Three times a winner

Now, don’t start me off. I’m not going to launch myself with superlatives to describe Dr Nicholas Chan’s feat in winning the annual Selangor open chess tournament for the third year in succession.

All that I’m going to say to him is, congratulations. Short and simple.

Really, there are no big words to describe Chan’s hat-trick of Selangor open achievements. He was the champion in 2009, he made a great defence of this title last year and then, earlier this week, he overcame some mid-tournament jitters to become the Selangor open champion again. 

Add in his tournament victory in 2004 and Chan has won this event four times in the past eight years. 

It wasn’t all plain sailing, though. He led until the sixth round and even reeled off five wins in a row which included a win over international master Jimmy Liew. Then Chan hiccupped in the seventh round, losing to Indian international master Srinath Narayanan. Suddenly, he found Liew, Srinath and familiar Filipino player Ian Udani leap-frogging half a point over him.

With two rounds remaining, the tournament now became alive. There were four contenders who could easily be winner of the tournament. However, some of them had still to play one another and so, there would be no easy gallop towards the finish line. The event was wide open. 

In the eighth round, two of the leaders met. Udani and Srinath were paired together, but their game was drawn. Then, Chan beat Mohd Irman Ibrahim to draw level with the Indian and the Filipino. In the meantime, Liew took advantage of their lapse by disposing off his opponent, Abdul Rahim Ramli, to take the sole lead for the first time in the tournament. 

So by the end of the eighth round, the standings were: Liew in front with seven points and followed by Udani, Srinath and Chan just half a point behind. The ninth and final round would be crucial.

To end up as the champion, Liew would need to win his final game. A draw might have been enough too but he could possibly be subjecting himself to a tie-break with two other players. It wasn’t a completely appealing situation but maybe, it would be better than nothing. In any case, his final-round opponent, Udani, refused to follow the same script and in a tensely fought game, the Filipino prevailed over Liew.

Srinath was also in a good position to join Udani at the top of the standings if he could beat his opponent, the newly minted national closed champion Lim Zhuo Ren. But Lim proved to be a tougher nut than expected and he put paid to any idea that the Indian player could have.

These unexpected results presented Chan with a precious lifeline which he seized gladly. Among the top contenders, he had possibly the most comfortable pairing of all. Sitting across from Mark Siew, Chan outplayed his opponent to win the game and thus finish on equal points with Udani. 

But this is not the end of the story. Two players stood at the top of the standings with equal points. Who would be the champion? For Chan, his spurt of five wins in his first five games would now ensure him a much superior tie-break than Udani. And with this better tie-break came the coveted winner’s purse at the conclusion of this 38th Selangor open chess tournament.  

Up next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organize the third leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Slim River on May 15. Like the two previous tournaments in Taiping and Bagan Serai, this leg in Slim River will be contested over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. The two remaining legs will be played in Kampar on Jun 19 and the grand final 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 Slim River 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 May 12. To register, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar (014.2510852) or Uztaz Ismail (019.5520391). Alternatively, visit the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for details. 

Ampang chess master

The Ampang Jaya Chess Club and the Office of the Member of Parliament for Ampang are jointly organizing the Ampang chessmaster open tournament at the Medan Selera Ampang Waterfront on May 15. Seven rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees are RM10 (school children) and RM25 (others). For more information, contact Abdul Hakim Nordin (019.3925828). To register, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com). 

Warrior weekend

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) will organize the Warrior rapid chess weekend tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on May 22. Seven rounds, 25 minutes per game. Closing date for entries is May 20. Entry fees are RM20 (players below 12 years old) and RM30 (others). To register, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com). 

Chess camp

The Creative Chess Enterprise will hold a two-day chess champ at the Sekolah Sri Bestari in Bandar Sri Damansara, Kuala Lumpur on Jun 6-7. Entry fees: RM140 (elementary level), RM160 (players with national chess ratings below 1200 points) and RM180 (players with national rating above 1200 points). Discount of RM20 applies to anyone registering before May 15. Closing date: May 22. For inquiries, call Balendran (012.3547011) or Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922).

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 are 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).

 

Long-running tourney

Earlier this month, I made an unplanned private day trip to Kuala Lumpur. One aspect of most of my unplanned trips is that one way or another, I find myself visiting the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) at the Wilayah Complex along Jalan Dang Wangi. 

The place is such a magnet for me. It’s so conveniently located in KL that just about any chess player can visit it with ease. I was mildly surprised when I got there. The place had been expanded. Now occupying about twice the original floor space, the chess centre is now big enough to cater comfortably for any tournament with up to about 120 players.

As just my luck would have it too, the Selangor open chess tournament was going on that day when I visited the chess centre.

Good timing, I noted to myself, here was a perfect opportunity to see how the country’s longest-running chess tournament was being organized. Events may come and events may go but this one seems to go on forever. This tournament has been running non-stop without any interruption since 1974, the same year that the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) was formed.

That’s an unbroken stretch of 37 years. It’s a local achievement and I think this is mentioned in the Malaysian Book Of Records too. I remember having played in the first two editions of the tournament way back in 1974 at the Royal Selangor Club and in 1975 at a school in Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya. That school would be used by the CAS for several more years.

But that was a very long time ago. Today, the organizers are using the DATCC in Kuala Lumpur. I gathered from the playing list that there were 71 participants at this year’s event. 

This was a reasonably big enough number for an event of this stature but I kept feeling that the organizers would have wanted to see more people taking part in their premier chess event. They didn’t have to tell me so but I have known them for so long that I knew that they would gladly accept better numbers.

Another thing that struck me about this tournament was that for the second year running, the Selangor open has been organized without any sponsorship deal. The prize moneys and the money for our expenses are being met mainly from the entry fees and partly from the association’s internal funds, I was told. 

Well, it is a shame that the country’s longest-running chess event hasn’t been able to obtain any sponsor again. The association’s long-term sponsor cried out last year, citing economic problem as the reason. But the tournament still had to go on, and the CAS decided on using its internal funds to carry on.

This year, the sponsor must have pulled out again and left the association carrying their baby for yet another year.

In my opinion, this can’t be continuing. It was quite understandable if the sponsor had been forced to pull out last year. After all, the global problems triggered by the sub-prime crisis in the United States last year had left many companies faced with economic difficulties. 

But if the same sponsor had pulled out again for a second year, my instinct would be to suggest to the CAS – or any other chess association for that matter – that they should come up with a Plan B and search for alternative sources of sponsorship. They shouldn’t allow this situation to spill into the third year.

Chess associations in Malaysia operate almost exclusively on sponsorship funds. Everybody works purely on a voluntary basis for the good of the game. As much as chess players owe it to the chess associations to uplift the level of chess in the community, chess associations also owe it to the chess players for the support. It’s the only survival technique the associations need or otherwise they become irrelevant.

Dependency on one another makes it a symbiotic relationship. One cannot do without the other. But the only way for chess players to support their associations is for the associations to organize quality events for players. No matter how hard a voluntary organization may work, it becomes impossible for it to continue working hard for long without external sponsorship funds coming in.

So definitely, a Plan B is in order for the CAS to move forward. I hope they are already doing this because I shall really be sad if Malaysia’s longest-running tournament gets affected again next year and in the years to come.

Oh, by the way, just for the record, Dr Nicholas Chan bounced back from his disappointing display at the Kuala Lumpur Masters event to bag the first prize at the Selangor open tournament. A convincing performance here which saw Chan finish half-a-point ahead of Jimmy Liew and Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin who ended in joint second place.

However, the most impressive result was scored by 11-year-old Yeoh Li Tian who finished in joint fourth place with Loo Swee Leong, Muhd Syazwan Zulkifli and Tan Ken Wei.

Up next  

Chess workshops

With the school holidays just around the corner, Polgar Chess Asia is organizing several holiday chess workshops at Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur. Complete beginners with very little idea about playing chess can attend the beginners-level workshops on Jun 7-10 or Jun 14-15. Fees are RM280 per student.

For slightly more advanced players, there are workshops on learning strategies of attack and endgame fundamentals. The “strategies of attack” workshop is on Jun 7-8 while the “endgame fundamentals” workshop is on Jun 9-10. Fees are RM300 per student.

For more information, contact Louisa Yip of Polgar Chess Asia (03.23001680 or 019.2586355).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the 5th MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. There will be three categories of events: under-20, under-17 and under-14 for boys and girls. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. More details are available from Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Fine form

 

Pressure's on

 

Get cracking

 

Global impact

 

Back for more

 

Grand prix

 

Keeping the trophy

 

Notable tournament

 

Royal Selangor open

I HAVE been reading a number of postings recently on the chess-malaysia mailing group on the history of the Royal Selangor open chess tournament that starts next Wednesday at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur.

This is certainly the longest running chess tournament in the local chess calendar. It has been held without a break since 1974, which makes it the 32nd edition of a long glorious run that has found its way into the Malaysian Book of Records. That’s persistence and commitment from the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS).

Almost everyone who has played in or been associated with this tournament will have some sort of personal story to tell. I am no different, although there will be some readers among you who will be curious at my association with this event.

It is true. If there are records still maintained by the CAS today, it will show me as a member of the association in 1974, though my membership has certainly lapsed. A lapsed founder member, perhaps. 

But more interestingly, I was playing in its inaugural Selangor open at the Royal Selangor Club in 1974. And it was my first opportunity to meet the illustrious players of yesteryear from the Klang Valley – people like Dr Foo Lum Choon and Chan Mun Fye, among others.

Anyway, it was my first competitive chess event for many years. Out of school and without any tournament to play in during those years in Penang, the Selangor open was a welcome distraction to my studies.

My first game of substance was, I believe, in the second round when I met Husin Sida. But I was totally rusty and made a slip-up as early as the sixth move when I blundered away a piece.

I felt like sinking into the ground then, as I could not believe what I had done. Should I resign the game and go off and lick my wounds? I was about to do so but suddenly froze when I saw an all too familiar figure in Fang Ewe Churh walking about. The first Penang Chess Association president was wandering around to take a look at the Selangor open.

I couldn’t resign, not with Fang around. In those days, Fang was the Mr Chess Authority in Penang. What impression would I convey if I had lost quickly? What stories would he bring back to Penang?

So, I had no choice but to continue playing. Luckily, my opponent was rather amenable to my resolve, though I doubt he had any idea at all about what I was planning to do.

The game quickly became complicated despite me being a piece down, and in the complications, another piece was sacrificed. I was faced with an impending checkmate when suddenly, check, check, check, and Husin instead found himself at the receiving end of a draw through repetition of position.

I made many new chess friends in those days. It was a time of mutual discovery. I uncovered a whole new world of chess players in Selangor and in return, the chess players there learnt that chess was very much alive outside the boundary of Selangor. 

A few months later, following the chess groundswell in Selangor, Penang and other parts of the country, the newly founded Malaysian Chess Federation organised its first national closed chess championship, and the rest is very much history. 

I will not bore you further about my chess adventures in Selangor during the mid-1970s but it was also a time when through chess, I discovered a close relative among my chess-playing friends. But this will be another story.

For now, I can only offer the Chess Association of Selangor my best wishes ahead of their 32nd Royal Selangor open. P.S. Can I get my founder member status back??

UP NEXT

Klang Parade chess

The Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade will jointly organize this year’s Klang Parade chess tournament in Klang this weekend. 

Tomorrow, the Klang Parade age-group chess tournament for under-12 and under-18 categories will be organized, while on Sunday, the Klang Parade open tournament will be held.

Total cash prize is RM1500, and entry fees are RM15 for the open event and RM10 for under-12 players. Entry forms are available from the Klang Parade information counter or downloaded from http://tcn.sf.net/downloads/klangp05.doc

For inquiries or registration, contact Greg Lau (tel: 012.9020123).

Royal Selangor open

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organize its 32nd edition of the Royal Selangor open chess tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 28 to May 2. 

This year’s tournament will be played in three sections: a nine-round Fide-rated open category starting Apr 28, and the under-12 and under-18 seven-round non-Fide-rated events on May 1-2. 

Entry fees for the open event are RM35 for CAS members and Fide-rated players, and RM60 for others. For the two junior events, entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM20 for non-members.

For inquiries, call Shafruddin Arshad (tel: 012.3852420), Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922) or S Balendran (tel: 012.3547011) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg.

Perak tournament

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organize an open chess event at the Tun Razak Library in Ipoh this Sunday. For inquiries on registration or entry fees, contact Yunus Sharif (05.5458453 or 013.3908129).

Worthy winners and family affairs

 

A chess-ful of activities

 

Busy month ahead

The next few weeks will be busy times indeed for local chess players. Last week, I mentioned two forthcoming events at the end of the month - the first Arab-Malaysian Labour Day team championship in Kuala Lumpur and the Pesta Catur NS/MPS in Seremban.

The Chess Association of Selangor has informed me of its ninth Royal Selangor juniors open tournament for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age-groups at the Plaza Putra in Kuala Lumpur this weekend.

The tournament will be played over seven rounds using the time control of one hour per person for each game. The first round tomorrow starts at 2pm and the second and third rounds will begin at 4.30pm and 7pm. On Sunday, the first of four games has been scheduled for 9am.

There will be 10 prizes for each of the three sections. The top prize consists of RM150 and a trophy, the second prize RM120 and a trophy, and the third prize RM90 and a trophy. Cash prizes and medals will be given to the fourth to seventh placed winners while the eighth, ninth and 10th places will receive medals. Prize monies are not be shared.

The first prize winners of each of the age-groups will be invited to play in this year's Royal Selangor open championship which is scheduled for May 10 to 14.

Entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and RM13 for members of the Klang Chess Association and the Kajang Chess Club. All other participants are required to pay RM15.

Schools that field five or more students in the tournament will be given a 20 per cent discount on entry fees. However, this rebate is only applicable to non-CAS members from the schools.

Because the tournament will start tomorrow, readers intending to play in the event but have yet to register themselves can call Mrs Jackie Wong.

From April 27 to 29, the Terengganu Chess Association will organise its 17th Terengganu closed championship at the Astaka MPKT, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Terengganu.

This being a closed event, only players residing in Terengganu are eligible to take part. This event will be played in three sections - the senior, the novice and the under-12 age-group.

The senior section will be held over the three days with two rounds on April 27, three rounds on April 28 and the final two rounds on April 29. For the novice section, play will be on April 28 and 29 only, and three rounds have been scheduled for each day. The under-12 section will be played on April 29 only.

Entry fees for members of the TCA are RM5 for the senior section, RM3 for the novice section and RM1 for the under-12 section. Non-members are required to pay RM10, RM4 and RM2 respectively.

The top 10 winners in each section will receive prizes. For the senior section, the top prize is RM200 and a night's stay at the Sutra Beach Resort, the second prize is RM150 and the third prize RM100. The other prizes are in the form of books and trophies.

Closing date for all entries is April 24 and these can be submitted to Mohd Lazim Abdul Ghani, Sekolah Kebangsaan Beladau Kolam, 21200 Kuala Terengganu. For enquiries about the tournament, contact Mohd Zainuddin Ngah.

In Johor Bahru, the Johor Chess Club will hold its one-day Labour Day chess tournament on April 30 at the fifth floor of the Plaza Pelangi in Taman Pelangi.

The open section features attractive cash prizes including RM300 for the winner, RM200 for the runners-up and RM100 for third-place. There are other prizes for the fourth to sixth placed players, as well as for the five best players from the state. The top three women's players will be given prizes too.

For the under-16 section, there are also six cash prizes with the winner getting RM100, five cash prizes for the top five Johor players and four cash prizes for the best girl players. In the under-12 category, cash prizes will be given to the top six players, the top two Johor players and the top four girl players.

Entry fees are RM10 and RM5 for the men and women respectively in the open section, RM5 for all players in the under-16 section and RM4 for players in the under-12 section.

Closing date for entries is April 25 and only the first 100 entries will be accepted for each category. For more information, contact Sumathy or Andrew Tan or Cheong Kok Love.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

The Melody Amber chess tournament in Monaco ended last week. The format was similar to last year's, that is, against each of their opponents, the participants were required to play first a regular game using rapidplay rules and then a blindfold game.

In the blindfold session, each player was seated at a personal computer which was linked through a network to a similar setup for his opponent. With both players staring at a blank chessboard on their computer screens, they were required to type in their moves on the keyboard.

The winner was Anatoly Karpov whose expertise in the rapidplay games more than compensated for his poor performance in the blindfold games. He scored 16 points, followed by Viswanathan Anand with 14.5 points. Third was Vassily Ivanchuk with 14 points and fourth was Vladimir Kramnik with 13 points.

The other standings: Gata Kamsky 12 points; Judit Polgar and Jeroen Piket 11 points each, Alexei Shirov 10.5 points; Joel Lautier and Predrag Nikolic 9.5 points each, Ljubomir Ljubojevic 7 points; and John Nunn 4 points.

The following are games from the tournament.

[Event "Melody Amber, Blindfold"]

[Site "Monaco"]

[Date "1995.04.10"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]

[Black "Shirov, Alexey"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. e4 e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. exd5 exd4 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Nc5 13. Bc2 Bg4 14. Qxd4 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Re8 16. Be3 Re5 17. Qg4 Nd7 18. f4 Nf6 19. Qf3 Rxd5 20. Bb3 Rf5 21. Qxb7 Bxf4 22. Bxf7+ Kh8 23. Rad1 Qf8 24. Be6 Rb8 25. Qxa7 Rg5+ 26. Kh1 Ne4 27. Qf7 Qxf7 28. Bxf7 Bxe3 29. fxe3 h5 30. b3 Nc3 31. Rd2 Re5 32. a4 Rxe3 33. a5 Ne4 34. Ra2 Nd6 35. Bxh5 Rexb3 36. a6 Ra8 37. Bg6 Rb6 38. a7 Kg8 39. Rfa1 Kf8 40. Bh5 Ke7 41. Bf3 Nb7 42. Rg2 g6 43. Be4 Kf7 44. Rc2 1-0

[Event "Melody Amber, Rapidplay"]

[Site "Monaco"]

[Date "1995.04.10"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Shirov, Alexey"]

[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]

[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e3 g6 8. Nxd5 exd5 9. b4 Bg7 10. Bb2 c6 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O Nd7 13. Qb3 Re8 14. Rfc1 a5 15. bxa5 Rxa5 16. a4 c5 17. Bb5 c4 18. Qc2 Re6 19. Bc3 Ra7 20. Rcb1 Nb8 21. Ra2 Nc6 22. Rab2 Na5 23. Ne5 Qc7 24. Rf1 Bc8 25. f4 f6 26. e4 fxe5 27. exd5 exd4 28. Bxa5 bxa5 29. dxe6 Bxe6 30. Qe4 Qd6 31. Re2 Bf7 32. f5 d3 33. fxg6 hxg6 34. Ree1 d2 35. Rd1 Qd4+ 36. Qxd4 Bxd4+ 37. Kh1 c3 38. Bd3 Re7 39. Rb1 Ba2 0-1 [Event "Melody Amber, Blindfold"]

[Site "Monaco"]

[Date "1995.04.10"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]

[Black "Lautier, Joel"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Qc2 c5 8. dxc5 h6 9. Bd2 O-O 10. e3 Re8 11. Be2 Bxc5 12. O-O a6 13. Qb3 Nb6 14. Rfd1 Be6 15. Be1 Qe7 16. Nd4 Rac8 17. Rac1 Rc7 18. Na4 Nxa4 19. Qxa4 Rec8 20. Ba5 Bd7 21. Qb3 b6 22. Be1 Ra8 23. a3 Qe8 24. Qd3 a5 25. Nb5 Rcc8 26. b4 axb4 27. axb4 Bxb5 28. Qxb5 Qxb5 29. Bxb5 Be7 30. Bc6 Ra2 31. h3 Rd8 32. Kf1 Rb2 33. Bc3 Rb3 34. b5 Kf8 35. Bd4 Rb8 36. Be5 Rc8 37. Bxd5 Rxc1 38. Rxc1 Rd3 39. Rc8+ Ne8 40. Bd4 1-0

[Event "Melody Amber, Rapidplay"]

[Site "Monaco"]

[Date "1995.04.10"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Lautier, Joel"]

[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]

[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 exd5 4. cxd5 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Nc3 d6 7. f4 Nf6 8. Bb5+ Nbd7 9. e5 dxe5 10. fxe5 Nh5 11. e6 Qh4+ 12. g3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qxh1 14. Be3 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qe4 16. Qf3 Qxf3 17. Nxf3 fxe6 18. dxe6 O-O 19. Ke2 Nf6 20. e7 Rf7 21. Bxc5 Bg4 22. Rd1 Nd5 23. Rd3 Nxe7 24. Bc4 Nc6 25. Kf2 Re8 26. Bxf7+ Kxf7 27. Nd4 Ne5 28. Re3 a6 29. Bd6 Nc4 30. Rxe8 Kxe8 31. Bf4 Ke7 32. Nb3 Be6 33. Nc5 Bd5 34. Ke2 Na3 35. Ke3 Bc6 36. Kd4 Nb5+ 37. Kd3 h5 38. a4 Nd6 39. a5 Nf7 40. Bc7 Nd6 41. Bb8 g5 42. Kd4 h4 43. gxh4 gxh4 44. Nxa6 bxa6 45. Kc5 Nb7+ 46. Kxc6 Nxa5+ 47. Kb6 Nc4+ 48. Kxa6 Ke6 49. Bh2 Ne5 50. c4 Nxc4 51. Kb5 Kd5 52. Kb4 Kd4 53. Bg1+ Ne3 54. Kb5 h3 55. Kb4 Ke4 56. Kc3 Nf1 57. Kc2 Ke5 0-1

[Event "Melody Amber, Blindfold"]

[Site "Monaco"]

[Date "1995.04.10"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Nikolic, Predrag"]

[Black "Piket, Jeroen"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 b5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Be7 6. Qd3 a6 7. a4 b4 8. c4 O-O 9. Nbd2 d5 10. cxd5 exd5 11. a5 Nbd7 12. Nb3 Ne4 13. Be3 Bc6 14. Rfc1 Bb5 15. Qd1 Rc8 16. Ne1 Ndf6 17. f3 Nd6 18. Nd3 Re8 19. Bf2 Bf8 20. Nbc5 Rb8 21. b3 Nd7 22. Bh3 f5 23. Ra2 c6 24. Nxb4 Nxc5 25. dxc5 Nb7 26. Bxf5 Nxa5 27. Bd3 Qc7 28. Nxa6 Bxa6 29. Bxa6 Nxb3 30. Rc3 Na5 31. Qa4 Rb1+ 32. Kg2 Nb7 33. Bd3 Qe5 34. Bd4 Nxc5 35. Bxe5 Nxa4 36. Rxa4 Rb2 37. Bd4 c5 38. Bxc5 Bxc5 39. Rxc5 Rd2 40. Kf2 g6 41. Ra7 d4 42. Rcc7 1-0

[Event "Melody Amber, Blindfold"]

[Site "Monaco"]

[Date "1995.04.10"]

[Round "11"]

[White "Piket, Jeroen"]

[Black "Nikolic, Predrag"]

[Result "1-0"]

Jeroen Piket - Predrag Nikolic, rapidplay

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 c6 5. Nh3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Nxd2 d6 8. O-O O-O 9. c5 dxc5 10. dxc5 Na6 11. Rc1 Qe7 12. Qc2 e5 13. a3 h6 14. b4 Be6 15. Nc4 Nd7 16. Nd6 Rab8 17. Rfd1 Nc7 18. Qa4 g5 19. Kh1 e4 20. Rd4 a6 21. f3 Nb5 22. Rdd1 Nf6 23. Qc2 Nxd6 24. Rxd6 Bd5 25. Nf2 Rbd8 26. fxe4 fxe4 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. e3 Qe5 29. Rd1 Kg7 30. Kg1 Re8 31. Rf1 h5 32. Nd1 Bf7 33. Qc3 Bg6 34. h3 Nd5 35. Qxe5+ Rxe5 36. Rf2 Re8 37. Rd2 Kf6 38. Bf1 Bf5 39. Bc4 Rd8 40. Nc3 Ke5 41. Kh2 Rd7 42. Bxd5 cxd5 43. Ne2 Rf7 44. Nd4 Bd7 45. Kg2 Rf6 46. Rc2 Rf8 47. Ra2 h4 48. g4 Ba4 49. Rd2 Rf6 50. Nf5 Bb5 51. Rf2 Bc6 52. Rd2 Bb5 53. Kg1 Bd3 54. Rf2 a5 55. Nd6 Rxf2 56. Kxf2 axb4 57. axb4 d4 58. Nxb7 dxe3+ 59. Ke1 Ke6 60. Nd6 Kd5 61. Nf7 Kc4 62. c6 Kxb4 63. c7 Ba6 64. Nd6 Kc3 65. c8=Q+ Bxc8 66. Nxc8 Kd3 67. Nd6 Kd4 68. Nf7 Kd3 69. Nxg5 e2 70. Ne6 Ke3 71. g5 1-0

 

Jimmy's still the chess king

 

Annual tournament begins next week