Start of Malaysian Open !!

Pictures from the first round of the 12th Malaysian Open :-

Uzbek GM Jahongir Vakhidov is the tournament second seed (maybe top seed if Axel Bachmann is indeed not playing)

India's Padmini Rout is last year's Olympiad Gold Medalist and helped India achieved their best ever Olympiad by winning Silver for the women team event.

Top seen GM Axel Bachmann is missing. His opponent didn't turn up too.

This year sees the participation of Malaysia's top player - IM Mas Hafizulhelmi.

FM Nicholas Chan is the Malaysian 2nd seed in the event.