Triumph of man

Of all the traditional board games in the world - chess, checkers (or draughts), go and backgammon - I believe chess represents one of the greatest challenges to computer programmers.

The number of positions and transpositions in a chess game is almost limitless; and the innumerable tactical and strategical nuances at every stage of a game have ensured that chess retains its full intricacy and beauty.

The ideal chess game remains to be played and unlike checkers or backgammon, the mysteries of chess are far from being solved or unraveled. Computers have come a long way in helping man to understand the complexity of chess but as Gary Kasparov had demonstrated in defeating IBM's Deep Blue chess computer last month, the ideal chess-playing computer or programme remains to be built.

It is true that Deep Blue is the strongest chess-playing computer in the world today. Based on its limited six-game performance against Kasparov in Philadelphia, USA, the average rating of Deep Blue is probably around 2650 points - placing it at about the level of the top 50 to 60 best players in the world currently.

But Deep Blue is still a machine; despite its one million transistors and an impressive array of RAM and ROM blocks which enable it to analyse two to three million positions per second, Deep Blue still calculates everything by brute force.

In any given position, Deep Blue still has to analyse and compute all possible moves several plys deep irregardless of whether they are good or bad. It lacks the basic instinct or intuition not to analyse the bad moves.

As a very basic comparison, let us take the starting position of a chess game. The human player will always reject moves like 1. h3 or 1. f3 as his first move, because he knows that these moves are bad and do not help in the development of his pieces.

However, a typical chess-playing computer or software will always include the analysis of all bad moves as well as the time-honoured "good" moves like 1. e4 or 1. d4 everytime it evaluates the position.

Of course, it is very likely that sophisticated machines like Deep Blue and other strong commercially available software would have been pre-programmed to reject such moves at the start of a game.

But when a game has already been played several moves, the choices open to the human mind or the computer brain are almost limitless. Here, the computer has to evaluate every possible move - good or bad - until it arrives at what it perceives to be its strongest continuation, and plays the move.

On the other hand, the human player only has to look at the chess board and he can decide, from applying common chess principles, which are the good and bad positions. He recognises and rejects the obvious bad moves.

Intuition tells him which are the likely moves, then he concentrates on the analysis and plays what he thinks will be the best continuation. Because of this intuitive gift - the ability to separate bad from good - chess players generally do not have to think many moves ahead in a chess position.

Now, during Kasparov's match with Deep Blue, he was asked how many moves ahead did he anticipate. According to Kasparov, it would depend on the position. Normally, he claimed to calculate only three to five moves ahead.

"You don't need more but in a position where there is a forced line (of play), even with our incomplete brains, I can make probably 10, 12 or 14 moves. That is something you can do but you don't do it very often. I would say it is five moves, but I can go much deeper if it is required."

To non-chess players, this answer would generate surprise but chess players would generally be less surprised to learn that Kasparov is not that much different from ordinary folks like you and I, except that he uses his faculties much more efficiently.

See where this ability has led him. By Malaysian standards, Kasparov has added another RM1 million (US$400,000) to his bank account just by beating Deep Blue 4-2. He is already a millionaire several times over.

At the end of the match, American international master Maurice Ashley commented that the main question facing computer chess programmers was how to make the computer think more selectively. What was clear from Kasparov's feat was the human capability to stay ahead of the computer.

After Kasparov's loss in the first game, he learnt to change his attacking play to a more positionally-based squeeze style which seemed very effective.

American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan said Kasparov learned very quickly. From the first game to the next, Kasparov looked stronger and stronger, even in the drawn third and fourth games.

Seirawan agreed that Kasparov overcame the difficult task of changing his style of play, like asking a baseball pitcher to pitch left-handed when he is a righty.

"He loves tactics. He relishes a good tactical slugfest, he goes on the offensive at the drop of a hat, he loves attacking his opponent's king, and he had to put all these away and play a much different kind of chess. He did it extraordinarily well; it was not an easy thing to do at all."

The Deep Blue team, managed by Chung-Jen Tan and consisting of computer scientists Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Murray S. Campbell, A. Joseph Hoane Jr, and Gershon Brody, deserves credit for having developed this computing giant but it is obvious that many more years of work lies ahead of them if they hope to compete with a Kasparov who now understands very well how to exploit the gaping silicon holes.

At the end of the match, Tan admitted that one of the biggest problems with Deep Blue was its inability to learn from its mistakes. The machine has no intelligence of its own. Until Artificial Intelligence research can solve this problem, no algorithm will be able to beat a human chess player in match play.

In the fifth and sixth games, Deep Blue was made to look very bad by Kasparov. Seirawan even ventured to say that Kasparov had solved the riddle of the computer. Kasparov said that in those two games, he created positions where the machine had very little chance to utilise its strengths. He agreed that the fact that he could learn quickly contributed mostly to his success.

The Deep Blue team is based at the IBM Research Division's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. The Deep Blue-Kasparov match at the Philadelphia Convention Center was organised by the Association of Computing Machinery in conjunction with the association's 50th anniversary celebrations this year.

MALAYSIA-INDIA SHOWDOWN

The Malaysian Chess Federation are staging a 12-round Scheveningen-style match featuring three top local players against three Indian international masters.

The match at the Hotel Sucasa in Kuala Lumpur started yesterday and will continue until next Friday.

Representing Malaysia are FM Mas Hafizulhelmi, Ooi Chern Ee and Mok Tze Meng, while the foreign visitors are IM Lanka Ravi, IM PS Mithrakanth and IM K Murugan.

Two rounds beginning 8.30am and 4.30pm will be played on most days, but there is only be an afternoon game today while Monday will be a rest day. The match is sponsored by MCF honorary life president Dato' Tan Chin Nam. Spectators are welcome.

USM TRONOH OPEN

The Tronoh campus of the Universiti Sains Malaysia will hold the second USM open individual tournament tomorrow at its multipurpose hall.

This will be a six-round event starting at 9.30am. Participants are required to register with the organisers at 8am.

This one-day event is organised in conjunction with the 10th anniversary celebration of the Tronoh campus. Entry fee is RM10 and seven cash prizes will be offered. The top three winners will also receive trophies. For more details, contact Mohd Jamil Yahya.

Meanwhile, teams taking part in the annual USM open team tournament in Penang tomorrow are reminded to be at the playing hall by 2pm. The six-round event will be played over two days.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Deep Blue - Gary Kasparov, Game 5

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qf3 Be7 12. Rae1 Re8 13. Ne2 h6 14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Nd4 Bg4 16. Qg3 Bxf4 17. Qxf4 Qb6 18. c4 Bd7 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Qd2 Ne4 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. b3 Rd8 24. Qc3 f5 25. Rd1 Be6 26. Qe3 Bf7 27. Qc3 f4 28. Rd2 Qf6 29. g3 Rd5 30. a3 Kh7 31. Kg2 Qe5 32. f3 e3 33. Rd3 e2 34. gxf4 e1/Q 35. fxe5 Qxc3 36. Rxc3 Rxd4 37. b4 Bc4 38. Kf2 g5 39. Re3 Be6 40. Rc3 Bc4 41. Re3 Rd2+ 42. Ke1 Rd3 43. Kf2 Kg6 44. Rxd3 Bxd3 45. Ke3 Bc2 46. Kd4 Kf5 47. Kd5 h5 0-1

Gary Kasparov - Deep Blue, Game 6

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. e3 c5 6. b3 Nc6 7. Bb2 cxd4 8. exd4 Be7 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Bd3 Bd7 11. O-O Nh5 12. Re1 Nf4 13. Bb1 Bd6 14. g3 Ng6 15. Ne5 Rc8 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. Nf3 Bb4 18. Re3 Rfd8 19. h4 Nge7 20. a3 Ba5 21. b4 Bc7 22. c5 Rde8 23. Qd3 g6 24. Re2 Nf5 25. Bc3 h5 26. b5 Nce7 27. Bd2 Kg7 28. a4 Ra8 29. a5 a6 30. b6 Bb8 31. Bc2 Nc6 32. Ba4 Re7 33. Bc3 Ne5 34. dxe5 Qxa4 35. Nd4 Nxd4 36. Qxd4 Qd7 37. Bd2 Re8 38. Bg5 Rc8 39. Bf6+ Kh7 40. c6 bxc6 41. Qc5 Kh6 42. Rb2 Qb7 43. Rb4 1-0

Zsuzsa Polgar is the new women's world champion. The remaining games from her match with Xie Jun will be covered next week.

 

A slick move...

Chess players with Internet access can now download the popular SLICS22f.exe shareware programme from the local Jaring server. To download this file, you should either use an ftp programme like WSFTP or CuteFTP, or you can also ftp from within your web browser.

SLICS22f.exe is the most popular windows shareware programme that is used to access the Internet Chess Club and other on-line chess servers. It was the official programme used for the international G-7 tournament held in Halifax last year. Intel Corporation had also selected SLICS22f for use by Gary Kasparov in his virtual simultaneous chess exhibition on the Internet Chess Club last December.

According to its programmer Don Fong, SLICS22f can be used to view ascii game files from many different sources. It is also possible to use it as a Netscape helper application to view games.

If you are satisfied with using SLICS22f, remember that it is a shareware programme and you are supposed to register with the programmer. A contribution of US$5 (about RM13) or more is required.

USM CHALLENGE

The Universiti Sains Malaysia's Bridge and Chess Club will organise its annual USM open team tournament on Mar 2 and 3. This is a six-round event using a 60-minute time control per player for each game.

Three rounds will be played on each day with the first round on Mar 2 starting at 2pm, the second round at 4.30pm and the third round at 8pm. On Mar 3, the games will be played at 8am, 10.30am and 2pm, followed by a closing ceremony at 4.30pm.

Entry fees are RM60 for schools and RM100 for other teams. Each organisation or institution can field a maximum of three teams. A first prize of RM800 is offered to the winning team with RM500 to the runners-up. There are three other cash prizes.

For details, contact Gaik Ling. Closing date is Feb 29.

PFS Open

This is a reminder that the sixth Penang Free School open chess tournament will be held at the school on March 24. This will be played over seven rounds and cash prizes - including a RM200 first prize - will be given to the top 10 players. There will also be various category prizes.

Entry fees are RM4 for players who are under 20 years old and RM6 for others. The closing date for entries is Mar 3.

To register for the event, contact Liong Ing Kiat or Lim Cheng Teik in the evenings. Alternatively, you can register electronically with Ronnie Lau at rlau@pl.jaring.my.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

This week, we shall look at two more games from the Gary Kasparov versus Deep Blue match at the Philadephia Convention Center, USA. Although these two games were drawn, they were not without their interesting moments.

The stake is the US$500,000 (about RM1,275,000) prize fund offered by the Association of Computing Machinery which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. To the winner of the six-game match goes US$400,000 (about RM1 million) while the loser gets US$100,000 (about RM275,000).

Deep Blue and Kasparov played to a draw in the third game to leave the match tied at 1 1/2-1 1/2. Deep Blue tried to capitalise on an early initiative but was unable to gain any edge due to Kasparov's sturdy defence.

Kasparov engaged the computer in a wholesale liquidation of their pieces, skipping the middlegame and jumping into a straightforward endgame. Even though Kasparov built an advantage in his position, the computer played skillfully enough to neutralize any positional manuevering.

In Game 4, Deep Blue proved its mettle by drawing with the black pieces. This was an open game and Kasparov seemed frustrated by his inability to mount an attack against the unassailable machine. Towards the end of the middle game, things started to look a little dicey for Kasparov.

As the first time control approached, the additional pressure of the clock seemed to weigh heavily on Kasparov. But once he reached the time control, he was able to formulate a plan which ensured him the draw.

Deep Blue's team once refused his draw offer, but it finally relinquished hope of a win after Kasparov initiated a clever rook sacrifice for his opponent's knight and pawn. Deep Blue's slight material advantage could not be exploited because of the threat of a back rank mate. The game was drawn by mutual agreement.

Deep Blue - Gary Kasparov, Game 3

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4 10. a3 Ba5 11. Nc3 Qd6 12. Ne5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nxe5 15. Bf4 Nf3+ 16. Qxf3 Qd5 17. Qd3 Rc8 18. Rfc1 Qc4 19. Qxc4 Rxc4 20. Rcb1 b6 21. Bb8 Ra4 22. Rb4 Ra5 23. Rc4 O-O 24. Bd6 Ra8 25. Rc6 b5 26. Kf1 Ra4 27. Rb1 a6 28. Ke2 h5 29. Kd3 Rd8 30. Be7 Rd7 31. Bxf6 gxf6 32. Rb3 Kg7 33. Ke3 e5 34. g3 exd4+ 35. cxd4 Re7+ 36. Kf3 Rd7 37. Rd3 Raxd4 38. Rxd4 Rxd4 39. Rxa6 b4 1/2-1/2

Gary Kasparov - Deep Blue, Game 4

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. e4 dxe4 8. Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Bxe4 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Bc2 e5 12. Re1 exd4 13. Qxd4 Bc5 14. Qc3 a5 15. a3 Nf6 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Bg4 18. Ne5 Re8 19. Rae1 Be6 20. f4 Qc8 21. h3 b5 22. f5 Bxc4 23. Nxc4 bxc4 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Re4 Nf6 26. Rxc4 Nd5 27. Qe5 Qd7 28. Rg4 f6 29. Qd4 Kh7 30. Re4 Rd8 31. Kh1 Qc7 32. Qf2 Qb8 33. Ba4 c5 34. Bc6 c4 35. Rxc4 Nb4 36. Bf3 Nd3 37. Qh4 Qxb2 38. Qg3 Qxa3 39. Rc7 Qf8 40. Ra7 Ne5 41. Rxa5 Qf7 42. Rxe5 fxe5 43. Qxe5 Re8 44. Qf4 Qf6 45. Bh5 Rf8 46. Bg6+ Kh8 47. Qc7 Qd4 48. Kh2 Ra8 49. Bh5 Qf6 50. Bg6 Rg8 1/2-1/2

 

Into the deep blue

Two significant events now taking place in the United States and Spain have made this a very special week for chess. Readers who followED this column last week would know what I mean.

The first event is, of course, the US$500,000 (about RM1.25 million) man-against-machine challenge in Philadelphia between Gary Kasparov and the IBM chess supercomputer known as Deep Blue.

Unlike previous encounters between man and chess machines or programmes where the games used to be of the 30-minute or 60-minute variety, this match is, for the first time, played according to normal regulation time control.

Each player is allowed two hours for his first 40 moves and this is followed by another hour's play of another 20 moves if the game has not finished by the fourth hour.

With this time control when there is more time for the man to think, Kasparov is expected to show a marked superiority over the computer. But the first game has shown otherwise.

It was history in the making last Saturday when Deep Blue beat Kasparov in the first game of the six-game match. Kasparov was outplayed by Deep Blue which succeeded in breaking up the former's kingside defences before it launched a devastating attack on his king.

However, in the second game on Sunday, Kasparov managed to grind out a long and protracted win in the endgame against Deep Blue. After two games, the score stands at 1-1.

Obviously, Deep Blue must be very special if it is capable of posing so much problems to Kasparov. According to IBM, the computer contains more than one million transistors; it has 48 RAM blocks and three Endgame ROM blocks. These blocks enable Deep Blue to analyse two to three million chess positions per second.

The largest two RAM blocks have 1024x10 bits each and are used to store the values of the chess pieces on each square of the chess board. The largest of the endgame ROM blocks has 128,000x1 bits and it stores the win/draw information for all known king-and-pawn versus king endings.

In a nutshell, Deep Blue is a computational engine capable of examining a billion moves in a second. It is a massive parallel, special-purpose system with an overall processing speed that is 1000 times faster than Deep Thought which was the original chess computer developed by the Deep Blue team in 1986.

For the record, after Deep Thought came Deep Thought II which was 10 times faster. Deep Thought II, later called Deep Blue Prototype, was capable of analysing more than seven million chess positions per second.

The Deep Blue development team, managed by Chung-Jen Tan, is based at the IBM Research Division's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. The team consists of computer scientists Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Murray S. Campbell, A. Joseph Hoane Jr, and Gershon Brody.

SHOWDOWN IN SPAIN

The huge media publicity over the match in Philadelphia has, unfortunately, eclipsed another chess event which is taking place in Spain. The Spanish town of Jaen is the venue of the women's world chess championship match between defending champion Xie Jun and her challenger, Zsuzsa Polgar.

Last week, I postulated that the match would be very close and it would be difficult for Polgar to wrest the title from Xie. Nothing could be farther than reality!

In this match, it is a sorrowful Xie Jun who has her back to the wall. The match is almost over for her and the score stands at 5 1/2-2 1/2 in Polgar's favour after eight games.

Xie's only win was in the first game. She then proceeded to lose the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth games. The other games were drawn.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

This week's selection of games are from the matches in Phildelphia and Jaen. More will follow next week.

Deep Blue - Gary Kasparov, Game 1

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. O-O Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bb4 11. a3 Ba5 12. Nc3 Qd6 13. Nb5 Qe7 14. Ne5 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 O-O 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Bg5 Bb6 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Nc4 Rfd8 20. Nxb6 axb6 21. Rfd1 f5 22. Qe3 Qf6 23. d5 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 exd5 25. b3 Kh8 26. Qxb6 Rg8 27. Qc5 d4 28. Nd6 f4 29. Nxb7 Ne5 30. Qd5 f3 31. g3 Nd3 32. Rc7 Re8 33. Nd6 Re1+ 34. Kh2 Nxf2 35. Nxf7+ Kg7 36. Ng5+ Kh6 37. Rxh7+ 1-0

Gary Kasparov - Deep Blue, Game 2

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 dxc4 7. Ne5 Bd7 8. Na3 cxd4 9. Naxc4 Bc5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Qxb7 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Rb8 13. Qf3 Bd6 14. Nc6 Bxc6 15. Qxc6 e5 16. Rb1 Rb6 17. Qa4 Qb8 18. Bg5 Be7 19. b4 Bxb4 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Qd7 Qc8 22. Qxa7 Rb8 23. Qa4 Bc3 24. Rxb8 Qxb8 25. Be4 Qc7 26. Qa6 Kg7 27. Qd3 Rb8 28. Bxh7 Rb2 29. Be4 Rxa2 30. h4 Qc8 31. Qf3 Ra1 32. Rxa1 Bxa1 33. Qh5 Qh8 34. Qg4 Kf8 35. Qc8 Kg7 36. Qg4 Kf8 37. Bd5 Ke7 38. Bc6 Kf8 39. Bd5 Ke7 40. Qf3 Bc3 41. Bc4 Qc8 42. Qd5 Qe6 43. Qb5 Qd7 44. Qc5+ Qd6 45. Qa7 Qd7 46. Qa8 Qc7 47. Qa3+ Qd6 48. Qa2 f5 49. Bxf7 e4 50. Bh5 Qf6 51. Qa3+ Kd7 52. Qa7 Kd8 53. Qb8+ Kd7 54. Be8+ Ke7 55. Bb5 Bd2 56. Qc7+ Kf8 57. Bc4 Bc3 58. Kg2 Be1 59. Kf1 Bc3 60. f4 exf3 61. exf3 Bd2 62. f4 Ke8 63. Qc8+ Ke7 64. Qc5 Kd8 65. Bd3 Be3 66. Qxf5 Qc6 67. Qf8+ Kc7 68. Qe7+ Kc8 69. Bf5+ Kb8 70. Qd8+ Kb7 71. Qd7+ Qxd7 72. Bxd7 Kc7 73. Bb5 1-0

Xie Jun - Zsuzsa Polgar, Game 4

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Qb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. Qd2 Be7 9. f3 O-O 10. g4 Rd8 11. Be3 Qc7 12. g5 Nd7 13. O-O-O a6 14. h4 b5 15. h5 Nb6 16. g6 Bf6 17. h6 fxg6 18. hxg7 Na4 19. Nd4 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Qxd4 Nxc3 22. bxc3 Qxg7 23. Qb6 Qe7 24. e5 d5 25. Bd3 Bd7 26. Rdg1 Be8 27. f4 d4 28. cxd4 Rab8 29. Qxa6 Rxd4 30. f5 exf5 31. Bxf5 Qxe5 32. Be6+ Kh8 33. Kb1 Ra4 0-1

Zsuzsa Polgar - Xie Jun, Game 5

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6 8. Na4 Rd8 9. Bd3 Bd4 10. c3 b5 11. cxd4 bxa4 12. Qc2 Qxd4 13. Qxc6+ Kf8 14. Be2 Ne7 15. Qc2 f5 16. O-O Qxe4 17. Qxc7 Kf7 18. Bh5+ g6 19. Bf3 Qc4 20. Qxa7 Qd4 21. Qa5 Nd5 22. Rd1 Qc4 23. Bg5 Rd7 24. Rac1 Qxa2 25. Bxd5 1-0

 

Xie takes on Polgar

The women's world chess championship match between defending champion Xie Jun of China and her Hungarian challenger, Zsuzsa Polgar, began last week in the Spanish town of Jaen.

This match, played under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, has real significance for the Chinese champion as it marks the first time in five years that she is playing a match with an opponent who is rated higher than her. For the record, Xie is rated at 2530 and Polgar at 2550.

To win the women's world champion's title, Polgar will have to gain 8 1/2 points from this match of only 16 games.

She may yet achieve this result. The 20-point difference in the two players' ratings suggests that the match will be very close and may go the full distance.

Statistically, this means that Polgar is expected to score 8.48 points against Xie's expected score of 7.52 points. This is close enough to the 8 1/2 points which Polgar will require.

But the defending champion is not without her practical advantages in this match. In the event of a tie at 8-8, Xie will keep her title. Besides, Xie also holds a psychological edge as Polgar will need to prove that she can actually outperform the champion.

In any case, the first four games of the match seems to give credence to the prospect of a close match. Xie went into the lead immediately by winning the first game. The next two games were drawn, and then Polgar equalised by winning the fourth game.

In Jaen, Xie has a formidable team of helpers who are hoping that their collective effort will more than offset Polgar's helpers who are her immediate family members. You should, however, take notice that her most illustrious sister/helper answers to the name of Judit!

Polgar had qualified for the world champiomship match by beating former women's world champion Maya Chiburdanidze in the Candidates finals match last year.

Readers with internet access may wish to connect to http://www.tasc.nl/wwc in the World-Wide Web where TASC, a Dutch chess software company, are covering the event on their www page.

KASPAROV TO PLAY DEEP BLUE TOMORROW

Years ago, Deep Thought was already the most powerful chess-playing computer in the world. The programmers of Deep Thought, then doing post-graduate studies at the Carnegie-Mellon University in the United States, were subsequently employed by IBM to continue work on enhancing their chess-playing machine.

Enter now Deep Blue, the successor to Deep Thought, which last year had finished second at the microcomputer chess championship in Hongkong. After that competition, the Deep Blue team entered into an agreement with Gary Kasparov to play him in a match of six games.

This match starts tomorrow and it will be played on Feb 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17. Kasparov was reported to be preparing for this match by playing against various other top class computers.

For an on-the-spot coverage of this match, internet users should turn their web browsers to http://www.ibm.park.org/chess.html.

JOHOR OPEN RESULTS

Jimmy Liew, although still the best player that Malaysia has ever produced, had his domination of the local chess scene checked when he failed to add the 1996 Johor open title to his impressive list of achievements.

At this tournament in Johor Bahru last month, Liew was comfortably leading the pack of players until when going into the sixth and final round, he found himself paired against Malcolm Tan of Singapore.

His luck deserted him at this crucial moment and he found himself not only out of the running for the first prize but also cut off from the second to fifth prizes.

This tournament was marked by the presence of several top players from both sides of the causeway and elsewhere too. Apart from Liew, the notable local names included Mok Tze Meng and Ismail Ahmad.

Other than Tan, Osric Mooi and Michael Siong were among the Singaporeans taking part.

Final results: Malcolm Tan 5 1/2 points; Tony Dempsey (Scotland), Mok Tze Meng, Darren Yong, Kenneth Tan 5 points each; Jimmy Liew, Osric Mooi and Michael Siong 4 1/2 points each; ... 59 players.

PFS OPEN

The Penang Free School chess club is holding their sixth PFS open tournament on March 24. This will be played over seven rounds and cash prizes, including a RM200 first prize, will be given to the top 10 players. There will also be various category prizes.

Entry fees are RM4 for players under 20 years old and RM6 for others. The closing date is Mar 3.

To register for the event, contact Liong Ing Kiat or Lim Cheng Teik in the evenings. Alternatively, e-mail registrations can be sent to Ronnie Lau.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

The first three games from the women's world chess championship match.

Xie Jun - Zsuzsa Polgar

1. g3 g6 2. Bg2 Bg7 3. e4 e5 4. Ne2 Nc6 5. c3 Nge7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. e5 f6 9. f4 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Nbc3 fxe5 12. fxe5 Rxf1+ 13. Qxf1 Qd7 14. h3 Rf8 15. Nf4 g5 16. hxg4 gxf4 17. gxf4 Qxg4 18. Qe2 Qg3 19. Qf2 Qxf2+ 20. Kxf2 Nxd4 21. Nxd5 Ng6 22. Nc3 c6 23. Be3 Bxe5 24. Rd1 Nxf4 25. Bxf4 Rxf4+ 26. Ke3 Nf5+ 27. Kd3 Rg4 28. Bh3 Rd4+ 29. Ke2 Rxd1 30. Nxd1 Nd6 31. b4 Kg7 32. a4 Kf6 33. Nf2 Bd4 34. Nd3 b6 35. Nf4 c5 36. Nd5+ Ke5 37. bxc5 bxc5 38. Ne7 a6 39. a5 Nc4 40. Nc6+ Kd6 41. Nb8 Kc7 42. Nxa6+ Kb7 43. Nxc5+ Bxc5 44. a6+ Kb6 45. Kd3 Nd6 46. Ke2 Kxa6 47. Kf3 Kb6 48. Be6 Kc7 49. Kg4 Kd8 50. Kh5 Be3 51. Bg8 h6 52. Bb3 Ke7 53. Kg6 Ne4 54. Bd1 Ke6 55. Bg4+ Ke5 56. Bd1 Bg5 57. Be2 Kf4 58. Bd1 Ng3 59. Ba4 h5 60. Bd7 h4 0-1

Zsuzsa Polgar - Xie Jun

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 e5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. exf5 Qa5 13. Kb1 Rfe8 14. Bb5 a6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. fxe5 Qxe5 17. Bg3 1/2-1/2

Xie Jun - Zsuzsa Polgar

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6 8. Na4 Rd8 9. Bd3 Bd4 10. O-O Qh4 11. Qf4 Qh5 12. Qg3 Ne7 13. Be3 Bf6 14. h3 O-O 15. f4 Bh4 16. Qf3 Qxf3 17. Rxf3 f5 18. Nc5 fxe4 19. Bxe4 1/2-1/2

 

Hooked on on-line chess

When I wrote about chess resources in the Internet five weeks ago, never did I realise that I was going to be smittened with the Internet Chess Club.

I have become so fascinated with the ICC that I log into the ICC server almost daily, sometimes for only a few minutes, just to hang around and watch games being played, but more often to play a few games myself.

The advantage of the ICC is that I am no longer separated by distances. My opponent will most likely be a player from another part of the world and we are linked together in a chess game played on-line and in real-time mode.

Games can either be of the blitz variety or they can be of a longer time control. But mainly, blitz tends to be the most popular genre here.

However, unlike normal blitz games that you will find in any physical chess club, the Fischerian time control is the absolute norm. For example, one player can challenge another to a blitz game using a "3 15" time control. This is a three-minute blitz game but after every move, 15 seconds are added back to your chess clock.

In theory, if you can move fast enough, taking less than 15 seconds per move, you may actually end up with more time on your clock than what you had started with. This is a most novel situation, but it hardly occurs in practice. Well, not with me, anyway.

But the time added on to your chess clock can mean a big difference between continuing your game and losing on time. If you make some moves rather quickly, you can gain back a bit of extra time for the remainder of your game.

And of course, there is nothing to prevent you from challenging someone to a blitz game with normal time controls. In this case, just propose a "5 0" time control.

If you are a paid-up member, all the games that you play against other members are rateable by the ICC. You will be given a rating based on the games you play, and these ratings change instantaneously upon the conclusion of every game. This is quite a neat feature.

Once you log into the ICC, typing "who" at the aics% prompt will list all persons who are logged on at the same time as you. This command led me to my Singaporean friend, Fide master Chia Chee Seng, who helped me a lot in the ICC initially. By the way, you can also type "help" at this prompt for some on-line assistance.

Chia is an ICC administrator and it was he who persuaded me to join as a member. All members are identified on-line by their handle which is something like a nickname. Mine is, of course, "SSQuah" which identifies me to everybody.

Not everybody's handle is that obvious, however. All sorts of nicknames are used and usually, it is impossible to know who is at the other game of your game. For all you know, he may turn out to be another Malaysian internet chess player.

The ICC used to be free but it has been almost a year since it began charging an annual membership fee. A six-month membership costs US$29 (about RM74) while a one-year membership is US$49 (about RM125). Student or youth membership costs US$14.50 (about RM37) for six months and US$24.50 (about RM63) for a year.

Non-members are also welcome to log into the ICC as guests. Although you can also play games with other players, such games are unrated by the ICC.

Who, then, are the people who hang around the Internet Chess Club? More often than not, they are just amateurs with a keen interest in the game. But the number of Fide-rated players is increasing, especially titled players like American grandmaster Roman Dzhindzhihashvili. Chess-playing computers are also on-line, and they are ever ready to meet your challenge.

So how do you log into the ICC? First of all, you will need an Internet account and this is provided by the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) through their Jaring network.

Next, you will want a Telnet programme such as Ewan, CommNet or Qvtnet. The Telnet address for the Internet Chess Club is chess.lm.com and once you are connected, you will be required to log in using your username and password. Guests should log in as g and follow the on-line instructions accordingly.

Unfortunately, the problem with these Telnet programmes is that the chessboard is displayed in ascii mode. This is very confusing when you are playing or observing a game.

My recommendation is to use slics22f which, to me, is the best windows-based graphical interface for the ICC. This programme, written by Don Fong, can be downloaded from the ICC.

To retrieve this file, ftp to chess.lm.com using "anonymous" as the username and your e-mail address as the password. The sub-directory is pub/icc/interface/win3 and the name of the file is slics22f.zip.

You will have to unzip the file and customise the settings before using, but all the instructions are available in the zipped file.

Slics22f has its own Telnet application and once the programme is run, the user sees a chessboard on the screen. Moves are made by dragging the pieces around with a mouse.

If you have an Internet account and are in Penang tomorrow, you may wish to see a short demonstration of slics and the Internet Chess Club at the monthly meeting of the North Malaysian Internet Society meeting at the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Pusat Teknoloji Maklumat at 3pm.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Selection of games from the recent Asian team chess championship in Singapore.

Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam) - Wong Meng Kong (Singapore)

1. d4 d5, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Be7, 4. cxd5 exd5, 5. Bf4 c6, 6. e3 Bf5, 7. Nge2 Nd7, 8. Ng3 Bg6, 9. Be2 Nf8, 10. O-O Ne6, 11. Bg4 Nf6, 12. Bh3 O-O, 13. Be5 Ng5, 14. Bf5 Nge4, 15. Bxe4 Nxe4, 16. Ngxe4 dxe4, 17. Qb3 b6, 18. Qa4 b5, 19. Qc2 Bd6, 20. Bxd6 Qxd6, 21. Ne2 Rfe8, 22. Rfc1 Rac8, 23. Qc5 Qb8, 24. Rc2 f6, 25. Rac1 Bf7, 26. b3 Be6, 27. Ng3 Bd5, 28. Nf5 Rc7, 29. Qxd5+ cxd5, 30. Rxc7 Kh8, 31. Nd6 Rf8, 32. R1c6 h6, 33. h4 Kh7, 34. Nf5 Rg8, 35. h5 b4, 36. Re7 Rc8, 37. Rxc8 Qxc8, 38. Rxg7+ Kh8, 39. g4 Qc1+, 40. Kg2 Qd1, 41. Rg6 Qf3+, 42. Kg1 Qd1+, 43. Kh2 Qf1, 44. Rxh6+ Kg8, 45. Rxf6 Qxf2+, 46. Kh3 Qxa2, 47. Ne7+ Kh8, 48. Kh4 Qxb3, 49. h6 Qxe3, 50. g5 Qe2, 51. Rf8+ Kh7, 52. Rf7+ Kh8, 53. Ng6+ Kg8, 54. Rg7+ 1-0

Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan) - Rogelio Antonio (Philippines)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e3 O-O, 5. Nge2 d5, 6. a3 Be7, 7. cxd5 exd5, 8. b4 c6, 9. Ng3 Bd6, 10. Bd3 Re8, 11. O-O Nbd7, 12. Qc2 Nf8, 13. b5 Bd7, 14. a4 Rc8, 15. Ba3 Bb8, 16. Rfc1 Ng4, 17. Nf1 Qg5, 18. Qd2 Ng6, 19. a5 Nh4, 20. f4 Qh6, 21. a6 Nxe3, 22. axb7 Rcd8, 23. Nxe3 Bxf4, 24. Ncd1 Rxe3, 25. Qa5 Nf3+, 26. Kf2 Qh4+ 0-1

Ruslan Irzhanov (Kazakhstan) - Cerdas Barus (Indonesia)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e3 d5, 5. Bd3 c5, 6. Nf3 O-O, 7. O-O dxc4, 8. Bxc4 cxd4, 9. exd4 b6, 10. Bg5 Bb7, 11. Qe2 Bxc3, 12. bxc3 Nbd7, 13. Bd3 Qc7, 14. c4 Rfe8, 15. Rfe1 Ng4, 16. Be4 Bxe4, 17. Qxe4 Ngf6, 18. Qe2 Rac8, 19. Rac1 Qc6, 20. Qe3 Qa4, 21. Qb3 Qa6, 22. a4 h6, 23. Bf4 Qb7, 24. h3 Rc6, 25. Nd2 Rcc8, 26. Qb5 Red8, 27. Nf3 Nf8, 28. Be5 Ng6, 29. Bxf6 gxf6, 30. Qh5 Kh7, 31. g3 Rg8, 32. d5 Rc5, 33. Nd4 Qd7, 34. Nb3 Rc7, 35. dxe6 fxe6, 36. Qf3 Qf7, 37. Nd4 Ne5, 38. Qe2 Rd7, 39. Rcd1 Rgd8, 40. Nf3 Nd3, 41. Qc2 Kg7, 42. Re3 Nc5, 43. Ra1 Rd3, 44. Rxd3 Rxd3, 45. Ne1 Rd7, 46. a5 Qg6, 47. axb6 axb6, 48. Rb1 Qxc2, 49. Nxc2 Rd6, 50. Ne3 f5, 51. Rb2 Kf6, 52. Kf1 Ne4, 53. Ke2 Ke5, 54. c5 Rd8, 55. cxb6 Rb8, 56. Rc2 Kd4, 57. Rc4+ Ke5, 58. Rc6 Rb7, 59. f4+ Kf6, 60. Nd5+ Kg6, 61. Rxe6+ Kh5, 62. Kf3 Nd2+, 63. Kg2 Nc4, 64. Rc6 1-0

Nasib Ginting (Indonesia) - Serik Temirbaev (Kazakhstan)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. Nf3 Bg7, 4. g3 O-O, 5. Bg2 d6, 6. O-O Nc6, 7. Nc3 a6, 8. h3 Rb8, 9. e4 Nd7, 10. Be3 e5, 11. Rc1 h6, 12. b3 Kh7, 13. Qd2 b6, 14. Rfd1 Bb7, 15. dxe5 Ncxe5, 16. Nxe5 Nxe5, 17. f4 Nc6, 18. Qf2 Qc8, 19. Nd5 a5, 20. a3 Re8, 21. g4 Ne7, 22. Bd4 Ng8, 23. g5 Bxd4, 24. Rxd4 Rf8, 25. Qh4 Bxd5, 26. cxd5 Qd8, 27. Rdc4 Rb7, 28. Qg3 f6, 29. h4 fxg5, 30. hxg5 Ra7, 31. Bh3 Qe7, 32. e5 Rd8, 33. e6 Re8, 34. f5 hxg5, 35. fxg6+ Kxg6, 36. Bf5+ Kg7, 37. Rg4 Qf6, 38. Rxg5+ Kh8, 39. Rg6 Qd4+, 40. Kf1 1-0

Rogelio Antonio (Philippines) - Dashzeveg Sharavdorj (Mongolia)

1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e5 Ne7, 5. a3 Bxc3+, 6. bxc3 c5, 7. h4 Qc7, 8. Nf3 b6, 9. h5 h6, 10. Bb5+ Bd7, 11. Bd3 Ba4, 12. O-O c4, 13. Be2 Na6, 14. Bf4 Kd7, 15. Nh2 Qd8, 16. Ng4 Qg8, 17. Ne3 Qh7, 18. Bg4 Nc7, 19. Bh3 Kc8, 20. Bg3 g6, 21. Qb1 Nc6, 22. Ra2 gxh5, 23. Rb2 Kb7, 24. Bh4 Rhg8, 25. g3 Raf8, 26. Bg2 f5, 27. f4 Kc8, 28. Bf3 Nd8, 29. Rb4 Qd7, 30. Qa2 Nf7, 31. Rfb1 Ng5, 32. Bg2 Rg6, 33. Qb2 Rfg8, 34. Kh2 Kd8, 35. Qc1 Kc8, 36. Qd1 Nb5, 37. Nxc4 Nxc3, 38. Qd3 Nxb1, 39. Nxb6 dxc4, 40. Qxc4+ Qc7, 41. Qa6+ Kd8, 42. Rb7 Qc8, 43. Qa5+ Ke8 1-0

Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam) - Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan)

1. d4 d5, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 c5, 4. cxd5 exd5, 5. Nf3 Nc6, 6. g3 c4, 7. Bg2 Bb4, 8. O-O Nge7, 9. Ne1 Bf5, 10. Nc2 O-O, 11. Nxb4 Nxb4, 12. Bg5 f6, 13. Bf4 Qd7, 14. a3 Nbc6, 15. b3 cxb3, 16. Qxb3 Nxd4, 17. Qd1 Ndc6, 18. Nxd5 Rad8, 19. Bc7 Rde8, 20. Nxe7+ Nxe7, 21. Qxd7 Bxd7, 22. Bxb7 Nf5, 23. Rfd1 Rf7, 24. e4 Ba4, 25. Bd5 Bxd1, 26. Rxd1 Nh6, 27. Rb1 g5, 28. Rb8 Rxb8, 29. Bxb8 a6, 30. h4 Kg7, 31. hxg5 fxg5, 32. Bxf7 Kxf7, 33. f4 Ng4, 34. Kg2 Ne3+, 35. Kf3 Nc4, 36. a4 Nd2+, 37. Ke3 Nf1+, 38. Kd3 Nxg3, 39. fxg5 Nh5, 40. Kd4 Ng7, 41. Kc5 Ne6+, 42. Kb6 Nxg5, 43. Kxa6 Nxe4, 44. a5 Nd2, 45. Kb5 1-0

Saydali Yuldashev (Kazakhstan) - Cao Sang (Vietnam)

1. e4 c5, 2. Nc3 Nc6, 3. Nf3 g6, 4. d4 cxd4, 5. Nxd4 Bg7, 6. Be3 Nf6, 7. Bc4 d6, 8. h3 Bd7, 9. O-O O-O, 10. Bb3 Rc8, 11. f4 Qa5, 12. Qd3 Nb4, 13. Qd2 Na6, 14. Nde2 Nc5, 15. Ng3 Qc7, 16. Rae1 b5, 17. Bd4 Nxb3, 18. cxb3 Bc6, 19. b4 Qb7, 20. f5 Rcd8, 21. Kh1 Rd7, 22. Re2 e5, 23. fxe6 fxe6, 24. Be3 Rff7, 25. Rfe1 d5, 26. e5 Ne4, 27. Ncxe4 dxe4, 28. Qc3 Rd3, 29. Qc5 Bd5, 30. Rc1 Bxe5, 31. Bh6 Bg7, 32. Bxg7 Kxg7, 33. Nxe4 Qb8, 34. Ng5 Qg3, 35. Nxf7 Qxh3+, 36. Kg1 0-1

 

Kramnik tops in Fide ratings

I have just been looking at the latest Fide rating list which was released by the World Chess Federation late last month and the first thing that struck me was that the K's of chess are still dominating the world rankings.

But surprise, surprise! It is neither Gary Kasparov nor Anatoly Karpov who are at the top of the heap. It is also not Gata Kamsky, who is scheduled to play a world championship match with Karpov later in the year.

Instead, the top honours belong to 20-year-old Vladimir Kramnik who has a rating of 2775, an increase of 45 points over last year's July rating list.

Actually, Kramnik and Kasparov have the same rating points but Kramnik's rating was calculated over 42 games whereas Kasparov's came from only 19 games.

Obviously, Fide had placed Kramnik higher than Kasparov because of the greater number of games that the former had played. This is the same criterion used by Fide throughout the list to rank players with the same rating points. The more active player is always ranked higher.

Kasparov's rating dipped to 2775 from last July's 2795. Karpov is in third position with 2770 as his rating, down from 2775 six months ago.

Also in this list, there are five other players with ratings of at least 2700. Two players - Vassily Ivanchuk and Kamsky - are rated at 2735, Viswanathan Anand is next at 2725, and both Veselin Topalov and Boris Gelfand are at 2700. The 20-year-old Topalov from Bulgaria had the biggest increase in rating points, up from 2640 in July 1995.

Below this elite group are 57 players with ratings of at least 2600. Some of the more prominent names in the 2600-2695 group are Alexei Shirov 2690, Judit Polgar 2675, Valery Salov 2670, Nigel Short 2665 and Viktor Korchnoi 2645.

Judit Polgar holds a record of sorts. Not only is she within the top 10 players in the world, but she is also ranked first among the top 20 junior players. Judit is also the highest ranked in the Fide women's rating list.

The reigning world champion, Xie Jun, is only ranked third, at 2530, among the women. She is behind Judit's eldest sister, Zsuzsa Polgar, who has a 2550 rating. And both Xie and Zsuzsa are going to play for the women's world championship title soon.

Among the highly rated women is Pia Cramling of Sweden. Cramling, with a rating of 2525, has always been among the top women players. Like Judit, Cramling used to play in open tournaments against male opposition in the early part of her chess career and this had benefited her game a lot.

Maya Chiburdanidze and Nona Gaprindashvili, two former women's world champions, are rated at 2515 and 2380. These six are the only women players ever awarded the men's grandmaster (GM) title by the World Chess Federation. The strength of the woman's grandmaster title (WGM) is perhaps equivalent to only that of the men's international master title.

Among the juniors, Zoltan Almasi (2650) is next in line after Judit Polgar and he is followed by Peter Svidler (2630). Both Peter Leko and Alexander Morozevich are rated at 2625 each. Vietnam's Dao Thien Hai is ranked eighth in the junior list with a 2560 rating.

Malaysians also feature in the rating list but our players are still a long way down the pecking order. Peter Long (2350) and Jimmy Liew (2335) remain our highest rated players although both have not appeared in an international tournament for a long time.

Below them, we have the current national champion, Mas Hafizul, who is rated at 2290 and after that is another inactive player, Eric Cheah, at 2255.

The rest of the Malaysians in the Fide list are: Mohd Fadli Zakaria (2250), Lim Yee Weng (2240), Mok Tze Meng (2240), Goh Yoon Wah (2230), Mohd Fairin Zakaria (2220), Mohd Irman Ibrahim (2220), Ng Ee Vern (2220), Ooi Chern Ee (2220), Mohd Kamal Abdullah (2205), Ng Ek Teong (2200), Sabar Md Hashim (2195), Yeoh Chin Seng (2195), Ahmad Muzzafar (2185), Mohd Saprin Sabri (2150), Tan Hong Ghee (2150), Wong Zi Jing (2130), Azahari Md Nor (2110), Thomas Lam (2105), Julian Navaratnam (2090), Ismail Ahmad (2070), Lim Tse Pin (2070), Audrey Wong (2070), Eliza Hanim Ibrahim (2050), Eliza Hanum Ibrahim (2050), Nurul Huda Wahiduddin (2040) and Mohan Raj (2025).

ST JOHN'S TEAM TOURNAMENT

The St John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur will organise its seventh annual team championship on Feb 3 and 4. This event is open to all school teams in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, and will be played according to Rapid-30 chess rules.

Each team shall comprise five players, inclusive of a reserve. Students presently waiting for their examination results are allowed to turn out for their schools but they must be in their school uniforms.

Teams interested in taking part in this event, sponsored by Pure products, can register at the SJI by 8.30am on March 25. Entry fee is RM25 per team and trophies will be awarded to the best five teams. The best girl team shall also receive a trophy.

For more information, contact Lim Teik Hun or Wong Nai Chien.

WEEKEND CHESS

The Sek Ren Jenis Kebangsaan (China) Kepong in Kuala Lumpur will be the venue for a one-day junior open tournament this Sunday.

This event, organised by Total Chess, is divided into three sections - under-10, under-12 and under-16 - and prizes will be given away for each section.

The six-round event starts at 9.30am and participants are required to register either with Joseph Toh of Total Chess (tel: 03-757-4606) or be at the school by 9am on the tournament day. Entry fee is RM6 for students of the school and RM9 for others.

 

A Chinese chess lesson

It is not often that one gets to watch both international and Chinese chess together. Thus when the Penang Gerakan Youth held a chess competition recently, it was a real treat to see the two types of chess under one roof.

I shall not say much about the 70-player international chess section except to mention the top winners. Three players - Chuah Heng Meng, Lim Chuin Hoong and Teng Wei Hong - each tied with six points from seven games.

The tie was broken using the Cumulative method and Chuah was declared the winner of the first prize. Lim was second and Teng third.

The same tie-breaking method was used to determine that Tan Kwang Yi was fourth, ahead of fifth-placed Teng Wei Ping and sixth-placed Lim Cheong Wan. These three players had secured 5 1/2 points each.

Now about the Chinese chess section of this tournament. Despite the fact that Chinese chess features very little in my life, having been brought up on a steady diet of international chess, it is not totally unknown to me. I know for a fact that quite some time ago, Chinese chess competitions were normally run according to the double knockout system. The players that were knocked out along the way were given a second chance to play in the losers' pool and the eventual winners of the winners' and losers' pools would then play to decide the overall champion.

This system was not too sophisticated in trying to overcome the demerits of knockout tournaments, but it was one which seemed best in the circumstances at that time.

But not any more. The structure of Chinese chess competitions has changed. They are now run according to the Swiss pairing rules and some Chinese chess organisers even use a computerised pairing programme when running their events. I have even seen a booklet written in Chinese on the technical aspects of a chess rating system.

In these areas, Chinese chess owes much to the world of international chess. The World Chess Federation (Fide) should, I suppose, feel flattered that their pairing and rating rules are now adapted for Chinese chess competitions and administration.

But while there is a lot that Chinese chess has benefited from international chess, I would like to think that in return, international chess can perhaps learn one or two things from Chinese chess.

Earlier, I mentioned the use of the Cumulative tie-breaking method for the international chess section of the Penang Gerakan Youth tournament. Presently, this is the tie-break adopted by Fide.

But it was not so long ago that the Solkoff was the first choice among the tie-breaking methods and before that, it was the cumbersome Sonnenborn-Berger tie-break. The latter is hardly ever used nowadays but the Solkoff still is popular among many clubs worldwide.

In some Chinese chess competitions, I was told that the tie-breaking method is not specified at the start of a tournament, unlike in international chess. Instead, the tie-breaker is only chosen at the end of the event by the drawing of lots.

It is felt that the uncertainty over the tie-break will force the participants to play uncompromisingly throughout the competition and this will lead to less incidents of players planning their results. I think this idea is worth looking into further.

But a second idea from the Chinese chess section of this tournament failed to impress me although it led to an amusing situation during one of the games.

What happened was that in any apparently drawn position, one player can always decline the prospect of a draw and instead, try for a win. If he signals this intention to the arbiter, the player is given five minutes on his chess clock to demonstrate that he can indeed win.

It is well and good if the player does win, but if he cannot do so after five minutes, his opponent can then claim the full point himself. This is a controversial and fascinating idea but in Penang, it led to a big argument between the players with the arbiter caught inbetween. Sparks really flew.

This type of regulation, I should think, will certainly not go down well with the Fide Rules Commission. I would not even think it should be introduced in our local international chess tournaments.

JOHOR OPEN

The Johor Chess Club will stage the Johor Open chess championship this Sunday at the Pelangi Leisure Mall in Jalan Serampang, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru.

The championship features three sections - open, under-16 and under-12. Separate prizes will be given to the men and women in each section.

The men's open section offers a top prize of RM1,000 and for the runners-up, RM700. There are 13 other prizes totalling RM1,650. For the other sections in this tournament, the collective prize fund is RM1,495.

Entry fees for the open section are RM30 for the men and RM15 for the women. For the under-16 and under-12, the fee is RM8 per player.

Games start at 9am on Sunday but participants must report to the tournament hall by 8am. Those interested should contact Sumathy or Stephen Cheong for entry forms.

 

New FIDE moves on

At about the same time that I was watching the Asian team chess championship last month, the Presidential Board of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) was holding its first meeting in Singapore since the end of the last Paris General Assembly.

The focus was, of course, on the 33-year-old Kirsan Ilyumjinov who was making his first tour of duty in the Far East as the new FIDE president.

From Singapore, the FIDE president later flew to Kuala Lumpur where he met with the Malaysian Chess Federation president, Dato Sabbaruddin Chik, and from here, he left for Manila where he was a guest of the former FIDE president, Florencio Campomanes.

Ilyumjinov is also the president of the Kalmykia Republic which is an autonomous region within the Russian Federation.

(For thoseof you who need to know, Kalmykia, according to my trusty world atlas, fronts the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Elista and it is not too far away from the troubled Chechnya republic where a civil war has been raging for years.)

What I gathered from people who attended the FIDE presidential board meeting, Ilyumjinov took control of the proceedings from the very start and was very decisive in steering the meeting towards its conclusion.

The end of the meeting coincided with the last round of the Asian team championship and the FIDE presidential board found the time to attend the closing ceremony.

There, Ilyumjinov spoke for a while in his halting but passable English. Boy, did he deliver some shocking news to the people assembled at the ceremony!

Firstly, he spoke about re-creating a favourable image for chess after all the adverse publicity in the past. "To get investments, we have to show stability and existence," he said.

Thus, he had set up a marketing team in Moscow to find the best ways to promote FIDE and chess around the world, and to this end, a 15-second video clip was made for showing on prime time over CNN and Russian TV. This promotion alone personally costed him US$400,000 (about RM1.02 million).

Secondly, Ilyumjinov spoke about his efforts in trying to find a way to reunite the two world championship titles now presently held by Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov.

He stressed that FIDE's role was to promote chess and the federation should be above all other chess organisations. The Professional Chess Association (PCA) was not mentioned specifically but it was clear from Ilyumjinov's message that he considers FIDE still wielding the ultimate control in the chess world.

He proposed the creation of an annual world championship tournament to replace the traditional series of matches that are organised in a three-year cycle. For the first such tournament beginning Dec 22 this year, the prize fund is proposed at US$5 million (about RM12.75 million).

During the three weeks of the tournament, a series of short knockout matches involving the world's top 100 players will be held. Eight rounds will be played.

The first round would have 68 players made up of the FIDE zonal qualifiers, the PCA Grand Prix qualifiers and players from the host federation. Some players will qualify directly into the second round and some others to the third round. Kasparov and the winner of the Kamsky-Karpov match would be seeded directly into the semi-finals but they would be paired together only if they reached the final.

This new idea, unanimously accepted by the Presidential Board, effectively meant that the forthcoming Interzonal tournament in Erevan this April would be cancelled.

Ilyumjinov also disclosed that before arriving in Singapore, he was in Budapest to meet the former American world champion, Bobby Fischer.

He said he would be paying Fischer the US$100,000 (RM255,000) which the American is claiming from the former Soviet Chess Federation. For many years now, Fischer has been insisting that the former Soviets pay him royalties for the illegal Russian translation of his best-selling book, My 60 Memorable Games.

After 12 hours of talk, Ilyumjinov reported that he managed to extract a promise from Fischer to reconsider his position with FIDE. The American had also accepted from the FIDE president a gift of land to build a house in Kalmykia.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

This week, the focus is still on the Asian team chess championship where I have been able to obtain several interesting games. Some of them feature our local boys.

Mas Hafizulhelmi - Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam)

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. f4 Qc7, 7. Be2 e5, 8. Nf3 Be7, 9. O-O O-O,, 10. a4 Nbd7, 11. Kh1 Re8, 12. a5 Nc5, 13. Nd5 Nxd5, 14. exd5 Bf6, 15. fxe5 dxe5, 16. Be3 e4, 17. Nd4 Be5, 18. h3 Qd8, 19. Nf5 Bxf5, 20. Rxf5 Rc8, 21. Ra2 Bb8, 22. b4 Nd7, 23. c4 g6, 24. Rf1 Be5, 25. c5 Qh4, 26. d6 Rf8, 27. Qd5 Rce8, 28. Bc4 Nf6, 29. Qd2 Nh5, 30. Qf2 Qg3, 31. Qg1 Qh4, 32. Qf2 Qg3, 33. Qg1 Kg7, 34. Bd4 e3, 35. Rf3 Bxd4, 36. Rxg3 Nxg3+ 37. Kh2 Be5, 38. Qe1 e2, 39. Ra3 h5, 40. h4 Bf4, 41. Rd3 Re5, 42. Bd5 Nf5+, 43. Kh3 Rfe8, 44. d7 Rd8, 45. Bxb7 Rxd7, 46. Rxd7 Bg3, 47. Qxe2 Rxe2, 48. Bd5 Re1, 49. Rxf7+ Kh6, 50. Rxf5 Bb8 0-1

Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam) - Ooi Chern Ee

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 Bb4+, 4. Bd2 Qe7, 5. e3 Nc6, 6. Nc3 Bxc3, 7. Bxc3 Ne4, 8. Rc1 Nb4, 9. Qb3 a5, 10. a3 Nxc3, 11. axb4 Ne4, 12. Ra1 b6, 13. Bd3 Bb7, 14. bxa5 Ng5, 15. Ke2 Nxf3, 16. axb6 Nxd4+, 17. exd4 cxb6, 18. Qxb6 Bxg2, 19. Rxa8+ Bxa8, 20. Qb8+ Qd8, 21. Qxd8+ Kxd8, 22. Ra1 Bb7, 23. b4 g5, 24. c5 Kc7, 25. b5 Kb8, 26. Kd2 f5, 27. Bc4 Rf8, 28. Rb1 Be4, 29. Bd3 Bd5, 30. b6 h5, 31. Bb5 Rf7, 32. Rc1 f4, 33. c6 dxc6, 34. Bxc6 g4, 35. Bxd5 exd5, 36. Rc5 Rf5, 37. Rc7 Rf6, 38. Rh7 Rxb6, 39. Rxh5 Rb2+, 40. Ke1 Rb1+, 41. Ke2 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2

Hsu Li Yang (Singapore) - Lin Weiguo (China)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. g3 Bg7, 4. Bg2 d5, 5. cxd5 Nxd5, 6. e4 Nb6, 7. Ne2 O-O, 8. Nbc3 e5, 9. d5 c6, 10. O-O cxd5, 11. exd5 Na6, 12. a4 Bg4, 13. a5 Nc4, 14. h3 Bxe2, 15. Qxe2 Nd6, 16. Be3 Qd7, 17. Kh2 f5, 18. f4 Rfe8, 19. fxe5 Bxe5, 20. Qf2 Bxc3, 21. bxc3 Ne4, 22. Qf4 Rac8, 23. Bd4 Nac5, 24. g4 fxg4, 25. hxg4 Nd3, 26. Qh6 Nxc3, 27. Rf6 Ne5, 28. Bxe5 Rxe5, 29. Raf1 Qg7, 30. Qf4 Re7, 31. d6 Rd7, 32. g5 Kh8, 33. Bh3 Nd5, 34. Qe5 Nxf6, 35. gxf6 1-0

Cerdas Barus (Indonesia) - Nelson Mariano (Philippines)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. Nc3 Bg7, 4. e4 d6, 5. Be2 O-O, 6. Nf3 e5, 7. Be3 Ng4, 8. Bg5 f6, 9. Bh4 c6, 10. d5 Kh8, 11. Nd2 Nh6, 12. a3 g5, 13. Bg3 f5, 14. exf5 Nxf5, 15. Nde4 Nd4, 16. Bd3 Bf5, 17. O-O Na6, 18. Re1 cxd5, 19. Nxd5 Rc8, 20. Rc1 Bg6, 21. b4 Nc7, 22. Nxc7 Rxc7, 23. h3 b6, 24. Nc3 Nf5, 25. Bh2 Rcf7, 26. Be4 Qf6, 27. Bd5 Rc7, 28. Ne4 Qe7, 29. Rc3 Nd4, 30. Rd3 Bxe4, 31. Rxe4 Qf6, 32. Bg3 Qg6, 33. f3 Rfc8, 34. Qa4 g4, 35. hxg4 b5, 36. cxb5 Ne2+, 37. Kf2 Rc2, 38. b6 Nf4+, 39. Rd2 Rxd2+, 40. Ke1 axb6, 41. Kxd2 Nxd5, 42. Qd7 Qe8, 43. Qxe8+ Rxe8, 44. Rc4 Ra8, 45. Bh4 Bf8, 46. g3 b5, 47. Re4 Rxa3, 48. f4 Bg7, 49. Re1 Kg8, 50. f5 h6, 51. Bd8 e4 0-1

Wang Zili (China) - Sergey Zagrebelny (Uzbekistan)

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 O-O, 10. O-O-O b5, 11. g4 b4, 12. Nd5 Bxd5, 13. exd5 a5, 14. Kb1 Qc7, 15. g5 Nh5, 16. Bh3 a4, 17. Nc1 Na6, 18. Nd3 f5, 19. Nxe5 a3, 20. Nc6 axb2, 21. f4 g6, 22. Rhe1 Rfe8, 23. Bf1 Bf8, 24. Bc4 Re4, 25. Bd3 Ree8, 26. Bc4 Re4, 27. Bxa6 Rxa6, 28. Bd4 Ra8, 29. Rxe4 fxe4, 30. Bxb2 Re8, 31. Qe3 Qf7, 32. Bc1 Ng7, 33. Qb3 Nf5, 34. Nd4 Nxd4, 35. Rxd4 Bg7, 36. Rxb4 Qa7, 37. Be3 Qa6, 38. Qc4 Qa3, 39. Qb3 Qa6, 40. Rb5 Qc8, 41. a4 Qh3, 42. Rb8 Rxb8, 43. Qxb8+ Kf7, 44. Qb6 Qf1+, 45. Bc1 Qc4, 46. Qb5 Qd4, 47. Qd7+ Kf8, 48. Qxd6+ Ke8, 49. Qc6+ Kd8, 50. c3 Qd3+, 51. Kb2 Bf8, 52. Qa8+ Ke7, 53. Qb7+ Kd8, 54. Qb8+ Ke7, 55. Qb5 Qf3, 56. d6+ 1-0

Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan) - Xu Jun (China)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 Bb4+, 4. Nbd2 b6, 5. e3 Bb7, 6. Bd3 O-O, 7. O-O d5, 8. b3 Nbd7, 9. Bb2 c5, 10. cxd5 Nxd5, 11. a3 Bxd2, 12. Qxd2 N5f6, 13. Rfd1 Qe7, 14. Qe2 cxd4, 15. Nxd4 e5, 16. Nf5 Qe6, 17. e4 Rfc8, 18. Bb5 Rc7, 19. Nd6 Rf8, 20. Bc4 Qe7, 21. Rac1 Nc5, 22. f3 Nh5, 23. Nf5 Qf6, 24. Rd6 Nf4, 25. Qf1 Nce6, 26. Bxe6 Rxc1, 27. Bxf7+ Qxf7, 28. Bxc1 Qxb3, 29. Bxf4 exf4, 30. Qa1 Qf7, 31. Re6 Bc8, 32. Re7 Qf6, 33. Qxf6 gxf6, 34. Nh6+ Kh8, 35. Rxa7 Be6, 36. Rb7 Rc8, 37. Rxb6 Rc1+, 38. Kf2 Bc4, 39. g4 Rc2+, 40. Ke1 Re2+, 41. Kd1 Rxh2, 42. Rb8+ Kg7, 43. Nf5+ Kg6, 44. Rb6 Bf7, 45. Kc1 h5, 46. gxh5+ Rxh5, 47. a4 Rh1+, 48. Kb2 Rh2+, 49. Kc3 Ra2, 50. Rb7 Be6, 51. Nd4 Bh3, 52. Kb3 Rd2, 53. Kc4 Kg5, 54. Rg7+ Kh4, 55. a5 Ra2, 56. Kb4 Rb2+, 57. Kc5 Ra2, 58. Kb6 Rb2+, 59. Kc7 Ra2, 60. Nc6 Ra3, 61. Rg6 Rxf3, 62. a6 Ra3, 63. a7 f3, 64. Rxf6 Kg3, 65. Kb6 Rb3+, 66. Kc5 Ra3, 67. Kb4 Ra6, 68. Nd4 Rxa7, 69. Rxf3+ Kh4, 70. Kc5 Bg4, 71. Rf8 Kg5, 72. Nc6 Ra1, 73. Kd5 Ra6, 74. e5 Ra1, 75. Nd4 1/2-1/2

 

Philippines the champ, Teenage power

Well, I have just returned from my annual year-end holiday sojourn to Singapore and I must say that this year's trip had an added attraction.

The 11th Asian team chess championship was going on at the National University of Singapore and I had the opportunity to renew my acquaintances with some old chess friends and make new ones.

Let me tell you how thrilling this year's championship turned out to be. Kazakhstan, the defending champion, got off to a flying start and they led the field of 20 teams for the first five rounds.

The Kazakhs, however, allowed the Philippines to catch up with them in the sixth round and after that, well, the Kazakhstan challenge just fizzled out.

It was strange, but I believe the Kazakhs were playing more cohesively and steadily as a team when their number one player, grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev, was not fielded.

Unlike two years ago in Kuala Lumpur when Tkachiev played round after round and doggedly scored point after point, here in Singapore he played only four games and could win only one. The other three games were drawn.

By the crucial seventh round, Kazakhstan had dissipated all their early advantages when they fell to Uzbekistan by a big margin. But the Filipinos also lost, to the Chinese, so the leaders after this round were: Uzbekistan 19 points, China 18 1/2 points, Indonesia 18 points and both Kazakhstan and Philippines 17 1/2 points each.

In the eighth round, Uzbekistan and Indonesia played to a draw while China, Kazakhstan and the Philippines all won their matches. The Filipinos had the biggest score, beating Iran 4-0, and so as the championship went into the final round, the Philippines found themselves leading for the very first time.

But it was a very slim lead. Both Uzbekistan and China were only a half point behind, with 21 points each, while Kazakhstan had 20 1/2 points and Indonesia 20 points. A tight finish was in store for the final round.

The Philippines were paired against the United Arab Emirates while Uzbekistan were to play New Zealand. Meanwhile, China faced the daunting task of facing Indonesia while Kazakhstan was paired with Singapore.

The UAE and the New Zealanders were not expected to provide much resistance, so the Filipinos and the Uzbeks were expected to score nothing less than 4-0 victories. If this had happened, the Philippines would be comfortable winners of the Tun Abdul Razak challenge trophy.

But it did not happen this way; both these teams conceded a drawn game each, so they were restricted to only 3 1/2-1/2 wins.

Normally, this would be sufficient for the Philippines to win the trophy but China confounded everybody by whitewashing the Indonesians in all their four games. So we had the Chinese team finishing the championship with the same points as the Philippines.

Who would be the new champion then: China or the Philippines? The tie-break would decide and as it turned out, it was the Kazakhstan match with Singapore that would provide the answer.

For China to be the champion, Kazakhstan would have to take at least three points from Singapore; otherwise, the Philippines would earn the trophy. When three games in the Kazakhstan-Singapore match ended, Kazakhstan had scored two wins to Singapore's one.

It was thus the crucial final game between Tkachiev and Singaporean international master Dr Wong Meng Kong that would decide the fate of the trophy. The Kazakh player tried his hardest to win but his opponent put up a dour defence to steer the game into a draw.

Thus, Kazakhstan could only win by 2 1/2 points and by virtue of this result, the Philippines became the new winner of the Asian team championship.

Kudos to the Philippines. In the 1970s, they were probably the strongest chess-playing country in east Asia but the last time that they won the trophy was in 1986. Thereafter, they were eclipsed first by China and later by Kazakhstan when the former Soviet republics joined the Asian chess fold.

In Singapore, the Filipinos were without their grandmaster Eugene Torre but another of their grandmasters, Rogelio Antonio, was a capable replacement on first board while international master Rogelio Barcenilla was deadly on third board. International masters Nelson Mariano and Ricky de Guzman played regularly on second and third boards, while Barlo Nadera and Ricardo Nolte propped up the team as reserve players.

Malaysia

The Malaysian team finished joint 12th to 15th in the championship. Ours was almost a totally teenaged team comprising national champion Mas Hafizulhelmi on first board, Ooi Chern Ee on second board, Tan Wei Sin on fourth board, Lim Yee Weng as first reserve and Abdul Haq Mohamad as second reserve. Our third board player, Julian Navaratnam, seemed oddly out of place among this array of Malaysian "power rangers".

Mas Hafizul was a little out of his depth playing on the first board. He had three consecutive losses followed by two draws before winning against Singapore's Dr Wong Meng Kong and then he lost a fourth time. On second board, Ooi fared better with five wins, two draws and two losses.

Julian scored a win, a draw and three losses; Tan had two wins, two draws and three losses; Lim obtained three wins and two losses; and Abdul Haq won one and lost two.

Women's game

For the first time since the inception of the Asian team championship in 1974, a women's section was introduced by the Singapore Chess Federation. It was very encouraging to see 12 teams taking part.

China was led by their women's world champion, Xie Jun, and it was a foregone conclusion that the Chinese team would be the first winner of the Far East challenge trophy.

They led from the word "go" and even a slight hiccup against Kazakhstan in the fourth round (the Kazakh women won 2-1) could not prevent Xie Jun and company from claiming that trophy.

Theirs was such a comfortable lead that against Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran in the middle stretch of the championship, they could afford to drop half points against these teams. But towards the end, the Chinese again turned on their full power to annihilate the opposition.

During the championship, there was a general feeling that Xie, a full-fledged grandmaster, was not playing to her full strength. Who knows, perhaps she was afraid to disclose her preparations for her forthcoming defence of the world championship title against Hungary's Zsuzsa Polgar.

She only played five games out of nine rounds but her contribution was four points towards the Chinese team's total of 23. But even without Xie, the other Chinese players, comprising two woman grandmasters and a woman international master, were formidable enough.

Again, Malaysia put up a women's team and the pleasant surprise was that we were not outclassed in this field. The Malaysians may have lost four matches but they also won four matches and drawing one.

Khairunissa Wahiduddin, the current national women's champion, was in good form to score five wins and two draws. She lost only one game. Eliza Hanum Ibrahim obtained four wins and four draws; Roslina Marmono had four wins, two draws and two losses, while Norfatitah Saranon lost all her three games.

Final standings (Men): Philippines, China 25 points; Uzbekistan 24 1/2; Kazakhstan 23; Mongolia 22; Vietnam 21; Indonesia 20; Iran 19 1/2; Singapore A, UAE 19; Singapore B 18; Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hongkong 16 1/2; Qatar 16; Sri Lanka 15; Asean 13 1/2; Macau 8; and Brunei 5 1/2.

(Women): China 23 points; Vietnam 19 1/2; Kazakhstan 18 1/2; Indonesia 18; Uzbekistan 17; Malaysia 15; Iran 13 1/2; Sri Lanka 11 1/2; UAE 8 1/2; Singapore A 7; Singapore B 4; and Singapore C 3 1/2.

JOHOR OPEN

The Johor Chess Club will organise the Johor open chess championship on Jan 21 at the Pelangi Leisure Mall in Jalan Serampang, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru.

This is a one-day Swiss event run according to the World Chess Federation's Rapid Chess rules.

There will be three sections - an open, an under-16 and an under-12 - and for the men's and women's sections, and separate prizes will be given to the men and women.

The men's open section offers a top prize of RM1,000 and for the runners-up, RM700. There are 13 other prizes in this section with a total prize fund of RM1,650. For the other sections in this tournament, the collective prize fund is RM1,495.

Entry fees for the open section are RM30 for the men and RM15 for the women. However, special discounts are given if you are among the first 50 players to register for the tournament. In this instance, the men need pay only RM20 and the women RM10.

Entry fees for the under-16 and under-12 sections are RM8 per player. There is also a discounted fee of RM5 for the first 50 players in each section.

Games start at 9am on Jan 21 but the organisers require the participants to report to the tournament hall by 8am.

Those interested should contact either Sumathy or Stephen Cheong for the entry forms.

Closing date for entries is Jan 16.