MALAYSIA, represented by the Penang Blue Panthers, will be joining the PCAP-San Miguel Corporation-Ayala Land chess tournament, too.

A two-time Malaysia Inter-State Championship in 2016 and 2020 and fourth placer.in the 2017 Asian Cities Championship, Penang will field a young and experienced team for the season-ending third tournament of PCAP.

Leading the team established in 1972 are FM Wong Yinn Long, the No. 2 highest-ranked player in Malaysia with an ELO of 2381; and IM Ooi Zhi Yang, the country’s sixth IM.

Joining them are veteran Eric Cheah, NM Ng Tze Han, NM Evan Timothy Capel, WCM Chua Jia-Tien, CM Tan Jun Ying, Poh Yu Tian, WFM Agnes Chong Kai Ni, and team captain Loo Xin Hao.

PCAP president-Commissioner Atty. Paul Elauria welcomed the entry of the Penang-based Malaysian team.

“The tournaments where we have foreign players and teams are designed both ways — to give exposure to Filipino chess players as well as for the foreigners. It is also a means to grow the sport across our region,” said Elauria.

He said Malaysian team officials said the goal in joining the tournament is to give their junior players :a taste of international competition and for their retired players to come back and enjoy the match.

Poh Yu Tian, Looi Xin Hao, and Chua Jia-Tien represented Malaysia in the World Chess Olympiad while Chua Jia-Tien and Poh Yu Tian made the quarterfinals of the World Youth Cup Finals.

Agnes Chong placed third in a national under-14 competition.

The Malaysian team will join three other foreign teams — Shenzhen Pengcheng Chess Club Checkered Dragons of China, Double Bishop Bangkok Chess Club of Thailand and Singapore.

The four foreign teams and three guest local teams will join the top eight qualifiers in both the North and South divisions starting next month.

The three local guest teams are the Philippine Paralympic team, headed by IPCA world champion Sander Severino and AGM Henry Lopez; the Davao Executive Chess Society Eagles, bannered by 2013 Kazan Universiade veteran Mary Palero-Segarra and James Infiesto; and the Pampamga Junior Checkers.

The tournament is sanctioned by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB), headed by Chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra and supported by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), led by President/Chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay.