The Malaysian Chess Federation will stage the East Asian/Oceania zonal championships at Genting Highland from June 12 to 27.
The tournament is open to 15 countries in this zone; as host country, Malaysia will field two players in the men's section and three in the women's.
In the men's section, one place has been offered to national player Mas Hafizul Rahman and the other to Jimmy Liew. If Liew declines, then it will be offered to Peter Long or Ooi Chern Ee.
Zonal championships are now being held in various places around the world and the qualifiers will advance to the interzonal stage. Both zonal and interzonal competitions are part of the world chess championship cycle run by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
BAYVIEW CHESS LEAGUE
On June 11, the Penang Chess Association will organise the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League at The City Bayview Hotel, the sponsors for the annual team championship.
The hotel, which donated an 18-inch pewter challenge trophy worth RM6,000 two years ago, will again sponsor RM5,000 and the use of its premises during the championship which will be played over several weekends.
Only teams legitimately representing the public and business sectors, factories, universities, schools, colleges and registered associations, societies and clubs are allowed to play.
A guest player may be included in each team, but the other players must be employees, students or members of the organisation which they represent.
Provision is made for 24 teams to take part, and each team is allowed to register up to eight players. However, only four players from each team can play in every round.
Entry fees are RM150 and attractive cash prizes are guaranteed for the top five teams in each division. Division One will consist of the top teams in the state, including two teams promoted from last year's Division Two.
Teams taking part for the first time will be placed in Division Two and their prospects for promotion to the premier division will depend on their performance in the league this year.
The organising committee has posted entry forms to all the teams that played in last year's league. New teams that wish to take part can contact Alan Phang or Goh Yoon Wah in the evenings for the entry forms. Entry forms are also available at the reception counter of The City Bayview Hotel.
Closing date for entries is June 3, and a meeting of all team managers will be held at the hotel at 8pm on June 7.
VISION 2020
The Penang Chess Association will organise the Penang Vision 2020 tournament on May 31 at the Mar Vista Resort in Tanjung Bungah. This is a one-day event jointly sponsored by BHL Bank and Desa Mar Vista, and run over seven rounds.
The concept for this tournament will be slightly different from all local tournaments which have been held in the past.
Although the players are grouped in one common category and paired under existing Swiss rules, prizes will be given to winners in four different rating groups - 2100 and above, 2000 to 2099, 1950 to 1999, and 1949 and below. The fourth rating group will also contain the unrated players.
This categorisation of prizes is made possible with the adoption of the PCA's own rating list which contains names and ratings of some 600 local players in Penang.
Players from the other states are also in the PCA rating list and if they choose to play in the Vision 2020 tournament, they must accept the rules of the tournament and the PCA ratings.
Five prizes will be awarded to the best players in the first rating group and these will be RM250, RM200, RM150, RM100 and RM100. For the second and third groups, three prizes worth RM200, RM100 and RM100 will be given for the winners of each group. Finally, the fourth group will have two prizes - RM150 and RM80.
Entry fee is RM8 for members of the PCA and RM15 for non-members. Readers interested in taking part should contact Quah Seng Sun or Goh Yoon Wah after 9pm. Registration of players at the Mar Vista Resort on May 31 will be between 8am and 8.30am, and only the first 100 entries will be accepted.
NATIONAL AGE-GROUP
This is a reminder to readers that this year's national age-group chess championship, sponsored by the Asia Insurance Co Ltd and the Asia Life Assurance Society Ltd, will be played from May 26 to 28 at the Wisma MPSA in Shah Alam.
There will be separate events for boys and girls in the under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 age groups.
Readers who wish to play in this tournament can contact the MPSA and speak to Hassanuddin Ghazali, Sheikh Ahmad Hassan or Asmah Mohd Zin.
GAME OF THE WEEK
A four-man tournament is presently underway in Amsterdam. Known as the VSB tournament, it features Gary Kasparov (Russia), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Joel Lautier (France) and Jeroen Piket (The Netherlands).
In the second round, Kasparov again uncorked the Evans Gambit which he had used to great effect against Viswanathan Anand in Riga several weeks ago. This time, his victim was the Dutch champion, Piket.
[Event "VSB Euwe Memorial"]
[Site "Amsterdam NED"]
[Date "1995.05.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kasparov, Gary"]
[Black "Piket, Jeroen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 {Piket chose to decline the gambit; Anand played 4...Bxb4} 5. a4 a5 6. b5 Nd4 7. Nxd4 Bxd4 8. c3 Bb6 9. d4 exd4 10. O-O Ne7 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. cxd4 Qd6 14. Nc3 {After the game, Kasparov said: "This must be played, obviously. I was sure I was winning now. Just how, I was going to find out."} Bxd4 {If 14...Qxd4, Kasparov gave this fantastic variation: 15 Nd5!! Qxc4 16 Nxb6 cxb6 17 Qd6 Qe6 18 e5 Qxd6 19 exd6 Kd8 20 Rfe1 Re8 21 Rxe8+ Kxe8 and Black, a bishop and pawn up in an endgame, is totally helpless.}15. Nd5 Bxa1 16. Qxa1 O-O 17. e5 Qc5 18. Rc1 c6 19. Ba2 Qa3 {Kasparov thought for a long time, not entirely sure about the attach after 20 Rc3 Qxa4 21 Ne7+ Kh8 22 Rg3, and settled for the win of a rook} 20. Nb6 d5 21. Nxa8 Kh8 22. Nb6 Be6 23. h3 Rd8 24. bxc6 bxc6 25. Rc3 Qb4 26. Rxc6 Rb8 27. Nxd5 Qxa4 28. Rc1 Qa3 29. Bc4 1-0
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