Peter Long on Chess

For details see  http://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?ina=1&country=MAS . My quick take is this is that our top three are all 2300 level players and that Nicholas and Yee Weng will continue to play when they can while Li Tian should at least maintain his position and ideally rise higher and higher should he want to remain our best prospect. As to Aron, I am not sure he is better that his rating as yet,,, but if he continues like anything he has been doing that last few years then he is easily our most committed young player and everything would still then be possible. The next three can be grouped together but also represent different generations! Of course Eric, Tze Han and Jonathan are all 2200 plus players as they have always performed at that level and strangely enough all from Penang! Now 50, Eric is making a comeback of sorts (even if he has actually always been involved in playing chess) and he is showing is is the equal of anyone out of the top three i

The only place to be from 12-19 April 2015 is the Dusit Thani in Pattaya Thailand. For all the details please go to www.bangkokchess.com

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/different-moves-for-different-folks

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/a-look-at-the-action-in-penang

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/from-yangon-to-johor-a-look-at-running-chess-competitions

The GM Zaw Win Lay Memorial Myanmar International Open Chess Championship 2014 received wonderful coverage from our chess media partners with timely periodic reports published by from Chessdom during actual play (not to mention numerous Facebook posts) and a week after the event it is time to sum up the articles in its three languages on Chessbase.  Once the games are ready it will be on The Week in Chess as well as in the two premium print chess publications Chess Informant and New in Chess Magazine in their next issues!  English at:  http://en.chessbase.com/post/myanmar-open-won-by-short-and-belous-2-2  and  http://en.chessbase.com/post/myanmar-open-won-by-short-and-belous-1-2 German at: http://de.chessbase.com/post/wunderbares-myanmar Spanish at: http://es.chessbase.com/post/tiviakov-en-birmania-ii and  http://es.chessbase.com/post/tiviakov-en-birmania

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/myanmar-proves-to-be-good-host-for-international-open-chess-championship

Story:  http://www.chessdom.com/myanmar-open-belous-and-short-joint-winners/ All results:  http://chess-results.com/tnr151606.aspx?lan=1

The "Bugs" arrived in time for the rest day - a very special treat for the 2600+ GMs

http://www.chessdom.com/zaw-win-lay-memorial-myanmar-open-round-6/ For all results and pairings, go to:  http://chess-results.com/tnr151606.aspx?lan=1 Great photos and additional coverage at: http://es.chessbase.com/post/tiviakov-en-birmania

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/magnus-carlsen-remains-world-chess-champion

Started with numerous interviews... ...also with local players The Masters of Ceremonies got ready... ...then the VVIP makes his speech All in a row... ...before making the Opening Moves!

I arrived early in Yangon for the GM Zaw Win Lay Memorial Myanmar International Open and was picked up at the airport by organiser Maung Maung Lwin, also the President of the Myanmar Chess Federation. Dinner was a very nice Myanmar traditional meal before checking in at the Central Hotel and there was Sergei Tiviakov who had beaten me to get to Yangon by several hours and so after introductions a little late night drive to see the sights followed by drinks at a floating hotel down by the riverside was in order. The next day with Tiviakov as a most agreeable sightseeing companion started with the obligatory and must see visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda, a massive complex in the heart of Yangon which easily ranks as one of the wonders of the world. Even with the annual refurbishing ongoing it is always a pleasure to visit Shwedagon although it was a little more difficult than normal to get there with traffic in the city had now having reached Bangkok levels and this time around I als

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/carlsen-anand-after-eight-rounds

The year end local school long holiday period is starting to get rather crowded for chess enthusiasts! My readers will know that the Myanmar Open, now renamed the GM Zaw Win Lay Memorial International Open, will be from 23-30 November and will be followed by two international Opens in Malaysia. Those are of course the Johor Open from 1-6 December and the Penang Open from 8-12 December . However not too many might be aware that the Philippines has recently also announced two big international opens, Philippines Cup from 5-12 December and then the PSC Chairman's Cup from 14-21 December, back to back events in Quezon City that overlap with what we are having locally in the same time frame. Of course the core audience is not the same, the real different being that the numerous Filipino professionals will be forced to choose between the easy pickings in Malaysia or the much stronger opposition to test themselves with back home together with hopes of even bigger prize winning

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/malaysia-at-the-world-seniors

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/carlsen-anand-after-four-rounds

In my earlier post "All Must Go" I expressed my disgust with Tan Sri and gave specifics of my own experience with his boy Greg, also I said that the rest of the MCF Council was doing nothing and so had no business holding office. Let me put it more bluntly to those in MCF: Get rid of Tan Sri and put an end to all this endless nonsense that is going on or accept that you allow it and so are part of the problem. I was very involved in the ASEAN+ Age Group Championships in Macau earlier this year and in two distinct capacities, the first being responsible to coordinate and help organise the supporting events and the second, because many KLCA members were represented. So it was no surprise that eventually a copy of the following email got sent to me, something that absolutely confirms and proves again that everything I say is true and yes, I also have official standing in this matter. Dear Tan Sri & MCF Council Members During the recent Malaysian Chess Festival,

Finally I have gotten the interim list of foreign players (paid up?) from the organisers and have uploaded to  http://chess-results.com/tnr151606.aspx?lan=1 . Two Malaysians are going - Justin Ong and Dilwen Ding - I also understood Mok Tze Ming was also playing but his name is not on the list of players I received but who knows, he has a lot of business dealings there. Unsurprisingly quite a few Thais will be there and surprisingly is the large number from Singapore. Including Nguyen Doc Hua whose GM title was just confirmed by FIDE, there are now a total of 11 GMs (Two are 2600+) and over 50 rated players. Around another 50 unrated locals will swell the already impressive number of entries.  

I just noticed the following email and doubt very much that our current National Junior Champions Fong Yit San (open winner) and Tan Li Ting (girls winner) have been told yet by the Malaysian Chess Federation. Press Release The Asian Chess Federation shall organize the Asian Juniors and Girls Championships from 28 November (arrival) to 5 December (departure) 2014 hosted by Tagaytay City, Philippines. Entitled to participate are chess players from the federations in Zones 3.1 to 3.7 who shall not have reached the age of 20 by January 1st 2014. Attached are the regulations. The tournament was originally scheduled 21-29 November 2014 in Shandong,China which had to withdraw at this late date. FIDE Secretary General Abraham Tolentino graciously agreed to assist to ensure that this developmental junior competition is held within the year 2014. Casto Abundo Executive Director Asian Chess Federation A quick look at the FIDE website sees no front page announcement as yet

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/the-carlsen-anand-world-championship-match-2014

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/already-the-greatest-woman-chess-player-ever

Three old friends and candidates for FIDE General Secretary from Asia united in their love for chess had all in their time tried to remove "the Evil Emperor" so as to save FIDE! ( L-R: Panupand Vijjuprbha (Thailand) - General Secretary for Bessel Kok 2006, Ignatius Leong (Singapore) - General Secretary for Kasparov 2014) and Abdul Hamid Majid - (Malaysia) - General Secretary for Karpov 2010).

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/so-what-is-chess-talent

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/so-where-do-you-get-your-chess-news

In my column for the Malay Mail Online "A country (federation) with no chessplayers?" I had already pointed out that the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), amongst other things, had no sponsors and a website that is has never been updated while also observing that it had a committee that served only to hold office for what ever personal reasons. There has been a reaction on the ground to what was said but so far no tangible action resulting and while I don't expect anything to change, perhaps I should explain it in a different way. What Malaysian chess is today can be argued to be a poorer reflection of what FIDE (World Chess Federation) is rapidly becoming, because on one hand we now have a rent seeking model in place and on the other hand the real stakeholders, parents and players, choose to tolerate a situation which all but ensures they will suffer. Let me list the main problems: 1. Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib is the MCF President but has so little interest in

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/looking-forward-to-two-local-international-opens-in-december

This year we had our own Laurence How pass away due to complications arising from a mercifully short battle with cancer ( http://www.thefidetrainer.com/2014/03/r-i-p-laurence-how.html ) and sadly now Evelyn Koshnitsky too has left us at 99 years of age. Evelyn, Mrs K, as I and many others called her, had not been well the last few years but until the end she remained alert and engaged in the game she had literally lived her life for. My connection to her was primarily on two special occasions and both involved Laurence! The first was when Mrs K brought a team of girls for a tour of Malaysia, I think it was the late 70's and while this was a time when very few girls played chess so there was hardly any locally at all to match them and so we put up a National Junior Boys team which was anyway well beaten! In 1985 I finally made the trip to Adelaide where Mrs K lived and so naturally led the organising of women's chess in Australia from there and this was for the Asian

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/peter-long/article/no-gender-equality-in-chess