Olympiad begins amid troubles

THE 33rd Chess Olympiad is set to open tomorrow in Elista, the capital of the autonomous Russian republic Kalmyk. According to a statement from the World Chess Federation (Fide), about 120 men's and 80 women's teams will be housed in the new City Chess complex which is also the venue for the three week long competition.

It is a wonder that the Chess Olympiad gets off the ground at all. For several months now, construction workers have struggled to get the City Chess complex ready in time for the event. Also there were serious doubts about whether Elista airport could be upgraded in time to receive charter flights from Moscow. To add to Kalmykia problems, Russia is in the midst of an economic crisis with its rouble suffering a drastic devaluation in recent weeks.

Such a scenario has led to claims that the Kalmyk Government has diverted funds to the Chess Olympiad at the expense of the common folk. Thus, recently human rights groups in Russia stepped up calls for international chess players to boycott the event.

Sergei Kovalev, a Russian dissident and a member of Russia's Parliament, alleged that Kalmyk president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has disregarded fundamental human rights. Ilyumzhinov is also the president of Fide.

People were going hungry and Kovalev was charged because City Chess was built with funds from Moscow's central government, which were originally earmarked for development and easing poverty in the republic.

First elected as Kalmyk president in 1993, Ilyumzhinov originally promised to bring prosperity to the republic, set on the parched steppes north of the Caucasus mountains. It is the only Buddhist nation in Europe.

Five years on, the Kalmykians are still among the poorest in Russia, and human rights campaigners accuse Ilyumzhinov, a multi-millionaire businessman, of restoring some of the worst excesses of Soviet rule.

Kovalev added: "I don't understand how someone like Ilyumzhinov can be in charge of an international sporting body. It shows how undemanding the rest of the world is in such matters."

But perhaps Kovalev should not be so disappointed. History, after all, has shown that it is on the side of the sports organisations and chess is not that different from most other sports and games.

In 1980, athletes from all over the world, except for the Americans, had ignored human rights activists and participated in the Moscow Olympics. This was after the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan and the KGB had rounded up dissidents in the old Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, I contacted the Malaysian Chess Federation secretary, Hamid Majid, earlier this week to find out whether the MCF is sending a team to Elista.

I reminded him of the horror stories that I had heard when the Chess Olympiad was last held in Moscow four years ago. At that time, chess players were warned not to wander far from their hotel in case they were mugged or extorted. Several chess players were robbed at gunpoint inside a Moscow bank.

Hamid said as long as the Malaysians were not in Moscow, he was not scared for their safety. Elista should be quite safe as all the players and officials would remain within the City Chess complex.

When the Malaysian contingent arrives at the Moscow international airport, they would be escorted immediately to the domestic airport for the connecting flight to Elista. The Malaysians would also travel with other foreign chess teams, including our counterparts from across the Causeway.

But early this week no decision had yet been made on sending a contingent to the Chess Olympiad.

With Petronas contributing only RM10,000 towards the expenses for the team, MCF would have to come up with some funds. The players too might have to fork out the balance of the costs incurred.

Because of this, Hamid said the MCF would not send a women's team to Elista. As for the men, they have been told to be prepared for the trip.

If the trip materialises, the team chosen could comprise of: Lim Yee Weng, Ng Tze Han, Ismail Ahmad, Ghalam Sani, Azahari Mohd Nor, Wong Ji Zing, Tan Wei Sin and Ng Ee Vern. Of these eight players, Lim Yee Weng, Ng Tze Han and Ismail Ahmad will certainly be in the team as they were the top three in last year's national closed championship.

Four notable names not in the list are Mas Hafizulhelmi, Jimmy Liew, Mok Tze Meng and Lim Chuin Hoong. Mas and Lim have declined to participate because they are preparing for their Form Five and Form Three examinations respectively while Liew and Mok cited work commitments.

Penang Grand Prix circuit

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organise the second leg of the Penang Grand Prix chess circuit on Oct 4 at the Bukit Mertajam Country Club. Only PCA members are allowed to take part in this circuit.

The circuit is divided into four preliminary legs and a final. Each of the preliminary legs will be a six-round event using a 30-minute time control. The first leg was run on June 28.

Readers interested in playing in the second leg are requested to contact Goh Yoon Wah (04-644 5687 in the evening) or Ooi Kiem Boo (04-657 4596, office hours).

Prizes for these legs include RM200 for the winner, RM120 for the runners-up and RM80 for the third-placed. There are five other smaller cash prizes, and also prizes for the best junior and woman players.

The entry fee is RM10 per player.

Besides cash prizes, top players from each leg will be awarded GP points. For example, the winner will get 1,000 GP points; the second-placed, 900 GP points; and so on until the 10th-placed winner who will receive 100 GP points.

The selection of 10 finalists will depend on the total GP points accumulated by the players from three of their best legs.

Entry to the final will be by qualification only. The final will be a round-robin tournament with a one-hour time control.

The winner will receive RM400 and a challenge trophy. The second prize is RM200; third, RM100; and fourth and fifth RM50 each.

For details of this circuit, see the PCA homepage at www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/ .

This column will appear fortnightly from next month.

 

The grand match is off

DO YOU remember the formation of the World Chess Council (WCC) earlier this year, and especially the joint announcement by Gary Kasparov and his Spanish friend Luis Rentero? No? Then let me take you back to the start of the Linares super-grandmaster tournament in February.

On Feb 27, I mentioned that Kasparov had an important announcement to make before the start of Linares. I wrote:

Yes, he did make an announcement but I could not help laughing when I learnt what it was all about. Do you know what Kasparov did? He announced the formation of yet another chess organisation: the World Chess Council!

I suppose I should not have been surprised, but I was caught unaware. Clearly, I am amazed by this man's gall. How many so-called organisations has he created or helped to create in the last 12 years to promote his own ends, and how many chess professionals will fall for it again just like the way they fell for his past endeavours?

There was the Professional Chess Association and before it, the Grandmaster Association. All had the Kasparov touch in their formation, and all suffered the same Kasparov touch when they went into oblivion.

At the opening ceremony of the Linares tournament, he announced that the main purpose of this new body, with Rentero as president, would be to organise a match in Seville and Linares sometime not later than next month, when Kasparov would defend his unilaterally declared version of the world chess championship title.

I said in February that there was every reason to be skeptical about Kasparov's World Chess Council. Would it last or suffer the same fate as its two predecessors?

From the very beginning, the intention of the WCC was to find a suitable person to play a match with Kasparov. In Linares, Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand -- owing to their numbers two and three positions in the world at that time -- were identified as the ones who would play an elimination match to decide the challenger to Kasparov.

But Anand refused to be a part of this arrangement, saying he would honorably stand by an agreement he had earlier signed with the World Chess Federation (FIDE) that he would not take part in any similar world championship series organised by a rival chess body.

Rentero then announced that Linares winner Alexei Shirov would fill Anand's shoes. The elimination match was played in June and an inspired Shirov confounded his critics by destroying Kramnik in a nine-game match.

Since the end of that match, nothing more was heard about the WCC in public. But things were brewing in the background. Earlier this month, Kasparov admitted to the world that his WCC match with Shirov was off. The reason? Funding for the match could not be found.

A long statement issued by Kasparov gave background details of the formation of the WCC and of how Rentero had initially promised to raise a US$2.1mil (RM8mil) prize fund, a promise which was short-circuited due to some political problems in Seville, capital of the Spanish region of Andalucia. At first, Rentero refused to acknowledge that he was having problems but later, when pressed by Kasparov, Rentero said his attempts to find alternative funding for the match had failed.

I really do not know who is the most disappointed about the way the events have unfolded: Kasparov, Rentero or Shirov. Rentero has been deathly quiet about the whole affair and Kasparov has called on him to explain his side of the story and also decide on the future of the WCC. The WCC, for all its worth, has been successful only in holding the Kramnik-Shirov match in its six months of existence.

As for Shirov, I hear that he has already completely written off the WCC from his mind. In the latest issue of New In Chess magazine, grandmaster Valery Salov claimed that Shirov has not been paid his winnings although Kramnik had received half of his loser's purse. In the meantime, the clearest indication that the WCC has failed miserably came from Shirov himself who has decided to play for the Spanish team in FIDE's Chess Olympiad which shall be starting in Elista, Russia, in eight days' time.

Let me end this item on the World Chess Council by quoting from New In Chess again. It is a joke: What does WCC stand for? Salov does not claim authorship for it, but he says it stands for World Chess Cancelled. Come to think about it, he is not wrong.

Still on world chess, FIDE announced recently that it has signed a contract with the American firm, Fishman Associates and Co, to organise the next world chess championship at the new Belaggio hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Nov 29 to Dec 27.

The championship will use the same knock-out system employed last year in Groningen and Lausanne. There will be six rounds with two games and a tie-break, followed by six games and a tie-break for the final. These regulations will be finalised at FIDE's general assembly meeting in Elista.

The prize fund will be US$3mil (RM11.4mil), with the eventual world champion getting US$660,000 (RM2.5mil). This championship will see 100 players taking part. The majority will be from Europe but all the continents will be represented by the winners of the various FIDE zonal championships.

(As a matter of interest, Malaysia is one of the countries in FIDE's Zone 3.2 but until today, the zonal championship has not been held to select the qualifiers to the world chess championship.

Between the end of the Elista Chess Olympiad and the start of the Las Vegas world championship, there will be only about 1 1/2 months for Zone 3.2 to get its house in order.)

The Penang Chess Association will stage the second leg of the Penang Grand Prix chess circuit at the Bukit Mertajam Country Club on Oct 4. More details next week.

Games of the week

SINCE last week, Gary Kasparov and Jan Timman have been engaged in a friendly six-game match in Prague in the Czech Republic. This was originally meant to be a training match for Kasparov in preparation for his now-defunct WCC match with Alexei Shirov.

The total prize fund for the match was US$100,000 (RM380,000) with the winner receiving US$65,000 (RM245,000) and the EuroTel trophy. The match was sponsored by EuroTel, Siemens and several other commercial organisations.

Kasparov won the match 4-2. The second and third games were won by him, while the remaining games were drawn. Here are Kasparov's winning games:

Timman vs Kasparov (Game 2)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 b5 6. a4 b4 7. Nb1 Ba6 8. Qc2 b3 9. Qd1 e6 10. Be2 c5 11. O-O Nc6 12. Ne5 Rc8 13. Na3 cxd4 14. Naxc4 Qd5 15. Bf3 Ne4 16. Nxc6 Rxc6 17. Nd2 f5 18. Re1 d3 19. Nxb3 e5 20. Bd2 Rb6 21. Bxe4 fxe4 22. Nc1 Rxb2 23. Bc3 d2 24. Rf1 Bxf1 25. Bxb2 Bc4 26. Ne2 Bb3 27. Nc3 Bxd1 28. Nxd5 Bb3 29. Nc3 Bb4 30. Nd1 O-O (0-1)

Kasparov vs Timman (Game 3)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 c5 8. e3 d6 9. Bd3 cxd4 10. exd4 d5 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Ne2 Rd8 14. Ng3 Qxd4 15. Be4 Qxc3+ 16. bxc3 Rd5 17. Rd1 Bb7 18. Bxd5 Bxd5 19. Nh5 Nd7 20. c4 Bc6 21. Rxd7 Bxd7 22. Nxf6+ Kg7 23. Nxd7 f6 24. Ke2 Rc8 25. Rc1 Rc7 26. Nb8 (1-0)

 

Appealing a flag fall

I HAD just walked into my room at the Dynasty, the official hotel of the 17th Merdeka team chess championship in Kuala Lumpur last month, when I received an urgent call to return quickly to the Putra World Trade Centre.

The Penang team captain was in a bit of a fluster. He wanted my opinion whether the team should appeal against a decision by the tournament arbiter to declare a loss to his player in one of the games against Terengganu.

Apparently, on the first board game between Penang and Terengganu, both players were reaching the end of the time control and they were blitzing away their remaining moves.

The flag on the chess clock of the Penang player fell. As the arbiter was moving in to stop the clock, the Terengganu player also noticed the fall of the flag.

However, before he could claim the win, his flag also fell. The arbiter intervened and gave the win to the Terengganu player. All these happened rather instantaneously.

The consternation of the Penang team was well-founded. It was a very crucial game and for it to end this way, seemed very unsatisfactory. After all, both the flags had fallen almost together and a draw looked to be a fair result.

I advised against making an appeal as I felt strongly that the arbiter was correct and well within his authority to declare a win for the Terengganu player in that game. A quick check of the Chess Laws suggested I was not wrong in my assessment.

However, seeing the mood of the players in the Penang team, I told them that if the general consensus was to appeal, I would submit it to the Appeals Committee.

So it was about two hours later that the Appeals Committee met, heard submissions from the two affected players, deliberated on the matter and then decided 6-1 to uphold the arbiter's decision.

Although the decision went against the Penang team, the initial decision to appeal should not reflect adversely on them.

After all, the new Chess Laws had taken effect only from July last year and many of our local players are still quite ambivalent about them. Through this process of interpreting them, many people who are unsure of the rules can also learn something useful.

The Appeals Committee's decision was based mainly on Article 6.8 of the Chess Laws which says: "A flag is considered to have fallen when the arbiter observes the fact or when a valid claim to that effect has been made by either player."

The arbiter had been watching the game and he observed that the flag of the Penang player had fallen first. This observation was enough reason for him to award the point to Terengganu.

However, in the first place, was the arbiter correct in attempting to stop the chess clock and hence the game?

In Appendix B of the Chess Laws, dealing with Rapidplay (or rapid chess), there are three often-quoted rules governing the flag fall.

In Clause B6, "the flag is considered to have fallen when a valid claim to that effect has been made by a player. The arbiter shall refrain from signalling a flag fall."

In Clause B7, "to claim a win on time, the claimant must stop both clocks and notify the arbiter. For the claim to be successful, the claimant's flag must remain up and his opponent's flag down after the clocks have been stopped."

Finally, Clause B8 says, "if both flags have fallen, the game is drawn."

However, these rules must also be read together with Clause B1 which says that "a Rapidplay game is one where all the moves must be made in a fixed time between 15 to 60 minutes."

If the time control is longer than 60 minutes, the game does not qualify as a Rapidplay, meaning that Clauses B6 to B8 clearly cannot apply.

In games such as those played at the Merdeka team chess championship where the time control was 90 minutes per player for each game, it becomes obvious that Rapidplay rules are not applicable and the arbiter, if he is observing a game, is empowered to stop the game whenever he notices a flag fall.

Perhaps I should also add here that in the absence of an arbiter, if both flags have fallen and it is impossible to establish which flag fell first, the game is drawn (Article 10.4).

As a postscript to this incident, when I returned home from the Merdeka championship, I went to The Chess Cafe homepage on the Internet (http://www.chesscafe.com) to check whether Geurt Gijssen, a well-respected senior international arbiter and the chairman of the World Chess Federation's Rules Commission, had anything to say about similar incidents.

In one of his articles, Gijssen said that someone once asked him this:

"In a local tournament, players A and B were playing a chess game with one hour per player for the whole game. At the time control, player B (with black) lost on time. At that particular moment, player A had only three seconds on his clock. When player A noticed that player B had lost on time, he claimed the game but he was unable to stop the clocks at the time of the claim. (They were playing with a FIDE electronic chess clock).

"Player A didn't know how to stop the clocks. So, time ran off and player A overstepped the time limit as well. At that moment, both clocks showed 00:00. Player B then claimed a draw. The arbiter accepted the claim and gave to both players half a point. The arbiter said that he had no choice, as FIDE rules did not allow the arbiter to announce that a player had lost on time in rapid chess.

"Was this decision correct? The arbiter and other people saw that player A had claimed the game with three seconds on his clock."

Gijssen's answer was that according to article B6 of the rapid play rules, the arbiter should refrain from signalling a flag fall.

Article B8 says, if both flags have fallen, the game is drawn. In the situation described, both the flags had fallen and it meant the game was drawn.

He understood that in the enquirer's opinion, this is not a reasonable decision. He said that when playing with a digital clock, it was absolutely clear which flag had fallen first.

"So, I can imagine that people will say: Why not give the point to the player whose flag fell later? If all games are played with digital clocks, I will completely agree. But as long as this is not the case, it is impossible to make different rules for mechanical and digital clocks."

Gijssen ended by noting that in normal games, the rule was different. If it was completely clear that the flag of one player fell before the flag of his opponent without having completed the required number of moves, he would lose the game.

Sympo '98 Challenge

HERE is a reminder to readers that Mas Hafizulhelmi will be at Sympo '98's "The Challenge" pavilion tomorrow and on Sunday to give two simultaneous chess displays. It will be Mok Tze Meng's turn on Sept 19 while Jimmy Liew is scheduled to appear on Sept 20.

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

Visitors to Sympo '98 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 Sympo '98 itself which is RM10 for adults and RM5 for children.

Anyone winning against the MCF players will receive a prize from the organisers.

 

The best Merdeka tourney

I'M BRIMMING with enthusiasm. I have attended so many Merdeka team chess championships over the years and believe me, this year's event in terms of facilities must simply rate as the best ever!

The Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur proved very conducive for chess playing. The vast playing hall was big enough to accommodate all 74 teams. Looking around, I think there should not be any problem even if 200 or 250 teams were to take part. That's how spacious the place was!

The spectators were cordoned off from the playing area but close-circuit TV provided them with a clear view of the proceedings from the main games. One floor below, anyone could relax by playing skittles. And if the players or spectators were hungry, well, there were enough choices of nearby eating places to spoil even the most discerning tastes.

One of the most pleasant surprises was the accommodation accorded to the state and youth teams. The nearby Dynasty Hotel was the official hotel for the championship and although it was about a 10-minute walk from PWTC, I could see that none of the players were complaining.

So, about the facilities, there is only one feedback that I can give the organisers. The PWTC is simply one of the best venues for playing chess in the federal capital. Enough of Wisma Belia; the Malaysian Chess Federation should not even think about going back to that place.

Now to the competition itself. Possibly too, this year's event attracted the most number of entries. The state section had 14 teams, meaning that for the first time in many years, all the state affiliates were present at the Merdeka championship.

The competition for the Deputy Prime Minister's trophy was very keen and it was thrown wide open in the very first round when the unheralded Johor team sprang a 3-1 win over last year's winner, Penang.

Thereafter, a very determined Terengganu team took over the lead in the short, seven-round event but breathing heavily down its neck were the Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and, not least, the Penang teams.

Terengganu faltered at the last hurdle, going down to the Sarawak team. Penang managed to edge Kuala Lumpur 3-1 in the final round but Selangor, playing Kelantan, pulled off a 4-0 win to take the champion's trophy.

The Open section pulled in 34 entries. The Tan&Tan team came back into the tournament with a vengeance after seeing their chances blown away last year by the visiting Bali Jeff team from Indonesia.

The Indonesians, like the Singaporeans, were absent from the Open section this year and the Tan&Tan team, propped up by no less than international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew on the first two boards, simply walked through the competition.

Mas Hafizul's chess prowess is certainly in the ascendency. He was never really tested throughout the event and the award of the first board prize to him was definitely warranted.

By now, Jimmy Liew has also realised that Mas Hafizul can no longer play second fiddle to him, and he has accepted that Mas Hafizul is now the automatic choice as the first board player in any team competition, whether locally or internationally.

Still, Liew does a remarkably good job on the second board. He brings in the points and that is what matters the most in team competitions.

So, as expected, Tan&Tan ran away with the competition.

The Royal Selangor Club team -- with Lim Yee Weng, Wong Zi Jing and Jimmy Ng among their players -- came second, and in third place was Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Mak Weng Yee, Teng Wei Hong, Wong Kim Kuan and Lau Kar Hoe were the anchors for the UTM team.

Fourth in the Open section was Nusa Mahkota, fifth was the Penang Veterans team, sixth was Universiti Pertanian Malaysia and seventh was Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia.

Colour in this section was provided by the Society for the Blind Malaysia but by now, everyone has accepted our visually challenged brothers as equals in this championship.

The prize for the best government department team went to Bank Pertanian Malaysia while Puteri Melayu PCMM won the prize for the best women's team. UTM also picked up a prize for the best university team.

In the Youth section, everybody was left breathless by the results of the Sekolah Catur Enerpac team. This group of under-12 players from Indonesia practically ran away with the title, leaving the rest of the local teams panting in its wake.

The revelation this year belonged to the Perak youth team, powered by Deon Moh and Aaron Yee, which pipped the pre-championship favourite, Penang, to the second prize. Fourth in this section was Johor and fifth was the Tian Ha team. Altogether, 26 teams from around the country took part.

The Penang Free School 'A' team picked up the award for the best school team, and the best girls' youth team went to Wanita Penang.

UP NEXT

Perak Grand Prix

The Perak International Chess Association will hold the eighth stage of their chess grand prix at the Taman DR Seenivasagam in Ipoh this Sunday.

Six rounds are scheduled for the one-day event which is open to all chess enthusiasts in the state.

The overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player and the top 24 players at the end of the series will qualify for the state championship later this year.

For more details, contact W.K. Wong (05-366 1692).

Sympo98 Challenge

Here is a reminder to players that the four simultaneous chess events at Sympo98, given by three of the country's top players, will be held on Sept 12, 13, 19 and 20. The Sympo98 site is in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

Mas Hafizulhelmi is scheduled to be at Sympo98's The Challenge pavilion on Sept 12 and 13, while Mok Tze Meng will be on duty on Sept 19. The final simultaneous chess display on Sept 20 will feature international master Jimmy Liew.

These three players have each agreed to play against 50 opponents at the same time. On these four days, the simultaneous chess displays will begin at 2pm and the whole playing session is 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.

Bandaraya Chessmaster 98

Monday is the closing date for the Bandaraya Chessmaster 98 tournament at the Dewan Jubli Intan in Johor Baru on Sept 13.

This event is jointly organised by the Johor Baru District Chess Club and the Persatuan Perkhidmatan Perbandaran Majlis Bandaraya Johor Baru.

The open and age-group sections of this tournament will offer 10 prizes each (cash for the open section and vouchers for the under-16 and under-12 sections) while the government body section will have five cash prizes.

The prizes are very attractive for the open section. First prize, for example, is RM1,300 while the second prize is RM800, third prize RM500, fourth prize RM400 and fifth prize RM300.

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