2002

2002 Wong Zi Jing photo right ( Man Category) and NWM Siti Zulaikha Foudzi (Women) won the National Closed Championship held at The Chess Network, Wilayah Kompleks, Kuala Lumpur from 25th -29th May 2002

2002 - Sarawak win 2002 Majlis Sukan dan Kebajikan Anggota- Anggota Kerajaan (MAKSAK). Runners up goes to Kuala Lumpur. The team event was held in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Source: Rizal Ahmad Kamal's blog

2002 The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) organised the World Youth Olympiad (U16), which was on that year open to players born in 1986 or later. Some nations fielded two teams (China, Singapore, Hong Kong) and some three (Australia, Malaysia). Following the last-minute withdrawal of Zambia, Malaysia has added a fourth team in order to even out the numbers. The tournament was declared open by Kirsan Ilumzhinov. Following a speech to the assembled players and officials, Ilumzhinov made a symbolic first move (e4) on an extremely large chess set installed in the centre of the hall.

(photo left : Kazakhstan vs England)Second seeds China "A" took clear first on the back of an 85% score on board 1 by Wang Yue and an 80% score on board 2 by Zhao Jun. Top seeds the Ukraine finished second but could be said to have underperformed with IM Areshchenko scoring only 60% on board 1 and future GM Karjakin losing a lot of points on board 2 with a 75% (performance rating of about 2373) score. Seventh seeds Indonesia took third place and fourth seeds India finished 4th. Overperformances were achieved by 11th seeds Uzbekistan (5th) and 17th seeds Singapore (9th). 5th Seeds England (13th) and 3rd seeds Romania (6th) performed less well.


2002 Malaysia team participated at the 35th Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia. The man team seeded 101, finished 75th place with 27.5 points out of 134 teams. The women team placed 62nd with 20 points.
Men Category

Players : 1.Wong Zi Jing,2.Lim Yee Weng,3.Nicholas Chan,4.Jonathan Chuah,5.Lau Beng Hock, 6. Ismail Ahmad

Seeded : . Placing : 75/134

Women Category



Players : 1.Sitii, Zulaikha Foudzi ,2.Nie Lim, Jean ,3.Ibrahim, Eliza Hanim ,4. Lim Han Ying



Seeded : . Placing : 62/90

2002 ex Malaysian chess coach the legendary Gorgeian GM Eduard Gufeld (photo right) died. He died on September 23, 2002 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He had suffered a massive stroke two weeks earlier and had been in a coma since. He had been at Midway Hospital but then had been transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on September 22.


He was born in the Ukraine on 19 March 1936. In the late 1950s had established himself as one of the strongest players in the world, defeating Tal, Spassky, Smyslov, Korchnoi, Bronstein, and just about ever other strong Soviet player. He was also a prolific author who wrote over 100 chess books.

2002 MCF secretary Abdul Hamid Majid (photo right) has been elected as a member of the FIDE executive board at the Bled Olympiad in Slovenia. The first time a Malaysian is picked for a FIDE job.

2002 GM Nigel Short in Malaysia. English GM Nigel Short, while enroute to China, stopped by Malaysia from 11 to 18 July 2002 to play a series of simultaneous chess matches in Penang and Kuala Lumpur. In his first simul against schoolchildren in Penang on 12 July, he scored +29 =1 -0 while Short's second simul against mixed players in Penang on 13 July ended +25 =3 -2 in his favour. Thereafter, Short won 4-0 in a private clock simul in Kuala Lumpur on 16 July against a field that included IM Mas Hafiulhelmi and FM Wong Zi Jing. He also played a third public simul in Kuala Lumpur on 17 July, winning it with a +22 =5 -3 result




2002 Singapore won the Annual Malaysia- Singapore Match