Local chess organiser Paul Spiller has won a title at the 2023 Malaysian Chess Festival in Kuala Lumpur.
Spiller, who is the vice-president of the NZ Chess Federation and former president of the Oceania region and ranked a Candidate Master, won the Best Seniors (65 to 75 years) category and picked up a purse of 1500 Malaysian Ringgit [RM] ($544.33) for his efforts. Runner-up was Singaporean International Master Chan Peng Kong who won RM1000.
Spiller is also a life member and secretary of the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club.
Grandmaster Villamayor Buenaventura of Singapore was the champion for the seniors section of the 2023 Malaysian Chess Festival held from August 25 to September 3.
The Grandmaster finished one full point ahead of his nearest rival with 7-and-a-half points out of 9. Buenaventura took home RM4000 and a challenger trophy for his efforts.
Indonesian International Master Gunawan Ronny finished clear second with 6-and-half points winning RM3000 and International Master Lioe Dede of Indonesia took third place after a tie break netting RM2000.
Russian Grandmaster Fominyh Alexander was 4th place and Phillipino International Master Bancod Ronald took 5th place.
Forty players took part in the seniors event, one of the nine events at the festival.
Meanwhile, in the Merdeka Teams competition – Spiller with three Malaysian team mates formed a team called “Hilton’s Friends” in honour of Spiller’s good friend Hilton Bennett who passed away last November.
His team finished in 18th place out of 81 teams. Two younger Kiwi players joined with two Malaysian players and called themselves “Fusion Four” and finished 8th.
