8/5/2022 – After a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions on international travels and over-the-board chess, one of the longest-running chess festivals in Asia is back! It is a mix of Classical, Rapid as well as Blitz events in a multi-day spectacle, rather than the narrower focus on Classical time formats at other long-running chess festivals. Cash prizes in excess of US $28,000 are up for grabs, titled chess players are given exemptions of entry fees.
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Ten Days of Intellectual Fun with Prizes totalling US$ 28,000
KUALA LUMPUR, 21 JULY 2022 – The 17th edition of the Malaysian Chess Festival that began for the first time in the year 2004 is scheduled to be held at Cititel Mid Valley from 2nd to 11th September 2022.
Cititel Mid Valley, the venue of the 17th Malaysian Chess Festival [click to enlarge]
This ten-day chess spectacle is planned in such a way with events that will appeal to chess enthusiasts of all ages and preferences. A total of seven chess events are slated to run concurrently and back-to-back over the festival duration with another two blitz events typically being slotted in amongst them. The seven events – which cater for the Open, Senior, age-groups and junior categories – are listed below:
Astro IGB Merdeka Open Rapid Team Chess Championship (2nd & 3rd September 2022)
Datin Yee Wai Fong Merdeka Open Junior Rapid Team Chess Championship (2nd & 3rd September 2022)
DATCC / Dato’ Ng Chee Cheong Open Age-Group Chess Championship (4th September 2022)
IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship (5th to 11th September 2022)
IGB Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Foundation Malaysian Chess Challenge (5th to 11th September 2022)
IGB Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Seniors Open Chess Championship (5th to 11th September 2022)
Mid Valley City Individual Rapid Open Chess Championship (8th September 2022)
Cash prizes in excess of US $28,000 are up for grabs, of which, the lion’s share of US $16,250 is for winners of the IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship. In addition to prize monies, medals, certificates and other prizes in kind will also be given out, making it one of the most lucrative in this region.
None of these would have been possible without the generous sponsorships of retail, hospitality and property giant, IGB Berhad, Malaysian satellite television and internet protocol television provider, Astro, the Tan Chin Nam Foundation as well as Cititel Mid Valley, which serves as the official hotel and venue of the festival. This time around, FIDE also provided monetary sponsorship to the festival in efforts to re-ignite over-the-board chess.
Given how engrossed most people have been to their digital devices in the past two years due to Covid-19 restrictions, the return of over-the-board chess is the ideal weapon to combat such sedentary habits. It is time to get everyone to put aside their gadgets for ten days and come to Cititel Mid Valley to pit wits against one another at the 17th Malaysian Chess Festival. This event will also see the return of chess friends from across the region and globe to Kuala Lumpur and it will definitely serve as a boost to the Malaysian tourism sector.
Having the mix of Classical, Rapid as well as Blitz events in a multi-day spectacle, it is more ideal than other long-running chess festivals with their narrower focus on Classical time formats. Given the leaning of the world’s elite for faster time formats, the versatility to play well in both slow and fast time controls is important and this chess festival offers enthusiasts the platform to hone their skills in this direction.
This chess festival is endorsed by the Malaysian Chess Federation. Details of all the classical and rapid events in this festival are available here. Titled chess players are given exemptions of entry fees and they can contact the Organising Secretary, IA Hamid Majid, at +6019 315 8098 (Whatsapp) or email him at aham@pc.jaring.asia for more information.
Video impressions from previous Malaysian Chess Festivals
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database!
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
€21.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
None of these would have been possible without the generous sponsorships of retail, hospitality and property giant, 
