Nur Nabila Azman Hashim shines at the national women’s closed championship.
THE national closed championship two weeks ago was won by Lim Zhuo Ren; in addition, there is a new national women’s champion – Nur Nabila Azman Hashim.
The national women’s closed championship, which was also being held at the same time, was an equally gripping affair. Not much actually separated the eventual champion, Nur Nabila, from her sister, Nur Najiha, who finished as the runner-up.
For much of the distance, both were going neck-and-neck in the tournament. Both started off on a winning note, winning their first two games, and in the third round they met each other and drew their game.
At that point, Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar jumped into an early lead with three full points from her first three games. But that was about as far as she got with her impressive 100% score because right after that, she lost to Nur Najiha in the fourth round. Meanwhile, Nur Nabila overcame the defending champion, Fong Mi Yen.
These two wins set the two sisters firmly in the lead and on a canter towards the finishing line. It was only a matter of knowing whom they would be paired against in the subsequent rounds and how they would score in these games.
Nur Najiha made the first breakthrough in the sixth round as she overcame Camila Johari, while Nur Nabila could only score a draw with Tan Li Ting, another former national women’s champion.
However, Nur Najiha’s sole lead in the championship was short-lived. In the seventh round, she drew with Tan, while Nur Nabila easily overcame a challenge from Amira Syahmina Zulkafli.
Now, both players were tied again. More importantly, though, they had opened up a one-point gap between themselves and their nearest rivals. That one of them would become the next national women’s champion was never a doubt; the only question was, who would it be?
This far in the tournament, Nur Najiha had managed to avoid Fong. The defending champion had already played with Nur Nabila but not with Nur Najiha. In the eighth round, they met. If ever there was an occasion that Nur Najiha needed all the luck to win, this would be it.
Fong was equally determined to win the game. A loss would have seen her spiral out of contention for a decent finish to this event and she wanted to avoid that. In any case, Fong won the game and dented Nur Najiha’s chances. On the other hand, Nur Nabila had no problem disposing of Anis Fariha Saleh.
With only a single round remaining in the championship, Nur Nabila suddenly found herself propelled into the sole lead for the first time, and she still retained a one-point lead over her nearest rivals. Would she falter in the final round? It was still possible that the championship could end up tied if she lost and her nearest rivals won.
But Nur Nabila knew what to do. Paired against Camila, she quickly extracted a half point from this game. This half-a-point meant that her lead would be unassailable, no matter what happened on the other boards, and it was enough for her to become the new national women’s champion.
Of her two closest rivals who were now fighting more for honour than the title, Nur Najiha won against Amira to take the second prize, while Fong agreed to a draw with Tan. This result gave Fong the third place and Tan, the undisputed fourth place.