The Tournament
IM Mas Hafizulhilmi is still dodging from playing against me in a tournament. No, no. Actually, I should say that I am still not 'up there' to play against such a complete player like him. Last year in Kelantan Closed, I wasn't paired against him although I managed to finish fourth. This year in Kelantan Open, unfortunately, I still did not cross path with him on my way to finish seventh. He was such a celebrity that day; signing autographs for his fans who were mainly under aged players. Winning all 9 games showed exactly why he was rated 2354 FIDE, almost 300 points away from me who was second highest rated player with my 2068 FIDE. Calmly, he sprinted away and left the second place winner with a mere 7.5 points.
I had myself a chance to be that second place winner, only to falter at the last hurdle to Muhd Syazwan Zulkifli with the white pieces. It was one of the games where I played badly in this tournament, together with games against Dr. Nasrul and Muhd Alfirdaus. I was quite satisfied with my other games, including the draw with Baharuddin where I controlled the whole game only to make a very stupid mistake at the end. (I will write on my games in my next post)
On the whole, the tournament was a success, with all players playing in the Open Category will have a FIDE Rapid Rating once the details of the tournament are submitted. The players in the under aged categories, on the other hand, will have MCF ratings.
On the brighter note, in my humble opinion, Kota Bharu Polytech is the best place to be the Kelantan chess hub, as it has a very big hall and is situated very nicely in the middle of the road; whether for those coming from the Kota Bharu or those arriving from outside of Kelantan, who mostly use the Gua Musang road.
Here is the top 10 list for the Open Category:
1. IM Mas Hafizulhilmi 9.0 points
2. Muhd Syazwan Zulkifli 7.5
3. Muhd Alfirdaus 7.0
4. Baharuddin Hamzah 6.5
5. Ahmad Hafiz Tarmizi 6.5
6. Dr. Nasrul Humaimi 6.0
7. Yours Truly 6.0
8. Fairul Yusoff 6.0
9. Mohd Amin Mohd Noor 6.0
10. Syaahil Hamid Mohamad 6.0
Click here for the full results.
The PCNK General Meeting
At night on the first day, the PCNK General Meeting was held. Although all the members were invited, only 10 were present for the meeting. The fruit of the one-hour meeting was obvious - the 2011-2013 president, Nik Mohd Azrihan, was maintained for the 2013-2015 committee, together with some of the old faces, and additional new names were entered with hopes that they will steer the PCNK ship towards greater heights.
The full committee list can be read at the PCNK official blog.
The meeting also came out with three names who are going to represent the PCNK in the MCF General Meeting next month. MCF secretary, Gregory Lau, and IM Peter Long were here to receive the names and they were given a warm welcome by the Kelantan chess community.
The Pictures
Here are some pictures taken from the tournament:
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