Regrettable I am not at the venue but with the help of Johor Chess Association helpful people, here are some interesting news coming out from Johor's biggest chess event for the year:







A brand new look to the Johor Open this year as it's no longer divided to the two main section of Open and Challengers like the previous 7 editions. Now, there are two sections: the Masters portion and the Amateurs part. Also, this year, compared to previous years, the main change is that it is now a part of the ASEAN CHESS Series. The second competition in the series is the one in Johor.
With a combined 85 players in the Masters and Amateurs divisions, the numbers are lower than they were the previous year.

The Masters section has 24 participants, while the Amateurs portion has 61 players.
The first in the series, the Thailand International Open, which took place in Chiangmai from June 28 to July 4, just finished.

At the Chiangmai Open, three players fulfilled the requirements for the title of International Master, and it is anticipated that this number will significantly increase with the better Masters (average rating of 2303) at the Johor Open!

The top seed, Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh, defeated Malaysia's National Champion FIDE Master in the opening round of play using the black pieces.

The top two seeds in the competition, the Indonesian Grandmasters Susanto Megaranto and Novendra Priasmoro, as well as the third-seeded Chinese International Master Chen Qi B, are expected to be his main competitors barring any unexpected developments.



A total of 16 players, including four Grandmasters, eight International Masters, and four FIDE Masters, have championships from eight different countries.

links:
Masters section @chess-results: https://chess-results.com/tnr789586.aspx?lan=1
Amateurs section @chess-results :https://chess-results.com/tnr789585.aspx?lan=1