Close fight till the end

What an exciting finish it has been for the Asian cities team chess championship which concluded on Wednesday at the Awana Genting Highland Golf and Country Resort.

The tournament had gone into the final round with three teams having a chance to carry off the Dubai Cup and the first prize of US$3,000 (about RM10,800). Shijiazhuang (China) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan) were leading the pack of 26 teams with 25 1/2 points each while Palembang (Indonesia) was on 24 points.

Theoretically, Palembang would have a chance to catch up on equal points with the leaders if they were to score 4-0 against Beirut (Lebanon) in the final round and if Shijiazhuang and Tashkent happened to drop 1 1/2 points in their respective encounters with Chrompet (India) and Padang (Indonesia). If this had happened, the championship standings would have to be decided by a tie-break.

The interesting question is how, in the first instance, Shijiazhuang or Tashkent had allowed this interesting ending to occur.

When the event started some nine days ago, Shijiazhuang had jumped into the lead by mercilessly hammering the Penang and Beirut teams 4-0. Tashkent had also scored the maximum points against Kuala Lumpur in the first round, but only managed a 3 1/2-1/2 score against Chrompet in the second round.

The two tournament leaders met in the third round and Shijiazhuang upsetted the defending champion 3-1 to take the lead.

At the same time, Palembang beat Singapore 3 1/2-1/2, Sydney (Australia) 3 1/2-1/2 and Tehran (Iran) 3-1, to creep into third position. Palembang met the Chinese players in the fourth round, and were narrowly beaten 1 1/2-2 1/2. Shijiazhuang next played Padang (Indonesia) in the fifth round and beat them 3-1.

But Tashkent kept on to Shijiazhuang's back by beating Talesh (Iran) 3 1/2-1/2 in the fourth round and Palembang 2 1/2-1 1/2 in the fifth round. Where Shijiazhuang was concerned, after having disposed of their nearest rivals - Tashkent and Palembang - the way seemed clear for them to maintain their comfortable lead and coast to victory in the remaining rounds.

Not so, unfortunately. On the tournament's rest day, the Chinese players chose to go to Petaling Jaya to play in the Amcorp blitz tournament. It was a trip which probably lost them their comfortable two-point lead.

After returning from Petaling Jaya, Shijiazhuang could only score narrow 2 1/2-1 1/2 wins over Tehran and Yangon (Myanmar) in the sixth and seventh rounds.

Tashkent, on the other hand, chalked up a 2-2 draw with Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in the sixth round and a 3-1 win against Tehran in the seventh.

The result, at the end of the seventh round, was a shock for Shijiazhuang. Their lapses had cost them dearly, and suddenly they found themselves tied with Tashkent with 21 1/2 points.

The eighth round left the status quo unchanged. Tashkent disposed of Yangon 4-0 while Shijiazhuang beat Karachi (Pakistan) also by the same score. The stage was thus set for an interesting finish in the final round of play.

The Asian cities was only one of two events going on at the Genting Highlands. The other was the Asian women's individual championship where, after six rounds, the sole lead was in the hands of Xu Yuhua (China). Xu, the highest rated player in this event, overwhelmed Uzbekistan's Angela Khegai in the sixth round.

Wait a minute. I should not keep you in suspense any further, should I? I am sure you want to know the outcome of the Asian cities team championship first.

Well, the long and short of the story is that, yes, Shijiazhuang won the title. It was a close race but Tashkent's challenge fizzled out. Tashkent could only manage a 2-2 draw with Padang while Shijiazhuang won handsomely by a 3 1/2-1/2 score against Chrompet.

Final standings: Shijiazhuang 29 points; Tashkent and Palembang 27.5 points each; Tehran and Padang 20 points each; Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City and Talesh 19.5 points; Yangon 19 points; Beirut, Doha, Singapore and Mandalay 18.5 points; Chrompet, Sydney, Shah Alam and Karachi 18 points; Dubai and Auckland 17.5 points; Johor Bahru 17 points; Abu Dhabi and Penang 16 points; Pontianak 15.5 points; Macau 11 points; Bandar Seri Begawan 9.5 points; and Hong Kong 1 point.

The participants were very appreciative of the superb facilities provided by the sponsor, Resorts World Berhad. Apart from the full board and lodging, the facilities at the hotel created an atmosphere really conducive to chess playing.

The run-up to the two events, covered by the national dailies, had helped promote an awareness in the country. I recognised people who made repeated trips to the Awana in order to watch the various teams and players.

The official website, located at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/ registered more than 2,800 hits during the first eight days of the Asian cities team and Asian women's individual championships. Yes, I would say that publicity for these two events has not been lacking.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Here are several interesting games from the Asian cities team event.

Rustam Kasimdhanov - Peng Xiaomin

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Rd8 13. Nf1 cxd4 14. cxd4 exd4 15. Nxd4 d5 16. e5 Ne4 17. Nd2 Bc5 18. N2f3 Bb7 19. Bf4 Rac8 20. Rc1 Qb6 21. Bb1 Nc4 22. Re2 Re8 23. Rcc2 Rcd8 24. Nb3 Bf8 25. Qd4 Qxd4 26. Nbxd4 Bc5 27. Rc1 Bb6 28. b3 Na3 29. Bd3 g6 30. Be3 b4 31. Bd2 a5 32. Be3 Nc3 33. Rd2 Rc8 34. Re1 Ne4 35. Rdd1 Rc3 36. Nf5 Bxe3 37. Nxe3 Nc5 38. Bf1 Nc2 39. Nxc2 Rxc2 40. Rc1 Rxc1 41. Rxc1 Ne6 42. g3 Ra8 43. Bb5 g5 44. Bd7 d4 45. Nd2 Bd5 46. Kf1 Rd8 47. Bb5 Kg7 48. Bc4 h6 49. Ke2 Bxc4+ 50. Rxc4 Rd5 51. Nf3 Kg6 52. Kd2 h5 53. Rc8 0-1

Zhang Zhong - Saidali Yuldachev

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Qe2 c5 8. Nc3 Nd7 9. Nd5 O-O 10. b3 Bd6 11. Bb2 Re8 12. d3 Nf8 13. a4 a5 14. Rae1 Ng6 15. Kh1 Be6 16. Ne3 f6 17. g3 Qd7 18. h4 Ne7 19. h5 Rf8 20. Nh4 f5 21. f4 exf4 22. gxf4 fxe4 23. Qg2 Nf5 24. Nexf5 Bxf5 25. Rg1 Rf7 26. h6 Bg6 27. Bxg7 Qe6 28. Rxe4 Rxf4 29. Nxg6 hxg6 30. Rf1 Rxf1+ 31. Qxf1 Qd5 32. Qf3 Kh7 33. Kg2 c6 34. Kf2 b5 35. Ke2 Rd8 36. Qg4 bxa4 37. Re6 g5 38. bxa4 Bf4 39. Re5 Qf7 40. Qf5+ Qxf5 41. Rxf5 Rd5 42. Rf7 c4 1-0

Ng Tze-Han - Sakr Nassim

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 g6 7. Nc3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bf4 Bd7 10. Qd2 Qa5 11. Rad1 d5 12. e5 Nh5 13. Bh6 f5 14. Bxg7 Nxg7 15. Qh6 Ne6 16. a3 Be8 17. b4 Qd8 18. Bc4 dxc4 19. d5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Qc7 21. Rfe1 Nd8 22. Nf3 Nf7 23. Qh4 a5 24. Rxe7 Qd8 25. d6 Bc6 26. Ne5 axb4 27. Qf6 Be8 28. axb4 Ra6 29. Nxf7 Bxf7 30. Rxf7 Qxf6 31. Rxf6 Rxf6 32. d7 Rfd6 33. d8=Q+ Rxd8 34. Rxd8+ Kf7 35. g3 1-0

Tan Wee Sin - Arif Khouri

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9. g4 Rc8 10. h4 Ne5 11. h5 gxh5 12. g5 Ng8 13. Rxh5 Qa5 14. Be2 Qb4 15. O-O-O Nc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. a3 Qc5 18. Nde2 Qa5 19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 b5 21. Nb3 Qb6 22. Nd5 Qb8 23. Ne3 Rc6 24. Nd4 Rc5 25. Ndf5 Kf8 26. Qd4 f6 27. g6 hxg6 28. Rxh8 gxf5 29. Rg1 Bc6 30. Nxf5 Qb6 31. Kb1 Bd7 32. b4 Re5 33. Qxb6 axb6 34. f4 1-0

Zhang Pengxiang - Barus Cerdas

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. a3 Nc6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Ba2 Qa5 12. Re1 Rad8 13. Qe2 Bc8 14. b4 Qh5 15. d5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. b5 Bf6 18. Bb2 Bxb2 19. Qxb2 Nb8 20. Re5 Qh6 21. Rxd5 Be6 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Re1 Bxa2 24. Qxa2 Qd6 25. h3 Nd7 26. Ng5 Qf6 27. Qd2 Nf8 28. Qe3 h6 29. Nf3 a6 30. a4 axb5 31. axb5 Ng6 32. Qe4 b6 33. g3 Nf8 34. Rc1 Qb2 35. Qc6 Ne6 36. Re1 Qa3 37. Ne5 Qd6 38. Qf3 Ng5 39. Qf5 g6 40. Qg4 Re8 41. f4 Qc5+ 42. Kg2 Qxb5 43. Re3 Qd5+ 44. Kh2 1-0

Mas Hafizulhelmi - Tim Reilly

1. e4 d6 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nxd5 5. Qf3 e6 6. Bc4 Nb4 7. Bb3 N8c6 8. Nge2 Na5 9. Ba4+ Bd7 10. a3 Bxa4 11. axb4 Bc6 12. Qg3 Nc4 13. b5 Bd7 14. O-O Nd6 15. Nd4 Qf6 16. Qf2 Nf5 17. Nf3 b6 18. Ne4 Qh6 19. c4 Nd6 20. Qe2 Qxf4 21. d3 Qg4 22. h3 Qh5 23. Neg5 Be7 24. g4 Qh6 25. Qg2 Qf6 26. d4 Bc8 27. Ne5 Bb7 28. Qh2 Nf5 29. gxf5 exf5 30. Be3 Bd6 31. Qf2 g6 32. Ngxf7 O-O 33. Bg5 Qe6 34. d5 Bxd5 35. cxd5 Qxd5 36. Rad1 Qxb5 37. Nxd6 cxd6 38. Nf3 Rae8 39. Rxd6 Re2 40. Nd4 Rxf2 41. Nxb5 Rxb2 42. Nxa7 Ra8 43. Rd7 Re8 44. Rc1 1-0

Asian cities and women's events

PLAYING SCHEDULE FOR THE ASIAN EVENTS

Today is the second day of play at the Asian cities team and the Asian women's individual chess championships, and here is the playing schedule for readers who intend to watch the action at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort.

The team event is held over nine rounds and already, two rounds have been completed. The third round starts today at 4pm, and tomorrow, there will be two rounds at 10am and 4pm. Sunday is a rest day, with play resuming on Monday with two rounds scheduled for 10am and 4pm.

On Tuesday, the eighth round will start at 4pm. Wednesday will be the last day of the team event with the final round scheduled to begin at 10am and the closing ceremony at 8pm.

The women's event is played over 11 rounds and except for the final round on April 21, all the games will begin at 2.30pm daily until April 20. The final round will start at 10am on April 21 in order to accommodate the closing ceremony on the same day at 8pm. The rest days for the competitors are on April 12 and 16.

Readers with Internet access should be able to follow the progress of the championships at the official Asian cities website at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/.

In conjunction with the two championships at Genting Highlands, the Chess Association of Selangor will be holding the Amcorp Mall national blitz open chess tournament this Sunday.

Since this is a rest day for the participants of the Asian cities and Asian women's events, many of them are expected to take part in the blitz tournament which shall be played at the Amcorp Mall in Persiaran Barat, Petaling Jaya.

The CAS, which is organising this event on behalf of the Malaysian Chess Federation, is offering a prize fund of RM2,500. The tournament will consist of a preliminary 13-round Swiss, and the top qualifiers will then play in a knock-out format for the main prizes.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the CAS, and RM15 for non-members. Registration for the tournament must be made at the Amcorp Mall tomorrow between 3pm and 5pm, as entries will not be accepted on Sunday.

For enquiries, contact either Lim Tse Pin (tel: 03-733-0927) or Mrs Jackie Wong (tel: 03-703-8237).

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS THIS MONTH

Readers are reminded that the International Islamic University Malaysia will organise a team tournament on April 18 and 19 at the Hotel Wenworth in Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The university's chess club is organising the event together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Cash prizes totalling more than RM4,000 will be offered to the winners. The champion team will also get custody of the Dato Sabaruddin Chik challenge trophy.

Entry fees are RM120 for universities and other inistutions of higher learning, RM100 for schools and RM150 for public teams. Non-Malaysian teams are charged RM180. For more details, contact Azlan Adnan of the IIU (tel: 03-681-4052 after 4pm, or 016-271-1522).

Meanwhile in Johor Bahru, the Johor branch of the Police Administrative and Civilian Staff Union and the Johor Bahru Chess Club are jointly organising a team tournament on April 26. This event will be played on the third floor of the Bangunan JOTIC in Jalan Air Molek, Johor Bahru.

Each team can register a maximum of four players, but only three will play in each round. The entry fee is RM50 per team, and entries will close on Apr 24. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-333-8215).

SHIROV, KRAMNIK AND KASPAROV

Mark Crowther, who publishes the excellent This Week In Chess webpage on the Internet weekly (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html) mentioned briefly that the Luis Rentero/Gary Kasparov's so-called World Chess Council has announced its plans for the rest of the year.

According to the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, Alexei Shirov will replace Viswanathan Anand after the latter had rejected an invitation to play Vladimir Kramnik. Rentero had offered the place to Shirov after his impressive performance in the Linares tournament last month, in which he finished second behind Anand.

Kramnik and Shirov will play in Cazorla, Spain, in a 10-game match starting May 22. The winner will play Kasparov in another match over 18 games beginning October 16. Rentero, the self-proclaimed president of the World Chess Council confirmed these details on March 20. The final match has a US$1.3 million prize tag and will take place in Seville and Linares.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Let's continue to talk about the seventh Melody Amber tournament this week. As you already know, the Melody Amber was actually two tournaments in one. In each round, the participants were required two games against the same opponent: one was a Rapid Chess game and the other, a blindfold game.

Because of these unusual circumstances, you cannot expect the quality of these games to be as good as those played in normal events such as the Linares or Tilburg. Still, these top players were able to produce some interesting chess.

There have been some good games in the tournament, such as the seventh round games between Viswanathan Anand and Loek van Wely which featured attractive sacrificial attacks down the h-file with each player winning with the white pieces.

In the eighth round, Alexei Shirov and Veselin Topalov revisited Gary Kasparov's 9...h5 novelty from his last-round game in Linares. Shirov immediately played a new move, 10 Nd5, but Topalov appeared to equalise easily. Topalov missed several opportunities and was probably even winning with his passed g-pawn at one point. However, Shirov was the one who inflicted the finishing blows in the game.

Finally, check out Vassily Ivanchuk's cute winning tactic against Vladimir Kramnik in their seventh-round blindfold game.

Loek van Wely - Viswanathan Anand, Round 7

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 c5 10. Qc2 Rb8 11. b3 b5 12. Bb2 e5 13. Rae1 h5 14. Nd1 h4 15. e4 hxg3 16. hxg3 Ng4 17. Bc3 Bh6 18. f3 Nf6 19. f4 Ng4 20. Nf2 Bg7 21. Bf3 Nxf2 22. Rxf2 Nb7 23. Rh2 Qe7 24. Kg2 Bd7 25. Reh1 Nd8 26. Nf1 f6 27. Ne3 Nf7 28. Bg4 bxc4 29. bxc4 Bxg4 30. Nxg4 Qd7 31. Ne3 Rb7 32. f5 g5 33. Ng4 Rfb8 34. Rh7 Kf8 35. Kf3 a5 36. Ke3 Rb4 37. Bxb4 axb4 38. Rxg7 Kxg7 39. Rh7+ Kf8 40. Nh6 1-0

Viswanathan Anand - Loek van Wely, Round 7

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. f4 O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Bd7 13. Nb3 b6 14. g4 Bc8 15. g5 Nd7 16. Bg2 Bb7 17. Qg4 Nb4 18. Rf2 Bf8 19. Rd1 g6 20. Qg3 Rac8 21. Rfd2 d5 22. e5 Nc5 23. Nd4 Ne4 24. Nxe4 dxe4 25. Ne2 Bc6 26. Nc3 Qb7 27. h4 b5 28. axb5 axb5 29. h5 Na6 30. Qh3 Bb4 31. Kg1 Bxc3 32. bxc3 Bd5 33. hxg6 fxg6 34. Bxe4 Nc7 35. Bxg6 hxg6 36. Rh2 1-0

Alexei Shirov - Vesselin Topalov, Round 8

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. f4 e5 9. Nf5 h5 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Qxd5 Nc6 12. O-O-O Be6 13. Nxd6+ Bxd6 14. Qxd6 Bxg4 15. Qxd8+ Nxd8 16. Rd6 exf4 17. Bxf4 Ne6 18. Be5 Bf3 19. Rg1 Bxe4 20. Bh3 Rd8 21. Rb6 Bc6 22. Rb3 Rg8 23. Re3 g6 24. Bf6 Rd6 25. c4 Kf8 26. Rf1 Bd7 27. b3 g5 28. Be5 Rc6 29. Bg2 g4 30. Rd3 Be8 31. Bd6+ Kg7 32. Rf5 Kg6 33. Ra5 f5 34. Rd2 Ng5 35. Bxc6 Bxc6 36. Bf4 Ne4 37. Rd4 h4 38. b4 g3 39. hxg3 hxg3 40. b5 g2 41. Be3 axb5 42. cxb5 Be8 43. b6 Bc6 44. Rd1 Rh8 45. Re5 Nc3 46. Rd6+ Kf7 47. Rxf5+ Ke7 48. Rg6 Rh1+ 49. Kd2 Rf1 50. Rh5 Ne4+ 51. Kc2 Nf6 52. Rh4 Kf7 53. Rg5 Nd5 54. Bd4 Nf6 55. Rh6 Be4+ 56. Kd2 Ne8 57. Rg4 Rh1 58. Rf4+ Kg8 59. Re6 Bc6 60. Rxc6 bxc6 61. Rg4+ Kf7 62. Rxg2 Nd6 63. Kc2 Ke6 64. a4 Kd5 65. Bg1 c5 66. a5 Kc6 67. Rg6 Kb7 68. Rxd6 Rxg1 69. Rd7+ Kc8 70. Rc7+ Kb8 71. a6 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk - Vladimir Kramnik, Round 7

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. b3 Ba6 11. Bb2 Rc8 12. Nd2 d4 13. Rfe1 c5 14. e3 e5 15. Nf3 Bd6 16. Rad1 Re8 17. exd4 cxd4 18. Ng5 g6 19. f4 Bc5 20. Qd2 Qb6 21. fxe5 Bb4 22. Qf2 Bxe1 23. Rxe1 d3 24. Bd4 Qd8 25. Nxf7 Ng4 26. Qf4 Qa5 27. Rf1 Rf8 28. e6 Qh5 29. Qxg4 1-0

 

Championship homepage launched

The Asian cities team and Asian women's chess championships homepage on the Internet was launched officially earlier this week by Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik, who is also the president of the Malaysian Chess Federation.

He said the time was ripe for the MCF to take advantage of the Internet to publicise its activities to the chess world. During the two events, readers with Internet access can receive regular updates from the homepage at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/.

The championships are due to start next week at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort. Resorts World Berhad is the main sponsor for the two events, while the Dubai Chess and Culture Club donated US$25,000 towards the cost of running the championships.

Meanwhile, I shall be going to Genting Highlands with a happy heart next week, having received the blessings from my employer, Ban Hin Lee Bank Berhad, for me to assume duties as the chief arbiter of the Asian women's chess championship.

I know it will be a heavy responsibility and it may not be easy to keep the peace between 19 women who are jostling for the Indira Gandhi challenge trophy and eyeing the cash prizes at the same time.

The highest rated player is China's woman international master Xu Yuhua who weighs in with a rating point of 2335. Whether or not she will win the championship remains to be seen, but she will face tough competition from woman grandmaster Eva Repkova who is representing Lebanon. Repkova is rated at 2330.

The incumbent champion, Indonesian woman international master Tamin Upi Darmayana (rated at 2250), of course, cannot be overlooked in this contest of 11 rounds. Then there are also two former Asian women's champion, woman international masters Gokhale Anupama and Bagyashree Thipsay Sathe, who are both from India.

The other titled players who are capable of creating an upset in this event are woman international master Maria Lucia Sulista of Indonesia, and woman Fide masters Angela Khegai (Uzbekistan), Rena Mamedova (Uzbekistan) and Ngan Koshnitsky (Australia).

As for the remaining players, the untitled rated players are Nguyen Thi Thuan Hoa (Vietnam), Maria Sergeeva (Kazakhstan), Nguyen Thi Dung (Vietnam), Le Thi Phuong Lien (Vietnam), Irina Gorshkova (Uzbekistan), Roslina Marmono (Malaysia) and Nurul Huda Wahiduddin (Malaysia), while those unrated are Malaysia's Samantha Lee and Lim Jeannie, and Singapore's Cynthia Yap.

Amber tournament

I received a number of enquiries last week after I reported on the Melody Amber tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. All of those enquiries were curious about the blindfold games between the participants. Everyone wanted to know how they were played.

What I know about the blindfold chess is that the games were played on a computer system designed by Tasc BV of the Netherlands. Each player would sit in front of a screen displaying an empty chessboard and he would make his moves through his mouse or keyboard.

What a move is made, it would be announced on the screen of the player's opponent. The computer system, at the same time, checked on the legality of the moves and all the time used by the players would be registered automatically.

Although the players always saw an empty board, the arbiters and audience were able to follow the game on video screens which were not visible to the players.

The Melody Amber tournament was actually a combination of two events. The first was a Rapid Chess tournament which was tied by Alexei Shirov and Vassily Ivanchuk with eight points each. Anatoly Karpov was third with seven points and Vladimir Kramnik was fourth with 6 1/2 points.

Further down the table were Ljubomir Ljubojevic with six points, Vesselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand with five points, Jeroen Piket, Matthew Sadler and Loek van Wely with 4 1/2 points each, Joel Lautier with four points and Predrag Nikolic with three points.

The other event was the blindfold chess itself. Kramnik demonstrated a marked superiority over the other players by winning the blindfold event with 8 1/2 points. Anand and Shirov were tied with seven points each, while further back were Ivanchuk and Topalov with 6 1/2 points each, Lautier with 5 1/2 points, van Wely with five points, Karpov, Ljubojevic and Piket with 4 1/2 points, Nikolic with 3 1/2 points and Sadler with three.

The eventual winner of the Melody Amber tournament was decided by a combination of the results of the Rapid and blindfold events. Shirov and Kramnik thus shared the top honours with 15 points each. Third was Ivanchuk with 14 1/2 points, while Anand had 12 points.

The remaining standings: Karpov and Topalov 11 1/2 points each, Ljubojevic 10 1/2 points, Lautier and van Wely 9 1/2 points, Piket nine points, Sadler 7 1/2 points and Nikolic 6 1/2 points.

Readers with Internet access can go to http://www.tasc.nl/amber7 to view the details of this rather unique tournament.

University tournament

Readers who are interested to take part in the International Islamic University Malaysia's team tournament on April 18 and 19 should note that there has been a change in the tournament venue to the Hotel Wenworth in Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The university's chess club is organising the event together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Cash prizes totalling more than RM4,000 will be offered to the winners. The champion team will also get custody of the Dato Sabaruddin Chik challenge trophy.

Entry fees are RM120 for universities and other inistutions of higher learning, RM100 for schools and RM150 for public teams.

For more details, contact Azlan of the IIU (tel: 03-681-4052 after 4pm).

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organise the third of their nine-leg chess grand prix this Sunday at the Pusat Rekreasi Catur in the Taman DR Seenivasagam in Ipoh.

Six rounds are scheduled for this tournament, and the time control is 25 minutes per player for each game. Only players who are born, residing, working or studying in Perak will be eligible to take part.

The overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player. The top 24 players at the end of the grand prix series will qualify for the Perak state championship in September this year. The interim grand prix standings will also be used for selecting Perak players to national events like the Merdeka team championship.

Those interested in playing in the third leg must register at the playing venue by 8.30am tomorrow. For more details, contact WK Wong (tel: 05-366-1692).

Tebrau open

Players in the south of the peninsula can take part in a team tournament on April 26. This team event, jointly organised by the Johor branch of the Police Administrative and Civilian Staff Union and the Johor Bahru Chess Club, will be played on the third floor of the Bangunan JOTIC along Jalan Air Molek, Johor Bahru.

Each team can register a maximum of four players, but only three will play in each round. Entry fees are RM50 per team, and entries will close on Apr 24. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-333-8215).

Asian highlights up Genting Highlands

The Malaysian Chess Federation has released its latest list of foreign federations that have responded to the invitation to play in the Asian cities team championship next month. The list looks interesting, and it is definitely an indication that we shall see a lot of good chess up in Genting Highlands.

Several of the federations are putting up possibly their best line-up of players. Although these are supposed to be only city teams, they are in reality their national teams in disguise! It reflects the seriousness which these federations are placing onto the championship.

Kazakhstan, for instance, has entered their Almaty team which will feature four grandmasters and one international master. The line-up is impressive. Almaty's first board player is GM Ruslan Irzhanov and his other team-mates are GM Pavel Kotsur, GM Serik Temirbaev, GM Bolat Asanov and IM Murtas Kazhgaleyev.

I do remember seeing Irzhanov playing on a much lower board three years ago when the Asian team championship was organised in Singapore. He is a very serious player, always pacing the tournament hall, thinking with his eyes peeled to the ground, whenever his opponent was thinking. I think we shall see more of his pacing in Genting.

Another team which has an impressive line-up is Tashkent, from Uzbekistan. Theirs is a six-player team comprising GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Mihail Saltaev, GM Saidali Yuldachev, GM Sergey Zagrebelny, IM Dmitry Kaiumov and IM Vladimir Egin.

Saltaev, Yuldachev and Zagrebelny are no strangers to our shores as they have played in several other Asian-level team events here in the past six or seven years. Of course, the Tashkent team is missing Alexander Nenashev, currently their top player, but I believe that even without Nenashev, the Tashkent team will be challenging for the top prize.

Despite the economic difficulties facing the Indonesians now, the Jakarta line-up is practically that of the Indonesian national team. GM Utut Adianto will be here, as also GM Ruben Gunawan and GM Edhi Handoko. These three players are the mainstays of any Indonesian team line-up. In Genting, they will be joined by IM Barus Cerdas (another regular face in the Indonesian team) and Sebastian Simanjuntak.

China will be represented in the Asian cities team championship by the Shijiazhuang team. This team, unfortunately, is not the best that China can assemble. I am surprised that they have not taken the effort to send a stronger combination. Still, they have GM Peng Xiaomin in the team, and also IM Zhang Zhong, FM Zhang Pengxiang and FM Wang Rui, apart from two unrated players in Zhang Dingneng and Hong Kemin.

But I suppose we cannot exactly write off the Chinese from winning one of the lesser honours in this team event. The two Fide Masters, for instance, are definitely no pushovers if their ratings can be taken as an indication. Their ratings are quite high, for example, Zhang Pengziang is rated at 2420.

Despite earlier indications to the contrary, Sydney is sending only a four-player team to Malaysia. The much-touted GM Ian Rogers who was supposed to be leading the Australians, is missing from the line-up. In his absence, Tim Reilly will be playing on the top board for the Sydney team. Their other players are Matthew Drummond, Adrian Lloyd and Brett Tindall.

The Singapore team line-up is rather enigmatic. Surely there are much more experienced players than Foo Hsiang Ming, Mark Chan, Navin Sawalani and Clement Chia? A surprise inclusion in this team is the septuagenarian Dr Lim Kok Ann. I do hope he really turns up to play in Genting, for his presence will be clear demonstration that chess can be for people of all ages.

I see two familiar names among the Auckland team members: that of Robert Gibbons and Peter Goffin. I have not seen them for more than 20 years. I think the last time I met them was in Penang and that was during the time of the first Asian team chess championship in 1974! The Auckland team also comprises Paul Spiller, Hilton Bennet and Barbara Mckinney.

According to the list from the Malaysian Chess Federation, the other city teams that shall be playing in Genting Highland are Beirut, Dubai and Sharjah (both from the United Arab Emirates), Delhi, Manila , Doha (from Qatar), Tehran and Talesh (both from Iran), Yangon and Hongkong.

I shall really welcome the presence of Hongkong in this event, for it clearly shows that the Hongkong Chess Federation remains a separate entity from the Chinese Chess Association. It is an example of China's "one country, two systems" policy extended to sports.

Meanwhile, there are 16 names in the list of players for the Asian women's championship which shall be held at the same time in Genting. Half of the 16 participants will be titled players and they will be led by WGM Eva Repkova of Lebanon. As the only woman grandmaster in the field and also the highest rated, Repkova must be the hot favourite to win the tournament.

The woman international masters are defending champion Tamin Upi Darmayana (Indonesia), former champions Anupama Gokhale and Bhagyashree Thipsay Sathe (both from India), and Maria Lucia Ratna Sulista (Indonesia).

Then there is also an old friend of Malaysia, woman Fide master Angela Khegai (Uzbekistan). She has been in Malaysia so many times that it is quite possible that some people have mistakened her for a local player. Two other WFMs in the tournament will be Rena Mamedova (also from Uzbekistan) and Ngan Phan Koshnitsky (Australia). Ngan Phan is the daughter-in-law of two old Australian friends of mine, Garry and Evelyn Koshnitsky.

The other foreign players in this tournament are Irina Gorshkova of Uzbekistan, Maria Sergeeva of Kazakhstan and Cynthia Yap of Singapore.

One familiar name for Malaysians will be that of Elaine Chong. Originally from Kuala Lumpur, Elaine now resides in New South Wales and will represent Australia in this tournament. She was the Australian girls' champion last year.

The four Malaysian representatives in the Asian women's championship will be Roslina Marmono, Nurul Huda Wahiduddin, Samantha Lee and Lim Jeannie.

AMBER TOURNAMENT

There is an interesting tournament now taking place in Monaco. The Amber tournament, now in its seventh year, features 12 players locked in battle over Rapid Chess and blindfold chess.

After eight rounds of the event, Alexei Shirov is leading the Rapid Chess section with six points and he is followed closely behind by Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Anatoly Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk with five points each, Loek van Wely and Vladimir Kramnik with 4 1/2 points each, Matthew Sadler with four points, Jeroen Piket, Vesselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand and Joel Lautier with three points each, and Predrag Nikolic with two points.

Topalov, Anand and Ivanchuk with five points each, Lautier and Shirov with 4 1/2 points each, Piket and van Wely with four points each, Ljubojevic and Karpov with 3 1/2 points each, Nikolic with 2 1/2 points, and Sadler with a half point.

The winner of the tournament will be the person with the best combined scores. Thus, after eight rounds, the honours are currently being shared by Kramnik and Shirov who have each amassed 10 1/2 points. Ivanchuk still has chances to catch up with the duo since he is only a half-point behind them.

Readers with Internet access can go to http://www.tasc.nl/amber7 to view the details of this rather unique tournament.

UNIVERSITY TOURNAMENT

The International Islamic University Malaysia will organise a team tournament at the Hotel Midah in Kuala Lumpur on April 18 and 19. The university's chess club is organising the event together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and Hotel Midah.

Cash prizes totalling more than RM4,000 will be offered to the winners. The champion team will also get custody of the Dato Sabaruddin Chik challenge trophy.

Entry fees are RM120 for universities and other inistutions of higher learning, RM100 for schools and RM150 for public teams.

For more details, contact Azlan of the IIU (tel: 03-681-4052 after 4pm) or Linda of Hotel Midah (tel: 03-273-9999 ext 617)

 

Lining up for Asian meet

With the Asian cities team championship due to start in little less than a month's time, the Malaysian Chess Federation has announced that there will be two local teams participating in the event.

Tentatively slotted in for the Kuala Lumpur team, which is practically the national team itself, are Mas Hafizulhelmi, Jimmy Liew, Mok Tze Meng, Lim Yee Weng, Ismail Ahmad and Mohd Azahari.

The players for the second team, representing Penang which won last year's Merdeka team championship state title, are Chuah Heng Meng, Yeoh Chin Seng, Goh Yoon Wah, Lim Chuin Hoong, Teng Wei Ping and Tan Hong Ghee.

In the event that any of them are unable to play, their replacements will be picked from the reserve list comprising Ng Tze Han, Ghalam Sani, Wong Ji Zing, Ng Ee Vern, Tan Wei Sin and Mohd Saprin Sabri.

According to the MCF secretary, Abdul Hamid Majid, the other countries that have indicated interest in sending their city teams to this event are Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, India, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Hong Kong SAR, Qatar, Iran, Indonesia, Myanmar and Australia.

The Asian cities event is one of two events which shall be organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort in Genting Highlands starting April 8.

The other event is the Asian women's chess championship. So far, Lebanon's woman grandmaster Eva Repkova and Uzbekistan's woman international master Memedova look almost certain to join the current champion, Upi Tamin Darmayana of Indonesia, and the previous winner, Bhagyashree Thipsay of India, in the line-up.

Malaysia's representatives in this event are tentatively Eliza Hanim Ibrahim, Samantha Lee and Roslina Marmono, while those on the reserve list are Eliza Hanum Ibrahim, Lim Jeannie and Nurulhuda Wahiduddin.

The Asian cities and the Asian women's events are sponsored by Resorts World Berhad. The Dubai Chess Club has also committed US$25,000 towards the cost of the Asian cities team championship.

The daily results of the two championships will be made available to Internet surfers who visit the official Asian cities homepage when the two events start next month. The address for the homepage is http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/

PENANG HOMEPAGE

Internet surfers can also visit the Penang Chess Association's homepage which was launched earlier this week by the association's president, Dr Toh Kin Woon, who is also a Penang state executive councillor.

By a coincidence, both the PCA and the Asian cities homepages are hosted by the Geocities web server. The address for the PCA homepage is http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/

Dr Toh, in a statement at the launch, said Penang chessplayers living overseas can now learn a little more about recent chess events in their home state. The homepage will also cover some national or international events that involve Penang chessplayers.

He said one of the first reports on the homepage touched on the PCA Canggih international open chess championship which the PCA organised last year in conjunction with its 25th anniversary. In later weeks, there shall be more interesting features added to this website.

PFS OPEN

The Penang Free School Chess Club will be organising their annual PFS open tournament on Mar 22 beginning 8am.

This is an eight-round event and it will be played in the school hall. Entry fee is RM5 per person if you register by the eve of the event, and RM7 per person on the day of the tournament.

There are eight cash prizes, and the first prize winner will receive RM200 and a challenge trophy. Trophies will also be given to the best under-10, under-12, under-15 and under-18 players.

Time control for the tournament will be 20 minutes per player for each game in the first two rounds, and 25 minutes per player for each game in the subsequent rounds.

Registration can be made on-line to pfsopen@usa.net or alternatively, anyone interested can contact Lim Lih Fong (tel: 04-228-5045) or Teoh Soon Siang (tel: 04-828-2382).

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has won the Linares super-grandmaster tournament in Spain. In the final round on Monday, he comfortably held Vladimir Kramnik to a draw with the black pieces.

Gary Kasparov, who was looking for a win to boost his standings in the tournament, could not make any headway against Alexei Shirov and had to agree to a draw when their game ended after 17 moves.

The third game of the final round of the tournament between Veselin Topalov and Vassily Ivanchuk also ended drawn. Due to the tournament having an odd number of players, Svidler rested in this round with a bye.

The final standings: Anand 7 1/2 points, Shirov 7 points, Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik 6 1/2 points each, Peter Svidler 5 1/2 points, Vassily Ivanchuk 5 points, and Veselin Topalov 4 points.

In the last two weeks, I had been recommending the official tournament web site at http://www.elpais.es/p/d/ajedrez3/1998/english.htm to readers with Internet access. There is, however, a more interesting unofficial site at http://www.ishipress.com/linares.htm.

This site gave a comprehensive day-by-day account of the tournament and although the Linares event has ended, it is not too late to visit it for a final round-up. My appreciation goes to meilin@tm.net.my for pointing me to this site.

Here are more interesting games from the event.

Alexei Shirov - Peter Svidler, Round 6

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be3 e5, 7. Nb3 Be6, 8. Qd2 Nbd7, 9. f3 h5, 10. O-O-O Rc8, 11. Kb1 Be7, 12. Nd5 Bxd5, 13. exd5 Nb6, 14. Bxb6 Qxb6, 15. g3 O-O, 16. Bh3 Ra8, 17. Rhe1 a5, 18. a4 Qc7, 19. Bf1 Rfc8, 20. Bb5 Bf8, 21. f4 exf4, 22. gxf4 Qb6, 23. Re2 Ne8, 24. f5 Nc7, 25. f6 g6, 26. Bd7 Rd8, 27. Be6 Re8, 28. Qg5 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk - Vesselin Topalov, Round 7

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be3 e5, 7. Nb3 Be6, 8. f3 Be7, 9. Qd2 Nbd7, 10. g4 h6, 11. O-O-O b5, 12. Kb1 Nb6, 13. Na5 Qc7, 14. Bxb6 Qxb6, 15. Nd5 Bxd5, 16. exd5 Rc8, 17. b4 O-O, 18. h4 Rc7, 19. Bh3 Nh7, 20. Bg2 Rfc8, 21. Nc6 Nf6, 22. f4 Nxg4, 23. Bh3 h5, 24. Rhg1 f5, 25. fxe5 dxe5, 26. Rgf1 Rf8, 27. Nxe7+ Rxe7, 28. d6 Ref7, 29. Bxg4 hxg4, 30. Qd5 f4, 31. Qxe5 g3, 32. Qd5 Qb7, 33. Qxb7 Rxb7, 34. d7 Rxd7, 35. Rxd7 f3, 36. Rdd1 f2, 37. Rg1 fxg1=Q, 38. Rxg1 Rf3, 39. Kc1 Kh7, 40. Kd1 Kh6, 41. Ke2 Rc3, 42. Kd2 Ra3, 43. c3 g2, 44. Ke2 Rxa2+, 45. Kf3 Kh5, 46. Kg3 Rc2, 47. Ra1 Rxc3+, 48. Kxg2 Rc4, 49. Rxa6 Rxh4, 50. Ra7 g6, 51. Rh7+ Kg5, 52. Rxh4 Kxh4 0-1

Alexei Shirov - Vassily Ivanchuk, Round 9

1. e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 dxe4, 4. Nxe4 Nd7, 5. Ng5 Ndf6, 6. Bc4 e6, 7. Qe2 Bd6, 8. Bd2 Qc7, 9. O-O-O b6, 10. N1f3 h6, 11. Nh3 Ne7, 12. Ne5 c5, 13. Bb5+ Kf8, 14. Nc4 cxd4, 15. Nxd6 Qxd6, 16. Bf4 Qd5, 17. Be5 Nf5, 18. c4 Qc5, 19. Qf3 Qxe5, 20. Qxa8 Qc7, 21. Qc6 Qb8, 22. Qf3 Bb7, 23. Qa3+ Kg8, 24. f3 g5, 25. Ba4 e5, 26. Rhe1 Kg7, 27. Bc2 Nh4, 28. Rd2 Rc8, 29. Kb1 Rxc4, 30. Ng1 Rc5, 31. g3 Ra5, 32. Qd3 Ng6, 33. Bb3 Qd6, 34. Rc2 e4, 35. Qc4 Ne5, 36. Qc7 Qb4, 37. Rd1 Bd5, 38. Bxd5 Rxd5, 39. fxe4 Nxe4, 40. a3 Qb5, 41. Ka2 d3, 42. Rcc1 d2, 43. Rc2 Nd3, 44. Rcxd2 Rc5, 45. Qd8 Qc4+, 46. b3 Nc3+, 47. Ka1 Ra5 0-1

 

Asian chess meet

When I was in Kuala Lumpur last September for the Merdeka team championship, one of the first questions I put to Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Hamid Majid was whether there was any truth that the MCF had been asked to organise the Asian cities team championship.

Yes, according to Hamid, who showed me the fax that he had received from the Dubai Chess & Culture Club. In the fax, Dubai had offered US$25,000 to the MCF for organising the event.

But Hamid implored me to keep this tournament out of the news until he had worked out a sponsorship programme. His intention was to organise a chess festival in which the Asian cities tournament would be one of the main attractions.

That was in September, half a year ago.

The passage of time has, however, upset all the planning. The depreciation of the ringgit and the subsequent economic downturn, has put paid to Hamid's idea of a chess festival.

Instead, we are left with the Asian cities event and one other tournament, the Asian women's chess championship, which shall be run concurrently beginning April 8 at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resort.

Still, getting Resorts World Berhad to fully sponsor the board and lodging for some 200-odd players and officials is a big achievement for the MCF. Conservatively, the sponsorship deal could amount to something like RM125,000 to RM150,000; it is not cheap to organise an international chess event.

The Asian cities event is a team tournament where cities from all Asian and Oceanic countries that are affiliated to the World Chess Federation (Fide) are eligible to participate. The winning city team will be awarded the Dubai Cup.

In the previous championship two years ago in Dubai, Tashkent emerged as the winner with Samarkand and Askabad coming second and third respectively.

The MCF expects about 30 teams from the 40 member federations that make up Fide's Zones 3.1 to 3.4 to respond to this event.

The Genting venue will be the third occasion that the Asian cities championship is held in Malaysia. The first time was in 1984, in Penang, and the second in 1994 when Kuala Lumpur hosted it.

Simultaneously with the team event, the top Asian women will be playing in their own tournament for the Indira Gandhi challenge trophy. This is a Fide continental individual championship which is held biennially.

Two years ago, Indonesia's Tamin Upi Darmayana broke India's grip on the event by becoming the first non-Indian to take the title.

MAIL

I am very involved in chess development and have watched the game grow from strength to strength. At a time when the nation is crying for children to stay away from drugs and the streets, someone has decided to take chess and two other games off the Malaysian Schools Sports Council's competition calendar.

Do you see chess players fighting or bashing up one another? People who have never seen chess competitions should step into a hall with over a hundred players and admire the disciplined atmosphere.

The spirit of competition and mental strength are what make men great. In the past few years, Malaysia has produced young chess players who are making the country proud. Instead of being taken off the MSSM calendar, I strongly believe more funds should be invested in this game than many others.

The reason given for striking out chess and two games is because of money. However, there are many other ways for cost-cutting, and the main one I know should be the abolishment of the state dinners for every game. For the future of our youths, I urge the parents, officials and fair-minded Malaysians to speak up and pray that good sense will prevail. - Eoh Hook Kim, Penang

I share your sentiments and I certainly hope the Malaysian Schools Sports Council will change its mind. I was told by Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Hamid Majid that he had tried unsuccessfully to meet the council secretary general. Instead, he managed to see Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn who expressed his surprise at the exclusion of chess. Hamid said Fong had pledged to look iinto this matter.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

After seven rounds of the Linares super-grandmaster tournament, Alexei Shirov is now the sole leader despite the defeat which he suffered at the hands of Viswanathan Anand in the first round.

At the half-way point of the tournament, Shirov has four points while half-a-point behind him are Gary Kasparov, Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Veselin Topalov and Peter Svidler have 2.5 points each, while Vassily Ivanchuk takes cellar position with 1.5 points.

Readers with Internet access can connect to the tournament web site at http://www.elpais.es/p/d/ajedrez3/1998/english.htm

Here are some interesting games from the event.

Viswanathan Anand - Peter Svidler, Round 2

1. e4 g6, 2. d4 Bg7, 3. Nc3 d6, 4. Be3 a6, 5. Nf3 b5, 6. Bd3 Nd7, 7. e5 Bb7, 8. e6 fxe6, 9. Ng5 Nf8, 10. O-O Nf6, 11. Re1 Qd7, 12. Bd2 h6, 13. Nf3 Rb8, 14. a4 b4, 15. Ne4 Nxe4, 16. Bxe4 Bxe4, 17. Rxe4 Qc6, 18. Re3 Qc4, 19. c3 b3, 20. Re1 g5, 21. Be3 Qd5, 22. Qd3 a5, 23. Ra3 Kf7, 24. Nd2 Ng6, 25. Qe2 Nh4, 26. f3 Ng6, 27. c4 Qf5, 28. Ne4 Kg8, 29. Qd1 Rb4, 30. Rxb3 Rxc4, 31. Rb5 Qf7, 32. Rxa5 Kh7, 33. Rb5 d5, 34. Nc5 Qf5, 35. b3 Rc3, 36. Qd2 Rc2, 37. g4 Nh4, 38. gxf5 Nxf3+, 39. Kh1 Nxd2, 40. Re2 Nc4, 41. Rxc2 Nxe3, 42. Re2 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov, Round 2

1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bc4 Bc5, 4. c3 Nf6, 5. d3 d6, 6. Qe2 Bb6, 7. Bg5 h6, 8. Bh4 Qe7, 9. Nbd2 g5, 10. Bg3 Bg4, 11. Nf1 Nh5, 12. Bb5 Nf4, 13. Bxf4 gxf4, 14. N1d2 Rg8, 15. g3 fxg3, 16. fxg3 O-O-O, 17. a4 Nb8, 18. a5 Bc5, 19. Bc4 a6, 20. h3 Be6, 21. g4 Nd7, 22. Bxa6 bxa6, 23. d4 Nb8, 24. dxc5 dxc5, 25. O-O-O Qe8, 26. Nxe5 Qa4, 27. Rhf1 Rge8, 28. c4 Rd4, 29. Kb1 Red8, 30. Rf3 Rxe4 0-1

Veselin Topalov - Vladimir Kramnik, Round 2

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 d5, 4. Nc3 Be7, 5. Bg5 h6, 6. Bh4 O-O, 7. e3 b6, 8. Be2 Bb7, 9. Bxf6 Bxf6, 10. cxd5 exd5, 11. b4 c6, 12. O-O a5, 13. b5 c5, 14. Re1 Re8, 15. Rc1 Nd7, 16. g3 Nf8, 17. Na4 c4, 18. Bf1 Qd6, 19. Bg2 Rad8, 20. h4 Ne6, 21. Nc3 g6, 22. Nd2 Ba8, 23. h5 g5, 24. Nf1 Be7, 25. g4 Qd7, 26. Ng3 Ng7, 27. a4 Bb4, 28. Bh3 Bb7, 29. Qc2 Bd6, 30. Nf5 Nxf5, 31. gxf5 Bb4, 32. Kg2 Qd6, 33. f3 Re7, 34. Re2 Rde8, 35. Rce1 Qf6, 36. Bg4 Bd6, 37. Qd1 Bb4, 38. Qc2 Rd8, 39. Rd1 Bc8, 40. e4 Bxc3, 41. e5 Rxe5, 42. dxe5 Bxe5, 43. Rde1 Bc7, 44. Re8+ Kg7, 45. Rxd8 Bxd8, 46. Rd1 Bb7, 47. f4 d4+, 48. Bf3 d3 0-1

Alexei Shirov - Veselin Topalov, Round 3

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 e6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 a6, 5. Bd3 Qb6, 6. Nb3 Qc7, 7. Qe2 Nf6, 8. Nc3 d6, 9. f4 Be7, 10. e5 dxe5, 11. fxe5 Nfd7, 12. Bf4 Nc6, 13. O-O Ndxe5, 14. Rae1 Qb6+, 15. Kh1 Nxd3, 16. Qxd3 O-O, 17. Qg3 Kh8, 18. Bc7 Qa7, 19. Na4 f6, 20. Bb6 Qb8, 21. Bc7 Qa7, 22. Nb6 e5, 23. Nxa8 Qxa8, 24. Rd1 Re8, 25. Bd6 Bd8, 26. Nc5 b6, 27. Ne4 Nd4, 28. Bxe5 Nf5, 29. Qg4 Ne3, 30. Qh5 Rg8, 31. Qf3 Nxd1, 32. Nd6 Qa7, 33. Nxc8 Qd7, 34. Nd6 1-0

Peter Svidler - Vassily Ivanchuk, Round 3

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be2 e6, 7. O-O Be7, 8. a4 O-O, 9. f4 Qc7, 10. Kh1 Rd8, 11. Bf3 Nc6, 12. Be3 Ne5, 13. Be2 b6, 14. Qe1 Nc4, 15. Bc1 Bb7, 16. b3 Na5, 17. Bf3 Nd7, 18. Bb2 Bf6, 19. Rd1 Rac8, 20. f5 Bxd4, 21. Rxd4 Nc6, 22. Rd2 Nce5, 23. fxe6 fxe6, 24. Be2 Nc5, 25. Qg3 Rf8 26. Rfd1 Rcd8, 27. Qe3 Bc6, 28. Ba3 a5, 29. h3 h6, 30. Rd4 Rf6, 31. Bb2 Nb7. 32. R4d2 Rff8, 33. Kg1 Nc5 34. Rd4 Kh7, 35. Bh5 Rd7, 36. Nb5 Bxb5, 37. axb5 Qd8, 38. Qg3 Qe7, 39. Kh2 Kg8, 40. Bc1 Qf6 41. Be3 Kh8 42. R1d2 Kh7, 43. Bd1 Qe7, 44. Bh5 Qf6, 45. Bd1 Qe7, 46. c3 Rf6, 47. b4 Nb7, 48. Qxe5 dxe5 49. Rxd7 1-0

Gary Kasparov - Viswanathan Anand, Round 3

1. e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 dxe4, 4. Nxe4 Nd7, 5. Ng5 Ngf6, 6. Bd3 e6, 7. N1f3 Bd6, 8. Qe2 h6, 9. Ne4 Nxe4, 10. Qxe4 Qc7, 11. Qg4 Rg8, 12. Nd2 Nf6, 13. Qf3 e5, 14. dxe5 Bxe5, 15. Nc4 Be6, 16. Bd2 O-O-O, 17. O-O-O Nd7, 18. Rhe1 Rge8, 19. Kb1 g5, 20. h4 Bf4, 21. Bxf4 gxf4, 22. Bf5 Nf8, 23. Qh5 Kb8, 24. Bxe6 Nxe6, 25. a4 Qe7, 26. Qe5+ Qc7, 27. Qh5 Qe7, 28. b3 Qf6, 29. Ne5 Re7, 30. Ng4 Rxd1+, 31. Rxd1 Qg7, 32. f3 Re8, 33. Qf5 Ka8, 34. h5 Rf8, 35. Rd7 1-0 (on time)

Bandung wins in Hong Kong

Hongkong was an enjoyable experience. The typhoon weather and the hectic playing schedule notwithstanding, the Asian cities invitational team championship was very well organised.

Whether intentionally or not, the organisers from the Hongkong Chess Federation failed to disclose the ratings of the participants in the various teams. To an extent, it helped the quality of chess because unrated players, feeling unshackled during their games, played better by not caring whether their opponents were rated players or not.

But of course, even without ratings, grandmasters like Utut Adianto, Eddy Handoko and Rogelio Antonio and international masters like Rogelio Barcenilla, Ricky de Guzman, Luis Chiong and Wong Meng Kong were there in Hongkong, together with the likes of us.

By "us", I mean the Penang team which comprised Chuah Heng Meng, Khor Bean Hwa, Ng Weng Kong, Ooi Kiem Boo and myself.

We started off with a 0.5-point score against the Nagpur team, then improved with 1-3 scores against Bangkok and Yangon. The best results came during the second day's play when we scored 2.5-1.5 against Taipa and 3.5-0.5 against Macau before wrapping up with a 3-1 win against the BIC Club which represented the sponsors of the tournament.

But heady results are invariably met with a down-to-earth bump and on the third day we suffered a 0.5-3.5 loss to a pseudo Phuket team (really a second Bangkok team in disguise) and the ignominy of a 0-4 loss to Ho Chi Minh City in the final round.

Ho Chi Minh City were going great guns but in the seventh round they were brusquely brushed aside 3.5-0.5 by the eventual winners, Bandung. This pushed them artificially down the tournament standings and Penang was unfortunate enough to be paired with them.

We had hoped to have been paired with Kowloon as the two teams were the closest together in points but that was not to be.

Still, we could take some comfort in the fact that Singapore, with IM Wong Meng Kong in the team, were only two places higher than us while the three teams we beat all ended below us.

The final standings: Bandung (Indonesia) 24.5 points; Mandaluyung (Philippines) 21.5 points; Manila 20.5 points; Ho Chi Minh City 19.5 points; Hongkong Island, Bekasi (Indonesia) and Dubai 17.5 points each; Bangkok and Yangon (Myanmar) 17 points each; Neyveli (India) 16.5 points; Phuket 16 points; Nagpur (India) 15.5 points; Singapore and Kowloon 15 points each; Penang 12 points; BIC Club 11.5 points; Macau 9 points; and Taipa 5 points.

MERDEKA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

I must say this about Chuah Heng Meng: upon returning from the Asian cities invitational team championship in Hongkong, he found himself embroiled in the Merdeka team chess championship in Kuala Lumpur.

That's chess stamina and dedication for you!

Chuah joined the Penang team - defending the Deputy Prime Minister's trophy in the State section of the championship - in Kuala Lumpur but it was soon clear enough that the trophy would be beyond Penang's grasp this year.

Except for two 4-0 results in the first and final rounds, enough points were denied to the Penang team in the five rounds in between and on tie-break, the state could do no better than fourth.

The winner was Selangor, although it was in a controversial manner when they were accused of fixing the results of their last-round match against Kelantan. The big loser was Johor who was leading going into the final round only to see Selangor chalking a 4-0 win while they themselves fell 1-3 to Sarawak.

Terengganu was also justifiably unhappy because instead of their third placing, they could have ended up second or even first, depending on which way the games were decided.

In the youth section, the Merdeka Youth challenge trophy was won by the Penang youth team which carved out a narrow victory ahead of MSS Selangor. Only half a point separated the two teams at the end of the tournament. Third was Selangor.

Finally, the open section was won by Tan & Tan Sdn Bhd which fielded players like Jimmy Liew, Mok Tze Meng and Lee Soi Hock in the team. A very sporting Dato' Tan Chin Nam was one of the players from the team. Second was Singapore's Cairnhill Community Council and third was Chess Wanderers, also from the island republic.

The annual Merdeka team chess championship was organised by the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia. The event was played at the Wisma Belia in Kuala Lumpur, which was also the venue of this year's Malaysian Chess Federation annual general meeting on Sept 1.

GAME OF THE WEEK

This week sees the start of the Professional Chess Association's version of the world chess championship match between defending champion Gary Kasparov and his challenger, Viswanathan Anand, in New York.

Four games will be played each week for five weeks.

Last weekend in London, the Intel world chess grand prix tournament was won by England's Michael Adams who beat Alexey Dreev in the finals.

Michael Adams - Alexey Dreev
----------------------------
1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 c5, 4. exd5 Qxd5, 5. Ngf3 cxd4, 6. Bc4 Qd8, 7. O-O a6, 8. Nb3 Qc7, 9. Bd3 Nc6, 10. Nbxd4 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Bd6, 12. h3 Ne7, 13. Re1 O-O, 14. Qh5 Ng6, 15. Nf3 b5, 16. Be3 Be7, 17. a4 b4, 18. a5 Bb7, 19. Ng5 Bxg5, 20. Qxg5 Qc6, 21. Bb6 f5, 22. f3 Rae8, 23. Rad1 Rf6, 24. b3 Nf8, 25. Qf4 Rg6, 26. Kh2 Nd7, 27. Bc4 Nxb6, 28. axb6 Qxb6, 29. Re2 Qc5, 30. Qd6 Qc8, 31. Rde1 Kf7, 32. Re5 Rf6, 33. Rc5 Qb8, 34. Bxe6+ Kg6, 35. Bxf5+ Kh6, 36. Qxb8 Rxb8, 37. Bd3 g6, 38. Re7 Bc6, 39. g4 1-0

 

Jakarta wins Asian cities championship

 

New ranking list for players, Let the fest begin

 

Asian cities tournament

 

June excitement on the board

 

Malaysian Chess Fest update

 

Asian cities team championship

 

Waiting for MCF's move