Rivalry renewed

Christmas is tomorrow. I hear the best time to visit Singapore is during Christmas. In this part of the world, the street decorations in this island republic are reputedly second to none and tourists from all over the world flock there to take in this experience.

Actually, Malaysians are in the best position to experience Singapore’s Christmas lights and they don’t have to be chess players. But if they happen to be one, then there is the added bonus of the Singapore international chess festival. 

This chess festival, now in its seventh year, starts on Sunday. Where previously the Singapore open chess tournament had been its main event, the organizers of the festival have introduced two new events this time.

The first one is the ASEAN open and women’s chess championships and the other is the Singapore open and girls’ international youth championships. 

The last I checked into the Singapore Chess Festival’s website earlier this week, there were at least 28 names in the ASEAN open, led by top-ranked Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem. 

The Vietnamese players are set to make a big impression on this event as it is not only Le that means business but also their other participating grandmasters: Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Cao Sang, Dao Thien Hai and Nguyen Anh Dung. Malaysian chess players know them only too well.

Throw in other familiar names like Susanto Megaranto, Richard Bitoon and Cerdas Barus, and this event actually becomes very competitive. There are lots of chances for hopefuls to gain their grandmaster and other international title norms and in fact, this is a main reason why our own Mas Hafizulhelmi and Edward Lee are playing in this event.

With the ASEAN open now taking top billing, the Singapore open has of course been pushed down the pecking list of importance. Nevertheless at the last count, I see at least 75 names in the participant’s list which includes seven Malaysians, among whom are Collin Madhaven, Lim Zhuo Ren, Lim Kian Hwa and Tan Li Ting. 

One other event that has been included into the chess festival is the annual match between Singapore and Malaysia. This match has a very long history, going back to 1985. This year, both sides are putting up 38-player teams and as always, it is a test of our relationship.

The focus will be on the six men and four women who prop up the team at the top. Then there are the 12 boys and 12 girls (from under-18 to under-8 age groups). Supporting them will be four veteran players (two above 50 years old and two above 45 years old).

Close friendly neighbours though we are, friendship takes a definite back seat when it comes to this match. We only want to be better than them. Naturally, they also only want to be better than us.

But seldom have I seen chess rivalry taken to such dizzying heights. In past editions of the match, I’ve heard of harsh opinions being exchanged, only to be regretted later. 

The heat of battle is always an anxious moment. Both sides are tallying the scores as the individual game results come in. There are smiles from one side of the causeway. Naturally, there are scowls from the other side. No surprise then that sometimes, emotions do spill over. 

When this happens, it’s normally not the players who over-react. No, players are too circumspect, even the junior ones. They always accept the results, win or lose. They know that it’s only a game. So it’s usually the non-players that go too far in venting their feelings. 

Of course, this shouldn’t be the case that all. Winners should be gracious and losers should be big enough to accept the results. After all, there’s always another year to take up cudgels again.

This year as the Malaysians make their way across the causeway, it is no secret that Singapore holds the upper hand in the 21 years that we’ve been playing this match. Will our friendly southern neighbours win again when the match starts on Dec 31 or will they “give chance” this time? We’ll know very soon.

Who’s the new women’s champ?  

As the women’s world chess championship ended only yesterday in Turkey, I’m not in a position to report on the results. However, I’m able to say (with unusual full confidence) that there is a new women’s chess champion and she is from China. 

You see, not only was the defending champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk, knocked out in one of the earlier rounds, all the other hopefuls other than Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei were eliminated too.

This included one of the very top seeds, India’s Humpy Koneru. She was blown away in the semi-finals by the 16-year-old Hou. The Indian player had already lost a match once to the Chinese two years ago at the women’s world championship in Nalchik. At that time she also lost the first game of the semi-final match but succeeded to win the second game. This time, it was different. 

As I wrote this column earlier in the week, the four-game match between Hou and Ruan had yet to start. However with a difference of 111 ratings points, Hou is definitely the favourite to beat Ruan. I’ll be very surprised if she didn’t.

Up next  

Here’s a Christmas tournament for you: the Stonemaster 1Malaysia chess open, organized by Cerdik Chess Enterprise at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre in the Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Seven-round Swiss event, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM25 (adult) and RM20 (school children). More dtails from Fadli (014.2312370, http://cerdikcatur.blogspot.com).