 2 shy sales girls (who turned their face away).	PS Global Marketing sales corner with 2 friendly players : Goh Yi Zhang and Tan Yik Shen
Prizes awaiting winners....	Chief Arbiter annoucement before the start of round 1
Start of round 1, table 1 top seed NM Jonathan Chuah vs Nanis. (1-0)	start of round 1, table 31, Hoh Tjun Yee vs Benjamin Lee (1-0)

This is a 2 days(12-13 Jan), 8 round swiss chess tournament with 1 hour time control each. The first day consists of 3 games and the second day has remaining 5 rounds. This tournament attract 164 entries with a number of strong outstation players :

Second seed Kamaluddin, National rating 1948, in action	9th seed Abdul Haq, National rating 1736
Vietnamese girl, Do Thi Thoung	8th seed Loo Pak Kwan, National rating 1748
Norazman, National rating 1681	6th seed Cheah Cheok Fung, National rating 1770
In the first day of tournament(3 rounds), the only fall of the seeded player is 4th seed Mohd Fadli where he was upsetted by Penang most promising U12 player, Elgin Lee.
Elgin Lee create upset of day by beating 4th seed Fadli	Mohd Fadli, National rating 1790
The battles become more exciting on second day, 4th round saw Tan Eu Hong being upset by Do Thi Thoung while at round 5, Chan Tze Wei brought down 2nd seed Kamaluddin while Victor Hong took down 3rd seed Tan Khai Boon.
Chan Tze Wei, National rating 1748	Speed King of Penang, Victor Hong, National rating 1703
3rd seed Tan Khai Boon, National rating 1880	5th seed Tan Eu Hong, National rating 1784
While other seeded players dropping points, top seed NM Jonathan Chuah scored 7 wins in first 7 games! A clear 1 point lead over Victor Hong, Tan Khai Boon, Ahmad Fadzil and Cheah Cheok Fung.
Ahmad Fadzil, National rating 1692	NM Jonathan Chuah, National rating 2169

The end of the tournament was also rather dramatic. NM Jonathan Chuah and Ahmad Fadzil made a quick draw. Tan Khai Booon and Cheah Cheok Fung also end up a draw but Victor Hong won the last game and finished runner up.

The winner list are :

Champion: NM Jonathan Chuah Jin Hai
Runner up: Victor Hong Wee Liam
3rd: Cheah Cheok Fung
4th: Tan Khai Boon
5th: Ahmad Fadzil Nayan
6th: Mohd. Fadli bin Zakaria
7th: Hoh Tjun Yee
8th: Kamaluddin Yusof
   
Veteran: Terrence Ooi
Lady: Do Thi Thuong
USM: Agussalim bin Zainalabidi
University: Chan Tze Wei

Best U18B: Thong Yung Chen
Best U18G: Janet Tan Jia Yin
Best U15B: Evan Timothy Capel
Best U15G: Hoh Tjin Li
Best U12B: Elgin Lee Kah Meng
Best U12G: Hoh Tjin Hui
Best U10B: William Lee Kah Howe
Best U10G: Kelly Lim Pei Ying
Best U08B: Benjamin Lee Kah Peng
Best U08G: Khaw Ker Lee
For winners detail, please visit PCA Website or Chess.EuHong.NET

More photos :

A new chess game invented by Lewis called QQ chess. It can be played by 2, 3 or 4 persons	The kids playing football during the rest time. Their energy are enormous....
Do Thi Thoung prefer a nap	Chin Yuen Sue from PCGHS is U18G second runner up
Stefan Svahn, player from Sweden	Mr. Khor Bean Hwa, a very experience chess player
A kid helping PS Global Marketing selling chocolate. He could be the sales boy of the year!!	Very successful indeed.
Tan Jia Yun, Ang Zhen Yuan and Tang Khar Khei helping in producing PCA membership card.	"Hey, what's this?" (final round, Stefan vs Chen Nee)
Helpers working hard to get the tournament running smooth	Mr. Kue presenting closing ceremony speech before prize giving
Winners photos :
U8G champion Khaw Ker Lee with her little sister	U10G champion Kelly Lim
U12G champion Hoh Tjin Hui	U15G champion Hoh Tjin Li
U18G champion Janet Tan	U8B champion Benjamin Lee(left) and runner up Teoh Ern Sheng
U10B champion William Lee	U12B champion Elgin Lee
U15B champion Evan	U18B champion Thong Yung Chen
Group photos of main prize winners
Winners of the tournament are Hoh's family : U10G and U15G champion by Hoh Tjin Hui and Hoh Tjin Li and overall 7 Hoh Tjun Yee and Lee's family : Elgin Lee, William Lee and Benjamin Lee sweep all U12B, U10B and U8B
The golden brothers!!

About Author
PS Lim is a chess enthusiast. He is also a successful coach in Penang, having produced two U12 Penang champions for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007.

Before becoming a coach in 2006, he was active in competitive chess for many years. His "retirement" from competitive chess has not stopped him from investing his time and efforts in the development of chess in Penang, especially in guiding young players to become successful chess players.