The 3rd KL Open Championship for the Raja Nazrin Shah Challenge Trophy has to date attracted a record 121 entries from 21 countries including 64 internationally titled players from amongst 107 international rated players.
Grandmaster Mikheil Mchedlishvili from Georgia, 16 year old vice women's chess champion Hou Yifan from China, and many times German chess champion Thomas Luther headline a top class field that boasts an unprecedented entry of 16 Grandmasters, 24 International Masters, and 30 FIDE Masters.
In previous editions the winners of the KL Open, Anton Filippov from Uzbekistan (2008) and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son from Vietnam (2009), have gone on to attain the status of super grandmaster and one player has met the requirements for the grandmaster master title while three others the international master title.
The 3rd KL Open 2010 is part of the Masterskill KL International Chess Festival which also includes the KL Rapid Chess Championship being held at the Royal Selangor Club from 3-4 April 2010, a special simultaneous chess exhibition over 20 boards to be conducted by former World Chess Championship finalist and English chess champion Nigel Short at 4 p.m. on 10 April 2010, the first Visiting Grandmaster Series workshop for the Kuala Lumpur Schools Sports Council (MSSKL) on 18 April 2010 at the Cochrane Centre for Sports Excellence (PKSC), and the 1st KL Masters Challenge from 13-19 April 2010.
Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and managed by Polgar Chess Asia, the 3rd KL Open 2010 is made possible by sponsorship by the Masterskill University College of Health Sciences and the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation through their youth and national building programs.
