THE Brunei Chess Federation (BCF) will be organising the National Day Rapid Chess Tournament from Feb 26-27.
Held every year to coincide with the country’s National Day, the tournament will be contested at the Brunei Chess Centre (BCC) at the Hassanal Bokiah National Sports Complex in Berakas at 2pm.
In addition, the Blitz Chess Championship will be held on Feb 28, making it a busy week for the BCF.
Normal tournament time controls are one to three hours per player, but in rapid chess, the duration is 15 to 60 minutes per player, often with a small time increment for each move.
In rapid each game lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour while in blitz each round lasts 10 minutes or less.
One of the more active sports associations in the country, the BCF holds a minimum of two tournaments each month.
National coach Tair Vahidov said that since he took up his post nearly three years ago chess had grown by leaps and bounds in the Sultanate.
He cited the country’s win in the 2009 Borneo Intercity Chess Championship when Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) emerged as overall champions of the two-day tournament as a prime example.
Two categories were contested then, rapid and blitz. Each was sub-divided into two divisions, individual and team.
Producing a clean sweep, BSB beat seven other teams for the title in December.
Brunei was also represented by Kuala Belait (KB), Tutong and Temburong, with Kota Kinabalu (KK) and Labuan representing Sabah and Miri and Kuching flying the flag for Sarawak.
Though the two tournaments this month will not attract overseas contestants, events like these should help improve the quality of Brunei chess players.
Currently, Kuala Belait-native Yee Soon Wei is the only World Chess Federation (Fide) Master in Brunei.
There are no International Masters (IM) in Brunei, with Vahidov the only Grand Master (GM) in the Sultanate.
The Brunei Times
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Thanks for the info, although sadly I wont be anywhere near Brunei when this takes place.