Festival highlights

For the better part of the last fortnight, I have been playing in the Malaysia Chess Festival. At the risk of disclosing my age to the whole wide world, I want to mention that I was not participating in the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship but rather, in the KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng senior open tournament.

These two tournaments, together with the AmBank chess challenge, were the main showcase events of this year’s 12-day festival at the Cititel MidValley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

All these ended yesterday but there is no respite for the organizers. It is just one tournament after another and today sees the festival continue with the one-day ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid open tournament. Then tomorrow and on Sunday, the festival ends with the traditional ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open championship.

Earlier this week, I heard from the organizers that more than 80 teams had already registered for the team event, and these were only the early entries. The late entries had yet to be counted and it was anticipated that when they do, the number of teams in this event may go well above one hundred, meaning a possibility of more than 500 people taking part in a chess competition! By comparison, there were “only” 70 teams last year.

As for the three showcase tournaments – all individual events – there were 98 participants in the Malaysia open championship, 40 players in the chess challenge tournament and 29 in the senior open tournament. The numbers may be down from last year but there was still a very respectable list of visiting grandmasters and international masters.

Sandwiched within the nine rounds of the three events was a spectacularly run Swensen’s rapid age group championship, a one-day event that managed to attract 385 junior players from within and outside the country. 

From experience, I can tell you that managing age group chess events can be quite harrowing for organizers. The prospect of controlling the younger players, especially those that are 12 years old and below, can test the nerves of even the coolest organizers. 

Can’t remember how it was like to be a 12-year-old or an eight-year-old kid? For one day, these children reminded me how we were all young once. Surely like us, they are all noisy, boisterous, innocent, excitable, exuberant and impatient, and they have the most impressionable minds on the planet.

But I also marvelled at the ease these young chess players were alternating between being very serious to being very playful. They were full of energy away from the chessboards but by golly, they held such concentration and determination when seated across the board from their opponents.

I should also mention here that among the 385 players was a group of 35 children from Tehran, Iran, none of them older than 14 years old. Together with their parents and chess coaches, they came on an eight-day holiday but had also arranged with the festival organizers to take part in the Swensen’s event as part of their holiday itinerary. 

At the closing ceremony, they even arranged to appear on stage with the sponsors and organizers just to receive their certificates of participation and for some of them, their winner’s medals. 

Looking back at that, I would think that it was very important to the Iranian parents and coaches that this would be an educational trip and the children had something to show and remind them that they had after all come to Malaysia to play chess.

Up next

Merdeka rapid events

Here is a reminder to all local chess players that the ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid open tournament will be played today and the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament tomorrow and on Sunday. Venue for both events is the Cititel MidValley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. 

It is a bit too late to register for the individual rapid event but for the team rapid event, the entry fees are RM300 for four-player teams and RM375 for five-player teams. Junior teams (all players to be below 16 years old) will be charged at RM200 for four-player teams and RM250 for five-player teams. However, do note that the organizers reserve the right to impose late fees on all last-minute entries. 

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia). 

 

Surprising turn

Being named as the top seed in any tournament can work two ways: this top billing can inspire the player to go on to win the event or make the player muck up his attempt to justify the ranking. 

I do observe that at most top chess events in the world, the highest rated player generally justifies his top ranking. Cases in point: at the Biel tournament in Switzerland, the Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen came through beautifully to win; at the Dortmund tournament in Germany, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik cut a swathe through his opposition to take the first prize; at the British championship in England, grandmaster Michael Adams won the play-off for the title; and at the Lake Sevan tournament in Armenia, grandmaster Baadur Jobava won on tie-break after finishing in joint first place.

But for every success in justifying the top seeding, there is also the disappointment. As examples, at the Hangzhou women’s grandmaster tournament, woman grandmaster Ju Wenjun won convincingly ahead of the women’s world champion, Hou Yifan; and at the Fide women’s grandm prix tournament in Rostov, Russia, grandmaster Koneru Humpy was overshadowed by a brilliant display by the same Hou Yifan.

Just earlier this week, the 50th world junior chess championship ended in Chennai, India. For the open event, the top-seeded Maxim Matlakov, a grandmaster from Russia, couldn’t live up to his ranking and after two crucial back-to-back losses, he finished well outside the prizewinners’ list. 

After Matlakov dropped out of contention, the number of front-runners chasing for the world junior championship title was reduced to just four players: the Polish grandmaster, Dariusz Swiercz, two Armenian grandmasters, Robert Hovhannisyan and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, and an Indian Fide master, A Koushik Girish.

Girish dropped out of the picture soon afterwards (but not before he qualified for a grandmaster title norm) and the front-runners were now reduced to only three. On the back of a series of seven consecutive wins, Hovhannisyan had taken over the lead after the ninth round but Ter-Sahakyan and Swiercz were right behind him.

The pressure was relentless as Ter-Sahakyan and Swiercz kept at Hovhannisyan’s heels for the next two rounds. Then, Ter-Sahakyan’s challenge fell apart when he suffered two consecutives losses in his final two games.

With only the final round to be played, Hovhannisyan was left to contend with only Swiercz. At this late stage in the tournament, the Armenian grandmaster held a slim half-point lead over his rival. Swiercz would have to win his final game but it would seem likely to any observer that all Hovhannisyan needed was a draw in the final round to secure the first place.

But chess with all its tie-break possibilities can spring surprises. Hovhannisyan made his draw and Swiercz won his game. Both players were now tied at the top. But surprise, surprise, according to the tie-break system, the draw had actually pulled Hovhannisyan down from the perch, giving him only second place and the silver medal. As a result, Swiercz ended up as the new world junior chess champion despite having trailed in the tournament until the last round was played.

This being the world junior chess championship, Malaysia was represented in this event by the current national champion, Lim Zhuo Ren. Although Lim had been an active player in local tournaments for several years, this event was his first outside the country. (As far as I’m concerned, participating in last year’s Singapore open doesn’t qualify as taking part in a foreign country.)

I think the strength of the event surprised him and taught him many lessons. Though he didn’t create any wave in Chennai, at the very least he played more or less according to his rating expectation. I’m sure that the lessons he brought back from India will be put to good practice at the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship which is in progress at the Cititel MidValley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking of which, today is the second day of the Malaysia Chess Festival of which the Malaysia open is one of the three main showcase events that are running until Aug 25. The other three events are the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng senior open tournament and the AmBank chess challenge. 

All these three events are played daily – do check with the organizers because sometimes there are two rounds in a day and sometimes only one round – but there are two rest days next week on Sunday and Wednesday.

On Sunday, though, the Svensen’s open rapid age group chess tournament will take place at the same venue.

Up next

Merdeka rapid events

Here is a reminder to all local chess players that the Merdeka individual rapid open tournament will be played on Aug 26 and the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament on Aug 27-28. Venue for both events is the Cititel MidValley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. 

For the individual rapid event, entry fees are RM20 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for others. For the team rapid event, entry fees are RM300 for four-player teams and RM375 for five-player teams. Junior teams (all players to be below 16 years old) will be charged at RM200 for four-player teams and RM250 for five-player teams. 

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia). 

 

Five days to go

There are just five days to go before the start of this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. Are you ready for it? As for me, I’m preparing to make my way down to Kuala Lumpur very soon.

Normally, I would just be spending two or three days at the festival just to soak in the occasion, observing the participants and basically enjoy the fun among the people whom I’ve known for decades. However since last year, I have become more involved in the festival as a somewhat reluctant participant.

Yes, I’ve been roped in again to play in the second Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng seniors open tournament. Not to say that I’m totally prepared for it; I have to admit that just like last year, I am far from being comfortable. Apart from looking at chess games live on the Internet and doing some brief analysis and commentaries for this chess column, I haven’t sat down with real chess pieces and feeling their weight in my hands. Not for quite some time, I haven’t!

So it is with some trepidation that I’m getting myself involved again. And I know that the competition level this year isn’t going to be any easier than the maiden event last year. I took a sneak look at the preliminary list of players yesterday and true enough, it looks tough even before the first move is pushed.

Last year’s tournament had 18 participants but so far, I’ve seen 24 names in the players’ list. I am sure that before the event starts on Aug 18, they may be more additions to this number.

One reason for the increasing number is, of course, more players are now more aware of the existence of this event. Last year was just the curtain raiser; this year is the real competition.

Another reason is that the organizers in their infinite wisdom had decided to lower the age of entry into this tournament from 55 to 50, thereby enabling more people to make the transition from playing in open events to this senior event. It’s a good thought but I should say that the organizers should rein themselves in or otherwise, the continuing lowering of age limit will defeat the idea of holding a senior tournament in the first place.

As for the other two main draws of the Malaysia Chess Festival, the organizers say that they are confident of at least 100 entries for the main event, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship, while 37 entries have been received for the AmBank chess challenge.

There are at least 17 grandmasters in the Malaysia open and this includes the defending champion, Vietnamese grandmaster Cao Sang. Also taking part are two woman grandmasters and nine international masters. The most prominent names among the Malaysians taking part will be Mas Hafizulhelmi and Lim Zhuo Ren.

These three main events will be held at the Cititel MidValley Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 18-25. They will all be played over nine Swiss rounds using a 90-minute plus 30-second increment time control. 

Apart from these long time control tournaments, there are also the Svensen’s open rapid age group chess tournament on Aug 21, of which more than 200 entries have been received so far, and the Malaysia Chess Festival open blitz tournament on Aug 25.

Up next

Merdeka rapid events

Here is a reminder to all local chess players that the Merdeka individual rapid open tournament will be played on Aug 26 and the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament on Aug 28-29. Venue for both events is the Cititel MidValley in Kuala Lumpur. 

For the individual rapid event, entry fees are RM20 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for others. For the team rapid event, entry fees are RM300 for four-player teams and RM375 for five-player teams. Junior teams (all players to be below 16 years old) will be charged at RM200 for four-player teams and RM250 for five-player teams. 

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).

 

No surprises

To round up on the other two major chess events that had concluded last week in Dortmund and Biel, it didn’t come as a surprise to many that both Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik and Norway’s Magnus Carlsen were convincing winners in their respective tournaments.

In Dortmund, Germany, Kramnik had been dominant in the first half of the double round-robin tournament and though he could not repeat his feat in the second half, the advantage that he brought forward was enough to see him through.

In the final round, he was even tempted to try his luck against the American grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura. Somewhere in the middlegame, he uncorked a brave sacrifice to open up his opponent’s defences around the king. 

A win would almost certainly have propelled Kramnik into the elite 2800 club of the live ratings list of which there are currently only three players: Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian.

But in this case, fortune did not favour the brave. There was always something in the position that enabled Nakamura’s defence to hold. Possibly, the draw could still be salvaged but at this late stage in the game, Kramnik was probably no longer interested to split the point.

Despite the loss in the final round, the Russian grandmaster still won the tournament with a big two-point margin over his rivals, the nearest of whom was the Vietnamese grandmaster, Le Quang Liem. Ruslan Ponomariov, a former Fide world champion, was third.

Meanwhile in Switzerland, the Biel tournament was won by Carlsen. This was also a double round-robin event which saw the players playing one another twice. However, the organizers had adopted a different scoring system that awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero point for a loss; something that we would probably be more familiar with in football competitions.

There are, of course, merits in trying something different for a change and in this case, the organizers were hoping to impress on the players – and the spectators – that drawing two games have less value than a win and a loss. It would call for fighting chess all the way, which was what the organizers achieved at the end.

Carlsen continued to put in an exemplary display in this event, despite showing a vulnerability in the first half when he lost to the French grandmaster, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However, this only setback did not cause Carlsen any real damage because his closest rival, Alexander Morozevich, was unlucky enough to lose to Fabiano Caruana. The final standings could have been different had Morozevich won that game. 

Here is Nakamura’s win against Kramnik from the final round of the Dortmund tournament.

Vladimir Kramnik – Hikaru Nakamura, Dortmund 2011

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. c5 Nf4 11. a4 f5 12. Bc4 fxe4 13. Nxe4 h6 14. Re1 Bg4 15. Ra3 g5 16. h3 Bh5 17. Bxf4 Rxf4 18. g3 Rf8 19. a5 Kh8 20. Kg2 Rb8 21. Qd2 b6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Nfxg5 (see diagram) 

23…hxg5 24. Qxg5 Bg6 25. cxd6 cxd6 26. Ra7 Rc8 27. Rxe7 Rxc4 28. f3 Rc2+ 29. Kg1 Rc8 30. Ra1 Rf7 31. Qxg6 Qxe7 32. Ng5 Kg8 33. Qh7+ Kf8 34. Ne6+ Ke8 35. Qh5 Bf6 36. g4 Qb7 37. Rd1 Qa6 38. Qg6 Ke7 39. g5 Bh8 40. Re1 Qa3 41. Nd4 Qxb4 42. Nf5+ Kf8 43. Rd1 Rc2 44. Nd4 exd4 45. Qxc2 Qc3 46. Qe4 Qe3+ 47. Qxe3 dxe3 48. Kg2 Bc3 49. Kf1 Rxf3+ 50. Ke2 Rxh3 0-1

Up next

Malaysia Chess Festival

According to the organizers of the Malaysian Chess Festival, 95 entries had been received for their showcase event, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship when entries officially closed on Monday.

We should see at least 15 grandmasters (including the defending champion, Vietnamese grandmaster Cao Sang), two woman grandmasters and nine international masters in the field. The most prominent names among the Malaysians taking part will be Mas Hafizulhelmi and Lim Zhuo Ren.

For the AmBank chess challenge tournament, there are 34 entries presently while 24 players have been registered for the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open championship. Uzbek grandmaster Dmitri Kayumov is back to defend his title but an interesting development is that the names of Filipino international master Luis Chiong, Malaysia’s Jimmy Liew and Ukranian international master Mikhail Vasilyev are included in the players’ list.

The organizers say that entries are still being accepted despite the official closing date but a 25 percent surcharge is imposed. And anyone submitting their entries within 24 hours of the start of these events will be subjected to a 50 percent surcharge. 

The three events will be held at the Cititel MidValley Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 18-25. Nine round Swiss, 90 minutes plus 30-second increment time control. 

As for the complimentary chess events, the closing date remains at Aug 15. The events here are the Swensen’s open rapid age group chess tournament on Aug 21 (six rounds, 25 minutes per game), the Merdeka individual rapid open chess tournament on Aug 26 (seven rounds, 25 minutes per game) and the ASTRO Merdeka rapid open team chess tournament on Aug 28-29 (nine rounds, 25 minutes per game).  

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).