Fighting spirit in Russia

I MUST admit that the Malaysians who went to the Elista Olympiad in Russia three weeks ago played remarkably well as a team.

I mentioned two weeks ago that this team was one of the weakest that the Malaysian Chess Federation had sent for an overseas assignment. But then, I had also said that the players did not lack courage and fought hard in all their matches.

Let me recapitulate their first six rounds.

In the first round, the Malaysians lost 0-4 to the Russia "3" team. They lost 1-3 to Faroe Islands in the second round, but scored 4-0 against San Marino in the third round and 2 1/2-1 1/2 against Luxembourg in the fourth. A 2-2 draw with Mongolia ensued in the fifth round, and in the sixth round, they lost 1/2-3 1/2 to Portugal.

In the seventh round, the Malaysian team suffered its second 0-4 loss in the Olympiad and this time, it was at the hands of the International Braille Chess Association. A big measure of respect must be given to their visually handicapped opponents, especially if they could score by such a huge margin.

The loss ensured that the Malaysians would meet with a weak team in the eighth round, and our players duly won by their second 4-0 result against Afghanistan. In the ninth round, they played the Russian "4" team and lost by a 1-3 score. Wong Zi Jing and Ng Tze Han excelled by drawing with their opponents, though Ng did miss a chance to win his game.

Although the 2-2 result against Singapore in the 10th round would suggest that the match was a routine draw, in reality it was a fight all the way. Wong and Ng scored their wins but unfortunately, Ismail Ahmad and Azahari Md Nor lost theirs.

In the 11th round, the Malaysian team won 3 1/2-1/2 against Libya, with Ismail being the only player to drop half a point. This big win lined them up to meet New Zealand in the 12th round. It was a tough fight with the Kiwis scoring a narrow 2 1/2-1 1/2 win. Malaysia's results came from Ismail's draw and Ng's win.

The final round was against the United Arab Emirates and for the first time in the Olympiad, both Wong and Ng came unstuck in their games. But luckily, Ismail and Azahari rose to the occasion by winning their games, resulting in a draw.

The 24 points earned by the team enabled them to finish in 74th position, about 20 places above their pre-Olympiad ranking. The most remarkable performances came from Ng and Wong.

Ng, playing on the third board, scored 8 1/2 points from 13 games. This should be enough to give him an international rating when the World Chess Federation issues its lates rating list in two months' time. By my estimate, his rating should be about 2280.

Wong had a good score of 6 1/2 points, a very creditable result since he was playing on the top board which was not easy.

Both Ismail and Azahari were a bit of a disappointment, but they made up for their poor results in the first 12 matches when they pulled off two essential wins against the UAE in the 13th round. They scored when it really mattered to the team.

Ismail's final points were four out of 13 games, while Azahari obtained five points.

It may seem surprising that only a four-man team was sent to the Olympiad. But after Lim Yee Weng pulled out and Ghalam Sani failed to turn up at the airport, the MCF had no time to contact anyone to fill the two reserve places in the team.

This meant the players had to play in every round. Nobody could afford to fall sick during the event. But here is a little secret: Malaysia did have a fifth player, though he preferred not to play unless the team was faced with an emergency.

When the Malaysians arrived in Elista, Hamid Majid, the MCF secretary, had the option of being appointed an arbiter in the Olympiad but instead, he chose to stick with the team as a standby player.

Among the top teams chasing the gold medal, there were both heartache and jubilation. It was heartache for the United States who went into the final round holding a slim half-point lead over the Russia "1" team. Considering that the Americans had led the event most of the way, the disappointment must have been terrible.

In the last round, the United States were paired with China and they needed to win by a large margin to take the gold. However, the Chinese proved to be a tough nut to crack.

On the first board, Alex Yermolinsky could find no way to pierce the armour of Peng Xiaomin and the game was drawn. On the second board, Yasser Seirawan pulled off a win against Ye Jiangchuan but almost immediately, Wu Wenjin beat Gregory Kaidanov on the fourth board to level the score. The third board game between Nick de Firmian and Zhang Zhong was drawn.

In the meantime, Russia "1" had been paired with the Netherlands. The Dutch team was quite formidable and the Americans had expected the Dutch players to put up a big resistance against the Russians.

But the Americans were also wary of the Dutch who had shown in their mutual fifth-round match that they were susceptible to pressure. The Americans' worst fears were confirmed when the Netherlands went down in flames against the Russians.

The first board was a big disaster for Jan Timman when, in a drawn game, he blundered his bishop by moving it to a square where it could be taken immediately by Peter Svidler. A distressed Timman was reported to be trying to take back his move but the damage was already done.

Alexander Morozevich, the newly-crowned Russian champion, got the better of Loek van Wely in a complicated game on the second board, while Vadim Zvjaginsev beat Jeroen Piket on the third board. By the time the fourth board game between Friso Nijboer and Konstantin Sakaev was drawn, the Russians were already jubilant with the gold medal in their corner.

At the end of the Olympiad, Russia "1" had amassed 35 1/2 points while the United States fell back to second place with 34 1/2 points. Ukraine and Israel both had 32 1/2 points each, but Ukraine won the bronze medal with a better tie-break.

In joint fifth to seventh places were China, Germany and Georgia with 31 1/2 points each. Russia "2" and Hungary finished with 31 points each to complete the top nine places among the 110 men's teams.

China cruised comfortably to the gold in the women's event with 29 points. After taking over in the middle rounds they just kept building onto their lead. Russia "1" won the silver medal ahead of the Georgian team. Both teams had scored 27 points each but the tie-break favoured the Russians.

Kepong junior event

For the fifth year running, the Parent-Teacher Association of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (China) Kepong Dua in Kuala Lumpur will be organising the Kepong junior chess open tournament. This annual event, which is divided into four age-group categories, will be played on Nov 15 in the school hall.

Children born in 1990 or later will be eligible to take part in the under-8 section, and the winner will receive the SJK(C) Kepong 2 PIBG trophy. The winner of the under-10 section will get the Cheah Lim Choy trophy, the under-12 winner will win the Kong Foo Leong trophy and the under-16 winner, the Datuk Tan Kim Hor trophy. The respective winners will also get cash prizes. Apart from these winners, there are nine other consolation prizes for each of the four age-groups.

Entry fees are RM7 for pupils of the SJK(C) Kepong Dua and RM10 for other players. Anyone registering after Nov 8 will be required to pay an extra RM5 as late fee.

For entry forms and enquiries, contact Mrs F.L. Wong (Tel: 03-636-4197 after 7pm) or Total Chess (Tel: 03-633-6306 or 016-221-8296).

JB Open

The fifth Johor Baru open chess tournament, jointly organised by the Johor Baru District Chess Club and Johor Land Bhd, will be played on Nov 22 at the Dewan Menara Komtar in Johor Baru.

There are three sections in this event: the open, under-16 and under-12. The open section features 10 cash prizes totalling RM1,710 with a first prize of RM500. The winner will also receive the Piala Mentri Besar Johor. The under-16 and the under-12 sections also have 10 cash prizes each. The top prize for the two sections are RM100 and RM80 respectively.

Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section. Entries will close on Nov 20; only the first 300 entries will be accepted.

For details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (Tel: 07-333-8215).

 

A little snag, but players cooperated

IT WAS not exactly an ideal start the World Chess Federation (Fide) had hoped for, but the situation in Elista, where the 33rd Chess Olympiad is being played, was probably out of Fide's control.

The Chess Olympiad was supposed to have started on Sept 27 but because the hall, which was under construction, was not ready in time, Fide had no choice but to delay the start of the competition by two days. This meant the number of rounds were reduced from 14 to 13, and the rest days reduced to two.

Surprisingly, if reports from Elista were true, participants received this news with understanding.

The chief arbiter of the Olympiad, Geurt Gijssen, said: "I was amazed how the team captains wanted to cooperate and I consider it a positive meeting. Everybody understood the situation."

The former Fide president, Florencio Campomanes, commented that it was the best example of the Fide spirit he had seen.

But I believe the Fide Players Council chairman, Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman, probably summed up the true feelings of the players when he said that they went to play chess and had to accept the conditions since there were few alternatives.

Still, the players seemed satisfied with the living conditions in Elista. The Americans, usually the most vocal of critics, observed that no matter how bad the situation, there were very little complaints. Perhaps this was because they did not expect much either. But the delayed start of the Elista Olympiad was not Fide's only embarrassment. When the event began, the Fide home page at http://www.fide.com/elista98/olympiad.htm boasted of a daily update of the results. There were also a lot of photographs taken of the players, officials, the chess village and general places of interest in Elista.

Then, last Saturday, the home page was hacked. Anyone who logged onto the web site was greeted with a black screen and a message reading "hacked to Kasparov". There were no clues as to the origin of the hacker. Since this episode, the Olympiad news is officially released by Chess Planet at http://www.chessplanet.com.

At the last count, there are 110 men's and 72 women's teams at the Olympiad. Malaysia is represented, of course, but with only Wong Ji Zing, Ismail Ahmad, Ng Tze Han and Azahari Mohd Nor in the men's team. A women's team was not sent because of lack of funds.

By all considerations, the Malaysian team must rank as one of the weakest sent overseas in recent years. Jimmy Liew and Mok Tze Meng were not in the team due to work commitments. Mas Hafizulhelmi and Lim Chuin Hoong did not participate because of their coming examinations. And Lim Yee Weng, just back from a tournament in Dubai, thought that he had been away from his studies too long. Moreover, he was too tired to travel again.

The first round was a real baptism of fire for our players. There was no time for warm-ups, no practice games. In the first round, they met the Russia "3" team and was demolished 0-4. Let's face facts. The Russians are strong. I think even if we had played their fourth, fifth or whatever team, we would still have lost to them. That is a measure of the depth of players they have.

But our boys did not lack courage. Looking at the results so far, I know they have fought hard in all their matches. In the second round, they met Faroe Islands but were unfortunate to go down 1-3 to them. Wong and Ng drew their games.

In the third round, luck finally smiled on the Malaysians. This time, they were at the giving end of a 4-0 score to San Marino.

And in the fourth round, the Malaysians edged Luxembourg by a 2 1/2-1 1/2 score. The fifth round saw our boys go into their toughest match to date. Against the Mongolians, our boys acquitted themselves very well with a 2-2 draw. Wong and Ng won their games.

In the sixth round, the Malaysians came unstuck against Portugal, losing by 1/2-3 1/2. The draw was salvaged by Ng.

Meanwhile, among the top teams in the event, the most startling result came in the fifth round when the United States completed a 4-0 rout of the Netherlands. It was quite an unexpected result as very little separated the Americans from the Dutch.

On the first board, Timman met Alex Yermolinsky and lost a hard-fought game. Seirawan, Kaidanov, and DeFirmian contributed to the slaughter by beating Van Wely, Nijboer and Piket respectively.

At the end of the sixth round, the United States held a slim half-point margin over its nearest rival, Russia "1". The Americans had 18 points and the Russians 17 1/2.

The two teams had met in the preceding round and the match had gone to the Russians by a 2 1/2-1 1/2 result. Ukraine and Bulgaria were a further point behind in the standings with 16 1/2 points each, while Armenia, China and Estonia all had 16 points each.

Most of the top players in the world are playing here, but there are absentees too. Missing from the line-up are the Russian trio Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir Kramnik, while Viswanathan Anand is not in the Indian team.

There was excitement in the women's Olympiad as well. The most unexpected result came in the third round when the favourite, Georgia, fell 0-3 to a completely unheralded Vietnam team.

The Chinese team's play was very steady and they now lead with 14 1/2 points. Ukraine has only 13 points, while Romania, Estonia and Georgia have scored 12 1/2 points so far.

Johor Baru event

PLAYERS in the south can take part in the Jotic open chess tournament which is jointly organised by the Johor Baru District Chess Club and the Johor Tourism Corporation. This event will be played this Sunday at the third floor of the Bangunan Jotic in Johor Baru.

Entry fee is RM15 per player. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-3338215).

New chess corner in Penang

THERE is good news for players in the north. Beginning this Sunday, chess players have an additional place to meet at the Berjaya Georgetown Hotel which is next to the Midland One-Stop Centre.

The hotel is providing a corner in their lounge on the first floor for the Penang Chess Association (PCA) to hold their chess activities every Sunday from 10am to 12.30pm. Starting in November, the PCA will organise weekly quiz contests and winners will receive prizes sponsored by Berjaya Georgetown.

Other activities such as exhibitions, lectures and category tournaments will be planned later.

The Berjaya Georgetown-Penang Chess Association joint project will provide Penang chess players a much-needed focal point in the city to meet and play chess. Besides this place, the PCA also maintains another meeting place at the RABB clubhouse in Bandar Bayan Baru on Sunday afternoons.