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 youare 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.
Moreover, because it’s held just before the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia open, it’s a tournament where you’ll find a lot of foreign participation. Teams of convenience are often formed just for the purpose of taking part.
And as the curtain raiser for the Festival, the prize money is quite respectable, too. The first three prizes are RM5,000, RM4,000 and RM3,000. Even if your team wins the 10th prize, it’s still a very decent RM300 in your wallet. In addition, the Merdeka rapid open offers good rewards to the top five Malaysian teams. The best among them will win RM3,000.
Besides these, the organisers are giving away prizes for the best junior teams, state team, government team, higher education team, ladies team, school team, family team and even veteran team.
The entry fees are very reasonable: RM300 for a four-player team and RM375 for a five-player team. Teams where all players are below the age of 16 are charged half rates.
Around the same time as the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia open is the AmBank Group Malaysia Chess Challenge on Aug 18-24. The chess challenge is basically a parallel event held using the same time control and with the same number of rounds as the Arthur Tan.
The main difference is that this event is meant more for players with a Fide rating cap of 2,200 and unrated players. So this is a very good event for players like my friend. If your aim is to play chess in a good competitive environment without worrying that your opponents are way better than you, this is the event for you.
Mind you, it doesn’t mean that because you don’t get to meet players who are above 2,200 rating points, the opposition is weaker. On the contrary, this is still a tough event by any measure because you can be certain that none of the players will be pushovers.
I don’t think anyone who pays RM75 or RM150 to take part in this tournament can be considered a pushover.
The prize money is reasonable. For the chess challenge, there are 15 main prizes, with the top three worth RM2,000, RM1,500 and RM1,000. Special prizes will also be given to the best female, under-16 and under-12 players.
Finally, the Astro Merdeka open team tournament will be played from Aug 28 to Sept 1. This event has a time control that’s slightly slower than the Merdeka rapid open so players have more quality time for their games.
This is an eight-round contest and there are only five main prizes: RM3,000 for the champion and RM2,500 for the runners-up, RM1,000 for the third-placed team, and RM700 and RM500 for fourth and fifth, respectively. The best state team will also get RM1,000. Other prizes will go to the best school team, ladies team, family team, government team, higher education team and veteran team.
In addition, there is a junior section to this event, with the winning team set to earn RM1,000. There are four other main prizes and also prizes for the best state junior team, school team and junior girls team.
Entry fees are RM200 for a four-player team and RM250 for a five-player team. Junior teams, where all players must be below 16 years old, will pay half these rates.
Anyone playing should bear in mind that the closing date for the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia open, AmBank Group chess challenge and the Merdeka rapid open team is Aug 7. Late entries may still be accepted by the organisers but the players may have to pay either double or a fixed late fee of RM100.