Novendra Priasmoro wins 17th IGB Dato Arthur Tan Open 2022, Deepan second and Karthik third

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/10/2022

Indonesia's top GM Novendra Priasmoro scored 7.5/9 to successfully retain his Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open Chess Championship 2022 in the 17th edition. Despite starting the tournament with a loss, he scored an impressive 7.5 points in the remaining eight games, finished a half point ahead of the competition to become champion. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy scored sole 7/9 to finish second. GM Karthik Venkataraman and Malaysian prodigy Yu Tian Poh scored 7/9 each. Karthik was placed second due to better tie-breaks. Top three prizes were US$ 4000, 2500 and 1500 each respectively. Check out the tournament report by Andrew Ooi. Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

Malaysia Chess Festival is back after three years

By Andrew Ooi

The Malaysian Chess Festival 2022 that has recently concluded is perhaps one of the oldest types of chess tournaments to be classified as a “Chess Festival”. The 17th edition was held in Cititel Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 2nd to the 11th September 2022. Like many world events, the chess festival was on hiatus for a two-year period due to Covid-19, but is now back in full swing.

Champion - GM Novendra Priasmoro (INA) 7.5/9 | Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

Runner-up - GM Deepan Chakkravarthy 7/9 | Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

Second Runner-up - GM Karthik Venkataraman 6.5/9 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

A glimpse of the tournament hall | Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

Players’ meeting before the start of the Open, Challengers and Seniors events. There were a total of nine chess events that ran closely back-to-back over the duration of the festival. The events comprised of the Open, Senior, Age Groups as well as the junior categories. Besides that, there were two chess blitz competitions. There were also an open and under-12 Team events, making the festival a truly colourful event for all ages and levels. The festival itinerary was as follows:

Age group event | Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

• Astro IGB Merdeka Open Rapid Team Chess Championship (2nd & 3rd September)

• Datin Yee Wai Fong Merdeka Open Junior Rapid Team Chess Championship (2nd & 3rd September)

• DATCC / Dato’ Ng Chee Cheong Open Age-Group Chess Championship (4th September)

• IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship (5th to 11th September)

• IGB Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Foundation Malaysian Chess Challenge (5th to 11th September)

• Mid Valley City Individual Rapid Open Chess Championship (8th September)

Tournament History

The Malaysian Chess Festival historically has seen many young Asian talents before they became more well-known, namely: Hao Wang, Wesley So, D Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattarov and Alireza Firoujza just to name a few.

Alireza Firoujza with Wang Hao in 2018

Nordibek Abdusattorov in Malaysian Open 2017

D Gukesh in 2015 Malaysian Open

It was the Malaysian Open in 2005, the world first took notice of Wang Hao when he won the event easily with a 2 point lead ahead of a team comprising GMs when he himself was untitled. Wang Hao came back in 2018 edition of the Malaysian Open to win it again ahead of Idani Pouya and Alireza Firouzja.

GM Wang Hao with then WGM Dinara Saduakassova at 2018 prize distribution ceremony

Prizes will be in the form of prize money, medals, certificates and other prizes in kind. The Malaysia Chess Festival is arguably the most lucrative in the region with cash prizes in excess of US$ 28000.

The Sponsors for the event include retail, hospitality and property giant, IGB Berhad, Malaysian satellite television and internet protocol television provider, Astro, the Tan Chin Nam Foundation as well as Cititel Mid Valley, which serves as the official hotel and venue of the festival. The Chess governing body, FIDE also provided monetary sponsorship to the festival.

The main event, the Open was won by defending champion from the last edition in 2019, Grandmaster Novendra Priasmoro of Indonesia who suffered an upset round 1 loss but bounced back with 7.5 points out of 9, netting him the grand prize of US$ 4000!!!

Various prize winners of the Malaysian Chess Festival 2022

Seniors tournament was won by International Master Angelo Young from the Philippines, with a score of 7.5 points out of 9 and winning RM 4000.

Winner of the Seniors section - IM Angelo Young (PHI) 7.5/9 | Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

Many VIPs attended the closing ceremony, with notable persons being the Chairwoman Ms. Tan Mei Sian (a member of the Tan family who owns Cititel, Midvalley Mall, & the IGB Corporation Berhad), His Excellency Charles Jose (the Philippines Ambassador to Malaysia), Mr. Ng Kay Yip (Son of the late Dato Ng Chee Cheong & Datin Yee Wai Fong whose namesake rapid individual age group & junior team events are named after), Mr. Akhramsyah (President of the Malaysian Chess Federation) alongside members from the press corps.

Dinner and Prize giving ceremony | Photo: Khong Wai Cheong

In total, over 700 players took part in the various events not counting parents and onlookers. The participants came from 11 different countries.

Final Standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	GM	Priasmoro Novendra	INA	2505	7,5	46	50	41,50
2	7	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	IND	2439	7	49	53	40,25
3	3	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	IND	2489	6,5	46,5	50,5	34,75
4	24		Poh Yu Tian	MAS	2244	6,5	46,5	48,5	33,00
5	4	GM	Ly Moulthun	AUS	2484	6	48	52	31,75
6	14	FM	Kurniawan Muhamad Agus	INA	2356	6	46,5	50,5	31,50
7	15	FM	Arfan Aditya Bagus	INA	2341	6	45	49	29,25
8	6	IM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	INA	2461	6	44,5	48	29,25
9	12	IM	Ali Muhammad Lutfi	INA	2374	6	44	47,5	29,00
10	17	FM	Chan Kim Yew	MAS	2311	6	43	47	30,00
11	9	IM	Nitin S.	IND	2416	6	43	46	28,75
12	16	GM	Karthikeyan P.	IND	2318	6	42	45,5	28,75
13	32	CM	Tan Jun Ying	MAS	2176	6	42	44	26,50
14	20	FM	Lye Lik Zang	MAS	2259	6	40,5	44,5	28,75
15	26	FM	Wong Jianwen	MAS	2227	6	38,5	41,5	23,50
16	23	WIM	Sihite Chelsie Monica Ignesias	INA	2245	5,5	47,5	52,5	30,25
17	28	CM	Nguyen Phuoc Tam	VIE	2220	5,5	37,5	39,5	23,25
18	33		Capel Evan Timothy	MAS	2164	5,5	35,5	38	20,00
19	40		Kamalsyah Muhammad	INA	2042	5	47	50	26,50
20	31	CM	Laohawirapap Prin	THA	2189	5	43,5	47,5	25,25

Details

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