Hou makes history

Despite being the women’s world champion, China’s 17-year-old Hou Yifan never started out as a favourite in the Tradewise Gibraltar chess festival a few weeks ago. 

In the first place, Hou’s international rating was “only” at 2605 points and there were at least 20 high-profile players who were ranked very much higher than her. And actually, 11 of them were players whose ratings placed them in the super-grandmaster class. If anybody were favourites to win this chess festival, well, she wasn’t one of them.

Secondly, there was always Judit Polgar who has been the top ranked woman chess player for as long as anybody could remember. She is a 2700-plus chess grandmaster and all women chess players walk in her shadow. 

But Hou had arrived in Gibraltar with a reputation of her own. She was the women’s world champion and only a few months back, she had demonstrated how easy it was for her to defend her world title against an opponent who was on paper ranked above her. Her rivals would have done well to study her games.

With this as the background, Hou began the Gibraltar masters tournament without making any loud impression. 

In the first round, she quietly dispatched off a Swiss Fide master, Emanuel Schiendorfer, and then easily refuted a rash attack from the English international master Adam Hunt in the second round.

Her first real test was in the third round but she proved that the Hungarian grandmaster Zoltan Almasi was no big obstacle for her. 

The fourth round could be considered as Hou’s first appearance in the Gibraltar limelight. Against the experienced English grandmaster, Michael Adams, she played faultlessly to neutralize Adams’ game plan and both players agreed to split the point.

It was in the fifth round that she received her first and only setback in the tournament. The Indian grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran, presumably much wiser to Hou’s style of play than the Westerners, never gave her much of a chance in their game and he converted his positional advantage into a full point.

After that loss, Hou retreated back into the crowd. Against the Ukraine international master Mariya Muzychuk in the sixth round, the Chinese ace displayed her usual form to win almost effortlessly.

The seventh round witnessed Hou’s historical game against Judit Polgar which I had written about last week. As the two had never met across the chess board before, this game generated quite a lot of interest around the world. The fact that Hou won this game ensured that this historical moment would be remembered for a long time to come.

After this win, the spotlight returned to Hou and it never left her again until the end of the tournament. The Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem was the next to feel the power of Hou’s will as he wilted under her persistent tactical pressure on the board.

 

In the ninth round, she was paired against the Latvian grandmaster Alexei Shirov. For a brief moment, it seemed as though Hou’s position was under great pressure but in a quick turn of events, she emerged with real winning chances which she converted into a full point after an interesting endgame.

By then, Hou had surged ahead to become the sole leader in the tournament. All she required in the final round was at least a draw with the Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to take a share of the first prize. She took it instead of risking everything to beat her opponent.

This draw, however, enabled the English grandmaster Nigel Short the chance to creep up on her and finish with equal points. Technically on tie-break, Hou was the winner of the Gibraltar masters tournament but the rules of the chess festival required the two players to play two quick games to determine the overall winner.

Unfortunately for Hou, she was no match for the wily Short in this department. Short had honed his chess skills playing just this type of chess on the Internet chess servers and his experience quickly told on Hou as he won the first game of the tie-break before he offered her a draw in the second game.

For all her efforts, she received STG12,000 as the second prize but she also received STG10,000 as the best woman player and STG600 as the best junior player. Short came away with the STG20,000 first prize and a further STG5,000 special prize set up to honour Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee.

Up Next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the second leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Chinese Recreation Club in Taiping on Mar 4. After the success of the first leg in Kuala Kangsar on Sunday which attracted 313 participants from around the peninsula, PICA is hopeful of an equally good response in Taiping. 

This second leg in Taiping will be played over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. The four remaining legs will be held in Slim River, Bagan Serai, Kampar and Ipoh. Other than cash prizes, points are awarded to the top 10 winners of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg. 

Players can register for the open, the under-16 or the under-12 sections. Grand prix points shall be awarded to the top 10 winners of the open section of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg in Ipoh. Those that register under the two junior categories will not be eligible for the open prizes or grand prix points. 

Entry fees for the second leg in Taiping: 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). For more information, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar Martin (019.4007663), Azhar (013.4570443) or check the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for updates. 

Rakan Muda JB

The Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Southerncity Giant hypermarket are the joint organisers of this year’s seventh Johor Bahru junior tournament on Sunday. Venue will be the concourse area of the hypermarket in Johor Bahru. Seven-round Swiss event with 25 minutes time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (players under 17 years old) and RM13 (players under 12 years old). Closing date for entries is today. Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

USM chess festival

This year’s 18th Universiti Sains Malaysia chess festival will comprise an eight-round individual event on Mar 10-11 and a seven-round team event on Mar 17-18. Time control for both events will be 45 minutes per game. 

Entry fees for the individual tournament are RM17 (under-12 players), RM19 (under-18 players), RM21 (university and college players) and RM27 (others). Members of the Penang Chess Association will be charged at RM15, RM17, RM19 and RM22 respectively. For the team event, entry fees are RM80 (under-12 teams), RM90 (under-18 teams), RM100 (university, college and school teams) and RM110 (all other teams). 

Details are available from Ng Sok Ling (014.9443919, sokling_9100@hotmail.com), Chung Yao Liang (017.4343182, yaoliang_1228@yahoo.com) or Lee Youn Hock (014.9445491, chessmanlee@hotmail.com). 

National age group

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) will organise this year’s national age group chess championships at the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s indoor stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 11 to 13. Eight rounds with a time control of 45 minutes, plus increment time of 30 seconds per move.

There are six separate categories for both boys and girls – the under-eight, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – which will mean that the 12 events will be played simultaneously. Entry fee is RM40 per player if paid before Mar 7. After this date, acceptance of registration shall be at the discretion of the organisers and the entry fee is increased to RM80.

The top four players from each category shall qualify to represent the country at the world, Asian, ASEAN and other age group events subject to the acceptance of the federation’s terms and conditions.

Entry forms can be downloaded from http://malaysianchessfederation.blogspot.com. For inquiries, contact Hamid Majid (019.3158098, aham@pc.jaring.my), Gregory Lau (017.2898215, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Lim Tse Pin (012.2984922, tsepin@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605).

 

Teen titans

The biggest prize in women’s chess is the women’s world chess championship crown. Right now, it sits pretty with Hou Yifan, the 17-year-old wonder lass from China. She won it last December at the women’s world chess championship in Turkey and she is not due to defend her crown – and the title – until the third quarter of this year. 

But against whom is Hou going to defend her title? Has a challenger already been determined? 

The short answer to the two questions is, yes, India’s Koneru Humpy has just won the right to challenge Hou Yifan for the women’s chess crown.

I got pretty excited the first time I heard it last week. It’s unprecedented that both defending champion and challenger in an official world title match come from this part of the world. (Never mind the fact that the men’s world chess title is also being held by another Asian chess giant, Viswanathan Anand.)

Like Hou, Humpy was also a chess prodigy. Presently, Humpy is already 24 years old but in 2002 at the age of 15 years and two months, she qualified for the full-fledged grandmaster chess title.  (Only Hou was younger, at 14 years, six months.)

Humpy became the official challenger when she won the sixth and final leg of the FIDE women’s grand prix 2009-2011 in Doha, Qatar last week. Before this final leg began, Humpy was languishing fourth in the grand prix standings and her chances of qualifying actually looked quite bleak.

During the first half of the tournament itself, her play was rather insipid and she scored only 2½ points from her first five games. If she had any remaining hopes of qualifying, she would have to depend greatly not only on the results of the other players in the tournament but also her own rearguard action.

And what a magnificent fight-back for her! In the second half of the event, she scored 5½ points from her final six games, which brought her total tally of points to eight from 11 games. Inexplicably also, the front runners suddenly lost steam at about the same time. 

Before the start of the tournament’s final round, Humpy was still only in second place half a point behind the tournament trailblazer, Elina Danielian. Humpy needed a win to have any chance of tying for first place and she got it from her final-round opponent, the 2001 women’s world champion, Zhu Chen. 

In the meantime, Danielian had already agreed to a quick draw with Antoaneta Stefanova. Apparently, she was satisfied with this result although a win would make her the undisputed winner of the tournament. The draw meant that at worst, she would finish on equal points with Humpy, although the tie-break would be in the Indian grandmaster’s favour. 

Calculating the grand points was more complicated but in the end, Humpy’s success in this tournament meant that she leapfrogged several places over other contenders to finish second in the standings. 

Interestingly, Hou remained first in the grand prix standings but as she was already the women’s world champion, the qualifying spot was now filled by Humpy. 

How would Humpy fare against Hou later this year? On rating, Humpy is the higher rated of the two. That alone would make her the favourite to wrest the title from the defending champion.

However, chess is not solely dependent on ratings. Ratings only give an indication of how one player compares with another. Eventually, it will all boil down to the player with the stronger nerves, the one who plays better and is better prepared psychologically.

And in this aspect – the psychological aspect – Humpy trails Hou. In their last two high-profile encounters, in the women’s world chess championship cycles of 2008 and 2010, Hou had eliminated Humpy. The Indian grandmaster may yet become the next women’s world champion but she will have to overcome this mental barrier first.

National closed

This year’s national closed and national women’s closed chess championships are just five days away. According to information from the organizers earlier in the week, 89 players have registered for the national closed while a further 34 players will be contesting the national women’s closed. This is already more than the limit of 120 players that the Malaysian Chess Federation had expected collectively for the two competitions. 

Since I last wrote about these two events, the two winners of last year’s championships have confirmed their participation. So we shall have Tan Khai Boon (national closed champion) and Fong Mi Yen (national women’s closed champion) defending their titles.

There is also an added attraction which will make this year’s contest extra special, especially for the participants. I hear that international master Jimmy Liew has also decided to play. He will be the yardstick for all the other players to measure themselves with. 

Most people will know that Liew was Malaysia’s first grandmaster, but not many will realize that he is also a former national closed champion, having won the title in 1984. He is paying back his dues to the national closed championship cycle, giving it the recognition it deserves. Now, if only our other former national champions will do the same next year.

Both competitions will be played at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur from next Wednesday until Mar 20. There will be nine rounds with games starting at 9am and 3pm daily. For more information, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Up next

National age group

This year’s three-day national age group chess championships start tomorrow at the Chancellor Hall, Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh, Perak. This event is organized jointly by the Malaysian Chess Federation, the Perak International Chess Association and Universiti Teknologi Petronas. There are six age group events for boys and girls – under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 – running concurrently. Eight rounds of 45-minute games with 30-second increments per move. Anyone still thinking about taking part should contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605) for the latest information.

Hillcrest chess camp

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Sri Gombak, Batu Caves, Selangor will be the venue for a two-day holiday chess camp on Mar 14-15. The chess camp will be conducted by international master Mok Tze Meng and his team of trainers. For more details, contact Wong (017.3577788) or Yen Lee (yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com).  

Klang Parade open

The Klang Parade shopping mall, Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre and Cerdik Chess Enterprise are jointly organising the 10th Klang Parade open chess tournament at the shopping mall in Jalan Meru, Klang on Mar 19 and 20. The tournament on Mar 19 is for players under the age of 18, while the event on Mar 20 is an open competition. Entry fees for the age group tournament are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (players under 18 years old). For the open event, the entry fees are RM10 (players under 12 years old) and RM15 (all other players). Contact Siti Nor Faiza (03.33437889 office hours) or Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com) for details.

Lim Chong memorial

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the Lim Chong memorial tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 27. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 16 years old) and RM25 (all other players). More information from Hamid Majid (019.3158098 or aham@pc.jaring.my), Jan Lim (012.2678738) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542). 

Percawi Labour Day team

The Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Chess Association (Percawi) will organize a Labour Day team tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Apr 24. Six rounds, 30-minute games, four players per team. Entry fee: RM160 (companies and government departments), RM80 (schools, colleges and universities). Details available from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578) and Bob Yap (012.2878378).

 

Teen queen

Nobody who had met Hou Yifan in April this year, when she took part in the Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament, could have expected that the petite 16-year-old chess prodigy from China would close 2010 crowned as the new women’s world champion.

When do you think you can become the world champion, I had asked her then. She let out a stifled giggle, a reaction which I had mistaken for a nervous laugh. I don’t know, she replied.

But that’s your ambition, isn’t it, I persisted in asking her. Your last attempt at the world chess title had been so very close, I mentioned, referring to the previous world chess championship in Nalchik, Russia in 2008. 

At that time, Hou was only 14 years old and she had progressed through the knock-out tournament till the final stage where she met the other finalist, Alexandra Kosteniuk. However, her opponent proved to be the better player and she was left to reflect on her lost opportunity.

Oh, I hope to be better prepared and play better this time, she had replied modestly.

Well, Hou Yifan has really played better this time and gone one better than before. Two additional years of travelling the world and playing chess against top-notch men’s and women’s players had added to her experience. 

Just last Friday in Hatay, Turkey, she finally claimed the women’s chess crown as her own. In the final of the championship, she played the match of her life and just about eked through with a hard-fought win against her compatriot, Ruan Lufei.

Hou had started the knock-out women’s world championship as the third seed just behind India’s Humpy Koneru, the second seeded player. Despite being rated so much lower in the 64-player field, Kosteniuk as the defending champion had been given top seed in deference to her World Champion’s title but it was clear as the championship progressed that Kosteniuk would not be able to repeat her success of 2008.

In the third round, Kosteniuk was eliminated by Ruan. Both players had drawn their first two games and so it was left to the tie-break games to decide. A gritty Ruan won the first game of the tie-break before she then closed down Kosteniuk in the second tie-break game and thus, the Chinese player advanced to the quarter-finals.

It will be interesting to note that throughout this championship, Ruan gained a reputation as the tie-break queen. Right from the word Go, all of Ruan’s mini-matches (each round except for the final would be an encounter of two games at normal regulation time control and if there was no decision, then tie-break games at a faster time control would decide) went into nerve-wracking tie-breaks. None of her rounds were ever decided under normal time control.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise to observers when Ruan pulled level with Hou after four normal regulation games in the final of this world championship. 

The first game of the final began with Hou playing with the white pieces and pressing to strike the first blow. At one point the position was better for Hou but try as she could, she could not overcome Ruan and the game ended drawn.

Hou was not to be denied, however, and she did pick up her first win against Ruan in the second game. The point was split again in the third game, but I can assure you that it was no tame stuff. Ruan could have won it and equalized. She had that pressing advantage which she could have converted into a win but did not. 

So going into the fourth game, Hou was still leading and needed just a draw. On the other hand, the fourth game was going to be a do-or-die mission for Ruan. Anything less than a win for Ruan would mean that the women’s world chess championship would have ended then and there for her.

It was fascinating to watch this game as it unfolded. Maybe it was due to nerves but Hou, after defending well against Ruan’s onslaught, succumbed after Ruan found the very best moves over the board. At the end of the four normal regulation time control games, the final was back where it started: on equal footing for both players.

The first game of the tie-break was drawn, then Hou won the second tie-break game. In the third tie-break game, the players drew again. But this was where the resemblance to the normal regulation games ended. In the fourth tie-break game, Hou seized the initiative from Ruan and did not let go. As much as Ruan tried, she could not turn the game around and finally, defeat staring at her on the chessboard, Ruan conceded the game.

So there we have it: Hou Yifan is the newest and youngest of the long line of women’s world chess champions. Hail to the new queen of chess. 

[Just an interesting footnote here: China’s Ruan Lufei is 23 years old. She is a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. "I think there are three reasons why she beat me," Ruan reflected after the championship. "Firstly, she is really a good player, and unlike me, she plays chess every day. Secondly, I played tie-break in every round, so I have played for 20 days with only one day of rest. Finally, she has two coaches here, but I'm fighting alone. My coach is in China."]

Here are the normal regulation games from the final of the women’s world championship.

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game One

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 dxe4 4. fxe4 e5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. c3 b5 8. Bd3 Ngf6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Nbd2 h6 12. Bh4 Qc7 13. Qc2 Nh5 14. h3 Be6 15. Rae1 Nf4 16. Bg3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Rad8 18. Bf2 a6 19. Nh4 Nb6 20. b3 Rfe8 21. Qf3 b4 22. Rc1 bxc3 23. Qxc3 exd4 24. Bxd4 c5 25. Bxg7 Bf4 26. Nhf3 Rxd2 27. Nxd2 Bxd2 28. Qxd2 Kxg7 29. Qc3+ Kh7 30. Qxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Rxc5 Ra8 32. Ra5 Nc8 33. Rc1 Nd6 34. e5 Nf5 35. Kf2 h5 36. Rc2 Nd4 37. Rd2 Nc6 38. Rc5 Ne7 39. b4 Kg6 40. a3 Kf5 41. Ke3 Rg8 42. Ra5 Rg3+ 43. Kf2 Rb3 44. Rxa6 Nd5 45. Ra5 Ne3 46. Rc5 Nc4 47. Rc2 Nxa3 48. R2c3 Rb2+ 49. Kg3 Nb1 50. Rf3+ Kg5 51. h4+ Kg6 52. Rc7 Kg7 53. Rf6 Kg8 54. Rf4 Rb3+ 55. Kh2 Rb2 56. Rc5 Na3 57. Rc3 Nb5 58. Rg3+ Kf8 59. Rg5 Nc7 60. Rxh5 Nd5 61. Re4 Kg7 62. Rg5+ Kh7 63. Rc4 Rb3 64. Rg3 Rb2 65. Rg5 Rb3 66. Rd4 Nxb4 67. Rg3 Rb2 68. Rc3 Nd5 69. Rcd3 Ne7 70. Rd2 Rb5 71. Re2 Ng6 72. Rde4 Bf5 73. e6 Bxe6 

½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Two

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 e5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Kh1 exf4 12. Bxf4 Be6 13. Bf3 Qb8 14. b3 Qb4 15. Qe1 a5 16. Rd1 Rfe8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Rac8 19. Qg3 g6 20. Na4 Nd5 21. Bxd5 cxd5 22. Bc3 Qg4 23. Qxg4 Bxg4 24. Rxd5 Bb4 25. Bxb4 axb4 26. Rd2 Bf5 27. Kg1 Rxc2 28. Rxc2 Bxc2 29. Kf2 Bd3 30. Re1 Rc8 31. Ke3 Bb5 32. Rd1 Re8+ 33. Kf4 Re2 34. g4 Bxa4 35. bxa4 Rxa2 36. Rd4 Rxa4 37. h4 Kf8 38. Re4 f6 39. Rc4 Ke7 40. Rd4 Ke6 41. Ke4 Ke7 42. Kf4 h6 43. h5 gxh5 44. gxh5 Kf7 45. Re4 Kf8 46. Kg4 f5+ 47. Kxf5 Ra5+ 48. Kg6 Ra6+ 49. Kh7 Rb6 50. Rf4+ Ke7 51. Rf1 b3 52. Kg7 b2 53. Rb1 Ke6 54. Kxh6 Kf5+ 55. Kg7 Kg5 56. Kf7 Kxh5 57. Ke7 Kg4 58. Kd7 Kf3 59. Kc7 Rb3 0-1

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game Three

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 g6 7. N1f3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 h6 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 c5 12. Bc4 e6 13. Be3 Nf6 14. Qd3 Ng4 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Rad1 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 b6 18. Nd2 Qxc5 19. Qxc5 bxc5 20. c3 Bb7 21. Nb3 Rfc8 22. Na5 Rc7 23. Nxb7 Rxb7 24. Rd2 Rab8 25. Bb3 a5 26. Rc1 a4 27. Bxa4 Rxb2 28. Rxb2 Rxb2 29. Bd1 Rxa2 30. g3 Ra3 31. c4 Bd4 32. Kg2 Ra2 33. Rc2 Ra1 34. Bf3 Kf8 35. h4 Ke7 36. Bc6 g5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. g4 Ra3 39. Be4 Kd6 40. Re2 Kc7 41. Bh7 e5 42. Be4 Kb6 43. Rd2 Ka5 44. Bd5 f6 45. Kf1 Kb4 46. Ke2 e4 47. Rc2 e3 48. fxe3 Rxe3+ 49. Kd1 Rg3 50. Rg2 Rh3 51. Re2 Kc3 52. Rd2 Rh4 53. Rg2 Kd3 54. Rd2+ Ke3 55. Re2+ Kf4 56. Re4+ Kg3 57. Be6 Rh8 58. Kd2 Re8 59. Kd3 Rxe6 60. Rxe6 Kxg4 61. Re4+ Kf5 62. Re1 g4 63. Rf1+ Ke5 64. Re1+ Kd6 65. Ke4 Bf2 66. Rd1+ Ke6 67. Rd5 g3 68. Kf3 f5 69. Kg2 Kf6 70. Kf3 Kg5 71. Re5 Kg6 72. Rd5 Kf6 73. Kg2 Ke6 74. Kf3 f4 75. Kg2 Be3 ½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Four

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. h4 Nc6 8. Rg1 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bg2 Qe5+ 12. Be3 Qh2 13. f4 Bd7 14. Qd2 Nxd4 15. O-O-O Bc5 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 O-O-O 18. Qc4+ Kb8 19. Qe4 Bc8 20. h5 Ka8 21. a4 Rd5 22. Rdf1 Qh4 23. Qc4 Rd7 24. a5 Qd8 25. a6 Qa5 26. Kb1 Kb8 27. axb7 Bxb7 28. Bxb7 Rxb7 29. Qd4 Ka8 30. Rf3 Rhb8 31. b3 f6 32. Rd1 Qb4 33. Qe3 Rb6 34. Rd4 Qe7 35. Qd3 R6b7 36. Re3 Re8 37. Rd6 e5 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Re4 Qc7 40. Rd5 Qb8 41. Rc4 Rf8 42. Kb2 Qe8 43. Rdc5 Qe6 44. Qe4 Kb8 45. Rxe5 Qf6 46. Rc6 Qf7 47. Rf5 1-0

 

Queen uprising

Many years ago, I was asked in a casual conversation my opinion about women’s chess. Can women really play chess as well as men, this friend of mine wanted to know. I was about to answer him but I hesitated. 

It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable to give him an immediate answer but somehow, a wild thought raced through my head. Was it Bobby Fischer who once said that he could give a knight handicap in a game against any woman chess player and still win? 

Fifty or sixty years ago, many people could very well have laughed with Fischer. But not today. Anyone who dares to give even a pawn handicap against the top women chess players will be asking for a lot of unnecessary trouble.

You see, women’s chess is no longer a poor cousin to men’s chess. After all, chess as played by men or women is still the same game. Chess still uses the same grey matter “up there” for thinking and evaluation. Besides, since the days of Pia Cramling and Judit Polgar, who started the trend of women competing in men’s or open tournaments and playing successfully in them, the myth has well been exploded. 

To a large extent, the World Chess Federation has made sure that there should no longer be discrimination. A long time ago at the Chess Olympiads, women’s chess teams consisted of only two players and one reserve. Today, there are four players and either one or two reserve players, same as the men’s teams.

Where chess titles are concerned, women chess players have as many opportunities to earn the full chess grandmaster title. In the past, the highest title they could hope to attain was the woman grandmaster title which today, is about at the same level as an international master.

There’s also the women’s equivalent of the (men’s) world chess championship and since about a week ago, the latest women’s world chess championship is currently going on in Antakya, Turkey. 

But unlike the latest men’s world chess championship which was played as a match, the present women’s world chess championship is still run as a knock-out. The event started off with a 64-player field in the first round and since then, the number of players are halved with each progressive round.

Today is the start of the third round, so there will only be 16 players left. Each of these knock-out rounds are played as a mini-match of two games at normal regulation time control and should tie-break games be required, these are played with rapidchess rules. The sixth round will pit the two final survivors together and they will then play four games to decide the new women’s world chess champion.

I know there are people who favour this type of knock-out event as they feel that it creates more excitement and the defending champion shouldn’t get a free ride to the final round but personally, I would prefer an official challenger to emerge from this knock-out event who would then go on to challenge the defending champion for the title. It makes for more prestige.

Nevertheless, these are the regulations already agreed for this current championship. Perhaps we’ll see a change for the next cycle. 

As it stands, there’s always the chance that we may not have Russia’s Alexandra Kosteniuk advancing all the way to the final round. Kosteniuk is the defending women’s world champion and is the top seed. She got through the first round but there are no results yet for the second round as I write this.

So far, except for the elimination of the eighth seed, Pia Cramling, in the first round, there have been no other surprises among the top seeds. 

Also going through to the second round were notable players like India’s Humpy Koneru, China’s Hou Yifan (who lost the final to Kosteniuk in 2008), Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova (women’s world champion from 2004 to 2006), Ukraine’s Kateryna Lahno, Georgia’s Maya Chiburdanidze (women’s world champion from 1978 to 1991) and Qatar’s Zhu Chen (formerly from China and women’s world champion from 2001 to 2004).

Humpy is the second seed in the championship and Hou is the third seed. If they proceed through successfully round after round, they should be meeting in the fifth round and one of them will be eliminated. 

Want to know more about this women’s world chess championship? There is the official website at http://wwcc2010.tsf.org.tr/ and you can also view the live games from 9p.m. (local time here) when they are played. 

Up next  

National junior

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organize the third national junior chess championship at the Hotel Olympic, Jalan Davidson, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 15-19. There will be two categories: the boys under-20 and girls under-20 events. This will be a FIDE-rated event over nine rounds and full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (existing FIDE-rated players) and RM80 (non-rated players). For more information, contact Gregory Lau (012.9020123, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605). 

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.

Christmas tournament

The Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur will organize a Christmas chess tournament for veterans above 45 years old and children below 12 years old on Dec 19. Five rounds, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM20 (children), RM40 (veterans 45 to 49 years old) and RM30 (veterans (above 50 years old). More information from Wahid Karim (013.3638815, awkarim@gmail.com) or Joseph Toh (016.6784648, joetohcl@hotmail.com). 

 

Girl power

China has a lot of young and talented chess players but very few have ever created a more lasting impression in recent years than their sensational 16-year-old wonder lass, Hou Yifan.

Hou, who started playing chess 10 years ago and is a grandmaster in her own right, stamped her mark on Malaysian chess when she claimed the Kuala Lumpur open chess title on Monday. 

She captured the hearts and imagination of both players and spectators alike with a performance rarely matched among women competitors. Though not the top seed in this event, the unassuming and ever obliging Number Two seed was clearly the choice and favourite of many people.

She reeled off four consecutive wins in her first four games and found herself in a neck-and-neck tussle with Vietnamese player Nguyen Anh Dong who had also won the same number of wins. The two of them met in the fifth round and drew their game. 

Though at the sixth round, Hou and Nguyen were joined briefly at the top of the tournament standings by Thomas Luther, Marat Dzhumaev and Oliver Dimakiling, this joint lead proved short-lived as these four nearest rivals of hers could do no better than draw their games in the seventh round while she won her game.

As a result, the Chinese girl found herself enjoying a sole lead of half a point at this late stage of the tournament. She increased her lead to a full point in the eighth round when her closest rivals all faltered again. 

By then, her winning the tournament was already a foregone conclusion. Regardless of her result in the ninth and final round, nobody else would be able to catch up with her. Still, a loss would certainly be out of the question. She wouldn’t want to spoil an otherwise impressive run with a final-round loss. 

Her opponent, Susanto Megaranto, was faced with an even greater dilemma. How was he to approach the game? Should he bring the game to her in the final round and try for a full point (and risk losing a full point too) or go for a peaceful draw that would suit his opponent better than him? Hou was prepared for a fight over the chessboard if the situation warranted but at the end, discretion proved to be the better part of valour and both players quickly agreed to split the point.

Final top standings: GM Hou Yifan 7½ points; GM Nguyen Anh Dung, Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia) 7 points each; GM Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia), GM Thomas Luther (Germany), IM Dhopade Swapnil (India), GM Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan), IM Dzhurabek Khamrakulov (Uzbekistan), IM Ashwin Jayaram (India) 6½ points each.

The best performing Malaysian in the field of 111 players was newly-minted medical doctor Nicholas Chan. Chan, who is a Fide Master, missed out on his second international master norm but only barely. That is still his main target, he confided in me. Still, finishing in 16th position was a very creditable effort considering that he hadn’t played at this high a level in the last five years due to studies.

Chan’s next tilt at an IM norm is at the closed Kuala Lumpur Masters tournament now on-going at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi. Chan and Abdul Haq Mohamad are our two representatives in this 10-play, round-robin event.

My impression of this third KL open chess tournament? It was very well run. Playing condition was superb although I felt that the lighting in the tournament hall could have been slightly brighter. 

Nevertheless, the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association and it’s technical director, Peter Long, must be commended for a job well done. It wasn’t easy to coordinate the entries and guests from all parts of the world, but the organizers pulled it off without any observable hitch. I’m looking forward to the fourth edition of the KL Open next year.

This event, played at the Olympic Sport Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, was sponsored by the Masterskill University College of Health Sciences and the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation. 

World chess   

Get set for the world chess championship between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov which starts on Apr 23 in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Anand, who turned 40 years old recently, is the defending champion but he is expected to face great pressure from Topalov who is five years younger. Both are dynamic players with lots of experience at top-level chess.

During the KL Open, I asked a few of the participating grandmasters who they thought would win the match. Opinions were mixed. Some supported Anand to win but those who looked at the match more objectively said that Topalov could be the victor because of his no-holds-barred sort of play. 

Anyway, with the match starting next week, readers can visit the official website at http://www.anand-topalov.com/ for the latest developments.

Up next  

Perak grand prix

It’s now confirmed that 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. Participants are reminded that 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/)

 

Queen control

 

Hallmark of champs

 

Family affair

 

Out of limbo

 

No change at the top

 

Youth brigade in national meets

 

Asia's new chess queen

 

Xie Jun defends title

NOT so very long ago, the world chess championships were made up of two- or three-year cycles that would almost invariably be decided by long matches between the defending champion and challenger. Then, about two years ago, the World Chess Federation radically changed the championship format to an annual knockout contest.

Since the end of last month, the chess world's attention has been focused mainly on the US$3mil (RM11.4mil) world championship taking place at the Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas. From a field of 100 players, the participants have now been reduced to two and, since last Sunday, Alexander Khalifman and Vladimir Akopian have been engaged in a six-game match to decide the next world chess champion.

However, for much of the last fortnight, a lot of talk had centred on whether this knockout format was achieving its desired result. The quarter-finals was a crucial stage for the championship but at its end, the top players who had been booted out included Vladimir Kramnik (world No.3), Alexei Shirov (world No.5), Vassily Ivanchuk (No.8), Veselin Topalov (No.12), Alexey Dreev (No.15), Nigel Short (No.17), Judit Polgar (No.19) and Zoltan Almasi (No.20).

Left in the contest were Michael Adams (world No.7), Vladimir Akopian (No.36), Alexander Khalifman (No.45) and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (No.136). Adams (Britain) was expected to beat Akopian (Armenia) in the semi-finals but to everyone's surprise, Adams too was shown the door when Akopian prevailed by a 2.5-1.5 score.

The Romanian grandmaster Nisipeanu, aged 23, with a rating of only 2,584, was the surprise of the event. His passage through the championship was not easy but his victims had been Yugoslav GM Stefan Djuric, Georgian GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili (10th highest rated player in the event), Brazilian GM Fafael Leitao and Ivanchuk and Shirov. His luck was expected to run out against Khalifman who, despite his placing as 45th in the world, is actually a very seasoned player.

Yet, Nisipeanu almost upset the form book again. Khalifman won the third game of the semi-final match but Nisipeanu struck back with a fourth-game win to take the match to extra time. It was only in the play-off that Khalifman managed to send off his opponent.

The final of the world championship thus pitted two non-favourites against each other. This is already a surprise, but one can guess how much bigger the surprise would have been if this had been Akopian playing not Khalifman but Nisipeanu for the world chess championship title!

Throughout the past month, Gary Kasparov, despite his non-involvement with this event, has been making general observations and comments on the games through his Club Kasparov chess site on the Internet. In one of his comments, Kasparov described Akopian, Sergei Movsesian and Nisipeanu as tourists, meaning that he considered them lightweights who would surely be eliminated by the heavyweights in the event.

As the unfolding events have shown, it is actually the lightweights that have displaced the heavyweights.

An indignant Nisipeanu pointed out that Kasparov "doesn't even know me," but he was quick to add: "Okay, next to Kasparov, I am a tourist."

Akopian was more critical. He said about playing Kasparov: "Once, I had a completely winning position, but his luck saved him. It was a team match and I gave him a draw because my team had already won. In the other game, he was White. He immediately began trading all the pieces and he made a draw against me. So he was White and I could not prevent him from doing this. But for me, for sure Kasparov is the tourist."

Although readers can follow the progress of the world chess championship from the official web site at (http://www.worldfide.com/), there are other chess sites on the Internet which provide comprehensive coverage. Among them are the Inside Chess Online homepage at (http://www.insidechess.com/) and the Club Kasparov homepage at (http://www.clubkasparov.ru).

Xie Jun wins women's crown again

At about the same time that the world chess championship was starting in Las Vegas, the lesser-known match between Xie Jun of China and Alisa Galliamova of Russia for the women's world chess title was also being contested almost half a world away.

This championship match, which was also a World Chess Federation event, had been split between two venues with the Russian town of Kazan hosting the first half of the match and Shenyang in China hosting the second.

The Kazan half of the match had ended in a 4-4 tie between the two players but Xie quickly seized control of the match once the venue shifted to Shenyang. Xie went into a two-point lead, then saw it reduced to only one point before she fought her way back to take the match with a 8.5-6.5 score.

By winning this encounter against Galliamova, Xie has reclaimed her women's world championship crown which she lost to Zsuzsa Polgar in 1996. When it came to Polgar's turn to defend her title against Xie who had qualified as the challenger, she refused, citing many non-reasons such as having a baby, her doctor's advice not to travel within six months of her delivery, and a US alert to its residents against travelling to China.

(At that time, diplomatic relations between the United States and China were at an ebb following the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy building in Belgrade at the height of the NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.)

The World Chess Federation then said that Polgar had defaulted on the match, and decided that Xie and Galliamova would instead battle it out for the women's chess title. At first, Galliamova refused to play this match, saying it was unfair that the full match would be held in China. After much wrangling by both parties, the Chinese agreed that the first half of the match would be played in Kazan.

The match began with Xie drawing first blood with a win in the second game. However, Galliamova struck back immediately in the third game. Xie then went ahead by winning the fifth game but again, Galliamova equalised by taking the sixth game.

Xie began the Shenyang half of the match with a win in the ninth game. After a drawn 10th game, Xie went further ahead by winning the 11th game. Galliamova managed to reduce the margin by winning the 12th game but after Xie won the 14th game, Galliamova's title hopes evaporated. The draw in the 15th game gave Xie the women's crown.

UP NEXT

Merdeka Team Championship

THE 18th Merdeka team chess championship starts on Sunday at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Like in previous years, the three-day championship is divided into three categories: state, youth and open.

The state category of the championship has always elicited the best performances from the state chess associations which view the competition as the de facto national team tournament. Prizes for the state category are RM2,000, RM1,500 and RM1,000. The winner will also receive custody of the Deputy Prime Minister's challenge trophy.

The youth category normally also gets a good response from chess players. The five prizes in this category are RM1,000, RM750, RM500, RM300 and RM150. The Merdeka youth challenge trophy will also go to the winner.

The other main feature of the championship is the open category in which the winning team will receive RM2,000 and the runner-up RM1,500. The other prizes are RM1,000, RM800, RM600, RM400 and RM200. In addition, there are special prizes for the best government department, women's, school, and family teams.

For a list of the teams that have signed up for the championship, visit my website at (http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library/index.html).

Registration for the teams will start at 8.30am on Aug 29. The first round will commence at 1pm and the second, at 4.30pm. On the second day, the rounds begin at 9am, 1pm and 4.30pm, and on the last day of the competition, the final two rounds are at 9am and 1.30pm.

According to the Malaysian Chess Federation, the outstation state and youth teams will be put up at KL's Dynasty Hotel, the official hotel for the event.

Johor Baru Open

THE Johor Baru District Chess Club will hold its ninth Johor Baru open chess tournament at the Dewan Menara Komtar, Johor Baru, on Sunday in conjunction with National Day celebrations.

This event, which is jointly organised with Johor Land Berhad, will be divided into open, under-16 and under-12 sections. There will be 10 cash prizes in each section, with prizes of RM300, RM100 and RM80 going to the respective winners.

The entry fee for the open section is RM15 while players entering the under-16 and under-12 events will be charged RM7 and RM5 respectively. The games start at 8.30am on Aug 29, and only the first 300 entries will be accepted.

For more information about the tournament, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 or e-mail naraa@tm.net.my). Entries will close today.

 

Asian cities and women's events

PLAYING SCHEDULE FOR THE ASIAN EVENTS

Today is the second day of play at the Asian cities team and the Asian women's individual chess championships, and here is the playing schedule for readers who intend to watch the action at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort.

The team event is held over nine rounds and already, two rounds have been completed. The third round starts today at 4pm, and tomorrow, there will be two rounds at 10am and 4pm. Sunday is a rest day, with play resuming on Monday with two rounds scheduled for 10am and 4pm.

On Tuesday, the eighth round will start at 4pm. Wednesday will be the last day of the team event with the final round scheduled to begin at 10am and the closing ceremony at 8pm.

The women's event is played over 11 rounds and except for the final round on April 21, all the games will begin at 2.30pm daily until April 20. The final round will start at 10am on April 21 in order to accommodate the closing ceremony on the same day at 8pm. The rest days for the competitors are on April 12 and 16.

Readers with Internet access should be able to follow the progress of the championships at the official Asian cities website at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/.

In conjunction with the two championships at Genting Highlands, the Chess Association of Selangor will be holding the Amcorp Mall national blitz open chess tournament this Sunday.

Since this is a rest day for the participants of the Asian cities and Asian women's events, many of them are expected to take part in the blitz tournament which shall be played at the Amcorp Mall in Persiaran Barat, Petaling Jaya.

The CAS, which is organising this event on behalf of the Malaysian Chess Federation, is offering a prize fund of RM2,500. The tournament will consist of a preliminary 13-round Swiss, and the top qualifiers will then play in a knock-out format for the main prizes.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the CAS, and RM15 for non-members. Registration for the tournament must be made at the Amcorp Mall tomorrow between 3pm and 5pm, as entries will not be accepted on Sunday.

For enquiries, contact either Lim Tse Pin (tel: 03-733-0927) or Mrs Jackie Wong (tel: 03-703-8237).

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS THIS MONTH

Readers are reminded that the International Islamic University Malaysia will organise a team tournament on April 18 and 19 at the Hotel Wenworth in Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The university's chess club is organising the event together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Cash prizes totalling more than RM4,000 will be offered to the winners. The champion team will also get custody of the Dato Sabaruddin Chik challenge trophy.

Entry fees are RM120 for universities and other inistutions of higher learning, RM100 for schools and RM150 for public teams. Non-Malaysian teams are charged RM180. For more details, contact Azlan Adnan of the IIU (tel: 03-681-4052 after 4pm, or 016-271-1522).

Meanwhile in Johor Bahru, the Johor branch of the Police Administrative and Civilian Staff Union and the Johor Bahru Chess Club are jointly organising a team tournament on April 26. This event will be played on the third floor of the Bangunan JOTIC in Jalan Air Molek, Johor Bahru.

Each team can register a maximum of four players, but only three will play in each round. The entry fee is RM50 per team, and entries will close on Apr 24. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-333-8215).

SHIROV, KRAMNIK AND KASPAROV

Mark Crowther, who publishes the excellent This Week In Chess webpage on the Internet weekly (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html) mentioned briefly that the Luis Rentero/Gary Kasparov's so-called World Chess Council has announced its plans for the rest of the year.

According to the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, Alexei Shirov will replace Viswanathan Anand after the latter had rejected an invitation to play Vladimir Kramnik. Rentero had offered the place to Shirov after his impressive performance in the Linares tournament last month, in which he finished second behind Anand.

Kramnik and Shirov will play in Cazorla, Spain, in a 10-game match starting May 22. The winner will play Kasparov in another match over 18 games beginning October 16. Rentero, the self-proclaimed president of the World Chess Council confirmed these details on March 20. The final match has a US$1.3 million prize tag and will take place in Seville and Linares.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Let's continue to talk about the seventh Melody Amber tournament this week. As you already know, the Melody Amber was actually two tournaments in one. In each round, the participants were required two games against the same opponent: one was a Rapid Chess game and the other, a blindfold game.

Because of these unusual circumstances, you cannot expect the quality of these games to be as good as those played in normal events such as the Linares or Tilburg. Still, these top players were able to produce some interesting chess.

There have been some good games in the tournament, such as the seventh round games between Viswanathan Anand and Loek van Wely which featured attractive sacrificial attacks down the h-file with each player winning with the white pieces.

In the eighth round, Alexei Shirov and Veselin Topalov revisited Gary Kasparov's 9...h5 novelty from his last-round game in Linares. Shirov immediately played a new move, 10 Nd5, but Topalov appeared to equalise easily. Topalov missed several opportunities and was probably even winning with his passed g-pawn at one point. However, Shirov was the one who inflicted the finishing blows in the game.

Finally, check out Vassily Ivanchuk's cute winning tactic against Vladimir Kramnik in their seventh-round blindfold game.

Loek van Wely - Viswanathan Anand, Round 7

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 c5 10. Qc2 Rb8 11. b3 b5 12. Bb2 e5 13. Rae1 h5 14. Nd1 h4 15. e4 hxg3 16. hxg3 Ng4 17. Bc3 Bh6 18. f3 Nf6 19. f4 Ng4 20. Nf2 Bg7 21. Bf3 Nxf2 22. Rxf2 Nb7 23. Rh2 Qe7 24. Kg2 Bd7 25. Reh1 Nd8 26. Nf1 f6 27. Ne3 Nf7 28. Bg4 bxc4 29. bxc4 Bxg4 30. Nxg4 Qd7 31. Ne3 Rb7 32. f5 g5 33. Ng4 Rfb8 34. Rh7 Kf8 35. Kf3 a5 36. Ke3 Rb4 37. Bxb4 axb4 38. Rxg7 Kxg7 39. Rh7+ Kf8 40. Nh6 1-0

Viswanathan Anand - Loek van Wely, Round 7

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. f4 O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Bd7 13. Nb3 b6 14. g4 Bc8 15. g5 Nd7 16. Bg2 Bb7 17. Qg4 Nb4 18. Rf2 Bf8 19. Rd1 g6 20. Qg3 Rac8 21. Rfd2 d5 22. e5 Nc5 23. Nd4 Ne4 24. Nxe4 dxe4 25. Ne2 Bc6 26. Nc3 Qb7 27. h4 b5 28. axb5 axb5 29. h5 Na6 30. Qh3 Bb4 31. Kg1 Bxc3 32. bxc3 Bd5 33. hxg6 fxg6 34. Bxe4 Nc7 35. Bxg6 hxg6 36. Rh2 1-0

Alexei Shirov - Vesselin Topalov, Round 8

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. f4 e5 9. Nf5 h5 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Qxd5 Nc6 12. O-O-O Be6 13. Nxd6+ Bxd6 14. Qxd6 Bxg4 15. Qxd8+ Nxd8 16. Rd6 exf4 17. Bxf4 Ne6 18. Be5 Bf3 19. Rg1 Bxe4 20. Bh3 Rd8 21. Rb6 Bc6 22. Rb3 Rg8 23. Re3 g6 24. Bf6 Rd6 25. c4 Kf8 26. Rf1 Bd7 27. b3 g5 28. Be5 Rc6 29. Bg2 g4 30. Rd3 Be8 31. Bd6+ Kg7 32. Rf5 Kg6 33. Ra5 f5 34. Rd2 Ng5 35. Bxc6 Bxc6 36. Bf4 Ne4 37. Rd4 h4 38. b4 g3 39. hxg3 hxg3 40. b5 g2 41. Be3 axb5 42. cxb5 Be8 43. b6 Bc6 44. Rd1 Rh8 45. Re5 Nc3 46. Rd6+ Kf7 47. Rxf5+ Ke7 48. Rg6 Rh1+ 49. Kd2 Rf1 50. Rh5 Ne4+ 51. Kc2 Nf6 52. Rh4 Kf7 53. Rg5 Nd5 54. Bd4 Nf6 55. Rh6 Be4+ 56. Kd2 Ne8 57. Rg4 Rh1 58. Rf4+ Kg8 59. Re6 Bc6 60. Rxc6 bxc6 61. Rg4+ Kf7 62. Rxg2 Nd6 63. Kc2 Ke6 64. a4 Kd5 65. Bg1 c5 66. a5 Kc6 67. Rg6 Kb7 68. Rxd6 Rxg1 69. Rd7+ Kc8 70. Rc7+ Kb8 71. a6 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk - Vladimir Kramnik, Round 7

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. b3 Ba6 11. Bb2 Rc8 12. Nd2 d4 13. Rfe1 c5 14. e3 e5 15. Nf3 Bd6 16. Rad1 Re8 17. exd4 cxd4 18. Ng5 g6 19. f4 Bc5 20. Qd2 Qb6 21. fxe5 Bb4 22. Qf2 Bxe1 23. Rxe1 d3 24. Bd4 Qd8 25. Nxf7 Ng4 26. Qf4 Qa5 27. Rf1 Rf8 28. e6 Qh5 29. Qxg4 1-0

 

Asian highlights up Genting Highlands

The Malaysian Chess Federation has released its latest list of foreign federations that have responded to the invitation to play in the Asian cities team championship next month. The list looks interesting, and it is definitely an indication that we shall see a lot of good chess up in Genting Highlands.

Several of the federations are putting up possibly their best line-up of players. Although these are supposed to be only city teams, they are in reality their national teams in disguise! It reflects the seriousness which these federations are placing onto the championship.

Kazakhstan, for instance, has entered their Almaty team which will feature four grandmasters and one international master. The line-up is impressive. Almaty's first board player is GM Ruslan Irzhanov and his other team-mates are GM Pavel Kotsur, GM Serik Temirbaev, GM Bolat Asanov and IM Murtas Kazhgaleyev.

I do remember seeing Irzhanov playing on a much lower board three years ago when the Asian team championship was organised in Singapore. He is a very serious player, always pacing the tournament hall, thinking with his eyes peeled to the ground, whenever his opponent was thinking. I think we shall see more of his pacing in Genting.

Another team which has an impressive line-up is Tashkent, from Uzbekistan. Theirs is a six-player team comprising GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Mihail Saltaev, GM Saidali Yuldachev, GM Sergey Zagrebelny, IM Dmitry Kaiumov and IM Vladimir Egin.

Saltaev, Yuldachev and Zagrebelny are no strangers to our shores as they have played in several other Asian-level team events here in the past six or seven years. Of course, the Tashkent team is missing Alexander Nenashev, currently their top player, but I believe that even without Nenashev, the Tashkent team will be challenging for the top prize.

Despite the economic difficulties facing the Indonesians now, the Jakarta line-up is practically that of the Indonesian national team. GM Utut Adianto will be here, as also GM Ruben Gunawan and GM Edhi Handoko. These three players are the mainstays of any Indonesian team line-up. In Genting, they will be joined by IM Barus Cerdas (another regular face in the Indonesian team) and Sebastian Simanjuntak.

China will be represented in the Asian cities team championship by the Shijiazhuang team. This team, unfortunately, is not the best that China can assemble. I am surprised that they have not taken the effort to send a stronger combination. Still, they have GM Peng Xiaomin in the team, and also IM Zhang Zhong, FM Zhang Pengxiang and FM Wang Rui, apart from two unrated players in Zhang Dingneng and Hong Kemin.

But I suppose we cannot exactly write off the Chinese from winning one of the lesser honours in this team event. The two Fide Masters, for instance, are definitely no pushovers if their ratings can be taken as an indication. Their ratings are quite high, for example, Zhang Pengziang is rated at 2420.

Despite earlier indications to the contrary, Sydney is sending only a four-player team to Malaysia. The much-touted GM Ian Rogers who was supposed to be leading the Australians, is missing from the line-up. In his absence, Tim Reilly will be playing on the top board for the Sydney team. Their other players are Matthew Drummond, Adrian Lloyd and Brett Tindall.

The Singapore team line-up is rather enigmatic. Surely there are much more experienced players than Foo Hsiang Ming, Mark Chan, Navin Sawalani and Clement Chia? A surprise inclusion in this team is the septuagenarian Dr Lim Kok Ann. I do hope he really turns up to play in Genting, for his presence will be clear demonstration that chess can be for people of all ages.

I see two familiar names among the Auckland team members: that of Robert Gibbons and Peter Goffin. I have not seen them for more than 20 years. I think the last time I met them was in Penang and that was during the time of the first Asian team chess championship in 1974! The Auckland team also comprises Paul Spiller, Hilton Bennet and Barbara Mckinney.

According to the list from the Malaysian Chess Federation, the other city teams that shall be playing in Genting Highland are Beirut, Dubai and Sharjah (both from the United Arab Emirates), Delhi, Manila , Doha (from Qatar), Tehran and Talesh (both from Iran), Yangon and Hongkong.

I shall really welcome the presence of Hongkong in this event, for it clearly shows that the Hongkong Chess Federation remains a separate entity from the Chinese Chess Association. It is an example of China's "one country, two systems" policy extended to sports.

Meanwhile, there are 16 names in the list of players for the Asian women's championship which shall be held at the same time in Genting. Half of the 16 participants will be titled players and they will be led by WGM Eva Repkova of Lebanon. As the only woman grandmaster in the field and also the highest rated, Repkova must be the hot favourite to win the tournament.

The woman international masters are defending champion Tamin Upi Darmayana (Indonesia), former champions Anupama Gokhale and Bhagyashree Thipsay Sathe (both from India), and Maria Lucia Ratna Sulista (Indonesia).

Then there is also an old friend of Malaysia, woman Fide master Angela Khegai (Uzbekistan). She has been in Malaysia so many times that it is quite possible that some people have mistakened her for a local player. Two other WFMs in the tournament will be Rena Mamedova (also from Uzbekistan) and Ngan Phan Koshnitsky (Australia). Ngan Phan is the daughter-in-law of two old Australian friends of mine, Garry and Evelyn Koshnitsky.

The other foreign players in this tournament are Irina Gorshkova of Uzbekistan, Maria Sergeeva of Kazakhstan and Cynthia Yap of Singapore.

One familiar name for Malaysians will be that of Elaine Chong. Originally from Kuala Lumpur, Elaine now resides in New South Wales and will represent Australia in this tournament. She was the Australian girls' champion last year.

The four Malaysian representatives in the Asian women's championship will be Roslina Marmono, Nurul Huda Wahiduddin, Samantha Lee and Lim Jeannie.

AMBER TOURNAMENT

There is an interesting tournament now taking place in Monaco. The Amber tournament, now in its seventh year, features 12 players locked in battle over Rapid Chess and blindfold chess.

After eight rounds of the event, Alexei Shirov is leading the Rapid Chess section with six points and he is followed closely behind by Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Anatoly Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk with five points each, Loek van Wely and Vladimir Kramnik with 4 1/2 points each, Matthew Sadler with four points, Jeroen Piket, Vesselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand and Joel Lautier with three points each, and Predrag Nikolic with two points.

Topalov, Anand and Ivanchuk with five points each, Lautier and Shirov with 4 1/2 points each, Piket and van Wely with four points each, Ljubojevic and Karpov with 3 1/2 points each, Nikolic with 2 1/2 points, and Sadler with a half point.

The winner of the tournament will be the person with the best combined scores. Thus, after eight rounds, the honours are currently being shared by Kramnik and Shirov who have each amassed 10 1/2 points. Ivanchuk still has chances to catch up with the duo since he is only a half-point behind them.

Readers with Internet access can go to http://www.tasc.nl/amber7 to view the details of this rather unique tournament.

UNIVERSITY TOURNAMENT

The International Islamic University Malaysia will organise a team tournament at the Hotel Midah in Kuala Lumpur on April 18 and 19. The university's chess club is organising the event together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and Hotel Midah.

Cash prizes totalling more than RM4,000 will be offered to the winners. The champion team will also get custody of the Dato Sabaruddin Chik challenge trophy.

Entry fees are RM120 for universities and other inistutions of higher learning, RM100 for schools and RM150 for public teams.

For more details, contact Azlan of the IIU (tel: 03-681-4052 after 4pm) or Linda of Hotel Midah (tel: 03-273-9999 ext 617)

 

Lining up for Asian meet

With the Asian cities team championship due to start in little less than a month's time, the Malaysian Chess Federation has announced that there will be two local teams participating in the event.

Tentatively slotted in for the Kuala Lumpur team, which is practically the national team itself, are Mas Hafizulhelmi, Jimmy Liew, Mok Tze Meng, Lim Yee Weng, Ismail Ahmad and Mohd Azahari.

The players for the second team, representing Penang which won last year's Merdeka team championship state title, are Chuah Heng Meng, Yeoh Chin Seng, Goh Yoon Wah, Lim Chuin Hoong, Teng Wei Ping and Tan Hong Ghee.

In the event that any of them are unable to play, their replacements will be picked from the reserve list comprising Ng Tze Han, Ghalam Sani, Wong Ji Zing, Ng Ee Vern, Tan Wei Sin and Mohd Saprin Sabri.

According to the MCF secretary, Abdul Hamid Majid, the other countries that have indicated interest in sending their city teams to this event are Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, India, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Hong Kong SAR, Qatar, Iran, Indonesia, Myanmar and Australia.

The Asian cities event is one of two events which shall be organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort in Genting Highlands starting April 8.

The other event is the Asian women's chess championship. So far, Lebanon's woman grandmaster Eva Repkova and Uzbekistan's woman international master Memedova look almost certain to join the current champion, Upi Tamin Darmayana of Indonesia, and the previous winner, Bhagyashree Thipsay of India, in the line-up.

Malaysia's representatives in this event are tentatively Eliza Hanim Ibrahim, Samantha Lee and Roslina Marmono, while those on the reserve list are Eliza Hanum Ibrahim, Lim Jeannie and Nurulhuda Wahiduddin.

The Asian cities and the Asian women's events are sponsored by Resorts World Berhad. The Dubai Chess Club has also committed US$25,000 towards the cost of the Asian cities team championship.

The daily results of the two championships will be made available to Internet surfers who visit the official Asian cities homepage when the two events start next month. The address for the homepage is http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/

PENANG HOMEPAGE

Internet surfers can also visit the Penang Chess Association's homepage which was launched earlier this week by the association's president, Dr Toh Kin Woon, who is also a Penang state executive councillor.

By a coincidence, both the PCA and the Asian cities homepages are hosted by the Geocities web server. The address for the PCA homepage is http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/

Dr Toh, in a statement at the launch, said Penang chessplayers living overseas can now learn a little more about recent chess events in their home state. The homepage will also cover some national or international events that involve Penang chessplayers.

He said one of the first reports on the homepage touched on the PCA Canggih international open chess championship which the PCA organised last year in conjunction with its 25th anniversary. In later weeks, there shall be more interesting features added to this website.

PFS OPEN

The Penang Free School Chess Club will be organising their annual PFS open tournament on Mar 22 beginning 8am.

This is an eight-round event and it will be played in the school hall. Entry fee is RM5 per person if you register by the eve of the event, and RM7 per person on the day of the tournament.

There are eight cash prizes, and the first prize winner will receive RM200 and a challenge trophy. Trophies will also be given to the best under-10, under-12, under-15 and under-18 players.

Time control for the tournament will be 20 minutes per player for each game in the first two rounds, and 25 minutes per player for each game in the subsequent rounds.

Registration can be made on-line to pfsopen@usa.net or alternatively, anyone interested can contact Lim Lih Fong (tel: 04-228-5045) or Teoh Soon Siang (tel: 04-828-2382).

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has won the Linares super-grandmaster tournament in Spain. In the final round on Monday, he comfortably held Vladimir Kramnik to a draw with the black pieces.

Gary Kasparov, who was looking for a win to boost his standings in the tournament, could not make any headway against Alexei Shirov and had to agree to a draw when their game ended after 17 moves.

The third game of the final round of the tournament between Veselin Topalov and Vassily Ivanchuk also ended drawn. Due to the tournament having an odd number of players, Svidler rested in this round with a bye.

The final standings: Anand 7 1/2 points, Shirov 7 points, Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik 6 1/2 points each, Peter Svidler 5 1/2 points, Vassily Ivanchuk 5 points, and Veselin Topalov 4 points.

In the last two weeks, I had been recommending the official tournament web site at http://www.elpais.es/p/d/ajedrez3/1998/english.htm to readers with Internet access. There is, however, a more interesting unofficial site at http://www.ishipress.com/linares.htm.

This site gave a comprehensive day-by-day account of the tournament and although the Linares event has ended, it is not too late to visit it for a final round-up. My appreciation goes to meilin@tm.net.my for pointing me to this site.

Here are more interesting games from the event.

Alexei Shirov - Peter Svidler, Round 6

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be3 e5, 7. Nb3 Be6, 8. Qd2 Nbd7, 9. f3 h5, 10. O-O-O Rc8, 11. Kb1 Be7, 12. Nd5 Bxd5, 13. exd5 Nb6, 14. Bxb6 Qxb6, 15. g3 O-O, 16. Bh3 Ra8, 17. Rhe1 a5, 18. a4 Qc7, 19. Bf1 Rfc8, 20. Bb5 Bf8, 21. f4 exf4, 22. gxf4 Qb6, 23. Re2 Ne8, 24. f5 Nc7, 25. f6 g6, 26. Bd7 Rd8, 27. Be6 Re8, 28. Qg5 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk - Vesselin Topalov, Round 7

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be3 e5, 7. Nb3 Be6, 8. f3 Be7, 9. Qd2 Nbd7, 10. g4 h6, 11. O-O-O b5, 12. Kb1 Nb6, 13. Na5 Qc7, 14. Bxb6 Qxb6, 15. Nd5 Bxd5, 16. exd5 Rc8, 17. b4 O-O, 18. h4 Rc7, 19. Bh3 Nh7, 20. Bg2 Rfc8, 21. Nc6 Nf6, 22. f4 Nxg4, 23. Bh3 h5, 24. Rhg1 f5, 25. fxe5 dxe5, 26. Rgf1 Rf8, 27. Nxe7+ Rxe7, 28. d6 Ref7, 29. Bxg4 hxg4, 30. Qd5 f4, 31. Qxe5 g3, 32. Qd5 Qb7, 33. Qxb7 Rxb7, 34. d7 Rxd7, 35. Rxd7 f3, 36. Rdd1 f2, 37. Rg1 fxg1=Q, 38. Rxg1 Rf3, 39. Kc1 Kh7, 40. Kd1 Kh6, 41. Ke2 Rc3, 42. Kd2 Ra3, 43. c3 g2, 44. Ke2 Rxa2+, 45. Kf3 Kh5, 46. Kg3 Rc2, 47. Ra1 Rxc3+, 48. Kxg2 Rc4, 49. Rxa6 Rxh4, 50. Ra7 g6, 51. Rh7+ Kg5, 52. Rxh4 Kxh4 0-1

Alexei Shirov - Vassily Ivanchuk, Round 9

1. e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 dxe4, 4. Nxe4 Nd7, 5. Ng5 Ndf6, 6. Bc4 e6, 7. Qe2 Bd6, 8. Bd2 Qc7, 9. O-O-O b6, 10. N1f3 h6, 11. Nh3 Ne7, 12. Ne5 c5, 13. Bb5+ Kf8, 14. Nc4 cxd4, 15. Nxd6 Qxd6, 16. Bf4 Qd5, 17. Be5 Nf5, 18. c4 Qc5, 19. Qf3 Qxe5, 20. Qxa8 Qc7, 21. Qc6 Qb8, 22. Qf3 Bb7, 23. Qa3+ Kg8, 24. f3 g5, 25. Ba4 e5, 26. Rhe1 Kg7, 27. Bc2 Nh4, 28. Rd2 Rc8, 29. Kb1 Rxc4, 30. Ng1 Rc5, 31. g3 Ra5, 32. Qd3 Ng6, 33. Bb3 Qd6, 34. Rc2 e4, 35. Qc4 Ne5, 36. Qc7 Qb4, 37. Rd1 Bd5, 38. Bxd5 Rxd5, 39. fxe4 Nxe4, 40. a3 Qb5, 41. Ka2 d3, 42. Rcc1 d2, 43. Rc2 Nd3, 44. Rcxd2 Rc5, 45. Qd8 Qc4+, 46. b3 Nc3+, 47. Ka1 Ra5 0-1