It's back again. - Penang and Johor Open back to back! Although nowadays it's callled the Penang Chess Festival and Johor Chess Festival because they've incorporated multiple events like the rapid and blitz. Back to back was the norm before the pandemic for Penang and Johor event but somehow stopped after Covid.

You can see from the table below, there's at least a two days gap so probably half a days spent travelling by bus (Penang made arrangements to charter the bus(ses) ) and the rest to settle in to the hotel and rest so it doesn't sound so hectic.

Penang Chess Festival 2025 Schedule

The Penang Chess Festival 2025 is scheduled to take place at the Wesley Methodist School Penang (International) [1].

Date	Day	Event Details
18-Dec-25	Thursday	Check In: 2pm, Setup: 10am, R1: 7pm [1]
19-Dec-25	Friday	Open R2: 7pm [1]
20-Dec-25	Saturday	Open R3: 9am, R4: 3pm [1]
21-Dec-25	Sunday	Open R5: 9am, R6: 3pm [1]
22-Dec-25	Monday	Open R7: 9am, R8: 3pm [1]
23-Dec-25	Tuesday	Blitz: 3pm-7pm, Open R9: 9am, Priz: 2-3pm [1]
24-Dec-25	Wednesday	Check Out: Bus to JB 9am, KL players go to JB / go home [1] Team (PCL) R1: 9am-, R2: 12pm, R3: 6pm [1]
25-Dec-25	Thursday (X'MAS)	Team (PCL) R7: 9am-, R8: 11pm, Priz: 12.30 [1]

Johor Open Schedule

The Johor Open event takes place immediately after the Penang events [1].

Date	Day	Event Details
26-Dec-25	Friday	Johor Open R1: 3pm [1]
27-Dec-25	Saturday	Johor Open R2: 9am, R3: 3.30pm [1]
28-Dec-25	Sunday	Johor Open R4: 9am [1]
29-Dec-25	Monday	Johor Open R5: 9am, R6: 3.30pm [1]
30-Dec-25	Tuesday	Johor Open R7: 9am, R8: 3.30pm [1]
31-Dec-25	Wednesday	Johor Open R9: 9am [1]

So how? Would you sign up for two tournaments in a row like this ? It certainly caters for the truly "gila" chess entusiasts and I can't wait to see who these are at the end of the year :)

So to the true chess enthusiasts,   make sure you reserve those December dates for the coming twin events !!