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). 

 

Masters of the game

New Year’s Day brought on some mixed news for the Malaysian chess scene. I don’t like to use well-worn clichés but anyway, the good news should come first and the good news is that we have had two new International Masters confirmed by the World Chess Federation since last November.

Last September, we knew that Mok Tze Meng had been awarded a provisional IM title pending his rating points jumping above 2400. Well, his title has now been confirmed. 

The other player who now has a confirmed IM title is Lim Yee Weng. His application to Fide was made in November 2008 after he had achieved his three IM title norms at the Turin Chess Olympiad in 2006 and two of the Malaysia open tournaments in 2007 and 2008. At that time, Fide agreed to the application but made his IM title conditional upon his rating rising above 2400 points. He did achieve this subsequently and the title was finally confirmed in last November’s rating list.

Good for the two of them because they had put in a lot of hard work to get their titles.

As it stands right now, Malaysia has five international masters. 

Jimmy Liew was the first to achieve this title so there is always a special place reserved for him whenever this subject of international masters is raised locally. Mas Hafizulhelmi was our second player to gain this title and he also has a special place in Malaysian chess because after all these years, he remains our strongest player. 

Apart from Liew, Mas Hafizul, Mok and Lim, our other international master is Wong Zijing who is unfortunately inactive because he’s totally caught up with his studies overseas. Hopefully, we shall be able to see him return to active chess duties sometime in the future.

The bad news is that suddenly, I found Malaysia’s name disappearing from the Fide list of member nations. For that to happen, it can only mean one thing: that the Malaysian Chess Federation’s (MCF) membership standing with Fide has not been regularized in the past one year. 

The MCF has been such a long-standing member of the world body since 1974 (even longer if we consider the days of the old Chess Association of Malaysia, which was the MCF’s predecessor) that it is embarrassing that this should happen. 

Unfortunately, such delistings do happen once in a while even to more active chess federations. The least that the MCF should do now is to take steps to rectify this hiccup as soon as possible.

Up next  

UTP open

The Universiti Teknologi Petronas will organize their UTP chess open tournament at their campus in Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh, Perak on Feb 21. There will be an open section as well as an under-18 and under-12 sections. 

Entry fees are RM20 for the open, RM15 for under-18 and RM10 for under-12. UTP students and staff need pay only RM15 upon presentation of their matrix cards.  Closing date is Feb 7. More details, contact Hussein (017.6410194, husseinnordin@gmail.com), Faizal (017.3934291, faizalakram91@gmail.com) or Qistina (019.2602094).

KL rapid grand prix

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize a KL rapid grand prix beginning next month. The grand prix, sponsored by the Malaysian Intellectual Development Foundation and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC), will have four legs from February to May and followed by the grand final in June.

Each leg will feature six rounds with a 45-minute rate of play per player for each round. The first leg will be on Feb 6-7. The top 10 winners of the open and under-12 sections will be given free entry to their respective sections in the final. Total prize fund for the grand prix is RM6,600.

Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the 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. All legs will be played at the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.

3rd DATCC chess league

Even as the second DATCC Kuala Lumpur commercial and recreational chess league grounded to a halt on Tuesday, the organizers – the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre – are already planning for the third such event which shall kick off on Mar 24.

The DATCC chess league is a Fide-rated team tournament played over nine rounds with long time controls. Each round will be played on Wednesdays at the chess centre. 

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

Malaysian women’s masters

I hear that the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) after seeing the success of last year’s Malaysian Masters tournament at the DATCC, is seriously considering to organize an equivalent event for the top women players in the country. It will be billed as the Malaysian Women’s Masters, and the matches will be played in February and March on a knock-out masis.

More information available from MCF secretary Gregory Lau (012.9020123, greglau64@gmail.com or malaysianchessfederation@gmail.com).

 

Experience matters

Mok Tze Meng (centre) lending his opinion as Lim Yee Weng (left) and
Edward Lee discusses one of their games (Photo by Hairul Abdul Hamid) 

IT IS time to wrap up the coverage of the first round of knock-out matches in the Malaysian Masters tournament. Last month, we witnessed an interesting struggle between two of our former national champions, Lim Yee Weng and Edward Lee.

Lim was the national champion for two years, in 1996 and 1997, while Lee was last year’s champion. It is interesting to note that like many of our former national champions, both of them were only in their mid-teens when they won their titles. For instance, Lim was 14 years old in 1996 while Lee was not much older at 15 years when he won it last year.

I do remember that Lim first won the title under my watch. I was the chief arbiter of the national championship at that time and I saw a very confident Lim patiently ground down all the opposition, including his closest rivals, while having a school text book with him between rounds. 

Of course, a lot has happened in the last 13 years. Lim had gone on to represent the country in so many international-level chess competitions that he is one of our most experienced players. In fact, he is just short of raising his international rating to above 2400 before being awarded the international master title but unfortunately, it is a barrier that he hasn’t overcome.

By comparison to Lim, Lee is still a greenhorn at the game. The only opportunity he had to play for the country was at last year’s Chess Olympiad in Dresden. He is now studying in Singapore, so I reckon that it doesn’t given him many chances to play competitively at a higher level. Still, he was game enough to return to Kuala Lumpur in order to play this match with Lim.

Accordingly, what we have here was another contest of contrasting experience. Also, there were about 300 rating points separating them.

Right from the start, it looked like a shoo-in for Lim in this short, four-game match. However, it turned out that Lee had more wits about him than generally accepted. He took the fight to Lim in the first game which turned out to be a very interesting tussle. To the two players’ credit, they fought it out to a draw. 

More excitement was expected of them in the second game but surprisingly, they agreed to a quick draw. Thus, at the end of the first day’s play, the match was squared at 1-1. It was the first time at the Malaysian Masters that points had been shared.

Lim Yee Weng - Edward Lee, Game 1

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. g3 b5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. f4 d5 7. Qe2 d4 8. Nd1 Nf6 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. O-O Be7 11. Nf2 Qb6 12. Bd2 Nd7 13. Rfc1 O-O 14. e5 Rac8 15. Ne4 c4 16. Be1 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Bxc5 18. Ng5 Be7 19. Ne4 Nb4 20. Nf6+ (see Diagram 1) 20….gxf6 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Bxb4 Rfe8 23. Bxb7 Qxb7 24. Bd6 Qd5 25. Be5 Bxe5 26. fxe5 Rc5 27. Re1 Rec8 28.Qg4+ Kf8 29.Qf4 cxd3 30.cxd3 Rc2 31.Re4 Rxb2 32. Rf1 Rc7 33. Qf6 Ke8 34. Qh8+ Kd7 35. Qb8 f5 36. exf6 Rcc2 37. Qa7+ ½-½ 

Edward Lee - Lim Yee Weng, Game 2

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e5 f6 5. Nf3 Bb4 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Qe7 8. Bb5 Bd7 9. Qe2 Qf7 10. O-O Nge7 11. a4 Ng6 12. Ba3 a6 13. Bd3 Nf4 14. Qe3 Nxd3 15. cxd3 f5 16. c4 h6 ½-½ 

However, Lee’s dream run in the match effectively ended on the second day. The third game proved to be another very interesting encounter. Much of the game centred around Black’s dangerous pawns on the queenside but once all of them were neutralized and eliminated, the point was soon in Lim’s pocket:

Lim Yee Weng - Edward Lee, Game 3

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. f3 h6 5. Bf4 a6 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 e6 8. Nf3 Bb4 9. e5 Nd5 10. Bd2 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Be7 12. Bd3 b5 13. a4 bxa4 14. c4 Bb7 15. O-O c5 16. d5 exd5 17. e6 (see Diagram 2) 17….Nf6 18. Ne5 dxc4 19. exf7+ Kf8 20. Ng6+ Kxf7 21. Nxh8+ Kg8 22. Bxc4+ Kxh8 23. Bc3 Qxd1 24. Rfxd1 Bc6 25. Re1 Bd8 26. Bd3 c4 27. Bf5 Bb6+ 28. Kh1 Nd5 29. Re6 Nxc3 30. Rxc6 Bd4 31. Rxc4 Bf6 32. Rc8+ Rxc8 33. Bxc8 a5 34. Bd7 Nd5 35. Ra2 Nb4 36. Rxa4 Nxc2 37. Rxa5 Nd4 38. Be8 Kg8 39. Bg6 Kf8 40. Ra7 Nc6 41. Rc7 Ne7 42. Be4 Kf7 43. g3 Ke6 44. Kg2 Kd6 45. Ra7 Nc8 46. Ra6+ Ke7 47. Kf3 Nd6 48. Bd5 Nb5 49. Bc4 Nc7 50. Ra7 Kd6 51. Ke4 Bc3 52. Ra3 Bf6 53. Kf5 Bb2 54. Rd3+ Ke7 55. Kg6 Ba1 56. Re3+ Kd6 57. Bf7 Bb2 58. Rf3 Ba1 59. Bb3 Ne8 60. Rf7 Be5 61. Ba4 Nf6 62. Rxg7 Ng4 63. Rd7+ Ke6 64. Rd2 1-0 

The fourth game proved to be a non-event. Lee had to win this game at any cost to remain in contention for qualification to the semi-finals of the Malaysian Masters but inexplicably, he agreed to a very short draw with Lim. It was a decision that left many spectators non-plussed and questions were raised why he did exactly that.

Edward Lee - Lim Yee Weng, Game 4

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Bxd4 11.Qxd4 Qb6 ½-½  

Nevertheless, it was a very exciting match that saw Lim ease into the semi-finals of the Malaysian Masters where he is slated to meet Nicholas Chan. Chan had earlier disposed of this year’s national champion, Evan Timothy Capel.

The other semi-final match will be a real clash of Malaysian titans as Mas Hafizulhelmi and Mok Tze Meng will face off with one another. And there can be only one survivor. Mas Hafizul had earlier knocked off Muhammad Tariq Amru while Mok showed off his mettle by out-performing Ooi Chern Ee.

So far, the organizers of the Malaysian Masters have yet to finalise the schedule of the two semi-final matches. Until then, we can only wait and see.

UP NEXT

IIUM open

The International Islamic University Malaysia will hold their second IIUM chess tournament at their Gombak campus on Oct 17-18. Entry fees are RM30 for the open category and RM20 for all players under 21 years old. Entries will be accepted on a “first come” basis. For details, contact Norsharmila Zabani (03.61965393), Ahmad Fadzil Nayan (013.9531278) or Nurul Azlina Bakrin (017.4625224).

Jalan Davidson chess open

The SJK (C) Jalan Davidson will organize their first-ever chess open tournament at the school on Oct 25. Entry fees are RM10 for players from the school and RM12 for all others. For more information, call Collin (016.2123578) or Bob Yap (012.2878378).

King of kings

 

Ratings to rise

 

Triple winners

THE national closed chess championship ended a fortnight ago with a three-way tie at the top, which was unprecedented in the history of the championship. Two-way ties had occurred before, but never a tie among three players.

Even more remarkable was that the combined age of the three players was just 45 years. Lim Chuin Hoong and Teng Wei Khoon are both 16 years old and Jonathan Chuah is even younger at 13.

The three ended the nine-round championship, held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, with 7.5 points each. Abiding by the rules, the Malaysian Chess Federation decided to have a play-off event for the national champion's title and the Datuk Sabbaruddin challenge trophy.

The double round-robin playoff was eventually won by Chuah who scored 3.5 points compared to Lim's 1.5 points. Teng collected one point. Chuah is by far the youngest player to become the national champion.

Lim had only himself to blame for missing out on the champion's title. He was the most solid player among the 67 contestants who represented the 13 state chess associations in the country. In the nine games that he played, Lim was undefeated with six wins and three draws.

Going into the final round, Lim was leading the field with seven points. This was only a slim half-a-point more than his closest rivals and nothing less than a win in his final game was required if he wanted the undisputed first prize.

However, a draw with Julian Navaratnam turned out to be insufficient for Lim as both Chuah and Teng scored vital wins to catch up with him. Chuah beat Wong Zijing while Teng accounted for Rizal Ahmad Kamal. Chuah's game against Wong was very crucial. If the results had been reversed, Wong would instead be the one to tie with Lim and Teng at the top. Instead, Wong ended fourth in the standings.

If tradition is followed, not only has Chuah become the latest national champion, but he will also be awarded the national master title by the Malaysian Chess Federation.

But we have three very deserving winners this year and the contest had been very close and exciting. Under such circumstances, I think it would not be wrong if the MCF were to consider a change to its policy and decide on making the three winners all national masters.

In fact, I would like to propose to the MCF that the national master title be given to all previous co-winners of the national closed championship in recognition of their abilities. But, by all means, the title of national champion should still be reserved specifically for the undisputed winner in any year or the eventual winner of any playoff tournament.

The top finishers in this year's national closed championship: Lim Chuin Hoong, Jonathan Chuah, Teng Wei Khoon (7.5 points each); Wong Zi Jing, Ismail Ahmad, Ng Tze Han, Julian Navaratnam, Khor Shihong (6.5); Sit Seng Yaw, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Taulani Tukiran (6); and Deon Moh, Lim Kian Hwa, Chan Meng Yang, Law Zhe Kang, Mohd Irman Ibrahim, Effawira Mohd Farid, Eddy Kwan, Wong Ziwei, Jeffery Chan, Nanda Kumar (5.5).

Together with this year's national closed championship, the MCF also held its annual general meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre.

This year's AGM was, however, marked by some grumblings from some parents who were unhappy with the federation. Their unhappiness stemmed from the MCF's failure to register players for this year's world junior chess championship in Spain in October.

The annual world junior meet is a tournament popular with Malaysian parents. However, the problem is that not everybody can play in it. Since it is an event organised under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, convention has it that the participants must be registered through their national chess bodies. In our case, this is the MCF.

For many years the MCF had been organising the national age-group chess championship , where the winners of the various age-group events are given the opportunity to play at the world junior level. For individual world events of this type, the parents of the players are required to pay for their children's travel and boarding expenses.

The MCF does not provide financial assistance to help the players. All it does is to finish the necessary paperwork which includes registering the players with the organisers and preparing letters to the players' schools and education authorities.

This year, alleged the parents, there has been a total breakdown in the MCF's efficiency. Letters which were to have been prepared a long time ago were not ready at all. Repeated attempts by the parents to get the letters failed. As a result, none of the Malaysian juniors were registered for the world age-group championship and consequently, nobody went to Spain.

There were some discussions at the AGM on the MCF's shortcomings in this area but with the damage already done, the best that the members could hope for was for the MCF to improve on its efficiency in the future.

Young and capable

TODAY may be the last day of the year, decade, century and millennium, but for some players, it is simply another day to play chess.

Since Monday, 10 players have been involved in a closed international rating tournament organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur. This tournament will take a break tomorrow, but it will continue from Sunday until Jan 5. Playing sessions on these days are from 11am to 6pm.

According to the MCF, this is the definitive tournament to determine the best players in the country. Taking part in this round-robin event are international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew, Fide master Wong Zijing, current national champion Jonathan Chuah, and former national champions Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng. The other players are Aaron Yee, Ng Tze Han, Lim Chuin Hoong and Deon Moh.

A very confident Mas Hafizul is expected to win the event but it will be intriguing to see where "elder statesman" Jimmy Liew stands among the others. Liew is still the yardstick that many young players measure themselves against. My expectation is that he can expect a torrid time against the youngsters but he has the experience to extricate himself from most predicaments.

Jonathan Chuah will be eager to prove himself against his peers now that he is the newly crowned national champion. However, in his eagerness and maybe confidence, there is a danger that he may over-reach himself in his games. None of his rivals are pushovers so it will be interesting to see how he reacts in his games.

Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng, like Mas Hafizul, were absent from this year's national closed championship. They had been taking the past weeks to prepare themselves for this event, so must be considered as quietly confident to get some good results.

As for the other players, suffice it to say that despite their busy playing schedules this month, they are young and quite capable of standing up to the stress of a few more games.

I shall have the results of this tournament ready for you next month but in the meantime, as we stand literally on the eve of a new year, I would like to thank all readers of this column, especially the faithful ones who have stuck with me since August 1980. See you next millennium!

 

Tough matches in Myanmar

ONE of the cruellest things that can happen to a chess player is for his winning streak to turn into a losing streak. Suddenly, instead of being able to hold his own against other players, the stricken chess player can find himself losing game after game.

It is a great morale-sapping moment and when this happens in an individual tournament especially, when there is no one who can offer a steadying hand to the player, it can seem as if his whole world has collapsed on him.

I don't know what exactly Lim Yee Weng thought when he found himself in such a situation last month. He was in Yangon, Myanmar, together with Mas Hafizulhelmi and Wong Zi Jing, to play in the Zone 3.2a zonal tournament and his performance here frankly ranked as the worst in his playing career.

He struggled through five losses in a row before landing a win in the sixth round against a Myanmar player. Another loss followed in the seventh round before Lim wrapped up the tournament with two draws against a Filipino and a Singaporean. However, the damage had been irreparable and Lim found himself propping up the field of 30 players with only two points to his credit.

Admittedly, this was a very strong tournament. There were no holds barred from the players. After all, with Zone 3.2a allotted only two qualifying places to the next stage of the current world championship series in Las Vegas, scheduled for the middle of this year, most of the participants were in no mood to compromise.

Take, for example, Indonesia's Utut Adianto. As the highest-rated player, he was expected to breeze through the tournament. Yet he stumbled with two losses, including one that came in the very critical eighth round against the Philippines' Rogelio Antonio. Utut had to haul himself back into reckoning with a last-round win against Myanmar's Zaw Oo.

Even then, Utut had to wait for three other games to finish before he could know whether he qualified or not. Antonio joined him with a win over Vietnam's top player, Dao Thien Hai. Later, Mongolia's Dashzeveg Sharavdorj was to stake a claim with a win over Barlo Nadera of the Philippines.

The player who had the most to lose was China's Liu Dede. Going into the final round, he led the field by a half-point. But he could make no headway against Bong Villamayor, another Filipino player, and the game was drawn.

If Liu had won this crucial game, he would have qualified for Las Vegas. Instead, he found himself in a four-way tie at the top, where regulations had demanded that a double-round play-off in 25-minute games be held to decide the two qualifiers.

Liu fell apart in the play-off, losing four games and drawing two. Antonio's nerves proved the steadiest of the quartet, coming through with two wins and four draws. In the meantime, Utut and Sharavdorj both ended tied again, thereby forcing the two players into yet a second play-off consisting of a four-game match. In five-minute games, however, Sharavdorj proved to be no match for Utut, thereby conceding the second qualifying spot to the Indonesian grandmaster.

Both Hafizulhelmi and Wong Zi Jing had a good run in the zonal tournament, finishing with five points each. Hafizulhelmi drew his first game, then lost his second game to Sharavdorj. He won his third game, drew the fourth and won again in the fifth round. He then completed the tournament by drawing his remaining four games, including a remarkable effort against Antonio.

Wong had two early draws, then settled into a rhythm by losing, winning, losing and winning his next four games. From his last three games, Wong scored two draws and a win. One of his draws was with grandmaster Edhi Handoko of Indonesia.

Final standings from the zonal tournament: Utut, Sharavdorj, Antonio and Liu, 6 1/2 points each; Villamayor, 6 points; Dao and Akira Watanabe, 5 1/2 points each; Edhi, Nadera, Zaw Oo, Hafizulhelmi, Wong and Myo Naing, 5 points each; Petronio Rcao, Zaw Win Lay, Htun Htun Than, Nyee Nyee Zaw, Myint Han and Kyaw Kyaw Soe, 4 1/2 points each; Dang Tat Thang, 4 points; Ricardo de Guzman, Aung Aung, Nay Oo Kyaw Tun, Mark Chan and Tomohiko Matsuo, 3 1/2 points; Myo Thant Khine, Naing Lin Aung and Nelson Mariano, 3 points; Navin Sawalani, 2 1/2 points; and Lim, 2 points.

Terengganu open

The Terengganu Chess Association held its 11th Terengganu open chess tournament last month at the ITM campus in Dungun. There were 42 players who took part in the two-day event.

Mohd Kamal Abdullah was declared the winner of the tournament after he finished with the best tie-breaking score among three players who had scored 5 1/2 points from seven games. In second place was Nor Azmi Md Nor, while third was Md Nizam Hamzah.

There were six players with five points, and the fourth prize went to Abdul Rahim Ramli. Fifth was Md Johan Jamil, sixth was Ghalam Sani, seventh Ali Akhbar, eighth Zahanudin Zainal and ninth Ruzenan Abu Bakar. The 10th prize was given to Wan Abdul Fatah Ali who scored 4 1/2 points.

Cairnhill tournament

Just before Christmas in Singapore last month, the Cairnhill Community Centre held a fairly successful open tournament which attracted several top players from the region. The biggest star of the tournament was the Australian grandmaster, Ian Rogers, who confirmed his standing as the tournament's favourite by winning the top prize of S$1,600 (about RM3,600).

There were five players who scored 5 1/2 points and leading this pack was the Vietnamese international master, Tu Hoang Thong. China's Wu Shaobin, Fikrul Saifuddin, Ben Flores Jr and Wong Meng Leong were the other players with 5 1/2 points.

Two players who took part in the Yangon zonal tournament managed to participate in the Singapore event. Mark Chan returned home in time to play, and he ended up with five points together with Kenneth Tan and Koh Kum Hong.

China's Liu followed up on his disappointment in Myanmar by scoring only 4 1/2 points in the Cairnhill event. He shared the 10th to 14th places with Malaysia's Lim Chuin Hoong, Chia Chee Seng, Goh Weiming and Chue Kah Loong.

The players with four points were Vietnamese Tu Hoang Thai, Uzbekistan's Angela Khegai, Malaysia's Wong Chee Chung, Aurel Molnar, Malcolm Tan, Chris Morrison, Ignatius Leong, Mark Tan, Junior Tay, Foo Hsiang Ming and Bagas Prama Ananta. Singapore's former Fide secretary-general Dr Lim Kok Ann finished with three points. Altogether there were 62 players.

AGM yields no surprises

THE Malaysian Chess Federation's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week did not produce any great surprises. As expected, Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Sabbaruddin Chik was the unanimous choice as the president, a post he has held since 1988.

Also as expected, Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim did not seek re-election as the deputy president. Replacing him was Datuk Mohd Rosli Abdul Aziz, a vice-president in the old committee. Jackie Wong, Nasir Hussin and Ibrahim Abu Bakar were elected as the three vice-presidents.

What possibly raised an eye-brow or two during the AGM was the decision by Hamid Majid to decline the post of honorary secretary. Six years in the job was long enough, was Hamid's contention.

Under the MCF constitution, the president appoints the secretary and treasurer and Abdul Latif Mohamad got the secretary's post and Theresa Shee, the treasurer's job.

Chan Kwai Keong, Collin Madhaven, Ghazali Che Cob, Mohd Kamal Abdullah and Sabar Md Hashim were elected as council members. Also appointed to the council were Hamid and Laurence How.

Tight finish

I mentioned a fortnight ago that schoolboy Lim Yee Weng had a terrific chance to make local chess history. If Lim Yee Weng, the national champion in 1996 and 1997, were to win the national closed championship this year, he would score an unprecedented hattrick in Malaysian chess.

Alas for Malaysian chess, however, this was not to be. Yee Weng opted to play in the East Asian zonal tournament which is now on in Yangon, Myanmar. He is there together with Mas Hafizulhelmi and Wong Zijing.

In the absence of Hafizulhelmi and Yee Weng, the tournament narrowed to a very tight race among Ng Ee Vern, Lim Chuin Hoong and Jonathan Chuah. All games among the three of them were drawn. Ng Tze Han was also in the running.

So who won this year's tournament? I believe the player with the steadiest nerves won. Going into the final round, Ee Vern led the quartet with a slim half-point margin. Chuin Hoong and Chuah duly won their games against Mustafa Kamal Zamhuri and Ismail Ahmad respectively. Ee Vern staved off Tze Han who was desperate to win, thereby ensuring himself first place in the championship.

Top standings (open): Ng Ee Vern, 7 1/2 points; Lim Chuin Hoong and Chuah, 7 points each; Agus Salim, 6 1/2 points; Ng Tze Han, Mustafa, Azahari Md Nor, Lim Yew San and Nor Ilhamuddin Shaikh Ali, 6 points each; Ismail Ahmad, Wong Chee Chung, Mohd Kamal Abdullah, Nor Azmi Mohd Nor, Julian Navaratnam and Law Zhe Kang, 5 1/2 points each; and Tan Hong Ghee, Ghazali Che Cob, Abang Mohammad Reduan, Kamal Syed Laebu, Pang Siew Chong, Aaron Yee, Tang Ghim Sheng, Eddy Kwan, Mohd Ezmi Mahmood and Ooi Chong Hean, 5 points each.

Top standings (women): Eliza Hanum Ibrahim, 5 1/2 points; Lim Jean Nie and Lee Su Ann, 5 points each; Samantha Lee, 4 1/2 points; Nor Fatitah Saranon and Marina Soh, 4 points each; Chai Hwei Meen and Effalini Farid, 3 1/2 points each; Effaliana Farid and Nisaah Renganathan, 3 points each; Haslindah Ruslan, 2 1/2 points; Lim Han Ying and Thaw Yee Leng, 2 points each; and Nor Idani Saranon, 1 1/2 points.

Passing of an old guard

Effim Petrovich Geller, one of Soviet Union's old-guard players, died last month at the age of 73. Geller, born in 1925, was among the top 10 players in the world between 1953 and 1971. At his peak, he was regarded as one of the greatest opening theoreticians and a fine tactical player. Geller was awarded the International Master title in 1951 and made a grandmaster in 1952.

Geller played six times in the world championship candidates tournaments. His first was in 1953 and his last was in 1971. Geller also played for the Soviet Union in seven Chess Olympiads.

As a leading theoretical expert, he was a second for Boris Spassky during the latter's match with Bobby Fischer in 1972. He then went on to become a second for Anatoly Karpov.

Geller's analytical abilities were not restricted to the openings. He found some of the key analyses that allowed Mikhail Botvinnik to draw his famous game against Fischer during the Varna Olympiad of 1962. Many had thought that the adjourned position was lost for Botvinnik.

Geller's lifetime achievement against the world champions was excellent: he was +4-1 against Botvinnik, +10-7 against Vassily Smyslov, +4-2 against Tigran Petrosian, +5-3 against Fischer, +1-1 against Max Euwe, +6-6 against Mikhail Tal, +6-9 against Spassky, -2-1 against Karpov and -1-3 against Gary Kasparov.

Penang Grand Prix enters third leg

THE Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organise the third leg of the Penang Grand Prix chess circuit on Dec 27 at the Residents' Association of Bayan Baru clubhouse in Jalan Nibong, Bandar Bayan Baru. Only PCA members can take part in this circuit.

The circuit is divided into four preliminary legs and a final. Each of the preliminary legs will be a six-round event using a 30-minute time control. The first leg was run on June 28 and the second on Oct 10.

Readers interested in playing in the third leg should contact Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687 in the evening) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596, office hours).

Prizes include RM200 for the winner, RM120 for the runners-up and RM80 for the third-placed. There are five other smaller cash prizes, and also prizes for the best junior and woman players. Entry fee is RM10 per player.

Besides cash prizes, top players from each leg will be awarded GP points. The selection of 10 finalists will depend on the total GP points accumulated by the players from their best three legs.

For details of this circuit, visit the PCA homepage at (http://surf.to/pgchess).

Ipoh games

THE Perak International Chess Association (Pica) will hold a tournament at Taman D.R. Seenivasagam in Ipoh on Dec 27 beginning 9am. The senior category is a five-round, 45-minute event for Perak players with a rating above 1,700. The second category is a 25-minute event and caters to players without Perak ratings or whose ratings are below 1,700.

Winners will get trophies, cash prizes and book vouchers. Entry fees for the senior category are RM10 for Pica members and RM15 for others.

For the second category, the entry fees are RM5 and RM8 for members and non-members respectively. Those interested can call W.K. Wong at 05-366 1692.

USM events

READERS are reminded that the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) will organise two tournaments in Penang during the first two weekends of the new year.

On Jan 2 and 3, the USM Bridge and Chess Club will organise its seven-round USM open tournament. There will be four rounds on the first day of the event and three rounds on the second day.

The first prize is RM450 and the second prize RM300. There are five other cash prizes as well as prizes for the best under-12, under-15 and women players.

Entry fees are RM15 for schoolchildren and RM25 for the public.

On Jan 9 and 10, the six-round USM team tournament will be held. Three rounds will be completed on each day. Each team can have a maximum of eight players but only four will play in any one round. There are four prizes for the team event. The winning team will get RM500, runners-up RM300, third winner RM200 and fourth winner RM100. Board prizes will also be awarded.

Entry fees are RM50 for schools, colleges and universities and RM80 for others.

For more information, contact Wong Kam Loong ( 04-659 5370, e-mail: csi44949@putra.cs.usm.my), Chee Hooi Ping ( 04-829 9273, e-mail: ping119@pc.jaring.my) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596, office hours).

Temerloh tourney

THE three-day Temerloh open chess tournament, organised by the Youth and Sports Bureau of the Temerloh Umno Youth and the Malaysian Chess Federation last month, attracted more than 70 players and was won by Ghalam Sani who scored 6 1/2 points from the seven-round event.

Ghalam narrowly pipped Fikrul Saifuddin for the top prize of RM1,500. Fikrul, who was in joint second and third places with Lim Chuin Hoong with six points each, collected RM1,000 while Lim Chuin Hoong received RM700. Jimmy Liew and Noor Azmi Md Nor each scored 5 1/2 points. Liew won RM500 and Noor Azmi RM300.

Among those prize winners who scored five points were Jonathan Chuah, Azhari Md Nor, Darren Yong, Mohd Saprin Sabri and Agus Salim. Chuah, who was adjudged the best under-18 player in the tournament, won RM300. Khor Shihong, who also scored five points, received RM200. Aaron Yee's 4 1/2 points won him RM100 in the under-18 section.

Rosli Mohd Nor was the best Temerloh Umno player, scoring 4 1/2 points to win RM400. Scoring four points each were Kamarul Ariffin (winning RM250), Zakaria Salleh (RM50), Zainal Azli (RM100) and Amiruddin Abdullah (RM100).

The ladies and under-12 events were run separately. In the ladies' section, the three prize winners were Lim Jean Nie (who collected RM300), Haslindah Ruslan (RM200) and Effalini Farid (RM100), while the three winners of the under-12 section were Effazuwan Farid (RM300), Mulya Robil (RM200) and Ahmad Fafiz (RM100).

New national champions