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 !!

Johor Chess Festival 2025 (Dec 26-31)

Fetching Indonesian delegates from airport (previous Johor Chess Festival)

Johor Chess Festival 2025 includes the 12th Johor Rapid 2025 as well as the 10th Johor International Chess Open 2025, Challenger section  and Blitz. Below are the details:

Johor Chess Festival 2025

10th Johor International Open Chess 2025 (FIDE Rated)

• Event: 10th Johor International Open Chess Challengers
• Dates: December 26th–31st, 2025
• Venue: Fairview International School, Johor
• Format: FIDE Rated, standard time control (90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move)
• FIDE ID Requirement: All players must have a FIDE ID. Those without will have ratings processed.

Fair Play Rules:

• Strict enforcement against mobile phones/electronics in the playing area.
• Players/officials found or suspected of cheating will be expelled.
• Walkover if not present 15 minutes after round start.

Schedule:

• Dec 26: Registration, Opening, Round 1 (15:00–19:00)
• Dec 27: Rounds 2 (10:00–14:00), 3 (15:30–19:30)
• Dec 28: Rounds 4 (10:00–14:00), 5 (15:30–19:30)
• Dec 29: Rounds 6 (10:00–14:00), 7 (15:30–19:30)
• Dec 30: Rounds 8 (10:00–14:00), 9 (15:30–19:30)
• Dec 31: Round 10 (09:00–13:00), Prize giving (14:00–16:00)

Entry Fees (RM):

Rating	JCA Member	Non-JCA Member
Open	RM300	RM350
Below 2200	RM250	RM300
Below 2000	RM200	RM250
Below 1800	RM150	RM200
Below 1600	RM100	RM150
Below 1400	RM50	RM100
Challenger FIDE	RM250	RM300
Unrated	RM100	RM150

Registration:

• Deadline: December 20th, 2025
• Online: at johorchess.org or via QR code
• Late Payment: Double fee after closing date
• Payment: RHB Bank (Persatuan Catur Negeri Johor); proof required during registration/email (fairviewintlchess@gmail.com)

Prizes:

• Top Open Prize: RM10,000
• Top Challenger Prize: RM1,000
• Prize Structure: Extensive prizes for all rating bands and age groups (Open/Challenger/Best Lady/Veteran/JCA/ICA/U16/U14/U12/U10/U08, etc.)

Accommodation:

• Self-arranged, with Fairview Hotel as suggested group booking; special provisions for titled GMs/IMs.

12th Johor Open Rapid 2025 (FIDE Rated)

• Event: 12th Johor Open Rapid 2025
• Date: December 28th, 2025 (coincides with International Open)
• Venue: Fairview International School, Johor
• Format: FIDE Rated Rapid (Open), 20 minutes per player
• Tie-breaks: Direct Encounter, Buchholz Cut 1, Buchholz, Sonnenborn-Berger, Cumulative.

Schedule:

• Attendance deadline: 13:30
• Rounds 1–4: 14:00–17:30
• Rounds 5–7: 14:30–21:00
• Awards: 21:30

• Prize Eligibility: Absent by 13:30 disqualifies prize eligibility.

Entry Fees (RM):

Category	Fee
Open	RM100
U12	RM60 (JCA members get 25% discount)

Registration:

• Deadline: December 20th, 2025
• Online form: https://forms.gle/TXSSoT3KveJXE2pU9
• Late Entry: 20% surcharge
• Payment: RHB Bank (PCNJ); proof attached to form

Prizes (RM):

1st: 1200, 2nd: 800, 3rd: 500, 4th: 400, 5th: 250, 6th–10th: 150 each.

Best Lady, Best Rating subclasses (<2000 as="" best="" etc.="" medals.="" p="" u12="">

Prize winners are only eligible for their highest prize (if applicable).

Contacts:

• Pooja: +6011-26703228
• Azri: +6018-2380806
• Dinesh: +6014-6115256

Johor Chess Open 2022

Note the above is the copy of the prospectus. For latest information on the Johor Chess Open 2022 please visit the official website at: https://johorchess.net

Online registration here:

• Johor Chess Open registration
• Johor Chess Rapid registration

After Round 5

  GM Ian Poudani is currently the sole leader of the Johor Open after 5 rounds of play. He has 4.5/5. Following closely behind just a half point short are:

• GM Fominyh Alexander 
•  IM Kuybokarov Temur 
•  GM Neelotpal Das 
•  IM Nguyen Van Huy 
•  IM Nolte Rolando 
•  GM Schebler Gerhard 

 There are 4 more rounds to to. 8 DGT iive chess games are broadcasted via http://live.catur.org Current Interactive Cross Table - after Round 5  

Johor Open R1: GM Amirezza vs FM Ismail Ahmad

[Event "JOHOR OPEN 2016"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.12.12"] [Round "1.2"] [White "GM Pourramezanali ,Amirreza (IRI)"] [Black "FM Ismail,Ahmad (MAS)"] [Result "1-0"] [LiveChessVersion "1.4.8"] [ECO "B01"]

Johor Open R1: Lye vs GM Idani

Round 2 pairing

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr253587.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=2&wi=821

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Idani Pouya	2534	1	1	IM	Sharma Dinesh K.	2288	19
2	17	FM	Pitra Andika	2308	1	1	GM	Pourramezanali Amirreza	2525	2
3	3	GM	Neelotpal Das	2463	1	1	FM	Alfred Nathan S W	2275	21
4	18	IM	Ramnath Bhuvanesh.R	2297	1	1	IM	Kuybokarov Temur	2457	4
5	5	GM	Fominyh Alexander	2437	1	1	FM	Lee Qing Aun	2249	22
6	7	IM	Nolte Rolando	2419	1	1	IM	Chan Peng Kong	2225	24
7	8	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	2416	1	1	FM	Low Zhen Yu Cyrus	2200	26
8	20	FM	Lim Zhuo Ren	2276	1	1	IM	Vo Thanh Ninh	2413	9
9	27		Navalgund Niranjan	2153	1	1	GM	Schebler Gerhard	2406	11
10	12	GM	Cao Sang	2402	1	1	FM	Wong Yinn Long	2138	28
11	30		Yeap Eng Chiam	2124	1	1	GM	Laxman R.R.	2389	13
12	14	IM	Lioe Dede	2372	1	1	CM	Abdullah Mohd Kamal	2117	31
13	15	FM	Dang Hoang Son	2350	1	1		Molofej Denis	2089	32
14	65		Wee Han Xia	0	1	1	IM	Soozankar A.M.	2345	16
15	23		Norbaev Nabijon	2246	½	1		Vakhidov Daler	1983	43
16	29	WFM	Citra Dewi Ardhiani Anastasia	2133	½	½	GM	Vahidov Tair	2432	6
17	25	WIM	Tejaswini Sagar	2204	½	½		Tarimo Didik Widiarso	1571	57
18	39		Abramowski Joerg	2017	½	½	WCM	Chua Jia-Tien	1565	59
19	10	IM	Cuhendi Sean Winshand	2408	0	½		Lim Zen Hong	1306	63
20	33	FM	Pratama Constantius Leonardo	2071	0	0		Nithyalakshmi Sivanesan	1892	48
21	50		Kebbedies Frank	1877	0	0		Wika Hardiyanto	2071	34
22	52		Narayanan Renitha	1780	0	0		Lye Lik Zang	2067	35
23	36	FM	Ismail Ahmad	2057	0	0		Tan Soon Wei Dawson	1889	49
24	37		Pham Minh Hieu	2026	0	0		Singh Kabir	1829	51
25	54		Cheah Kah Hoe	1665	0	0	FM	Wiwatanadate Poompong	2024	38
26	56		Ang Jing Xuan	1599	0	0		Khandhar Kaushal	2006	40
27	41		Djumaev Bakhtiyor	1999	0	0		Pereira Johnharry	1721	53
28	58		Sim Jia Ru	1569	0	0		Daniel Hermawan Lumban Tobing	1993	42
29	44	CM	Tan Jun Ying	1978	0	0		Mohd Radzuan Muhd Harith Farh	1626	55
30	60		Lim Lui Lung	1557	0	0		Nguyen Truong Bao Tran	1954	45
31	46	WCM	Isha Sharma	1935	0	0		Ng Wee Lok Bryan	1532	62
32	61		Doshi Devansh Sanjay	1535	0	0		Tan Kok Liang	1901	47
33	64		Jaffar Wazir	0	0			bye