How much did Chess actually matter at SUKMA 2026?

So SUKMA 2026 wrapped up with Selangor running away with it as hosts, no surprise there. But I got curious about something more specific to us chess people — how much did our sport actually move the needle for each state’s medal tally? Not just “chess happened,” but actual numbers.

I pulled the verified final standings off the official SUKMA Selangor 2026 medal portal (had to redo this calculation once already because the first set of numbers I grabbed turned out to be an outdated preliminary tally — lesson learned, always check the source again before you publish anything) and cross-referenced it against the chess results across all 16 events. Here’s what came out.

Pulau Pinang really leaned on chess this SUKMA. Out of their 156 total medals, 15 came from chess — 5 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze. That’s 9.62% of their entire medal haul from one sport. Basically 1 in every 10 medals a Penang athlete brought home this SUKMA was won at a chessboard, not on a track or in a pool. That’s not nothing. Someone in Penang’s sports council is doing something right with junior chess development, and honestly they should be shouting about it more.

Wilayah Persekutuan came in second on this metric. 9 chess medals (2G, 4S, 3B) out of their 157 total — 5.73%.

Selangor, the overall champions with a massive 245 medals, actually won more chess medals outright than WP did — 11 in total (4G, 4S, 3B). But because their total haul was so huge across every other sport, those 11 medals only worked out to 4.49% of their overall tally. Still, 4 golds in chess is a solid showing, and I’d guess those golds mattered more to the team’s morale than the percentage suggests.

Perak also showed up decently — 5 chess medals for a 4.20% share.

And then there’s the other half of the table. Terengganu, Sarawak, Sabah, Perlis, Kedah, and Brunei all walked away with zero medals from chess. Zero. For states that otherwise did fine overall, that’s a pretty stark gap, and if I were coaching juniors in any of those states I’d be using this exact stat to go bug my local sports council for more support.

Anyway, small thing in the grand scheme of SUKMA, but I think it’s worth pointing out to our chess parents next time someone asks why the kid is spending Saturday afternoons doing puzzles instead of at football training. The numbers don’t lie — chess pulled real weight on that podium, for the states that invested in it.

Top 3 by chess share of total medals:

1. Pulau Pinang — 9.62% (15 medals)
2. Wilayah Persekutuan — 5.73% (9 medals)
3. Selangor — 4.49% (11 medals)

Will try to dig into the gold-medal-only breakdown next if I have time. Kalau rajin lah.