SEA Games chess starts

By the time you read this, our chess contingent of five men and four women should have arrived in Indonesia for the SEA Games. 

Altogether, there are nine separate competitions and consequently, nine gold medals at stake. First off for our players will be the mixed pair standard chess, the men’s individual ASEAN chess and the men’s individual blindfold tournaments from tomorrow until Wednesday.

Then on Nov 17 to 20, the women’s and men’s individual rapid chess tournaments will be played. Almost concurrently on Nov 17 to 21, there will also be the women’s and men’s individual standard chess tournaments. And finally, wrapping up the chess events will be the women’s and men’s individual blitz chess tournaments on Nov 17.

Our players donning the Malaysian colours at the SEA Games chess competitions are international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi, Lim Yee Weng, Jimmy Liew and Mok Tze Meng, Sumant Subramaniam, woman candidate master Nur Nabila Azman, woman Fide master Nur Najiha Azman, Tan Li Ting and Camilia Johari.

I was rather intrigued by the inclusion of a blindfold chess competition as one of the events. When I asked Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Gregory Lau about this, he professed bafflement as there was very little information how the organizers would be going about with it. 

Would the players actually be blindfolded or would they be staring at a computer screen with a blank chess board or would they be passing their moves on little bits of paper through the arbiters or …?  

Lau could not say but he did confirm with me that Mok would be our representative in this event. “It is already challenging enough to compete in normal games. What more playing without sight of the board or the pieces? Nevertheless, Mok could be our best bet to play blindfold chess,” he told me. 

I would want to wish our national players the best of luck because they will certainly need to play at their best. In South-East Asia, the two formidable chess power houses are Vietnam and the Philippines. And of course, the host country, Indonesia, is not far behind. Traditionally, their players are very strong too.

It will be great if we are able to follow the progress of the SEA Games chess through the Internet but don’t be surprised if we are unable to do so. I’ve seen nothing from the official SEA Games website that would suggest any real-time coverage. If at all, we may have to be satisfied with the final results only.

Apart from the SEA Games, one other international chess event looming next week is the start of the women’s world chess championship match between 17-year-old Hou Yifan of China and 24-year-old Humpy Koneru of India in Tirana, Albania, from Nov 14 until Nov 30.

Hou is the reigning women’s world champion, having won the title last year in a 64-player knock-out event. The regulations of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) required her to defend the title this year against the winner of the FIDE women’s grand prix cycle 2009-2011 but since Hou herself had won the chess grand prix, runner-up Humpy Koneru became the challenger instead.

According to the world standings, Humpy Koneru is rated higher than Hou and as such, hopes are running high in India that their player may be able to wrest the title from the Chinese girl. If this does happen, India will be in a unique position to boast of two world chess champions – both the men’s and the women’s chess titles – at the same time. 

However, having a higher ranking does not automatically mean that winning the match is a certainty for the Indian. Neither does past success guarantee new success in the future. This is something that the Chinese player is fully aware of. In previous head-to-head encounters at classical time control, Hou holds a six-game margin over Humpy Koneru, having beaten her in eight games while losing only two games and drawing six others. However, chess fortunes can easily change in this match which is contested over 10 games.

Unlike the SEA Games chess, it will be possible for us to follow the games of the women’s world chess championship match live from the official website, http://www.wwcc2011tirana.com

Last week, I showed one Malaysian game from the world youth under-16 chess Olympiad. Here is another interesting game from the last round of the event. It has a nice display of tactics and Black was probably lost by the 17th move.

Roshan Singh (Malaysia) – Egor Procop (Moldova)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. f4 O-O 7. Nf3 a6 8. a4 e6 9. Bd3 exd5 10. cxd5 Re8 11. O-O Nbd7 12. Nd2 Rb8 13. Nc4 Nb6 14. e5 dxe5 15. fxe5 Nfxd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Nd6 Rf8 18. Bc4 Bxe5 (see diagram) 19. Nxf7 Bxh2+ 20. Kxh2 Qh4+ 21. Kg1 Qxc4 22. Nh6+ Kg7 23. Rxf8 Kxf8 24. Qf3+ Ke7 25. Bg5+ Kd7 26. Rd1 Kc6 27. Nf7 Kb6 28. a5+ Ka7 29. Rxd5 Be6 30. Rxc5 Qb4 31. Qe3 Ka8 32. Nd8 Bf5 33. Rc7 h6 34. Nc6 1-0

Up next

Penang age group

The Penang Chess Association is holding this year’s Penang age group chess championship for boys and girls over five Sundays. Six rounds, time control of 15 to 40 minutes per game, depending on the age group. The fourth of the six events, for players under 13 years old, will be played this Sunday. On Nov 20, the under-15 and under-17 events will wrap up the championship.

All the events are played at the clubhouse of the Residents’ Association of Bayan Baru in Bandar Bayan Baru, Penang. Entry fees: RM15 (PCA members) and RM30 (non-members). For inquiries, contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@yahoo.com or estan64@gmail.com) or visit http://penangchess.com for more information.

National scholastics

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organize this year’s national scholastics age group chess championships for boys and girls over two weekends. The under-seven, under-nine and under-11 age group events will be played tomorrow and on Sunday, while the under-13 and under-15 events are scheduled for Nov 19-20. Seven rounds for each event, time control of 60 minutes per game. 

Venue will be the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre at the Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur. Entry fees: RM35 (under-seven, under-nine and under-11 events) and RM40 (under-13 and under-15 events). Closing date is Nov 6 after which, entry fees will double. 

The respective age group champions will be selected as the country representative at the Asian schools chess championships in New Delhi, India on Dec 16-23. For inquiries, contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542).

Giant Tampoi chess

The Johor Bahru Chess Association, The Giant Hypermarket Tampoi and the Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing their second Giant Tampoi junior chess tournament for under-16 and under-12 category players this Sunday. 

Venue is the Giant Hypermarket at Tampoi, Johor. Seven rounds, 25 minutes time control. Entry fees are RM15 (under-16 players) and RM12 (under-12 players). Closing date is Nov 11. Call Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com) for more details.

 

Asian amateur open

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) will organize the second Asian amateur open and women chess championship in Kuala Lumpur from Nov 25 to Dec 1. The tournament is open to only Asian players who are either unrated or with an international rating of not more than 2100 points. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move.

Entry fees are USD125 for players with international ratings and USD150 for non-rated players. Malaysians wishing to play will be charged at RM412 and RM495 respectively. Closing date for entries is extended to Nov 14. 

Top prizes for the open section are USD1,500 (about RM4,500) for first, USD1,000 (about RM3,000) for second and USD800 (about RM2,400) for third. There are six other minor prizes that go down to USD200 (about RM600). For the women, there are four prizes with the best of them set to win USD400 (about RM1,200). There are also identical prizes for the four best unrated players.

All inquiries and requests for entry forms to the event secretariat (najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) or the Malaysian Chess Federation (msianchess2010@gmail.com).

Penang chess league

This year’s Penang Chess League will be held on Dec 3 and 4. Pending confirmation from the Penang Chess Association, there may be a change in the playing venue. The two-day team event is open to teams from four broad categories: public sector, factories, institutions of learning and others. 

Each team shall comprise four players and an optional reserve. Average rating per team during play should not be more than 2100 points. Seven rounds, time control of one hour play-to-finish for each game. Entry fees are RM150 (open category), RM90 (under-18 teams), RM60 (under-12 teams). Closing date is Nov 29. 

More details available from Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@yahoo.com or estan64@gmail.com) or visit http://penangchess.com for more information.