(Photo by Kristianus Liem)
The DYTM Raja Dr Nazrin Shah Kuala Lumpur International Open Chess Championship has begun with 88 players competing for honours in an event held at the Olympic Sports Hotel that in previous years has had proud champions in Anton Filipov, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Hou Yifan, Oliver Barbosa and Sergei Tiviakov.
Tiviakov is the only player to repeat as champion, and is looking to defend his title by winning for the third time in a row.
With the sudden arrival of last minute entry Dzhumaev Marat, the top seed will now however be amongst 12 GMs participating from amongst 46 titled players from 19 countries including 5 WGMs, 13 IMs, 3 WIMs and 8 FMs (see http://chess-results.com/tnr129676.aspx?lan=1&art=13&turdet=YES&wi=821) with the main competition for the DYTM Raja Nazrin Shah Challenge Trophy expected to come from GMs Tiviakov, Suat Atalik, John Paul Gomez and Deepan Chakkravarty, IM Nguyen Duc Hoa and young FM Aravindh Chithambaram.
(Photo by Kristianus Liem)
