750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival
The “750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival” is scheduled to take place from 20th April to 1st May 2012 and it offers three major events – the Florencio Campomanes Memorial International Rapid Chess Championship, the Historical Melaka International Chess Championship and the Historical Melaka Challenger Chess Championship with a total prize fund of more than USD 35,000.
The official venue for the event shall be the Hang Tuah World Heritage Hotel Melaka located right in the heart of the City of Melaka, a stone’s throw away from many historical landmarks and museums, shopping malls, interesting attractions, eateries and popular night spots.
This international chess event is jointly organized by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), the Melaka State Government and the Melaka State Foundation.
The Florencio Campomanes Memorial shall be the first event for the festival and it offers a prize fund of USD 20,000. Player’s registration and meeting are on 20th April at 9:00pm and Round 1 on 21st April at 9:00am.
The Campo Memorial, a FIDE event, shall be played over 11 rounds using rapid time control of 25 minutes per player per game played to the finish. The first 6 rounds will be played on Day 1 of the event (21st April) and the balance 5 rounds to be played on Day 2 (22nd April 2012) followed by Prize Giving ceremony at 6:00pm.
The next two events, the Historical Melaka International Chess Championship and the Historical Melaka Challenger Chess Championship, will run concurrently from 23rd April until 30th April 2012. This event shall be FIDE rated played over 9 rounds using classical time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move per player per game from move one.
The International section is open to all players of any playing strength whilst the Challenger section is open only to player with a FIDE rating of 1999 and below. The International section offers a prize fund of RM 40,000 (about USD 13,000) whilst the Challenger section offers a prize fund of RM 10,000 (USD 3,300)
Melaka is located approximately 100km to the south of KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) and the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) and traveling time via the highway to Melaka will take between 1½ and 2 hours.
Sounds like a great event.