Major event

If you have read last week’s column carefully, you will have realized that this year’s national closed and national women’s closed championships are just around the corner. In fact, only about a month away.

According to the Malaysian Chess Federation, the two competitions will be played concurrently at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Mar 16-20.

In previous years, the two events tend to be held in the middle of the year. Last year, for example, the championships were played in June. This year, though, they have been brought forward to the first quarter of the year, and they coincide with the school calendar’s mid-semester break.

The main reason for this is that the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) is co-organizing the two championships with the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC). The DATCC had undergone some recent internal reorganization and can now accommodate more events. Having more events also mean having to draw up a chess calendar and adhere more strictly to it.

While going through the rules and regulations last week, I noticed a radical change to the treatment of past national champions. They are no longer given free entries into either competition, if they ever choose to play. The only exception is given to the defending champions and even then, this only applies if they confirm their entries before the end of this month. Otherwise they, like all other participants, will be subjected to an entry fee.

This new regulation actually makes a lot of sense to me because I am sure that the organizers will not miss them. It is a great shame that in all these years, save for perhaps one or two of the former champions, I hardly see any of the others. They had moved up the ranks from anonymity to visibility, and the least they could do was to contribute back to the structure that placed them there. 

So what of the entry fees?  

For starters, the entry fee for players with FIDE international ratings of above 2000 is RM60; those with FIDE ratings of between 1600 and 1999 are required to pay RM100; while those rated below 1599 or who are unrated will be charged at RM150. A 20 percent discount will apply if a participant registers before this Sunday (Feb 20) while a 50 percent late fee will be imposed on all entries registered after Mar 13.

Each of the state chess associations affiliated to the MCF is eligible to register one player for each competition at a 50 percent discount until the end of this month. After Mar 1, the state representative will need to pay normal rates, and after Mar 13, a late fee of RM50 applies. However, any state representative with a FIDE rating of above 2200 is given free entry.

For more information on the two competitions, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) for the national closed championship and Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605 or haslindahr@yahoo.com) for the national women’s closed championship.

Meanwhile, the DATCC has also made known that they are organizing a one-day Lim Chong memorial tournament at their premises on Mar 27. “He was an avid chess player and a noted columnist for The Malay Mail for more than a decade beginning 1983,” said Hamid Majid who is organizing this event. 

“Even when he stopped writing for the paper, he continued to attend or play in tournaments and lend his support to various chess organizations,” he added. Later, Lim was to join Bernama as a sub-editor of the national news agency’s economic news service. He died of a heart attack last November while enroute from London to Kuala Lumpur.

This idea for this tournament was mooted recently by the Malaysian Chess Federation’s honorary life president, Datuk Tan Chin Nam, who offered to match and donate “ringgit for ringgit” all entry fees collected for the event. More than 100 participants are expected to register for this one-day tournament which, incidentally, would fall on Lim’s 57th birthday.  

For more details, contact Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). The entry form is available from http://datcchess.blogspot.com 

Tata Steel

Two games of interest from the recently concluded Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.

White: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2715)

Black: Wang Hao (2731) 

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3 Be7 15.Bd2 Nb8 16.a5 a6 17.Rfc1 Nc6 18.Ne1 Qd7 19.Bc2 Qd8 20.Qh3 Bg6 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.Qg4 Rc8 23.Nf3 Qd7 24.Bg5 Bb4 25.Qh4 Ne7 26.g4 Rxc1+ 27.Rxc1 Rc8 28.Kg2 Nc6 29.Rd1 Bxa5 30.Rd3 Nb4 31.Rb3 Qb5 32.Be7 (White has a tremendous game going for him. With this move, he clears the g5 square for his knight, after which checkmate would seem inevitable. However, Black had seen a little further and he saves the game with an unlikely move.) 32...Nd3!! (see diagram) 

33.Rxb5 (Now, if White had played 33.Rxd3, Black has the resource 33...g5 and 34…Qxd3 which protects the h7 square. After White accepts the black queen, the game quickly ends with a draw.) 33...Nf4+ 34.Kg3 Ne2+ 35.Kh3 Nf4+ 36.Kg3 Ne2+ 37.Kg2 Nf4+ ½-½ 

The former world chess champion, Vladimir Kramnik, seems to find it difficult to overcome Magnus Carlsen in recent tournaments. He fell again to the Norwegian grandmaster at the Tata Steel tournament.

White: Vladimir Kramnik (2784) 

Black: Magnus Carlsen

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2 d5 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.Nf3 c6 8.0-0 b6 9.Rc1 0-0 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Na3 Bb7 12.Nb5 a6 13.Nd6 Qb8 14.Qb4 a5 15.Qa3 Ba6 16.Ne5 b5 17.Qxa5 Qxd6 18.Rc6 Qb8 19.Rxa6 Rxa6 20.Qxa6 Nxe5 21.dxe5 Qxe5 22.Qxb5 Rb8 23.Qd3 Rxb2 24.Qe3 [In the last few moves, Kramnik’s play had been suspect. He now realizes that he is going to lose a pawn. This is his best continuation, to exchange queens and go into an endgame where he can try to push forward his a-pawn.) 24...Qxe3 25.fxe3 Rxe2 26.a4 Rc2 27.a5 Rc7 28.a6 Ra7 29.Bf1 Kf8 30.Rb1 Ke7 31.Rb7+ Rxb7 32.axb7 Nd7 33.Kf2 Kd6 34.Bb5 Nb8 35.Be8 Ke7 36.Bb5 f6 37.Kf3 Kd6 38.Be8 Kc7 39.Bf7 Kxb7 40.Bxe6 Kc6 41.Bg8 h6 42.Kg4 Nd7 43.Kf5 Ne5 44.h3 Kc5 45.g4 (According to Carlsen’s own assessment of this position, 45.Ke6 would have been enough for a draw. After 45.g4, Carlsen patiently grinds out the win.) 45...Kd6 46.Bh7 Ke7 47.Bg8 g6+ 48.Kf4 Nf7 49.Bh7 g5+ 50.Kg3 Nd6 51.Bg8 Ne4+ 52.Kg2 Kd6 53.Kf3 Kc5 54.Bh7 Nc3 55.Bd3 Kb4 56.Ba6 Kb3 57.Bb7 Kc2 58.Ba6 Kd1 59.Bb7 Kd2 60.Bc6 Ke1 61.Bb7 Kf1 62.Ba8 Kg1 63.Kg3 Ne4+ 64.Kf3 Nd2+ 65.Kg3 Nf1+ 66.Kf3 Nd2+ 67.Kg3 Nc4 68.Bxd5 Nxe3 69.Bb7 Nf1+ 70.Kf3 Kh2 71.Kf2 Nd2 72.Bg2 Nc4 73.Bf1 Ne5 74.Ke3 Kg1 75.Be2 Kg2 76.Ke4 Kxh3 77.Kf5 Kh4 78.Bd1 Nc4 79.Ke4 Nd6+ 80.Kd5 f5 (White captures the knight with 81.Kxd6 but he will lose the game after 81…fxg4 82.Ke5 g3 83.Bf3 Kh3 84.Kf6 g4 85.Bc6 g2) 0-1

Up next

USM Nibong Tebal open

The Engineering Campus of the Universiti Sains Malaysia will  organize their USM 1Malaysia open tournament at the Dewan Utama USM (Kampus Kejuteraan) in Nibong Tebal, Penang, this Sunday. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees for Penang Chess Association members: RM18 (adults), RM16 (under-18) and RM13 (under-12). Non-members: RM23 (adults), RM21 (under-18) and RM18 (under-12). USM (engineering campus) students: RM15. Other unverisity or college students: RM20. To register, contact Koik Boon Tatt (016.4838237), Chong Tet Wei (016.4326908), Lee Zhe Heng (016.3938324) or Amy Ho (016.5330337).

DATCC maverick chess

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the DATCC maverick rapid chess weekend tournament at their Wilayah Complex premises in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 12 years old) and RM25 (all other players). Please register before Feb 25. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)