A true champion

If a champion is someone who has won a competition, how would you define a true champion? To me, it’s very easy: a true champion is one who successfully defends a title won in the previous competition.

There aren’t many such champions around but one that comes to mind in recent chess history is Vietnam’s leading grandmaster, Le Quang Liem.

Le is 20 years old. At this age in chess, you may actually be considered a veteran at the game already. In 2005 when Le was 14 years old, he became the Under-14 world youth chess champion. In 2006 and 2008, he played in the Vietnamese national team at the Chess Olympiads.

In February last year, he was a joint winner of the Moscow open tournament and he then immediately followed up this performance with an equally impressive victory at the ninth Aeroflot open chess tournament in Moscow.

So we know that Le is capable of winning some pretty strong chess tournaments. But is he a true champion? By my reckoning, yes. Just last month, he repeated his feat at the 10th edition of the Aeroflot open. Although technically, Le and two other players finished with equal points at the top, the Vietnamese was adjudged the winner on a better tie-break.

Despite being the defending champion, Le did not enter the tournament as the top seed. Indeed, he was over-shadowed so much by the higher-ranked players that he started this tournament only as the 19th seed. 

The top seed was the Russian-born American grandmaster, Gata Kamsky, and then there were also Sergei Movsesian, Dmitry Jakovenko, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nikita Vitiugov who dominate the world chess ranking list.

But the chess goddess can sometimes smile on the underdogs and in this case, she smiled on Le. While the seeds above him fell off one by one, he played steadily to gain ground on his rivals. He was helped by great results in his first four games which he won, and one of them, in the fourth round, was against no other than Kamsky himself.

Le Quang Liem (2664) – Gata Kamsky (2730)

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qb3 e6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Bf4 a5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.e3 Nb6 9.Bd3 Bg4 10.Ne5 Bh5 11.0-0 a4 12.Qc2 Bg6 (There is nothing to recommend about Black’s opening strategy in which he has lost time with his rook pawn, knight and bishop. White has a good lead in piece development and he now takes aim at Black’s uncastled king. But first, White strikes to open up the centre.) 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Be7 (It is a bit too late for this move. Here’s a little combination which should not be too difficult to spot.) 16.Bxc6+ bxc6 17.Qxc6+ Nd7 (17…Kf8 18.Qxb6 Qxb6 19.Nd7+ and White will be two pawns up.) 18.Nxg6 (18.Nxd7 does not regain the piece as Black plays 18…Rc8 first.) 18…hxg6 19.Rfe1 0-0 (This is not castling into safety.) 20.Bc7 Nb8 (20…Qe8 21.d5) 21.Bxd8 (Or 21.Qxa8 Qxc7 22.Qxa4 with rook and three passed pawns for two pieces in an endgame.) 21...Nxc6 22.Bxe7 Nxe7 23.Rxe7 Rfd8 24.Rd1 a3 25.b3 Rac8 26.Kf1 Rd5 27.Rd2 (Black sees the light; the game is lost for him.) 1-0 

After this win, Le took two draws before winning in the seventh round. Then disaster struck in the eighth round. He lost to Ivan Cheparinov and thereby allowed the Bulgarian grandmaster to level up with him on equal points. But this was as far as Cheparinov could go. In the final round, he succumbed to a bout of chess blindness and lost. 

In the meantime, Le assured himself of the top prize by drawing his game, knowing that any one else that finished with the same points would lose out on the tie-break. 

Up next

National age group

The Malaysian Chess Federation, the Perak International Chess Association and Universiti Teknologi Petronas will jointly organise this year’s national age group chess championships at the Chancellor Hall, Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak on Mar 12-14. There will be six age group events for boys and girls – under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – running concurrently. Eight rounds of 45-minute games with 30-second increments per move. Entry fees: RM25 (under-8, under-10 and under-12 events), RM35 (under-14, under-16 and under-18 events). Entry fees are doubled after Mar 5 deadline. For more information, contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605).

National closed

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organise this year’s national closed and national women’s closed championships with the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 16-20. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes, plus increment time of 30 seconds per move. Entry fees: RM60 (players with Fide rating above 2000), RM100 (players rated between 1600 and 1999), RM150 (players rated below 1599 or without a Fide rating). Players representing their states are eligible for a 50 percent discount on entry fees, subject to conditions. For more information, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade shopping mall, Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre and Cerdik Chess Enterprise are jointly organising the 10th Klang Parade open chess tournament at the shopping mall in Jalan Meru, Klang on Mar 19 and 20. The tournament on Mar 19 is for players under the age of 18, while the event on Mar 20 is an open competition. Entry fees for the age group tournament are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (players under 18 years old). For the open event, the entry fees are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (all other players). Contact Siti Nor Faiza (03.33437889 office hours) or Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com) for details.

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).