Worthy winner

Less than a year ago, I overheard a comment that the Filipino players who were taking part in the Penang open of 2010 could not seriously be considered contenders for any future Philippine Olympiad chess team.

Sometimes, it is dangerous to say this because it is possible that something may then happen to show up the folly of this sweeping comment. Time has shown that in the case of Oliver Barbosa, he was indeed a worthy winner. 

Ten months ago, Barbosa was virtually unknown in Malaysia despite him already being an international master with a 2451 rating. But he came to Penang in December last year and snatched the first prize. 

Curious then about this fellow, I made some investigations and seen that he had actually been playing chess for quite a while; even having played in tournaments as far away as in New York during 2009. 

Then he was inactive for about a year, presumably to complete his studies at the University of the Philippines, before he resumed his international chess activities in April 2010. One tournament soon followed another, and the natural confidence soon crept back into his game. 

If he had been a player with a 2451 rating in the November 2010 rating list, his playing strength had shot up to 2538 points on the September 2011 list within 10 months. In the process, he achieved his first grandmaster norm at the 10th Asian continental individual chess championship in Mashhad, Iran in May and his second norm at the Philippine national chess championship in July. 

So ever since July, he had been searching for this third and final norm for his grandmaster chess title. He was disappointed at the Arthur Tan Malaysian open in August when his results fell short of his own expectations.

However, he still had one other bite at the title when he played at the Raja Nazrin Shah invitational masters chess championship that concluded last Saturday at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences in Kuala Lumpur.

This time around, Barbosa made no mistake in the 10-player round-robin tournament. He turned in a steady performance and then disposed off his nearest rival, Jahongir Vakhidov, who was running neck-to-neck with him at the initial stages.

By the end of the tournament’s seventh round, Barbosa found himself at the threshold of his goal which was duly achieved in the eighth round, coming from a short draw with our own international master, Mas Hafizulhelmi.

So within a remarkable spate of five months, Barbosa turned from an international master to a grandmaster. This title will still need to be ratified and awarded by the World Chess Federation but for all practical purposes, he is already one. 

I should also mention that the Raja Nazrin Shah invitational masters chess championship confirmed more than one new grandmaster. Apart from Barbosa, another of the Philippines’ international masters, Richard Bitoon, also achieved his final grandmaster title norm.

Bitoon had a much tougher journey towards reaching his goal in this tournament. At the start of the final round of the event, he was in an unenviable must-win situation, needing a full point from an opponent, the Uzbek grandmaster Tahir Vakhidov, who was very solid and had remained undefeated thus far.

The Filipino international master threw everything into the game and he emerged from the vast complications with an advantage. Yet the fact that Vakhidov still managed to put in a stubborn defence meant that this was the final game to finish in the tournament. 

There was a third player whose efforts netted him a grandmaster title norm at this tournament: Jahongir Vakhidov who, incidentally, was the son of the senior Vakhidov. Both the Vakhidovs have been rather regular visitors to the Malaysian Chess Festival and there is great satisfaction to see a young player grow up through the years. 

Now 16-years-old, young Jahongir not only earned himself his first grandmaster title norm but also confirmed his status as an international master. And incidentally, he is placed 30th among the world’s highest ranked under-16 players.

The accompanying Raja Nazrin Shah international open championship was won by the Vietnamese international master Nguyen Duc Hua, a full point ahead of five other international masters and one, Edgar Reggie Olay, who was also confirmed as a new international master at the end of this tournament.        

Up next

Chess world cup

Have you been mesmerized by the excitement of the Chess World Cup in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk? It is still an on-going event but the field has since been reduced to the final four players from the initial list of 128 participants. The final round of four games, which are played over normal regulation time control starts today and will continue until Tuesday. 

The stakes are pretty high as three of the four finalists will qualify to join the Candidates tournament of the next world chess championship cycle. You can watch the live games from the official website at http://chess.ugrasport.com/ starting at 5pm daily.

 

Keeping the tempo

Don’t let the name Chesskidz fool you in any way. This five-player team of four Filipinos and one Ukrainian which powered their way to win this year’s ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open chess championship in Kuala Lumpur comprised very experienced players that included three grandmasters in their line-up. 

Just like the Chinese had dominated the Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship days earlier, the Filipinos showed their indepth strength at the Merdeka team rapid open championship. 

In second place was the PNOY Expats (four Filipino players with one grandmaster in the team) and third went to Chesskidz Shock Troopers (four Filipino players and a lone Malaysian). 

The best all-Malaysian effort went to the team Formidable that comprised three past and present national champions in Marcus Chan, Nicholas Chan and Lim Zhuo Ren, with Yeap Eng Chiam propping up the rear.

After the excitement of the Malaysian Chess Festival, the focus of the chess community here has turned to the Raja Nazrin Shah invitational masters and international open chess championships at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences in Kuala Lumpur. 

These two tournaments started on Monday but are now towards their tail-ends. There are only three more rounds to be played before conclusion. Today sees the morning seventh round starting at nine o’clock and the afternoon eighth round beginning at three o’clock, while the ninth (and final) round will be played tomorrow morning.  

The first event was the Raja Nazrin Shah invitational masters tournament in which the organizers had invited 10 players to the round-robin tournament. Originally, the Filipino grandmaster, Joseph Sanchez, was supposed to play in the invitational but at the technical meeting on Sunday, he agreed to make way for the young Indian international master, Das Arghyadip, who was in search of his final grandmaster title norm.

Sanchez thus found himself competing with 65 other players in the Raja Nazrin Shah international open tournament instead. 

But before I say anything more about the open event, I must mention that the round-robin invitational tournament boasts a rather interesting mix of players. Apart from Arghyadip, the other nine players include grandmasters Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam and Singapore’s Dr Wong Meng Kong. Then there are the father-and-son duo of grandmaster Tahir Vakhidov and international master Jahongir Vakhidov from Uzbekistan. The remaining players are all international masters: Richard Bitoon and Oliver Barbosa who are both from the Philippines, Nguyen Van Huy from Vietnam, Goh Wei Ming from Singapore and of course, our own Mas Hafizulhelmi.

As for the open tournament, the number of participants eventually settled at 66. I was told by the tournament director, Peter Long, that he was quite relieved with this number as earlier, he kept getting enquiries from grandmasters and the number of participants had threatened to spill out of control. 

As he was organizing only one open event, he would prefer to keep the tournament at a manageable number and not turn it top heavy. He reasoned that too many grandmasters playing in the tournament could crowd out the lower-ranked local players whom he was encouraging to take part. 

Perhaps he has a point there because this open tournament had attracted 16 local participants that included both our current national champion Lim Zhuo Ren and current national women’s champion Nur Nabila Azman Hisham. That’s almost 25 percent of the field.

Nevertheless, a 66-player field that can boast of enough depth in three grandmasters (Sanchez, Susanto Megaranto and Cerdas Barus), 12 international masters, two woman grandmasters and two woman international masters cannot be that bad, can it?

(Incidentally, Megaranto had made his way to Kuala Lumpur directly from Khanty- Mansiysk in Russia where he had been playing in the Chess World Cup. Maybe he had expected to be eliminated in the very first round because he is here with us today in the thick of the Raja Nazrin Shah international open tournament!) 

 

The two events are organized by the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association with sponsorship from the Masterskill Education Group Berhad under its Educating Malaysia Corporate Social Responsibility programme. 

Up next

Chess world cup

Again, this is just a short note to say that the Chess World Cup is continuing in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk. This is a grueling knock-out event that started with 128 participants 13 days ago and the field has already been whittled down to eight survivors. The fifth round starts today. 

The stakes are pretty high as the top three winners of the event will qualify to join the Candidates tournament of the next world chess championship cycle. The final of this Chess World Cup will be played from next Friday until Tuesday at the latest if tie-break games are needed.  

You can watch live games from the official website at http://chess.ugrasport.com/ Check it out for the schedule of play.

 

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/)

 

Game for the KL open?

Chess activities continue to heat up in Malaysia. 

Come this April, we’ll be seeing the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association organize their third KL open chess tournament and it is going to be quite an affair. 

Why do I say this? It’s because of the number of foreign players who have more or less committed themselves to take part. The grandmasters expected here will be Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia), Hou Yifan (China), Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh), Saidali Yuldashev (Uzbekistan), Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam), Niaz Murshed (Bangladesh), Wong Meng Kong (Singapore), Barus Cerdas (Indonesia) and Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia).

In addition, familiar names among the international masters will include Richard Bitoon (Philippines), Oliver Dimakiling (Philippines), Alexander Wohl (Australia), Irwanto Saidikin (Indonesia), Liu Dede (Indonesia) and Tirto (Indonesia).

Did I also mention that Mok Tze Meng will be leading the local challenge? He’ll be playing this event together with our other top players, Jimmy Liew, Nicholas Chan and Lim Chuin Hoong. Altogether, there should be about 15 local representatives among the 90-odd registrants.

In addition to all these players, the organizers expect a special guest from England to turn up towards the end of the tournament. He’ll be arriving from Bangkok and staying for the weekend. His name: Nigel Short. 

Of course, Short shouldn’t need any introduction at all but just in case anyone needs to have their memory jogged today, it should suffice for me to mention “former world championship contender and many times Commonwealth chess champion” as among his credentials? 

Whilst in Kuala Lumpur, he will give a simultaneous exhibition to a maximum of 20 players on Apr 10 afternoon.

In the meantime, the dates for the KL open are from Apr 6 to Apr 12. There will be a total of nine rounds and on the last day, a blitz tournament is planned for the afternoon before the closing ceremony. Venue is the Grand Olympic Hotel in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur.

Entry fees for the KL open are staggered. Grandmasters, woman grandmasters, international masters, woman international masters and players with Fide ratings of above 2400 get free entry into the tournament. Fide masters, woman Fide masters and players whose Fide ratings are between 2300 and 2399 are charged at RM100. Thereafter, the entry fees go up to RM150, RM200, RM250, RM300 until RM350 for unrated players. Entry fees are to be paid fully to the organizers by Mar 16 or otherwise, a 50% penalty will apply.

They may seem a bit steep but that’s the normal price if players wish for the experience of competing in a quality event against quality players. For registration and more information, visit the KLCA blog at http://klchess.blogspot.com or contact Peter Long (013.3920920, peterlong@aol.asia)

Up next  

KL rapid grand prix

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the second leg of the KL rapid grand prix tomorrow and on Sunday. The grand prix. 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/)

Perak grand prix

The first leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament kicks off this Sunday at the Wisma Belia in Jalan Ghazali Jawi, Ipoh. 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. More information and details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

National age group

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) and the Penang Chess Association (PCA) will jointly organize this year’s Chiptronics national age group chess championships for the under-18, under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8 categories for boys and girls at the Dewan Sri Pinang in Penang on Mar 14-16.

Entry fees are RM25 for the under-12, under-10 and under-8 events and RM35 for the under-18, under-16 and under-14 sections. Entry fees for entries received after Mar 10 will be doubled and accepted only at the organizer’s discretion. To register, contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@streamyx.com) or Tan Eu Hong (012.4882133, euhong@euhong.net) 

Cheras challengers

The Cheras Chess Academy and Percawi will jointly organize the Cheras challengers chess tournament on Mar 17-20. This is a Fide-rated event over seven rounds, limited to unrated players and those with a Fide rating of 1950 or less. Venue is the Excel Chess Academy at the Overseas Union Garden, Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur. Entry fees are RM50 for a Fide-rated player and RM80 for those unrated. More details from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578, geodat@yahoo.com).

Chess camp

There’ll be a KL chess camp on Mar 17-20 with GM Ziaur Rahman, IM Mas Hafizulhelmi, IM Lim Yee Weng, Gregory Lau and Najib Wahab. More information from Gregory Lau (012.9020123, greglau64@gmail.com).

DATCC chess league

The third DATCC Kuala Lumpur commercial and recreational chess league at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex kicks off on Mar 24. The DATCC chess league is a Fide-rated team event over nine rounds played on Wednesdays at the chess centre. 

Entry fee is RM400 per team of a maximum 10 players. Junior teams (all players must be below 20 years old) are charged at RM200. Any entry received after Mar 12 will need to pay an extra RM100. Details are available from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, aham@pc.jaring.my) or Najib Abdul Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@hotmail.com). 

Johor chess festival

The Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru are jointly organising the 14th Bandaraya chessmaster Johor open chess tournament at the JB indoor stadium in Johor Baru on Mar 28. Entry fees are RM10 for players under 12 years old, RM15 for those under 16 years old and RM70 for all others. There will also be the second Bandaraya chessmaster Johor open team chess tournament at the same venue on Mar 27. Entry fees are RM100 per team of three players. Closing date for both events is Mar 24. Details from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525).

 

Spoilt for choice

 

Tight finish

 

Small pie

 

Action ahead

 

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