Kuala Lumpur Open

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Chess
BY QUAH SENG SUN

IT looks like record entries for the KL open chess tournament next month. According to the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association which is organising this event, there were more than 120 registrants from 21 countries when entries closed officially earlier this week.

“This is remarkable,” said Peter Long, the man behind the KL open. “In our first two events, we had only a handful of foreign grandmasters playing. We expected the same for this year but it seems like we have exceeded our expectations.”

There will be at least 15 grandmasters in the tournament, led by Georgia’s Mikheil Mchedlishvili who will be the highest rated participant with 2,634 rating points. However, all eyes will be on China’s 16-year-old lass, Hou Yifan.

Two years ago at the age of 14 years and six months, she became the youngest female chess player in history to qualify for the Grandmaster (GM) title. The GM title is not to be confused with the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title that’s given only to woman players. The GM title is mostly awarded to men but once in a while, exceptionally gifted woman players also do qualify for this title. You may already be familiar with these women chess players who hold the GM title: Judit Polgar, Susan Polgar and Xie Jun, among some of them. Well, add Hou Yifan to this list, too.

For details, check out http://www.klchess.com or contact Peter Long (013-392 0920, peterlong@aol.asia).

Here is the full article.