Bayview meet begins

The fifth Penang Bayview Chess League squared off last Sunday at The City Bayview Hotel.

Twenty-two teams are taking part in this year's league and they will be locked in an 11-round contest which shall be played on Sundays until Aug 2. The City Bayview Hotel is the sponsor for the event.

A continuing feature of this year's event is the splitting of the league into two divisions. Play in each division is on a round-robin basis and cash prizes total RM2,200 for Division One and RM1,100 for Division Two. Depending on their performances, teams will be promoted or relegated at the end of the tournament.

In the first round last Sunday, Chung Ling High School A is leading in Division One after drubbing their B team 4-0. Penang Free School A and Universiti Sains Malaysia have three points each after beating Penang Free School B and Pessca respectively. Old Frees Association beat the MSSPP Juniors and Chung Ling Old Boys Association beat Penang Development Corporation by similar 2.5-1.5 scores.

In Division Two, Hewlett Packard is in the lead with a 4-0 score against Penang Free School C. The MSSPP Girls beat DCI 3-1, while Chung Ling High School C beat Chung Ling High School "D" 2.5-1.5. Union High School beat Mara Taiping by a similar scoreline, while Bank Bumiputra and National Semiconductor fought to a 2-2 draw.

The second round will be played this Sunday morning beginning 10am at the hotel's Revolving Restaurant.

ASIAN ZONAL MEET BEGINS

The East Asian/Oceanic zonal championship, organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation, began last Tuesday at Genting Highlands. The 11-round competition will be played daily until June 26, except for three free days.

The response from the various countries making up the East Asian/Oceanic zone has been good, gauging from the number of participants at this event.

China, which traditionally had been part of this zone, now constitutes a zone by itself and so they are not represented here. Without the Chinese, a little shine may have been removed from the championship but the result is that competition will become much keener.

There are two qualifying places at stake in the men's section and the qualifiers are likely to come from either Utut Adianto (Indonesia), Edhi Handoko (Indonesia) or Antonio Rogelio (Philippines). All three are very experienced grandmasters.

But they will surely not find the tournament a bed of roses. Already, a host of capable international masters are patiently stalking the trio and ready to pounce on their slightest mistakes.

The group of international masters include Alex Wohl (Australia), Mariano Nelson (Philippines), Hsu Li-Yang (Singapore), Nguyen Anh Dong and Tu Hoang Thong (both Vietnam) and Malaysia's own Jimmy Liew.

In the women's section, the favourites for the qualifying spot are Australia's Irena Berezina-Feldman, Maria Lucia Ratne, Tamin Upi Darmay Ana and Lisa Lumongdong (all Indonesians) and Hoang Thanh Tranh (Vietnam).

Playing in this tournament are participants from Australia, Brunei, Fiji, Hongkong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

GAME OF THE WEEK

In Novgorod, Russia, another top class tournament in the Professional Chess Association calendar has just ended. The second PCA Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament was won by Gary Kasparov with a score of 6.5 points from 10 games.

He started impressively with a score of 4.5 points from five games and then wound down with a row of four drawn games.

In the last round, Vassily Ivanchuk had the best opportunity to catch up with Kasparov but he blew his chance by wrecking a nice position.

The last of the PCA classic tournaments of the year will be played at the Credit Swiss Masters tournament in Zurich this October.

Final standings in Novgorod: Kasparov 6* points; Jaan Ehlvest, Ivanchuk, Nigel Short, Veselin Topalov 5* points each; Vladimir Kramnik 5 points; Jan Timman 4 points; Boris Gulko 3 points; Artur Yusupov 2* points; and Rafael Vaganian 2 points.

Here is a selection of games from this event.

[Event "Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament"]

[Site "Novgorod RUS"]

[Date "1995"]

[Round ""]

[White "Topalov,Veselin"]

[Black "Yusupov,Artur"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 Nge7 7. Be3 Ng6 8. h4 h5 9. g3 Be7 10. d5 Nb8 11. Bxd7+ Nxd7 12. Nfd2 Nf6 13. f3 O-O 14. c4 c5 15. Nc3 Qd7 16. a4 a5 17. Qe2 Kh7 18. O-O-O Rh8 19. Nf1 Kg8 20. Bd2 Ne8 21. Ne3 Nf8 22. b3 g6 23. f4 Bf6 24. Rdf1 Qe7 25. f5 Ng7 26. Nb5 b6 27. fxg6 fxg6 28. g4 Bxh4 29. Nxd6 Qxd6 30. Rxh4 Nd7 31. gxh5 Rxh5 32. Rxh5 Nxh5 33. Nf5 1-0

[Event "Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament"]

[Site "Novgorod RUS"]

[Date "1995"]

[Round ""]

[White "Kramnik,Vladimir"]

[Black "Timman,Nigel"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qxa2 12. O-O Bg4 13. Bg5 h6 14. Be3 Nc6 15. d5 Na5 16. Bc5 Bf6 17. e5 Bxe5 18. Rb4 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Bf6 20. Ra4 Qb3 21. Rxa5 Qxd1 22. Rxd1 b6 23. d6 Rac8 24. d7 Rcd8 25. Bxe7 Bxe7 26. Rxa7 Rb8 27. Re1 Bd8 28. Re8 b5 29. Ra8 Rxa8 30. Bxa8 b4 31. Bd5 Kg7 32. Kf1 1-0

[Event "Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament"]

[Site "Novgorod RUS"]

[Date "1995"]

[Round ""]

[White "Gulko,Boris"]

[Black "Kramnik,Vladimir"]

[Result "0-1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Nxc6 dxc6 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. e4 Bg4 10. Be2 Bxe2 11. Kxe2 Re8 12. f3 Nd7 13. Bg5+ Kc8 14. Rac1 a5 15. Rhd1 a4 16. Rd2 Nf8 17. Be3 Ra5 18. a3 Ne6 19. Kf2 g5 20. Rcd1 f5 21. exf5 Bxc3 22. bxc3 Rxf5 23. Rd7 h5 24. Rh7 g4 25. f4 Ng5 26. Rg7 Ne4+ 27. Kf1 Nd6 28. Bb6 Rf7 29. Rxf7 Nxf7 30. Bd4 Nd6 31. c5 Nc4 32. Kf2 b5 33. cxb6 cxb6 34. Bf6 b5 35. Rd4 Nxa3 36. Rd6 Kc7 37. Be5 Nc4 38. Re6+ Kd7 0-1

[Event "Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament"]

[Site "Novgorod RUS"]

[Date "1995"]

[Round ""]

[White "Yusupov,Artur"]

[Black "Kasparov,Gary"]

[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. c3 c5 5. e3 Qb6 6. Qb3 O-O 7. Nbd2 d6 8. Qxb6 axb6 9. Nc4 Nbd7 10. Be2 d5 11. Nce5 h6 12. Bf4 c4 13. h4 b5 14. g4 Nb6 15. g5 hxg5 16. hxg5 Ne4 17. Nd2 Bf5 18. Bg4 Na4 19. Nxe4 dxe4 20. Bxf5 gxf5 21. Rb1 b4 22. cxb4 Nb6 23. a3 Rfc8 24. g6 Bxe5 25. gxf7+ Kxf7 26. Bxe5 Nd5 27. Kd2 c3+ 28. Kc2 cxb2+ 29. Kxb2 Rc3 30. Ra1 b5 31. Rhc1 Rd3 32. Rc5 Nb6 33. Rxb5 Nc4+ 34. Kc1 Rg8 35. Bg3 f4 36. Rf5+ Kg6 37. Rxf4 Rc8 38. Rg4+ Kh5 39. Rh4+ Kg6 40. Rg4+ Kh5 41. Rh4+ Kg5 42. f4+ Kg6 43. f5+ Kg5 0-1

[Event "Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament"]

[Site "Novgorod RUS"]

[Date "1995"]

[Round ""]

[White "Topalov,Veselin"]

[Black "Kasparov,Gary"]

[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 Be7 8. Qd2 O-O 9. g4 a6 10. O-O-O Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. Kb1 Bb7 13. h4 Rc8 14. g5 Nd7 15. a3 Ne5 16. Qe3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Rhg1 b4 19. axb4 Rxb4 20. Rg2 Ba8 21. b3 a5 22. h5 Qc7 23. Bf6 Rfb8 24. Bxe7 Qxe7 25. Rd4 e5 26. Rxb4 axb4 27. Na2 Qc7 28. Qd3 Kf8 29. g6 fxg6 30. hxg6 h6 31. f4 exf4 32. Rf2 Kg8 33. Rxf4 Qc5 34. Rf1 Qb5 35. Rc1 Qe5 36. Qc4+ Kh8 37. Rh1 Bxe4 38. Qc7 Rf8 39. Rxh6+ Kg8 40. Nc1 Bxc2+ 0-1

[Event "Classic Lord Novgorod The Great tournament"]

[Site "Novgorod RUS"]

[Date "1995"]

[Round "Kasparov,Gary"]

[White "Vaganian,Rafael"]

[Black ""]

[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. O-O-O Be7 11. h4 dxc4 12. Bxc4 b6 13. Ng5 Ba6 14. Nce4 g6 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Ne4 Be7 17. Bxa6 Qxa6 18. Kb1 Qb7 19. h5 Rac8 20. hxg6 Nb4 21. gxh7+ Kh8 22. Be5+ f6 23. Nxf6 Bxf6 24. Bxf6+ 1-0