GM Hou Yifan wins Third Kuala Lumpur Open
GM Hou
Yifan, the wonder-girl from China, was crowned champion of the Third Kuala
Lumpur Open Chess Tournament 2010 which concluded at Hotel Olympic Sports on
Monday. Yifan, who started the last round a full point lead over rest of the
field, needed just a draw, which she got with ease against GM Megaranto Susanto
of Indonesia. The Chinese girl became richer with the first prize of RM 10,000
(Malaysia Ringgits = US $3,100 or €2,300) and the glittering DYTM Raja
Nazrin Shah Trophy.
GM Nguyen Anh Dung and top seeded player of the tournament GM Mchedlishvili
Mikheil won their crucial last round encounter against GM Iuldashev Saidali
and GM Murshed Niaz respectively, to secure second and third place with a score
of 7/9.
A group of six players, GM Megaranto Susanto, GM Thomas Luther, IM Swapnil
Dhopade, GM Dzhumaev Marat, IM Khamrakulov Dzhurabek and IM Ashwin Jayaram tied
for 4-9 places with a score of 6½/9.
Final top ranking after nine rounds
The tournament was also successful for the five players who earned their International
Master (IM) and Women's International Master (WIM) norm. The players to earn
their IM norm are Vakhidov Jahangir of Uzbekistan, Julius Joseph De Ramos of Philippines
and Laksana Augusta of Indonesia, while the WIM norm were earned by two Indian
players; Bhakti Kulkarni and Mitali Patil.
The event was organized by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association in support of
the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation & Masterskill University
College of Health Sciences.
Normally we pack our reports with pictures. This time we are trying an experiment:
providing you with video impressions instead, all produced by our colleagues
in Europe Echecs. Plenty of material
here for you to peruse. We'll be checking the Blip-TV
Impressions from round one
Impressions from round two
Impressions from rounds three and four
Impressions from round five
Impressions from round six – with a ten-board clock simul by Nigel
Short
Impressions from rounds seven and eight (analysis by Hou Yifan at the end)
