Fighting draws

One feature that anyone following the recent world chess championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov could not fail to notice was the absence of short draws.

Yes, the two players did agree to draw seven of the 12 games but all of them were great fighting draws. The games were hard fought all the way and the players had to prove to one another that they’d only agree to split a point when there was no more possibility of squeezing a win from the position.

Great fighting chess. That was what we all wanted to see when those two players came together. Of course, we know that Topalov’s uncompromising style would guarantee excitement in every game. He wouldn’t take a draw if he could help it. It was just not his style. It was aggression all the way. Streetwise aggression.

However, Anand refused to let all that aggro affect him too much, if at all. He had such a universal style that he could absorb everything that his opponent threw at him and then he would throw everything back at the opponent.

The end result? Twelve games that made us worldwide spectators sit up enthralled from the first to the last move. Though I was only observing the games through the Internet, the feeling and excitement was exactly the same as the time I was watching Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman play onstage in Kuala Lumpur 20 years ago. You’d think you were watching only two persons on a huge but near empty stage but no, there was also all the tension that went with the game.

Same here, online. We marvelled at the resourcefulness of the players. We applauded when we saw the players go for each other’s throat and we groaned when we noticed their mistakes. They are undeniably humans first, prone to making mistakes and other inaccuracies, and only chess gods second. 

Of course, it helped that when we watched through the Internet, there’d be some chess grandmasters or international masters around to give their real-time opinions about the games. It helped create a better understanding of the games for all the spectators. The downside, of course, was having to put up with the incomprehensible comments of the kibitzers in the Internet chat room at the same time. That was the only compromise but if you can ignore them, the three or four hours that you spend online can be very beneficial to any learner of chess.

A lot of the fighting games in Sofia could be put down to a little-known chess rule that has become very popular lately at top-level chess events, but never employed before at the world chess championship level. It’s known as the Sofia Rule, not because it was used in this match but because it’s generally accepted that the it was first used in a top-level chess competition in the Bulgarian capital in 2005.

The Sofia Rule dictates that players could not draw their games by agreement. They could have technical draws through stalemate or threefold repetition of position or the 50-move rule or through insufficient material, but that was all. Other draws would only be allowed if the arbiter declared it as a drawn position.

The FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009 series of tournaments did not even allow players to offer a draw directly. The draw had to be claimed with the arbiter, who was assisted by an experienced grandmaster. 

At this world chess championship match, Topalov tried to impose the Sofia Rule on Anand during the pre-match negotiations. He would not talk to Anand over the board, he declared. He would also ignore any attempt by Anand to offer a draw by talking to him during a game. If there was any draw offer, he would make it through the arbiter.

This request was rejected by Anand because according to him, world championship chess should be played with world championship regulations, and the Sofia Rule had never been accepted in any world championship regulation before.

Of course, there could always be a first time but how could there be a first time when both players cannot agree to using the rule? Nevertheless despite Anand’s rejection of the rule, Topalov’s team insisted that they would use it unilaterally and effectively force Anand to recognize it.

I think Anand’s response to this Sofia Rule was masterful. It was okay with him if Topalov refused to offer draws or accept draws. Anand was prepared to fight it out with Topalov in each and every game, no matter how long they played, but even without talking to his opponent, Anand could still tacitly offer to repeat positions on the chessboard. He was confident that if Topalov refused to accept such offers, it would make him continue the game and maybe, the pressure of trying to find the best alternative plans may force him into errors.

We all saw that happen in the 12th game. At one stage, the two players could have played their queen and bishop up and down the board and repeat the position three times but Topalov baulked at that. Drawing that game would mean extending the match into the tie-break which Topalov didn’t want, so he tried something else and he allowed Anand to break open the centre and train his guns on him.

The rest, as they say, is history. Anand carried out an irresistible attack and Topalov had to recapitulate at the end. Final result: 6½ points to world champion Anand and 5½ points to vanquished challenger Topalov.

Here are three more games from the match:

Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 6

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Qa4 Nc6 14. Rac1 e5 15. Bxc6 b5 16. Qc2 Qxc6 17. Ncxe5 Qe4 18. Qc6 Bb7 19. Qxe4 Bxe4 20. Rc2 Rfe8 21. Rfc1 f6 22. Nd7 Bf5 23. N7c5 Bb6 24. Nb7 Bd7 25. Nf4 Rab8 26. Nd6 Re5 27. Nc8 Ba5 28. Nd3 Re8 29. Na7 Bb6 30. Nc6 Rb7 31. Ncb4 a5 32. Nd5 a4 33. Nxb6 Rxb6 34. Nc5 Bf5 35. Rd2 Rc6 36. b4 axb3 37. axb3 b4 38. Rxd4 Rxe2 39. Rxb4 Bh3 40. Rbc4 Rd6 41. Re4 Rb2 42. Ree1 Rdd2 43. Ne4 Rd4 44. Nc5 Rdd2 45. Ne4 Rd3 46. Rb1 Rdxb3 47. Nd2 Rb4 48. f3 g5 49. Rxb2 Rxb2 50. Rd1 Kf7 51. Kf2 h5 52. Ke3 Rc2 53. Ra1 Kg6 54. Ra6 Bf5 55. Rd6 Rc3+ 56. Kf2 Rc2 57. Ke3 Rc3+ 58. Kf2 Rc2 ½-½ 

Viswanathan Anand – Veselin Topalov, Game 7

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Bf4 dxc4 9. Ne5 b5 10. Nxc6 Nxc6 11. Bxc6 Bd7 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. f3 Nd5 14. Bd2 e5 15. e4 Bh3 16. exd5 Bxf1 17. Qxf1 exd4 18. a4 Qxd5 19. axb5 Qxb5 20. Rxa7 Re8 21. Kh1 Bf8 22. Rc7 d3 23. Bc3 Bd6 24. Ra7 h6 25. Nd2 Bb4 26. Ra1 Bxc3 27. bxc3 Re2 28. Rd1 Qa4 29. Ne4 Qc2 30. Rc1 Rxh2+ 31. Kg1 Rg2+ 32. Qxg2 Qxc1+ 33. Qf1 Qe3+ 34. Qf2 Qc1+ 35. Qf1 Qe3+ 36. Kg2 f5 37. Nf2 Kh7 38. Qb1 Qe6 39. Qb5 g5 40. g4 fxg4 41. fxg4 Kg6 42. Qb7 d2 43. Qb1+ Kg7 44. Kf1 Qe7 45. Kg2 Qe6 46. Qd1 Qe3 47. Qf3 Qe6 48. Qb7+ Kg6 49. Qb1+ Kg7 50. Qd1 Qe3 51. Qc2 Qe2 52. Qa4 Kg8 53. Qd7 Kf8 54. Qd5 Kg7 55. Kg3 Qe3+ 56. Qf3 Qe5+ 57. Kg2 Qe6 58. Qd1 ½-½

Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 8

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6 15. Bxd7+ Kxd7 16. Ke2 f6 17. Rhd1 Ke8 18. a5 Be7 19. Bb6 Rf8 20. Rac1 f5 21. e5 Bg5 22. Be3 f4 23. Ne4 Rxc1 24. Nd6+ Kd7 25. Bxc1 Kc6 26. Bd2 Be7 27. Rc1+ Kd7 28. Bc3 Bxd6 29. Rd1 Bf5 30. h4 g6 31. Rxd6+ Kc8 32. Bd2 Rd8 33. Bxf4 Rxd6 34. exd6 Kd7 35. Ke3 Bc2 36. Kd4 Ke8 37. Ke5 Kf7 38. Be3 Ba4 39. Kf4 Bb5 40. Bc5 Kf6 41. Bd4+ Kf7 42. Kg5 Bc6 43. Kh6 Kg8 44. h5 Be8 45. Kg5 Kf7 46. Kh6 Kg8 47. Bc5 gxh5 48. Kg5 Kg7 49. Bd4+ Kf7 50. Be5 h4 51. Kxh4 Kg6 52. Kg4 Bb5 53. Kf4 Kf7 54. Kg5 Bc6 55. Kh6 Kg8 56. g4 1-0

Up next  

Perak grand prix

The Manjung leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, postponed from last week due to the unavailability of the venue, is now confirmed as scheduled for this Sunday at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist (ACS) in Sitiawan. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Hamisah (012.5008723). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

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)

 

Still champ

Finally, the world chess championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria is over. India’s Viswanathan Anand is still the world champion and Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov is left regretting what could have been.

What a match. Right from the very first move in the first game until the very last move in the 12th game, the match had bedazzled me all the way. Topalov, as I had mentioned so many times in the past, showed an uncompromising fighting spirit and took the game to Anand but Anand proved to be a more capable and complete player than Topalov. 

When the Bulgarian challenger won the eighth game to level the match at four-all, I had never thought that this match would not go the full distance. For sure, it would then be decided by the tie-break games. 

The next two games – the ninth and the 10th – were drawn. In the 11th game, it was Anand’s last chance to win with the white pieces but a very confident Topalov held out comfortably to force a draw.

The 12th game would then become the most critical. Topalov would have the white pieces in this final game and hence, the initiative of playing the first move. Would he make something out of this initiative? Would he be able to press Anand into submission?

In this game of death, a win would secure either player the title of world champion; a draw would lead to the tie-break games. However, it was not to be. After a great deal of manoeuvring by both players, Anand took a bold step to pry open the centre with a pawn push.

Topalov was reckless enough to go along with the plan. He captured the pawn and suddenly, Anand’s attack appeared from nowhere. Checkmate was expected but at a critical stage, Anand did not play the best move and Topalov almost came back to hold the game. 

But the tension finally took its toll on the Bulgarian. After a series of exchanges, it was clear that his remaining pieces (a rook and a knight) were very uncoordinated on the chess board and Anand’s sole queen had no problem to wrap up the game.

The final score of the match was 6½-5½. Anand had won the second, fourth and 12th games while Topalov took the first and eighth games. The rest of the games were drawn.

Here is the final game of the match:

Viswanathan Anand-Veselin Topalov, Game 12

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Be2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.0-0 b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Qc2 Nf6 17.dxc5 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 bxc5 19.Qc2N Bb7 20.Nd2 Rfd8 21.f3 Ba6 22.Rf2 Rd7 23.g3 Rbd8 24.Kg2 Bd3 25.Qc1 Ba6 26.Ra3 Bb7 27.Nb3 Rc7 28.Na5 Ba8 29.Nc4 e5 30.e4 f5 31.exf5 e4 32.fxe4 (It was at this point that Topalov lost his nerve) 32...Qxe4+ 33.Kh3 Rd4 34.Ne3 Qe8 35.g4 h5 36.Kh4 g5+ 37.fxg6 Qxg6 38.Qf1 Rxg4+ 39.Kh3 Re7 40.Rf8+ Kg7 41.Nf5+ Kh7 42.Rg3 Rxg3+ 43.hxg3 Qg4+ 44.Kh2 Re2+ 45.Kg1 Rg2+ 46.Qxg2 Bxg2 47.Kxg2 Qe2+ 48.Kh3 c4 49.a4 a5 50.Rf6 Kg8 51.Nh6+ Kg7 52.Rb6 Qe4 53.Kh2 Kh7 4.Rd6 Qe5 55.Nf7 Qxb2+ 56.Kh3 Qg7 0-1

And here are some of the earlier games of this match.

Veselin Topalov-Viswanathan Anand, Game 3

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 a6 14. Rc1 Rg8 15. h4 h6 16. Ke2 Bd6 17. h5 Bh7 18. a5 Ke7 19. Na4 f6 20. b4 Rgc8 21. Bc5 Bxc5 22. bxc5 Rc7 23. Nb6 Rd8 24. Nxd7 Rdxd7 25. Bd3 Bg8 26. c6 Rd6 27. cxb7 Rxb7 28. Rc3 Bf7 29. Ke3 Be8 30. g4 e5 31. Rhc1 Bd7 32. Rc5 Bb5 33. Bxb5 axb5 34. Rb1 b4 35. Rb3 Ra6 36. Kd3 Rba7 37. Rxb4 Rxa5 38. Rxa5 Rxa5 39. Rb7+ Kf8 40. Ke2 Ra2+ 41. Ke3 Ra3+ 42. Kf2 Ra2+ 43. Ke3 Ra3+ 44. Kf2 Ra2+ 45. Ke3 Ra3+ 46. Kf2 ½-½ 

Viswanathan Anand-Veselin Topalov, Game 4

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. Qc2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 c6 9. a4 b5 10. Na3 Bd7 11. Ne5 Nd5 12. e4 Nb4 13. O-O O-O 14. Rfd1 Be8 15. d5 Qd6 16. Ng4 Qc5 17. Ne3 N8a6 18. dxc6 bxa4 19. Naxc4 Bxc6 20. Rac1 h6 21. Nd6 Qa7 22. Ng4 Rad8 23. Nxh6+ gxh6 24. Qxh6 f6 25. e5 Bxg2 26. exf6 Rxd6 27. Rxd6 Be4 28. Rxe6 Nd3 29. Rc2 Qh7 30. f7+ Qxf7 31. Rxe4 Qf5 32. Re7 1-0

Veselin Topalov-Viswanathan Anand, Game 5

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 a6 14. Rc1 Rg8 15. h4 h5 16. Ne2 Bd6 17. Be3 Ne5 18. Nf4 Rc8 19. Bb3 Rxc1+ 20. Bxc1 Ke7 21. Ke2 Rc8 22. Bd2 f6 23. Nxg6+ Nxg6 24. g3 Ne5 25. f4 Nc6 26. Bc3 Bb4 27. Bxb4+ Nxb4 28. Rd1 Nc6 29. Rd2 g5 30. Kf2 g4 31. Rc2 Rd8 32. Ke3 Rd6 33. Rc5 Nb4 34. Rc7+ Kd8 35. Rc3 Ke7 36. e5 Rd7 37. exf6+ Kxf6 38. Ke2 Nc6 39. Ke1 Nd4 40. Bd1 a5 41. Rc5 Nf5 42. Rc3 Nd4 43. Rc5 Nf5 44. Rc3 ½-½

Up next  

De Laguna Park open

The Cerdik Catur Enterprise and Restoran Selera Nelayan are jointly organizing the Stonemaster De Laguna Park open tournament at the Laguna Park Pulau Indah in Port Klang tomorrow.

Entry fees are RM15 for players below 18 years old and RM25 for others. To register, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, seme_event@yahoo.com). Places are available to the first 150 players only. More information available from http://www.stonemaster.info or http://cerdikcatur.blogspot.com 

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix tomorrow and on Sunday. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)

Perak grand prix

The Manjung leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist (ACS) in Sitiawan this Sunday. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Hamisah (012.5008723). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

PCA AGM

The Penang Chess Association will hold its annual general meeting at the Residents’ Association of Bayan Baru in Jalan Nibong, Bandar Bayan Baru, Penang this Sunday at 11am. Preceding the meeting will be a blitz tournament starting at 9.30am.

CAS closed and AGM

The Chess Association of Selangor will hold the CAS closed tournament in the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on May 23 afternoon. Only members of the association can take part and therefore, you’ll need to join as a member before you can play. The entry fee is RM20 per player if registered before May 20 and RM30 per player after this date. For more information, contact Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922) or Mat Zaki (017.2032051). 

Meanwhile, the 33rd annual general meeting of the CAS will be held on May 23 at 11am. The venue of the meeting will also be the Wilayah Complex.

 

Punch and counter-punch

It’s been a week since the start of the world chess championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger, Veselin Topalov. After all the drama of Anand’s overland journey from Frankfurt to Sofia, the match was put off for a day and it kicked off last Saturday instead of Friday.

I was a little miffed to learn that the Bulgarian Chess Federation and the match organizers had refused to meet Anand half-way. A lot of reasons were given but I think they were only trying to make it difficult for the world champion. Initially, Anand had requested for a three-day postponement but a one-day postponement would have been reasonable enough.

In the end, it was left to the World Chess Federation (Fide) to find an amicable solution and they decided that the first game would start on Saturday. However, it doesn’t seem to be the end of the story because the latest word from Sofia is that Silvio Danailov, who is Topalov’s manager, is contemplating to sue Fide for the late start.

Of course, he is well within his rights to seek legal redress but I think it also paints him in very bad light. After all, it was no fault of anybody that the volcano in Iceland erupted and caused air traffic chaos in Europe. 

Everybody knows that this is a very high-stake match in Bulgaria. All the more reason that if Danailov really wants Topalov to win the world championship title, let him win it fair and square from Anand over the board. 

By the way, I’m writing this story during the first lull in the match. As I write this on Monday, only the first two games have been completed. And you know what? I’m already having withdrawal symptoms! When you are eagerly looking forward to following every game of this world chess championship match, all you want to do is to sit down at the computer every night at 8pm to follow the games live.

Unfortunately, the match rules stipulate that there should be a rest day after every two games. As the schedule would have it, Monday was a rest day. The players are resting or preparing themselves for more battles ahead, but we chess followers and spectators can only wait impatiently for the next day to come.

The only consolation is that the two games have been very exciting and decisive. At the opening ceremony three days earlier, Topalov drew the white envelope, meaning that he would play the first game of this match with the white pieces. That was the first stir of excitement. With the white pieces, we can expect the Bulgarian grandmaster to kick of the match in his aggressive style.

True enough, Topalov was first off the block. He came out fighting and slugging. Remarkably, Anand tried to match him blow for blow. When I was following this game live through the Internet, my first thought was whether both players were playing blitz chess or world championship chess.

For this particular match, they had agreed on a time control of 40 moves in two hours, followed by 20 moves in one hour, and then a final 15 minutes for a play-to-death session. There’s lots of time to think and yet, Topalov and Anand sailed through their first 18 moves in barely 10 minutes. 

It was only on the 19th move that Topalov paused long enough to think. Here was where the real battle began. Unfortunately, the game ended early, after another 11 moves. You see, Anand made an uncharacteristic blunder in the game. His position was already difficult but he made it more difficult for himself by walking into a piece sacrifice. This is the game:

Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 1

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4 h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7? (See diagram. Black needs to tread carefully in this position. His knight and one of the rooks are terribly out of play on the queenside and his king is rather exposed. On the other hand, White has good chances on the kingside and there’s always a danger of him infiltrating through the c-file. Black’s 23rd move is a blunder and allows a decisive stroke from White. The best resistance may be 23…Bd7.) 24. Nxf6 (After this sac, which White played almost immediately, Black’s position is untenable.) 24….Kxf6 25. Rh3 Rg8 26. Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+ Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1-0 

People like me watching from afar was shell-shocked. Why was it so easy for Topalov to dismantle Anand’s game? Has Topalov’s preparation been so superior that Anand had no answer? Or, was the Indian grandmaster still suffering from his overland drive? These are questions without immediate answers. 

It was also almost impossible to gauge Anand’s frame of mind after this loss. Would he brush it aside as an aberration? Certainly, it came as a shock to his system and to his world-wide fan base (and I know that he has a big fan base in Asia). Most people would be demoralized to have lost in only 30 moves. However, Anand is made of sterner stuff and he came back with a firm resolve on the next day. In the second game, he gave Topalov no opportunity at all for open tactical play and scored a fine win to level the match at 1-all. Here it is:

 

Viswanathan Anand – Veselin Topalov, Game 2

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 Nd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Ba5 Qe7 14. Qb3 Rb8 15. Qa3 Qxa3 16. bxa3 (Shades of Bobby Fischer. Inspirational. I still remember one of Fischer’s games with Spassky in 1972 when he willingly saddled himself with a doubled pawn on the h-file. Likewise in this game, Anand accepted the doubled pawns on the a-file. However, in return, he keeps up the pressure on the queenside.) 16….N7f6 17. Nce5 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20. Rfc1 Rbd8 21. f4 Bb8 22. a4 a5 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 h5 25. R1c4 Ne3? (This move is considered a mistake. Black showed impatience with the position.) 26. Bxe3 dxe3 27. Bf3 g6 28. Rxb6 Ba7 29. Rb3 Rd4 30. Rc7 Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32. Rxa5 Rc8 33. Kg2 Rc2 34. a3 (At this stage, Black is probably already lost. This unassuming pawn will ultimately decide the game.) 34….Ra2 35. Nb4 Bxb4 36. axb4 Nd5 37. b5 Raxa4 38. Rxa4 Rxa4 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 (I hope you remember that this was the pawn that was originally on the a2 square) 41….Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 1-0

Up next  

Selangor open

The nation’s longest-running chess tournament, the 37th Selangor open chess tournament, started yesterday at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur and will continue daily until May 2. Do drop by to have a look at this tournament even if you are not playing.

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)

Perak grand prix

The Manjung leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist (ACS) in Sitiawan on May 16. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Entries will close on May 13. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Hamisah (012.5008723). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

 

Summit uncertainty

As typical with all high-stake chess events, especially the world chess championship matches, the pre-match mind games usually start well before the first move is played.

This year’s world championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov is no different. The mind games actually started months ago when both parties were negotiating the terms for this match. It was to be expected that both sides would want the best conditions for their players without acceding any concession to their rival. Nevertheless at the end of the day, they would have to agree on a common ground for the match to proceed.

That, of course, would have been settled a long time ago. Today, we are scheduled to see the start of the first game of the match in Sofia, Bulgaria but will we? As I write this story earlier this week, there is a big question mark over this happening.

You see, even the best man-made plans can be torn asunder by the unpredictability of Mother Nature and as we all know, for much of the past 10 days or so, Europe has been affected by an event happening on the fringe of that continent.

Who would have expected that a volcanic eruption on Iceland could have affected air travel everywhere on the globe? Although travel within Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas are generally unaffected, tens of thousands of flights within, in and out of Europe have been cancelled. Air passengers are stranded everywhere and even the alternative land travel is pretty much choked up. 

It’s a chaotic situation that is even affecting chess. Anand, who is based in Spain, has suddenly discovered that Mother Nature, aided unwittingly by the European Union, has no respect for world champions. His flight from Madrid took him to Frankfurt but on landing there, his contingent was told that the airport was closing and the connecting flight to Sofia had been cancelled. Stranded!

This is not the best news for anyone who is directly involved in the high-stake world championship match. At the every worst, it will throw the player’s psychological preparation totally out of whack. We shall not know how much Anand has been affected until he sits down to face Topalov. 

I’m sure that to a lesser degree Topalov is also affected. However he is already comfortably settled into Sofia for several weeks now and his preparations continue uninterrupted. I’m pretty sure too that he cannot give a darn about Anand’s present predicament. Whatever happens to the weather, every free day in Sofia is an opportunity for him to rest and psyche himself up properly for the match.

So the pressure is mostly on Anand himself. When I wrote this story earlier this week, I understood that the world champion had already finalized plans to travel overland into Bulgaria. Maybe, he would have had arrived in Sofia by Wednesday and wrecked by travel fatigue. His preparations are totally disrupted. Would one or two days be enough for him to recover his frame of mind?

In this regard, both Anand and the All India Chess Federation have made statements and requests to both the World Chess Federation and the match organizers from the Bulgarian Chess Federation to delay the start of the match for three days. This was while Anand was still stuck at Frankfurt.

To the vast majority of chess players worldwide, it was a request made not totally unreasonably. Although chess players are waiting for the match to start, they would only want to see both players come to the both fully prepared physically, technically and psychologically. 

However, the match organizers saw it differently. They said that they could not agree to the postponement of the opening ceremony two days ago because they had contractual agreements with many third parties. Nevertheless, the organizers said they were still open to the postponing of the first game from today to tomorrow but this would still have to be discussed internally. Let’s see how this turns out.

In the meantime, I am priming myself up to watch the match over the Internet. There’ll be a maximum of 12 games, all playing with classical time control, and they all start at 8pm, local time here in Malaysia. 

Unless there are changes to the schedule, there will be a rest day after every two days of play with an additional rest day thrown in on May 9 before the 12th game. If the score reaches 6-all, the players will break the tie with a series of faster games on May 12.

The official world chess championship website is at http://www.anand-topalov.com/ but there is a host of other high profile chess websites and blogs covering the event too. Fully recommended are Chessdom.com (http://www.chessdom.com), Chessbase.com (http://www.chessbase.com) and Susan Polgar’s web-blog (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com).

On paper, Topalov, who is presently ranked second in the world at 2805, must be considered a slight favourite over Anand, who is ranked fourth at 2787. But external influences aside, one can imagine almost anything to happen in this match.

I’ve mentioned often enough that Topalov is an enterprising player that creates energy on the chessboard. He sees resources where others may well get bogged down in complications. His games are stuff to excite any onlooker. 

On the other hand, Anand is more experienced in match play and his game is more sound and filled with better judgment. This shorter match of 12 games is supposed to favour the older Anand (he’s 40 years old, five years older than Topalov) who is likelier to get tired over a longer match. The Indian grandmaster is also believed to play better if it ever comes to the faster tiebreak games.

Up next  

Perak grand prix

The third leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sek Men Teknik Kerian in Jalan Siakap, Bagan Serai on Apr 25. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Entries will close on Apr 22. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Mas’ud Hamzah (012.4681665).

Stonemaster chess

The one-day second Stonemaster amateur chess tournament for 2010, organized by Cerdik Catur Enterprise will be held at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur on Apr 25. Only players without a national rating or a national rating of below 1650 are allowed to play. Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM20 for school children. Closing date for entries is Apr 23. For details, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, seme_event@yahoo.com) or Cikgu Farah (017.9100836). 

 

Selangor open

The nation’s longest-running chess tournament is back! The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will hold their 37th Selangor open chess tournament at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 29 to May 2.

This nine-round, Fide-rated event will have 10 main prizes totalling RM6,000 with the winner getting RM2,200. There will also be various minor category prizes. Entry fees are RM80 for CAS members with Fide ratings, RM90 for CAS members without Fide ratings, RM90 for non-CAS members with Fide ratings and RM100 for non-CAS members without Fide ratings. Entries received after Apr 25 will be charged an extra RM20.

For enquiries, contact Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922) or Mat Zaki Yeop (017.2032051).

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix on May 8 and 9. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)

 

Spotlight on Topalov

This week, we are caught in the midst of the Linares tournament. The Linares super-grandmaster tournament, like the Corus event three weeks ago, is considered one of the elite tournaments making up the so-called chess version of a Grand Slam. Only some of the best in the chess world gets invited to Linares and this year, the invitation list grew shorter. 

Where previously there used to be as many as 14 players in the annual tournament, the 2010 edition of Linares is reduced to just six participants. The last time that the field had been so small was in 2001. However, despite the reduced field, the participants are of world-class standard, all currently placed within the top 30 players in the world.

So, imagine a field headed by Veselin Topalov: a previous Fide world champion from Bulgaria and currently, the second highest ranked player in the world. (He was ranked as Number One in the world from April 2006 to January 2007 and again from October 2008 to January 2010). 

He is an enterprising player that creates energy on the chessboard. He sees resources where others may well get bogged down in complications. From what I’ve seen so far from his games in Linares, they are stuff to excite any onlooker’s blood. 

Topalov is the favourite to win the tournament in Linares this year. The last time he did so was in 2005 when he was co-winner with Garry Kasparov. (Incidentally, it was at the end of this very event that Kasparov announced his retirement from competitive chess to concentrate on his writing and political career.) 

However, it remains to be seen how far Topalov is willing to push himself in this tournament. In just two months’ time, he will be challenging Viswanathan Anand for the world chess championship crown. 

The Linares tournament fits well into his preparations and is obviously a gauge of his readiness to face the world champion from India but how much of his preparations is he willing to reveal to his Indian rival? Topalov knows that Anand and his team are sure to be watching his performance very keenly.

But I’m sure that is only a small worry for Topalov. A professional like him will always be concentrating on the task at hand and not anything else. In Linares, this means the stiff challenges from the other competitors. Any of his five rivals are also close contenders for the first prize but none will be closer than Levon Aronian, the grandmaster from Armenia.

Like Topalov, Aronian is also a previous winner at Linares but unlike Topalov, Aronian was the undisputed winner in 2006. That year, Topalov could finish in only third place. Since then, the Armenian grandmaster has been a regular face in this Spanish town. Obviously, he is looking forward to winning the event for a second time. 

Aronian is also a fiercely competitive player with many chess tournament titles under his belt. It remains to be seen how close the competition will be between him and Topalov.

The other players in Linares are Vugar Gashimov from Azerbaijan, Boris Gelfand from Israel, Alexander Grischuk from Russia and Spain’s own Francisco Vallejo Pons.

As a measure of the close competition between the two main contenders, here is their third round game from Linares.

White: Levon Aronian 

Black: Veselin Topalov 

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Nd2 a6 11.a4 Nbd7 12.h3 Rb8 13.Nc4 Nb6 14.Na3 Bd7 15.e4 Nc8 16.Qd3 Re7 (The sign of an imaginative mind. The rook will be heading to the c7 square) 17.Rb1 Be8 18.b4 cxb4 19.Rxb4 Rc7 20.Bd2 Nd7 21.Rc1 Nc5 22.Qb1 b5 23.axb5 a5 24.Rb2 Nb6 25.Ra2 a4 26.Ne2 Rcb7 (Black has given up a pawn to reach this interesting position. However, White is not without resources)

27.Bf4 Nc8 28.Rxc5 dxc5 29.Bxb8 Rxb8 30.f4 (Will White’s occupation of the centre prove decisive? Will Black be able to neutralize those dangerous pawns in the centre?) 30...g5 31.e5 gxf4 32.gxf4 f6 33.Qe4 fxe5 34.fxe5 Qg5 35.Nc4 Bxb5 36.h4 Qg6 37.Qxg6 hxg6 38.Rb2 Nd6 (That’s a brilliant move. Obviously, White cannot capture the knight with his pawn and so, his only reply is….) 39.Nxd6 a3 40.Ra2 Bxe2 41.Rxe2 Bxe5 (Black’s final resource. The bishop on e5 is immune to capture because 42.Rxe5 will lose to 42…a2 and 43…Rb1) 42.Nc4 Bb2 43.Nxa3 Bxa3 44.Re6 c4 45.Rxg6+ (Winning a pawn but the game is heading to a draw) 45…Kf7 46.Rc6 Rh8 47.Rc7+ Kf8 48.Rxc4 Be7 49.Rc8+ Kg7 50.Rxh8 Kxh8 51.h5 ½-½ (Despite the two pawns, White can never make any headway in the remainder of this game)

Note: You can follow the games live from the official website for the Linares tournament at http://www.ajedrez.ciudaddelinares.es/index.htm but just be warned that everything is in Spanish. 

Up next  

Pearl Point age group

The Excel Chess Academy will organize the Pearl Point age group chess tournament for under-11 and under-9 players at the Pearl Point shopping mall, Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur this Sunday. Entry fees are RM18 per player (RM15 if registered through a school.) More details from Jax Tham (jaxtham@hotmail.com)

UTP open

The Universiti Teknologi Petronas will organize their UTP chess open tournament at their campus in Bandar Seri Iskandar, Tronoh, Perak this Sunday. There will be an open section as well as an under-18 and under-12 sections. Entry fees are RM20 for the open, RM15 for under-18 and RM10 for under-12. UTP students and staff need pay only RM15 upon presentation of their matrix cards. More details from Hussein (017.6410194, husseinnordin@gmail.com), Faizal (017.3934291, faizalakram91@gmail.com) or Qistina (019.2602094).

Rookie tornado chess

The Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Centre in Kuala Lumpur will organise a chess tournament on Feb 27 for beginners, first-time tournament players and all other players who are below the national rating of 1400 points. If there is sufficient response, the event will be separated into different tournaments for the Under-15 and Under 11 sections. For more information, call Hamid Majid (019.3158098) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542).

KL rapid grand prix

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the second leg of the KL rapid grand prix on Mar 6-7. The grand prix, sponsored by the Malaysian Intellectual Development Foundation and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC), will feature four legs from February to May and followed by the grand final in June. 

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

Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the RSC and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. All legs will be played at the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)

3rd DATCC chess league

The third DATCC Kuala Lumpur commercial and recreational chess league at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex kicks off on Mar 24. The DATCC chess league is a Fide-rated team tournament played over nine rounds with long time controls. Each round will be played on Wednesdays at the chess centre. 

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

 

Topalov on top

 

Costly errors

 

American titan

 

A fight till the end

 

Toiletgate

I’m still surprised by the speed of the Internet. A fortnight ago, within hours of my article appearing in TheStar Online, I received an email from British grandmaster Nigel Short. 

He disagreed with the one-liner where I had mentioned him. So, we both agreed that I should produce his email this week to set the record straight and put this matter to rest. Here is GM Short’s message:

“Dear Quah,

”I strongly take issue with your comments in "The Star" that Garry Kasparov and myself "committed an unthinkable crime" by taking the World Championship outside Fide. The fact is that Florencio Campomanes abrogated our right to vote on the venue of World Championship. It was this illegal action, totally contrary to the Fide statutes, which prompted the split. If you wish to talk of "the chess crime of the century" then this was it.

”Your comments have damaged my reputation publicly in Malaysia. They are totally unfair and do not give even half the picture. I ask you to print a retraction immediately.

”Regards,

Nigel." 

Thank you, Nigel, for the clarification. Okay, with this out of the way, let us return to the world chess championship in Elista where the unification match had developed as many twists and turns as any journey up our hill resorts. 

I thought Vladimir Kramnik would be able to coast home with his two-point lead over Veselin Topalov but I was wrong. Soon after the fourth game was played, a bizarre series of protest and counter-protest threatened to bring the match to an abrupt halt. 

Toiletgate was how chess journalists everywhere were describing the developments in Elista. 

It all started with the Topalov camp complaining that Kramnik was spending too much time in his relaxation room’s toilet, walking in and out and spending time inside. Each player has his own private toilet and since the toilets were the only places without surveillance cameras, the insinuation was that Kramnik could be accessing some electronic devices there. 

Gasp! Cheating at the world championship match? There was no proof but the Appeals Committee decided to lock both private toilets and requested the two players to share a common, designated toilet.

This time, it was the Kramnik team’s turn to protest and Kramnik refused to play the fifth game until his private toilet was reopened. Well, it wasn’t and so, he forfeited this game.

This prompted a crisis in Elista with the whole unification match threatened with a meltdown. World Chess Federation (Fide) president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was forced to cut short a meeting with his boss, Russian president Vladimir Putin, to deal with it.

After some protracted negotiations, Kramnik’s right to use his private toilet was reinstated and the original Appeals Committee was replaced. In return, Kramnik had to accept that he had forfeited a point in fifth game.

He agreed to continue with the match but made it clear that he was playing under protest and he reserved the right to pursue this point later in court. 

So, after a dramatic four days, the match resumed. At first, Kramnik held on with two draws. Then disaster struck for him when he lost two consecutive games – the eighth and ninth. For the first time in the match, Topalov was leading 5-4.

However, with only three games remaining, it became Topalov’s turn to buckle under the pressure. He blundered in the 10th game and the score leveled at 5-5.

This is as far as I know as my deadline loomed earlier this week. If you have Internet access and had been following the games nightly, you will know that the match either ended yesterday with a decisive victory to one of the players or it had gone right down to the wire with a critical tie-break today. 

Remember, if there is a tie-break, you can follow the games live beginning 7pm this evening from the official world championship website http://worldchess2006.com or you can visit Susan Polgar’s excellent blog at http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

UP NEXT

Penang chess camp

There will be a chess camp for junior chess players at the Han Chiang College on Dec 4-7. This chess camp, limited to a maximum of 100 participants only, will be conducted for four levels of strengths: elementary, beginner, intermediate and advanced.

For details, contact Marcus Yeoh (tel: 012.4723873, email: marcusypl@yahoo.com

11th GACC inter-varsity chess

The Tuanku Bahiyah Residential College (Second Residential College) of Universiti Malaya will organize the 11th edition of the Rakan Muda GACC world inter-varsity chess championship at the University on Dec 5-13.

This nine-round, Fide-rated annual event is open to all local and international universities, colleges and institutes of higher education. There will be both an individual and a team event. 

For inquiries, contact Jackson Toh (tel: 012.6702294, email: gacc11.director@gmail.com) or Belinda Lau (tel: 012.8812479, email: gacc11@yahoo.com), or you can visit the website at http://www28.brinkster.com/gaccwivcc/

Sarawak open

The Sarawak Chess Association will hold their Sarawak open chess tournament at the Borneo Chess Academy premises in Jalan Song, Kuching, on Dec 8-11. This will be played over nine rounds.

Entry fees are RM10 for women and under-18 players and RM20 for others. A deposit of RM10 is required, which is refunded when you complete the tournament.

To register, contact Lim Kian Hwa (tel: 016.8603180, email: lkhwa@tm.net.my or limkh@sarawaknet.gov.my) before Dec 5

It’s over even as it began

THIRTEEN YEARS ago, the chess crime of the century was committed. Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short committed an unthinkable crime when they hijacked the world championship match and took it outside of the World Chess Federation (Fide).

Since that watershed event in 1993, the world championship crown had gone two separate ways. 

Fide claimed that the world chess title was still theirs to organize legitimately. In response to the split, it sanctioned a match between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman, which Karpov won. 

Then, the format of the world chess championships changed and in quick succession, the title passed to Alexander Khalifman, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Veselin Topolov.

On the other hand, Kasparov could choose and select whom he wanted to play with and as a result, preserved his hold on his so-called world chess crown until 2000 when he lost it to Vladimir Kramnik. 

During these 13 years, there had been several attempts to reunify the two titles but all were subsequently aborted because the players disagreed over the terms of the unification attempts.

However, the latest attempt to bring the two crowns together has now succeeded. 

Even as you read this, the fifth game will be played today between Kramnik and Topalov in Elista, the capital city of the autonomous Kalmyk Republic in Russia where the Kalmyk president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, doubles up as Fide’s president.

So it was with a great sense of anticipation last Saturday that I joined thousands of people around the world to watch the games unfold on the Internet. It would be a great match between two great players who are quite evenly matched. Who would prevail?

Common sense tells us that when you have two very experienced and world-class players playing one another, it will be a very tough but even match. In a 12-game match, maybe we’ll see either Topalov or Kramnik scraping through with something like only one or two points difference.

But what happened? 

On Saturday, the first game was evenly matched. Though Kramnik was one pawn ahead, Topalov could have easily forced a draw with his more active pieces. But he chose not to and he lost his way and the game. Score: 1-0 to Kramnik.

The second game on Sunday was full of fireworks. Topalov took the game to Kramnik and went for a kingside attack. At one point, he could have pressed home the advantage after Kramnik blundered but he overlooked it. There was no second chance and Kramnik steered the game into another win. Score; 2-0 to Kramnik.

I fear the unification match is over, even at this early stage. I do not see Topalov recovering from this disastrous start to a world championship match. He is no Bobby Fischer or even a Kasparov. There will be no miraculous recovery.

And Kramnik is no novice in the game. Remember, he beat Kasparov to be where he is today. Having taken Topalov’s measure, he will hunker down and consolidate his play, offering his opponent little chance of recovering lost ground.

Topalov will be forced to take even more risks in his play because every single draw will take Kramnik closer to winning the match. By taking more risks, he will self-destruct and be punished mercilessly by Kramnik.

At the end, this unification match will be a momentous event for chess but it will go down in history too as a big triumph for Kramnik and a better-to-be-forgotten disaster for Topalov.

Before this match began, Kasparov was asked in an interview whom he thought would be the winner. Interestingly, Kasparov hinted that Topalov was not the favourite that many people had assumed him to be. 

He made a very astute observation: “Kramnik has a more profound understanding of the game while Topalov has energy and confidence on his side.”

Another hint of the players’ relative strengths can be gleaned from the fact that prior to this unification match, Kramnik and Topalov had faced one another 39 times between 1994 and 2005, with Kramnik having won 10 times and Topalov five times, with the other games drawn. In their last encounter together, Kramnik had been the victor.

UP NEXT

Penang chess camp

The Penang Chess Association will organise a chess camp for junior chess players at the Han Chiang College on Dec 4-7. This chess camp, limited to a maximum of 100 participants only, will be conducted for four levels of strengths: elementary, beginner, intermediate and advanced.

For details, contact Marcus Yeoh (tel: 012.4723873, email: marcusypl@yahoo.com

Topalov reigns

 

World chess championship

IF YOU Internet access, I will wholly recommend you to visit the official site of this year’s World Chess Championship at http://wcc2004.fide.com.

Although this World Chess Federation event started two weeks ago in Tripoli, Libya, it is still not too late to catch up on the championship as it moves into the semi-final stage (Round Six).

There were originally 124 players when the championship began, but with the elimination of half the players at the end of each succeeding round, the field has become increasingly smaller and comparatively stronger. Naturally, for the semi-finals, only four players are left standing.

But who are they? As I write this week’s column, the quarter-final games have only just begun. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) was facing Andrei Kharlov (Russia), while Alexander Grischuk (another Russian) was facing Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan). In the second half of the table, Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) was playing Lenier Dominguez (Cuba), and Michael Adams (England) was meeting Vladimir Akopian (Armenia).

Like the earlier rounds, each quarter-final match between two contestants consists of two games played at normal regulation time control. If the result is tied at 1-1, then the players go into tie-break sessions to decide the winner.

The first tie-break will be a pair of rapidchess games and if the players are still even, then they have to play a further two games using blitz rules. It is only if the tie is still inconclusive does the sudden death game comes in.

Up to now, it has been a very exciting championship with many closely contested matches. In Round One, for instance, three of the matches went all the way to sudden death. And in Round Two, despite the field being reduced to 64 players, five of the matches ended in sudden death, while a further three matches required blitz games to break the ties. Round Three also saw two sudden death matches, while Round Four required one.

In events of this nature, it is quite common that upsets do happen in the early rounds when lowly rated players upstage their much higher rated opponents. 

The first round passed without any significant upsets but the greatest surprise of the second round was the departure of Nigel Short. Short had already outplayed Michal Krasenkow and was winning the game when his thoughts wavered and he simply placed his rook on a square where it was captured immediately. The blow was too much for even a 2700-plus Fide-rated player to bear.

Apart from the official website which gives you live coverage of the games through a Java-enabled applet, you can also learn more of the world chess championship from sites such as Chessbase, http://www.chessbase.com.

UP NEXT

CRC Taiping open

It is great to see that smaller towns around the country are getting interested in organising one-day chess events. It was only two weeks ago that Sabak Bernam had organised its first chess tournament and now, it is Taiping’s turn to have its day of fame.

Come July 25, the Chinese Recreation Club in Taiping will hold its CRC Taiping open chess tournament at their club premises, jointly organised with the Perak International Chess Association (PICA).

The one-day event will be played over seven rounds and there will be cash prizes for the 10 best overall players with the winner set to receive RM400 and a trophy. Moreover, there are prizes for the best three women players, the best three veteran players, the best five under-12 players, the best five under-18 players and the best three CRC Taiping players.

Entry fees are RM10 for PICA and CRC Taiping members, under-12, under-18 and women players, and RM15 for others.

For inquiries, contact Yunus Sharif of PICA (05.545.8453 or 016.532.3594) or Mrs Chow of CRC Taiping (05.807.6882).

Selangor open junior championships

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) has just announced that their 18th Selangor open junior championships this year will be reclassified into four categories named Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

The Bronze category has been created specially for primary and secondary school children who are new to chess but want to have a feel of playing in a national-level chess event. Also, chess players with a national rating of less than 1200 can join this category.

The Silver category will be for new players who want to challenge the stronger seasonal chess players in the Klang Valley. Chess players with a national rating of less than 1400 can play in this event.

Then there is the Gold category which is for the seasonal chess players to pit their chess skills with one another. Only chess players with national ratings of between 1200 and 1799 can take part, except for the top 11 junior players in the country who are not allowed to play in this category.

The main attraction is the Platinum category which is open to only the top 100 junior players in the country. According to the CAS, the association will soon release the names of the players who are eligible to take part, together with the tournament details.

Until then, junior players are asked to keep the weekends of July 24-25 and July 31-Aug 1 free for these championships.

Penang chess league

The Dato Arthur Tan Memorial 14th Penang Chess League, sponsored by Wah Seong (Malaya) Trading Co Sdn Bhd, has reached the halfway stage after the first four rounds. 

There are 44 teams from the public sector, factories, institutions of learning, businesses and registered societies and clubs taking part in this eight-round tournament which is being played on Sundays at the Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang. The last round will be on July 11.

At the halfway point, Old Frees Association (Nuts) – with Lim Chuin Hoong, Ooi Chern Ee, Lim Cheng Teik and Khor Shihong playing - are leading the event with 11½ points. Lying in second spot with 9½ points each are Chung Ling Old Boys Association “B” (Teng Wei Ping, Wong Kam Loong, Eldin Kim and Lau Kar Hoe) and Dell Asia Pacific (Wong Kim Kuan, Chan Kim Chai, Chan Kim Beng and Peh Kim Lye).

Top prizes include RM2,000 for the champion team, RM1,500 for the second place and RM1,000 for the third place. There are seven other cash prizes and numerous other consolation prizes.