Hou makes history

Despite being the women’s world champion, China’s 17-year-old Hou Yifan never started out as a favourite in the Tradewise Gibraltar chess festival a few weeks ago. 

In the first place, Hou’s international rating was “only” at 2605 points and there were at least 20 high-profile players who were ranked very much higher than her. And actually, 11 of them were players whose ratings placed them in the super-grandmaster class. If anybody were favourites to win this chess festival, well, she wasn’t one of them.

Secondly, there was always Judit Polgar who has been the top ranked woman chess player for as long as anybody could remember. She is a 2700-plus chess grandmaster and all women chess players walk in her shadow. 

But Hou had arrived in Gibraltar with a reputation of her own. She was the women’s world champion and only a few months back, she had demonstrated how easy it was for her to defend her world title against an opponent who was on paper ranked above her. Her rivals would have done well to study her games.

With this as the background, Hou began the Gibraltar masters tournament without making any loud impression. 

In the first round, she quietly dispatched off a Swiss Fide master, Emanuel Schiendorfer, and then easily refuted a rash attack from the English international master Adam Hunt in the second round.

Her first real test was in the third round but she proved that the Hungarian grandmaster Zoltan Almasi was no big obstacle for her. 

The fourth round could be considered as Hou’s first appearance in the Gibraltar limelight. Against the experienced English grandmaster, Michael Adams, she played faultlessly to neutralize Adams’ game plan and both players agreed to split the point.

It was in the fifth round that she received her first and only setback in the tournament. The Indian grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran, presumably much wiser to Hou’s style of play than the Westerners, never gave her much of a chance in their game and he converted his positional advantage into a full point.

After that loss, Hou retreated back into the crowd. Against the Ukraine international master Mariya Muzychuk in the sixth round, the Chinese ace displayed her usual form to win almost effortlessly.

The seventh round witnessed Hou’s historical game against Judit Polgar which I had written about last week. As the two had never met across the chess board before, this game generated quite a lot of interest around the world. The fact that Hou won this game ensured that this historical moment would be remembered for a long time to come.

After this win, the spotlight returned to Hou and it never left her again until the end of the tournament. The Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem was the next to feel the power of Hou’s will as he wilted under her persistent tactical pressure on the board.

 

In the ninth round, she was paired against the Latvian grandmaster Alexei Shirov. For a brief moment, it seemed as though Hou’s position was under great pressure but in a quick turn of events, she emerged with real winning chances which she converted into a full point after an interesting endgame.

By then, Hou had surged ahead to become the sole leader in the tournament. All she required in the final round was at least a draw with the Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to take a share of the first prize. She took it instead of risking everything to beat her opponent.

This draw, however, enabled the English grandmaster Nigel Short the chance to creep up on her and finish with equal points. Technically on tie-break, Hou was the winner of the Gibraltar masters tournament but the rules of the chess festival required the two players to play two quick games to determine the overall winner.

Unfortunately for Hou, she was no match for the wily Short in this department. Short had honed his chess skills playing just this type of chess on the Internet chess servers and his experience quickly told on Hou as he won the first game of the tie-break before he offered her a draw in the second game.

For all her efforts, she received STG12,000 as the second prize but she also received STG10,000 as the best woman player and STG600 as the best junior player. Short came away with the STG20,000 first prize and a further STG5,000 special prize set up to honour Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee.

Up Next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the second leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Chinese Recreation Club in Taiping on Mar 4. After the success of the first leg in Kuala Kangsar on Sunday which attracted 313 participants from around the peninsula, PICA is hopeful of an equally good response in Taiping. 

This second leg in Taiping will be played over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. The four remaining legs will be held in Slim River, Bagan Serai, Kampar and Ipoh. Other than cash prizes, points are awarded to the top 10 winners of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg. 

Players can register for the open, the under-16 or the under-12 sections. Grand prix points shall be awarded to the top 10 winners of the open section of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg in Ipoh. Those that register under the two junior categories will not be eligible for the open prizes or grand prix points. 

Entry fees for the second leg in Taiping: RM25 (open section), RM15 (under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (players under 16 years old). For more information, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar Martin (019.4007663), Azhar (013.4570443) or check the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for updates. 

Rakan Muda JB

The Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Southerncity Giant hypermarket are the joint organisers of this year’s seventh Johor Bahru junior tournament on Sunday. Venue will be the concourse area of the hypermarket in Johor Bahru. Seven-round Swiss event with 25 minutes time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (players under 17 years old) and RM13 (players under 12 years old). Closing date for entries is today. Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

USM chess festival

This year’s 18th Universiti Sains Malaysia chess festival will comprise an eight-round individual event on Mar 10-11 and a seven-round team event on Mar 17-18. Time control for both events will be 45 minutes per game. 

Entry fees for the individual tournament are RM17 (under-12 players), RM19 (under-18 players), RM21 (university and college players) and RM27 (others). Members of the Penang Chess Association will be charged at RM15, RM17, RM19 and RM22 respectively. For the team event, entry fees are RM80 (under-12 teams), RM90 (under-18 teams), RM100 (university, college and school teams) and RM110 (all other teams). 

Details are available from Ng Sok Ling (014.9443919, sokling_9100@hotmail.com), Chung Yao Liang (017.4343182, yaoliang_1228@yahoo.com) or Lee Youn Hock (014.9445491, chessmanlee@hotmail.com). 

National age group

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) will organise this year’s national age group chess championships at the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s indoor stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 11 to 13. Eight rounds with a time control of 45 minutes, plus increment time of 30 seconds per move.

There are six separate categories for both boys and girls – the under-eight, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – which will mean that the 12 events will be played simultaneously. Entry fee is RM40 per player if paid before Mar 7. After this date, acceptance of registration shall be at the discretion of the organisers and the entry fee is increased to RM80.

The top four players from each category shall qualify to represent the country at the world, Asian, ASEAN and other age group events subject to the acceptance of the federation’s terms and conditions.

Entry forms can be downloaded from http://malaysianchessfederation.blogspot.com. For inquiries, contact Hamid Majid (019.3158098, aham@pc.jaring.my), Gregory Lau (017.2898215, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922, tsepin@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605).

 

Titans clash

It is not often that the chess world really gets excited over a chess game but at the Gibraltar masters tournament last week, there was little else being discussed except for the first-ever encounter between Judit Polgar and Hou Yifan.

In case you don’t already know, Judit Polgar is just about the most talented of the three Polgar sisters that emerged from Hungary in the 1980s and 1990s. She was never the women’s world champion but this was because she had always refused to play in the women’s world championship cycles.

If she had agreed to play, there would be without any doubt that she would have become one sometime in the last 20 years or so. Instead, she had played almost exclusively in tournaments against the best male chess grandmasters.

Even today, everyone regards Judit Polgar as the most talented woman chess grandmaster in the history of the game. At her strongest, which was just seven years ago, she was ranked eighth in the international rating list. Her ratings have consistently stayed above the 2700 points level.

With this as the background, when it became known that Judit Polgar had been paired against 18-year-old Hou Yifan in the seventh round of the Gibraltar masters tournament, it resulted in very strong interest around the world.

This would be an historical game between the highest ranked woman chess player in the world and the current women’s world champion. Never before had these two women met across the chess board. Polgar’s shadow loomed large over Hou. There was a 105 rating points difference between the two. But would Polgar be able to teach her young opponent a lesson or would Hou show her older opponent that there is now a worthy challenger to her eminent position?

While the world tuned in to their game through the Internet, logged into chess servers everywhere, the two women sat down to play. At first the game was rather equal but then, Polgar became impatient and made a hasty move.

This was just the opportunity that Hou was waiting for. The Chinese lass pounced on the Hungarian grandmaster. Hou sacrificed a pawn but she quickly won it back and obtained a lingering pressure on Polgar’s position. Then, after a second inaccurate play from Polgar, Hou netted a pawn herself.

After that, the rest of the game was all Hou. She neutralized everything else that Polgar tried. In the final position, Hou had pushed Polgar into a corner. A check would be coming next and Hou was threatening to win a piece. Polgar saw it and decided that enough was enough as she threw in the towel.

Here is the game.

White: Hou Yifan

Black: Judit Polgar

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Bf4 Ng6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Bd6 Bxd6 10. Qxd6 Qe7 11. O-O-O Qxd6 12. Rxd6 Ke7 13. Rhd1 Nf4 14. Bf3 Rb8 15. R6d2 g5 16. Na4 d5 17. g3 Ng6 18. Re1 Kf6 19. Bh5 Rb4 20. Nc3 d4 21. e5+ Nxe5 22. Ne4+ Ke7 23. Nxg5 h6 24. Nxe6 Bxe6 25. Rxe5 Rd8 26. f4 Rb5 27. Rde2 Kf6 28. Bf3 c5 29. a4 Rb4 30. Rxc5 Rxa4 31. b3 Rb4 32. Be4 Bg4 33. Re1 Rd6 34. Bd3 Bd7 35. Ree5 Be6 36. Kd2 Rbb6 37. Ra5 Rbc6 38. Ra4 Rb6 39. Re4 Bf5 40. Rexd4 Re6 41. Bc4 Rec6 42. Ra5 Bc8 43. Bd3 Be6 44. Rd8 Bc8 45. Rad5 Be6 46. Rh5 Kg7 47. f5 1-0 (See diagram. After 47….Bc8, White will win a piece with 48. f6+ Kxf6 49. Rxc8 Rxc8 50. Rxh6+ Ke7 51. Rxb6)

Next week: the story of how the women’s world champion finished first at the Gibraltar masters.

Up Next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will kick off this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng grand prix chess circuit with the first leg at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Clifford in Kuala Kangsar this Sunday. 

This is the third series of the local grand prix which will see six legs held in Kuala Kangsar, Taiping, Slim River, Bagan Serai, Kampar and Ipoh until July. Last year’s second series attracted widespread interest from players around the country and were held at five different districts in the state. PICA is confident that this year’s series would attract even greater response. 

Each leg of the grand prix will be played over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Players can register for the open, the under-16 or the under-12 sections. Grand prix points shall be awarded to the top 10 winners of the open section of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg in Ipoh. Those that register under the two junior categories will not be eligible for the open prizes or grand prix points. 

Entry fees for the first leg in Kuala Kangsar: RM25 (open section), RM15 (under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (players under 16 years old). For more information, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar Martin (019.4007663), Azhar (013.4570443) or check the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for updates. 

Rakan Muda JB

The Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Southerncity Giant hypermarket  are the joint organisers of this year’s seventh Johor Bahru junior tournament on Feb 19. Venue will be the concourse area of the hypermarket in Johor Bahru. Seven-round Swiss event with 25 minutes time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (players under 17 years old) and RM13 (players under 12 years old). Closing date is Feb 17. Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

USM chess festival

Chess players who have been waiting for the 18th Universiti Sains Malaysia chess festival should take note that it has been rescheduled to the middle of March because of the early Chinese New Year festivities. This year’s chess festival will comprise an eight-round individual event on Mar 10-11 and a seven-round team event on Mar 17-18. Time control for both events will be 45 minutes per game. 

Entry fees for the individual tournament are RM17 (under-12 players), RM19 (under-18 players), RM21 (university and college players) and RM27 (others). Members of the Penang Chess Association will be charged at RM15, RM17, RM19 and RM22 respectively. For the team event, entry fees are RM80 (under-12 teams), RM90 (under-18 teams), RM100 (university, college and school teams) and RM110 (all other teams). 

Details are available from Ng Sok Ling (014.9443919, sokling_9100@hotmail.com), Chung Yao Liang (017.4343182, yaoliang_1228@yahoo.com) or Lee Youn Hock (014.9445491, chessmanlee@hotmail.com). 

 

Tale of two players

This year-end may be a fitting time to pay some tribute to two chess players who have placed Asia on the world chess map. It’s fitting that they should be the representatives from two of the oldest civilisations in the world, China and India.

The two players are the current holders of the men's and women's world chess championship crowns: India's Viswanathan Anand and China's Hou Yifan.

Hou's exploits on the chess board are still fresh in our minds. Only last month, she had defended her world champion’s title successfully against Humpy Koneru who was rated so much higher than her. And incidentally, Koneru is also from India. 

Moreover just three days ago, Hou had helped the China team to win the women's world team chess championship in Turkey.

Hou is the dominant woman chess player in the world today and her rivals have good reason to be afraid of her. After all, can you imagine that a girl who is not quite 18 years old can already have so much experience on the chess board and is presently the women's world champion? There are still countless years for her to improve further. I would reckon that she will continue to have a good grip on the title for a long time to come.

But unlike Hou, Anand is already 42 years old. He is at an age where he is finding it increasingly challenging to play against other top chess grandmasters in the world.

The past four months especially have been a very trying period for Anand. All of a sudden he has found his form dipping. No longer is his game as feared as before. For a world chess champion, he has discovered to his dismay that it is getting harder to win.

It all started in September with the Chess Grand Slam Masters Final tournament. This six-player top-scale event was arranged as a double round-robin tournament with the first leg in Sao Paolo, Brazil and the second leg in Bilbao, Spain. The event had featured some of the best grandmasters in the world – players like Magnus Carlson, Lev Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Vasily Ivanchuk.

Anand finished the event with a 50 percent score. In the process, six draws peppered his results. He also lost two games which he made up with two wins against the tail-ender. A world champion scoring 50 percent in tournament play isn’t quite inspiring.

Anand’s woes continued after a break of about a month. At the sixth Tal memorial tournament in Moscow in November, he achieved the dubious distinction of drawing all his games. 

Till today, the former late world champion Mikhail Tal is admired foremost for his attacking style of play. Some say Tal’s style was reckless and unsound. Maybe it is true. However, his play did create the imbalance in his games and Tal thrived on the knife’s edge. 

However in this tournament, the players did not do much justice to the memory of the man that they had come to celebrate. An astounding 77.8 percent of the games – or 35 games out of the 45 played – were drawn. Anand’s own nine games was a significant contribution to this statistic. 

Finally in December, there was the London Chess Classic. Again, Anand’s result was lack lustre. It was his third 50 percent result in a top-notch tournament. He drew six of the eight games, lost one and won one.

All these indifferent results suggested that Anand the world champion was slipping down the top rankings. 

Long before these three events, he had already been displaced by Carlsen as the number one ranked player in the world. Now after these three events, he is down to number four in the world ranking list. Even Aronian and Kramnik have climbed above him.

More alarmingly, Anand’s rating has suffered in the process. When the World Chess Federation comes out with their January 2012 rating list this weekend, Anand’s rating will fall below the 2800-point level again. The last time he was below this level was in the May 2010 rating list.

It may be interesting to speculate why Anand’s form has suffered so much in the past four months. Perhaps it is because he is holding back his chess strength. 

Next May in Moscow, he shall be due to defend his world chess champion’s title against Boris Gelfand. 

Anand claimed that he hasn’t started his preparations yet. He would do so, he said recently, after the New Year. But even if he hasn’t started on his new preparations, he has certainly started to stop revealing his old preparations and ideas.

It makes sense to hold back your discoveries and only reveal them when the proper time comes. The Grand Slam Masters Final in Sao Paolo/Bilbao, the Tal Memorial in Moscow and the London Chess Classic were not the proper time nor the proper place, not when the title defence is just five months away.

Some people tend to dismiss Gelfand as a serious challenger to Anand because of his lower profile but in my opinion, all these people do not know the real Boris Gelfand. He has the necessary experience to cause Anand pain if the Indian is not careful. In the early 1990s, Gelfand was already a top grandmaster from the old Soviet Union. After the turbulence of the Soviet Union’s disintegration, Gelfand eventually migrated to Israel which he now calls home.

 

Hou retains title

WELL DONE!

The picture shows our woman Fide master Nur Najiha bt Azman Hashim (left) and international master Lim Yee Weng proudly showing off their bronze medals that they won in the mixed pair chess competition at the recent SEA Games in Indonesia. 

These were the only medals won by the Malaysian contingent at the biennial games and they came at the expense of the Indonesian mixed pair, only because the regulations favoured determining results by match points instead of game points. 

The Malaysian pair had lost badly to Vietnam and the Philippines, gold and silver winners respectively, but had chalked up good victories against Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand, thus collecting six match points.

By comparison, the Indonesian mixed team had beaten Myanmar and Thailand, drawn with Vietnam and lost to the Philippines and Malaysia, to give them only five match points.

If game points had instead been used in this competition, the situation would have been reversed and the Indonesia team would have ended up ahead of Malaysia. So for once, the regulations were in our favour. My congratulations to the two bronze medallists. 

HOU RETAINS CROWN

At the end, it was a Humpy Koneru collapse of form that effectively ended her challenge in the women’s world chess championship match in Tirana, Albania.

When I was writing last week’s column, Humpy had just fallen behind by two games, having lost the third game and then the sixth game. 

And then, before I could even steel myself for her comeback in this match, the Indian grandmaster lost the seventh game as well. At the end of the game, she admitted that she was suffering from a loss of form.

But to my mind, it was more than a loss of form that did her in. Her nerves failed her as well. Humpy got herself into severe time pressure and she couldn’t cope with it. She made some pretty weak moves at critical stages in her games and her opponent, the defending women’s world champion, 17-year-old Hou Yifan  (pictured), punished her with some powerful play.

According to Hou, her opponent could have been under some great psychological pressure to perform too, especially since the Chinese grandmaster was already leading in the match.

The moment that Hou won the seventh game, Humpy knew that the end was near. Theoretically, she could still tie the match but it would mean having to win the last three games in a row. Practically, it was an impossible task and she knew it.

So in the eighth game, as soon as it became clear that there was no advantage to gain in the position, Humpy agreed to draw it. And with it, Hou had defended her women’s crown successfully.

Up next

Penang chess league

Teams participating in this weekend’s Penang Chess League are reminded of the change in venue to the SJKC Kheng Tean in Van Praagh Road, Penang. The two-day 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).  

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

Penang heritage open

The Penang heritage city open chess championship kicks off on Tuesday at the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel, Penang on Dec 6-10. There are two separate events: the open and challenger sections, and both are internationally rated. There will be nine rounds played with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move.

Entry fees for the open event: free for Malaysian national masters and all players with FIDE ratings of above 2300 points, RM100 (PCA members) and RM150 (non-members) for players with FIDE ratings between 2000 and 2299 points, RM150 (members) and RM200 (non-members) for players with FIDE ratings between 1800 and 1999 points, RM200 (members) and RM300 (non-members) for players with FIDE ratings between 1600 and 1799 points, and RM250 (members) and RM350 (non-members) for players without any FIDE rating.

Entry fees for the challenger event: RM50 (PCA members) and RM100 (non-members) for players with a FIDE rating, and RM100 (members) and RM150 (non-members) for unrated players. 

Although the closing date was yesterday, the organisers, the Penang Chess Association, will still accept late entries but the participants are charged double. Direct all inquiries to Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@yahoo.com or estan64@gmail.com). More information also at http://penangchess.com

Sarawak open

The Sarawak Chess Association will hold the Sarawak open chess tournament at the Ultimate Professional Centre, opposite the Pullman Hotel, in Jalan Bukit Mata Kuching, Kuching on Dec 12-16. Internationally-rated event played over nine rounds, 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment for each move.

Entry fees: Free for grandmasters and international masters (men and women), RM25 (ladies and all players below 16 years old) and RM50 (all other participants). The closing date for entries is Dec 5.

Details available from Morsin Ahmad (012.8949415, morsinab@sarawaknet.gov.my), Abang Mohd Reduan (019.8887786, reduan_sahari@bsn.com.my) and Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, limkhwa@gmail.com). 

 

Suspense all the way

The last two weeks have meant late nights for me again, no thanks to the women's world chess championship match being played in Tirana, Albania. We are seven hours ahead of Albania which means that when China's Hou Yifan and India's Humpy Koneru sit down to play, their games start at 10 o'clock at night over here.

Still, this is women's chess at the top-most level and it is well worth spending the effort to watch them play. It could be a momentous occasion. The match itself is carried live on the official website, http://www.wwcc2011tirana.com, but there are other sources providing better live coverage, such as on Susan Polgar's blog, http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com. 

The 17-year-old Hou is defending her women's world champion's title against Humpy, 24 years old, who became the challenger from the women's chess world cup series.

At the halfway stage of this 10-game match, Hou was holding a slim one-point lead over her rival, but she won again in the sixth game to increase her lead to two points. 

When I see the two ladies battle it out on the chess board, I couldn't but help think how well prepared they have been for this match. So far, each game has been a very intense struggle. 

To me, it seemed that Humpy, yearning to win the women's world championship title for the first time, was the one that kept asking for more in each game, probing for that little weakness in the position where she could press home that miniscule advantage but Hou the defending champion seemed equal to the task. Her defence has been superb.

What can you expect when one kept pressing on and the other kept putting up a solid defence? Why, the pressure would be neutralised till a draw ensued. And that has been what's happened in the first, second, fourth and fifth games.

In the third game, however, Humpy perhaps tried a bit too hard and overlooked a resource by her opponent. The result? The only decisive result in the first five games. 

As I wrote this week's story, the sixth game was being played. Before the game started, it was disclosed that Hou had spent several hours the day earlier in hospital for some severe stomach ailment, and the diagnosis was psychological pressure. 

However during the game itself, she showed no sign of the discomfort. There was a bit of early excitement as the Indian grandmaster went in for a pawn sacrifice in exchange for an enduring pressure against Hou's king. The Chinese player was forced later to give back the pawn. 

But despite holding on to the pair of bishops – theoretically better than a bishop and a knight – there was little that Humpy could do right after that. And once Hou forced the queens off the board and took command of the centre with her pair of rooks, Humpy's game began to become difficult.

By this time, both players were terribly short of time. With only two or three minutes left before reaching the time control, Humpy's game crumbled and Hou launched a final assault on the Indian player's king. Faced with the inevitable checkmate, Humpy threw in the towel and Hou claimed a 4-2 lead in the match.

I would believe that the lead of two points would be enough for the Chinese lass to retain her title. Already, Humpy is faced with the unenviable task of winning back the two lost games and she is fast running out of time and games. Between Tuesday and today, I would presume that nothing much would have changed after two more games.

If by a super-human effort Humpy does manage to catch up on her deficit and equalise the match (the ninth game is tomorrow and the 10th game is on Monday), the two women will go into a series of tie-break games on Nov 30 to determine the title.

Up next

Asian amateur open

The second Asian amateur open and women chess championship starts today at the Crowne Plaza Mutiara in Kuala Lumpur. According to the Malaysian Chess Federation which is organising this continental event on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation, about 100 players have registered for this FIDE-registered tournament which shall run until Dec 1. 

Predictably most of the participants will be Malaysians but there are many foreign players as well, making this event a very interesting mix. The organisers said most of the registered foreigners were from Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and even Nepal. 

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.

Penang chess league

This year’s Penang Chess League will be held at the SJKC Kheng Tean in Van Praagh Road, Penang, on Dec 3 and 4. 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.

Penang heritage open

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organise the Penang heritage city open chess championship at the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel, Penang on Dec 6-10. Two separate events: open and challenger sections, both internationally rated. Nine rounds, 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move.

Entry fees for the open event: free for Malaysian national masters and all players with FIDE ratings of above 2300 points, RM100 (PCA members) and RM150 (non-members) for players with FIDE ratings between 2000 and 2299 points, RM150 (members) and RM200 (non-members) for players with FIDE ratings between 1800 and 1999 points, RM200 (members) and RM300 (non-members) for players with FIDE ratings between 1600 and 1799 points, and RM250 (members) and RM350 (non-members) for players without any FIDE rating.

Entry fees for the challenger event: RM50 (PCA members) and RM100 (non-members) for players with a FIDE rating, and RM100 (members) and RM150 (non-members) for unrated players. 

Closing date for all entries is Dec 1 and thereafter, all late entries will be charged double. Direct all inquiries to Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@yahoo.com or estan64@gmail.com). More information also at http://penangchess.com

Sarawak open

The Sarawak Chess Association will hold the Sarawak open chess tournament at the Ultimate Professional Centre, opposite the Pullman Hotel, in Jalan Bukit Mata Kuching, Kuching on Dec 12-16. Internationally-rated event played over nine rounds, 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment for each move.

Entry fees: Free for grandmasters and international masters (men and women), RM25 (ladies and all players below 16 years old) and RM50 (all other participants). The closing date for entries is Dec 5.

Details available from Morsin Ahmad (012.8949415, morsinab@sarawaknet.gov.my), Abang Mohd Reduan (019.8887786, reduan_sahari@bsn.com.my) and Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, limkhwa@gmail.com). 

 

Junior rule

India, together with China, the Philippines and Vietnam, are considered among the great chess-playing countries in Asia, if not the world. I say this because these countries continue to produce some of the most exciting names in world chess. 

For example, isn’t India’s Viswanathan Anand today the world chess champion? Wasn’t China’s Xie Jun the first Asian to become the women’s world champion? And isn’t Le Quang Liem the first Vietnamese player to break into that elite group of players with a rarified 2700+ chess rating? 

I need to mention only these three names but in fact, there are so many other talents that have emerged from these four countries. 

Wesley So from the Philippines is currently that country’s top ranked player and he is only 17 years old; Hou Yifan from China is currently the women’s world chess champion and she is also only 17 years old; Parimarjan Negi is considered to be a chess prodigy from India and he is 18 years old. I should also add that Le Quang Liem is 20 years old.

All very talented junior players. And when we also consider the likes of Norway’s Magnus Carlsen who is approaching his 21st birthday, the Italian-American Fabiano Cauana who is 19 years old and currently the top junior player in the world, and the 17-year-old Nepalese-Russian (but now Dutch) Anish Giri, we find that the world is practically littered with junior players that continue to shake up the older chess masters in today’s chess world.

Recently, the Delhi Chess Association and the Airport Authority of India joined hands to organize the AAI international grandmasters chess tournament in New Delhi, India and they invited four of these young chess talents to participate.

Joining Caruana, So, Negi and Hou in this double round-robin tournament were two other players. One was the Czech Republic’s Viktor Laznicka, who at 23 years old wasn’t that much older than the four, and India’s second-best player Krishnan Sasikiran who at 30 years old found himself the oldest player in the tourmanent.

The event was a romp for Caruana who justified his top seeding. He led after the third round and never allowed any of his rivals to get near enough to him. By the end of the eighth round, he was the only unbeaten player and he enjoyed a 1½-point advantage over his closest rival, Sasikiran.

But disaster struck for Caruana in the ninth round. According to him, he had blundered in a position which would have led to a draw. As a result, Sasikiran crept to narrow the gap on him to only a single point. However, Caruana’s first place in this tournament was never in any real danger as a draw in the 10th round was enough to seal his top prize. 

Sasikiran came second in the tournament and he was followed by Laznicka in third place. And what of the other three teenagers in this event? Well, by their own admission, they could have played better but actually, they finished according to expectation. So and Negi were expected to finish in fourth and fifth positions respectively, and so they did.

Hou was the weakest player in the field and she did finish last. In fact, if not for a much steadier performance in the second half of the tournament, she would have ended up with even less points. The first half of the tournament was a disaster as she lost her first four games. 

On the basis of her play in this tournament, I think she is going to have her hands full later this year when she defends her women’s world championship title against her official challenger, Koneru Humpy. It will be back to the training board for her as her coaches try to build up her game before the big match.

This week, I’m featuring a critical game between the tournament winner and the current chess champion of India. I’m referring, of course, to Negi who had won the Indian national championship in December last year. In this marathon game which went to 98 moves, Caruana sacrificed his queen and in return, got back three pieces as compensation. At first, Caruana’s advantage was slight but his pieces coordinated better and he gradually built up to a winning position. However, he still had to tread carefully to prevent Negi’s queen from continually checking him as he pushed his pawn towards queening. Eventually though, both players managed to convert their pawns into new queens but where Caruana was concerned, his position was already winning.

Fabiano Caruana – Parimarjan Negi, Round 6

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Qf2 b4 12. Nce2 Nc4 13. Ng3 Qc7 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Kb1 g6 16. h4 e5 17. Nb3 Be6 18. h5 g5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Rc8 21. Rd3 Be7 22. a3 d5 23. exd5 Nxd5 24. Rhd1 Nf6 25. axb4 Qxb4 26. Bd2 Qb8 27. Bc3 O-O 28. Qe3 Rfe8 29. Bxe5 b5 30. f4 Qc4 31. Qd2 Ne4 32. Qg2 Qc6 33. Rd5 Nf6 34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Qxg5+ Kh7 36. Bxf6 Qxc2+ 37. Ka2 Rg8 38. Qxg8+ Rxg8 39. Bxe7 Rg3 40. Na5 Rg2 41. Ba3 Rf2 42. Nb3 Rf3 43. Nc5 Qc4+ 44. Kb1 Rf1 45. Rd4 Qe2 46. Rxf1 Qxf1+ 47. Ka2 Qxf5 48. Rd6 Qf1 49. Nxa6 f5 50. Nb4 Qc4+ 51. b3 Qe2+ 52. Bb2 Qxh5 53. Nd5 Qf3 54. Rd7+ Kg6 55. Ne7+ Kh6 56. Rd6+ Kh7 57. Rd8 Kh6 58. Rd6+ Kh7 59. Rd4 Kh6 60. Nd5 Qe2 61. b4 Kg5 62. Kb3 Qf1 63. Nf4 Qa6 64. Bc1 Kf6 65. Bd2 Qf1 66. Rd5 Qb1+ 67. Kc4 Qa2+ 68. Kb5 Qa8 69. Bc3+ Kg5 70. Be5 Qa7 71. Ne6+ Kg4 72. Rd4+ Kf3 73. Nc5 Ke3 74. Kc6 Qf7 75. Rd3+ Ke2 76. Rd5 Qe8+ 77. Kb6 Qf7 78. Rd6 Kf3 79. b5 Qe8 80. Re6 Qc8 81. Bc7 Qa8 82. Rd6 Ke2 83. Ne6 Qe4 84. Nd4+ Kf2 85. Nc6 Qc2 86. Kb7 Qb3 87. b6 f4 88. Kc8 Qh3+ 89. Rd7 f3 90. b7 Kg2 91. b8=Q f2 92. Qb2 Kh1 93. Ne5 f1=Q 94. Kb8 Qh8+ 95. Rd8 Qhf6 96. Qb7+ Kg1 97. Rg8+ Kh2 98. Ng4+ 1-0

Up next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organize the fifth leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Syuen Hotel in Ipoh this Sunday. 

As this tournament is also the final leg of the chess grand prix, the organizers have doubled the value of all the cash prizes. The winner of the open section, for instance, will receive RM600 instead of RM300. In addition, there will be prizes for the top eight players who accumulate the most points in the grand prix standings, with the grand prix champion set to receive RM800. 

Like the four previous legs, this one in Ipoh will be contested over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM25 (open section), RM15 (players under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (all players under 16 years old). For more information, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com. 

Hillcrest open

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Seri Gombak, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur will organize their first Hillcrest open tournament at the school premises on Sunday. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM25 (players below 18 years old), RM30 (others). For details, contact Wong Yen Lee (017.3577788, yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com), Farah Alwani (013.3336849) or Manivannan (018.3757339).

JB Rakan Muda open

The Johor Bahru Chess Association, Rukun Tetangga Taman Sri Tebrau and Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing the 22nd Rakan Muda Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Sunday. Seven round Swiss with 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM30 (open section), RM16 (under-16 section) and RM12 (under-12 section). Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717 525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com). 

MBSSKL open

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School (MBSSKL) in Kuala Lumpur will hold the sixth MBSSKL open tounament at their school on July 23. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM5 (MBSSKL students) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is July 9. For more details, visit http://mbsskl.edu.my or contact Sanusi or Madam Yong LY (03.20782293).

 

KL open announced

WILL WE ever get to see Hou Yifan, the women’s world chess champion from China, grace any of our local tournaments this year or ever again? I wonder.

The first and last time that she played in this country was in April last year when she participated – and won rather convincingly – the third Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament. 

A lot has happened since then. When she was playing here last year, she was still not the women’s chess champion. That crown was earned much later, at the women’s world chess championship in Turkey last December when she beat Ruan Lufei.

But personally, I shall doubt that she will play in this year’s fourth Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament. Come this November or December, Hou will be defending her world champion’s title against Koneru Humpy.

Of course, Hou may still want to come here and use the tournament as a training event to build up towards her title defence but really, there’s no real reason to do so. She might as well stay back in Beijing to train with the best of the Chinese coaches.

But coming back to the Kuala Lumpur open, it’s been confirmed by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association that they will organize this competition at the Swiss Garden Hotel and Residences on Sep 4-10. The Masterskill Education Group is coming in again as the main sponsor.

The total prize fund for this year has been increased from RM30,000 to RM45,000, although the winner’s purse remains unchanged at RM10,000. However, there are now additional prizes for both women and junior chess players as recognition of the huge support from them in previous years. In addition, the final day blitz tournament has been reinstated. 

In the meantime, here is a game from the Candidates tournament which just ended in Kazan, the capital city of Russia’s Tatarstan Republic. 

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is quite a tactician. In this game, he planned on a direct attack on Boris Gelfand’s king. However, his attack fizzled out after his opponent made a thematic exchange sacrifice on the c3 square. Regardless, Mamedyarov tried to soldier on in a position that was fast turning against him. But at the end, faced with three black pawns threatening to roll down the centre of the board, he had to accept his fate. This was one of the very few decisive games in the quarter-finals. 

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Boris Gelfand

Candidates quarter-finals, Kazan, Russia

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 b5 8. O-O Be7 9. Qf3 Qc7 10. Qg3 O-O 11. Bh6 Ne8 12. Rad1 Bd7 13. f4 Nc6 14. f5 Nxd4 15. Rxd4 Kh8 16. Be3 Nf6 17. Qh3 d5 18. e5 Qxe5 19. Rh4 Rfc8 20. Kh1 Rxc3 (This is the thematic sacrifice. See the diagram. Actually, for a player of Mamedyarov’s stature, he should have seen it coming. Maybe he did, but he underestimated its effect. In any case, after the exchange, his attack was stalled and it allowed Gelfand to take full control of the centre and hence, ultimately the game.) 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rd4 a5 23. Rd3 Qc6 24. c3 a4 25. Bc2 e5 26. Bg5 b4 27. Qh4 bxc3 28. Rh3 Kg8 29. Re1 e4 30. g4 Kf8 31. Be3 Qc4 32. g5 Bxf5 33. gxf6 Bxf6 34. Qh5 Bg6 35. Qg4 Qxa2 36. Bb1 Qc4 37. Qg2 a3 38. Ba2 Qc6 39. Rg3 Rb8 0-1

UP NEXT

Giant Tampoi youth open

The Johor Bahru Chess Association, Rakan Muda Johor Bahru and the Giant Hypermarket Tampoi are jointly organizing the Giant Tampoi youth tournament at the hypermarket in Tampoi on Sunday. Seven rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM12 (players under 12 years old). Closing date for entries is May 25. More details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@jyahoo.com). 

Chess camp

The Creative Chess Enterprise will hold a two-day chess champ at the Sekolah Sri Bestari in Bandar Sri Damansara, Kuala Lumpur on Jun 6-7. Entry fees: RM140 (elementary level), RM160 (players with national chess ratings below 1200 points) and RM180 (players with national rating above 1200 points). Closing date: May 22. For inquiries, call Balendran (012.3547011) or Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922).

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organize the fourth leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Grand Kampar Hotel on Jun 19. Like the three previous tournaments, this leg in Kampar will be contested over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. The grand final will be played in Ipoh on July 10. Other than cash prizes, points are awarded to the top 10 winners of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg. 

Entry fees for the Kampar tournament: RM25 (open section), RM15 (under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (players under 16 years old). Closing date for entries is Jun 16. To register, call Yunus (013.3908129). Alternatively, visit the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for details. 

MBSSKL open

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School (MBSSKL) in Kuala Lumpur will hold the sixth MBSSKL open tounament at their school on July 23. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM5 (MBSSKL students) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is July 9. For more details, visit http://mbsskl.edu.my or contact Sanusi or Madam Yong LY (03.20782293).

Teen titans

The biggest prize in women’s chess is the women’s world chess championship crown. Right now, it sits pretty with Hou Yifan, the 17-year-old wonder lass from China. She won it last December at the women’s world chess championship in Turkey and she is not due to defend her crown – and the title – until the third quarter of this year. 

But against whom is Hou going to defend her title? Has a challenger already been determined? 

The short answer to the two questions is, yes, India’s Koneru Humpy has just won the right to challenge Hou Yifan for the women’s chess crown.

I got pretty excited the first time I heard it last week. It’s unprecedented that both defending champion and challenger in an official world title match come from this part of the world. (Never mind the fact that the men’s world chess title is also being held by another Asian chess giant, Viswanathan Anand.)

Like Hou, Humpy was also a chess prodigy. Presently, Humpy is already 24 years old but in 2002 at the age of 15 years and two months, she qualified for the full-fledged grandmaster chess title.  (Only Hou was younger, at 14 years, six months.)

Humpy became the official challenger when she won the sixth and final leg of the FIDE women’s grand prix 2009-2011 in Doha, Qatar last week. Before this final leg began, Humpy was languishing fourth in the grand prix standings and her chances of qualifying actually looked quite bleak.

During the first half of the tournament itself, her play was rather insipid and she scored only 2½ points from her first five games. If she had any remaining hopes of qualifying, she would have to depend greatly not only on the results of the other players in the tournament but also her own rearguard action.

And what a magnificent fight-back for her! In the second half of the event, she scored 5½ points from her final six games, which brought her total tally of points to eight from 11 games. Inexplicably also, the front runners suddenly lost steam at about the same time. 

Before the start of the tournament’s final round, Humpy was still only in second place half a point behind the tournament trailblazer, Elina Danielian. Humpy needed a win to have any chance of tying for first place and she got it from her final-round opponent, the 2001 women’s world champion, Zhu Chen. 

In the meantime, Danielian had already agreed to a quick draw with Antoaneta Stefanova. Apparently, she was satisfied with this result although a win would make her the undisputed winner of the tournament. The draw meant that at worst, she would finish on equal points with Humpy, although the tie-break would be in the Indian grandmaster’s favour. 

Calculating the grand points was more complicated but in the end, Humpy’s success in this tournament meant that she leapfrogged several places over other contenders to finish second in the standings. 

Interestingly, Hou remained first in the grand prix standings but as she was already the women’s world champion, the qualifying spot was now filled by Humpy. 

How would Humpy fare against Hou later this year? On rating, Humpy is the higher rated of the two. That alone would make her the favourite to wrest the title from the defending champion.

However, chess is not solely dependent on ratings. Ratings only give an indication of how one player compares with another. Eventually, it will all boil down to the player with the stronger nerves, the one who plays better and is better prepared psychologically.

And in this aspect – the psychological aspect – Humpy trails Hou. In their last two high-profile encounters, in the women’s world chess championship cycles of 2008 and 2010, Hou had eliminated Humpy. The Indian grandmaster may yet become the next women’s world champion but she will have to overcome this mental barrier first.

National closed

This year’s national closed and national women’s closed chess championships are just five days away. According to information from the organizers earlier in the week, 89 players have registered for the national closed while a further 34 players will be contesting the national women’s closed. This is already more than the limit of 120 players that the Malaysian Chess Federation had expected collectively for the two competitions. 

Since I last wrote about these two events, the two winners of last year’s championships have confirmed their participation. So we shall have Tan Khai Boon (national closed champion) and Fong Mi Yen (national women’s closed champion) defending their titles.

There is also an added attraction which will make this year’s contest extra special, especially for the participants. I hear that international master Jimmy Liew has also decided to play. He will be the yardstick for all the other players to measure themselves with. 

Most people will know that Liew was Malaysia’s first grandmaster, but not many will realize that he is also a former national closed champion, having won the title in 1984. He is paying back his dues to the national closed championship cycle, giving it the recognition it deserves. Now, if only our other former national champions will do the same next year.

Both competitions will be played at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur from next Wednesday until Mar 20. There will be nine rounds with games starting at 9am and 3pm daily. For more information, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Up next

National age group

This year’s three-day national age group chess championships start tomorrow at the Chancellor Hall, Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak. This event is organized jointly by the Malaysian Chess Federation, the Perak International Chess Association and Universiti Teknologi Petronas. There are six age group events for boys and girls – under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – running concurrently. Eight rounds of 45-minute games with 30-second increments per move. Anyone still thinking about taking part should contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605) for the latest information.

Hillcrest chess camp

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Sri Gombak, Batu Caves, Selangor will be the venue for a two-day holiday chess camp on Mar 14-15. The chess camp will be conducted by international master Mok Tze Meng and his team of trainers. For more details, contact Wong (017.3577788) or Yen Lee (yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com).  

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade shopping mall, Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre and Cerdik Chess Enterprise are jointly organising the 10th Klang Parade open chess tournament at the shopping mall in Jalan Meru, Klang on Mar 19 and 20. The tournament on Mar 19 is for players under the age of 18, while the event on Mar 20 is an open competition. Entry fees for the age group tournament are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (players under 18 years old). For the open event, the entry fees are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (all other players). Contact Siti Nor Faiza (03.33437889 office hours) or Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com) for details.

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).

 

Teen queen

Nobody who had met Hou Yifan in April this year, when she took part in the Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament, could have expected that the petite 16-year-old chess prodigy from China would close 2010 crowned as the new women’s world champion.

When do you think you can become the world champion, I had asked her then. She let out a stifled giggle, a reaction which I had mistaken for a nervous laugh. I don’t know, she replied.

But that’s your ambition, isn’t it, I persisted in asking her. Your last attempt at the world chess title had been so very close, I mentioned, referring to the previous world chess championship in Nalchik, Russia in 2008. 

At that time, Hou was only 14 years old and she had progressed through the knock-out tournament till the final stage where she met the other finalist, Alexandra Kosteniuk. However, her opponent proved to be the better player and she was left to reflect on her lost opportunity.

Oh, I hope to be better prepared and play better this time, she had replied modestly.

Well, Hou Yifan has really played better this time and gone one better than before. Two additional years of travelling the world and playing chess against top-notch men’s and women’s players had added to her experience. 

Just last Friday in Hatay, Turkey, she finally claimed the women’s chess crown as her own. In the final of the championship, she played the match of her life and just about eked through with a hard-fought win against her compatriot, Ruan Lufei.

Hou had started the knock-out women’s world championship as the third seed just behind India’s Humpy Koneru, the second seeded player. Despite being rated so much lower in the 64-player field, Kosteniuk as the defending champion had been given top seed in deference to her World Champion’s title but it was clear as the championship progressed that Kosteniuk would not be able to repeat her success of 2008.

In the third round, Kosteniuk was eliminated by Ruan. Both players had drawn their first two games and so it was left to the tie-break games to decide. A gritty Ruan won the first game of the tie-break before she then closed down Kosteniuk in the second tie-break game and thus, the Chinese player advanced to the quarter-finals.

It will be interesting to note that throughout this championship, Ruan gained a reputation as the tie-break queen. Right from the word Go, all of Ruan’s mini-matches (each round except for the final would be an encounter of two games at normal regulation time control and if there was no decision, then tie-break games at a faster time control would decide) went into nerve-wracking tie-breaks. None of her rounds were ever decided under normal time control.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise to observers when Ruan pulled level with Hou after four normal regulation games in the final of this world championship. 

The first game of the final began with Hou playing with the white pieces and pressing to strike the first blow. At one point the position was better for Hou but try as she could, she could not overcome Ruan and the game ended drawn.

Hou was not to be denied, however, and she did pick up her first win against Ruan in the second game. The point was split again in the third game, but I can assure you that it was no tame stuff. Ruan could have won it and equalized. She had that pressing advantage which she could have converted into a win but did not. 

So going into the fourth game, Hou was still leading and needed just a draw. On the other hand, the fourth game was going to be a do-or-die mission for Ruan. Anything less than a win for Ruan would mean that the women’s world chess championship would have ended then and there for her.

It was fascinating to watch this game as it unfolded. Maybe it was due to nerves but Hou, after defending well against Ruan’s onslaught, succumbed after Ruan found the very best moves over the board. At the end of the four normal regulation time control games, the final was back where it started: on equal footing for both players.

The first game of the tie-break was drawn, then Hou won the second tie-break game. In the third tie-break game, the players drew again. But this was where the resemblance to the normal regulation games ended. In the fourth tie-break game, Hou seized the initiative from Ruan and did not let go. As much as Ruan tried, she could not turn the game around and finally, defeat staring at her on the chessboard, Ruan conceded the game.

So there we have it: Hou Yifan is the newest and youngest of the long line of women’s world chess champions. Hail to the new queen of chess. 

[Just an interesting footnote here: China’s Ruan Lufei is 23 years old. She is a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. "I think there are three reasons why she beat me," Ruan reflected after the championship. "Firstly, she is really a good player, and unlike me, she plays chess every day. Secondly, I played tie-break in every round, so I have played for 20 days with only one day of rest. Finally, she has two coaches here, but I'm fighting alone. My coach is in China."]

Here are the normal regulation games from the final of the women’s world championship.

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game One

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 dxe4 4. fxe4 e5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. c3 b5 8. Bd3 Ngf6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Nbd2 h6 12. Bh4 Qc7 13. Qc2 Nh5 14. h3 Be6 15. Rae1 Nf4 16. Bg3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Rad8 18. Bf2 a6 19. Nh4 Nb6 20. b3 Rfe8 21. Qf3 b4 22. Rc1 bxc3 23. Qxc3 exd4 24. Bxd4 c5 25. Bxg7 Bf4 26. Nhf3 Rxd2 27. Nxd2 Bxd2 28. Qxd2 Kxg7 29. Qc3+ Kh7 30. Qxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Rxc5 Ra8 32. Ra5 Nc8 33. Rc1 Nd6 34. e5 Nf5 35. Kf2 h5 36. Rc2 Nd4 37. Rd2 Nc6 38. Rc5 Ne7 39. b4 Kg6 40. a3 Kf5 41. Ke3 Rg8 42. Ra5 Rg3+ 43. Kf2 Rb3 44. Rxa6 Nd5 45. Ra5 Ne3 46. Rc5 Nc4 47. Rc2 Nxa3 48. R2c3 Rb2+ 49. Kg3 Nb1 50. Rf3+ Kg5 51. h4+ Kg6 52. Rc7 Kg7 53. Rf6 Kg8 54. Rf4 Rb3+ 55. Kh2 Rb2 56. Rc5 Na3 57. Rc3 Nb5 58. Rg3+ Kf8 59. Rg5 Nc7 60. Rxh5 Nd5 61. Re4 Kg7 62. Rg5+ Kh7 63. Rc4 Rb3 64. Rg3 Rb2 65. Rg5 Rb3 66. Rd4 Nxb4 67. Rg3 Rb2 68. Rc3 Nd5 69. Rcd3 Ne7 70. Rd2 Rb5 71. Re2 Ng6 72. Rde4 Bf5 73. e6 Bxe6 

½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Two

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 e5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Kh1 exf4 12. Bxf4 Be6 13. Bf3 Qb8 14. b3 Qb4 15. Qe1 a5 16. Rd1 Rfe8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Rac8 19. Qg3 g6 20. Na4 Nd5 21. Bxd5 cxd5 22. Bc3 Qg4 23. Qxg4 Bxg4 24. Rxd5 Bb4 25. Bxb4 axb4 26. Rd2 Bf5 27. Kg1 Rxc2 28. Rxc2 Bxc2 29. Kf2 Bd3 30. Re1 Rc8 31. Ke3 Bb5 32. Rd1 Re8+ 33. Kf4 Re2 34. g4 Bxa4 35. bxa4 Rxa2 36. Rd4 Rxa4 37. h4 Kf8 38. Re4 f6 39. Rc4 Ke7 40. Rd4 Ke6 41. Ke4 Ke7 42. Kf4 h6 43. h5 gxh5 44. gxh5 Kf7 45. Re4 Kf8 46. Kg4 f5+ 47. Kxf5 Ra5+ 48. Kg6 Ra6+ 49. Kh7 Rb6 50. Rf4+ Ke7 51. Rf1 b3 52. Kg7 b2 53. Rb1 Ke6 54. Kxh6 Kf5+ 55. Kg7 Kg5 56. Kf7 Kxh5 57. Ke7 Kg4 58. Kd7 Kf3 59. Kc7 Rb3 0-1

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game Three

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 g6 7. N1f3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 h6 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 c5 12. Bc4 e6 13. Be3 Nf6 14. Qd3 Ng4 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Rad1 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 b6 18. Nd2 Qxc5 19. Qxc5 bxc5 20. c3 Bb7 21. Nb3 Rfc8 22. Na5 Rc7 23. Nxb7 Rxb7 24. Rd2 Rab8 25. Bb3 a5 26. Rc1 a4 27. Bxa4 Rxb2 28. Rxb2 Rxb2 29. Bd1 Rxa2 30. g3 Ra3 31. c4 Bd4 32. Kg2 Ra2 33. Rc2 Ra1 34. Bf3 Kf8 35. h4 Ke7 36. Bc6 g5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. g4 Ra3 39. Be4 Kd6 40. Re2 Kc7 41. Bh7 e5 42. Be4 Kb6 43. Rd2 Ka5 44. Bd5 f6 45. Kf1 Kb4 46. Ke2 e4 47. Rc2 e3 48. fxe3 Rxe3+ 49. Kd1 Rg3 50. Rg2 Rh3 51. Re2 Kc3 52. Rd2 Rh4 53. Rg2 Kd3 54. Rd2+ Ke3 55. Re2+ Kf4 56. Re4+ Kg3 57. Be6 Rh8 58. Kd2 Re8 59. Kd3 Rxe6 60. Rxe6 Kxg4 61. Re4+ Kf5 62. Re1 g4 63. Rf1+ Ke5 64. Re1+ Kd6 65. Ke4 Bf2 66. Rd1+ Ke6 67. Rd5 g3 68. Kf3 f5 69. Kg2 Kf6 70. Kf3 Kg5 71. Re5 Kg6 72. Rd5 Kf6 73. Kg2 Ke6 74. Kf3 f4 75. Kg2 Be3 ½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Four

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. h4 Nc6 8. Rg1 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bg2 Qe5+ 12. Be3 Qh2 13. f4 Bd7 14. Qd2 Nxd4 15. O-O-O Bc5 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 O-O-O 18. Qc4+ Kb8 19. Qe4 Bc8 20. h5 Ka8 21. a4 Rd5 22. Rdf1 Qh4 23. Qc4 Rd7 24. a5 Qd8 25. a6 Qa5 26. Kb1 Kb8 27. axb7 Bxb7 28. Bxb7 Rxb7 29. Qd4 Ka8 30. Rf3 Rhb8 31. b3 f6 32. Rd1 Qb4 33. Qe3 Rb6 34. Rd4 Qe7 35. Qd3 R6b7 36. Re3 Re8 37. Rd6 e5 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Re4 Qc7 40. Rd5 Qb8 41. Rc4 Rf8 42. Kb2 Qe8 43. Rdc5 Qe6 44. Qe4 Kb8 45. Rxe5 Qf6 46. Rc6 Qf7 47. Rf5 1-0

 

Girl power

China has a lot of young and talented chess players but very few have ever created a more lasting impression in recent years than their sensational 16-year-old wonder lass, Hou Yifan.

Hou, who started playing chess 10 years ago and is a grandmaster in her own right, stamped her mark on Malaysian chess when she claimed the Kuala Lumpur open chess title on Monday. 

She captured the hearts and imagination of both players and spectators alike with a performance rarely matched among women competitors. Though not the top seed in this event, the unassuming and ever obliging Number Two seed was clearly the choice and favourite of many people.

She reeled off four consecutive wins in her first four games and found herself in a neck-and-neck tussle with Vietnamese player Nguyen Anh Dong who had also won the same number of wins. The two of them met in the fifth round and drew their game. 

Though at the sixth round, Hou and Nguyen were joined briefly at the top of the tournament standings by Thomas Luther, Marat Dzhumaev and Oliver Dimakiling, this joint lead proved short-lived as these four nearest rivals of hers could do no better than draw their games in the seventh round while she won her game.

As a result, the Chinese girl found herself enjoying a sole lead of half a point at this late stage of the tournament. She increased her lead to a full point in the eighth round when her closest rivals all faltered again. 

By then, her winning the tournament was already a foregone conclusion. Regardless of her result in the ninth and final round, nobody else would be able to catch up with her. Still, a loss would certainly be out of the question. She wouldn’t want to spoil an otherwise impressive run with a final-round loss. 

Her opponent, Susanto Megaranto, was faced with an even greater dilemma. How was he to approach the game? Should he bring the game to her in the final round and try for a full point (and risk losing a full point too) or go for a peaceful draw that would suit his opponent better than him? Hou was prepared for a fight over the chessboard if the situation warranted but at the end, discretion proved to be the better part of valour and both players quickly agreed to split the point.

Final top standings: GM Hou Yifan 7½ points; GM Nguyen Anh Dung, Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia) 7 points each; GM Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia), GM Thomas Luther (Germany), IM Dhopade Swapnil (India), GM Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan), IM Dzhurabek Khamrakulov (Uzbekistan), IM Ashwin Jayaram (India) 6½ points each.

The best performing Malaysian in the field of 111 players was newly-minted medical doctor Nicholas Chan. Chan, who is a Fide Master, missed out on his second international master norm but only barely. That is still his main target, he confided in me. Still, finishing in 16th position was a very creditable effort considering that he hadn’t played at this high a level in the last five years due to studies.

Chan’s next tilt at an IM norm is at the closed Kuala Lumpur Masters tournament now on-going at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi. Chan and Abdul Haq Mohamad are our two representatives in this 10-play, round-robin event.

My impression of this third KL open chess tournament? It was very well run. Playing condition was superb although I felt that the lighting in the tournament hall could have been slightly brighter. 

Nevertheless, the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association and it’s technical director, Peter Long, must be commended for a job well done. It wasn’t easy to coordinate the entries and guests from all parts of the world, but the organizers pulled it off without any observable hitch. I’m looking forward to the fourth edition of the KL Open next year.

This event, played at the Olympic Sport Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, was sponsored by the Masterskill University College of Health Sciences and the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation. 

World chess   

Get set for the world chess championship between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov which starts on Apr 23 in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Anand, who turned 40 years old recently, is the defending champion but he is expected to face great pressure from Topalov who is five years younger. Both are dynamic players with lots of experience at top-level chess.

During the KL Open, I asked a few of the participating grandmasters who they thought would win the match. Opinions were mixed. Some supported Anand to win but those who looked at the match more objectively said that Topalov could be the victor because of his no-holds-barred sort of play. 

Anyway, with the match starting next week, readers can visit the official website at http://www.anand-topalov.com/ for the latest developments.

Up next  

Perak grand prix

It’s now confirmed that the third leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sek Men Teknik Kerian in Jalan Siakap, Bagan Serai on Apr 25. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Participants are reminded that entries will close on Apr 22. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Mas’ud Hamzah (012.4681665).

Stonemaster chess

The one-day second Stonemaster amateur chess tournament for 2010, organized by Cerdik Catur Enterprise will be held at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur on Apr 25. Only players without a national rating or a national rating of below 1650 are allowed to play. Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM20 for school children. Closing date for entries is Apr 23. For details, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, seme_event@yahoo.com) or Cikgu Farah (017.9100836). 

 

Selangor open

The nation’s longest-running chess tournament is back! The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will hold their 37th Selangor open chess tournament at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 29 to May 2.

This nine-round, Fide-rated event will have 10 main prizes totalling RM6,000 with the winner getting RM2,200. There will also be various minor category prizes. Entry fees are RM80 for CAS members with Fide ratings, RM90 for CAS members without Fide ratings, RM90 for non-CAS members with Fide ratings and RM100 for non-CAS members without Fide ratings. Entries received after Apr 25 will be charged an extra RM20.

For enquiries, contact Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922) or Mat Zaki Yeop (017.2032051).

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)