1. SUKMA XXII Selangor 2026 - Cumulative State Medal Tally (12 Events)

Rank	State	🥇 Gold	🥈 Silver	🥉 Bronze	Total
1	Selangor	4	2	1	7
2	Pulau Pinang	3	3	5	11
3	Johor	3	0	0	3
4	Wilayah Persekutuan	2	4	3	9
5	Perak	0	1	1	2
6	Melaka	0	1	0	1
6	Negeri Sembilan	0	1	0	1
8	Kelantan	0	0	1	1
8	Pahang	0	0	1	1

2. Individual Medal Contributors

Rank	Athlete Name	State	🥇 Gold	🥈 Silver	🥉 Bronze	Total
1	WFM Mohd Afif Ainul Mardhiah	Johor	3	0	0	3
2	IM Poh Yu Tian	Pulau Pinang	2	0	1	3
3	FM Genkeswaran Genivan	Selangor	1	0	0	1
4	FM Siva Kumar Nirish Kumar	Perak	0	1	0	1
4	Fun Ven Vhue	Wilayah Persekutuan	0	1	0	1
4	Masli Muhd Nur Daie	Negeri Sembilan	0	1	0	1
4	Rosli Ain Insyirah	Pulau Pinang	0	1	0	1
4	Wong Rui Yang	Wilayah Persekutuan	0	1	0	1
4	Muzamil Mirza Irdina	Melaka	0	1	0	1
10	FM Genkeswaran Genivan	Selangor	0	0	1	1
10	WFM Chong Kai Ni Agnes	Pulau Pinang	0	0	1	1
10	Leong Ee Hern	Wilayah Persekutuan	0	0	1	1
10	Khairul Nizam Rabiatul Hasanah	Pahang	0	0	1	1
10	Nurul Akma Quzaina Khairolhisal	Pulau Pinang	0	0	1	1

3. Team Event Medal Winners & Rosters

Event Name	Medal	State	Team Players (Roster)
Catur Standard Berpasukan Lelaki	🥇 Gold	Selangor	Kavin Mohan, Mukhriez Shah, Shen Ree Herng, Uzair Shahar
	🥈 Silver	Pulau Pinang	Ng Shu Heng, Lim Wei Yang, Lim Feng Wei, Ian Yong Je Pin
	🥉 Bronze	Wilayah Persekutuan	Rittesh Muraley, Lee Yun Rui, Chow Yi Chen, A'qil A'lauddin Abd Aziz
Catur Standard Berpasukan Wanita	🥇 Gold	Pulau Pinang	Kuan Rhe Anne, Goh Xin Ying, Goh Cai Xuan, Nurul Akma Quzaina Khair
	🥈 Silver	Wilayah Persekutuan	Nur Uzma Bazilah Mohd Tarmizi, Lim Yijia Claire, Aqilah Husna Ainul Fikri, A'dira A'ddawiyah Abd Aziz
	🥉 Bronze	Kelantan	Nadia Fatini Saffiya, Sumaiyyah Hannan, Azzalea Engku, Aida Sofea
Catur Rapid Berpasukan Lelaki	🥇 Gold	Selangor	Kavin Mohan, Mukhriez Shah, Shen Ree Herng, Uzair Shahar
	🥈 Silver	Pulau Pinang	Ng Shu Heng, Loo Pin Xie, Lim Feng Wei, Lai Hong Jun
	🥉 Bronze	Wilayah Persekutuan	Rittesh Muraley, Lee Yun Rui, Chow Yi Chen, A'qil A'lauddin Abd Aziz
Catur Rapid Berpasukan Wanita	🥇 Gold	Wilayah Persekutuan	Nur Uzma Bazilah Mohd Tarmizi, Kaseh Irsya Dania, Aqilah Husna Ainul Fikri, A'dira A'ddawiyah Abd Aziz
	🥈 Silver	Selangor	Ava Arabella, Nur Ain Shahar, Puteri Delisya Zhansaya, Aliyah Diyanah Insyirah
	🥉 Bronze	Perak	Farihah Ibroh, Nawwarah Maarya, Aimy Sue Anne Tan
Catur Blitz Berpasukan Lelaki	🥇 Gold	Selangor	FM Kavin Mohan, CM Uzair Shahar, CM Mukhriez Shah, CM Shen Ree Herng
	🥈 Silver	Wilayah Persekutuan	CM Chow Yi Chen, Rittesh Muraley, AIM A'qil A'lauddin Abd Aziz, AIM Lee Yun Rui
	🥉 Bronze	Pulau Pinang	Lim Wei Yang, Loo Pin Xie, CM Lai Hong Jun, Ong El Win
Catur Blitz Berpasukan Wanita	🥇 Gold	Wilayah Persekutuan	Aqilah Husna Ainul Fikri, AFM A'dira A'ddawiyah Abd Aziz, Kaseh Irsya Dania, Nur Uzma Bazilah Mohd Tarmizi
	🥈 Silver	Selangor	AIM Aliah Diyanah Insyirah, AFM Ava Arabella, Nur Ain Shahar, Puteri Delisya Zhansaya
	🥉 Bronze	Pulau Pinang	Goh Cai Xuan, WFM Chong Kai Ni Agnes, ACM Ashwiniy Kumaran, Ain Insyirah Rosli

♟️ Pulau Pinang Reigns Supreme at SUKMA 2026 Chess!

Maybe people are talking about this event are in Europe but not here in Malaysia, it's the first I've heard about this event. Call me "Katak bawah tempurung" but I don't even know of any chess event that comes close to this in terms of titled chess players except for the Olympiad. The only reason this has come to my attention is that our very own IM Poh Yu Tian took part in it but failed narrowly to obtain the coveted first GM norm.

Of course this event is not new. Every July, the Provençal city of Aix-en-Provence trades its usual rhythm of café terraces and lavender fields for something a little more calculated: nine days of classical chess at the Pasino Grand casino, where Grandmasters, IMs, and title-hunting juniors converge for the Trophée Dole. What started as a regional open has, in just a few editions, quietly become one of the strongest amateur-accessible tournaments in Europe — and this year's Masters section is proof of how fast that reputation has spread.

A Prize Pool That's Attractive

The numbers alone explain a lot of the draw. Organizer L'Echiquier du Roy René put together a prize fund north of €30,000 (RM 141,000++) for the 2026 edition, with €8,000 (RM 38,000) going to first place alone. That's a serious purse for an open tournament, and it's split across 15 general-rank prizes plus dedicated awards for the top women players in the field — a generous payday indeed.

Part of the FIDE Circuit 

What really elevates the Dole Trophy above a typical summer open is its official place on the FIDE Circuit. For elite Grandmasters chasing qualification points toward the Candidates cycle, that status turns a regional French tournament into a legitimate strategic stop. This year's field bore that out: Ian Nepomniachtchi and Parham Maghsoodloo both entered, alongside Amin Tabatabaei — giving the event an unofficial "Super Open" character, with three players rated over 2700 and roughly a hundred more above 2400. That's not a lineup you'd expect to see outside a national or continental championship.

The Amazing Stats

The Masters section (open to players rated 2100+) drew 297 entrants, and the title density is striking:

• 247 of 297 players hold a FIDE title — meaning fewer than one in five entrants was untitled
• 46 Grandmasters (GMI) and 68 International Masters (MI) combine for 114 players, over 38% of the entire field
• 74 FIDE Masters (MF) and 23 Candidate Masters (CM) round out the open categories
• On the women's side: 9 WGMs, 13 WIMs, 12 WFMs, and 2 WCMs

Built for Title Hunters

The organizers haven't left this to chance. Official regulations from the Fédération Française des Échecs confirm that GMs and IMs can request special conditions — waived entry fees and lodging packages — on top of the standard prize structure. Combine that with a strict 2100 Elo floor for entry and a relaxed one-round-per-day classical schedule (no grueling double-round days), and you get an environment purpose-built for players trying to convert good form into a title.

The Setting Doesn't Hurt Either

picture courtesy from : ChessBase India

None of this would matter as much if the tournament were held in a conference room. Instead, players spend their rest hours in Aix-en-Provence in the height of summer — fountains, markets, and Cézanne's old haunts a short walk from the board — while the games themselves unfold inside the Pasino Grand, a genuine casino resort rather than a school gymnasium. It's a combination that's rare in open chess: serious sporting stakes wrapped in a genuinely appealing week away.

The Takeaway

The Trophée Dole's rise isn't a fluke of one good year — it's the compounding effect of money, FIDE Circuit incentives, title-friendly logistics, and a location players actually want to visit. For a tournament that's still young in chess-calendar terms, it's already doing what only a handful of opens in the world manage: pulling elite Grandmasters and ambitious norm-hunters into the same nine rounds.

Malaysian International Master Poh Yu Tian has delivered one of the strongest tournament performances of his young career, scoring 6½ points from 9 rounds in the A-Open of the 2026 Sparkassen Chess Trophy in Dortmund, Germany. Poh also holds the distinction of being the youngest Malaysian IM ever.

The result placed him among the tournament's leaders and gave him a reported performance rating of approximately 2630 — comfortably above the 2600 level typically required for a FIDE Grandmaster norm.

A Standout Performance Against Elite Opposition

Poh entered the tournament rated around 2473, more than 200 points below several of the field's leading players, yet he competed successfully across a field packed with Grandmasters — among them Matthias Blübaum, Dmitrij Kollars, David Navara, Andrew Hong, and Kacper Piorun.

His standout results included:

• A win over Czech GM David Navara, a former world top-20 player, in round 5.
• A draw against defending champion GM Matthias Blübaum — the first half-point Blübaum conceded in the tournament.
• A draw against German GM Dmitrij Kollars.
• Games against five Grandmasters in total across the nine rounds.

Poh sat among the tournament leaders through the middle rounds, sharing the top spot with 4½ points after five rounds, before finishing with 6½/9.

Why the Result Is GM-Norm Level

A Grandmaster norm requires a player to hit a performance rating of at least 2600 across a minimum of nine games, against an opponent pool averaging at least 2380 FIDE rating and including at least three Grandmasters, drawn from a sufficiently diverse spread of federations.

Poh's reported 2630 performance clears the rating threshold with room to spare, and his five GM opponents comfortably exceed the minimum requirement. The Sparkassen Chess Trophy's own tournament announcement confirmed the A-Open was set up as a norm-eligible event for both GM and IM title chances.

What This Means for Poh Yu Tian

Poh became an International Master in 2024 at just 15 years old — Malaysia's youngest-ever IM. A GM norm in Dortmund would mark his first concrete step on the road toward the Grandmaster title.

Under FIDE's standard route, earning the GM title requires:

• Three GM norms, covering at least 27 games in total, and
• A FIDE standard rating of at least 2500 at some point.

These are independent requirements — a player can pick up a norm before reaching 2500, but the title itself isn't awarded until both conditions are met.

A Milestone for Malaysian Chess

Malaysia already has its first Grandmaster — Yeoh Li Tian, who completed his final GM norm in 2025. Poh's result in Dortmund now puts him on a realistic path to become the country's next Grandmaster.

His win over Navara and draws against Blübaum and Kollars show the level of opposition he can now compete with, and a 6½/9 score across a full nine-round European open demonstrates the kind of consistency that title-level results require.

At 17 years old, Poh has moved from being Malaysia's promising young IM to a player with a credible route to a GM title of his own — one norm reportedly in hand, two more required, and a 2500 rating still to reach.

🧒 At just 11 years old, English chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan achieved a stunning upset by defeating Grandmaster Ameet Ghasi with an incredible 99% accuracy playing with the black pieces ♟️ during Round 4 of the 112th British Chess Championships at the University of Warwick.

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📋 Match Details and Performance
👑 Opponent: GM Ameet Ghasi (rated 2494)
⭐ Bodhana's Rating/Title: Fide Master (FM) Bodhana Sivanandan (rated 2303)
🎯 Accuracy: 99% precision from start to finish
🏆 Tournament Standing: Moved her to joint second place with 3.5/4 points and a performance rating of 2567

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📅 Prior Milestone Context
🔙 Previous GM Win: She previously made global headlines at age 10 by beating GM Peter Wells at the 2025 British Chess Championships, becoming the youngest girl ever to defeat a grandmaster in a classical game. 🌍👧🏽♛