Malaysia chess festival 2022

Malaysia's BIGGEST chess event is back. The 2022 edition of the Malaysia Chess Festival is on, and the dates will run from 02 September till 12 September, very conveniently coinciding with the national school holidays. There'll be altogether seven separate chess tournaments spanning these 11 days to satisfy all over-the-board chess cravings that have been put on the back burner for the past two years due to physical restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. (Many countries, including Malaysia, have adopted an endemic stage policy to get activities and the economy back to as near normal as possible but be very clear about it: the virus is still in the air and continues to infect people and some, rather badly!) 

While most of the details of the Festival have been released by the organisers - and there is a 20 percent discount for entries received before the end of this month - what is still not known is the ultimate venue. Will it continue to be the CitiTel ballroom in the MidValley megamall, or will the organisers be forced to seek another place to play chess? I hear that the venue will be disclosed soon as a final word from the main sponsors is expected in the next few weeks. So keep your fingers crossed! 

The Old Frees' Association team two years ago. We hope to be in KL again
for the astro Merdeka team tournament

Obviously, the main events that chess players can look forward to are the 17th IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian open, the 11th IGB Dato' Tan Chin Nam Senior open and the annual astro Merdeka team chess championship. Apart from these, there are the Malaysia Chess Challenge event which runs concurrently with the Malaysian open and the Seniors open. 

For the junior players, there are also the fifth Datin Yee Wai Fong Merdeka rapid team junior tournament for teams comprising players under 12 years old, the 11th Dato' Ng Chee Cheong open rapid age-group chess championship where there'll be six separate age-groups - under-six, under-eight, under-10, under-12, under-14 and under-16 - for boys and girls, and an individual rapid chess tournament with an open, under-18 and under-12 categories.

The entry forms can be downloaded here:

👉 17th IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian open - click here
👉 11th IGB Dato' Tan Chin Nam Senior open - click here
👉 astro Merdeka team chess championship - click here
👉 Malaysia Chess Challenge - click here
👉 fifth Datin Yee Wai Fong Merdeka rapid team junior (under-12) - click here
👉 11th Dato' Ng Chee Cheong open rapid age-group chess championship - click here
👉 individual rapid chess tournament - click here