GM Cao Sang victorious in Malaysian Open

Report by GM Neelotpal Das

Grandmaster Cao Sang of Vietnam emerges winner on tie break after nine grueling rounds in 7th IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open 2010 in Kuala Lumpur. Cao Sang, GM Zhou Weiqi of China and IM S.P.Sethuraman have all scored 7 points but finally Cao Sang was declared winner on Bucholz tiebreak. GM Cao Sang performed at 2647 level and was consistent throughout the tournament.

Instead of taking "agreed draw" in the last round against his fellow countryman GM Nguyen Anh Dung he made an extra effort and finally won the battle. At the end he was rewarded with a beautiful trophy and the winners purse of US$4000 since there were no sharing of prizes.

IM Nguyen Van Huy also from Vietnam obtained a GM Norm with a 2604 Rating performance. Besides 7 others achieved their IM Norms. Worthy of mention was Guo Qi a young talented girl from China who increased 63 elo ratings only to be unfortunate at the end by losing last 2 games. She defeated many strong players and secured an IM Norm.

Grandmaster Cao Sang

Final Standings in IGB Dato Arthur Tan Open:

1 GM Cao Sang VIE 2540 - 7,0
2 GM Zhou Weiqi CHN 2570 - 7,0
3 IM Sethuraman S P IND - 7,0
4 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2587 - 6,5
5 IM Nguyen Van Huy VIE 2426 - 6,5
6 GM Wen Yang CHN 2507 - 6,5
7 IM Swayangsu Satyapragyan IND - 6,5
8 Wan Yunguo CHN 2453 - 6,5
9 GM Smerdon David AUS 2526 - 6,5
10 IM Gao Rui CHN 2455 - 6,5
11 GM Xu Jun CHN 2503 - 6,5
12 FM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2360 - 6,0
13 Wang Chen CHN 2411 - 6,0
14 GM Xu Yuhua CHN 2488 - 6,0
16 GM Das Neelotpal IND 2437 - 6,0
17 GM Dzhumaev Marat UZB 2484 - 6,0
18 IM Khamrakulov Dzhurabek UZB - 6,0
19 Lim Chuin Hoong Ronnie MAS - 6,0
20 Wang Li CHN 2390 - 6,0
21 FM Pham Chuong VIE 2375 - 6,0
22 GM Murshed Niaz BAN 2406 - 6,0
23 GM Dao Thien Hai VIE 2516 - 6,0
24 WGM Huang Qian CHN 2447 - 6,0
25 IM Lane Gary W AUS 2373 - 6,0
Total 133 players

1st Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng International Seniors Open 2010

As expected GM Dimitry Kayumov of Uzbekistan won the event with ease as his nearest rival runner-up Gross Ronald Joseph of USA is 1.5 points below.

AmBank Chess Challenge 2010

Magdalaga Luffe of Philippines and Kant Rupesh of India both scored 7.5 points and tied for 1st but finally Luffe won the event on better tiebreak.

Malaysian Open Blitz

As per the tradition of the festival in the final day there was a Blitz (with timings 5 minutes each without any increment) tournament. It was a 9 game swiss as qualification for the top 8 players who will play knockout matches consisting 2 games each.
IM Khamrakulov Dzhurabek of Uzbekistan kept his nerve until the end to win the Malaysian Open Blitz title after beating Chinese GM convincingly (2-0) in the Final. The tournament was full of drama and excitement. Perhaps with some little increment in clock timings (lets say 5min +10 sec for instance) would produce more logical results and would be much thrilling for spectators to watch.

The main sponsor of the event 75-year old Mr.Dato was present in the closing ceremony which was brief and well organised. Mr Dato Tan Chin Nam is a chess philanthropist and a great lover of the game who has been sponsoring the event for a long time and without his support such an event would not have been possible for so many years.

The function ended with a hope to meet in next years tournament in the same place.

Report by GM Neelotpal Das

GM Neelotpal Das