The future of chess

Truth be told, the Malaysian Chess Festival wasn’t a holiday for any player taking part in any of the events. After all, there wasn’t time to take things easy. As a player, I was struggling with my own personal demons during almost every round, be it the position on the chessboard or the remaining time on the chess clock as it ticked away.

There was only one round where my game ended relatively early and it gave me the only odd pleasure to walk around the tournament hall to look at the other games and take note of my fellow strugglers, especially those playing at the main event, the Arthur Tan Malaysian open championship.

Some of those in chess agony or chess ecstasy were very familiar, having seen them almost year in and year out, but by and large, fresh faces made up a significantly large proportion of the faces.

While wandering around the tables, I couldn’t help but noticed that at this main event, the average age of the players could be rather young.

It was a very intriguing thought which was later proven correct when I badgered the organizers to let me take a look at the details of the participants. Of the 98 players in the Malaysian open tournament, 44 of them were aged 21 years old or younger. That constituted almost 45 percent of the field. Add a further five players who were born in 1989 and exactly half the field were below 22 years old.

As I was scrolling through the participants’ details on the computer, I could almost hear my editor bellowing down on me that this would be a good angle for this column. So I decided to start off in search of the youngest participants in the Malaysian open.

There were three, all born in 1999 which would make them at the most, 12 years old. I gulped. Twelve years “young” and already taking part in a chess event where they would sit as equals across the chessboard with players possibly twice or thrice their age, or perhaps even older!

The most successful of the trio was Bai Jinshi from China. Born in May 1999, he finished eventually overall in 28th position. Nobody would have thought much of this player if not for him creating a sensation by beating Ju Wenjun, the Chinese woman grandmaster who weeks earlier had won a strong international tournament in Hangzhou ahead of reigning women’s world champion Hou Yifan. But there was more to come from Bai in the Malaysia open when two rounds later, he added the experienced grandmaster from Uzbekistan, Saidali Yuldashev, to his list of victims. 

Zachary Loh and Karl Zelesco, both hailing from Melbourne in Australia, were the other two players who were born in 1999. Loh, who was born in April and who had a precious experience playing overseas at the world youth championship for under-12 players last year, was the oldest of the trio while Zelesco turned out to the youngest.

“I’m not 12 yet,” Zelesco told me shyly when I asked him his age. I turned to look at his mother and she told me that he would be celebrating his 12th birthday on Aug 30. So technically, the boy was still 11 years old when he sat at the table to trade blows with his opponents. When I enquired further, she added that her son had been playing actively in Melbourne tournaments for the past year or so. 

This Malaysian open was to be his first international chess competition out of his home country and he even got a chance to play against – and lose to – a grandmaster. But what also interested me was that young Zelesco also played with two other opponents – William Lee Kah Howe and Tan Li Ting – who weren’t that much older than him. In fact, both Lee and Tan were just a year older. Nevertheless, Zelesco took 1½ points from them. 

Satisfied with his 58th position at the Malaysian open? “No,” he sighed, “I could have played better but it was a good experience for me to meet with good chess players from other parts of the world. I want to improve and I’m sure I will.”

Such confidence. It’s incredible what the youngsters, with the correct parental support, can get themselves up to today at the chessboard. Yes, anywhere in the world, they really are the future of chess.

 

Up next

National rapidchess

The Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak will be organizing the second national rapidchess championship at their university campus on Oct 1 and 2 on behalf of the Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association. Eight rounds, with a time control of 25 minutes and 10-second increment per move. First prize for the open category is RM1,000. Entry fees are RM30 (players under 12 years old), RM35 (players under 16 years old) and RM40 (all others). For enquiries, contact Ariana (019.5451813), Nabilah (014.9045157), Thakshna Moorthy (016.9950070) or Khairil Anwar (013.3533720). More information also from http://nrcc2011.blogspot.com 

DATCC events

The Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur is now open daily to chess players. Operating hours: Mondays to Fridays (1pm to 8pm), Saturdays and Sundays (9am to 5pm). 

The second session of DATCC chess classes for beginners of all ages will start tomorrow at 10am. Please view the class schedule and topics covered at http://datcchess.blogspot.com. More information also from Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com).

First DATCC Super Kids weekend tournament for children below the age of 12 will be played tomorrow beginning 9am. Six rounds, 25-minute games. Entry fee: RM10 per player. Details available from Najib Wahab (016.3382542), Kaber Azzad (012.6178624) or Jax Tham (013.3232280) or visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com to download entry form.

 

Three winners

Right to left: Li Shilong (Malaysia open champion), Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva
(Chess challenge champion) and Dmitry Kayumov (International seniors
champion) with Malaysian Chess Festival organizing chairman Daniel Yong

One clear sign of the eighth Arthur Tan Malaysia open chess championship that ended at the Cititel Midvalley Hotel last week was the sheer dominance of the Chinese players. The Chinese have always been very fervent supporters of the Malaysian Chess Festival – of which the Malaysia open is just one of the three main events – and they had sent a contingent of 20 players to participate in this showcase event.

Frankly, I did not notice any big names among the Chinese unless one counted their woman grandmaster, Ju Wenjun, who had come out tops in July at the first Hangzhou women grandmaster chess tournament, ahead of the reigning women’s world champion, Hou Yifan.

I was very interested to follow her form since that event and I wasn’t disappointed. She was always among the leaders and had ended the Malaysia open placed in sixth position. Her play grew from strength to strength as the tournament approached its finish and she scored two great wins in the eighth and ninth rounds against Filipino grandmaster Oliver Dimakiling and Vietnamese grandmaster Cao Sang. 

Some readers may remember Cao Sang as the Malaysia open winner last year. He didn’t have the same luck this year and was almost unbeaten in the tournament until he met Ju in that ninth round.

Now, you may wonder why I said that the Chinese had dominated this year’s Malaysia open championship. Apart from the petite Ju who finished sixth, the top five winners were also Chinese. 

The new winner of the Malaysia open was their grandmaster, Li Shilong. He last played in this event in 2008, finished in eighth position. This year, he took the limelight by winning the Arthur Tan challenge trophy and the first prize of USD4,000 (about RM12,000).

Second was Chinese international master Lu Shanglei, third was their grandmaster Wen Yang, fourth was Wan Yunguo and fifth was their grandmaster Wang Rui.

In the sixth AmBank chess challenge, Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva of Uzbekistan lived up to her top billing by finishing as the champion in this tournament. Actually, it was a joint tie at the top of the standings with India’s Rohan Vijay Shandilya but a better tie-break ensured that Kurbonboeva was to receive the challenge trophy and the top prize of RM1,000.

Another Uzbek player, grandmaster Dmitry Kayumov, shared the winners’ limelight by successfully defending his title at the second Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open chess championship and thus winning the top prize of RM5,000. 

Kayumov’s victory was more or less expected as he was the only grandmaster in the field and his rating was a hundred points above his nearest rival, Filipino international master Luis Chiong. Yet during the tournament, he reached a crisis point when an unexpected loss in the sixth round to Chiong meant that there were three players tied at the top of the standings.

However, Kayumov never looked back after that loss. He won his remaining three games to clinch the first prize as his rivals’ play began spluttering. 

Now that the dust has settled at the Malaysian Chess Festival, attention now turns to the Raja Nazrin Shah invitational masters and international open chess championships that will be organized at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences in Kuala Lumpur. The two events will run concurrently from this Sunday until Sept 10.

There are actually two events. The first is the Raja Nazrin Shah invitational masters championship where four veteran grandmasters from Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Uzbekistan will be joined by six international masters in a nine-round round-robin tournament. Among the competitors will be Malaysia’s international master, Mas Hafizulhelmi.

The other players in the invitational event are grandmasters Joseph Sanchez (Philippines), Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam), Tahir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan) and Dr Wong Meng Kong (Singapore), and international masters Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon (both from the Philippineas), Nguyen Van Huy (Vietnam), Goh Wei Ming (Singapore) and Jahongir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan).

There is also an international open championship going on at the same time, with half the entries being internationally titled players. Malaysia will again depend on youth to lead the fight with 18-year-old national champion Lim Zhou Ren heading the local challenge. 

Also expected to play are our under-14 boys’ champion Roshan Ajeet Singh, under-14 girls’ champion Tan Li Ting, under-10 boys’ champion Teh De Juan and under-10 girls’ champion Teh De Zen. I have also heard that 85-year-old Datuk Tan Chin Nam may be playing too. 

The two events are organised 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

Just a short note to say that the Chess World Cup has started in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk. This is a grueling knock-out event that started with 128 participants and half the field being eliminated at the end of every round. The stakes are 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 is not expected to start until Sept 16.  

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

Festival highlights

For the better part of the last fortnight, I have been playing in the Malaysia Chess Festival. At the risk of disclosing my age to the whole wide world, I want to mention that I was not participating in the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship but rather, in the KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng senior open tournament.

These two tournaments, together with the AmBank chess challenge, were the main showcase events of this year’s 12-day festival at the Cititel MidValley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

All these ended yesterday but there is no respite for the organizers. It is just one tournament after another and today sees the festival continue with the one-day ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid open tournament. Then tomorrow and on Sunday, the festival ends with the traditional ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open championship.

Earlier this week, I heard from the organizers that more than 80 teams had already registered for the team event, and these were only the early entries. The late entries had yet to be counted and it was anticipated that when they do, the number of teams in this event may go well above one hundred, meaning a possibility of more than 500 people taking part in a chess competition! By comparison, there were “only” 70 teams last year.

As for the three showcase tournaments – all individual events – there were 98 participants in the Malaysia open championship, 40 players in the chess challenge tournament and 29 in the senior open tournament. The numbers may be down from last year but there was still a very respectable list of visiting grandmasters and international masters.

Sandwiched within the nine rounds of the three events was a spectacularly run Swensen’s rapid age group championship, a one-day event that managed to attract 385 junior players from within and outside the country. 

From experience, I can tell you that managing age group chess events can be quite harrowing for organizers. The prospect of controlling the younger players, especially those that are 12 years old and below, can test the nerves of even the coolest organizers. 

Can’t remember how it was like to be a 12-year-old or an eight-year-old kid? For one day, these children reminded me how we were all young once. Surely like us, they are all noisy, boisterous, innocent, excitable, exuberant and impatient, and they have the most impressionable minds on the planet.

But I also marvelled at the ease these young chess players were alternating between being very serious to being very playful. They were full of energy away from the chessboards but by golly, they held such concentration and determination when seated across the board from their opponents.

I should also mention here that among the 385 players was a group of 35 children from Tehran, Iran, none of them older than 14 years old. Together with their parents and chess coaches, they came on an eight-day holiday but had also arranged with the festival organizers to take part in the Swensen’s event as part of their holiday itinerary. 

At the closing ceremony, they even arranged to appear on stage with the sponsors and organizers just to receive their certificates of participation and for some of them, their winner’s medals. 

Looking back at that, I would think that it was very important to the Iranian parents and coaches that this would be an educational trip and the children had something to show and remind them that they had after all come to Malaysia to play chess.

Up next

Merdeka rapid events

Here is a reminder to all local chess players that the ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid open tournament will be played today and the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament tomorrow and on Sunday. Venue for both events is the Cititel MidValley Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. 

It is a bit too late to register for the individual rapid event but for the team rapid event, the entry fees are RM300 for four-player teams and RM375 for five-player teams. Junior teams (all players to be below 16 years old) will be charged at RM200 for four-player teams and RM250 for five-player teams. However, do note that the organizers reserve the right to impose late fees on all last-minute entries. 

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia). 

 

Five days to go

There are just five days to go before the start of this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. Are you ready for it? As for me, I’m preparing to make my way down to Kuala Lumpur very soon.

Normally, I would just be spending two or three days at the festival just to soak in the occasion, observing the participants and basically enjoy the fun among the people whom I’ve known for decades. However since last year, I have become more involved in the festival as a somewhat reluctant participant.

Yes, I’ve been roped in again to play in the second Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng seniors open tournament. Not to say that I’m totally prepared for it; I have to admit that just like last year, I am far from being comfortable. Apart from looking at chess games live on the Internet and doing some brief analysis and commentaries for this chess column, I haven’t sat down with real chess pieces and feeling their weight in my hands. Not for quite some time, I haven’t!

So it is with some trepidation that I’m getting myself involved again. And I know that the competition level this year isn’t going to be any easier than the maiden event last year. I took a sneak look at the preliminary list of players yesterday and true enough, it looks tough even before the first move is pushed.

Last year’s tournament had 18 participants but so far, I’ve seen 24 names in the players’ list. I am sure that before the event starts on Aug 18, they may be more additions to this number.

One reason for the increasing number is, of course, more players are now more aware of the existence of this event. Last year was just the curtain raiser; this year is the real competition.

Another reason is that the organizers in their infinite wisdom had decided to lower the age of entry into this tournament from 55 to 50, thereby enabling more people to make the transition from playing in open events to this senior event. It’s a good thought but I should say that the organizers should rein themselves in or otherwise, the continuing lowering of age limit will defeat the idea of holding a senior tournament in the first place.

As for the other two main draws of the Malaysia Chess Festival, the organizers say that they are confident of at least 100 entries for the main event, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship, while 37 entries have been received for the AmBank chess challenge.

There are at least 17 grandmasters in the Malaysia open and this includes the defending champion, Vietnamese grandmaster Cao Sang. Also taking part are two woman grandmasters and nine international masters. The most prominent names among the Malaysians taking part will be Mas Hafizulhelmi and Lim Zhuo Ren.

These three main events will be held at the Cititel MidValley Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 18-25. They will all be played over nine Swiss rounds using a 90-minute plus 30-second increment time control. 

Apart from these long time control tournaments, there are also the Svensen’s open rapid age group chess tournament on Aug 21, of which more than 200 entries have been received so far, and the Malaysia Chess Festival open blitz tournament on Aug 25.

Up next

Merdeka rapid events

Here is a reminder to all local chess players that the Merdeka individual rapid open tournament will be played on Aug 26 and the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament on Aug 28-29. Venue for both events is the Cititel MidValley in Kuala Lumpur. 

For the individual rapid event, entry fees are RM20 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for others. For the team rapid event, entry fees are RM300 for four-player teams and RM375 for five-player teams. Junior teams (all players to be below 16 years old) will be charged at RM200 for four-player teams and RM250 for five-player teams. 

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).

 

Armenia triumphs

There are simply too many world-class chess events taking place or have taken place all over the world at the same time. From Ningbo in China to Dortmund in Germany and Biel in Switzerland, my attention is presently being distracted with this surfeit of chess activities.

Would I consider this a problem? Yes, but this is a happy problem. I don’t mind the distraction. It only proves that chess can have a crowded calendar.

So where shall I start? Perhaps, from where I left off last week, with the world team chess championship that ended in Ningbo on Tuesday with Armenia deposing Russia to become the new champion. 

I thought at first that Russia was going to win this event but the Russians then stumbled badly and went out of contention. The Russian team lost to both China and Azerbaijan, and in the final round, suffered the ignominy of losing to India.

Russia’s setback was the opportunity for Armenia to spring into the lead. The Armenian team had played so steadily that they hadn’t lost to any other team yet. At their worst, they drew with Russia, the United States and Azerbaijan. 

On Tuesday, Armenia was due to play Ukraine in the final round. A drawn match was all that they would need to clinch the title but the Ukrainians themselves were in the chase. If they could score a crushing result like a 3½-½ win against Armenia, they may even come out tops. Maybe the Ukrainians saw the unlikelihood of this ever happening because soon after the start of the round, their match was quickly drawn.

 

I would believe that China was disappointed with this outcome because they were mathematically in contention for the title and they would only need to win by 2½-1½ against Hungary, which they did, to be the champion if Ukraine had won by any score line. The only consolation for the Chinese team was that they actually finished with the same game points as the Armenians, except that on the more important match points they trailed the new champion. 

India, Israel and Egypt found themselves out of their depth in this tournament. Israel was possibly the biggest disappointment seeing how just a year ago, they had finished third in the Chess Olympiad. 

India came into this event as the Asian champion but they soon realized that even finishing in the middle of the table would be a tall order. I even thought that they could play the role of a spoiler and take surprising points off the main title contenders but the only problem was, they could not until the very last round against Russia when the results did not count significantly any more.

As for Egypt, there is little to be said about this African representative except that they failed totally.

And so we move on to Dortmund in Germany where the former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, is creating waves at the Dortmund Sparkassen invitational chess tournament. Well, at least he has been in impressive form right until the mid-way point of this event last Monday. By the way, the tournament ends on Sunday so there is still time to see whether Kramnik will carry his advantage right through till the end.

The Dortmund Sparkassen is an elite chess tournament that goes a long way back. However, it was not until 1973 when it was converted into a regular annual event. This year’s edition is a six-player, double round-robin tournament that features Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Ruslan Ponomariov, Le Quang Liem, Anish Giri and local German player Georg Meier.

As mentioned, Kramnik has been showing great form. He couldn’t have been happier. In the first half of the tournament, his victims have included Ponomariov, Giri, Meier and Nakamura, and he has dropped only a draw to Le. Even if he eases up on the pedal and draws the rest of his games in the second half, I believe he should coast through easily to win the top prize. 

The last tournament on my list today is the annual Biel Chess Festival. This is also another chess festival that has been around for decades. It started life as only a masters open tournament in 1968 but the grandmaster tournament was introduced in 1976. 

Since then, the grandmaster tournament has evolved into one of Europe’s showcase events. Like in Dortmund, this is a double round-robin tournament featuring six very strong players. Their names speak for themselves: Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Morozevich and Yannick Pelletier.

I would be very surprised if Carlsen does not win the event which will end today. On Tuesday as I was writing this story, he was leading the field with only Morozevich following hard on Carlsen’s tail. The rest had been left behind. Caruana, who had won last year’s Biel grandmaster tournament, found himself trailing everyone this time around. A complete reversal of form.

Up next

Malaysia Chess Festival

With only a few days remaining until the official closing date of entries for the main events of this year’s Malaysian Chess Festival, I’ve been informed by the organizers that there may be close to a hundred participants in their showcase event, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship. 

At least players from 19 countries will be represented and among them will be at least 13 grandmasters, two woman grandmasters and nine international masters. Presently, there are only a small number of Malaysian players in the field but no doubt, we shall see the numbers increase ahead of the closing date. 

According to the organizers, the official closing date for entries for the main events – the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship, the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open championship and the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge – is Aug 1. Entries will still be accepted after this date but a 25 percent surcharge will be imposed. Plus, anyone submitting their entries within 24 hours of the start of these events will be hit with a 50 percent surcharge. So before you say “ouch” and complain about the surcharges, it is best to submit your entry before Monday.

The three events will be held at the Cititel MidValley Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 18-25. Nine round Swiss, 90 minutes plus 30-second increment time control. 

As for the complimentary chess events, the closing date remains unchanged, that is, Aug 15. Here, you have: the Swensen’s open rapid age group chess tournament, Aug 21, six rounds, 25 minutes per game; the Merdeka individual rapid open chess tournament, Aug 26, seven rounds, 25 minutes per game; and the ASTRO Merdeka rapid open team chess tournament, Aug 28-29, nine rounds, 25 minutes per game.  

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).

 

Festival frenzy

Many chess players will be heaving a sigh of relief when they read this, and I mean a really big sigh. I know, because that was what I did upon learning last week that there will be a new edition of the Malaysian Chess Festival this year. 

Yes, the country’s premier chess festival will definitely continue for at least one more year. And what it means in practical terms for chess aficionados in this region is that the frenzy of almost non-stop chess activities this year will stretch from Aug 17 until Sep 10, save for a short holiday respite as the country celebrates both National Day and Aidil Fitri.

At the conclusion of last year’s Festival, there were real fears that we could have seen the last of the event in its present format. 

Datuk Tan Chin Nam, long the doyen of the Malaysian chess scene, had been hinting rather loudly throughout last year’s festival that he was going to take a sabbatical from sponsoring future major chess tournaments in the country.

When asked why, he had said that his continued presence was casting a very long shadow on the development of Malaysian chess. As long as he was putting up the money to sponsor chess events here, he feared that other sponsors would be reluctant to step into the picture.

Malaysian chess, he told me, could not depend on his largesse forever. Malaysian chess, he said, needed to seek and have other sponsors to rejuvenate the game. If he were to move out of the picture, he believed new sponsors could be found.

True enough, when the new year (2011) came around, chess organizers found that Tan had stuck to his promise not to fork out more money for chess. The hardest hit was, of course, the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur, the chess centre that bore his late son’s very name. It is to this chess centre’s credit that it has managed to reinvent itself and survive. 

Nevertheless, there would remain a big question mark over the future of the Malaysian Chess Festival, of which the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open tournament was the flagship event. It was the event that attracted foreign chess masters to Kuala Lumpur; it was the event that was synonymous with the reputation of the Malaysian Chess Festival.

But in the event that there really was little funds to run a full-scale Malaysian Chess Festival, what could happen?

The worst case scenario was that the Malaysian open and the other supporting events could be scrapped and the organizers would revert back to organizing only the Merdeka chess events. If that were to happen, it would be a complete letdown for Malaysian chess and a huge blow to the foreign and local chess players who support the Festival every year. 

Therefore, scrapping the Malaysian open was not going to be a popular option. By hook or by crook, the Festival would have to go on and the organizers, a responsible lot, knew that. 

And finally, after many months of suspense and hard work to convince sponsors to continue backing the Festival, the Year 2011 Edition is announced.

So what can we expect this year? First of all, I am looking forward to the eighth edition of the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open. As it still retains the name of Datuk Arthur Tan in the title, I can only presume that there is continuing sponsorship from IGB Corporation Berhad.

Then there are also the Malaysia Chess Challenge and the second Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng seniors open tournament which is sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad.

Apart from these three main events – all Fide-rated, by the way – there are four other tournaments that are now considered part and parcel of the Malaysian Chess Festival: the Swensen age group rapid chess open tournament, the Malaysian Chess Festival blitz open tournament, the Merdeka individual rapid open tournament and the 31st ASTRO Merdeka rapid chess team chess championship.

The three mentioned Fide-rated events will be played on Aug 17-25 while of the others,  the age group rapid chess open will be held on Aug 21, the blitz open on Aug 25, the Merdeka individual rapid open on Aug 26 and the Merdeka rapid chess team open event on Aug 28-29. All these events will be played at the ballroom of the Cititel Midvalley Hotel.

I mentioned earlier that the chess activities will stretch until Sep 10. This is because we mustn’t forget the fourth Kuala Lumpur open tournament. This event, now officially known as the Raja Nazrin Shah Masters & International Open Chess Championship, will take place starting Sep 4 at the Swiss Garden Hotel and Residences in Kuala Lumpur. 

This championship is under the purview of the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association and technically distinct from the Malaysian Chess Festival. There are two separate tournaments here. The first is a Masters event which is a 10-player round robin invitational grandmaster tournament that provides the invited hopefuls with the chance of attaining a grandmaster title norm. And the second is an open tournament that is something very similar to the Malaysia open tournament, that is, with title norm aspirations for the participants too. 

So basically, chess players will be rather spoilt for choice again come this August and September. If I were you, I would start thinking now about applying for my annual leave.

Up next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organize the fourth leg of the second Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Grand Kampar Hotel this Sunday. 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 contested 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. 

SJKC Jalan Davidson open

The Cheras Chess Academy and Percawi will assist the SJK(C) Jalan Davidson in Kuala Lumpur to organize an open chess tournament at the school hall on Sunday. Entry fees: RM12 (students from the school and Percawi members) and RM15 (others). To register, contact Kids For Chess (03.91316474 or 016.2123578).

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 July 10. Seven round Swiss with 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM30 (open section), RM16 (under-16 section) and RM12 (under-12 section). Closing date is July 6. For more information, contact 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).

 

Finest moments

One thing for sure: this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival was a resounding success on all fronts. A slicker organization and yes, more teams and players from home and abroad that registered for the 11-day chess fest than ever before. The chess festival has indeed become a recognized event in the international chess calendar.

 

However, there is some consternation within the chess community that this year’s chess festival may be the last that we would see organized in its present format. In my private conversations with the man at the forefront of the chess festival in recent years, Datuk Tan Chin Nam told me that he would be taking a two-year leave from sponsoring chess.

“I feel that I have become a hindrance to chess development,” he said. “Chess should not solely depend on Tan Chin Nam. I need to stand down so that other big sponsors can come in and help lift the game to its next level in the country. Please help tell the chess community to understand. I shall be on a sabbatical.” 

Curiously piqued, I asked how he would then occupy his time in the mean time. I doubted that he could take a back seat for too long. After all, chess had been in his blood since 1974.

“I want to look at chess from the other side of the chess board,” he replied, “I shall want to play in more chess tournaments in the next two years. It doesn’t matter if it is a slow or fast game, I just want to play.”

Obviously, Tan had been bitten by his foray at the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open tournament. “I’m encouraged with the two points scored in this tournament. In other games, I found that I had reasonable chances too but unfortunately, I spoilt them all. I shall want to play more so that I can learn. I’m not too old to learn how to play better.”

How then will the Malaysia Chess Festival proceed without his financial sponsorship? “There are other sponsors but as long as I’m there, they are reluctant to come forward. This is the time for chess organizers to build their relationships with them,” he said.

So this seventh Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open chess tournament may be the last we shall see played in memory of his late son, Arthur Tan, for some time. But in the meantime, this seventh Malaysia open tournament was won fittingly by Vietnam’s 37-year-old grandmaster Cao Sang. 

Cao Sang has been at the game for a very long time. In this event, he was always up there among the title chasers. After the first six rounds, he was among the leaders. Two rounds later, he fell back half a point behind them. However, in the ninth round, a determined win meant that he climbed back to join two other players at the top of the standings. 

Some anxious moments passed as the organizers got down to break the tie but eventually, word leaked out that Cao Sang had indeed pipped Chinese grandmaster Zhou Weiqi and Indian international master SP Sethuraman to the top prize of USD4,000. Here is the game that won him the prize and the Malaysia open challenge trophy:

White: Cao Sang (Vietnam)

Black: Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam)

1.e4  c5  2.Nf3  d6  3.Nc3  Nf6  4.d4  cxd4  5.Nxd4  a6  6.Bg5  e6  7.Qf3  Nbd7  8.0-0-0  Qc7  9.Bd3  b5  10.Rhe1  Ne5  11.Qg3  b4  12.Nce2  Bb7  13.Bxf6  gxf6  14.Kb1  0-0-0  15.f4  Nc4  16.Nb3  d5  17.exd5  Bxd5  18.Qf2  Be7  19.Ned4  f5  20.Nf3  Bf6  21.Bxc4  Bxc4  22.Ne5  Bxe5  23.fxe5  a5  24.Nc5  Qb6  25.b3  Rd5  26.Rxd5  Bxd5  27.Rd1  Rg8  28.Rxd5  exd5  29.Qxf5+  Kc7  30.Qxf7+  Kc6  31.Qxg8  Kxc5  32.Qf8+  Kb5  33.Qf1+  Kc5  34.Qf6  Qb5  35.Qf2+  d4  36.Qf8+  Kd5  37.Qf7+  1-0

Up next  

DATCC weekender

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the fourth DATCC super supreme rapid chess weekender tournament at their Wilayah Complex premises in Kuala Lumpur on Sep 26. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM15 for players below 12 years old and RM30 for others. Details from Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) or Justin Kumar (018.3960781, kjustin09@yahoo.com).

Perak grand prix

The Kampar leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Grand Kampar Hotel in Kampar, Perak on Sep 26. Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of Perak International Chess Association and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Sukumaran (012.5252445) or Kamaruddin (019.4316793). Details from http://perakchess.blogspot.com  

 

Finest moment

It has been an interesting week at the Malaysia Chess Festival in Kuala Lumpur. I'm home in Penang right now but still suffering the dizzying effects of playing in this event. It's been correct what I said last week about it taking more than sandpaper to scrape off the rust.

Still, I've no reason to regret playing in the first Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open tournament, one of the three events that made up the festival proper. There is nothing like playing to really create a bond with the other players in the event, especially if the field is compact and well manageable. 

And I like to think that 18 players was a decent and well manageable number for the seniors event. It can only get better next year. Nevertheless, the field this year included a grandmaster from Uzbekistan (Dimitry Kayumov), two international masters from Singapore (Tan Lian Ann and Giam Choo Kwee) and a Fide master from Australia (Brian Jones), plus several other foreign entries from China and India.

The main event was, of course, the seventh Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open tournament with 133 entries. Many more than the organisers had expected; 33 players more than last year's tournament. And rather unsurprisingly, since none of the previous champions are here, the trend continues that there is a new champion for each edition of the Malaysia open.

But I shall write more about the Malaysia open and the AmBank chess challenge (52-player field) next week when I have more time over this weekend to sort out and look deeper into the results.

In the meantime, I shall leave you with these three games from the Malaysia Chess Festival. 

The first game saw 11-year-old Yeoh Li Tian hold Uzbek grandmaster Saidali Yuldachev to a gritty draw in the very first round of the Arthur Tan Malaysia open.

White: Saidali Yuldachev (2496) 

Black: Yeoh Li Tian (2112)

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 e6 10.Qxb7 Nxd4 11.Bb5+ Nxb5 12.Qc6+ Ke7 13.Qxb5 Qd7 14.Nxd5+ Qxd5 15.Bg5+ f6 16.Qxd5 exd5 17.Be3 Ke6 18.0-0-0 Bb4 19.a3 Rhc8+ 20.Kb1 Bc5 21.Rhe1 Kd6 22.Bf4+ Kc6 23.Re6+ Kd7 24.Re2 g5 25.Bc1 Kd6 26.Red2 Ke6 27.f4 gxf4 28.Re2+ Kf7 29.Rxd5 f3 30.Red2 Rab8 31.R5d3 Re8 32.Rxf3 Re1 33.Rd7+ Ke6 34.Rdd3 Rf1 35.Rd2 Bd6 36.h3 Be5 37.Rc2 a5 38.b3 Rd8 39.Rc6+ Kd5 40.Rc4 Rg8 41.Rd3+ Ke6 42.f4 Bb8 43.Kc2 Rg2+ 44.Rd2 Rff2 45.b4 axb4 46.axb4 Rxd2+ 47.Bxd2 Kd5 48.Rc5+ Kd4 49.Kc1 Bd6 50.Rc8 Ke4 51.b5 Rg7 52.Rc6 Kd5 53.Rc3 f5 54.Rd3+ Ke6 55.Be3 Rg3 56.b6 Rg7 57.Kc2 Rb7 58.Kc3 Rb8 59.Kc4 Rc8+ 60.Kb5 Rc2 61.b7 Rb2+ 62.Kc6 Rc2+ 63.Kb5 Rb2+ 64.Kc6 Rc2+ ½-½ 

The second game was played in the fourth round of the Arthur Tan Malaysia open. Dr Lim Chuin Hoong, known more popularly in local chess circles as Ronnie Lim, scored a full point off German grandmaster Gerhard Schebler.

White: Lim Chuin Hoong (2302)

Black: Gerhard Schebler (2474)

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Bd2 Bxd2+ 4.Qxd2 Nf6 5.g3 0-0 6.Bg2 d5 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.0-0 dxc4 9.a4 Rb8 10.Qc2 b6 11.Rd1 Bb7 12.Qxc4 Bxf3 13.exf3 c5 14.Nc3 cxd4 15.Qxd4 Nc5 16.Qe3 Qe7 17.Nb5 Rfd8 18.Nd4 Qe8 19.b4 Nd5 20.Qa3 Nb7 21.Rac1 Rbc8 22.f4 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Rc8 24.b5 Na5 25.Rxc8 Qxc8 26.Bxd5 exd5 27.Qd6 h6 28.Qxd5 Qc4 29.Qxc4 Nxc4 30.Nc6 Nb2 31.a5 bxa5 32.Nxa5 Kf8 33.Nc6 Ke8 34.Nxa7 Na4 35.Nc6 Kd7 36.Ne5+ Ke6 37.Kg2 f6 38.Nc6 Kd5 39.Kf3 Nc5 40.g4 Nd7 41.Ne7+ 1-0

The third game is from the Lee Loy Seng international seniors open. Now, many people know that Dato Tan Chin Nam is an octogenarian. His knees may be weak and his hands may be shaky but his mind is still as razor sharp as ever. And he loves the game of chess very much.

Given half a chance, he can figuratively run rings around any opponent. If anyone happens to let their guard down, Tan is capable of building up an attack that sucks them off the chess board. India's Ummer Koya happened to be the one to get caught in the murky whirlpool in the fifth round of the seniors open tournament.

White: Dato Tan Chin Nam (Malaysia)

Black: Ummer Koya PT (India)

1. e4 b6 2. Nf3 c5 3. Bc4 d6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. d3 e6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. O-O a6 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. a4 Nf6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Qd2 Qc7 12. b3 0-0 13. h3 h6 14. Bh4 Rfe8 15. Ne2 d5 16. Bg3 Qb7 17. e5 Nh5 18. d4 f5 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. Be5 Bxe5 21. Nxe5 Rf8 22. c3 Rae8 23. f4 Qc7 24. Rf3 Nf6 25. Qc2 Ba8 26. Rg3 Ne4 27. Rf3 Rc8 28. Raf1 Bb7 29. Ng3 cxd4 30. Ng6 Rf6 31. Ne5 dxc3 32. Nh5 Rff8 33. Ng6 Rfd8 34. f5 Nd2 35. f6 Nxf3+ 36. Rxf3 gxf6 (At this stage, the spectators were getting somewhat restless. What a turnaround in the game. From a worse position, he now had a lot of chances to win. But the problem was, would he blow it? Could he win the game?) 37. Nxf6+ Kg7 38. Nh5+ Kg8 39. Nf6+ Kg7 40. Nh5+ Kg8 (Well, we thought, was he going for the draw or was he trying to win?) 41. Rg3 (No, there was no doubt in our minds that he was going for the win! No splitting of point. The forced win would be 41. Ne7+ Qxe7 42. Qg6+ Kh8 43. Qxh6+ Qh7 44. Qf6+ Kg8 45. Rg3+ Qg6 46. Rxg6+ Kh7 47. Qg7# but okay, under such circumstances, his game continuation was good enough) 41...Qxg3 42. Nxg3 d4 43. Ne7+ Kf7 44. Nxc8 Bxc8 45. Qh7+ Ke8 46. Qg6+ Ke7 47. Qg7+ Ke8 48. Nh5 Rd6 49. Nf6+ Kd8 50. Qf8+ Kc7 51. Ne8+ 1-0

I've never seen the man so happy after a chess game!

Up next  

UTP rapid chess

As part of Universiti Teknologi Petronas’ convocation programme this year, there will be a national rapid chess open tournament at the main hall of the university’s campus in Tronoh, Perak on Oct 9-10. The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association are the co-organisers with the University. Entry fees are RM35 for adults and players below 18 years old, RM30 for players below 16 years old and RM25 for players below 12 years old. Closing date for entries is Oct 2. More information available from Saeksarn Sinnaso (017.5514682, saeksarnskill@gmail.com), Zulaizat (013.4666195) or visit http://nationalrapidchess.blogspot.com. 

 

In full swing

I have been here at the Malaysia Chess Festival at the Cititel Midvalley in Kuala Lumpur since Tuesday: much later than I would have liked since I missed all the fun and bustle of both the ASTRO Merdeka individual and team rapid chess tournaments but there is compensation.

I am able to soak in the full atmosphere of this year’s Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open tournament and the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge. Both events are currently in progress and to boot, there is also the first Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international senior open tournament going on at the same time. 

And here’s a little admission. A few weeks ago, the organizers had been suggesting that I take part in the senior event. No, no, no, I had told them, I won’t be taking part. But it’s all good clean fun, they pleaded. And besides, “many of your friends will be competing too.” 

I tell you, the pressure was unrelenting but it was all very appealing, to say the very least. To cut a long story short, they won the war but my battles are only starting. Truth is, I haven’t sat down in front of the chess board for quite a while. When rust sets in, it takes more than sandpaper to polish it off. 

So I’m quite certain that I’ll be making a fool of myself at the senior event but what the hey. Like what I was told, it will all be good clean fun, win or lose, as long as we confine the battles to the chess board and keep our friendship off it.

Earlier, as I had expected, entries for the ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid chess event swelled to 107 participants due to the last-minute registration by foreign players who had arrived early for the Malaysia open. 

Saidali Yuldachev, the seasoned grandmaster from Uzbekistan, secured the top prize despite a draw with local youngster Irfan Haqqim in the opening round. After that slight hiccup, Yuldachev went full speed ahead to win his remaining games which included victories against German grandmaster Gerhard Schebler in the sixth round and Uzbek international master Khamrakulov Dzhurabek in the final round. 

Schebler, who led the event until his loss to Yuldachev, had to be contented with the second prize. In third place was Fide master Nicholas Chan who was undefeated and impressive with five wins (including one against Uzbek grandmaster Marat Dzhumaev in the final round) and two draws in the one-day tournament. Another Uzbek player, Vakhidov Jahongir, finished fourth.

Jointly fifth to seventh were international master Mok Tze Meng, grandmaster Ziaur Rahman and Sutarno; and rounding up the top 10 prize-winners were Dzhumaev, Dzhurabek and Carlos Leonardo.

Amidst all the excitement of the festival’s opening tournament, a hastily arranged one-day visit to Malaysia by World Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov passed by almost unnoticed by the local chess fraternity.

Kirsan was en route to Manila but he made a brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur to visit the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic Council of Malaysia where he witnessed a symbolic flag transfer ceremony to the Malaysian Chess Federation delegation taking part in next month’s World Youth Championships 2010 in Greece.

Meanwhile, more action was seen at the ASTRO Merdeka team rapid chess tournament which attracted 70 teams, a modest increase of four teams from last year’s event. Considering that each team consisted of at least four players, tables and players filled the playing venue from wall to wall. 

Noticeably, there were fewer foreign teams from Indonesia and the Philippines in this year’s competition but from my observation, the strength of the event has not been diluted. In fact, the increased number of mixed teams that fielded local talents with foreign players had balanced up the event and helped it retain its competitive fervour.

This year, the round-by-round pairings were made using match points instead of game points, which brought a refreshing change to the scoring system. What this meant was that a team winning by a crushing 4-0 score would be given the same match points as another team that scraped through by 2½-1½. 

There are advantages and disadvantages of this system – which has already been utilized in other team events worldwide, including the biennial World Chess Olympiad – but the main reason in its favour is that it minimizes the rollercoaster pairing fluctuations when teams are heftily pushed up or pulled down the pairing tables based on the results of a single round. 

By the way, the event was won by Chesskidz Men’s Team – fronted by two Filipino grandmasters working in Singapore, Nelson Mariano and Bong Villamayor – which won eight matches and drew one for a total match point of 17, two match points more than their closest rivals, Bengal Tigers. Third place went to the Crusher team. The best Malaysian team was SMS Gold which were four match points behind the winners.

Incidentally, if this event had been scored using the traditional game point method, Chesskidz Men’s Team would still have emerged as the winners. However the second spot would have gone to Crusher and the Jakarta B team would have been third.

Up next  

Malaysia chess festival

Here is a summary of the remaining events at this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. All games are played at the Cititel Midvalley ballroom:

a)Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open: Fide-titled event, nine rounds, ongoing until Sep 7;

b)AmBank Malaysia chess challenge: Fide-rated event, nine rounds, ongoing until Sep 7;

c)Merdeka national age group rapid open: seven rounds, Sep 5, medals as prizes, RM25 entry fee;

d)Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open: Fide-rated event, nine rounds, ongoing until Sep 7;

e)ASTRO simultaneous chess display: Sep 3, 10 grandmasters and international masters against 250 players below 16 years old, entry fee RM20 per player per ASTRO account;

f)Malaysia blitz open: details to be announced later, Sep 7.

More details from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com).

UTP rapid chess

As part of Universiti Teknologi Petronas’ convocation programme this year, there will be a national rapid chess open tournament at the main hall of the university’s campus in Tronoh, Perak on Oct 9-10. The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association are the co-organisers with the University. Entry fees are RM35 for adults and players below 18 years old, RM30 for players below 16 years old and RM25 for players below 12 years old. More information available from Saeksarn Sinnaso (saeksarnskill@gmail.com) or Wan Fatin Izyan (eyanzdaqpe@gmail.com). 

 

All set for chess fest

Today is the eve of the Malaysia Chess Festival and tomorrow, the first of six main events – the Merdeka individual rapid open tournament – will kick off the 11-day chess festival at the ballroom of the Cititel Hotel at the MidValley shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur. 

Elsewhere on this page is a summary of the various events that everybody can look forward to. Take your choice: there is something for everyone, be it a simultaneous chess game, a five-minute blitz tournament, a 30-minute rapid chess tournament or a full 90-minute normal time regulation tournament.  

Concerns that I voiced last week about the Malaysia Chess Festival taking a possible beating from a major rival tournament being planned at the same time in nearby Manila looks to have eased.

The whole of this week as I continuously checked with the organizers, their confidence seemed to have returned to normal levels. To paraphrase a song by Harvey Schmidt in the mid-1960s, their “cup runneth over”. The organizers are brimming with joy that the response to the Festival has exceeded last year’s.

For example, tomorrow’s one-day event has attracted at least 74 players. This was the number told to me three days ago and no doubt, as more chess players arrive in Kuala Lumpur, the number of participants is set to go up further. 

Similarly too, there are at least 67 teams in the Merdeka team rapid open with foreign grandmasters from Australia, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Germany and India joining in the fray with local players. 

But the real icing on the cake is the increased entries for the main event, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open, that will start on Sep 1. Last year, the field consisted of exactly 100 players. Until Tuesday, 135 players had already registered for this year’s edition. 

For a long time, the organizers had been overly cautious about disclosing publicly the list of participants for fear that the foreign entries could be persuaded to withdraw and play elsewhere. Maybe the fear was unfounded but then, anything can happen in the world of chess today.

Nevertheless, today being the eve of the Malaysia Chess Festival where everything comes together, I can now safely whisper out loud that the grandmasters registered for the Malaysia open include: 

Abhijeet Gupta (India, rated 2587), Zhou Weiqi (China, 2570), Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh, 2543), Cao Sang (Vietnam, 2540), Prasad Arun (India, 2535), David Smerdon (Australia, 2526), Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam, 2516), Wen Yang (China, 2507), R.R. Laxman (India, 2503), Xu Jun (China, 2503), Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam, 2500), Saidali Yuldachev (Uzbekistan, 2496), Jha Sriram (India, 2490), Xu Yuhua (China, 2488), Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan, 2484), Gerhard Schebler (Germany, 2474) and Niaz Murshed (Bangladesh, 2406).

They may not be the top echelon of grandmasters in the world but hey, the Malaysia open was never about attracting the crème de la crème of grandmasters in the first place. Much as like water finding its own level, grandmasters and international masters will find the right level of tournaments to suit their own playing levels. 

Anyway, the Malaysia open will also feature two woman grandmasters from China and Vietnam, at least 18 international masters, several Fide masters and woman Fide masters. 

The Malaysian challenge will be spearheaded by international masters Mok Tze Meng and Jimmy Liew. 

There is a sizeable number of Malaysian entries and apart from Mok and Liew, we have no less than four national masters in the field too, namely, Lim Chuin Hoong, current national champion Tan Khai Boon, Edward Lee and Evan Timothy Capel. There will also be spotlight on Yeoh Li Tian. 

And I should also particularly mention the presence of two of our woman national masters, current women’s national champion Fong Mi Yen and Alia Anin Azwa Bakri, as among the competitors. They are being very good sports.

Up next  

Malaysia chess festival

Here is a summary of all the events at this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. All games will be played at the Cititel Midvalley ballroom:

a)Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open: Fide-titled event, nine rounds, Sep 1-7, USD4,000 first prize, entry fees range from USD50 to USD200 depending on player’s rating;

b)AmBank Malaysia chess challenge: Fide-rated event but player’s rating not to exceed 2200 points, nine rounds, Sep 1-7, RM2,000 first prize, entry fees range from RM75 to RM150 depending on player’s rating, 20 percent discount for players below 16 years old;

c)Merdeka national age group rapid open: seven rounds, Sep 5, medals as prizes, RM25 entry fee;

d)Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open: Fide-rated event, nine rounds, Sep 1-7, RM4,000 first prize, entry fees range from RM100 to RM400 depending on player’s rating;

e)ASTRO Merdeka individual rapid open: seven rounds, Aug 28, RM1,000 first prize, entry fees are RM30 (adults) and RM20 (under-16 players);

f)ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open: nine rounds, Aug 29-31, RM5,000 first prize, entry fees range from RM150 to RM375 depending on number of players in the team;

g)ASTRO simultaneous chess display: Sep 3, 10 grandmasters and international masters against 250 players below 16 years old, entry fee RM20 per player per ASTRO account;

h)Malaysia blitz open: details to be announced later, Sep 7.

More details from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com).

UTP rapid chess

As part of Universiti Teknologi Petronas’ convocation programme this year, there will be a national rapid chess open tournament at the main hall of the university’s campus in Tronoh, Perak on Oct 9-10. The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association are the co-organisers with the University. Entry fees are RM35 for adults and players below 18 years old, RM30 for players below 16 years old and RM25 for players below 12 years old. More information available from Saeksarn Sinnaso (saeksarnskill@gmail.com) or Wan Fatin Izyan (eyanzdaqpe@gmail.com). 

 

Spanner in the works

There are just nine days to go before the start of this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. Are you ready for it? A highlight of this year’s festival programme will be a second visit to our shores by the 12th world chess champion, Anatoly Karpov.

He won’t be playing in any of the tournaments at the festival. Rather, he will be here for only a few days in early September before jetting off elsewhere to continue with his worldwide campaign to become the next president of the World Chess Federation (Fide).

Nevertheless, spectators and participants alike at the Malaysia Chess Festival can expect to bump into the former world champion. If you need him to autograph any of his chess books, this will be an opportunity for you. Chess enthusiasts can also look forward to attend a special subscription-based Buka Puasa function with him on Sep 5.

When I was speaking to the organizers of the festival earlier this week, I was reminded that they were facing possibly the greatest and gravest challenges to their organizational capabilities in the last seven years. 

For the first time since the inception of the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open chess championship in 2004, the organizers are bracing themselves for a rival competition in nearby Philippines to pull away some of the entries.

Yes, there is also an international chess tournament that’s been planned in Manila at almost the same time. Normally, federations would work together to ensure that international tournaments would not overlap. 

It’s not difficult to understand why. If tournaments do not overlap, players – especially the professional chess players – would be easier to persuade to play in these events one after another. It maximizes their investment of time and money to fly into this region to play in the chess competitions, and all organizers are happy with the quality of players that they can attract.  

Not this time. The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) has been promised USD100,000 by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the current Fide president, to hold a tournament in memory of his predecessor, Florencio Campomanes, who died earlier this year.

Now, with Campomanes being a Filipino and all that, there was no way that the NCFP was going to say no to holding this memorial event. But then for some reason, the dates chosen for their event were pushed from mid-August to the end of August. Naturally, this then overlapped substantially with the dates for the Malaysia Chess Festival. 

Some people say that it had been done with a purpose. It’s not that the NCFP is not aware that the Malaysia Chess Festival is an annual event. The festival is already in its seventh year and is well publicized around the world. In the past, Filipino chess players have always turned up to support both the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open and the Merdeka rapid chess team tournaments. 

But not this year. Word has been going around that the NCFP had advised their players in no uncertain terms that they should be playing in Manila instead of Kuala Lumpur. Worse still, there is unconfirmed news that the top Filipino players have been threatened with bans by their federation should they ignore this “advice”.

In all likelihood, the Filipino players will not be here. Certainly, those players who have already been selected by their federation for the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk will not want to jeopardize their selection status. Those players not in the Filipino team can’t be bothered with the ban but they may be attracted to the larger prize moneys at the Campmanes memorial tournament in Manila.

All this is, of course, very sad because if Campomanes were alive today, the last thing he would want was for his memorial tournament to clash with the Malaysian Chess Festival. Campomanes has always been a very good and supportive friend of Malaysia. It was a friendship that started in 1974 and even until last year, he had been a regular visitor here.

But why, you may ask, is the NCFP risking to upset the other federations in the region? The answer may be simply that it all boils down to relationships and the charged atmosphere that’s presently enveloping chess, an atmosphere created by the Fide election campaign. 

In the world of chess, there is a close bond between Fide and the NCFP. It had all started with Campomanes’ own election as Fide president in 1982. The bond remained after Ilyumzhinov took over the Fide reins. Even Campo’s death has not changed this relationship.

It is publicly known that the NCFP is supporting the Ilyumzhinov ticket at the Fide elections next month while Malaysia’s stand has been to side with Karpov. There are claims by Karpov’s team that the Ilyumzhinov team has been going around the world to promise great rewards to national federations that support them.

Whether or not this claim can be substantiated is not for me to say but in the absence of any other explanation, any observer will be guessing that if this claim is true, then there’s every reason for the NCFP to want their Campomanes memorial tournament to succeed at the expense of the Malaysian Chess Festival.  

Nevertheless, the organizers of the Malaysian Chess Festival are quite confident that the Manila event will have little impact on the success of our local festival. 

“We are still enjoying very good response from the foreign players. They know Malaysian hospitality well and they know that when they play here, they are among old friends. Friendship counts a lot among real friends,” said one of the organizers.

Up next  

Malaysia chess festival

Here is a summary of all the events at this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival. All games will be played at the Cititel Midvalley ballroom:

a)Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open: Fide-titled event, nine rounds, Sep 1-13, USD4,000 first prize, entry fees range from USD50 to USD200 depending on player’s rating;

b)AmBank Malaysia chess challenge: Fide-rated event but player’s rating not to exceed 2200 points, nine rounds, Sep 1-13, RM2,000 first prize, entry fees range from RM75 to RM150 depending on player’s rating, 20 percent discount for players below 16 years old;

c)Merdeka national age group rapid open: seven rounds, Sep 5, medals as prizes, RM25 entry fee;

d)Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open: Fide-rated event, nine rounds, Sep 1-13, RM4,000 first prize, entry fees range from RM100 to RM400 depending on player’s rating;

e)Merdeka individual rapid open: seven rounds, Aug 28, RM1,000 first prize, entry fees are RM30 (adults) and RM20 (under-16 players);

f)Astro Merdeka team rapid open: nine rounds, Aug 29-31, RM5,000 first prize, entry fees range from RM150 to RM375 depending on number of players in the team;

More details from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com).

Penang rapid chess

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) is holding a rapid chess tournament on Aug 22 as a warm-up event for players before they participate in the Malaysia Chess Festival. Entry fees are RM10 for  PCA members and RM25 for non-members. To register, contact Tan Eng Seong (012-4299517 after 7pm, estan64@streamyx.com or estan64@gmail.com). Entries close on Aug 20.

UTP rapid chess

As part of Universiti Teknologi Petronas’ convocation programme this year, there will be a national rapid chess open tournament at the main hall of the university’s campus in Tronoh, Perak on Oct 9-10. The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Perak International Chess Association are the co-organisers with the University. Entry fees are RM35 for adults and players below 18 years old, RM30 for players below 16 years old and RM25 for players below 12 years old. More information available from Saeksarn Sinnaso (saeksarnskill@gmail.com) or Wan Fatin Izyan (eyanzdaqpe@gmail.com). 

 

Mating season

I’ve this particular friend, you see, who calls me up once in a long while to enquire about forthcoming big tournaments in the country. He’s always like that. He very keen on chess but he seldom plays. A few times I’d bump into him at tournaments but more often, I don’t see him anywhere.

Lately, I haven’t heard a word from him. I thought his interest in chess tournaments was waning but out of the blue, he gave me a tinkle again two weeks ago.

“Hey,” he asked me, “mid-August is coming up soon. That’s school holidays time, isn’t it? Haven’t you heard anything yet about this year’s Malaysia open?” 

Yes and no, I told him. Yes, I have been informed about the Malaysia open. Or maybe I should say more correctly, the Malaysia Chess Festival. But no, mid-August is not school holidays time any more. Not this year any way, because the schools’ mid-term break has been shifted to Sep 3-12.

Because of the shift in the school holidays, the organizers of the Malaysia Chess Festival have also shifted the chess festival to accommodate more locals to play in some of the programmes.

This year’s festival dates run from Aug 29 to Sep 7. All the traditional features are there: from typical one-day local rapidchess events to full-fledged international Fide-rated tournaments. 

If you need to warm up your nimble mind and fingers before the big events start, the first item on the Malaysia Chess Festival calendar is the new one-day Merdeka individual rapid open tournament at the ballroom of the CitiTel Midvalley hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 28.

After that, you can then proceed to the traditional Merdeka team rapid open tournament. This event has a history going back some 30 years. It had its humble beginnings at the Wisma Belia before progressing to larger venues like the Putra World Trade Centre before finally finding its present home at the CitiTel Midvalley.  

Like in previous editions, this annual event brings out the teams from all over the country. Although not billed as such, it is often acknowledged as the unofficial national team open championship. As such, it is not unusual to find several state teams from both ends of the country converging in Kuala Lumpur over the Merdeka weekend and mingling with a mish-mash of other teams and players.

This Merdeka team event is a great crowd-puller not least because many foreigners who take part in the Fide-rated Malaysia open tournament that comes later are often roped in to play.

Naturally, the local players take this into their stride. In recent years, I have seen that our local teams have become more adept at challenging the foreign player-led ones for the main prizes. No more are they satisfied for the special prizes that have been created for the best performing local teams. 

It’s now the big prizes – RM5,000 for the champion team, RM4,000 for the runners-up, RM3,000 for third place, and many more – or none at all, which is good because we are shedding the old mentality that had been our glass ceiling for decades.

So for this year, the 30th ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament will be played at the same CitiTel Midvalley hotel ballroom from Aug 29 to Aug 31. 

Although entries for both the Merdeka individual rapid open and the Merdeka team rapid open will close on Aug 10, do register early for this event because the organizers are capping the entries at 100 players for the individual event and 50 teams for the team event due to constraints of space. 

The biggest three events in the chess festival will commence immediately after the conclusion of the Merdeka tournaments from Sep 1 to Sep 7. 

The top billing is, of course, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open chess tournament which is already in its seventh year. There is a USD4,000 first prize which should see a host of foreign grandmasters and international masters turning up. Even the prize for the top Malaysian player is worth USD800.

With this incredible foreign talent pool here, there will be lots of opportunities for all players to work on their own title norms. Anyone serious enough about their chess should not miss the chance to participate.

Apart from this, there’s also the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge, also another Fide-rated event but limited to players whose international ratings are below 2200 points. I know that there will be some comparisons with the main event in terms of prestige but believe you me, the challenge of playing in this lesser tournament cannot be any easier. Just ask any of the previous participants and they will tell you that this AmBank chess challenge can be equally mind draining.

This year, the organizers are introducing a new event into the chess festival: a tournament for senior chess players. This idea had been under discussion for at least a year and at long last, it is time to take the wrappings off the first Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open chess tournament.

It’s not any ordinary social tournament for senior citizens, mind you. This is as serious as any international chess event can be, except that no player can be younger than 55 years old.

Maybe as a comparison, I should mention that the World Chess Federation have their world senior and world women’s senior chess championships organized since 1991. Illustrious names Vasily Smyslov, Efim Geller, Mark Taimanov, Alexey Suetin, Viktor Korchnoi and Nona Gaprindashvili have appeared in the world senior’s roster as worthy winners.

So this seniors tournament is going to be a new event in the Malaysia Chess Festival. Of course, anything new will require some time to gain a degree of acceptance but there is no reason why this inaugural tournament cannot take a short-cut and attain the same prominence as the other events.

Need more information and details about the Malaysia Chess Festival? Just contact Abdul Hamid at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com) and he’ll send you the entry forms. 

Up next  

Perlis team open

The Perlis Chess Academy, the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Perlis and the Persatuan Catur Prestij Perlis will jointly hold the Perlis team open tournament at the Dewan Sek. Men. Putra in Kangar, Perlis tomorrow. For more details, contact Syaifulzamani bin Ismail (013.3939838) or visit http://chessperlis.blogspot.com. 

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises tomorrow. For enquiries, contact teachers NK Chin or (Mdm) LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

Perak grand prix

The sixth leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St Anthony in Teluk Intan, Perak this Sunday. For more information, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Andrew (016.6295352) or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

Tebrau open

The Johor Chess Academy, the Rukun Tetangga Sri Tebrau, Rakan Muda Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru Chess Association are jointly organizing the 21st Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Aug 1.

Entry fees are RM10 for players below 10 years old, RM12 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for all other participants. Closing date is July 30. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525 or jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

DATCC razzmatazz

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) will organize their third DATCC razzmatazz rapidchess weekender at their premises in the Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 1. 

Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM15 for children below 12 years old. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) or Justin Kumar (018.3960781, kjustin09@yahoo.com).