Winning edge

 

Impressive play

 

King of kings

 

Friendly games

 

Eye on the title

 

Foreign challenge

 

Grand quest

 

Our players should stand proud

ASK ANY serious chess player here what recent chess activity has transfixed the attention of most chess players in the country and he will surely point to the performance of the national men's and women's teams at the Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy, which concluded just five days ago.

More than at any time previously, the whole of Malaysian chess was solidly behind our two teams. We shared their joys and their despairs during their courageous, often roller-coaster, ride during the Chess Olympiad.

I have never seen so much passion coming from our chess supporters before. All these, of course, thanks to the Internet where we had three things going to generate continuous interest among our chess players.

Firstly, there was live coverage of the games at the Chess Olympiad. It was not the first time that chess games were broadcast live through the Internet and certainly, it will not be the last time either. 

Not only were the games of the leading countries shown in real time, the lesser countries also had their equal time in the sun. Every round, without fail, anyone with a decent, broadband Internet access could tune in to any of the 499 games daily. That's a lot of games to satiate the chess soul, believe me!

It helped further that the matches would start at 9pm Malaysian time daily and continued until about 1am in the morning. By past midnight, maybe 75 per cent of the games would have finished. So it was more or less like prime time viewing in Malaysia for chess players to follow the big games on their computer screens.

Secondly, our senior-most international master, Jimmy Liew, decided to start a chess blog where daily, he would update with the latest adventures by our chess representatives in Turin. 

He created some controversies with his comments when many chess players misconstrued his intentions and thought him over-critical of some of our players but in truth, he was simply giving a matter-of-fact opinion of our teams’ chances. He spoke from a vantage point of knowing the game intimately and the players well.

His chess blog was read far and wide, even within international circles, and you can still access it at http://www.rainswater.com/chess

Thirdly, a lot of heated discussion about our players was also generated on the chess-malaysia mailing list. There were plenty of agreements and disagreements, and at one point, even our players in Turin joined in 

For the first time since chess-malaysia was created in 1998, it became an interactive forum to connect our representatives in Turin with their chess friends back home and I think they appreciated the words of encouragement.

By the way, our men’s team could only finish in 80th position out of 148 teams while our women’s team was a creditable 44th out of 108 teams. Our women, led by Siti Zulaikha Foudzi, played very consistently to score 20.5 points while our men played their hearts out to collect 25.5 points. 

Their highest points during the 13-round competition was a mauling of Canada by 3.5-0.5 and a 2.5-1.5 win against Switzerland which was described in some circles as the biggest upset of the ninth round. In this match, Mas Hafizul delivered a masterly knock-out blow to the veteran super-grandmaster, Viktor Korchnoi, in a mere 21-move game.

There are more to say about our teams’ performances but this shall be left to the next fortnight.

UP NEXT

Sri Aman open

The Sri Aman open tournament for under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8 players will be held at the Sek Keb Sri Aman in Bandar Baru Air Itam, Penang, this Sunday.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association (PCA) are RM10 for under-16 players and RM8 for under-10 players. For non-PCA members, these will be RM15 and RM13 respectively. Entries accepted after Jun 4 are subjected to an additional RM5 as penalty. For details, contact Eoh Thean Keat (tel: 016.4540070, email: t_k_eoh@hotmail.com)

Perak rapid open

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise a one-day, seven-round tournament at the Kolej Syuen in Jalan Kampar, Ipoh, on Jun 18. The event will be run in two categories. The Category A is an open event for players with a Perak rating of at least 1600, while the Category B event caters to players with a Perak rating of 1599 or less, including all new players. 

Entry fees are RM5 for players under 12 years old, RM8 for PICA members and RM10 for all other players. For details, contact Yunus Sharif (tel: 05.5458453 or 013.3908129) or Hamisah (tel: 012.4313326).

CLB open

The SMJK Chung Ling Butterworth will hold their first open tournament at their school on Jun 18. Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM10 for under-18 players and RM15 for others. Non-PCA members are required to play RM15 and RM20 respectively.  

Registration and inquiries: Tan Eng Seong (tel: 012.4299517, email: estan64@streamyx.com) or Teh Wei Li (tel: 019.4161486). Closing date for entries is Jun 17.

Stonemaster open

There will be a Stonemaster allegro open tournament, organised by Stonemaster Event Management Entreprise, at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Jun 25. This tournament is restricted only to players who do not have a world (Fide) rating. The organisers will also conduct a one-hour chess seminar half-way through the event.

Entry fee is RM20 per player. To register for both the tournament and the seminar, email seme_event@yahoo.com or contact Fadli (016.2092404) before Jun 20. 

Making the grade

THE Malaysian Chess Federation ended the old millennium by organising a very quiet and largely unpublicised double round-robin masters tournament, comprising six of the country's senior and junior players, at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Although Mas Hafizulhelmi dominated the event and finished unbeaten with 7.5 points from 10 games, he had a rather slow start to the tournament. After winning from Nicholas Chan in the first round, Mas Hafizul experienced a run of three consecutive draws with Ismail Ahmad, Jonathan Chuah and Ng Tze Han.

In the fifth round, however, Mas Hafizul scored a win against Lim Chuin Hoong who was at that time the tournament leader. This important win caused the lead to change hands and from then on, Mas Hafizul took a firm grip on the event and never allowed anybody to catch up with him.

In the home stretch, Mas Hafizul scored three more wins against Chan, Chuah and Lim, and allowed Ismail and Ng to draw with him.

It was remarkable that Lim, who lost both his games to Mas Hafizul, could finish in joint second position with Ng. In the last round, Lim tried to take the game to his opponent but the more experienced Mas Hafizul had already obtained a firm grip on the game which he refused to relinquish.

Lim's loss could have been heaven-sent for Ng who was playing the last-placed Ismail but fate was unkind to him. All he needed was a draw to take the sole second place in the tournament but somehow, Ng's attack was misplaced and he found himself at the losing end.

Chuah could have had a satisfying tournament, but after an encouraging start of two wins and four draws, he suffered three losses in a row to the three leaders. In the last round, he was glad for the opportunity to take a quick draw with Chan.

By all accounts, Chan is one of the country's most promising young players but he was never expected to finish anywhere higher than the fifth place in this tournament. Nevertheless, the tournament was beneficial to the 14-year-old boy who has managed to obtain his first-ever international rating points here.

By my estimate, Chan's performances against his more experienced rivals have earned him an initial rating of about 2095 points. This should be reflected in the World Chess Federation's July 2001 international rating list.

Ismail found himself out of his depth in this event. But it was a rejuvenated Ismail who managed to turn the tables on Ng in the final round. It was a precious win which ensured that he would not finish the tournament in sole last position.

The final standings in the double round-robin event: Mas Hafizulhelmi 7.5 points, Ng Tze Han and Lim Chuin Hoong 6 points each, Jonathan Chuah 4 points, Nicholas Chan and Ismail Ahmad 3 points each.

Moving up the list

The World Chess Federation (Fide) have just released its latest world rating list of players who have, at one time or another, played in international events which were recognised for rating purposes by the world chess body.

It is a very elite group of about 37,000 people on this list and even if you have been playing in international chess tournaments for some time, the chances are that you may still not find your name on this list unless you have performed up to expectations.

This may change, of course, if the local governing chess body in the country, which in this case is the Malaysian Chess Federation, takes it upon itself to organise more small and closed events like the recently- concluded Malaysian Masters tournament in KL.

There are 60 Malaysians inthe Fide list this January. But sad to say, many of them have not played in international events for a long time and are now classified as inactive. We had such good potential players in Eric Cheah, Christi Hon and Peter Long who have since moved on to other interests in life.

Mas Hafizulhelmi remains our highest rated player. In the January list, his rating is 2456, obtained from the Istanbul Chess Olympiad last year. This is an increase from the 2441 rating points from the July 2000 list. Slowly but surely, Mas Hafizul is inching towards the rarified atmosphere of 2500 rating points and I would like to see him achieve this as soon as possible.

Jimmy Liew, despite not having played any rateable game in the last six months, is still our number two player in the country with 2333 rating points. After Liew is Mok Tze Meng who gained 13 rating points from his games in Istanbul. Ng Tze Han, fourth in the standings, is rated at 2283.

A surprising entry into the Malaysian Top Five is Wong Chee Chung who enters at 2282 rating points. He had played reasonably well last year in the Singapore national championship.

Wong Zi Jing played nine rateable games in Istanbul and is now positioned with 2267 points. Placed below him are Lim Chuin Hoong with 2249 points, Aaron Yee with 2240 points, Ng Ee Vern with 2224 points and Deon Moh with 2215 points.

Among the other local players who have either gained or lost points in the past six months are Jonathan Chuah with 2211 points, Lim Jean Nie with 2165 points, Azahari Md Nor with 2106 points and Ismail Ahmad with 2064 points. All of these players had participated in Istanbul last year.

I should also add that the Fide rating list only shows players who are rated above 2000 rating points. The rating scale is actually open-ended and below this threshold of 2000 points, the unpublished names of players must be very large.

As far as I know, there are two Malaysian players who took part in one of the First Saturday tournaments in Budapest, Hungary, last August. Unfortunately, both did not fare too well to make the cut at 2000 points.

Both Shafruddin Fariz and Shafruddin Hafiz played 25 games each in Budapest and their ratings from this event are the same 1931 points.

Mailing list

Individual e-mails are great when it comes to an almost instant communication with people from around the globe. However, mailing lists are even better when you want to distribute your thoughts to a wider audience. An e-mail message sent to a mailing list will be distributed automatically to reach the electronic mailboxes of the list subscribers.

Two years ago, I set up an e-mail chess mailing list to test the response of local chess players. Unfortunately, it was not very well-received at that time and the utilisation was low.

About two months ago, I decided to widen the coverage of the mailing list by inviting several local chess players from the length and breadth of the country to join. So far, the response has been terrific because these local players have found themselves an outlet through which they can raise several issues on the state of Malaysian chess.

This is an open and largely unmoderated list and anyone can subscribe and contribute to it. To join the list, all you need to do is to send an empty e-mail to pg-chess-subscribe@egroups.com and follow the instructions that come back to you.

However, in order to get the most from this mailing list, I would advise you to visit http://www.egroups.com/list/pg-chess and register yourself online. As a registered subscriber, you can participate in polls and download files which are put there by other members.

More importantly, as a registered subscriber, you become a member of Malaysia's first and only online chess forum and you can participate by contributing your views on issues very close and dear to all of us. I hope to meet more of you soon in our own cyberspace community soon.

Mas' golden touch

A FORTNIGHT ago, while most of the country was caught up in the excitement of ushering in a new year, there were at least 10 people in Kuala Lumpur who felt they had more important things to do. They were hard at work at a tournament which would decide the ultimate pecking order of chess players in the country.

For this event, which was named the PWTC Malaysian junior masters tournament, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) had gathered together the country's only two international masters, three past and present national champions and five promising junior players who had proven themselves locally and in international chess tournaments.

Needless to say, our two international masters, Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew, proved themselves a cut above the rest.

Mas Hafizul, especially, was rather ruthless in handling his opponents and he only agreed to draws with Deon Moh, Jimmy Liew and Ng Tze Han.

All the other players could not stop the Mas juggernaut from rolling over them. Every slightest misjudgment, apparently, was punished decisively and by the fourth round, Mas Hafizul had opened up a small lead which was widened considerably by the end of the tournament.

Liew, on the other hand, was more laidback in his approach. He was not adverse to drawing his games and in fact, he conceded six draws. However, those draws did not mean that Liew could not bite, for as Wong Zijing, Ng Ee Vern and Ng Tze Han found to their regret, Liew still had a lot of venom in his games.

Tze Han found out the hard way that when the situation required Liew to conjure up a win, he was prepared to dig in for a battle. In the final round of the tournament, Ng had a chance to finish second but he found that Liew, who was his final-round opponent, was in an uncompromising mood. Ng had to concede the game and was not the runner-up.

So with Mas Hafizul and Jimmy Liew finishing one-two in the tournament, it was left to the other eight players to pick up the rest of the spoils. Ng Tze Han's loss to Liew in the final round meant that he was in sole third place, while taking the fourth and fifth places were Lim Chuin Hoong and Deon Moh respectively.

There was also a two-way tie for the sixth and seventh places by Wong Zi Jing and former national champion Lim Yee Weng, in eighth place was another former national champion, Ng Ee Vern, and propping up the standings were present national champion Jonathan Chuah and Aaron Yee in the ninth and 10th spot respectively.

The tournament was organised by the MCF at the Putra World Trade Centre which also sponsored the event.

Latest Fide ratings

THE World Chess Federation has released its latest Fide Rating List which shall be effective for a six-month period beginning this month.

The full list includes more than 33,000 chess players throughout the world whose ratings are at least 2,000 points. Topping the list yet again is Gary Kasparov (Russia) who remains at 2,851 points despite not having played any rateable game during the past six-month rating period.

His closest rivals are still Viswanathan Anand (India) who is rated at 2,769, Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) at 2,758, Alexei Shirov (Spain) at 2,751 and Alexander Morovich (Russia) at 2,748. Also in the Top 10 are Peter Leko (Hungary) at 2,725, Michael Adams (England) at 2,715, Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Evgeny Bareev (Russia) at 2,709, and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) at 2,702.

This list also marks the first time in three decades that the former world champion, Anatoly Karpov (Russia), had fallen outside the Top 10. Karpov is presently in 11th spot with a rating of 2,696. It is interesting to note that the present world champion, Alexander Khalifman (Russia), is in the 31st position in the list with a rating of 2,656 while his opponent in the last Fide world championship, Vladimir Akopian (Armenia), is placed higher than him in 27th position with a 2,660 rating.

Eyebrows are already being raised in the western world with the emergence of Myanmar player Zaw Win Lay among the world's Top 50 with a rating of 2,633. Zaw, in 44th position, is supposedly the highest-rated player without a title but I do remember reading from the Fide homepage last November that an International Master title had already been awarded to him. There are five other Myanmar players in the Top 100.

To the westerners, players like Zaw are unknown to them but to Asians who have seen the Myanmar players perform in events such as the Asian team or Asian cities team championships, we know how strong they are. Still, as long as Myanmar remains closed to the world, the capability of their players will continue to be questioned by the west.

There are 58 Malaysians in the Fide Rating List, headed by Mas Hafizulhelmi who is rated at 2,413. Ooi Chern Ee is rated at 2,340, Aaron Yee at 2,337, Jimmy Liew at 2,325, Wong Zijing at 2,324, Jonathan Chuah at 2,271, Ng Ee Vern at 2,240, Ng Tze Han at 2,216, Lim Chuin Hoong at 2,214, Mohd Saprin Sabri at 2,210, Mohd Kamal Abdullah at 2,205, Ahmad Maliki at 2,200, Lim Jean Nie at 2,168, Deon Moh at 2,164, Lim Yee Weng at 2,149, Julian Navaratnam at 2,125, Lim Kian Hwa at 2,110, Azahari Md Nor at 2,108 and Lim Chin Lee at 2,081.

Among those players listed as inactive by Fide are Peter Long (2,350), Francis Chin (2,275), Mok Tze Meng (2,270), Eric Cheah (2,255), Mohd Fadli Zakaria (2,250), Christi Hon (2,235) and Yeoh Chin Seng (2,195).

The full list of Malaysian players in the Fide Rating List, together with some new collection of games, can be downloaded from my web library at http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library/index.html

Selangor chess kicks off

THE Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) is organising its first tournament of the new year this Sunday at the Sunway College. Registration for the six-round allegro event will begin at 9am and the first round is slated for 10am.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the CAS and RM15 for non-members. Cash prizes and other prizes in kind will be given to the winners of the open, under-12, under-16 and girl sections. In addition, the best CAS members will receive prizes and the best junior players will get certificates of achievement.

Also, to mark the first CAS event in the new millennium, there will be limited edition T-shirts available for sale to chess enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, CAS also said that its chess camp at Genting Highlands last November was a success. The group of six boys and two girls who took part in the camp have started to produce respectable results in tournaments such as the recently concluded national closed chess championshp.

Among the achievements were the good results of two young CAS members, Siti Zulaikha and Lim Han Ying, who emerged as the champion and the third-place winner respectively in the women's section of the national closed.

To strengthen and widen the players' horizon, CAS is starting a three-month chess programme designed for tournament players from tomorrow. The programme is divided into two classes: the core group which comprises participants from the chess camp and the enthusiast group which will be made up of tournament players. Both the programmes will be conducted by Terry van der Veen.

Each class will be conducted over two hours on a weekly basis. For enquiries, contact Mrs Jackie Wong (03-703-8237) or Lim Tse Pin (012-298-4922).

Perak event

The Perak International Chess Association will organise its first competition of the new year at the Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh on Jan 22 and 23. For more information, contact Hamisah (05-313-3809) or Wong (05-366-1692).

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).

Our golden boy shines again

ALL right, let's come clean. What have you been doing during your nights in the past month? Seated in front of the television set, I suppose.

Well, I have to admit that that was what I did, to a reasonable extent, of course. After all, who can avoid the lure of the year's greatest sports spectacle? The magic and skills of strikers like Ronaldo, Zidane, Suker and others, crudely counterbalanced by the overpowering bombardment of Ricky Martin's overhyped soccer anthem!

We shall not be witnessing the World Cup again until the year 2002, but four years can be considered a relatively short wait for football.

Unlike chess.

I have been waiting patiently for the past 14 years for it to happen, and I am glad to announce to readers that it has happened at last! After 14 years, Malaysia has her second international master!

There are no prizes for guessing who this player is. It can only be Mas Hafizulhelmi who is currently our strongest player. While your eyes and mine were on France, Mas Hafizul had quietly drifted into Singapore to take part in an international tournament there.

This was a double round-robin event with a six-player field, and Mas Hafizul was one of three players chasing for a title norm. He had earlier obtained two international master norms at the First Saturday tournaments in Hungary last year and hungered for a third one to fulfil the requirements.

Mas Hafizul has had various other attempts at his third norm, including the Asian junior chess championship in Iran last month, but the results had not been encouraging. In Singapore, he finally made sure that the norm would not elude him this time.

Our player had a rather inauspicious start to this tournament. In his first game, he could only manage a draw against Singapore's Mooi Kok Onn and he followed this with another draw in his second game, against Singaporean international master Hsu Li Yang. Disaster struck in the third game which he lost to Singaporean Fide master Terry Toh.

Two draws then followed, against Vietnam's international master Tu Hoang Thong and Chinese international master Wu Shaobin, and so, at the midway point of the tournament, Mas Hafizul was lying in fifth place with only two points from five games.

For Mas Hafizul to achieve an IM norm, he would need to score a total of six points from the 10 games. After the first half of the event, it looked like a tall order for him as he would now require four points from the remaining five games.

Luckily for him, his indifferent start to the title chase seemed to awaken him. For in the second half of the tournament, Mas Hafizul was a changed player. Firstly, he accounted for both Mooi and Hsu in the sixth and seventh games and then he agreed to a draw with Toh in the eighth game.

He fought to overcome Tu in the ninth game, which left him needing only half a point to realise his dream. In the final round of the tournament, the dream became a reality when Wu agreed to split the point with Mas Hafizul.

Final standings: Wu Shaobin (6 1/2); Hsu Li Yang (6 1/2); each, Mas Hafizul (6); Terry Toh (6); Tu Hoang Thong (4 1/2); Mooi Kok Onn (1/2).

Incidentally, it was also in Singapore way back in 1984 when Malaysia obtained her first international master. Fourteen years ago, Jimmy Liew was a joint winner of the second leg of the Asian IM chess circuit in Singapore, and this result gave him the necessary norm for the international master title. Liew was rewarded RM5,000 by the Malaysian Chess Federation for his success; Mas Hafizul should receive a similar sum too.

With this IM title now, it is expected that Mas Hafizul will now allow chess to take a back seat for the rest of the year. Already, there are indications that he is not interested to play in the Elista Chess Olympiad as he will be sitting for the SPM examinations this November.

Bayview so far

IN the fifth round of the eighth Bayview Chess League last Sunday, Penang Free School 'A' further extended their lead in the Premier Division after beating Methodist Boys School 3-1.

Old Frees Association 'A' drew 2-2 with Chung Ling Old Boys Association while Chung Ling High School 'A' beat Universiti Sains Malaysia 3 1/2-1/2.

In other matches, Chung Ling High School 'B' beat MSSPP Juniors 2 1/2-1 1/2, and Pessca beat Old Frees Association 'B' 2 1/2-1 1/2.

Division One saw three drawn matches: Penang Free School 'B' with Penang Development Corporation, Union High School with Chung Hwa Confucian 'A', and Chung Ling High School 'D' with Penang Free School 'C'. St Xavier's Institution 'A' beat Hewlett-Packard 2 1/2-1 1/2, while Chung Ling High School 'C' beat Penang Chess Association Novices 4-0.

In Division Two, MSSPP Girls drew with Chung Hwa Confucian 'B'. Their lead is now shared with Penang Free School 'D' which beat Methodist Boys School 'B' 3 1/2-1/2. The Police scored a 3-1 win over Penang Chinese Girls High School, while Dynacraft beat Westlands Secondary School 4-0. The encounter between St Xavier's Institution 'B' and Chung Ling High School 'E' was drawn. Standings:

Premier Division: PFS A (17); OFA A (14); CLHS A (13 1/2); CLOBA (12 1/2); MBS A (9 1/2); Pessca (9); MSSPP Jrs (7); OFA B (6 1/2); CLHS B (6); USM (5).

Division One: PFS B (16 1/2); CLHS C (16); SXI A (14); PDC (13); CLHS D (9 1/2); Hewlett-Packard (9); PCA Novices (6); PFS C (6); Chung Hwa A (5); Union (5).

Division Two: MSSPP Girls (14); PFS D (14); Police (13 1/2); Chung Hwa B (13); SXI B (12); CLHS E (10 1/2); MBS B (9 1/2); Dynacraft (8 1/2); PCGHS (3 1/2); Westlands (1 1/2).

The round-by-round results of the Bayview Chess League can be viewed on the Penang Chess Association homepage (www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/).

Meanwhile, the sixth round of the chess league will be played this Sunday beginning 10am at The City Bayview Hotel's revolving restaurant. The hotel is sponsoring the use of their premises for the weekly games.

One step closer to international master

There was confusion during the past two weeks over whether Mas Hafizulhelmi achieved his second international master norm from the December edition of the First Saturday tournament in Budapest, Hungary.

Initially, there were unconfirmed reports that Mas Hafizulhelmi had missed out on the norm. Although he was leading the tournament until almost the end of the event, a loss in the final round had seen him finishing with only 7.5 points from 11 games, which was a half-point less than the stipulated eight points required for the IM norm.

The only person in Malaysia who could confirm the norm happened to be in Cannes, France, at the world age-group tournament and could not be reached.

But I had my suspicion that the initial reports could be wrong. A telephone call to Singapore raised hope that a relatively recent ruling by the Qualification Commission of the World Chess Federation could mean a world of a difference for Mas Hafizulhelmi.

In the meantime, I was also awaiting a reply from the tournament organiser about Mas Hafizulhelmi's results. When I finally received the message, it confirmed that our player in Hungary had indeed obtained his second international master norm.

According to Laszlo Nagy, Mas Hafizulhelmi obtained his norm from what he called a "part-time" norm. This may not be the best description of Mas Hafizulhelmi's achievement but what Nagy meant was that our player had already qualified for his second IM norm even before the end of the tournament.

One of the Qualification Commission's regulations stated that a player who had achieved a title result before the final round could ignore all his games played subsequently. The chief arbiter of the tournament could certify the player's result as a valid title result.

Where Mas Hafizulhelmi was concerned, the 7.5 points which he scored from his first 10 games were enough for the norm and the result of his last game in this tournament was rather academic.

Of course, it would have been nice if Mas Hafizulhelmi had drawn or won this game because it would have made him at least a co-winner of the event. As it turned out, Finland's Antti Pihlajasalo managed to finish on top of the standings with half a point more than Mas Hafizulhelmi.

Congratulations to Mas Hafizulhelmi on this achievement. He is one step nearer his goal but he will still need to try for a third norm or even a fourth one before the World Chess Federation can give him this title. The Qualification Commission requires at least 30 games to be played and so far, Mas Hafizulhelmi has managed his two IM Norms over only 19 games.

As I reported two weeks ago, Mas Hafizulhelmi left Hungary at the end of the First Saturday event for the Netherlands where he has been participating in the Groningen open grandmaster tournament. This tournament was part of the World Chess Championship festival.

Mas Hafizulhelmi's performance in Groningen - where many grandmasters and international masters are among the 200-plus players - seemed rather jaded but our player had, by the 10th round, amassed six points in the 11-round Swiss event. Unfortunately, this score would not be enough to gain him any norm.

In the final round, he was due to meet England's grandmaster Stuart Conquest but I have been told that the Malaysian Chess Federation had advised Mas Hafizulhelmi to leave Groningen without playing this game. Any failure to catch his flight would mean that he would not be able to return home until one week later.

PCA CANGGIH RESULTS

Mok Tze Meng outpaced a field of 71 players to win the first prize of RM3,000 at the PCA Canggih international open chess championship in Penang last week.

He shrugged off an early second-round loss to score 7.5 points from nine games. In second place was Agus Salim who obtained seven points and won RM2,000.

Five players finished the tournament with 6.5 points each: Lim Chuin Hoong winning RM1,000, Wong Ji Zing RM800, international master Jimmy Liew RM600, Mak Weng Yee RM400 and Ismail Ahmad RM300. The eighth prize of RM200 went to Julian Navaratnam who was the best scorer among a group of players with six points.

The prizes for the five best Penang players went to Tan Eng Seong, Wong Chee Chung, Chuah Heng Meng, Khor Shihong and Khor Bean Hwa.

Woman Fide master Angela Khegay of Uzbekistan and Lim Jean Nie won the prizes for the two best woman players, while the under-18 prizes went to Lim Yee Weng and Ng Tze Han. Teng Wei Khoon and Deon Moh won the under-15 prizes.

Among the 71 participants were three players from Indonesia, two from Brunei, and one each from Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, India and the Philippines.

The prizes were given away by Penang state executive councillor Dr Toh Kin Woon who is also the president of the Penang Chess Association, Dr Choong Sim Poey who is a former president of the association and Puan Rohani Ismail, the business manager of sponsor KUB Tekstils Sdn Bhd.

KUB Tekstils, manufacturer of the Canggih brand of garment wear that includes tracksuits and a complete range of school uniforms and accessories, had sponsored RM20,000 towards the running of the four-day event which was held at the MarVista Resort in Batu Ferringhi, Penang from Dec 25 to 28.

The other sponsors of the event were DMV Sdn Bhd, WWT Communications Sdn Bhd and Star Publications (M) Bhd.

JOHOR CLOSED

The Johor Chess Association will hold their Johor closed chess championship at the Pelangi Leisure Mall in Taman Pelangi, Johor Baru, starting today until Sunday.

This is a seven-round event using a one-hour time control per person for each game. Only residents of Johor are eligible to take part, and the number of players will be limited to 64.

Two rounds will be played today, three rounds tomorrow and the final three rounds on Sunday. The winners will be selected to represent the state at next year's Merdeka team championship and the national closed championship.

Entry fee is RM15 per player except for women and students who need to pay only RM8. Anyone still hoping to enter for this event should contact Sumati (07-332-4366), Wong (07-333-0931) or Cheong (016-720-2272) immediately.

MORE PENANG EVENTS

Members of the Penang Chess Association can look forward to the final leg of the Penang grand prix chess circuit which will be played at the Residents Association of Bayan Baru clubhouse on Jan 18.

Readers wishing to take part in the tournament can contact Goh Yoon Wah (tel: 04-644-5687 in the evenings) or Ooi Kiem Boo (tel: 04-657-4596 during office hours).

Prizes include RM200 for the winner, RM150 for the runners-up and RM100 for the third-placed. There are five other minor cash prizes and also prizes for the best junior and woman players. Entry fee is RM20 per player.

Meanwhile, Universiti Sains Malaysia will hold its annual national open individual chess tournament this weekend, and will follow up with their annual open team tournament on Jan 10 and 11. The two events, to be run by the university's Bridge and Chess Club, will be played at Lecture Hall "U".

Entry fees for the team event are RM40 for school and university teams, and RM60 for others. For the individual event, players will have to pay RM25 and RM30 respectively.

For more details, contact the Bridge and Chess Club, Pusat Mahasiswa, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Glugor, Penang (tel: 04-6577888 ext 3491, 3497 or 3499).

 

So near yet so far

 

Local ace invited for Singapore meet

 

Golden harvest for Mas

 

Sportsboy of the year

 

Mas Hafizul local closed chess champ

Mas Hafizulhilmi Rahman from Kelantan successfully defended his title at this year's national closed chess championship which ended in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday.

He was undefeated in the five-day tournament at the KL Parkroyal which saw 54 players taking part in the men's section and 14 in the women's section.

Mas Hafizul was tied with Penang's Ooi Chern Ee going into the final round but while Mas Hafizul managed to overcome stiff resistance from Lim Chuin Hoong, Ooi could obtain no better than a draw.

These results put the Kelantanese on top of the championship standings with eight points from nine rounds while Ooi was in second place with 7 1/2 points. The two players received RM500 and RM400 respectively for their efforts. In addition, Mas Hafizul was awarded the Piala Dato Hussein Onn.

In joint third and fourth places were Tan Wei Sin and Lim Yee Weng (both Selangor) who each scored 6 1/2 points.

These four players have automatically qualified for the national men's team that will be taking part in the Asian team chess championship which starts in Singapore next Thursday.

The Malaysian Chess Federation and the federation's president, Dato Sabbaruddin Chik, will be picking one more player each to complete the six-man team.

At the national closed championship, five players - Thomas Lam (MCF), Mohd Fairin Zakaria (PCMM), Julian Navaratnam (KLCA), Azahari Mohd Noor (Kelantan) and Abdul Haq Mohamed (Kelantan) - scored six points each.

In the women's section of the championship, Khairunissa Wahiduddin (Pahang) is the new national women's champion, winning the Piala Dato Sabbaruddin Chik and RM300 with a score of six points from seven games.

A far distance behind were three players - Eliza Hanum Ibrahim (PCMM), Fadlilah Wahiduddin (Pahang) and Roslina Marmono (MCF) - who each scored 4 1/2 points.

Both Khairunissa and Eliza Hanum have qualified for the national women's team that will be playing in the inaugural Asian women's team chess championship in Singapore next week. Again, the MCF and its president shall pick two other players to complete the team.

The trophies for the best under-18 players, awarded by the KL Parkroyal, went to Mas Hafizul and Eliza Hanum.

This was the third year running that the KL Parkroyal has sponsored the national closed championships. In an earlier ceremony, the hotel's general manager, David Travers, presented Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Dato Sabbaruddin a cheque for RM10,000 towards this event.

JOHOR BARU OPEN

Readers in the south of the country wishing for some chess action should keep this Sunday in mind because that's when a one-day tournament will be held at the Bangunan Komtar in Johor Baru.

This is a six-round event played according to Rapid-30 rules. The Johor State Economic Development Corporation and the Johor Baru District Chess Club are the co-organisers.

According to them, this event will have three categories. The open section has a total cash prize of RM1,950 and the winner shall receive RM800.

The other prizes include RM500 for second and RM300 for third placing. There are seven other minor prizes, ranging from RM100 for the fourth-placed winner to two RM20 prizes for the ninth and 10th-placed winners.

Both the under-16 and under-12 sections are offering 10 cash prizes each, but these are not as attractive as those offered in the open section. For the under-16 section, the winner stands to collect RM100 and the runners-up RM80. In the under-12 section, the winner will receive RM80.

Although yesterday was supposed to be the closing date, those who still wish to take part can try to contact Narayanan Krishnan (07-331-7604/07-333-8215) today or tomorrow to see if there are still any available places. Only a maximum of 200 players will be allowed to take part.

Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM6 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 event.

MALAY MASTERS COMING UP

The Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia will organise this year's Malay Masters chess championship which shall be held at the Bank Pertanian Malaysia in Bangi from Dec 15-17.

Participation in the three-day event, sponsored by Bank Pertanian, is limited to only 22 players who qualified through the open section of the Malaysian Malays tournament previously.

Six players who took part in the novices section, two players each from the women's open and veteran's sections, and three junior players have also been selected for the Malay Masters championship.

Joining them will be the defending champion, Mohd Fairin Zakaria, and the previous champion, Mohd Kamal Abdullah.

Two rounds will be played on Dec 15, three on Dec 16 and the remaining two rounds on the final day of the competition. For more details, contact Mohd Zaini Hamid (03-789-3710 office/03-617-5031 residence).

GAMES OF THE WEEK: KRAMNIK LEADS THE WAY

Belgrade was the venue of the Investabank tournament last month. This was a 12-player Category 16 tournament where some of the best players in the world took part.

Although Boris Gelfand (Byelorus) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) shared centre stage by finishing joint champions, Kramnik was the more inspiring of the two players.

Final standings: Gelfand and Kramnik 8 points each; Alexei Shirov (Spain) 6 1/2 points; Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 6 points; Michael Adams (England), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Jan Timman (Netherlands) 5 1/2 points each; Peter Leko (Hungary) 5 points; Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia) 4 1/2 points; Alexander Beliavsky (Ukraine) and Joel Lautier (France) 4 points each; and Igor Miladinovic (Yugoslavia) 3 1/2 points.

Adams - Kramnik

1. e4 c5, 2. Nc3 Nc6, 3. Nf3 d6, 4. d4 cxd4, 5. Nxd4 Nf6, 6. Be3 Ng4, 7. Bg5 h6, 8. Bh4 g5, 9. Bg3 Bg7, 10. Nb3 Be6, 11. Be2 h5, 12. h4 gxh4, 13. Bxh4 Rc8, 14. O-O Bf6, 15. Bg3 Rg8, 16. Nd5 h4, 17. Nxf6+ Nxf6, 18. Bxh4 Nxe4, 19. Bf3 Ng5, 20. Bxg5 Rxg5, 21. Qd2 Rg8, 22. Nd4 Ne5, 23. Be4 Qb6, 24. Rfe1 d5, 25. Bxd5 Bxd5, 26. Rxe5 Rxg2+, 27. Kf1 Qg6, 28. Qb4 Bc4+, 29. Ke1 Qf6 0-1

Topalov - Kramnik

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 d6, 6. Bc4 Qb6, 7. Ndb5 a6, 8. Be3 Qa5, 9. Nd4 Ne5, 10. Bd3 Neg4, 11. Bc1 g6, 12. Nb3 Qb6, 13. Qe2 Bg7, 14. f4 Nh5, 15. Nd5 Qd8, 16. Bd2 e6, 17. Ba5 Qh4+, 18. g3 Nxg3, 19. Nc7+ Ke7, 20. hxg3 Qxg3+, 21. Kd1 Nf2+, 22. Kd2 Nxh1, 23. Nxa8 Qxf4+, 24. Qe3 Qh2+, 25. Qe2 Qf4+, 26. Qe3 Qh2+, 27. Qe2 Bh6+, 28. Kc3 Qe5+, 29. Kb4 Ng3, 30. Qe1 Bg7, 31. Nb6 d5, 32. Ka4 Bd7+, 33. Nxd7 b5+, 34. Kb4 Kxd7, 35. Bb6 Qxb2, 36. exd5 Rc8, 37. dxe6+ Ke8, 38. Bc5 Bc3+, 39. Qxc3 a5+, 40. Kxb5 Qxc3 0-1

Kramnik - Beliavsky

1. Nf3 d5, 2. g3 c6, 3. Bg2 Bg4, 4. O-O Nd7, 5. d4 e6, 6. Nbd2 f5, 7. c4 Bd6, 8. Qb3 Rb8, 9. Re1 Nh6, 10. cxd5 cxd5, 11. h3 Bh5, 12. e4 fxe4, 13. Ng5 Bf7, 14. Ndxe4 dxe4, 15. Nxe6 Bxe6, 16. Qxe6+ Qe7, 17. Rxe4 Kd8, 18. Qd5, 1-0

Adams - Gelfand

1. d4 d5, 2. Bg5 c6, 3. e3 h6, 4. Bh4 Qb6, 5. b3 e5, 6. Nf3 e4, 7. Nfd2 Ne7, 8. c4 Nf5, 9. Bg3 Nxg3, 10. hxg3 Be6, 11. Be2 Nd7, 12. a3 Be7, 13. Nc3 Nf6, 14. b4 O-O, 15. Rc1 Qd8, 16. Nb3 b6, 17. c5 a5, 18. bxa5 bxc5, 19. dxc5 Nd7, 20. Nd4 Qc7, 21. a6 Nxc5, 22. O-O Rfc8, 23. Na2 Bd7, 24. Nb4 Qd6, 25. Qc2 Bf8, 26. Rfd1 g6, 27. Rd2 h5, 28. Nb3 Nxb3, 29. Qxb3 Qe6, 30. Qd1 Be7, 31. Nc2 Qf6, 32. Rb1 Ra7, 33. Nb4 Rca8, 34. Qc1 Qd6, 35. Rb3 Rc8, 36. Rc3 Rcc7, 37. Bd1 Bf6, 38. Rc4 Be6, 39. Be2 c5, 40. Nxd5 Bxd5, 41. Qd1 Rd7, 42. Rxe4 Qc6, 43. Re8+ Kg7, 44. Rb8 c4, 45. Rb7 c3, 46. Bb5 Qxb5, 47. Rxb5 cxd2, 48. Qxd2 Bc4, 49. Qb4 Bxb5, 50. Qxb5 Rd6, 51. e4 Re6, 52. Qd3 Rexa6, 53. Kh2 Rxa3, 54. Qd6 R3a6, 55. Qd3 Ra1, 56. f4 Rc1, 57. g4 hxg4, 58. Qe2 Raa1, 59. Kg3 Ra3+ 0-1

Gelfand - Shirov

1. c4 Nf6, 2. Nc3 d5, 3. cxd5 Nxd5, 4. g3 g6, 5. Bg2 Nxc3, 6. bxc3 Bg7, 7. Rb1 Nd7, 8. Nf3 O-O, 9. O-O Rb8, 10. d4 b6, 11. d5 Bb7, 12. Nd4 Nc5, 13. c4 e6, 14. e4 c6, 15. Nxc6 Bxc6, 16. dxc6 Qc7, 17. e5 Rbd8, 18. Qc2 Bxe5, 19. Bg5 f6, 20. Bh6 Rfe8, 21. Rbd1 Bd4, 22. Bf4 e5, 23. Bd5+ Kg7, 24. Rxd4 exf4, 25. Rxf4 Re5, 26. Rd4 Rde8, 27. Bf3 Rf5, 28. Qc3 Re7, 29. Rfd1 h5, 30. h4 Qe5, 31. Qa3 Qe6, 32. Rd6 Qxc4, 33. Rd7 Rfe5, 34. Rxa7 Kh6, 35. Rxe7 Rxe7, 36. Qb2 Ne4, 37. Bxe4 Qxe4, 38. Qxf6, 1-0

Ivanchuk - Topalov

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 g6, 6. Be3 Bg7, 7. f3 Nc6, 8. Qd2 O-O, 9. Bc4 Bd7, 10. h4 Rc8, 11. Bb3 h5, 12. O-O-O Ne5, 13. Bg5 Rc5, 14. g4 hxg4, 15. f4 Nc4, 16. Qe2 Qc8, 17. Bxf6 Bxf6, 18. Nd5 Rxd5, 19. exd5 b5, 20. h5 g5, 21. fxg5 Bxg5+, 22. Kb1 f5, 23. Rd3 f4, 24. Bxc4 Qxc4 0-1

 

Results of Selayang open

Last month's Selayang juniors open tournament at the Selayang Mall in Kepong attracted an unexpected good response from chess players in the Klang Valley.

There were more than 160 participants, but many more were turned away by the organisers when the walk-in players tried to sign up for the tournament at the last minute.

It is an old habit among the local chessplayers and it seems to be a habit that young players are picking up, but somehow Malaysian chessplayers need to learn that organisers do not like last-minute entries.

For one thing, it completely disrupts the smooth running of a tournament. No organiser can ever hope to have an unlimited source of chess equipment to accommodate all late entries and moreover, it is impossible to arrange for a bigger playing hall or more tables and chairs.

In the Selayang tournament, the under-10 section was won by Gerald Soh Han Loong who was undefeated over six rounds. Gerald Soh scored 5 1/2 points to win a computer dictionary worth about RM900.

Hoo Chin Khang also obtained 5 1/2 points but on tie-break, had to be satisfied with the second prize which was also a computer dictionary worth about RM800.

In joint third to sixth places were Jonathan Chuah Jin Hai, Effazuan Mohd Farid, Mohd Asri Kamsah and Nor Syafawati Ishak who each scored five points. Jonathan was leading the 64-player field after five rounds but fell victim to second-placed Chin Khang in the final round.

In the 56-player under-12 section, Kamarul Ariffin Mansoor picked up the RM900 computer dictionary with a score of 5 1/2 points while the RM800 computer dictionary was won by Eric Chua Chee Kiong who had five points. The other players who also finished with five points were Low Kok Wai and Low Chung King.

The under-16 section only attracted 46 players but it was this section which attracted many strong junior players. The winner of the RM900 computer dictionary was Ng Ee Vern who scored 5 1/2 points.

This event was organised by Selayang Mall Sdn Bhd with technical assistance from Total Chess. Whiz Kid Sdn Bhd were the sponsors for the main prizes which included computer games software.

MAS' WINNING STREAK

FIDE Master and national master Mas Hafizul Hilmi chalked up another impressive result in local tournaments when he won the first prize of RM750 in the Primula Beach Resort Terengganu open tournament last month.

He was undefeated in the seven-round event which attracted 48 participants. Among Mas' victims in the first five rounds were 1994 Terengganu open champion Julian Navaratnam, Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin and Agus Salim.

Mas survived a concerted attack by Ghalam Sani Abdul Rashid to force a draw in the sixth round, and a second draw in the final round of the tournament was enough to bag him his first Terengganu open title.

Joint second to fifth in the open section were Agus Salim, Ghalam Sani, Nor Azmi Mohd Nor and Julian Navaratnam who each obtained 5 1/2 points, while in joint sixth to ninth places with five points each were Suhaimi Asmuni, Mohd Saprin Sabri, Adnan Salleh and Abdul Kadir Othman.

The novice section of the tournament attracted 68 participants. Ahmad Fakruden Mamat won the first prize of RM150 on tie-break ahead of Heng Aik Jiunn. Both players had scored five points each.

The players with four points were Zefri Abdul Kadir, Nazrul Hisham, Mohd Zamri Azali, Abdul Hanan Abdul Aziz, Ahmad Rizal Othman, Zainun Awang, Mohd Hafez Hilmi Harun and Ghani Kadir.

Finally, the winner of the under-12 section was Mohd Salami Ibrahim who scored six points. Second was Azan Abu Bakar with 5 1/2 points and third was Ahmad Fasidi Mamat with five points.

SIGN UP FOR USM OPEN

Readers are reminded that the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Bridge & Chess Club will organise their second USM national open tournament in Penang from Dec 1-3.

This three-day event will be held over eight rounds using a time control of 1 1/2 hours each per player for each game. Ten prizes totalling RM3,250 are lined up for the participants and the winner will receive a RM1,000 cash prize.

Entry fees are RM20 for students and RM30 for the public. To register, contact Ms Chew Siew Imm (04-657-7253) after 8pm. Closing date for entries is Nov 25.

TIMMAN STILL TOPS

Who, do you think, is currently the top player in the Netherlands? Jan Timman? Well, for many years, Timman was undisputedly the strongest Dutch player around. Among his many achievements were playing in the 1991 Candidates finals match. In 1993 when Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short refused to contest their world championship match under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, Timman was picked to play Anatoly Karpov in a replacement world championship match.

Since then, however, his tournament results have been rather indifferent and this included a rather ignominous last place in the Biel grandmaster tournament this year. But then he bounced back by winning a strong event in Amsterdam a few months later.

On the other hand, there is Jeroen Piket who is one of the Netherlands' up-and-coming young grandmasters. His star shone brightly last year when he won the Dutch national championship. Furthermore, he also won a very prestigeous tournament in Dortmund.

Little wonder then that a match between these players was eventually arranged to settle the question of who is the best player in the Netherlands. This match was played in Amsterdam last month and despite Piket being the higher rated of the two players,he could not match Timman's vast match experience and succumbed to a 4-6 loss.

Jan Timman - Jeroen Piket, Game 2

1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bb5 a6, 4. Ba4 Nf6, 5. O-O Be7, 6. Re1 b5, 7. Bb3 d6, 8. c3 O-O, 9. h3 Bb7, 10. d4 Re8, 11. Nbd2 Bf8, 12. a4 h6, 13. Bc2 exd4, 14. cxd4 Nb4, 15. Bb1 c5, 16. d5 Nd7, 17. Ra3 f5, 18. Nh2 c4, 19. Rf3 Re5, 20. Rg3 Nf6, 21. b3 c3, 22. Rxc3 fxe4, 23. Nxe4 Nxe4, 24. Bxe4 Rxe4, 25. Rxe4 Nxd5, 26. Rg3 Nc3, 27. Rxc3 Bxe4, 28. Ng4 h5, 29. Nh6+ gxh6, 30. Rg3+ Kf7, 31. Qxh5+ Ke6, 32. Qg4+ Kd5, 33. Re3 Qe7, 34. f3 Bg7, 35. Rxe4 Be5, 36. Re1 Qh7, 37. Rd1+ Kc6, 38. f4 1-0

Jan Timman - Jeroen Piket, Game 4

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 e6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 a6, 5. Nc3 Qc7, 6. g3 Bb4, 7. Ne2 Nf6, 8. Bg2 Be7, 9. O-O Nc6, 10. Nf4 O-O, 11. g4 d6, 12. g5 Nd7, 13. Nd3 b5, 14. f4 b4, 15. Ne2 Bb7, 16. Kh1 Rfc8, 17. Be3 Na5, 18. Rc1 Nc5, 19. Nxc5 dxc5, 20. c4 Rd8, 21. Qc2 Nc6, 22. e5 Rd7, 23. Rcd1 Rad8, 24. Kg1 a5, 25. Kf2 Kh8, 26. Be4 Rxd1, 27. Rxd1 Rxd1, 28. Qxd1 Nxe5, 29. Bxb7 Ng4+, 30. Kf3 Nxe3, 31. Kxe3 Qxb7, 32. Qa4 Qc8, 33. Qxa5 e5, 34. Qa7 exf4+, 35. Nxf4 Qe8, 36. Kf3 Kg8, 37. h4 Bf8, 38. a4 bxa3, 39. bxa3 Qe1, 40. a4 Qf1 1-0

Jeroen Piket - Jan Timman, Game 5

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 d5, 4. Nc3 Nbd7, 5. cxd5 exd5, 6. Bg5 c6, 7. e3 Be7, 8. Bd3 Nh5, 9. Nd2 Bxg5, 10. Qxh5 Be7, 11. h3 g6, 12. Qe2 Nb6, 13. a3 Be6, 14. g4 Bd6, 15. f4 Qe7, 16. Nf3 f6, 17. O-O-O O-O-O, 18. Kb1 Kb8, 19. Qg2 Nc4, 20. Bxc4 dxc4, 21. Rhe1 Bc7, 22. Qc2 Bf7, 23. Ka1 g5, 24. fxg5 fxg5, 25. e4 Bg6, 26. d5 Rhf8, 27. Nd4 cxd5, 28. Nf5 Bxf5, 29. exf5 Qc5, 30. Re6 Bf4, 31. b4 cxb3, 32. Qxb3 Rd7, 33. Ne2 d4, 34. Rd3 Rc8, 35. h4 Be3, 36. exe3 dxe3, 37. Rxd7 Qc6, 38. Rd3 gxh4, 39. Rxe3 Qg2, 40. Qd3 Qxg4, 41. f6 a6, 42. Rf3 h3, 43. Rxh3 Qe6, 44. Rf3 Rf8, 45. Nc3 Qe5 1-0

Jan Timman - Jeroen Piket, Game 6

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 e6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 a6, 5. Bd3 Bc5, 6. c3 d6, 7. Nd2 Nf6, 8. N2b3 Ba7, 9. Bg5 h6, 10. Bh4 e5, 11. Nc2 Be6, 12. Qe2 Nbd7, 13. Bc4 Qc7, 14. Bxe6 fxe6, 15. O-O-O O-O, 16. Kb1 b5, 17. f3 Nb6, 18. Bf2 Rfc8, 19. g4 Nc4, 20. Bxa7 Rxa7, 21. g5 hxg5, 22. h4 gxh4, 23. Rxh4 a5, 24. Rdh1 Kf7, 25. Rg1 Qb6, 26. Qg2 Rg8, 27. Rh8 Kf8, 28. Rhh1 b4, 29. cxb4 axb4, 30. Qf1 Qb5, 31. Qe1 Qa4, 32. Nc1 Kf7, 33. b3 Na3+, 34. Nxa3 Qxa3, 35. Rh2 Rc7, 36. Qd2 Qa7, 37. Rhg2 Qd4, 38. Qg5 Rc3, 39. Rd2 Qb6, 40. Nd3 Ke7, 41. R. Qe1 Qa4, 32. Nc1 Kf7, 33. b3 Na3+, 34. Nxa3 Qxa3, 35. Rh2 Rc7, 36. Qd2 Qa7, 37. Rhg2 Qd4, 38. Qg5 Rc3, 39. Rd2 Qb6, 40. Nd3 Ke7, 41. Rgd1 Qb7, 42. Nb2 Rxf3, 43. Rxd6 Qxe4+, 44. Ka1 Qb7, 45. Qxe5 Re8, 46. Rxe6+ Kf8, 47. Rxe8+ Nxe8, 48. Rh1 Qc6, 49. Qd4 Kg8, 50. Qxb4 Nd6, 51. Qh4 Nf7, 52. Qh2 g5, 53. Nc4 g4, 54. Qh5 Qe4, 55. Rd1 g3, 56. Qh3 Qf4, 57. Qe6 g2, 58. Qg6+ Kf8, 59. Qxg2 Rf2, 60. Qa8+ Kg7, 61. Qd5 Qh2, 62. Rd2 Rxd2, 63. Qxd2 Qg1+, 64. Kb2 Ng5, 65. a4 Ne6, 6! 6. Qe3 Qh2+, 67. Ka3 Kf6, 68. a5 h1, 69. Qc3+ Ke7, 70. Nb6 Qf1, 71. b4 Qd1, 72. Qe3 Kf7, 73. Qb3 Qa1+, 74. Qa2 Qf1, 75. Qc4 Qa1+, 76. Qa2 Qf1, 77. Ka4 Ke7, 78. Qc4 Qg1, 79. Kb5 Qg5+, 80. Ka6 Qe5, 81. Qc6 Qb8, 82. Nd5+ 1-0