In full swing

I have been here at the Malaysia Chess Festival at the Cititel Midvalley in Kuala Lumpur since Tuesday: much later than I would have liked since I missed all the fun and bustle of both the ASTRO Merdeka individual and team rapid chess tournaments but there is compensation.

I am able to soak in the full atmosphere of this year’s Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open tournament and the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge. Both events are currently in progress and to boot, there is also the first Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international senior open tournament going on at the same time. 

And here’s a little admission. A few weeks ago, the organizers had been suggesting that I take part in the senior event. No, no, no, I had told them, I won’t be taking part. But it’s all good clean fun, they pleaded. And besides, “many of your friends will be competing too.” 

I tell you, the pressure was unrelenting but it was all very appealing, to say the very least. To cut a long story short, they won the war but my battles are only starting. Truth is, I haven’t sat down in front of the chess board for quite a while. When rust sets in, it takes more than sandpaper to polish it off. 

So I’m quite certain that I’ll be making a fool of myself at the senior event but what the hey. Like what I was told, it will all be good clean fun, win or lose, as long as we confine the battles to the chess board and keep our friendship off it.

Earlier, as I had expected, entries for the ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid chess event swelled to 107 participants due to the last-minute registration by foreign players who had arrived early for the Malaysia open. 

Saidali Yuldachev, the seasoned grandmaster from Uzbekistan, secured the top prize despite a draw with local youngster Irfan Haqqim in the opening round. After that slight hiccup, Yuldachev went full speed ahead to win his remaining games which included victories against German grandmaster Gerhard Schebler in the sixth round and Uzbek international master Khamrakulov Dzhurabek in the final round. 

Schebler, who led the event until his loss to Yuldachev, had to be contented with the second prize. In third place was Fide master Nicholas Chan who was undefeated and impressive with five wins (including one against Uzbek grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev in the final round) and two draws in the one-day tournament. Another Uzbek player, Vakhidov Jahongir, finished fourth.

Jointly fifth to seventh were international master Mok Tze Meng, grandmaster Ziaur Rahman and Sutarno; and rounding up the top 10 prize-winners were Dzhumaev, Dzhurabek and Carlos Leonardo.

Amidst all the excitement of the festival’s opening tournament, a hastily arranged one-day visit to Malaysia by World Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov passed by almost unnoticed by the local chess fraternity.

Kirsan was en route to Manila but he made a brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur to visit the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic Council of Malaysia where he witnessed a symbolic flag transfer ceremony to the Malaysian Chess Federation delegation taking part in next month’s World Youth Championships 2010 in Greece.

Meanwhile, more action was seen at the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid chess tournament which attracted 70 teams, a modest increase of four teams from last year’s event. Considering that each team consisted of at least four players, tables and players filled the playing venue from wall to wall. 

Noticeably, there were fewer foreign teams from Indonesia and the Philippines in this year’s competition but from my observation, the strength of the event has not been diluted. In fact, the increased number of mixed teams that fielded local talents with foreign players had balanced up the event and helped it retain its competitive fervour.

This year, the round-by-round pairings were made using match points instead of game points, which brought a refreshing change to the scoring system. What this meant was that a team winning by a crushing 4-0 score would be given the same match points as another team that scraped through by 2½-1½. 

There are advantages and disadvantages of this system – which has already been utilized in other team events worldwide, including the biennial World Chess Olympiad – but the main reason in its favour is that it minimizes the rollercoaster pairing fluctuations when teams are heftily pushed up or pulled down the pairing tables based on the results of a single round. 

By the way, the event was won by Chesskidz Men’s Team – fronted by two Filipino grandmasters working in Singapore, Nelson Mariano and Bong Villamayor – which won eight matches and drew one for a total match point of 17, two match points more than their closest rivals, Bengal Tigers. Third place went to the Crusher team. The best Malaysian team was SMS Gold which were four match points behind the winners.

Incidentally, if this event had been scored using the traditional game point method, Chesskidz Men’s Team would still have emerged as the winners. However the second spot would have gone to Crusher and the Jakarta B team would have been third.

Up next  

Malaysia chess festival

Here is a summary of the remaining events at this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. All games are played at the Cititel Midvalley ballroom:

a)Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open: Fide-titled event, nine rounds, ongoing until Sep 7;

b)AmBank Malaysia chess challenge: Fide-rated event, nine rounds, ongoing until Sep 7;

c)Merdeka national age group rapid open: seven rounds, Sep 5, medals as prizes, RM25 entry fee;

d)Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open: Fide-rated event, nine rounds, ongoing until Sep 7;

e)ASTRO simultaneous chess display: Sep 3, 10 grandmasters and international masters against 250 players below 16 years old, entry fee RM20 per player per ASTRO account;

f)Malaysia blitz open: details to be announced later, Sep 7.

More details from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com).

UTP rapid chess

As part of Universiti Teknologi Petronas’ convocation programme this year, there will be a national rapid chess open tournament at the main hall of the university’s campus in Tronoh, Perak on Oct 9-10. The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association are the co-organisers with the University. Entry fees are RM35 for adults and players below 18 years old, RM30 for players below 16 years old and RM25 for players below 12 years old. More information available from Saeksarn Sinnaso (saeksarnskill@gmail.com) or Wan Fatin Izyan (eyanzdaqpe@gmail.com).