Political move

 

New champ

 

World chess championship

IF YOU Internet access, I will wholly recommend you to visit the official site of this year’s World Chess Championship at http://wcc2004.fide.com.

Although this World Chess Federation event started two weeks ago in Tripoli, Libya, it is still not too late to catch up on the championship as it moves into the semi-final stage (Round Six).

There were originally 124 players when the championship began, but with the elimination of half the players at the end of each succeeding round, the field has become increasingly smaller and comparatively stronger. Naturally, for the semi-finals, only four players are left standing.

But who are they? As I write this week’s column, the quarter-final games have only just begun. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) was facing Andrei Kharlov (Russia), while Alexander Grischuk (another Russian) was facing Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan). In the second half of the table, Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) was playing Lenier Dominguez (Cuba), and Michael Adams (England) was meeting Vladimir Akopian (Armenia).

Like the earlier rounds, each quarter-final match between two contestants consists of two games played at normal regulation time control. If the result is tied at 1-1, then the players go into tie-break sessions to decide the winner.

The first tie-break will be a pair of rapidchess games and if the players are still even, then they have to play a further two games using blitz rules. It is only if the tie is still inconclusive does the sudden death game comes in.

Up to now, it has been a very exciting championship with many closely contested matches. In Round One, for instance, three of the matches went all the way to sudden death. And in Round Two, despite the field being reduced to 64 players, five of the matches ended in sudden death, while a further three matches required blitz games to break the ties. Round Three also saw two sudden death matches, while Round Four required one.

In events of this nature, it is quite common that upsets do happen in the early rounds when lowly rated players upstage their much higher rated opponents. 

The first round passed without any significant upsets but the greatest surprise of the second round was the departure of Nigel Short. Short had already outplayed Michal Krasenkow and was winning the game when his thoughts wavered and he simply placed his rook on a square where it was captured immediately. The blow was too much for even a 2700-plus Fide-rated player to bear.

Apart from the official website which gives you live coverage of the games through a Java-enabled applet, you can also learn more of the world chess championship from sites such as Chessbase, http://www.chessbase.com.

UP NEXT

CRC Taiping open

It is great to see that smaller towns around the country are getting interested in organising one-day chess events. It was only two weeks ago that Sabak Bernam had organised its first chess tournament and now, it is Taiping’s turn to have its day of fame.

Come July 25, the Chinese Recreation Club in Taiping will hold its CRC Taiping open chess tournament at their club premises, jointly organised with the Perak International Chess Association (PICA).

The one-day event will be played over seven rounds and there will be cash prizes for the 10 best overall players with the winner set to receive RM400 and a trophy. Moreover, there are prizes for the best three women players, the best three veteran players, the best five under-12 players, the best five under-18 players and the best three CRC Taiping players.

Entry fees are RM10 for PICA and CRC Taiping members, under-12, under-18 and women players, and RM15 for others.

For inquiries, contact Yunus Sharif of PICA (05.545.8453 or 016.532.3594) or Mrs Chow of CRC Taiping (05.807.6882).

Selangor open junior championships

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) has just announced that their 18th Selangor open junior championships this year will be reclassified into four categories named Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

The Bronze category has been created specially for primary and secondary school children who are new to chess but want to have a feel of playing in a national-level chess event. Also, chess players with a national rating of less than 1200 can join this category.

The Silver category will be for new players who want to challenge the stronger seasonal chess players in the Klang Valley. Chess players with a national rating of less than 1400 can play in this event.

Then there is the Gold category which is for the seasonal chess players to pit their chess skills with one another. Only chess players with national ratings of between 1200 and 1799 can take part, except for the top 11 junior players in the country who are not allowed to play in this category.

The main attraction is the Platinum category which is open to only the top 100 junior players in the country. According to the CAS, the association will soon release the names of the players who are eligible to take part, together with the tournament details.

Until then, junior players are asked to keep the weekends of July 24-25 and July 31-Aug 1 free for these championships.

Penang chess league

The Dato Arthur Tan Memorial 14th Penang Chess League, sponsored by Wah Seong (Malaya) Trading Co Sdn Bhd, has reached the halfway stage after the first four rounds. 

There are 44 teams from the public sector, factories, institutions of learning, businesses and registered societies and clubs taking part in this eight-round tournament which is being played on Sundays at the Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang. The last round will be on July 11.

At the halfway point, Old Frees Association (Nuts) – with Lim Chuin Hoong, Ooi Chern Ee, Lim Cheng Teik and Khor Shihong playing - are leading the event with 11½ points. Lying in second spot with 9½ points each are Chung Ling Old Boys Association “B” (Teng Wei Ping, Wong Kam Loong, Eldin Kim and Lau Kar Hoe) and Dell Asia Pacific (Wong Kim Kuan, Chan Kim Chai, Chan Kim Beng and Peh Kim Lye).

Top prizes include RM2,000 for the champion team, RM1,500 for the second place and RM1,000 for the third place. There are seven other cash prizes and numerous other consolation prizes.