School holidays is just weeks away, with kids and teens scheduled to take a break starting from the weekend after Merdeka Day for a period of ten days.
If you are a parent looking out for healthy activities to fill the time of your child during the term break, look no further than enrolling them for events at the 17th Malaysian Chess Festival. One of the longest-running chess festivals in Asia, this 17th edition chess festival is scheduled to be held at Cititel Mid Valley from 2nd to 11th September 2022.
Various long-think and quick-play events are scheduled with another two blitz events typically being slotted in amongst them, during this ten-day chess festival.
Amongst them, the following listed ones are suitable for the kids and teens with age-group specific categories:
- Datin Yee Wai Fong Merdeka Open Junior Rapid Team Chess Championship (2nd & 3rd September 2022)
- DATCC / Dato’ Ng Chee Cheong Open Age-Group Chess Championship (4th September 2022)
- Mid Valley City Individual Rapid Open Chess Championship (8th September 2022)
That being said, there is no stopping of kids and teens who’d want to compete in the Open categories in the following three other events at the chess festival:
- Astro IGB Merdeka Open Rapid Team Chess Championship (2nd & 3rd September 2022)
- IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship (5th to 11th September 2022)
- IGB Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Foundation Malaysian Chess Challenge (5th to 11th September 2022)
The Malaysian Chess Festival has been a consistent feature for chess buffs across the region, thanks to the sustained sponsorships over the years by retail, hospitality and property giant, IGB Berhad, Malaysian satellite television and internet protocol television provider, Astro, the Tan Chin Nam Foundation as well as Cititel Mid Valley.
Cititel, which serves as the official hotel and venue of the festival, is considered the hub of chess every year where top players from across the region – originating from China, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and many more – come together and then joined by the locals in battles of chess tactics and strategies.
For this edition, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) has also provided monetary sponsorship in efforts to re-ignite face-to-face chess events. When the late Dato’ Tan Chin Nam, conceptualised the idea of the Malaysian Chess Festival back in 2004, his vision was to create a multi-event festival that would bring together the top 3 players from Europe, the Americas, the Oceania as well as those from across the region over a week-long tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The objective was and has been for the locals – especially the kids and teens – to gain the experience and exposure to compete and learn from these foreign players with the hope that it would lead to an explosion and growth in strength of chess play amongst this young generation of Malaysians.
Having the mix of Classical, Rapid as well as Blitz events, this festival provides for the broadest possible exposure of the game to kids and teens.
When it first began, there were only a handful of kids and teens participating. In the last festival before the Covid-19 pandemic – in the year 2019 – there was a record number of kids and teens competing. This was a very encouraging sign for the development of Malaysian chess and it has been no surprise since then that the nation isseeing an explosion of talents in the game and the dominance of teens, champion, Tan Jun Ying, and his runner-up, Poh Yu Tian, at the recent Malaysian Chess Championship 2022.
This chess festival is endorsed by the Malaysian Chess Federation. Details of all the classical and rapid events in this festival are available here. For more information, please contact the Organising Secretary, IA Hamid Majid, at +6019 315 8098 (Whatsapp) or email him at aham@pc.jaring.asia for more information.
