Punch and counter-punch

It’s been a week since the start of the world chess championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger, Veselin Topalov. After all the drama of Anand’s overland journey from Frankfurt to Sofia, the match was put off for a day and it kicked off last Saturday instead of Friday.

I was a little miffed to learn that the Bulgarian Chess Federation and the match organizers had refused to meet Anand half-way. A lot of reasons were given but I think they were only trying to make it difficult for the world champion. Initially, Anand had requested for a three-day postponement but a one-day postponement would have been reasonable enough.

In the end, it was left to the World Chess Federation (Fide) to find an amicable solution and they decided that the first game would start on Saturday. However, it doesn’t seem to be the end of the story because the latest word from Sofia is that Silvio Danailov, who is Topalov’s manager, is contemplating to sue Fide for the late start.

Of course, he is well within his rights to seek legal redress but I think it also paints him in very bad light. After all, it was no fault of anybody that the volcano in Iceland erupted and caused air traffic chaos in Europe. 

Everybody knows that this is a very high-stake match in Bulgaria. All the more reason that if Danailov really wants Topalov to win the world championship title, let him win it fair and square from Anand over the board. 

By the way, I’m writing this story during the first lull in the match. As I write this on Monday, only the first two games have been completed. And you know what? I’m already having withdrawal symptoms! When you are eagerly looking forward to following every game of this world chess championship match, all you want to do is to sit down at the computer every night at 8pm to follow the games live.

Unfortunately, the match rules stipulate that there should be a rest day after every two games. As the schedule would have it, Monday was a rest day. The players are resting or preparing themselves for more battles ahead, but we chess followers and spectators can only wait impatiently for the next day to come.

The only consolation is that the two games have been very exciting and decisive. At the opening ceremony three days earlier, Topalov drew the white envelope, meaning that he would play the first game of this match with the white pieces. That was the first stir of excitement. With the white pieces, we can expect the Bulgarian grandmaster to kick of the match in his aggressive style.

True enough, Topalov was first off the block. He came out fighting and slugging. Remarkably, Anand tried to match him blow for blow. When I was following this game live through the Internet, my first thought was whether both players were playing blitz chess or world championship chess.

For this particular match, they had agreed on a time control of 40 moves in two hours, followed by 20 moves in one hour, and then a final 15 minutes for a play-to-death session. There’s lots of time to think and yet, Topalov and Anand sailed through their first 18 moves in barely 10 minutes. 

It was only on the 19th move that Topalov paused long enough to think. Here was where the real battle began. Unfortunately, the game ended early, after another 11 moves. You see, Anand made an uncharacteristic blunder in the game. His position was already difficult but he made it more difficult for himself by walking into a piece sacrifice. This is the game:

Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 1

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4 h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7? (See diagram. Black needs to tread carefully in this position. His knight and one of the rooks are terribly out of play on the queenside and his king is rather exposed. On the other hand, White has good chances on the kingside and there’s always a danger of him infiltrating through the c-file. Black’s 23rd move is a blunder and allows a decisive stroke from White. The best resistance may be 23…Bd7.) 24. Nxf6 (After this sac, which White played almost immediately, Black’s position is untenable.) 24….Kxf6 25. Rh3 Rg8 26. Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+ Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1-0 

People like me watching from afar was shell-shocked. Why was it so easy for Topalov to dismantle Anand’s game? Has Topalov’s preparation been so superior that Anand had no answer? Or, was the Indian grandmaster still suffering from his overland drive? These are questions without immediate answers. 

It was also almost impossible to gauge Anand’s frame of mind after this loss. Would he brush it aside as an aberration? Certainly, it came as a shock to his system and to his world-wide fan base (and I know that he has a big fan base in Asia). Most people would be demoralized to have lost in only 30 moves. However, Anand is made of sterner stuff and he came back with a firm resolve on the next day. In the second game, he gave Topalov no opportunity at all for open tactical play and scored a fine win to level the match at 1-all. Here it is:

 

Viswanathan Anand – Veselin Topalov, Game 2

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 Nd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Ba5 Qe7 14. Qb3 Rb8 15. Qa3 Qxa3 16. bxa3 (Shades of Bobby Fischer. Inspirational. I still remember one of Fischer’s games with Spassky in 1972 when he willingly saddled himself with a doubled pawn on the h-file. Likewise in this game, Anand accepted the doubled pawns on the a-file. However, in return, he keeps up the pressure on the queenside.) 16….N7f6 17. Nce5 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20. Rfc1 Rbd8 21. f4 Bb8 22. a4 a5 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 h5 25. R1c4 Ne3? (This move is considered a mistake. Black showed impatience with the position.) 26. Bxe3 dxe3 27. Bf3 g6 28. Rxb6 Ba7 29. Rb3 Rd4 30. Rc7 Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32. Rxa5 Rc8 33. Kg2 Rc2 34. a3 (At this stage, Black is probably already lost. This unassuming pawn will ultimately decide the game.) 34….Ra2 35. Nb4 Bxb4 36. axb4 Nd5 37. b5 Raxa4 38. Rxa4 Rxa4 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 (I hope you remember that this was the pawn that was originally on the a2 square) 41….Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 1-0

Up next  

Selangor open

The nation’s longest-running chess tournament, the 37th Selangor open chess tournament, started yesterday at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur and will continue daily until May 2. Do drop by to have a look at this tournament even if you are not playing.

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. 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/)

Perak grand prix

The Manjung leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist (ACS) in Sitiawan on May 16. 

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. Entries will close on May 13. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Hamisah (012.5008723). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

 

Summit uncertainty

As typical with all high-stake chess events, especially the world chess championship matches, the pre-match mind games usually start well before the first move is played.

This year’s world championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov is no different. The mind games actually started months ago when both parties were negotiating the terms for this match. It was to be expected that both sides would want the best conditions for their players without acceding any concession to their rival. Nevertheless at the end of the day, they would have to agree on a common ground for the match to proceed.

That, of course, would have been settled a long time ago. Today, we are scheduled to see the start of the first game of the match in Sofia, Bulgaria but will we? As I write this story earlier this week, there is a big question mark over this happening.

You see, even the best man-made plans can be torn asunder by the unpredictability of Mother Nature and as we all know, for much of the past 10 days or so, Europe has been affected by an event happening on the fringe of that continent.

Who would have expected that a volcanic eruption on Iceland could have affected air travel everywhere on the globe? Although travel within Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas are generally unaffected, tens of thousands of flights within, in and out of Europe have been cancelled. Air passengers are stranded everywhere and even the alternative land travel is pretty much choked up. 

It’s a chaotic situation that is even affecting chess. Anand, who is based in Spain, has suddenly discovered that Mother Nature, aided unwittingly by the European Union, has no respect for world champions. His flight from Madrid took him to Frankfurt but on landing there, his contingent was told that the airport was closing and the connecting flight to Sofia had been cancelled. Stranded!

This is not the best news for anyone who is directly involved in the high-stake world championship match. At the every worst, it will throw the player’s psychological preparation totally out of whack. We shall not know how much Anand has been affected until he sits down to face Topalov. 

I’m sure that to a lesser degree Topalov is also affected. However he is already comfortably settled into Sofia for several weeks now and his preparations continue uninterrupted. I’m pretty sure too that he cannot give a darn about Anand’s present predicament. Whatever happens to the weather, every free day in Sofia is an opportunity for him to rest and psyche himself up properly for the match.

So the pressure is mostly on Anand himself. When I wrote this story earlier this week, I understood that the world champion had already finalized plans to travel overland into Bulgaria. Maybe, he would have had arrived in Sofia by Wednesday and wrecked by travel fatigue. His preparations are totally disrupted. Would one or two days be enough for him to recover his frame of mind?

In this regard, both Anand and the All India Chess Federation have made statements and requests to both the World Chess Federation and the match organizers from the Bulgarian Chess Federation to delay the start of the match for three days. This was while Anand was still stuck at Frankfurt.

To the vast majority of chess players worldwide, it was a request made not totally unreasonably. Although chess players are waiting for the match to start, they would only want to see both players come to the both fully prepared physically, technically and psychologically. 

However, the match organizers saw it differently. They said that they could not agree to the postponement of the opening ceremony two days ago because they had contractual agreements with many third parties. Nevertheless, the organizers said they were still open to the postponing of the first game from today to tomorrow but this would still have to be discussed internally. Let’s see how this turns out.

In the meantime, I am priming myself up to watch the match over the Internet. There’ll be a maximum of 12 games, all playing with classical time control, and they all start at 8pm, local time here in Malaysia. 

Unless there are changes to the schedule, there will be a rest day after every two days of play with an additional rest day thrown in on May 9 before the 12th game. If the score reaches 6-all, the players will break the tie with a series of faster games on May 12.

The official world chess championship website is at http://www.anand-topalov.com/ but there is a host of other high profile chess websites and blogs covering the event too. Fully recommended are Chessdom.com (http://www.chessdom.com), Chessbase.com (http://www.chessbase.com) and Susan Polgar’s web-blog (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com).

On paper, Topalov, who is presently ranked second in the world at 2805, must be considered a slight favourite over Anand, who is ranked fourth at 2787. But external influences aside, one can imagine almost anything to happen in this match.

I’ve mentioned often enough that Topalov is an enterprising player that creates energy on the chessboard. He sees resources where others may well get bogged down in complications. His games are stuff to excite any onlooker. 

On the other hand, Anand is more experienced in match play and his game is more sound and filled with better judgment. This shorter match of 12 games is supposed to favour the older Anand (he’s 40 years old, five years older than Topalov) who is likelier to get tired over a longer match. The Indian grandmaster is also believed to play better if it ever comes to the faster tiebreak games.

Up next  

Perak grand prix

The third leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sek Men Teknik Kerian in Jalan Siakap, Bagan Serai on Apr 25. 

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. Entries will close on Apr 22. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Mas’ud Hamzah (012.4681665).

Stonemaster chess

The one-day second Stonemaster amateur chess tournament for 2010, organized by Cerdik Catur Enterprise will be held at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur on Apr 25. Only players without a national rating or a national rating of below 1650 are allowed to play. Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM20 for school children. Closing date for entries is Apr 23. For details, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, seme_event@yahoo.com) or Cikgu Farah (017.9100836). 

 

Selangor open

The nation’s longest-running chess tournament is back! The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will hold their 37th Selangor open chess tournament at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 29 to May 2.

This nine-round, Fide-rated event will have 10 main prizes totalling RM6,000 with the winner getting RM2,200. There will also be various minor category prizes. Entry fees are RM80 for CAS members with Fide ratings, RM90 for CAS members without Fide ratings, RM90 for non-CAS members with Fide ratings and RM100 for non-CAS members without Fide ratings. Entries received after Apr 25 will be charged an extra RM20.

For enquiries, contact Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922) or Mat Zaki Yeop (017.2032051).

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. 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/)

 

Girl power

China has a lot of young and talented chess players but very few have ever created a more lasting impression in recent years than their sensational 16-year-old wonder lass, Hou Yifan.

Hou, who started playing chess 10 years ago and is a grandmaster in her own right, stamped her mark on Malaysian chess when she claimed the Kuala Lumpur open chess title on Monday. 

She captured the hearts and imagination of both players and spectators alike with a performance rarely matched among women competitors. Though not the top seed in this event, the unassuming and ever obliging Number Two seed was clearly the choice and favourite of many people.

She reeled off four consecutive wins in her first four games and found herself in a neck-and-neck tussle with Vietnamese player Nguyen Anh Dong who had also won the same number of wins. The two of them met in the fifth round and drew their game. 

Though at the sixth round, Hou and Nguyen were joined briefly at the top of the tournament standings by Thomas Luther, Marat Dzhumaev and Oliver Dimakiling, this joint lead proved short-lived as these four nearest rivals of hers could do no better than draw their games in the seventh round while she won her game.

As a result, the Chinese girl found herself enjoying a sole lead of half a point at this late stage of the tournament. She increased her lead to a full point in the eighth round when her closest rivals all faltered again. 

By then, her winning the tournament was already a foregone conclusion. Regardless of her result in the ninth and final round, nobody else would be able to catch up with her. Still, a loss would certainly be out of the question. She wouldn’t want to spoil an otherwise impressive run with a final-round loss. 

Her opponent, Susanto Megaranto, was faced with an even greater dilemma. How was he to approach the game? Should he bring the game to her in the final round and try for a full point (and risk losing a full point too) or go for a peaceful draw that would suit his opponent better than him? Hou was prepared for a fight over the chessboard if the situation warranted but at the end, discretion proved to be the better part of valour and both players quickly agreed to split the point.

Final top standings: GM Hou Yifan 7½ points; GM Nguyen Anh Dung, Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia) 7 points each; GM Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia), GM Thomas Luther (Germany), IM Dhopade Swapnil (India), GM Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan), IM Dzhurabek Khamrakulov (Uzbekistan), IM Ashwin Jayaram (India) 6½ points each.

The best performing Malaysian in the field of 111 players was newly-minted medical doctor Nicholas Chan. Chan, who is a Fide Master, missed out on his second international master norm but only barely. That is still his main target, he confided in me. Still, finishing in 16th position was a very creditable effort considering that he hadn’t played at this high a level in the last five years due to studies.

Chan’s next tilt at an IM norm is at the closed Kuala Lumpur Masters tournament now on-going at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi. Chan and Abdul Haq Mohamad are our two representatives in this 10-play, round-robin event.

My impression of this third KL open chess tournament? It was very well run. Playing condition was superb although I felt that the lighting in the tournament hall could have been slightly brighter. 

Nevertheless, the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association and it’s technical director, Peter Long, must be commended for a job well done. It wasn’t easy to coordinate the entries and guests from all parts of the world, but the organizers pulled it off without any observable hitch. I’m looking forward to the fourth edition of the KL Open next year.

This event, played at the Olympic Sport Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, was sponsored by the Masterskill University College of Health Sciences and the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation. 

World chess   

Get set for the world chess championship between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov which starts on Apr 23 in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Anand, who turned 40 years old recently, is the defending champion but he is expected to face great pressure from Topalov who is five years younger. Both are dynamic players with lots of experience at top-level chess.

During the KL Open, I asked a few of the participating grandmasters who they thought would win the match. Opinions were mixed. Some supported Anand to win but those who looked at the match more objectively said that Topalov could be the victor because of his no-holds-barred sort of play. 

Anyway, with the match starting next week, readers can visit the official website at http://www.anand-topalov.com/ for the latest developments.

Up next  

Perak grand prix

It’s now confirmed that the third leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sek Men Teknik Kerian in Jalan Siakap, Bagan Serai on Apr 25. 

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. Participants are reminded that entries will close on Apr 22. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Mas’ud Hamzah (012.4681665).

Stonemaster chess

The one-day second Stonemaster amateur chess tournament for 2010, organized by Cerdik Catur Enterprise will be held at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur on Apr 25. Only players without a national rating or a national rating of below 1650 are allowed to play. Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM20 for school children. Closing date for entries is Apr 23. For details, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, seme_event@yahoo.com) or Cikgu Farah (017.9100836). 

 

Selangor open

The nation’s longest-running chess tournament is back! The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will hold their 37th Selangor open chess tournament at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 29 to May 2.

This nine-round, Fide-rated event will have 10 main prizes totalling RM6,000 with the winner getting RM2,200. There will also be various minor category prizes. Entry fees are RM80 for CAS members with Fide ratings, RM90 for CAS members without Fide ratings, RM90 for non-CAS members with Fide ratings and RM100 for non-CAS members without Fide ratings. Entries received after Apr 25 will be charged an extra RM20.

For enquiries, contact Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922) or Mat Zaki Yeop (017.2032051).

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. 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/)

 

Game of joy and creativity

… but don’t get too carried away.

Today is already the third day of the Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament. As a chess enthusiast, if you still haven’t heard about this event, where have you been?

It’s one of the country’s bigger chess tournaments this year. For one thing, there’s an unprecedented number of foreign players in the event and for another thing, there’s also a record number of titled players. Compared with last year’s tournament, this year’s KL Open is definitely richer in quality.

With these increased chances for grandmaster norms and international master norms in this tournament, will our local players be willing to rise to the occasion? More so, will they be willing to seize the opportunities? 

Unfortunately, my observation is that there are not enough local players registered for this event for reasons best known to them. Maybe they are working, maybe they don’t have enough leave, maybe they are saving their leave for other major events later in the year….I don’t know. Anyhow, among those that are playing in the tournament, let’s admit it: only a handful has the realistic chance of scoring a title norm. 

Nevertheless, our local players should strive hard to try and attain these norms – or at the very least, gain the experience from playing these foreign players – because after all, this tournament is organized specifically with these objectives in mind.

But please don’t get me wrong. The games are tough enough without me putting any additional pressure on the local players to perform. 

In a chess tournament, there is always the competition. The competitive effort to be better than the next guy. Maybe there are a few draws here and there but by and large, someone has to win a game and someone has to lose. And it gets tougher as the tournament progresses because players tire and you get to meet opponents closer to your own standards. 

You are no longer overwhelmed by people whose chess strengths are better than yours. At the same time, there are also no more weaker players for you to bully. As a tournament progresses, you meet opponents of relatively the same standard as you and that’s where the tough gets tougher.

Nevertheless at the end of the day, you must remember that it is only a game and not a matter of life and death. Therefore, forget about the results and go enjoy playing your chess. 

Once a round is over, forget about the results of that game and look forward to preparing for the next one. Euphoria is temporary and so is disappointment. However, what’s important is why should a player suffer needlessly through a tournament? 

If you love playing chess, it is not an ordeal when you lose a game. But if you fear losing a game or even your rating points, then taking part in competitions is not for you. If you harbour thoughts of getting unrealistic returns from your investment, which is the entry fee and all the incidental expenses, then a tournament such as this is not for you too. Set your expectations right and you’ll start enjoying life over the chessboard.

Have you heard of Damocles? No? According to classical Greek culture, he featured in an anecdote that is known as the Sword of Damocles. 

The Damocles in this story was a court employee living in the time of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a tyrant who lived about 2400 years ago. One day, Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so that Damocles could taste that fortune first-hand. 

At the evening’s banquet, Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. However at one point, he looked up to see a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horse hair. All at once, he paled and lost all appetite, and he asked leave of Dionysius, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.

This is only a story but the message is clear enough. The value of the sword is not that it falls but rather, that it hangs and threatens to strike.

So, what I’m trying to say is, don’t play chess like there is a sword of Damocles hanging over you. Winning and losing are part of the game – any game – but if you fear that the horse hair is going to snap any moment, then the psychological impact will definitely affect you and your game. Some people may disagree with me but that’s not the way that I would want to play chess.

I feel inspired enough to give you yet another story today. It’s about Confucius. More people will have heard about this famous Chinese sage instead of that relatively unknown classical Greek courtier. There are many wise sayings attributed to Confucius and this is one of them.

Confucius, it is said, once mentioned that if you choose a job you love, then you will never have to work a day in your life. Very profound, isn’t it? If you love your job, it becomes a passion, something you look forward to every day. A job? It’s something you have to do, whether or not you like it.

Put it into the context of chess, if chess is what you truly love, then playing chess is never a chore that needs to be done; chess becomes a game of joy and great creativity, regardless of the ultimate outcome. 

Coming back to the Kuala Lumpur open, the fourth and the fifth rounds are being held today: the fourth round starts at 9am while the fifth game begins at 4pm. Venue is the Grand Olympic Hotel in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur. 

Tomorrow, there’ll only be one game (the sixth round) in the morning. In the afternoon, get ready to rumble with that articulate British grandmaster, Nigel Short, who will be in town briefly for a simultaneous exhibition before he scoots off to Bangkok for a tournament there. The participants of this event will also have the chance to sit down with Short for a meal after the games are over.

There’ll be two more rounds on Sunday and one on Monday morning to round off the Kuala Lumpur Open. On Monday afternoon, a blitz tournament is scheduled before the official prize-giving ceremony at 6pm.

However, this is not all. I hear that the organizers are planning a KL Masters tournament immediately after the KL Open ends. This will be a small nine-round round-robin tournament to offer more opportunities for local players to try for a title norm or even to improve their ratings.

I am sure there are enough grandmasters and international masters from the KL Open who are willing to continue playing a few more days in Malaysia. The ultimate mix of players will decide if this KL Masters tournament ends up as a GM, IM, WIM or rating tournament!

Any questions? Just direct them to MCF Secretary Gregory Lau (greglau64@gmail.com) or KLCA Events Director Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).

Up next  

Perak grand prix

The third leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played in Parit Buntar on Apr 25. 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. Participants are reminded that entries will close on Apr 8. PICA will release the registration details later.

KL rapid grand prix

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. 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/)

 

Passing of a master

It is very easy to get excited when meeting revered players such as world champions, or even former world champions. When my friends and I were in Lucerne way back in 1982, our greatest reverence were reserved for two former world champions who turned up at the Chess Olympiad.  

One of them was Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov, officially the seventh world chess champion. His reign at the pinnacle of the chess world for only a very short period, 1957-1958, but nevertheless, he was still the world champion.

Smyslov died in Moscow last Saturday. He was 89 years old, having celebrated his birthday just three days earlier. He was warded in a Moscow hospital and he died there of heart failure. The first inkling of his death came when Moscow TV announced it in a news broadcast.

Vasily Smyslov could have been a professional opera singer. Blessed with a powerful baritone voice, he auditioned for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1950. When he was not accepted into the Theatre, he concentrated and excelled in his other love, chess. 

Yet, music was never far from his mind. He once said, "I have always lived between chess and music." It was not uncommon of him to give private impromptu recitals in the midst of a chess event. It was said that on occasions, he would be accompanied by his fellow chess grandmaster, Mark Taimanov, who also happened to be a professional concert pianist.

He produced a CD of Russian romances when he was 75 years old. And in May 2001, he finally took centre stage in the Bolshoi Theatre in celebration of Anatoly Karpov's 50th birthday. (Karpov is, of course, another former world chess champion. Recently, he announced his intention to contest for the World Chess Federation’s presidency.)

But enough of Smyslov’s music abilities. It’s his chess abilities that people remember Smyslov for and for a long while, from 1954 until 1958, his world chess championship matches with Mikhail Botvinnik was one of the few great rivalries in the modern game.

He was already a Candidate player in the world chess championship cycles on two occasions in 1948 and 1950 but in 1953, Smyslov won the Candidates tournament in Zurich to earn a shot at the defending champion, Botvinnik. That match ended drawn at 12-all and Botvinnik retained his world title.

In the next Candidates tournament in Amsterdam in 1956, Smyslov again showed his fine mettle by eliminating the other contenders to earn a second shot at the title.

This time, Smyslov was successful, beating Botvinnik by 12½-9½ in 1957. A rematch ensued the following year and Smyslov lost back his title with a 10½-12½ final score. Smyslov later said his health suffered during the return match, as he came down with influenza and pneumonia, but he also acknowledged that Botvinnik had prepared better.

Smyslov never got near to challenging Botvinnik or anyone in the world championship final again. By 1959, other rising stars were emerging in the old Soviet Union and they were surpassing their older colleagues with their results.

Nevertheless, Smyslov still featured occasionally in Candidates qualifying events right through until 1985. But more so, Smyslov achieved great successes in tournament play well through the 60s and 70s.

Maybe I should also mention that in 1983, he catalyzed one of the biggest chess rivalries at world championship levels. At the ripe age of 62, which was already a surprise for a player his age, he made his last appearance in the final stage of that year’s Candidates series. The winner of that match would have played with Karpov in 1984. However, Smyslov lost that match by 4½-8½. 

We all know what happened in 1984, don’t we? It was the start of Karpov’s six-year struggle with Garry Kasparov over the chessboard. Yes, Kasparov was the player that Smyslov could not overcome in 1983. 

Smyslov last appearance in a Candidates event was in 1985. He still played chess but it was clear that he was no longer up there with the world’s best players. 

In 1991, he won the inaugural world senior chess championship. However, his eyesight was starting to fail him and his swansong event was the 2001 Klompendans Veterans versus Ladies tournament in Amsterdam. He never played competitively after that.

According to an obituary in The Guardian newspaper, “Smyslov and his wife of more than half a century spent their final few years in near-poverty as his heart ailment deteriorated.” His wife survives him. With Smyslov’s death, the oldest surviving former world chess champion is now Boris Spassky.

Up next  

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 tomorrow and on Sunday. 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 are jointly organizing 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).

KL open

The Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament begins at the Grand Olympic Hotel in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur, on Apr 6. The seven-day event features some 120 participants from 21 countries, including at least 15 grandmasters and about 24 international masters and 20 Fide masters. 

As part of the activities, English GM Nigel Short, the former finalist of the world chess championship in 1993, will be in town on Apr 10 to give a simultaneous exhibition to a maximum of 20 players. More information available from the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association website at http://www.klchess.com or alternatively, contact Peter Long (013.3920920, peterlong@aol.asia) for details.

Perak grand prix

The second leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Chinese Recreation Club in Jalan Stesen, 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. Participants are reminded that entries will close on Apr 8. More information is available from Yunus (013.908129) or http://perakchess.blogspot.com