Port Klang tourney - Pictorial report

Posted by GilaChess

May 19, 2008

I always do this to myself. Wake up late and rush to the tournament.

This time I compounded it by taking the wrong train to Seremban instead of Port Klang !!

While rushing down the Sentral station I saw a train pull out and its doors were closing. Not checking I just jumped right in only to find out 3 stops later that it was going the wrong way!

Got off Seputeh station. Waited 15 minutes and took the next train back to Sentral station. The guy sitting next to me brought a small carpet to put on the chair. Apparently the cushions were a little black and dirty

Reached the Port Klang Station around 9.15 am and the round was supposed to start at 9.30am. Met Kwan Pin there and we took the taxi together.

Even the taxi driver was not sure of the tournament venue in Teluk Gong.

We stopped and asked this lorry driver parked at the side of the road.

We reached our destination easily once we got on the right road to Teluk Gong. Easy because it’s only one long stretch of road and the tournament is on the left side of the road.

First familiar face I saw at the tournament.

Games were not without incidents. My first round game started without the clocks moving for the first 5 minutes. Half way thru the game I noticed and pressed the start button. When my opponent was left with 7 seconds and I had 5 minutes he protested that it was unfair that I used more time than he did. So I asked the arbiter to add 5 minutes to his clock which he was happy with. But I still won easily as my position was already winning.

Surprised to see many strong players there like Fairin, Nur Shazwani, Yeap Eng Cheam and Ismail Ahmad. Apparently their National rating is below 1800.

Interesting endgame from Fairin’s game. 2 Bishops vs a Rook and about 2 and 3 minutes left on their clocks.

Yeap Eng Cheam and Jax Tham.

Thomas Voon was there too selling his chess equipment.

My young nemesis who has beaten me in the Selangor Open and also in this tournament.

Chicken rice lunch.

Lee Kwan Pin doing well by finishing 5th.

Shazwan all the way from Terengganu finished top 15. He defeated Fairin. He will be playing in the coming MSSM too.

I only finished 4/7 but I’m very satisfied as I’ve managed to move away from relying too much on my familiar openings. Tried out the Caro Kann. Didn’t go back empty handed as I won the lucky draw for the above hamper. Lee Kwan Pin also won a hamper.

That’s it. Got to ‘tumpang’ Jax Tham home by car. It was a surprisingly huge tournament with 230+ participants including the under-12 section. People came from Terengganu, Perak, Melaka and other states for this one day tournament in one of the unlikeliest places to host a tournament.

Not surprisingly tournament organisers were happy with the overall tournament success.

If only KL organisers can get these numbers for the tourneys too..

Photo Report

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