Triple winners

THE national closed chess championship ended a fortnight ago with a three-way tie at the top, which was unprecedented in the history of the championship. Two-way ties had occurred before, but never a tie among three players.

Even more remarkable was that the combined age of the three players was just 45 years. Lim Chuin Hoong and Teng Wei Khoon are both 16 years old and Jonathan Chuah is even younger at 13.

The three ended the nine-round championship, held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, with 7.5 points each. Abiding by the rules, the Malaysian Chess Federation decided to have a play-off event for the national champion's title and the Datuk Sabbaruddin challenge trophy.

The double round-robin playoff was eventually won by Chuah who scored 3.5 points compared to Lim's 1.5 points. Teng collected one point. Chuah is by far the youngest player to become the national champion.

Lim had only himself to blame for missing out on the champion's title. He was the most solid player among the 67 contestants who represented the 13 state chess associations in the country. In the nine games that he played, Lim was undefeated with six wins and three draws.

Going into the final round, Lim was leading the field with seven points. This was only a slim half-a-point more than his closest rivals and nothing less than a win in his final game was required if he wanted the undisputed first prize.

However, a draw with Julian Navaratnam turned out to be insufficient for Lim as both Chuah and Teng scored vital wins to catch up with him. Chuah beat Wong Zijing while Teng accounted for Rizal Ahmad Kamal. Chuah's game against Wong was very crucial. If the results had been reversed, Wong would instead be the one to tie with Lim and Teng at the top. Instead, Wong ended fourth in the standings.

If tradition is followed, not only has Chuah become the latest national champion, but he will also be awarded the national master title by the Malaysian Chess Federation.

But we have three very deserving winners this year and the contest had been very close and exciting. Under such circumstances, I think it would not be wrong if the MCF were to consider a change to its policy and decide on making the three winners all national masters.

In fact, I would like to propose to the MCF that the national master title be given to all previous co-winners of the national closed championship in recognition of their abilities. But, by all means, the title of national champion should still be reserved specifically for the undisputed winner in any year or the eventual winner of any playoff tournament.

The top finishers in this year's national closed championship: Lim Chuin Hoong, Jonathan Chuah, Teng Wei Khoon (7.5 points each); Wong Zi Jing, Ismail Ahmad, Ng Tze Han, Julian Navaratnam, Khor Shihong (6.5); Sit Seng Yaw, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Taulani Tukiran (6); and Deon Moh, Lim Kian Hwa, Chan Meng Yang, Law Zhe Kang, Mohd Irman Ibrahim, Effawira Mohd Farid, Eddy Kwan, Wong Ziwei, Jeffery Chan, Nanda Kumar (5.5).

Together with this year's national closed championship, the MCF also held its annual general meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre.

This year's AGM was, however, marked by some grumblings from some parents who were unhappy with the federation. Their unhappiness stemmed from the MCF's failure to register players for this year's world junior chess championship in Spain in October.

The annual world junior meet is a tournament popular with Malaysian parents. However, the problem is that not everybody can play in it. Since it is an event organised under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, convention has it that the participants must be registered through their national chess bodies. In our case, this is the MCF.

For many years the MCF had been organising the national age-group chess championship , where the winners of the various age-group events are given the opportunity to play at the world junior level. For individual world events of this type, the parents of the players are required to pay for their children's travel and boarding expenses.

The MCF does not provide financial assistance to help the players. All it does is to finish the necessary paperwork which includes registering the players with the organisers and preparing letters to the players' schools and education authorities.

This year, alleged the parents, there has been a total breakdown in the MCF's efficiency. Letters which were to have been prepared a long time ago were not ready at all. Repeated attempts by the parents to get the letters failed. As a result, none of the Malaysian juniors were registered for the world age-group championship and consequently, nobody went to Spain.

There were some discussions at the AGM on the MCF's shortcomings in this area but with the damage already done, the best that the members could hope for was for the MCF to improve on its efficiency in the future.

Young and capable

TODAY may be the last day of the year, decade, century and millennium, but for some players, it is simply another day to play chess.

Since Monday, 10 players have been involved in a closed international rating tournament organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur. This tournament will take a break tomorrow, but it will continue from Sunday until Jan 5. Playing sessions on these days are from 11am to 6pm.

According to the MCF, this is the definitive tournament to determine the best players in the country. Taking part in this round-robin event are international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew, Fide master Wong Zijing, current national champion Jonathan Chuah, and former national champions Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng. The other players are Aaron Yee, Ng Tze Han, Lim Chuin Hoong and Deon Moh.

A very confident Mas Hafizul is expected to win the event but it will be intriguing to see where "elder statesman" Jimmy Liew stands among the others. Liew is still the yardstick that many young players measure themselves against. My expectation is that he can expect a torrid time against the youngsters but he has the experience to extricate himself from most predicaments.

Jonathan Chuah will be eager to prove himself against his peers now that he is the newly crowned national champion. However, in his eagerness and maybe confidence, there is a danger that he may over-reach himself in his games. None of his rivals are pushovers so it will be interesting to see how he reacts in his games.

Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng, like Mas Hafizul, were absent from this year's national closed championship. They had been taking the past weeks to prepare themselves for this event, so must be considered as quietly confident to get some good results.

As for the other players, suffice it to say that despite their busy playing schedules this month, they are young and quite capable of standing up to the stress of a few more games.

I shall have the results of this tournament ready for you next month but in the meantime, as we stand literally on the eve of a new year, I would like to thank all readers of this column, especially the faithful ones who have stuck with me since August 1980. See you next millennium!

 

Top contender in national championship

WHO do you think will win the national closed chess championship which started yesterday at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur? In the absence of the defending champion, will it be someone new or one of the former winners?

In all likelihood, the answer will be a foregone conclusion. I do not see how any of the other players can touch Mas Hafizulhelmi who is playing in the national championship again after a lapse of three years. He is by far the most experienced player in the field.

Of course, I am not saying that Mas Hafizul cannot be toppled. The other players still have a chance to upset his game. Only thing is, without defending champion Ng Ee Vern or previous winner Lim Yee Weng playing, there are not too many players who can give Mas Hafizul a good fight for his money.

The torch-bearers this year are likely to be young veterans like Wong Zijing, Lim Chuin Hoong, Ng Tze Han and Jonathan Chuah who should all be capable of beating Mas Hafizul on their best days. I am sure there are many other lesser known hopefuls waiting for the opportunity too. Well, there are nine rounds for the hopefuls to prove themselves.

The national championship was originally scheduled to finish before the start of the Muslim fasting month. However, the Malaysian Chess Federation decided to postpone the tournament to the middle of December because the public school examinations had not ended yet.

The winner of the men's section of the championship will receive the Datuk Hussein Onn challenge trophy. The women's section is a seven-round event and the winner will get the Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik trophy. Trophies will also be awarded to the most promising under-18 male and female players.

Nightmare event for FIDE

The World Chess Federation's 75th anniversary celebrations in Paris on Nov 20 turned out to be a public relations nightmare. According to reports, it was a badly organised event.

FIDE had initially planned a parade through the streets of Paris with the participation of numerous celebrities. However, the plans were continually changed until there was no parade or celebrity in the end. When the Mayor of Paris was asked to come to the stage, it turned out that she was not there.

Then, the celebration banquet was snubbed by the world champion, Alexander Khalifman, in protest over FIDE's failure to pay him his prize money for winning the world championship in Las Vegas last August. At a press conference earlier in the day, Khalifman confirmed that he had not yet been paid his prize money.

Even Xie Jun, the women's world champion, walked out of the ceremonies after receiving FIDE's recognition of her title. Later, when asked why, she said that it was boring.

FIDE had planned to honour a select group of celebrities and volunteers who made organisational contributions to the world body and organised FIDE events over the years. But during the celebration ceremony, there was not enough time to mention the names of those who had come from all over the world to receive the recognition.

It turned out that FIDE had chosen instead to give lengthy speeches to honour celebrities such as the Pope, French President Jacques Chirac, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lennox Lewis, none of whom were present. Naturally, those who were present were outraged. One said that he intended to request the FIDE Secretariat to reimburse his expenses.

FIDE executive director Emmanuel Omuku went round apologising for FIDE's failure to properly recognise the invitees. However, he was unable to get to all the tables, thereby causing further resentment.

Earlier in the day, FIDE had cancelled the midday buffet luncheon without notifying the guests who were waiting for the lunch. Eventually, word of the cancellation got around.

Adding to this nightmare was a report from FIDE's Verification Commission, prepared by Israel Gelfer of Israel and Don Schultz of the United States, which warned that there was a large overdue loan of Swiss francs 478,000 (about RM595,000) from FIDE to the World Chess Foundation, and any failure to collect this could mean that FIDE would be unable to continue providing a full complement of services to its members. At the very worst, FIDE's existence itself could be threatened.

But according to Schultz, FIDE president Kirsan Iljumzhinov had said that all obligations to the players who took part in Las Vegas would be paid by the end of the year. He attributed the delay to poor coordination in bank transfers, delays in payments from sponsors, a large prize fund and dates that kept changing.

Meanwhile, in what may be the most serious challenge to FIDE yet, Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman is threatening to set up a rival chess federation.

According to The Australian newspaper, Timman said he was willing to walk out of FIDE over the spectacle of drug tests.

"I will not comply with the tests and because I do not want to give up chess for this nonsense, I might create an alternative federation that has no ties with the International Olympic Committee," he said in an interview on Dutch television.

Timman appeared to be quite set on this matter. If he leaves FIDE and sets up another organisation, there may be a lot of professional players who would follow him, and not all of them would be because of the drug testing. It would be ironic if FIDE's public relations victory of joining with the IOC ended up spelling its own end instead of buffeting its position.

The idea of some drugs enhancing chess performance is old, but there is no information publicly available on the subject.

Anatoly Karpov and Kasparov were both recently accused by Leonxto Garcia, a Spanish journalist writing in the El Pais newspaper, of using a drug developed by the Soviet space programme to enhance endurance during their matches in the 80s.

The Australian added that an unnamed Canadian international master once experimented with marijuana as an aid to chess during the 80s but gave it up after losing 10 consecutive games.

Deep Blue's next incarnation

IBM has unveiled a US$100mil (RM380mil) plan to build the world's fastest supercomputer, according to a Reuters report last week. The computer would be used in understanding how proteins fold, which is considered important in studying diseases and finding cures.

The ambitious plan envisions a new RS/6000 computer named Blue Gene, capable of more than one quadrillion operations per second, or 1,000 times more powerful than the Deep Blue machine that beat Gary Kasparov in 1997.

"We think a tremendous gain in performance will be made possible by the first major revolution in how computers are built since the mid-80s," said Dr Ambuj Goyal, IBM Research's vice-president of computer science.

Blue Gene will consist of more than one million processors, each capable of one billion operations per second, IBM said. That would make it two million times more powerful than today's top personal computers.

Researchers believed that they can achieve that level of performance in about five years, when the computer would be put to work on complex genetic mysteries.

"In many ways, Deep Blue got a better job today," said Paul Horn, senior vice-president of IBM Research. "If this computer unlocks the mystery of how proteins fold, it will be an important milestone in the future of medicine and healthcare."

Proteins, which control all cellular functions in the human body, fold into highly complex, three-dimensional shapes that determine their function.

A change in the shape of a protein can dramatically change its function, and even a slight change in folding can turn a desirable protein into a disease.

Mail

Give chess its due recognition

THE Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) cancelled chess as one of its annual events last year because of the economic crisis.

However, our district continued to hold chess competitions for the schools. In this year's competition, I finished third in the boys' under-18 category but I felt disappointed because I could not go any further.

In 1997, the top four players represented our district at the state level but now, there is no more state level competition.

Now that the economy is picking up, I believe the MSSM should not have any more funding problem. Chess is already recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee.

I hope the MSSM will reinstate chess competitions at all levels to find more talented players in the country.

Fischer Yu

Ayer Tawar, Perak

(via e-mail)

Good turnout for Asian chess challenge

LAST October's fourth Grand Asian Chess Challenge was a considerable success for the Universiti Malaya's Second Residential College; the event took place at the university's Engineering Faculty and the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

The tournament attracted some 138 players from 12 universities in Asia, and among them were numerous titled and rated players. It was conducted as an individual Swiss event and the accumulated results of the best four players from the same university, inclusive of a woman player, were used to compute team results.

The winner of the tournament was the Mongolian State Pedagogical University which accummulated 29.5 points from nine rounds. The points came from Duurenba Erkhembayar who won the men's Swiss event with 7.5 points, WFM Tuvshintugs Battsetseg who scored 8.5 points in the women's event, Grand Master Dashzeveg Sharavdorj with seven points and FM Odondoo Ganbold with 6.5 points.

The University of Gunadarma (Indonesia) was second in the tournament with their points coming from IM Liu Dede and Eko Supriyono (both seven points), Majella Rudijanto (six points) and WIM Upi Darmayana Tamin (eight points).

Other standings in the tournament: Rizal Technological University (Philippines) 27 points; University of Khorassan (Iran) 23.5 points; Cyberjaya Multimedia University "A" 23 points; Hue University (Vietnam) 22.5 points; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 22 points; University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) 21.5 points; Higher Colleges of Technology (UAE), University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Malacca Multimedia University "A" 20 points each; Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman 19 points; Universiti Malaya "A," Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Sabah Malaysia 18 points each; Parayangan Catholic University (Indonesia) 17 points; Universiti Utara Malaysia "B" 16.5 points; Cyberjaya Multimedia University "B" 16 points; Universiti Malaya "B" 15.5 points; Kolej Yayasan Mara Kuantan and Malacca Multimedia University "B" 13.5 points each; Universiti Utara Malaysia "A" 11.5 points; and Universiti Brunei Darussalam 10.5 points.

Impressive Juniors

Also in October, the Royal Selangor Club organised a junior chess tournament for 97 children at its new sports annexe in Bukit Kiara, Selangor.

The six-round tournament featured separate events for children in the under-8, under-10 and under-12 age categories.

There were 42 players in the under-12 category and the winner was Wong Zi-chuang who scored 5.5 points. In second place was Chan Litt Binn with five points, while Eric Ng Keng Gee, Low Chung Deng and Thaw CheeHou--all with 4.5 points each--were joint third to fifth. The best girl player was Lim Huey Jer who scored four points.

Litt Binn was the winner of this year's national under-10 age-group championship at the PWTC while Eric was the winner of the same event a year ago. They are still 10-year-olds, so it was a great credit to them that they chose to play in the under-12 category. Zi-chuang was the national under-10 champion in 1997.

The under-10 category attracted 28 players and the winner, Mo Kim Hung, scored five points. The second prize went to Wong Sing Kiat and the third prize to Ooi Ching Chung, both having obtained 4.5 points. Chan Wei Qi, with four points, was the best girl player.

In the under-8 category, the three players who took the top prizes had similar scores of five points each. Chong Geng Cheng was declared the overall winner, followed by Teh Qing Yang and Arshant Nair. The best girl in the event was Harwanth Kaur who scored four points. There were 27 players in this category.

The two youngest players were both five years old. Brian Homi Mehta, who scored three wins against his older opponents, learned to play chess solely by following the simple diagrammed instructions that came with a chess set his father had bought him. The other five-year-old, Teh Kai Wen, was largely outplayed in the competition but she was able to correct her older opponents who had wrongly recorded their moves.

According to RSC chess convenor Dr Wahid Karim, 28 of the 97 participants were girls. Although none of them finished within the top three in any category, they scored many wins against the boys. The top girls in the three categories all scored four points each, which he considered very encouraging as the tournament had attracted many current and former national age-group winners.

Penang Grand Prix

The fourth and final leg of the Penang Chess Association's Penang Grand Prix chess circuit will be played at the Bukit Mertajam Country Club on Dec 12 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.

To encourage more participation by players from the island, the PCA is arranging for a bus to take them to the tournament venue.

Readers interested in playing should contact Goh Yoon Wah

(04-644-5687, evenings) or Ooi Kiem Boo (04-657-4596, office hours).

MAIL

I WISH to comment on your article in Section 2 (Sunk in Oblivion, Oct 22) on the selection of players who participated in the Asian team championship in China. I wonder why, in the first place, Agus Salim's name was chosen by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) when it was clear that he is not a Malaysian citizen. In fact, I remember reading that Agus Salim had even played in last year's national closed championship.

I am quite surprised that nobody was interested in Agus' status. I should think that this tournament, being the top one which chooses players to represent Malaysia, would be exclusively for Malaysians only. The MCF should be more careful about whom they allow to play in this tournament. I hope that it will not be repeated.

Anon2342 (via e-mail)

THANK you, Anon2342, for your e-mail. Normally, I do not respond to letters or e-mail in which the writer has not identified him/herself adequately--but you have brought up a point which is too pertinent to ignore, especially with this year's national closed championship just round the corner.

Yes, I do agree with you that the MCF must be more careful about the people they allow to participate in our country's top tournaments. But, maybe, the inclusion of Agus' name in last year's national closed championship was a plain oversight.

What I do know is that the MCF's rules are silent on a player's eligibility. The state chess associations are allowed to send four representatives to the national closed championship but the selection of the representatives is left entirely to the associations. Traditionally, the MCF accepts all names in good faith.

Perhaps the MCF should lay down clear guidelines for the state associations on whom they can or cannot select for national events like the national closed championship or the state section of the Merdeka team championship. It goes without saying that the MCF should screen their own tournaments to ensure that their own guidelines are followed.

I, for one, would like to see only local participation in these two national events. We already have such a wealth of talent at the grassroots level. Therefore, we have to be possessive of these two titles--our national individual and team champions--and we should be proud of the Malaysians who have won them. It will be awkward if a non-Malaysian were to win the national closed championship or be part of the winning state team in the Merdeka chess championship.

In defence of Agus, maybe I should say that there is nothing to prevent him from playing in the many open tournaments in the country. In fact, he is already a very familiar face. A popular figure with many chess friends in this country, Agus is also a strong player and organisers readily accept him into local events.

UP NEXT

National Closed Championship

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organise this year's national closed chess championship at the Putra World Trade Centre from Dec 16 to 20. The men's section will be a nine-round Fide-rateable event while the women's section will most probably be played over seven rounds.

MCF-affiliated chess associations can each send a maximum of four official representatives for the men's section and two players for the women's section. With eight days left before the closing date, readers interested in being selected should contact their respective chess associations as soon as possible.

The persons to contact are Jackie Wong, Selangor ( 03-703 8237); Ooi Kiem Boo, Penang ( 04-657 4596); Dr Yee Meng Khoon, Perak ( 05-546 4530); Stephen Cheong, Johor ( 07-333 9636); Muhammad Arshad, Terengganu ( 018-849 0497); Wan Abdullah, Pahang ( 010-989 4924); Norlaili, Perlis ( 06-976 0006); Eugene Kong, Malacca ( 06-232 1018); Charles Chan, Negeri Sembilan ( 06-631 7971); Taulani, Sabah ( 088-788 843); Lim Kian Hwa, Sarawak ( 082-427 772), Ibrahim Yaacob, Kuala Lumpur ( 03-636 3082) and Nizam, Kelantan ( 09-790 9870).

The entry forms for the championship can be downloaded from my website at (http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library). For more information, contact Hamid Majid at 03-4021 9576 or e-mail (aham@pc.jaring.my).