Novendra Priasmoro wins 8th Johor International Open 2023 Masters, Diptayan Ghosh second

by Peter Long - 12/07/2023

GM Novendra Priasmoro (INA) scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win 8th Johor International Chess Open 2023 Masters. He finished a full point ahead of the competition. Top seed GM Diptayan Ghosh and IM Jagadeesh Siddharth (SGP) scored 6/9 each. They were placed second and third respectively according to tie-breaks. Top three remained undefeated. Total prize fund was RM 125000, RM 90000 in the Masters and RM 35000 in the Amateurs. Top three prizes were RM 22000, 11000 and 9000 each. Second and third prize got shared as they scored the same points. Jiang Haochen (CHN) won the Amateur section 7.5/9 and IM Azarya Jodi Setyaki (INA) clinched the Rapid event 6.5/7. This is Diptayan's third consecutive podium finish in Classical GM tournaments and sixth overall top three finish of the year. Photos: FM FT IA Peter Long

Diptayan makes his third consecutive podium finish

The Masters section of the 8th Johor International Open was for eight of the nine round mostly very hard fought, with the likely winners and title norm candidates effectively playing a mini round-robin amongst themselves.

Champion - GM Novendra Priasmoro (INA) 7/9 with Johor Chess Association Vice President and his trophy

The 24 players had by the second round dropped to 22 players with one illness and then later to 20 due to exhaustion!

Defending champion and Indonesian Grandmaster Novendra Priasmoro, the fourth seed, was one of the favourites. He is no stranger to winning open tournaments in the region - the Bangkok Open when just an International Master, and of course the Malaysian Open, and used all that experience to already be the champion before the last round with 7/9.

Fighting chess: Priasmoro’s final round game against China’s Chen Kallin was still almost the last to finish!

He did his best but top seeded Indian Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh was clearly feeling the effects of several months on the road in three different countries - Singapore, Chiang Mai (Thailand) and now Johor Bahru (Malaysia), where he had indeed chalked up some amazing results and the one first place and two unbeaten second places showed his class.

The 8th Johor International Open Chess Championship 2023 is part of the ASEAN Chess Series, a number of events designed by ASEAN Chess Confederation President Ignatius Leong to revive and accelerate the development of chess in the region and while the open events will now take a break, a series of title norm round-robin tournaments are being planned.

Prize list of 8th Johor International Chess Open 2023 Masters and Amateur

Even if the main objectives are title norms and the chance to get or increase ratings, the Johor Open offered a record prize fund and number of prizes for a regional event, and with the proposed addition of a third section - Challengers - to the existing Masters and Amateur at the Laos International Open in 2024, these opportunities will only increase.

Runner-up - GM Diptayan Ghosh 6/9

Perhaps Diptayan’s biggest impact was the example he showed to the young local players of how a chess professional conducts himself - both an excellent role model and an organisers dream

Second Runner-up - Jagadeesh Siddharth (SGP) 6/9

Singapore International Master Jagadeesh Siddharth had an excellent tournament, sharing second place with Diptayan with 6/9 but short of the Grandmaster title norm he was in contention for earlier.

13-year-old Ainul Mardhiah Mohd. Afif is physically challenged. She hails from a small town in Johor with little chess but still the Malaysian Women Champion! She is clearly talented and part of an emerging new generation of young women players, so the future could be bright indeed for women chess players in Malaysia.

Amateurs

Champion in Amateur section - Jiang Haochen (CHN) 7.5/9

In the Amateurs there as always only going to be one winner - China’s Jiang Haochen. The boy in perpetual movement but without a doubt would be back next year in the Masters and perhaps even a contender!

Rapid

On the third day, no less than 166 participants showed up for the Rapid Chess Tournament in the afternoon, and after seven rounds, in first and second with 6.5/7 were International Masters Azarya Jodi Setyaki from Indonesia and Pavel Shkapenko who is playing with the FIDE Flag, winning RM 1200 and RM 1000 respectively.

Champion in Rapid - IM Azarya Jodi Setyaki (INA) 6.5/7

Jodi’s win in Rapid, together with a share of fourth place in the Masters, all added up to a significant pay day and the ratings gain was a consolation for not getting a second GM-norm.

Andrew Tan (left) and IO IA FST FM Ignatious Leong (right)

Any successful event needs leadership. Here is Andrew Tan, the right hand man and fixer of Organiser Steven Cheong (holding camera) before a winner takes all game with Ignatius Leong

Here is Steven Cheong on the left

Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	22		Chen Kailin,	2060	4½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Priasmoro Novendra,	2467	4
2	9	IM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi,	2393	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Ghosh Diptayan,	2577	1
3	2	GM	Megaranto Susanto,	2505	5½	0 - 1	4½		Sek Konstantin,	2392	10
4	5	IM	Badmatsyrenov Oleg,	2440	4	½ - ½	5½	IM	Siddharth Jagadeesh,	2390	11
5	21	CM	Ang Ern Jie Anderson,	2083	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Muhammed Shuaau,	2008	24
6	6	IM	Mohammad Fahad Rahman,	2428	4	0 - 1	3½	FM	Hafiz Arif Abdul,	2241	15
7	20		Wu Yixing,	2102	3½	1 - 0	3½	CM	Shreyans K. Shah,	2237	16
8	8	IM	Firman Syah Farid,	2403	3½	+ - -	3		Dziththauly Ramadhan,	2201	19
9	17	GM	Wong Meng Kong,	2214	2½	0 - 1	3½	CM	Owen Michael,	2048	23
10	18		Kamalsyah Muhammad,	2210	2	- - +	3½	FM	Lim Zhuo Ren,	2310	13

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	4	GM	Priasmoro Novendra,	INA	2467	7	0	41,5	43,5
2	1	GM	Ghosh Diptayan,	IND	2577	6	0,5	43	47
3	11	IM	Siddharth Jagadeesh,	SGP	2390	6	0,5	41	45
4	9	IM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi,	INA	2393	5,5	0	43	47,5
5	2	GM	Megaranto Susanto,	INA	2505	5,5	0	42	46
6	10		Sek Konstantin,	FID	2392	5,5	0	41	45
7	22		Chen Kailin,	CHN	2060	5	0	40	42
8	21	CM	Ang Ern Jie Anderson,	MAS	2083	5	0	39	43
9	5	IM	Badmatsyrenov Oleg,	FID	2440	4,5	0	41	43
10	8	IM	Firman Syah Farid,	INA	2403	4,5	0	38,5	42

Details

Links

Johor Chess Association: Official site, fb page

About the Author

One Night in Bangkok! Peter Long, FM, IA and FT, no longer Secretary of the FIDE Trainers’ Commission

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