MALAYSIAN CHESS RECORDS

Below are some of the chess records that Malaysian chess players have created (or in some cases, have been achieved in Malaysia). Records below are not meant to be comprehensive and feel free to let me know if any of it is incorrect.

The First
FIDE Master (FM) - 26 years old Jimmy Liew achieved this in January 1984
International Master (IM) – One year after achieving his FM title, Jimmy Liew became the country first IM in January 1985.

The Most
Opponents in Simultaneous – on 26th March 2009, Ismail Ahmad played simultaneous chess against 120 opponents with final result 90 wins, 21 draws, 9 lost at Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. This feat has been certified by Malaysian Book of Records.
The most consecutive chess games played – on 21st December 2008, Collin Madhavan played 101 consecutive games with final result 69 wins, 29 draws and 3 lost at Penang. This feat has been certified by Malaysian Book of Records. To be frank I am not really sure what it mean with ‘ most consecutive chess games’. To me it looks like simultaneous, sound like simultaneous, play like simultaneous but at the end of the day not really simultaneous- consecutive instead. Question: Can Ismail Ahmad claimed in Malaysian Book of Record he played the most consecutive games (120 games)?
Most moves in a game – Mas Hafizulhelmi vs Kampen,Robin Oscar Haarlem BDO A 2009-131 moves. Mas pressured his opponent for most of the game. Later in a bishop, rook against rook ending, Kampen defends accurately. Game draw.
Most FIDE rated games played in a year -Mas Hafizulhelmi, 150 FIDE rated games in year 2008 alone. On average 3 games in a week for 52 weeks! Week!? This bring us to a next ‘the most’ category. My favorite…
Most FIDE tournaments in a week – Razali Hamzah a.k.a The Notorious Ng6!. 3 FIDE Rated tournaments in one week in April 2010. (Nf6 Invitation, 3rd DATCC Team and KLCA Open). I am not sure how he did that but I do sure hope that when he went home, he can still sleep inside ;-) Just kidding, Razali…you are the man!

The Best
FIDE Rating – Mas Hafizulhelmi, 2456 in January 2001
World ranking- Jimmy Liew, ranked 476 in the world in July 1986 with his 2415 rating. . Now, in 2010 one need to have a rating of about 2547 to be in world’s 476 (famous name now at world’s 476 something is GM Nick de Firmian)
Upset – Malaysian team beat Canada in 2006 Olympiad with the score of 3.5 – 0.5. This achievement was also officially considered, since Olympiad was first played in London 1927, as the third most upset Chess Olympiad result ever.

MAS Malaysia 2330 3½ : ½ 2468 Canada CAN

IM Hafizulhelmi 2412 1 - 0 2510 GM Charbonneau
FM Mok Tze Meng 2361 ½ - ½ 2531 GM Bluvshtein
FM Lim Yee Weng 2330 1 - 0 2466 IM Zugic
Chuah Jin Hai 2216 1 - 0 2364 IM Livshits

Olympian – Ng Ek Leong, 6 points out of 7 games in 1986 Dubai Olympiad. Undefeated. 2510 performance. Ofcourse for this achievement he has been crowned as 2nd reserve gold medal winner.

The Miscellaneous
Largest chess tournament in Malaysia - 2nd MBSSKL Open Chess Tournament 21April 2007 Mid Valley Exhibition Hall. How many participants? There are many versions, some 1250, some 1370 and some give the figure at 1400. Based on the feedbacks from participants after the event, I think nobody can be pretty sure what the exact figure is.
Longest running chess tournament – Selangor Open, 37 years, 37 tournaments and counting! But now in serious possibility of not making it to 38 :-(
Strongest tournament/match- Karpov vs Timman Candidate Final 1990 (average rating 2700). Not sure whether they qualified to be in Malaysian’s chess records since they are not Malaysian and they also no need to suffer the ‘Malaysian syndrome’ of compulsory one hour late in the first round (their match begin exactly as per schedule) but since the match was played in Malaysia and they also occasionally come late due to KL traffic jam (just like the rest of us), guess they qualified to be in Malaysian chess records.

The Vacancy
First GM – No, I am not referring to Raymond Siew’s motivational website. I am referring to current vacant position of Malaysia first Grand Master seat. Candidates are many, Mas, Ilhamuddin, Mok, Nicholas, Jimmy, Yee Weng etc. but I personally feel that Yeoh Li Tian will be The Chosen One in year 2016 (provide that the world is not ended in year 2012)