IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia Open

Friday July 18, 2008
Chess fests
CHESS
By QUAH SENG SUN

There are tournaments galore for every skill level.

WHOA, not so fast, I cautioned my friend, who’s so enthusiastic about chess that he would jump off the deep end at any time just for a game. He had decided that he wanted to play in the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship.

“The trouble with you”, I said to him, “is you are too impulsive. It’s like the way you play chess: move first and, maybe, regret later.

“Do you know how much the entry fee is? Unless you already have a reasonable Fide rating, it doesn’t make much sense if you want to play in the tournament.

“Unrated players like you and I will have to pay a whopping US$200 (RM650) to enter the event,” I told my friend. Even players who have a Fide rating of between 1,600 and 1,999 must fork out US$150 (RM485) as the entry fee. The fee gets progressively cheaper for players with higher Fide ratings. Players who are rated 2,500 and above, and titled players like grandmasters, international masters, woman grandmasters and woman international masters, enter for free.

“But I want to participate in the Malaysian Chess Festival. I don’t have to play against all those masters,” he said. “I only want to enjoy chess in a real-life tournament setting.”

“Try something else,” I advised him. The Malaysian Chess Festival is not all about the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia Open alone. There are other tournaments during this period. In fact, starting Aug 15 and until the end of the month, there’ll be four big tournaments.

The Festival kicks off on Aug 15 with the Merdeka rapid open tournament, a two-day team event that normally attracts hundreds of players. It’s an event where you’ll find players from all over the country taking part.

Here is the full article.