Death by ringtone

If you had been watching the final round of the Chess Olympiad games live via the Internet from Khanty Mansiysk on Sunday, surely you would have noticed something amiss in the match between Malaysia and Bahrain. 

I was greatly puzzled while watching Mas Hafizulhelmi’s game. Although he was playing with the black pieces, he had already obtained a very comfortable position after 80 minutes of play . The game was transitioning from the opening stage to the middle game and it was starting to get exciting when abruptly it ended and a loss appeared against our player’s name. 

Of course, I couldn’t see what was happening in Khanty Mansisyk. All of us who were logged into the Chess Olympiad web server could only see this terminated chess board position with a terrible 1-0 score (see Diagram One). With no live video feed and no way to reach our players, we were all kept in deep suspense.

To make matters worse, I could see that Mok Tze Meng, Peter Long and Gregory Lau were all still playing as normal. Was there something wrong in Khanty Mansiysk? I was hoping that perhaps there was a problem with the organiser’s chess display software. But what if there was no problem and Mas Hafizul had indeed lost his game? If it was so, it would now need a big effort from the rest of our boys to overcome Bahrain.

To cut a long strong short, yes, our team managed to beat Bahrain but it was by the slimmest of margin. Long played out his game to a draw and then Lau uncorked a tactical surprise to bring in a whole point and keep the match level. Then, Mok settled matters with a win as well.

But what actually happened in Mas Hafizul’s game? It was not until about two days later that word filtered back from Khanty Mansiysk that he had fallen victim to what many chess players loosely call the dreaded Nokia Gambit: a mobile phone going off during a chess tournament.

According to rules of chess, all mobile devices are banned from chess tournaments. If any mobile device – and this includes a mobile phone – were to sound during play, the offending player would lose the game immediately. 

Since 2003, many chess players have found out to their deepest regret that the ringing mobile phone would bring about instant death. No two ways about it. In that year, the former Fide world champion, Ruslan Ponomariov, was the high profile offender when his mobile rang during a game. It was his 20th birthday and someone had called him to wish him Happy Birthday without knowing that his game was going on. An immediate loss.

Two years ago in another tournament, Nigel Short suffered the same fate when his new mobile phone tootled when it ran out of battery juice. Another immediate loss, another victim.

And in between those two celebrated cases, countless other players – both known and unknown – have also lost their games to a ringing mobile. Several years ago in Penang, I remember that there was this one same player who lost two games in two separate tournaments because his mobile phone went off. He never learnt his lesson the first time.

But by and large, chess players are getting smarter. They now remember to turn their mobile to the silent mode before they sit down at the chess board. Mas Hafizul, it seemed, had also done so. He confirmed having put his mobile into the silent mode. 

However, he did not reckon with his mobile phone’s alarm going off. Apparently, it doesn’t matter whether or not a mobile phone is in silent mode. When it’s time for the alarm to go off, it will. Mas Hafizul had set his alarm to go off daily at 12.20p.m. because he wanted to be reminded of lunch time. Unfortunately, the final round of the Chess Olympiad had started earlier at 11a.m. instead of the usual 3p.m. 

So, after 80 minutes into his game, amidst all the silence in the vast tournament hall, Mas Hafizul’s mobile suddenly woke up at 12.20p.m. I’m sure everyone in the Malaysian team were equally alarmed but none more alarmed than the unlucky mobile phone’s owner himself. No way could he extricate himself from this mess. And there was no other result than an immediate loss.

That explained everything. That explained why, after only 23 moves into the game and in an otherwise interesting position, the Malaysian team suddenly found themselves one game down. It wasn’t that our player was outplayed. No, he just became the latest victim of the dreaded mobile phone.

White: Mok Tze Meng (Malaysia)

Black: Khalil Bukhalaf (Bahrain)

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. g3 Bf5 7. Bg2 e6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Re1 O-O 10. d4 Nd7 11. c4 Nb6 12. Qb3 Qd7 13. a4 Rfd8 14. a5 Nc8 15. Bf4 Ne7 16. Ra4 Ng6 17. Bd2 Rab8 18. Bc3 e5 19. Raa1 exd4 20. Bxd4 b6 21. Qc3 Qd6 22. c5 bxc5 23. Bxc5 Qc7 24. Nd4 Bd7 25. a6 Bf8 26. Bxf8 Kxf8 27. Bxc6 Rdc8 28. Rac1 Bxc6 29. Qa3+ Kg7 30. Rxc6 Qd7 31. Rd6 Qc7 32. Qf3 Rb6 33. Qxf6+ 1-0 (After 33…Kh6 34. Qh4+ Kg7 35. Nf5+ Kg8 36. Qf6, checkmate follows.)

White: Gregory Lay (Malaysia)

Black: Husain Ayyad (Bahrain)

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d6 3. g3 Nbd7 4. Bg2 e5 5. c4 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. O-O O-O 9. Qc2 c6 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. b3 Re8 12. Ba3 e4 13. Nd2 e3 14. fxe3 Ng4 15. Nf1 Qa5 16. Bb2 Nc5 (See Diagram Two. The start of an unfortunate adventure) 17. h3 Nxe3 18. Nxe3 Rxe3 19. b4 (An absolute spiffy tactical shot which Black did not see coming) 19…Qxb4 20. Rd8+ Bf8 21. Qd2 Re7 22. Nd5 Rxe2 23. Nf6+ Kg7 24. Nh5+ Kg8 25. Rxf8+ 1-0 (It’s checkmate after 25…Kxf8 26. Qd8+ Re8 27. Bg7+ Kg8 28. Qxe8.)

Up next  

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 tomorrow and on Sunday. The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association are the co-organisers with the University. Seven round, 45-minute time control. Entry fees are RM35 (adults and players below 18 years old), RM30 (players below 16 years old) and RM25 (players below 12 years old). Closing date for entries is Oct 2. More information available from Saeksarn Sinnaso (017.5514682, saeksarnskill@gmail.com), Zulaizat (013.4666195) or visit http://nationalrapidchess.blogspot.com

UPSI open

The Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) will organize an open chess tournament at their university campus in Tanjung Malim, Perak on Oct 23-24. Seven rounds, one-hour time control games. Entry fees are RM30 (open), RM15 (school children) and RM10 (UPSI students). More details from Mohd Huzairi (013.5959350, mohdhuzairi89@yahoo.com) or Izza Hasrina (012.7412326). 

Penang open

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the Penang Heritage City international open chess championship at the Penang City Hall in George Town, Penang on Dec 8-12. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM5,000 first prize. Nine rounds, full time control. Entry fees for the open tournament are RM50 (Fide-rated player), RM150 (PCA member) and RM180 (others), while for the challengers section, they are RM30 (Fide-rated player), RM50 (PCA member) and RM80 (others). Contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@streamyx.com) for more details.

MSSM-Masterskill chess

The Polgar Chess Asia will organise the MSSM-Masterskill national scholastics chess championship at the Masterskill University College campus in Ipoh, Perak on Nov 8-12 in association with the Ministry of Education, Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia and the Malaysian Chess Federation. 

There will be six age group events: under-13 open and girls sections, under-11 open and girls sections, and under-9 open and girls sections, and each state, through their respective schools’ sports councils, may enter one official player for each section. individual non-official entries are also accepted with a RM100 entry fee. 

The respective winners get the right to be the official Malaysian representatives at the Asian schools chess championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Dec 16-23. More details available from Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia) or Gregory Lau (greglau64@gmail.com). 

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship in Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.