Running for the seventh year, the final leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak Grand Prix Chess Championship organised by the Perak State Chess Association and sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, was held on Sunday, August 28 at Syeun Hotel Ipoh. With an ever-increasing participation and commitment, a total of 154 players took part.
According to Chan Swee Loon, president of the Perak State Chess Association, the annual tournament is his way of giving back to society. “It’s accidental. I picked up a book on chess at the library. Back then in 1972, there was this famous match between Boris Spasky versus Robert J Fischer,” he told Ipoh Echo when asked how his passion in the game began.
Present at the event were Abdul Hamid bin Majid, representative of Dato’ Tan Chin Nam, Dr M K Yee, advisor of Perak State Chess Association and guest of honour Dato’ Lee Hau Hian, director of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad.
Here are the winners:
Open section: 1st Looi Xin Hao (Penang)
2nd Syamaizar bin Lup (Ipoh)
3rd Jax Tham Tick Hong (Kuala Lumpur)
Under 17 section: 1st Tan Yong Hau (Kuala Lumpur)
2nd Dharmin a/l Pathamanathan (Ipoh)
3rd Muhammad Khairul Izwan Haikal bin Kamaruddin (Chenderiang)
Best Perak player: Pravin a/l Pathamanathan (Ipoh)
Under 12 section: 1st Ferris Lim Feng Wei (Kg Gajah)
2nd Syed Firdaus Asyraaf bin Syed Hashim Azmi (Kampar)
3rd Nur Muhammad Afiq bin Azlan (Ipoh)
Best Perak player: Syed Amirul Asyraaf bin Syed Hashim Azmi (Kampar)
The top four winners of the grand prix prizes were Fong Yit San, Looi Xin Hao, Fong Yit Ho and Syamaizar bin Lup. They won RM800, RM500, RM400 and RM300 respectively. The champions had played a minimum of three legs in the open category in this year’s series.
