2011 National Championship concluded

Firstly I must say I was surprised by the number of parents and players and officials, who came up to me and thanked me for joining this year's tournament. I did so for my own personal reason. I did not expect this reaction and I felt really humbled. I look forward to taking part again in 2012 tournament if possible.

The tournament was well organized by chief arbiter Najib Wahab and his team. Over a hundred players in the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre was a sight to behold.

The 2011 National Championship was won by Lim Zhuo Ren with a 8/9 score , no losses. He was running away with the tournamnet with a 7/7 score until stopped by Yeoh Li Tian in the eight round. Li Tian came close to an upset win but Zhuo Ren managed to steer into a worse but drawn bishop versus knight ending.

In the final round I had to win to take the championship on tie-break or force a three player play-off. Sumant beat Edward Lee and waited for me to win against Zhuo Ren. In the end Zhuo Ren overcame his jitters and offered a draw in a superior if not winning position. I will be showing this game in the next post.

The top positions were dominated by our many juniors as shown below.

The women's section was won by Nur Nabila.

I had the consolation of winning the blitz tournament right after. IMs Mas and Mok Tze Meng showed up to make an interesting event. Lim Zhuo Ren came second in the blitz.