A friendly rivalry

THE annual match between the chess players of Malaysia and Singapore is always an eagerly awaited occasion; this year, it was the Malaysians' turn to troop across the border to our southern neighbour.

The match was hosted by the Singapore Chess Federation last month at the Parkway Parade shopping centre. The two-day match was played over 40 boards with the players separated into veterans, seniors and juniors.

The first day of the match was dominated by the Malaysians who scored a resounding 26.5-13.5 win over the Singaporeans. However, the Singaporeans came back much stronger on the second day and they managed to reduce the Malaysian winning margin to a slim 22-18 score. Overall, the score was 48.5-31.5 in Malaysia's favour.

The Singapore team was strongest in the veterans and men's senior sections where they had a lot of experienced players. Our veteran players were completely overshadowed during the two days and they suffered greatly. In both rounds, they lost by identical 0-2 scores.

Malaysia's men's senior players were also generally outclassed by their Singapore counterparts. Other than Tan Wei Sin who beat Tan Chor Chuan and drew with Teo Kok Seong, Ooi Chern Ee who picked up two draws with Koh Kum Hong and Chan Peng Kong, Ismail Ahmad who won against Jopie Massie and Julian Navaratnam who drew with Tan Chor Chuan, the other men's senior players lost their games. On the first day, the Singaporeans won by 3.5-2.5 but the second day saw the Malaysians losing further ground with a 1.5-4.5 result.

At least the contest between the women's senior players was closer. On the first day, both sides were tied at 2-2, but on the second day, the Malaysians won by 3-1.

The boy's section saw the Malaysians beating their Singaporean counterparts by 12-6 on the first day and 10-8 on the second day. But it was in the girl's section that the Malaysians really shone. A 9-1 win on the first day was followed by an 8.5-1.5 score on the next day.

The next friendly match between the two countries will be hosted in Kuala Lumpur by the Malaysian Chess Federation next year. Tentatively, the match will be played on the first weekend of Feb 2000.

An Asian chess challenge

This year's Grand Asian Chess Challenge will be the fourth such event organised by Universiti Malaya's Second Residential College in as many years.

What started out as a team competition among the institutions of higher learning in the country in 1996 has evolved into an ambitious project aimed at attracting universities in Asia to take part.

Last year's competition was limited only to the universities in the Asean region. However, the response was not very encouraging because of the lingering effects of the Asian economic slowdown.

This year, the organisers are extending invitations directly to the foreign universities instead of channelling them through the national chess federations, and they are hopeful that many universities will reply.

According to the organisers, confirmation of participation has already been received from several foreign universities in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Iran, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam and India.

The competition will be played from Oct 23 to 30. The first eight rounds will be held at UM's Engineering Faculty. For the final round and the closing ceremony, the venue is the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur.

The tournament will be conducted as an individual Swiss event and the accumulated results of the best four players from the same university, inclusive of a women's player, will be used to compute the team results.

Each university is allowed to register up to six players for its team. The entry fee is US$260 (RM1,000) for a team of six, US$220 (RM846) for a five-player team and US$180 (RM692) if the team has four players. The entry fee for individual players will be US$50 (RM192) each.

Trophies and medals will be given away to the top three teams. In addition, the winning team will receive a cash prize of RM1,000 while the second-placed team will get RM500 and the third-placed team RM250.

The individual prizes will consist of RM1,000 as the first prize, RM500 as the second, and RM250 as the third prize. The best women's player will receive RM100. Also, all these winners will each receive a trophy.

The main sponsor for the tournament is the PWTC. Malaysia Airlines, as the official airline, will provide discounts to participating teams from various points in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Royal Selangor is sponsoring the trophies, Nestle is sponsoring the refreshments for the event, and Kodak is the official image sponsor. The official website is hosted by MyWeb at (http://wowsites.com/gacc).

UP NEXT

National Allegro, Perak leg

THE year-long national allegro chess circuit, a project of the Malaysian Chess Federation, continues this Sunday with the Perak leg which will be played at the Dewan Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh at 9am. The registration of players begins at 7.30am.

Eleven of the legs have already been organised in various cities and towns around the country. There will be one more leg in Malacca before the Grand Final next month.

Each leg consists of six rounds and has a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize money will go to the main winners, while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Final in Kuala Lumpur.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Perak International Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, girls under 12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants. As entries will close tomorrow, anyone interested in taking part should contact either Wong Weng Kong ( 05-366 1692) or Hamisah Ramli ( 05-313 3809) as soon as possible.

Penang Grand Prix

The third leg of the Penang Chess Association's Grand Prix chess circuit will be played at the clubhouse of the Bayan Baru Residents' Association on Oct 3 starting at 8am.

The main prizes range from RM200 for the winner to RM30 for the eighth place. In addition, consolation prizes will be given to the best under-15 boy and girl.

The closing date for entries is Oct 1. Entry fee is RM10 per player. For details, contact Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687 evenings only) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596 office hours only).

Obituary:

Death of an icon

Garry Koshnitsky, one of Australia's oldest chess icons who had been reported to be ill for the past few months, died last weekend. He passed away in his Malvern, South Australian, home on Sept 17 at the age of 91, leaving behind his wife, Evelyn, who herself is an active administrator of women's chess in Australia.

Koshnitsky was many times the Australian champion and a vice-president of the World Chess Federation's Zone 10 from 1960 to 1966. His later chess career was entirely administrative and organisational. He was the secretary of the Australian Chess Federation and represented the federation as a delegate at International Chess Federation meetings.

I first got to know Koshnitsky and his wife in the mid-70s when they led a team of girl chess players from Australia on a tour of Malaysia. Although we remained in contact occasionally over the years, the last time I met them was in Manila seven years ago.

Another 'K' carries the day

AFTER a month of intense competition, Russia's Alexander Khalifman won the World Chess Championship in Las Vegas. In the six-game final, he bettered Armenia's Vladimir Akopian with a 2.5-1.5 score.

So yet another player with a name beginning with "K" has become the world champion, after Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov. Khalifman was declared the 14th world chess champion by World Chess Federation (FIDE) president Kirsan Iljumzhinov.

Khalifman won the first game after Akopian's surprise of a piece sacrifice went wrong. Khalifman managed to exchange enough pieces until his opponent no longer had the initiative. He then moved his remaining pieces into action and Akopian was forced to resign the game.

The second game saw little excitement on the board and was quickly drawn.

The third game lasted almost seven hours. There was a lot of manoeuvring in the endgame with Akopian trying to find the best squares for his pieces. The Armenian showed some excellent technique by squeezing a point from his opponent.

"This game features the most beautiful rook ending in the history of the World Chess Championship," said an excited Valery Salov, the Russian grandmaster.

"This endgame was a theoretical draw, but Akopian played almost perfectly, finding every trick and trap. The attractive conclusion to the game would not have been possible if Khalifman had played the best defence."

But Khalifman bounced back immediately by winning the next game.

With only two games remaining, Akopian was in a "must win" situation in his last game with the white pieces. He emerged with an edge but could not capitalise on it. The game whittled down into a rook ending with Akopian nursing an extra pawn. However, Khalifman dug in deep to draw the game.

The last game of the championship was not an anti-climax despite the month of exhausting chess. Khalifman did not play conservatively and took the game to Akopian.

As he said later, "In the beginning I could have kept the game quiet but I told myself, 'come on, this is the final,' I have to try to play the best moves. But at the end, I was no longer fighting to find a win. I said, 'enough is enough, I only need a draw.' "

Iljumzhinov was among the first to congratulate Khalifman. He said: "I want to congratulate Alexander Khalifman, the 14th FIDE world chess champion. I want to say that he must come back next year to play and defend his title."

When asked if he felt like a true world champion, Khalifman responded: "I don't claim to be the world's best chess player. But I am the FIDE world champion. Kasparov has some informal claim to being the world's best player. I'm afraid to say anything about Karpov because he is very experienced with lawsuits!"

Khalifman has his own chess school in St Petersburg, Russia, and a popular website (www.gmchess.spb.ru). And now that he has won US$660,000 (RM2.5mil), what is he going to do with it?

Khalifman said that he had not given it much thought, but added: "My wife is a very reasonable person. We agree on most things. For some years we have lived modestly. I don't think she will spend half a million in the first week!"

On to the Olympics

Towards the close of the world championship, FIDE's presidential board met in Las Vegas. In his address to the board, president Kirsan Iljumzhinov said that on June 20, the International Olympic Committee had recognised chess as a sport. He has received a certificate from IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch confirming this. Iljumzhinov said that FIDE should now drastically change its administration based on this decision.

Ilyumzhinov said FIDE executive director Emmanuel Omuku would go to Sydney, Australia, to discuss arrangements for a chess event at the 2000 Summer Olympics. One question which would be raised was whether coffee, whiskey and vodka were drugs. He said this is a serious matter.

Iljumzhinov also said the FIDE world championship will be held every year during the last week of November and the first three weeks of December. Regarding next year's event, he said that Hong Kong, Dortmund in Germany and Sun City in South Africa have expressed interest in hosting it.

Turning his sights next on Karpov and Kasparov, Iljumzhinov said, "When (they) continue to criticise, I have one answer: the title of the world champion has to be won and defended in an honest chess fight and not in the courts or at press conferences.

"They have to prove their superiority by playing in the world championship. There will be no matches between the winner here and Kasparov or Karpov. If Kasparov and Karpov have questions, FIDE will be happy to invite them to the 2000 World Championship.

"FIDE will enter the new millennium with the 14th world champion," declared Iljumzhinov. "Samaranch said that chess has been recognised as a sport because we have destroyed the monopoly and dictatorships of some chess players. We have given all chess players the opportunity to fight for the world title."

Record entries for Merdeka championship

THIS year's Merdeka team chess championship had a record 82 teams playing in the three-day event at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, from Aug 29 to 31.

Without a doubt, the PWTC provides a very conducive atmosphere for playing chess. The vast lobby was big enough to accommodate all the teams; there should not be any problem if even more teams were to take part next year.

It was a pity, though, that players were initially not allowed to walk along the aisles once they had finished their games. More understandably, spectators were also prevented from walking into the cordoned-off area. This rule was somewhat relaxed in the later rounds when the organisers realised the pulling power of the games.

After a year on the sidelines, Penang returned to win the state title. Although Penang did not lose any of its matches, the team was eclipsed by Selangor and Terengganu in most of the rounds.

Johor had a good start but after losing to Selangor in the fourth round, the team began to fall back and eventually finished fourth. Terengganu also had a good start, but then lost by similar 1-3 scores to Selangor and Penang. However, a tremendous effort in the sixth round saw Terengganu drawing level, with Penang going into the final round.

In the meantime, Selangor, which led for five rounds, was upset by Perak in the sixth round. A 1.5-2.5 loss to its northern neighbour put paid to its hopes of retaining the Deputy Prime Minister's trophy.

Going into the final round, only Terengganu and Penang were neck and neck for the top prize. Tension was high as Penang realised that it had to beat Perak by 4-0 to win the title.

But then, Terengganu drew one of its games with Johor and Penang's target of 3.5 points became more realisable. In the final analysis, Penang's 3.5-0.5 win over Perak was impressive but unnecessary since Terengganu could only draw 2-2 with Johor.

Final standings: Penang 20 points, Terengganu 18.5 points, Selangor 17.5 points, Johor 17 points, Kuala Lumpur 16 points, Sabah 14 points, Sarawak 13.5 points, Perak 13.5 points, Malacca and Perlis 13 points each, Kelantan 11 points, Kedah 12 points, and Negeri Sembilan 3 points.

Apart from the state section, the open section of the championship also attracted a lot of attention. There was a good turn-out this year with 42 teams.

There was a tight finish with two teams fighting closely for the top prize. After the sixth round, the PCMM Invitation team was leading the field by two full points ahead of the Royal Selangor Club.

But the PCMM team, with international master Mas Hafizulhelmi on the top board, almost faltered in the final round when it drew 2-2 with the Safe Aim Mutual team to collect 21.5 points.

The Royal Selangor Club team could have tied with the PCMM had it managed to win 4-0 over Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Instead, RSC could only get a 3.5-0.5 score, half a point less than the winner, which meant that it got only the second prize.

Singapore entered two teams in the open section. Caissa Chess Enterprise came third with 19.5 points while IntChess was seventh with 17 points. Brunei was the only other country with a significant presence in the Merdeka event. Apart from two teams in the youth section, there were three Brunei teams in the open section.

The fourth prize went to Clofa with 18.5 points, Safe Aim Mutual was fifth with 18 points, while the Johor Black Knights took the sixth prize with 17.5 points.

The other top standings in this section were: Terengganu and Chelsea Forever 16.5 points each; Universiti Kebangsaan "A" 16 points; Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 15.5 points; Kuala Beliat, Nusa Mahkota and Bandar Seri Begawan "B" 15 points each; Kolej Za'Ba Universiti Malaya, Bandar Seri Begawan "A", Ericsson Sports and Social Club, Star, Setiausaha Kerajaan Perlis, Pasukan Bumiputra Sarawak and Tian Ha 14.5 points each.

In the youth section, almost everyone was again left breathless by the steam-rolling exploits of the Sekolah Catur Enerpac team. This group of under-12 players from Indonesia practically ran away with the title.

Except for a draw with Penang, the Enerpac team felled all other opponents, including the Johor, Perak and Selangor teams. Second-placed Penang put up a spirited challenge to the Indonesian boys but dropped a number of points unnecessarily in other matches. These two teams led all the way from the start of the tournament.

Perak, second last year, put on an encouraging show with Deon Moh and Aaron Yee, two very promising junior players in the team.

Final standings: Sekolah Catur Enerpac 22.5 points; Penang 21 points; Perak 17.5 points; Johor and Malacca 17 points each; KL Boys 16.5 points; Alam Shah 99 and SMK Kepong Baru 15.5 points each; Sarawak and Subang Jaya "A" 15 points each; Selangor, Terengganu, Sabah and San Peng Boys 14.5 points each; Perlis and SMK Sea Field 14 points each.