Saturday 5 April 2014

First Small Success For a Malaysian

It was a good day for 15 year old Yeoh Li Tian, the third ranked Malaysian according to the April 2014 FIDE rating list, and after a first round draw when unable to break down his much lower ranked opponent's defence, the top seeded local hope had two excellent back to back results including a win against yet another grandmaster in India's Neelotpal Das.

The leaders are GMs Sergei Tiviakov, M.K. Venkatesh and Nguyen Anh Dung, all three experienced professionals on a perfect 3/3.

But with 2.5/3, Li Tian joins GMs Suat Atalik, Deepan Chakktavathy, Dhzumaev Marat, John Paul Gomez, R R Laxman, and Richard Bitoon, IMs Nguyen Van Huy, Rolando Nolte, Ramnath Bhuvanest, Nguyen Huynh, Minh Huy and Mouthon Ly and FM Aravindh Chitambharam, on 4th to 17th places.

Sunday 6 April is a rest day before two demanding rounds, four and five, on Monday 7 April, games that could put a shape to this year's KL Open and even throw up a clear favourite or sole leader.