The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) today approved a Malaysian Masters - a National Championship Final - that will be organised by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association for MCF with support from the Chess Association of Selangor from 22-26 June 2013 at the National Centre for Chess Excellence to be located at the Asia Metropolitan University.
It will be a 10 player, 9 round robin FIDE rated and titled event for both our men and our women!
Yes, indeed FIDE allows National Championships to be title events. But of course the opportunity for IM norms for the participants is very much subject to the average rating of the participants.
What MCF has agreed to is for the top three finishers among the men and women at the National Closed Championships to qualify and they will be joined by the Malaysian top six men and top six women in the active FIDE rating list as at 31 March 2013. One wild card, one man and one woman will be decided by MCF on the recommendation of its Selection & National Team Committee headed by Ghalam Sani Dato Abdul Rashid.
The national players I asked are excited about this format and like a possible big picture where the group playing forms the bulk of a national team from which players representing Malaysia in team competiton in the period from one Masters till the next could be selected (of course we are talking to date of submission of team list to the relevant organiser).
But that is a matter for the Selection and National Team Committee to figure out and then of course to get the MCF Council's agreement.
Thanks to sponsorship from MCF Deputy President & KLCA President Dato' Sri Dr. Edmund Santhara, there will be a prize fund and allowances for IMs taking part. Not a huge amount of money but very decent when you consider the short duration of the event and the fact we have several big international tournaments coming up that all would like very much to play in!