Chung Ling High School in the lead

With only two rounds remaining in the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League, the domination of Chung Ling High School in both divisions of the competition seems complete.

After nine rounds of the competition, Chung Ling High School A continues to lead in Division One by beating Pessca 3-1. Penang Free School A continued to provide a strong challenge to CLHS A but despite winning 4-0 against Hitachi Semiconductors, they still trailed the leaders by 1.5 points.

In other Division One matches, Old Frees Association beat Penang Development Corporation 4-0, Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling beat Penang Free School B 3-1 and the MSSPP Juniors drew 2-2 with Chung Ling High School B.

In the second division, Chung Ling High School C beat the MSSPP Girls 3-1 to retain their lead while Hewlett-Packard scored a 3.5-0.5 result against Union High School.

In other matches, Bank Bumiputra beat Penang Free School C 3-1, DCI beat National Semiconductors 4-0 and Penang Chinese Girls High School beat Mara Taiping 4-0.

Current standings after nine rounds:

Division One - CLHS A 26 points, PFS A 24.5 points, OFA 22 points, PACL 20.5 points, Pessca 18 points, CLHS B 17.5 points, USM 16.5 points, MSSPP Jrs 11.5 points, PFS B 10.5 points, PDC 8 points and Hitachi 5 points.

Division Two - CLHS C 27.5 points, CLHS D 23.5 points, HP 19.5 points, BBMB 19 points, PFS C 17.5 points, MSSPP Girls 17 points, DCI 16.5 points, Union 14 points, PCGHS 9 points, NS 8 points and Mara Taiping 5.5 points.

The Penang Bayview Chess League is annually sponsored by The City Bayview Hotel and the 10th round will be played this Sunday morning at the hotel's Revolving Restaurant. The final round will be on Aug 6.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Bayan Baru Open
---------------
The Residents' Association of Bayan Baru, Penang, will hold its ninth annual open chess championship on Aug 13 at the association's clubhouse.

Entry fees for the one-day tournament are RM5 for players under the age of 18 and members of either the Residents' Association or the Penang Chess Association, and RM8 for all other participants.

Entry forms are available daily from The Times Bookshop at the Penang Plaza, Burmah Road, Penang. They will also be available Mondays to Fridays from the association's clubhouse in Jalan Nibong, Bayan Baru (7pm-9pm).

As in previous years, cash prizes are not offered. Instead, winners will be given prizes in kind donated by various parties. Entries will close on Aug 6.

Merdeka Team Championship

-------------------------

This yearly event will once again be organised by the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia at the Wisma Belia in Kuala Lumpur from Sept 2-4. As usual, this event will be separated into three sections all running at the same time.

The premier attraction is the competition for the Deputy Prime Minister's trophy in the state section. Traditionally, all the various state chess associations in the country make it a point to play, and this event is widely viewed as the national team championship.

For the junior section of the championship, the winner will be awarded the Merdeka Youth challenge trophy. Normally too, many of the state associations will send their teams to play here but the organisers have also been allowing other junior teams to participate.

In recent years though, the popularity of the junior section has diminished a little. This could be attributed to the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Malaysia's own national junior championships which are held during the mid- semester break.

Finally, there is the open section of the championship which has never failed to attract teams from near and afar, including a number from Singapore.

More information on this event will be announced later.

Total Chess
-----------
Total Chess, a commercially-run chess club in Petaling Jaya, will be holding two local rating tournaments on August 6 and 13.

On August 6, an open category tournament will be played at the Total Chess premises in the New Town Centre, Petaling Jaya, and 10 cash prizes totalling RM300 will be at stake. There are also prizes for the best under-10, under- 12, under-14 and under-16 players.

A week later, a special tournament for under-12 players will be held. Here, 10 prizes comprising medals, chess books and magazines will be offered.

Both tournaments are six-round events using a time control of 25 minutes per player for each game. The entry fees are RM15 for Total Chess members and RM20 for non-members in the open category event, and RM10 and RM15 respectively for the under-12 event.

For further details, call Joseph Toh (tel: 03-757-4606).

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Joop van Oosterom is a familiar figure in Europe. Noted as an ardent supporter of chess, he is credited with having introduced many new ideas in promoting the game.

A notable example is the Melody Amber blindfold/rapidplay tournament which is an annual event that involves top chess players. Participants are required to engage their opponents in two games, one of which is played without sight of the chess board.

Recently, he sponsored the Polka women versus veterans tournament in Prague. This was a Scheveningen style of tournament in which five top women players were pitted in a double-round contest against five veteran players.

Despite a spirited fightback from the veteran players in the final rounds, the women won this event comfortably with a final score of 26.5-23.5.

Playing for the women's side were world champion Xie Jun (China), Pia Cramling (Sweden), Nana Ioseliani (Georgia) and two of the Polgar sisters from Hungary, Judit and Zsuzsa.

On the veteran's side were Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland), Vlastimil Hort (Germany), Lajos Portisch (Hungary) and former world champions Vassily Smyslov (Russia) and Boris Spassky (France).

The joint winners of the tournament were Cramling and Judit Polgar who each scored 6.5 points. Third was Korchnoi with 5.5 points, while three players - Xie, Smyslov and Spassky - obtained five points each.

Zsuzsa Polgar and Hort scored 4.5 points each, while Ioseliani had four points and Portisch 3.5.

Here are a few interesting games from the tournament.

Vlastimil Hort - Pia Cramling
-----------------------------
1. c4 g6, 2. d4 Bg7, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. e4 d6, 5. Be2 O-O, 6. Bg5 Na6, 7. Bf3 c6, 8. Qd2 e5, 9. Nge2 Qe8, 10. O-O h5, 11. d5 cxd5, 12. Bxf6 Bxf6, 13. Nxd5 Bg7, 14. Nec3 Bd7, 15. Rfd1 Rd8, 16. b4 Be6, 17. Qe3 b6, 18. a4 Rb8, 19. Be2 Bc8, 20. Nb5 Qd7, 21. a5 bxa5, 22. Rxa5 Bb7, 23. Rda1 Bxd5, 24. Rxa6 Bc6, 25. Rxa7 Qd8, 26. Rd1 Bxb5, 27. cxb5 Bf6, 28. Bc4 Kg7, 29. Ra6 Be7, 30. Qa7 Qc8, 31. Rc6 Qg4, 32. Re1 Qg5, 33. Qe3 Qxe3, 34. Rxe3 Bd8, 35. Rd3 Bb6, 36. Rdxd6 Bd4, 37. b6 Ra8, 38. g3 Ra1+, 39. Kg2 Rb1, 40. b5 Rb2, 41. Rf6 Rb4, 42. b7 Ba7, 43. Rfd6 1-0

Xie Jun - Boris Spassky
-----------------------
1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 d6, 6. Be2 g6, 7. Nb3 Bg7, 8. O-O a6, 9. Re1 b5, 10. Bf1 O-O, 11. a4 b4, 12. Nd5 e6, 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6, 14. a5 Bg7, 15. Ra2 Qe7, 16. Be3 Bb7, 17. Qd2 Rfc8, 18. f4 e5, 19. f5 gxf5, 20. exf5 Kh8, 21. Raa1 d5, 22. Bc5 Qf6, 23. Bb6 Ne7, 24. Nc5 Bc6, 25. Nxa6 d4, 26. Nxb4 Bh6, 27. Qd3 Nxf5, 28. Nxc6 Rxc6, 29. Qe4 Be3+, 30. Rxe3 Nxe3, 31. Bd3 Kg7, 32. b4 Rg8, 33. Bc5 Rxc5, 34. bxc5 Kf8, 35. a6 1-0

 

Vietnamese challenge at Sutra Beach

It is not often that the state chess associations outside the Klang Valley manage to attract foreign players but the Terengganu Chess Association managed to get Vietnamese international master Nguyen Anh Dung to play in the Sutra Beach Resort open tournament.

Of course, the fact that the Vietnamese player happened to stay behind in the country after the zonal championship at Genting Highlands helped considerably. It did not take much to persuade Nguyen to try his luck for the first prize of RM1,000.

So Nguyen turned up in Kuala Terengganu very much the pre-tournament favourite. He reeled off four wins in a row, including a third round victory against the national champion, Mas Hafizulhelmi.

Unfortunately, the Vietnamese lost his touch in the fifth round and the local crowd was especially estatic when their homegrown player, lawyer Ghalam Sani, produced an inspired game to take a point off Nguyen.

Ghalam was in a good form. A round earlier, he had despatched off former national champion Mok Tze Meng and before that, former national schoolboy champion Ahmad Maliki. A draw against Mas Hafizulhelmi in the final round was sufficient for Ghalam to win the tournament.

After his loss to Ghalam, Nguyen was no longer in the running for the top prize despite winning in the sixth round against Maliki. He drew against Mok in the final round to place joint second/third with Mas Hafizulhelmi.

The three-day tournament was played at the Sutra Beach Resort in Kuala Terengganu. Sponsored by the hotel, the event attracted 40 participants including seven current or former national players. The local field was limited to only six players with the rest, excluding Nguyen, coming from various parts of the country.

The prize winners: Ghalam Sani 6 points, IM Nguyen Anh Dung and Mas Hafizulhelmi 5.5 points each, Ahmad Maliki, Mok Tze Meng, Rosli Mohd Nor and Agus Salim 5 points each, John Chay, Mohd Fadli Zakaria and Ismail Ahmad 4.5 points each.

THE BAYVIEW UPDATE

With eight rounds completed in the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League, Chung Ling High School A is in the lead in Division One after a 4-0 win over Penang Development Corporation.

Penang Free School A suffered a slight setback when they lost to Chung Ling High School B by a 1.5-2.5 score. Old Frees Association beat Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling 3-1, while Universiti Sains Malaysia scored a 3-1 win against Penang Free School B and Pessca beat Hitachi Semiconductors 4-0.

In Division Two, Chung Ling High School C beat Penang Chinese Girls High Schol 4-0, while their D team won 3-1 against Union High School. Penang Free School C beat the MSSPP Girls 3-1 and Bank Bumiputra beat Hewlett-Packard 2.5-1.5. DCI beat Mara Taiping 3-0.

The current standings after eight rounds:

Division One - CLHS A 23 points, PFS A 20.5 points, OFA 18 points, PACL 17.5 points, Pessca 17 points, USM 16.5 points, CLHS B 15.5 points, MSSPP Jrs and PFS B 9.5 points, PDC 8 points, and Hitachi 5 points.

Division Two - CLHS C 24.5 points, CLHS D 23.5 points, PFS C 16.5 points, MSSPP Girls, HP and BBMB 16 points, Union 13.5 points, DCI 12.5 points, NS 8 points, Mara Taiping 5.5 points and PCGHS 5 points.

The Penang Bayview Chess League is annually sponsored by The City Bayview Hotel. The ninth round will be played this Sunday morning at the hotel's Revolving Restaurant.

TWO TOTAL TOURNAMENTS

Total Chess, a commercially-run chess club in Petaling Jaya, will stage two local rating tournaments on Aug 6 and 13.

On Aug 6, an open category tournament will be played at the Total Chess premises in the New Town Centre, Petaling Jaya; 10 cash prizes totalling RM300 will be at stake. There are also prizes for the best under-10, under- 12, under-14 and under-16 players.

On Aug 13, a special tournament for under-12 players will be held.

Both tournaments are six-round events using a time control of 25 minutes per player for each game. The entry fees are RM15 for Total Chess members and RM20 for non-members in the open category event, and RM10 and RM15 respectively for the under-12 event. For further enquiries or registration, call Joseph Toh (tel: 03-757-4606).

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Here are two games from the local chess circuit this week. The first was played at the Terengganu Sutra Beach Resort championship in Kuala Terengganu and features Nguyen Anh Dung's loss to Ghalam Sani, while the second game is from the Penang Bayview Chess League.

White: Ghalam Sani

Black: Nguyen Anh Dung

----------------------

1. e4 c5, 2. Nc3 Nc6, 3. g3 g6, 4. Bg2 Bg7, 5. d3 e6, 6. f4 Nge7, 7. Nf3 d5, 8. 0-0 0-0, 9. h3 Rb8, 10. a4 dxe4, 11. dxe4 b6, 12. Qe2 Nd4, 13. Nxd4 cxd4, 14. Rd1 Qc7, 15. Nb5 Ba6, 16. Nxc7 Bxe2, 17. Rd2 Bc4, 18. e5 Nf5, 19. g4 Ne3, 20. Be4 f5, 21. Rxd4 Rbc8, 22. Bxe3 Rxc7, 23. gxf5 gxf5, 24. Bf3 Ba6, 25. c3 Bb7, 26. Bxb7 Rxb7, 27. Rad1 Rff7, 28.Rd6 Rfe7, 29. c4 Bf8, 30. Rd8 Kf7, 31. Kf2 Rec7, 32. b3 Be7, 33. R8d3 Ke8, 34. Rg1 Kf7, 35. Ke2 Rc8, 36. Bd2 a6, 37. Be1 b5, 38. axb5 axb5, 39. cxb5 Rxb5, 40. Bd2 Rc2, 41. Rc1 Rbc5, 42. Rxc2 Rxc2, 43. Kd1 Ra2, 44. Kc1 Ba3+, 45. Kb1 Rb2+, 46. Ka1 Rc2, 47. b4 Bc1, 48. Bxc1 Rxc1+, 49. Kb2 Rc4, 50. Kb3 Rxf4, 51. b5 Rf1, 52. Kc4 Re1, 53. b6 Rxe5, 54.Rb3 1-0

White: Tan Eng Seong

Black: Ooi Chern Ee

--------------------

1. e4 c5, 2. Nc3 Nc6, 3. d3 g6, 4. Be3 d6, 5. f4 Bg7, 6. Nf3 Nd4, 7. Be2 b5, 8. Qd2 b4, 9.Nd1 Nxe2, 10. Qxe2 Nf6, 11. h3 a5, 12. 0-0 0-0, 13. c4 bxc3, 14. bxc3 Ba6, 15. Qc2 Qd7, 16. Rb1 Bb5, 17. c4 Ba4, 18. Qd2 Qc6, 19. Nc3 Rfb8, 20. e5 Ne8, 21. Nd5 Rb7, 22. exd6 exd6, 23. f5 Nf6, 24. Bh6 Bh8, 25. Qg5 Nxd5, 26. fxg6 fxg6, 27. cxd5 Qd7, 28. Rxb7 Qxb7, 29. Qf4 Qb4, 30. Qxd6 Re8, 31. Kh1 Bb5, 32. Ng5 c4, 33.Rf8+ 1-0

 

Change of venue

 

Utut wins the day

Indonesian grandmaster Utut Adianto played to form and justified his seeding when he won the men's East Asian/Oceanic zonal championship at the Genting Highlands last month.

He finished the tournament with nine points, ahead of grandmaster Rogelio Antonio from the Philippines who obtained 7.5 points.

In joint third-fifth places were Vietnamese international master Nguyen Anh Dung, Indonesian international master Nasib Ginting and untitled Filipino player Fernie Donguines. The three players scored seven points each.

Edhi Handoko, another Indonesian grandmaster, was a disappointment as the second seed could only manage to score 6.5 points and tie for the sixth to ninth placings with Indonesian Irwanto, Filipino Barlo Nadera and Hiroyuki Nishimura from Japan.

Four Malaysians were among the field of 28 players. Mas Hafizulhelmi, the current national champion, was the best local player with a score of 5.5 points which automatically qualified him for a FIDE Master title. Darren Yong and Mohd Saprin Sabri obtained 4.5 points each, while Mohd Kamal Abdullah scored 3.5 points.

The other players who also automatically qualified as FIDE Masters were Aung Thant Zin (Myanmar), Donguines, Chito Garma (Philippines), Irwanto, Nadera, Nishimura and Terry Toh (Singapore). Nishimura, Garma and FM Anthony Ker (New Zealand) obtained international master norms.

The women's zonal championship was held at the same time. Australian international master Irina Berezina-Feldman won the event with a score of 8.5 points. Half a point behind her was Vietnamese international master Hoang Thanh Trang.

Third was another Vietnamese player, unheralded Nguyen Thi Tuong Van, who obtained 7.5 points. Three players - Tamin Upi Darmayana (Indonesia), Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky (Australia) and Mai Thi Thanh Houng (Vietnam) - tied for the fourth-sixth places with seven points each.

The three Malaysian players fared poorly. The best resistance was put up by Ong Hwa Lu who scored four points, while Eliza Hanum Ibrahim and Samantha Lee each obtained 2.5 points.

Nguyen Thi Tuong Van was automatically conferred the international master title by virtue of her 66.7 per cent score in the tournament, while Veronica Klimenko (Australia), Mai Thi Thanh Houng and Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky were made FIDE Masters.

The zonal tournaments were hosted by the Malaysian Chess Federation and played at the Genting Highlands. Adianto, Berezina-Feldman and Hoang qualified for the Interzonal which is the next stage of the World Chess Federation's current world chess championship cycle.

BAYVIEW CHESS UPDATE

Two rounds were played at the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League last Sunday after the tournament was opened officially by State Executive Councillor Dr Sak Cheng Lum.

In the morning, Penang Free School A whitewashed Penang Development Corporation 4-0 while Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling beat MSSPP Juniors by a narrow 2.5-1.5 score.

Old Frees Association fell to a shock 1-3 defeat at the hands of Chung Ling High School A, while the other results in Division One were Penang Free School B beating Hitachi Semiconductor 3-1, and Chung Ling High School B winning 3-1 against Universiti Sains Malaysia.

In Division Two, National Semiconductor beat Hewlett-Packard 3-1, while Chung Ling High School D beat DCI 2.5-1.5. Penang Free School C scored their first points by beating Mara Taiping 2.5-1.5, Union High School beat Penang Chinese Girls High School 2.5-1.5, and Bank Bumiputra beat MSSPP Girls 2.5-1.5.

In the afternoon session, Chung Ling High School A beat Penang Free School B 3-1, Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling beat Chung Ling High School B 3-1, and Penang Free School A beat Pessca 3-1. Two other matches were drawn 2-2: Universiti Sains Malaysia against Hitachi Semiconductor, and Penang Development Corporation against MSSPP Juniors.

Among the Division Two teams, Penang Free School C continued their winning streak by beating National Semiconductor 4-0, while MSSPP Girls beat Union High School 3-1 and Chung Ling High School D beat Penang Chinese Girls High School 3-1. DCI beat Hewlett-Packard 3-1, and Chung Ling High School beat Mara Taiping by a similar score.

The current standings after five rounds: Division One - PFS A 15 points, CLHSA 13.5 points, CLOBA 11.5 points, OFA and USM 10 points, CLHS B 8.5 points,Pessca, MSSPP Jrs and PFS B 8 points, PDC 4 points, and Hitachi 3.5 points.

Division Two - CLHS D 15 points, CLHS C 12.5 points, MSSPP Girls 11.5 points, Union and BBMB 10 points, HP and DCI 9.5 points, PFS C 6.5 points, NS 6 points, Mara Taiping 5.5 points, and PCGHS 4 points.

The Penang Bayview Chess League is annually sponsored by The City Bayview Hotel. The sixth and seventh rounds will be played tomorrow at the hotel's Sri Mas Room.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

In New York last month where the American leg of the Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix was held under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association, Gary Kasparov took the first prize with a 2-0 score over Vassily Ivanchuk in the final.

Earlier during the semi-finals, Ivanchuk had eliminated Alexander Morozevich (Russia) with a 2-0 result, while Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) played to a 1.5-1.5 draw. The blitz tie-break game was also drawn but Kasparov advanced to the final by invoking the draw odds rule.

[Event "Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Kasparov, Gary"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Bg5 Na5 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bg5 15. Qd3 Bh6 16. Rad1 Rc8 17. Nd2 b5 18. c3 Kh8 19. b4 Ra8 20. Nb3 f5 21. Na5 Rc8 22. Qh3 Rf7 23. Rfe1 Qe8 24. Qh4 Qf8 25. exf5 Bxf5 26. f3 Bc2 27. Ra1 Bf5 28. h3 Qe8 29. Qf2 Qe6 30. Rad1 Qg6 31. Kh1 Rcf8 32. h4 Bc2 33. Rd2 Bxd2 34. Qxd2 Qg3 35. Nb7 Rxb7 0-1

[Event "Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Kasparov, Gary"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. e3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Qd6 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. f3 O-O 10. Ne2 Be6 11. O-O Rad8 12. Qc1 Nd7 13. Be1 Qe7 14. Qb1 Nb6 15. Bxh7+ Kh8 16. Bd3 Na5 17. e4 Nac4 18. f4 f6 19. f5 Bf7 20. Rf3 Kg8 21. Rh3 exd4 22. cxd4 c5 23. d5 Ne5 24. Bc2 Nbc4 25. Nf4 b5 26. Qb3 Ng4 27. Qg3 Nce5 28. Bd1 1-0

[Event "Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. d5 Ne5 5. f4 Nd7 6. e4 Nb6 7. a4 a5 8. Be3 e6 9. Bxb6 cxb6 10. Bxc4 Bb4 11. Nf3 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. Qb3 Kh8 16. Ng5 Ng4 17. Nxe6 Qh4 18. h3 Rae8 19. Ne2 Rxe6 20. Qxe6 Bc5+ 21. Kh1 h5 22. Rad1 Rd8, 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Qd5 Qh4 25. Qg5 Nf2+ 26. Rxf2 Qxg5 27. fxg5 Bxf2 28. g6 Kg8 29. g4 hxg4 30. hxg4 Kf8 31. Kg2 Bc5 32. e5 Ke7 33. Kf3 Kd7 34. Ke4 Kc6 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36. Kxd4 Kd7 37. Kd5 Ke7 38. e6 Ke8 39. Kd6 Kd8 40. b3 Ke8 41. e7 1-0