Mind games

Do you get a kick from looking at an empty chess board? I don’t, not any more. Nowadays, I prefer to play my chess with real pieces in front of me, not with pieces floating around in my mind’s eye. Controlling real chess pieces can be difficult enough; what more with imaginary pieces?

But there are some people who believe that there is a real challenge playing such games. Blindfold chess, it is called. Chess played without sight of the chess board. However, I consider blindfold chess to fall within the realms of novelty chess.

How far can one go in the game? If one is completely blindfolded without seeing the chess board, one’s memory must be good enough to remember all those previous moves and imaginative enough to see positions well ahead.

No no no….it takes more than mere chess mortals to play traditional blindfold chess.

That is why the traditional Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, now going on in Nice, France, employs a slightly different version of blindfold chess. Maybe, traditional blindfold chess is also beyond the powers of the new chess gods and they have to try something different. 

What’s happening in this Amber tournament, already in its 19th year, is that for the blindfold games, the chess gods are staring at an empty chess board on their laptops. There are no digital pieces to shift around. Instead, only the text of the last played move will be shown to the players.

But for these players, this is enough help already. Looking at the empty chess boards is enough aid to help them remember moves and visualize games in their minds.

And what great games they are playing! Even though they are engaged in blindfold chess, their creativity has not been stifled. Take, for example, this game which was played in the very first round. Mind you, the two protagonists are world-class players if you still haven’t realized it.

Magnus Carlsen - Vasily Ivanchuk, 19th Amber (blindfold) 

1.a3 (This in itself is a great surprise, as Carlsen steers the game out of opening theory and into a new direction. However, Ivanchuk is equal to the occasion.) 1….Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Bb5 Rc8 9.g4 Bg6 10.Qa4 Nd7 11.b4 e6 12.Bb2 Be7 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.Qxa7 c5 15.Qa6 0-0 16.Qe2 c4 17.e4 d4 18.Nb5 e5 19.h4 Qb6 20.a4 Qb7 21.Ng5 h6 22.h5 hxg5 23.hxg6 fxg6 (It’s rare to see this type of pawn structure among top players but it’s even rarer to see someone win a game despite having this pawn structure.) 24.f3 Bxb4 25.Ba3 Bxa3 26.Rxa3 Qb6 27.Qh2 Qc5 28.Qh7+ Kf7 29.Ra1 Nf6 30.Qh2 Ra8 31.d3 (Even though Black is better, this move has got to be an oversight.) 31….Qxb5 (Winning the piece and the game) 0-1 

The Amber tournament continues until Apr 25. Apart from Carlsen and Ivanchuk, the other players are Ruslan Ponomariov (a former Fide world champion), Vugar Gashimov, Peter Svidler, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Kramnik (the former classical chess world champion), Leinier Dominguez, Jan Smeets and Boris Gelfand. 

To follow the tournament online, go to http://www.amberchess2010.com/index.html. Today is already the sixth round of the competition. There will be five more days to go. 

National age group results

This is just a short note to announce the winners of the national age group chess championship that ended earlier this week at the Dewan Sri Pinang in Penang. This competition, jointly organized by the Malaysian Chess Federation and the Penang Chess Association, attracted almost 300 players to the various age group events.

Boys’ under-18 winner: Tan Ken Wei, boys’ under-16 winner: Evan Timothy Capel, boys’ under-14 winner: Daniel Iskandar Arif, boys’ under-12 winner: Muhd Aziz Farhan Noor Akbar, boys’ under-10 winner: Teh De Juan, boys’ under-8 winner: Wong Yinn Long.

Girls’ under-18 winner: Ong Choon Yong, girls’ under-16 winner: Latifah Kaiyisah Mohd Latib, girls’ under-14 winner: Nur Nabila Azman Hisham, girls’ under-12 winner: Nur Najiha Azman Hisham, girls’ under-10 winner: Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar, girls’ under-8 winner: Nur Islamurni Hj Yahaya.

Up next  

DATCC chess league

The third DATCC Kuala Lumpur commercial and recreational chess league at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex kicks off on Mar 24. The DATCC chess league is a Fide-rated team event over nine rounds played on Wednesdays at the chess centre. 

Entry fee is RM400 per team of a maximum 10 players. Junior teams (all players must be below 20 years old) are charged at RM200. Any entry received after Mar 12 will need to pay an extra RM100. Details are available from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, aham@pc.jaring.my) or Najib Abdul Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@hotmail.com). 

March rapid

The Excel Chess Academy will organize their March rapid chess tournament at their premises in Overseas Union Garden, Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27-28. Entry fee is RM35 per player. To register, contact Jax Tham (013.3232280, jaxtham@hotmail.com).

Johor chess festival

The Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru are jointly organising the 14th Bandaraya chessmaster Johor open chess tournament at the JB indoor stadium in Johor Baru on Mar 28. Entry fees are RM10 for players under 12 years old, RM15 for those under 16 years old and RM70 for all others. There will also be the second Bandaraya chessmaster Johor open team chess tournament at the same venue on Mar 27. Entry fees are RM100 per team of three players. Closing date for both events is Mar 24. Details from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525).

KL rapid grand prix

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the third leg of the KL rapid grand prix on Apr 3-4. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade and the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will jointly organize this year’s Klang Parade chess tournament early next month. An age group event for under-12 and under-18 players will be held on Apr 3, while there will be an open event on Apr 4. Entry fees are RM10 for under-12 players and RM15 for all others. To register, contact Hamid Majid (019.3158098) or Siti Nor Faiza (03-33437889).

Perak grand prix

The second leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the CRC Taiping on Apr 11. Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. More information and details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com