Title at the end of the rating ladder

COME THIS time next week, we shall know for sure whether Malaysia has obtained yet another titled player.

Siti Zulaikha Foudzi is in line to become only our second woman international master if her international rating rises above 2200 points in the World Chess Federation (Fide)’s July rating list.

She is close to this mark, actually, because in the April list, her rating already stood at 2169. 

Part of Siti’s rating gain should come from the national women’s championship as well as the Royal Selangor open this year but until today, it cannot be confirmed whether or not Fide had received the tournament reports from the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF). 

We shall have to wait until the next international rating list comes out. The good news is, we do not have too long to await as it will be released in about a week’s time.

But the local events aside, our national women’s champion would have picked up additional points from the recently concluded Turin Chess Olympiad. Hopefully, her gains in these events will tip the scale in her favour.

Siti has already obtained her three woman international master title norms. 

Her first was at the Commonwealth chess championship in Mumbai, India, way back in Apr 2003. From nine games, she scored the required four points. At that time, her notable opponents included woman grandmaster Ramaswamy Aarathie, international master Bakre Tejas and woman international master Swati Ghate.

Her second norm was at the world girls’ chess championship, also played in India, in Nov 2004. She played 13 games and achieved 7½ points against players such as woman grandmasters Anna Ushenina and Ekatyerina Korbut, and woman international masters Karavade Eesha, Tania Sachdev and Marties Benadorp.

Siti’s third norm was achieved at the Calvia Chess Olympiad two years ago where she obtained five points from nine games. In this event, she had played against woman grandmaster Eva Repkova, international master Lilit Mkrtchian and four woman international masters.

For good measure, Siti had also scored a norm at Turin where she scored 5½ points from nine games. Her opponents included woman grandmaster Zhao Xue, international master Svetlena Petrenko and six woman international masters.

Another piece of good news to announce here is that Lim Yee Weng, who played third board for Malaysia in Turin had also secured his third and final international master norm at the Chess Olympiad. 

However, he will need to raise his international rating from his present 2330 to the required 2400 points before Fide can confer him the title. This will be his next goal which, unfortunately, he is unlikely to achieve in the July rating list.

He will have other opportunities to climb up the rating ladder but he will not be the first to agree that making the forward surge to top the 2400 rating mark will be a big challenge.

Lim’s first norm was obtained at the SEA Games in Ho Chi Minh City in Dec 2003, scoring five points from nine games. His opponents included grandmasters Wong Meng Kong, Wu Shaobin, Zaw Win Lay and Rogelio Antonio, and international masters Wynn Zaw Htun, Mark Paragua and Bui Vinh.

His second norm was achieved at the Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open in Aug 2005 where he scored six points from 11 games. Among his opponents were grandmasters Wu Shaobin, Abihjie Kunte, Dao Thien Hai and Edhi Handoko, and international masters Sriram Jha, Jayson Gonzales and Wynn Zaw Htun.

In Turin, Lim’s third norm was obtained from nine games where he scored five points. Among his opponents were grandmasters Pablo Segundo, Christopher Lutz, Joseph Gallagher and Eugene Torre, and international masters Jure Borisek and Igor Zugic.

In the meantime, it is reliably learnt that Wong Zi Jing has had his international master title ratified during the Fide Chess Congress in Turin, thus making him officially our country’s third international master.

UP NEXT

Stonemaster open

There will be a Stonemaster allegro open tournament, organised by Stonemaster Event Management Enterprise, at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur this Sunday. 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). 

UTM Convofair

The Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak, will organise a one-day tournament at the Foyer Chancellor Hall in conjunction with the university’s Convofair on Aug 13.

The organisers are aiming to attract around 900 players as this will also be an attempt by the university to get into the Malaysia Book of Records.

Altogether, there will be 10 categories – the open and institutions of higher learning (men and women), the under-12, under-15 and under-18 (boys and girls).

For more information on the entry fees, prizes and accommodation for outstation players, contact Raja Farah Raja Sariffuddin Shah (tel: 012.7749891), Ku Nor Azmira Mohd Roslim (tel: 012.5951065) or Mazila Mohamad (tel: 012.6573683).

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. 

Unbeaten champ

 

Congratulations, Siti Zulaikha!

IN CASE you have not heard, Malaysia have just gained our latest Woman International Master, but there is no prize in guessing correctly that the new holder of this title is none other than our six-time women’s national champion, Siti Zulaikha Foudzi.

She accomplished this feat at the World girls’ chess championships which has just ended in Cochin, India. Siti Zulaikha, participating in this event, finished with 7½ points from 13 games.

However, long before the tournament had ended – in fact, it was just after nine games – that Siti Zulaikha had earned her third and final woman international master norm.

According to the tournament’s website, Siti Zulaikha drew her ninth game with the white pieces against India’s Raghavi in just five moves.

“It is a special day for me. I messaged my father, a doctor in Kuala Lumpur (to tell him the good news),” Siti told the website, adding that her objective now was to become a woman grandmaster.

She started the event as the 18th seed and had expressed the hope to finish among the top 15. Her wish was answered because Siti Zulaikha eventually finished in joint ninth to 12th places.

The top placings among the girls were winner WGM Ekaterina Korbut (Russia) 10½ points; WGM Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany) and WIM Eesha Karavade (India) 9½ points each; Kruttika Nadig (India) 8½ points; WGM Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), WFM Vinuthma (India), WIM Marlies Bensdorp (Netherlands) and Sivasankari (India) 8 points each; and Zhang Jilin (China), WFM Siti Zulaikha, WIM Tania Sachdev (India) and Ramya Krishna (India) 7½ points each.

Malaysia had another player in Cochin, Soon Wai Cheong, who obtained 4½ points playing in the World junior chess championship. 

It was only last October in Calvia, Spain, that Siti Zulaikha had obtained her second WIM norm at the women’s chess Olympiad. Riding on that crest of success, Siti Zulaikha’s search for their third norm was achieved in Cochin. However, I had to go further back to year 2000 to dig up her first WIM title norm, which she obtained in Mumbai at the Commonwealth chess championship.

Incidentally, Siti Zulaikha’s achievement makes her only the second woman international master in Malaysia. Our first WIM was Audrey Wong, but she has long retired from the game.

But Siti Zulaikha is now our latest flag bearer and our ladies chessplayers – and also her male counterparts – must look to her success as an encouragement to work even harder to gain more titled players for this country. 

A miserable collection of two international masters, two woman international masters, seven Fide masters and two woman Fide masters from the last 30 years of chess does not reflect very well on the state of Malaysian chess.

It was only about two weeks ago that Jimmy Liew, our first international master whose time is now firmly divided between his family and work as a programmer, had lamented in the chess-malaysia mailing list that the chess world is moving forward and yet we are still stuck in the 1980s.

During the Chess Olympiad in Calvia, he had been scanning through the daily pairings from the Olympiad website when he noticed several familiar names from the 1980s, a period when Liew was still very active in chess and had represented Malaysia at several Olympiads.

“Players from countries that I have met are, to my surprise, now grandmasters! They were just beginners when I played with them. Malaysia used to relish meeting these countries and we used to beat them 4-0 or 3½-½,” Liew wrote, adding: “What has happened 20 years later? We are getting beaten by them! They are strutting their GMs on first board while we only have an FM.”

“Who is to blame?” asked Liew. “The players or the officials or the education system? It is time for everyone to sit up and take notice and do something. It is so embarrassing!”

UP NEXT

Perak tournaments

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will hold two events this weekend together with the state’s Youth & Sports Department and Perak Gerakan Youth. The Perak closed chess tournament will be run on two consecutive days on Dec 4-5 while on Dec 5, the Anak Malaysia chess tournament will be organised.

Entry fees for the Perak closed are RM15 for PICA members and under-16 players, while non-members will be charged RM20. For the Anak Malaysia event, the fees are RM5 and RM10 respectively. Entries received after Nov 30 will be surcharged an additional RM5. For details or registration, contact Yunus (013-3908129) or Martin Abu Bakar (019-5121888).

PCA grand prix, 4th leg

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will hold the fourth leg of their annual PCA Grand Prix at the clubhouse of the Residents’ Association of Bayan Baru (RABB) this Sunday. Only the first 100 entries will be accepted. 

Entry fees for PCA members are RM15 (adults), RM10 (under-18 players) and RM7 (under-13 players) while non-PCA members are required to pay RM20 (adults), RM15 (under-18) and RM10 (under-13). Entries submitted after Nov 28 are subjected to a surcharge of RM5. For more information, contact Marcus Yeoh (012-472 3873, marcusypl@yahoo.com) or Tan Eng Seong (012-429 9517, estan64@streamyx.com). 

USM team open

The Universiti Sains Malaysia will organise their 11th USM team open tournament at the university grounds on Dec 11-12. Entry fees are RM60 for schools and institutes of higher learning, and RM100 for all other teams. Closing date for entries is tomorrow. 

For more details, contact Choo Chee Wai (012-6127712) or Tan Chooi Nee (012-4344339) or email the Kelab Bridge& Catur USM (usm_chess_club@yahoo.com). Members of the chess-malaysia mailing list can download the entry form from http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/chess-malaysia/files/. 

Clearwater Sanctuary chess

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the Clearwater Sanctuary international chess tournament at the Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort on Dec 19.

Entry fees are RM10 for PICA members, ladies and under-12 players, and RM15 for all others. For enquiries, contact Yunus Sharif (05-545 8453 or 013-390-8129) or Abu Bakar Martin (019-512 1888).

Spanish adventure

THE BIGGEST responsibility that can be given to any of our national players when taking part in an international team chess competition such as the Chess Olympiad is the honour of playing on the first board for the team.

In Calvia, Spain, this honour fell on Mok Tze Meng and Siti Zulaikha. They will be the first to tell you that this is a heavy responsibility. Not only are they going to meet the strongest opposition, they have the enviable task of trying to hold their own against them. 

It is not easy to face grandmasters or international masters across the board when you know that the odds are stacked against you, that these titled players are just waiting for the slightest mistakes from you before they pounce. 

But I am glad to mention here that both Mok and Siti played exemplarily well in the Chess Olympiad and they should be proud of their achievements. 

Siti had an impressive start to the tournament with five points from her first nine games but unfortunately, her performance in subsequent rounds were more difficult and she could only collect a further 1½ points from her next five games. Nevertheless, she came back with a woman international master (WIM) norm. She is not a WIM yet, but this norm is definitely her first step towards getting the title. 

As an indication of the tough opposition that she faced, Siti’s opponents included IM Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia), WGM Eva Repkova (Slovakia), WIM Cecile van der Merwe (South Africa), WIM Vlasta Macek (Croatia), WIM Sarai Sanchez Castillo (Venezuela), WIM Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia), WIM Niina Sammalvuo (Finland), WIM Olga Sabirova (Uzbekistan) and WIM Knarik Mouradian (Libya).

Mok’s opponents were equally daunting. Already in the first round, he was facing veteran GM Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland) and in the second round, it was IM Oscar de la Riva Aguado (Andorra). His other titled opponents included IM Kivanc Haznedaroglu (Turkey), IM Danilo Canda (Nicaragua), GM Evgeni Ermenkov (Palestine), IM Bernardo Roselli Mailhe (Uruguay) and IM Kevin Denny (Barbados). 

But it was a pity that despite his good efforts in Calvia, Mok still missed out on his IM norm. Nevertheless, his 8½ points from 14 games was still a massive contribution which saw the men’s team finish with 28 points in 70th position, 24 places ahead of their pre-tournament seeding. 

Lim Yee Weng on second board, scored seven points which included a draw with GM Joseph Gallagher (Switzerland). Leong Mun Wan obtained six points, Hafiz Shafruddin contributed 3½ points and Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli collected three points.

Our women’s team finished in 40th position, which was not only 16 places better than their pre-tournament seeding but possibly the best result ever achieved by our women’s team at the Chess Olympiad. Apart from Siti’s 6½ points, Nur Shazwani Zullkafli scored 7½ points, Roslina Marmono achieved three points and Wan Khye Theng 4½ points.

UP NEXT

Busy calendar ahead

With the school holidays now upon us, the chess associations around the country are beginning to be active again and over the next three weeks or so, there are tournaments lined up in Penang, Perak, Johor and Sarawak. Happy playing!

Johor Bahru open

Entries close today for the Johor Bahru District Chess Association’s 10th Johor  Bahru open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru this Sunday. Entry fees are RM30 for the open category, RM8 for the under-16 category and RM6 for the under-12 category. For details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (07-333 8215, naraa@tm.net.my).

Union age-group

There will be an age-group chess tournament for under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8 players at the Union Primary School in Jalan Burma, Penang this Sunday. Entry fees for Penang Chess Association (PCA) members are RM10 for players under 16 years old and RM8 for those who are below 10 years old. Non-PCA members are required to pay an additional RM2. Fees paid after today will be subjected to a surcharge of RM5. To register, contact Loo Swee Leong (016-423 1168, leoloo168@yahoo.com) or Lim Poay Sim (012-490 1822, pslim159@hotmail.com).

Sarawak open

The Sarawak Chess Association (SCA), Kelab Shell Lutong and the Miri Chess Association will jointly organise this year’s Sarawak chess open tournament at the Machinda Hall, Kelab Shell Lutong in Miri on Dec 3-5. This is a nine-round event with a one-hour time control. Entry fees are RM5 for ladies and under-18 players, and RM10 for all other participants. Entries close on Nov 25. 

For more details, contact Lim Kian Hwa (013-8165163, lkhwa@tm.net.my) or James Brodie (082-616177 (office), 082-451973 (residence)) in Kuching, Mathew Lutu (019-8554705, mathew.lutu@shell.com), Bujang Poli (019-8147018, bujang.poli@shell.com) or Jim (ksl_ltg@streamyx.com) in Miri, Marzuki Hussain (019-8144369, marzuki_hussain@petronas.com.my) in Bintulu, Yii Hee Tiong (016-8916621) in Sibu or Wong Toh Hua (013-8040809) in Sarikei.

Perak tournaments

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will hold two events in early December in association with the state’s Youth & Sports Department and Perak Gerakan Youth. The Perak closed chess tournament will be run on two consecutive days on Dec 4-5 while on Dec 5, the Anak Malaysia chess tournament will be organised.

Entry fees for the Perak closed are RM15 for PICA members and under-16 players, while non-members will be charged RM20. For the Anak Malaysia event, the fees are RM5 and RM10 respectively. Entries received after Nov 30 will be surcharged an additional RM5. For details or registration, contact Yunus (013-3908129) or Martin Abu Bakar (019-5121888).

PICA is also holding regular chess sessions every first and third Saturdays of the month at the YMCA Ipoh from 2pm to 4pm. For more information, contact PICA treasurer Chan Swee Loon (019-5563027).

PCA grand prix, 4th leg

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will hold the fourth leg of their annual PCA Grand Prix at the clubhouse of the Residents’ Association of Bayan Baru (RABB) on Dec 5. Only the first 100 entries will be accepted. 

Entry fees for PCA members are RM15 (adults), RM10 (under-18 players) and RM7 (under-13 players) while non-PCA members are required to pay RM20 (adults), RM15 (under-18) and RM10 (under-13). Fees must be paid by Nov 28 or otherwise, there is a surcharge of RM5 for registration on the day of the tournament. For more information, contact Marcus Yeoh (012-472 3873, marcusypl@yahoo.com) or Tan Eng Seong (012-429 9517, estan64@streamyx.com). 

USM team open

The Universiti Sains Malaysia will organise their 11th USM team open tournament at the university grounds on Dec 11-12. Entry fees are RM60 for schools and institutes of higher learning, and RM100 for all other teams. Closing date for entries is Dec 4. For more details, contact Choo Chee Wai (012-6127712) or Tan Chooi Nee (012-4344339) or email the Kelab Bridge& Catur USM (usm_chess_club@yahoo.com). Members of the chess-malaysia mailing list can download the entry form from http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/chess-malaysia/files/. 

No change at the top

 

New champion

 

Siti's first WIM norm

 

Short showdown