Utut wins the day

Indonesian grandmaster Utut Adianto played to form and justified his seeding when he won the men's East Asian/Oceanic zonal championship at the Genting Highlands last month.

He finished the tournament with nine points, ahead of grandmaster Rogelio Antonio from the Philippines who obtained 7.5 points.

In joint third-fifth places were Vietnamese international master Nguyen Anh Dung, Indonesian international master Nasib Ginting and untitled Filipino player Fernie Donguines. The three players scored seven points each.

Edhi Handoko, another Indonesian grandmaster, was a disappointment as the second seed could only manage to score 6.5 points and tie for the sixth to ninth placings with Indonesian Irwanto, Filipino Barlo Nadera and Hiroyuki Nishimura from Japan.

Four Malaysians were among the field of 28 players. Mas Hafizulhelmi, the current national champion, was the best local player with a score of 5.5 points which automatically qualified him for a FIDE Master title. Darren Yong and Mohd Saprin Sabri obtained 4.5 points each, while Mohd Kamal Abdullah scored 3.5 points.

The other players who also automatically qualified as FIDE Masters were Aung Thant Zin (Myanmar), Donguines, Chito Garma (Philippines), Irwanto, Nadera, Nishimura and Terry Toh (Singapore). Nishimura, Garma and FM Anthony Ker (New Zealand) obtained international master norms.

The women's zonal championship was held at the same time. Australian international master Irina Berezina-Feldman won the event with a score of 8.5 points. Half a point behind her was Vietnamese international master Hoang Thanh Trang.

Third was another Vietnamese player, unheralded Nguyen Thi Tuong Van, who obtained 7.5 points. Three players - Tamin Upi Darmayana (Indonesia), Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky (Australia) and Mai Thi Thanh Houng (Vietnam) - tied for the fourth-sixth places with seven points each.

The three Malaysian players fared poorly. The best resistance was put up by Ong Hwa Lu who scored four points, while Eliza Hanum Ibrahim and Samantha Lee each obtained 2.5 points.

Nguyen Thi Tuong Van was automatically conferred the international master title by virtue of her 66.7 per cent score in the tournament, while Veronica Klimenko (Australia), Mai Thi Thanh Houng and Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky were made FIDE Masters.

The zonal tournaments were hosted by the Malaysian Chess Federation and played at the Genting Highlands. Adianto, Berezina-Feldman and Hoang qualified for the Interzonal which is the next stage of the World Chess Federation's current world chess championship cycle.

BAYVIEW CHESS UPDATE

Two rounds were played at the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League last Sunday after the tournament was opened officially by State Executive Councillor Dr Sak Cheng Lum.

In the morning, Penang Free School A whitewashed Penang Development Corporation 4-0 while Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling beat MSSPP Juniors by a narrow 2.5-1.5 score.

Old Frees Association fell to a shock 1-3 defeat at the hands of Chung Ling High School A, while the other results in Division One were Penang Free School B beating Hitachi Semiconductor 3-1, and Chung Ling High School B winning 3-1 against Universiti Sains Malaysia.

In Division Two, National Semiconductor beat Hewlett-Packard 3-1, while Chung Ling High School D beat DCI 2.5-1.5. Penang Free School C scored their first points by beating Mara Taiping 2.5-1.5, Union High School beat Penang Chinese Girls High School 2.5-1.5, and Bank Bumiputra beat MSSPP Girls 2.5-1.5.

In the afternoon session, Chung Ling High School A beat Penang Free School B 3-1, Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling beat Chung Ling High School B 3-1, and Penang Free School A beat Pessca 3-1. Two other matches were drawn 2-2: Universiti Sains Malaysia against Hitachi Semiconductor, and Penang Development Corporation against MSSPP Juniors.

Among the Division Two teams, Penang Free School C continued their winning streak by beating National Semiconductor 4-0, while MSSPP Girls beat Union High School 3-1 and Chung Ling High School D beat Penang Chinese Girls High School 3-1. DCI beat Hewlett-Packard 3-1, and Chung Ling High School beat Mara Taiping by a similar score.

The current standings after five rounds: Division One - PFS A 15 points, CLHSA 13.5 points, CLOBA 11.5 points, OFA and USM 10 points, CLHS B 8.5 points,Pessca, MSSPP Jrs and PFS B 8 points, PDC 4 points, and Hitachi 3.5 points.

Division Two - CLHS D 15 points, CLHS C 12.5 points, MSSPP Girls 11.5 points, Union and BBMB 10 points, HP and DCI 9.5 points, PFS C 6.5 points, NS 6 points, Mara Taiping 5.5 points, and PCGHS 4 points.

The Penang Bayview Chess League is annually sponsored by The City Bayview Hotel. The sixth and seventh rounds will be played tomorrow at the hotel's Sri Mas Room.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

In New York last month where the American leg of the Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix was held under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association, Gary Kasparov took the first prize with a 2-0 score over Vassily Ivanchuk in the final.

Earlier during the semi-finals, Ivanchuk had eliminated Alexander Morozevich (Russia) with a 2-0 result, while Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) played to a 1.5-1.5 draw. The blitz tie-break game was also drawn but Kasparov advanced to the final by invoking the draw odds rule.

[Event "Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Kasparov, Gary"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Bg5 Na5 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bg5 15. Qd3 Bh6 16. Rad1 Rc8 17. Nd2 b5 18. c3 Kh8 19. b4 Ra8 20. Nb3 f5 21. Na5 Rc8 22. Qh3 Rf7 23. Rfe1 Qe8 24. Qh4 Qf8 25. exf5 Bxf5 26. f3 Bc2 27. Ra1 Bf5 28. h3 Qe8 29. Qf2 Qe6 30. Rad1 Qg6 31. Kh1 Rcf8 32. h4 Bc2 33. Rd2 Bxd2 34. Qxd2 Qg3 35. Nb7 Rxb7 0-1

[Event "Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Kasparov, Gary"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. e3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Qd6 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. f3 O-O 10. Ne2 Be6 11. O-O Rad8 12. Qc1 Nd7 13. Be1 Qe7 14. Qb1 Nb6 15. Bxh7+ Kh8 16. Bd3 Na5 17. e4 Nac4 18. f4 f6 19. f5 Bf7 20. Rf3 Kg8 21. Rh3 exd4 22. cxd4 c5 23. d5 Ne5 24. Bc2 Nbc4 25. Nf4 b5 26. Qb3 Ng4 27. Qg3 Nce5 28. Bd1 1-0

[Event "Intel Rapidplay Grand Prix"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. d5 Ne5 5. f4 Nd7 6. e4 Nb6 7. a4 a5 8. Be3 e6 9. Bxb6 cxb6 10. Bxc4 Bb4 11. Nf3 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. Qb3 Kh8 16. Ng5 Ng4 17. Nxe6 Qh4 18. h3 Rae8 19. Ne2 Rxe6 20. Qxe6 Bc5+ 21. Kh1 h5 22. Rad1 Rd8, 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Qd5 Qh4 25. Qg5 Nf2+ 26. Rxf2 Qxg5 27. fxg5 Bxf2 28. g6 Kg8 29. g4 hxg4 30. hxg4 Kf8 31. Kg2 Bc5 32. e5 Ke7 33. Kf3 Kd7 34. Ke4 Kc6 35. Nd4+ Bxd4 36. Kxd4 Kd7 37. Kd5 Ke7 38. e6 Ke8 39. Kd6 Kd8 40. b3 Ke8 41. e7 1-0