Bad time for chess

THESE days, things are simply not going well for the World Chess Federation. Apart from the problems surrounding their president Kirsan Iljumzhinov who faces questions concerning the death of a critical opposition newspaper editor in the Soviet Kalmyk Republic, there have been calls by various parties to boycott the Chess Olympiad next month in Elista, the republic's capital.

The main call to boycott this event comes from an organisation known as the Glasnost Defense Foundation. Among many things, this little-known body claims that the money for the Chess Olympiad was obtained by violations of Russia's state and human laws, and that money meant for industrial and agricultural development in Kalmykia was diverted to build the many facilities for the Chess Olympiad.

There are also two damning articles written by a woman player from England, Sarah Hurst, in two reputable international chess magazines, Chess and New In Chess. She went to Elista, enjoyed Kalmykian hospitality and then proceeded to proclaim that the Kalmykians are not ready to hold the games.

In her articles, Hurst roundly condemns Iljumzhinov and the organisers, and tears apart their preparations. She then makes an impassioned plea to players to join in a boycott of the Chess Olympiad. So far, it looks like many of the top chess players of the developed nations in Europe and also Australia have been duped by her and will not be going to Elista.

But the World Chess Federation has been fighting back. In a recent circular to all its member national chess federations, Fide says it will continue to rely on the findings of properly constituted competent legal organs in Russia. Fide claims there is no truth that the people of Kalmykia were taxed or extorted by their government to host the Chess Olympiad.

Nevertheless, Fide concedes that things can still go wrong even with the best planned and excellently executed programmes. Unforeseen problems can still emerge to detract from most of the positive aspects of the event, says the federation.

The Elista Chess Olympiad is not the only sticky problem facing Fide in recent weeks. Another potential problem looks set to explode from Shenyang in China where the women's Candidates final match between Alisa Galliamova-Ivanchuk and Xie Jun was supposed to take place.

On Aug 15, the date when the match between the two players was to start, the Chinese organisers were left to twiddle their thumbs when Galliamova failed to turn up in Shenyang.

Subsequently, the International Chess Association of China issued a statement that, due to Galliamova's non-appearance, Xie Jun had qualified to face reigning women's world champion Zsuzsa Polgar for the title.

The association also wants compensation from Fide for the inconvenience and embarassment to the organisers and match sponsors following Galliamova's no-show.

Interestingly, it was reported in Mark Crowther's The Week In Chess website that Galliamova wanted to play half of the match in her home city of Kazan, in Russia, but the city could not raise the US$120,000 (about RM500,000) needed for the second half of the match. She considered the conditions unfair, hence leading to her non-appearance. An appeal against the default looks imminent.

UP NEXT

Sympo98 special

Four simultaneous chess events featuring three of the country's top players are being planned for Sympo98, a showcase event which will be held at the same time as the Commonwealth Games in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, next month.

According to the Malaysian Chess Federation, international master Mas Hafizulhelmi is scheduled to give a simultaneous chess display at Sympo98's "The Challenge'' Pavilion on Sept 12 and 13.

On Sept 19, national master Mok Tze Meng will give a similar display. The final simultaneous chess display on Sept 20 will involve international master Jimmy Liew.

These three top Malaysian players have agreed to play against 50 opponents at the same time. On these four days, the simultaneous chess displays will begin at 2pm and the playing sessions are expected to last about five hours.

Visitors to Sympo98 on these days will be eligible to play against Mas, Mok or Liew, subject to the availability of places. No fee will be charged for their participation, except for the entrance fee to Sympo98 itself which is RM10 for adults and RM5 for children. Anyone winning against the MCF players will receive a prize from the organisers.

Sympo98 is a support facility offered to the people who come for the Commonwealth Games. The sprawling site, covering some 7ha of land leased from Technology Park Malaysia, is adjacent to the National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil. Although the Commonwealth Games begins only on Sept 11, Sympo98 will be open to the public from Sept 3 onwards.

Other attractions at Sympo98 include a Malaysian food fair featuring both local and Western cuisine, an amusement park, an information technology cyber-mall, an education fair pavilion, a bazaar selling made-in-Malaysia products, an arts and culture centre, and a centre for live entertainment.

Merdeka meets

The 17th Merdeka team chess championship starts this afternoon at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Seven rounds have been scheduled for this event. Today's rounds are at 3pm and 7.45pm; tomorrow's at 9am, 1pm and 4.30pm; Sunday's at 9am and 1.30pm.

Prizes for the state section are RM2,000, RM1,500 and RM1,000. The winner will also receive the Deputy Prime Minister's challenge trophy. The five prizes in the youth section are RM1,000, RM750, RM500, RM300 and RM150. The Merdeka youth challenge trophy will also go to the winner.

In the open section are seven prizes. The winning team will receive RM2,000 and the runner-up RM1,500. The other prizes are RM1,000, RM800, RM600, RM400 and RM200. In addition, there are special prizes for the best government department, women's, school and family teams.

In Johor Baru, the eighth Johor Baru open Merdeka tournament, jointly organised by the Johor Baru District Chess Club and Johor Land Bhd, will take place on Sunday at the Dewan Menara Komtar. Cash prizes will be given to the 10 winners of the open, under-16 and under-12 sections.

The Miri Malay Association and the Shell Lutong Club will jointly organise a two-day Merdeka Day chess open in Miri. Four games will be played tomorrow and the remaining three on Sunday. There are 10 prizes on offer.

Bandaraya Chessmaster 98

Players in the south can look forward to another tournament in Johor Baru next month. This time, the Johor Baru District Chess Club will organise the Bandaraya Chessmaster 98 tournament on Sept 13 together with the Persatuan Perkhidmatan Perbandaran Majlis Bandaraya Johor Baru.

This event will be divided into the open, government body, under-16 and under-12 sections. The open and age-group sections will each offer 10 prizes (cash for the open section and vouchers for the two age-groups) while the government body section will have five cash prizes.

The biggest prizes are reserved for the open section where the winner will receive RM1,300. The second prize is RM800, third prize RM500, fourth prize RM400, fifth RM300, sixth RM250, seventh RM200, eighth RM150, ninth RM100 and 10th RM50.

Entry fees are RM30 for the open and government body sections, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section. The closing date is Sep 7t and only the first 350 entries will be accepted.

For more information, call Sarwan Sirkam (07-228 2607), Shaan Shah Mohd Nasir (019-751 2010) or Narayanan Krishnan (07-333 8215).

 

Bayview champ again

PENANG Free School 'A' retained the Bayview challenge trophy at the close of the eighth Penang Bayview Chess League last Sunday.

The team, which had already obtained an unassailable lead as it entered the final round of the competition, played leisurely against Chung Ling Old Boys Association but was still able to eke out a comfortable 2 1/2-1 1/2 win.

The tension was highest in the fight to decide the second place in the Premier Division. Going into the last round, Chung Ling High School 'A' held a slim half-point lead over Old Frees Association 'A'.

While OFA struggled to overcome a determined Pessca team by a 3 1/2-1/2 score, the Chung Ling schoolboys completed a 4-0 annihilation of Methodist Boys School. The win ensured that the CLHS team stayed ahead of Old Frees at the end of the tournament.

In other Premier Division matches, Universiti Sains Malaysia defeated MSSPP Juniors 2 1/2-1 1/2, and Old Frees Association 'B' beat Chung Ling High School 'B' also by this margin.

The three-corner race between Chung Ling High School 'C', St Xavier's Institution 'A' and Penang Free School 'C' for the winner's purse in Division One was expected to be close, but CLHS 'C' surprised everybody by trouncing Penang Development Corporation 4-0 to finish as Division One champion. At the same time, SXI's challenge fizzled out with a 2-2 draw with PFS 'B'.

In other Division One matches, Chung Ling High School 'D' dumped Chung Hwa Confucian School 'A' 3-1, Union High School beat Hewlett Packard 2 1/2-1 1/2, while the Penang Chess Association Novices beat Penang Free School 'C' 2-1. This last match was marred by a default in one of the games when both players failed to turn up.

The results of Division Two proved to be very close. At the end of the league, both Police and Penang Free School 'D' finished with equal points but Police was declared winner based on a better tie-break.

Police met Westlands Secondary School and won 3-1, while PFS 'D' discovered that their similar 3-1 result against Chung Hwa Confucian School 'B' was insufficient for them to head the table.

The MSSPP Girls proved to be the revelation of the chess league when they finished third in Division Two. The MSSPP Girls beat Chung Ling High School 'E' 2 1/2-1 1/2 in the final round. Meanwhile, Penang Chinese Girls' High School beat Methodist Boys School 'B' 3 1/2-1/2, and Dynacraft beat St Xavier's Institution 'B' 2 1/2-1 1/2.

The Penang Bayview Chess League is an annual team tournament sponsored by The City Bayview Hotel. This year's matches had been played on Sundays at the hotel's revolving restaurant since June 7. The final standings:

Premier Division: PFS A (30 points); CLHS A (26 1/2); OFA A (25 1/2); CLOBA (22); Pessca (18); USM (15 1/2); MBS A (13 1/2); OFA B (12); MSSPP Jrs (9 1/2); CLHS B (7 1/2).

Division One: CLHS C (29); SXI A (24 1/2); PFS B (24); PDC (22 1/2); HP (20); CLHS D (16 1/2); PCA Novices (12 1/2); Union (12); Chung Hwa A (10); PFS C (8).

Division Two: Police (26); PFS D (26); MSSPP Girls (24); Chung Hwa B (21 1/2); SXI B (20); CLHS E (15); Dynacraft (15); MBS B (14 1/2); PCGHS (12 1/2); Westlands (5 1/2).

 

Top Malaysian players

MAS Hafizulhelmi continues to be ranked as the top Malaysian player in the July 1998 international rating list released recently by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). His rating has increased 25 points over a six-month period and it now stands at 2,400.

Ooi Chern Ee, now pursuing further studies in the United States, is still our No 2 player, rated at 2,340 despite not having played any rateable games for the past year. Jimmy Liew, who is also inactive internationally, is still third at 2,330.

The other Malaysians in the latest FIDE list are Mok Tze Meng at 2,270 (an increase of 10 rating points), Fadli Zakaria at 2,250, Ng Ee Vern at 2,240 (an increase of 30 points), Lim Chuin Hoong at 2,225 (a decrease of 50 points), Mohd Irman Ibrahim at 2,220, Mohd Saprin Sabri at 2,210, Mohd Kamal Abdullah at 2,205, Hussein Jamil at 2,190, Mohd Fairin Zakaria at 2,185, Goh Yoon Wah at 2,180, Tan Hong Ghee at 2,150, Lim Yee-Weng at 2,140 (an increase of 10 points), Azahari Md Nor at 2,140 (an increase of 25 points), Julian Navaratnam at 2,125 (an increase of five points) and Wong Zi Jing, 2,120 (an increase of 30 points).

Lim Chin Lee and Lim Kian Hwa are both rated at 2,110, Tan Wei Sin at 2,090 (an increase of 20 points), Lim Tse-Pin at 2,070, Pang Siew Chong at 2,065, Ismail Ahmad at 2,040 (a decrease of 15 points), Roslina Marmono at 2,035 (a decrease of 30 points), Mohan Raj and Soh Zee Wee at 2,025 each, Huda Nurul Wahiduddin at 2,020 (a decrease of 20 points), Ibrahim Eliza Hanim and Ibrahim Eliza Hanum at 2,015 each, and Khairunnisa Wahiduddin, 2,005. Yeoh Chin Seng and Thomas Lam have been dropped from the FIDE list due to inactivity.

When the list first came out in July, I noticed that Ahmad Maliki and Ng Tze Han were two names missing from it. According to the results of the last Asian cities team championship at Genting Highlands in April, both Ahmad Maliki and Ng were among the players who had qualified for an initial rating from the World Chess Federation by virtue of their results in the team competition.

This anomaly was brought to the attention of the Malaysian Chess Federation secretary, Abdul Hamid Majid, who said he had already sent an enquiry to FIDE regarding the omission. He hoped that a reply could be received from the world body soon to clarify the matter.

An unprecedented success Last Sunday's Endah Parade open chess tournament at the Endah Parade Bandar Baru Sri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur was an unprecedented success for the players, organisers and sponsors of the two-weekend Endah Parade Chess challenge.

Some 102 participants turned out for this tournament, shrugging off rumours of disturbances in Kuala Lumpur which had been circulating during the weekend.

Lim Chin Lee, unbeaten in this six-round event, took the top prize of RM250. His most memorable scalp was that of Jimmy Liew whom he beat in the sixth round.

The size of the field, coupled with the fact that there were only six rounds, meant that the top seeds managed to avoid each other until the tournament was almost over. Agus Salim, for example, played with Mohd Saprin Sabri whom he beat in the fifth round, but lost to Wong Zi Jing in the sixth round. It was a costly loss for Agus for had he won, he would have tied for the first prize with Lim.

Instead, Agus found himself in an eight-way tie on five points for the second to ninth prizes. But he was in good company, for among those with the same points as him were Mohd Saprin, Wong Ji Zing, Ismail Ahmad, Liew and Ng Ek Teong. Rizal Ahmad Kamal and Effahrin Farid completed this octet.

A day earlier, the Endah Parade computer chess competition was held. This event proved to be a winner for the humans who pushed aside the chess programmes Chessmaster and Fritz with comparative ease.

The winner was Fikrul Saifuddin who scored 5 1/2 points from six games, followed by Abdul Salam with five points, and Ahmad Maliki and Wong Ji Zing who each had 4 1/2 points.

Who will be second?

Although there is one more round to be played in the eighth Penang Bayview Chess League, the championship race in the Premier Division has already been decided. In the eighth round last Sunday, Penang Free School A clinched the Bayview challenge trophy after beating the MSSPP Juniors 4-0.

The PFS team now has an unassailable score of 27 1/2 points which is five points clear of their nearest rival, Chung Ling High School A, which could only manage a narrow 2 1/2-1 1/2 victory over the Chung Ling Old Boys Association. Old Frees Association A is third place in the current standings with a 3-1 win over Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The Old Frees Association B and Methodist Boys School A played to a 2-2 draw, but Chung Ling High School B fell to a 0-4 defeat at the hands of Pessca.

In Division One, Chung Ling High School C has a comfortable lead in the standings despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Union High School. Their closest rival, Penang Free School B, fell to a second shock 1-3 defeat to Hewlett-Packard. The PFS team's defeat enabled both the Penang Development Corporation and St Xavier's Institution to leapfrog it.

SXI crushed Penang Free School C 4-0, while PDC beat Chung Ling High School D 3-1. The final match in this division, between Chung Hwa Confucian A and Penang Chess Association Novices, ended with a 2-2 draw.

Meanwhile, Polis Di Raja Malaysia has joined Penang Free School D at the top of Division Two. Polis carved out a 4-0 win over Chung Ling High School E while PFS D beat the Penang Chinese Girls High School 3-1. The MSSPP Girls kept up the pressure on the two leaders by beating Dynacraft 3-1.

In other matches, St Xavier's Institution B beat Methodist Boys School B 2 1/2-1 1/2, while Chung Hwa Confucian B beat Westlands Secondary School 3-1.

Standings: Premier Division: PFS A 27 1/2 pts; CLHS A 22 1/2 pts; OFA A 22 pts; CLOBA 20 1/2 pts; Pessca 17 1/2 pts; MBS A 13 1/2 pts; USM 13 pts; OFA B 9 1/2 pts; MSSPP Juniors 8 pts; and CLHS B 6 pts.

Division One: CLHS C 25 pts; PDC and SXI A 22 1/2 pts; PFS B 22 pts; Hewlett-Packard 18 1/2 pts; CLHS D 13 1/2 pts; PCA Novices 10 1/2 pts; Union 9 1/2 pts; Chung Hwa Confucian A 9 pts; and PFS C 7 pts.

Division Two: PFS D and Polis 23 pts each; MSSPP Girls 21 1/2 pts; Chung Hwa Confucian B 20 1/2 pts; SXI B 18 1/2 pts; MBS B 14 pts; CLHS E 13 1/2 pts; Dynacraft 12 1/2 pts; PCGHS 9 pts; and Westlands 4 1/2 pts.

The round-by-round results of the Bayview Chess League can be viewed from the Penang Chess Association homepage on the Internet at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/.

The final round of the chess league will be played at 12pm this Sunday at The City Bayview Hotel. The hotel is sponsoring the use of its premises for the weekly games.

Get set for the Johor Baru open The Johor Baru District Chess Club will hold its eighth Johor Baru open chess tournament at the Dewan Menara Komtar, Johor Baru on Aug 30 in conjunction with the National Day celebrations.

This event, which is jointly organised with Johor Land Berhad, will be divided into the open, under-16 and under-12 sections. There will be 10 cash prizes in each section, with prizes of RM300, RM100 and RM80 going to the respective winners.

Entry fees for the open section: RM15. Players entering for the under-16 event are required to pay RM7, while RM5 will be charged for those playing in the under-12 section. The games start at 8.30am on Aug 30, and only the first 250 entries will be accepted.

For more information about the tournament, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333-8215). Entries will close on Aug 28.

Local rating events FCLChess, a new chess outfit in the Klang Valley, will organise a series of local rating events with the first scheduled this Sunday at the Subang Holiday Villa in Selangor. Entry fee: RM15. There will be four sections -- under-8, under-10, under-12 and under-14.

For more information, contact Foong Chee Leng ( 013-360-2316).

 

It's you vs the machines

THE Endah Parade Chess Challenge concludes this weekend at Endah Parade in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.

The most intriguing event will take place tomorrow afternoon when the Endah Parade computer chess competition is scheduled. Several computer chess programs like Chessmaster and Fritz will be utilised to compete with human players in the novelty six-round Swiss event.

If a player is paired against a computer program, the player will be allotted 20 minutes on his clock and the computer program only 10 minutes. If two players are matched together, they will each be given 15 minutes.

Personally, I do not harbour much hope for the players to win against computer programs, especially if they are running on today's Pentium or Pentium II personal computers.

Three years ago, I conducted a similar experiment in Penang where the obsolete Fritz2.0 program, running on an equally obsolete 16Mhz 486-computer, was entered as a competitor. None of the human players won, but prizes were given to the best players among them.

Similarly, at Endah Parade, I understand that the organisers will give five non-cash prizes to the best players in the computer chess competition.

Entry fee is RM5 per player, and registration begins at 1pm. The first round is scheduled to start at 2pm.

On Sunday, the Endah Parade open tournament will complete the two-weekend chess challenge. This is a six-round Swiss event, and registration opens at 9am. Entry fee is RM10 for players who are under 12 years old, and RM15 for others.

Ten cash prizes are on offer; first prize is RM250, second prize RM200, and third prize RM150. Fourth and fifth prizes are RM100 each, and those who finish sixth to 10th will get RM50 each. In addition, there are RM50 prizes for the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players.

Entry forms can be obtained from and submitted to the information counter at Endah Parade. However, entry fees will only be collected upon registration. Entries are limited to the first 100 participants. For more details, contact Zac, Yuonne or Soo Kee (03-583 0100).

Meanwhile, last Saturday's Endah Parade blitz tournament proved to be a thriller. Wong Ji Zing had a good start to this tournament and by the 10th round, was the undisputed leader of the 66-player field with nine points.

However, Jimmy Liew caught up with Wong in the 11th round when the latter lost his game. Both players then won their final two games to tie the 13-round event with 11 points each.

A play-off was immediately arranged to decide the winner. The first game of the play-off was drawn, but then Wong outplayed Liew in the second game to take the top prize of RM200. Liew collected RM100 while Azhari Md Nor, who was third with 10 points, won RM50.

Wong Zi Chuang was the best under-12 player, and Noor Hayati picked up a consolation prize for the best girl player.

Fourth in the blitz event was Julian Delos with nine points, while tied at 8 1/2 points each were Lim Chin Lee, Julian Navaratnam, Law Tze Kang, Mok Tze Meng, Wong Zi Chuang and Premnath.

The Endah Parade age-group open tournament was held on Sunday. This tournament ended in a tie at the top between Wong Ji Zing and Deon Moh.

Both players had scored 5 1/2 points from six games but Wong was declared the under-16 winner after a play-off. Wong won another RM200, while Moh's prize was RM100. Lim Ven Gee pipped Hisyam Ismail to the third prize of RM50 although both had obtained five points each.

For the under-12 section, the winner's purse of RM200 went to Effazuan Farid who obtained 4 1/2 points. Wong Zi Chuang, also with 4 1/2 points, won the second prize of RM100, while the third prize went to Effalini Farid who scored four points. The prize for the best girl player was given to Ong Yee San.