The Malta Chess Championships cycle, sponsored by Philip Toledo Ltd, starts today. The Preliminaries, as the opening stage is popularly known, is played on seven rounds and aimed at unrated players.

The top six proceed to the Candidates tournament where they face higher-rated players. The climax is reached when the top four join the current champion and last year's runner-up in the finals.

Meanwhile, Fide Master Geoffrey Borg recently started his Malta Rapid Chess Championship title defence with a resounding victory in the first tournament of the 2003 GP series, sponsored by KPMG.

Borg managed a clean sweep, winning all his five games. In joint second place, with four points, was Duncan Vella, Peter Sammut Briffa and English player Laurie Trewinnard. Vella was second on superior score.

The competition also registered a positive showing for upcoming duo Oliver Said and Fabiano Bugelli, fifth and sixth respectively. Perhaps less expected were the performances of Colin Pace and veteran Victor Cilia Vincenti. They could only manage three points and shared seventh to 10th place with Matthew Saliba and Christian Pullicino.

In all, 24 players took part. The next tournament is scheduled for March 2.