New York remembered

DID the sight of the two aeroplanes slamming into New York’s World Trade Center on Sept 11 shock you? It most certainly sent a chill down my spine. Undoubtedly, other chess players in the country would have been equally stunned even though the terrorist attack happened half-way round the globe.

However, I believe the two chess players who would have been most affected by the event were Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. Exactly six years ago to the very date, the two of them were playing a high profile match in New York. The event began on Sept 11, 1995, and it was to last four weeks. The venue of their match was the observation deck on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. So, when the north and south towers came crashing down, a part of chess history was also wiped out.

Physical aggression, fortunately, is not the normal way of life for chess players. The only aggression that we display is on the chessboard. Even then, we prefer to let our 32 pieces do the talking and when the game is done, we chess players return to reality.

Vietnam sweeps all

Despite the relatively low-key efforts of the Malaysian Chess Federation in organising the first SEA Games chess championship, the event was a resounding success.

Even though chess was only a demonstration game this year, eight of the SEA Games nations came together to support this historical event at the Mid-Valley Megamall shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur.

There weren’t any cash prizes offered in either the team or individual events, but the group of grandmasters (GM), international masters (IM) and other players taking part in this competition was more interested in competing for the honour of being the SEA Games champions rather than winners in financial terms.

When was Vietnam ever considered a chess powerhouse in this region? Decades ago, when one spoke about chess in South-east Asia, it was always Indonesia and the Philippines that were recognised as the strongest chess-playing nations.

With the next SEA Games scheduled for Hanoi in 2003, the Vietnamese contingent would have something positive to show their country’s Olympic Council when they get home. It will be good for chess.

The team competition went Vietnam’s way as they carved a narrow 2.5–1.5 victory over the Philippines in the finals. Vietnam’s GM Nguyen Anh Dung drew with GM Roger Antonio but after Le Dinh Tuan lost to Rolando Nolte, it was up to GM Tu Hoang Thong and Nguyen Thanh Son to pick up the winning points from Richard Bitoon and Nelson Mariano respectively.

Interestingly, the Vietnamese were lucky qualifiers for the semi-finals. In the preliminary stage of the team event, they had lost to the Filipinos by a large 1–3 margin. After they picked up a 4-0 score from Thailand, they managed to squeak into the semi-finals with a narrow 2.5–1.5 score against Malaysia.

The Malaysians were very game fighters. In the first round of the preliminaries, they had thrashed Thailand 3.5–0.5 and in the second round, had put up a very good fight against the Filipinos. IM Mas Hafizulhelmi drew with Antonio while Lim Chuin Hoong beat Richard Bitoon. However, Wong Zi Jing and Ismail Ahmad could make no headway against Idelfonso Datu and Nolte.

The match against Vietnam was crucial for Malaysia. At that point, both teams were tied with five points each, and the team that would win this match in the preliminaries would join the Philippines in the top half of the semi-final play-offs.

As it turned out, it was a very hard-fought encounter. Lim drew with IM Phan Minh Hoang while Lim Yee Weng won against Le. However, both Mas Hafizulhelmi and Wong could make no progress against GMs Nguyen Anh Dung and Tu who dug deep into their resources, and could not prevent Vietnam from taking the match.

I wish to stress that the Malaysians’ failure to progress to the top half of the semi-finals is not a true reflection of their chess strengths. I believe we had been drawn into a tougher preliminaries group. With a bit more luck, the tide could have turned our way. After all, when everything was considered, both finalists – Vietnam and the Philippines – had qualified from the same group as the Malaysians.

In the bottom half of the semi-finals, Malaysia easily accounted for Brunei 4–0, and in the play-off for the fifth and sixth places, Malaysia met Singapore and both teams played to a 2–2 score. Wong lost to Chan Peng Kong while Lim beat Jeremy Lim. Mas Hafizulhelmi drew with GM Wu Shaobin while Lim Yee Weng drew with Navin Sawalani.

The individual’s events were equally entertaining. Following the new World Chess Federation format for the world chess championship, it was held as a knockout contest. The men’s individual gold medal was won by GM Tu who beat Singapore’s GM Wu in the semi-finals and Indonesia’s Irwanto Sadikin 1.5–0.5 in the finals. Vo Hong Phuong won the women’s gold medal by beating her compatriot Nguyen Ngan Binh 2–0 in the finals.

In the men’s individual, Malaysia’s interests were represented by Lim Yee Weng, Lim Chuin Hoong, Ismail Ahmad and Mok Tze Meng. Unfortunately, only Lim Chuin Hoong managed to make any progress here.

Lim Yee Weng was eliminated by GM Tu, Ismail by Myanmar’s IM Myo Naing, while Mok lost to GM Antonio, all by identical 1.5–0.5 scores. Meanwhile, Lim Chuin Hoong took his game with Myanmar GM Zaw Win Lay to a play-off when they tied at 1–1. In the play-off, Lim qualified for the second round when he proved to be a notch better than his opponent. In the second round, Lim again beat IM Myo Naing by a 2–1 margin but in the third round, he was eliminated 1–2 by Indonesia’s Irwanto.

Siti Zulaikha was the one of two Malaysian players who went through to the second round of the women’s event. She created an upset by upstaging Indonesia’s IM Upi Tamin Darmayana in the first round, but could not find the resources to beat the eventual women’s silver medallist.

Norshazwani Zulkafli was the surprise winner over fellow Malaysian Lim Jean Nie but she was, however, beaten by Filipino IM Cristine Mariano in the second round.

Our other women representatives who played and were eliminated in the first round were Lim Han Ying, Haslindah Ruslan, Lim Jean Nie and Effalini Farid.