New Asian woman champion

XU YUHUA, the 22-year-old woman international master from Hangzhou, China, is the new winner of the Asian Women's Individual Chess Championship.

She was undefeated throughout the 11-round competition and finished the clear winner with 8 1/2 points from 11 games. The championship, which began on April 9, ended on Tuesday at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf And Country Resort, Pahang.

With this victory, Xu gained possession of the Indira Gandhi challenge trophy and bagged US$500 in the process. Xu, the 1996 Asian junior girls' champion, also gained her third woman grandmaster title norm in this event.

Lebanese woman grandmaster Eva Repkova came in second. Repkova had been expected to challenge Xu for the top prize and indeed, after the ninth round had seemed set to do so, but an unexpected loss to Vietnamese player Le Thi Phuong Lien in the 10th round dashed her hopes.

In the final round last Tuesday, Repkova showed none of the effects of this loss to collect the full point from the Australian women's champion, Ngan Phan-Kostnistsky.

Repkova ended the tournament with eight points and with it, the second prize of US$400. Her closest rival, Rena Mamedova from Uzbekistan, lost to Vietnam's Nguyen Thoan Hua and stayed third with seven points.

Interestingly, just minutes into the start of the 10th round on Monday, the head of the Vietnamese contingent to the championship, Dang Tat Thang, mentioned casually to one of the arbiters that Repkova would lose her game to Le. It became apparent, as the game unfolded, that Repkova had walked into a line prepared by the Vietnamese.

Le proceeded to show her opponent the extent of her preparation, and Repkova, unable to put up any resistance, soon conceded the game to her when the checkmating threats could no longer be stopped.

Despite this loss, I found Repkova to be the most elegant player in the event. In most of her games, whenever she found herself with an advantage on the chessboard, she played dynamically to finish off her opponent in the most economical and straightforward manner.

My observations about Repkova should in no way distract us from the fact that Xu is also a very accomplished player.

Xu played with an air of calm and confidence. Her style is less tactical, but she would be patiently collecting small advantages at all stages of her game.

Nevertheless, being a less dynamic player than Repkova meant that she was more susceptible to drawing her games. In the tournament, she made no less than four significantly drawn games.

The closest I ever saw her come to a disadvantage in any of her games was in the ninth round when spirited play from Mamedova forced her to simplify into an end game where she was left with two pawns against Mamedova's knight and pawn. But Xu had seen to it that the position was still a draw.

Among all the players in the field, the one person who gave me the impression of being a very difficult opponent was Tamin Upi Darmayana.

Tamin Upi was the defending champion. Her resistance collapsed towards the end of the championship but she accounted for herself very well in the middle rounds.

She was a very game fighter, unwilling to concede much in her games, and she often found the resources to win or to save a lost position.

The Malaysian Chess Federation entered four local players in this tournament and I was glad to see that our players did not disgrace themselves.

Nurul Huda Wahiduddin and Samantha Lee gave good accounts of themselves, scoring 4 1/2 points each, and both Roslina Marmono and Lim Jeannie were not too far behind with four points each.

The Asian Women's Individual Chess Championship, like the Asian Cities Team Chess Championship which ended a week earlier, was organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation and fully sponsored by Resorts World Bhd.

Final standings: Xu Yuhua (China) 8 1/2 points; Eva Repkova (Lebanon) 8 points; Mekhri Ovezova (Turkmenistan) 7 1/2 points; Rena Mamedova (Uzbekistan) and Le Thi Phuong Lien (Vietnam) 7 points; Bagyashree Thipsay Sathe (India), Nguyen Thi Dung (Vietnam), Irina Gorshkova (Uzbekistan) and Nguyen Thi Thuan Hoa (Vietnam) 6 1/2 points;

Angela Khegai (Uzbekistan), Maria Lucia Sulistya (Indonesia), Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky (Australia) and Anupama Gokhale (India) 6 points; Tamin Upi Darmayana (Indonesia) 5 1/2 points; Maisa Ovezova (Turkmenistan) 5 points; Nurul Huda Wahiduddin (Malaysia), Samantha Lee (Malaysia) and Maral Ovezova (Turkmenistan) 4 1/2 points; Roslina Marmono (Malaysia) and Lim Jeannie (Malaysia) 4 points; Cynthia Yap (Singapore) 1 point; and Lee Wing-Ian (Macau) 0 point.

 

Close fight till the end

What an exciting finish it has been for the Asian cities team chess championship which concluded on Wednesday at the Awana Genting Highland Golf and Country Resort.

The tournament had gone into the final round with three teams having a chance to carry off the Dubai Cup and the first prize of US$3,000 (about RM10,800). Shijiazhuang (China) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan) were leading the pack of 26 teams with 25 1/2 points each while Palembang (Indonesia) was on 24 points.

Theoretically, Palembang would have a chance to catch up on equal points with the leaders if they were to score 4-0 against Beirut (Lebanon) in the final round and if Shijiazhuang and Tashkent happened to drop 1 1/2 points in their respective encounters with Chrompet (India) and Padang (Indonesia). If this had happened, the championship standings would have to be decided by a tie-break.

The interesting question is how, in the first instance, Shijiazhuang or Tashkent had allowed this interesting ending to occur.

When the event started some nine days ago, Shijiazhuang had jumped into the lead by mercilessly hammering the Penang and Beirut teams 4-0. Tashkent had also scored the maximum points against Kuala Lumpur in the first round, but only managed a 3 1/2-1/2 score against Chrompet in the second round.

The two tournament leaders met in the third round and Shijiazhuang upsetted the defending champion 3-1 to take the lead.

At the same time, Palembang beat Singapore 3 1/2-1/2, Sydney (Australia) 3 1/2-1/2 and Tehran (Iran) 3-1, to creep into third position. Palembang met the Chinese players in the fourth round, and were narrowly beaten 1 1/2-2 1/2. Shijiazhuang next played Padang (Indonesia) in the fifth round and beat them 3-1.

But Tashkent kept on to Shijiazhuang's back by beating Talesh (Iran) 3 1/2-1/2 in the fourth round and Palembang 2 1/2-1 1/2 in the fifth round. Where Shijiazhuang was concerned, after having disposed of their nearest rivals - Tashkent and Palembang - the way seemed clear for them to maintain their comfortable lead and coast to victory in the remaining rounds.

Not so, unfortunately. On the tournament's rest day, the Chinese players chose to go to Petaling Jaya to play in the Amcorp blitz tournament. It was a trip which probably lost them their comfortable two-point lead.

After returning from Petaling Jaya, Shijiazhuang could only score narrow 2 1/2-1 1/2 wins over Tehran and Yangon (Myanmar) in the sixth and seventh rounds.

Tashkent, on the other hand, chalked up a 2-2 draw with Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in the sixth round and a 3-1 win against Tehran in the seventh.

The result, at the end of the seventh round, was a shock for Shijiazhuang. Their lapses had cost them dearly, and suddenly they found themselves tied with Tashkent with 21 1/2 points.

The eighth round left the status quo unchanged. Tashkent disposed of Yangon 4-0 while Shijiazhuang beat Karachi (Pakistan) also by the same score. The stage was thus set for an interesting finish in the final round of play.

The Asian cities was only one of two events going on at the Genting Highlands. The other was the Asian women's individual championship where, after six rounds, the sole lead was in the hands of Xu Yuhua (China). Xu, the highest rated player in this event, overwhelmed Uzbekistan's Angela Khegai in the sixth round.

Wait a minute. I should not keep you in suspense any further, should I? I am sure you want to know the outcome of the Asian cities team championship first.

Well, the long and short of the story is that, yes, Shijiazhuang won the title. It was a close race but Tashkent's challenge fizzled out. Tashkent could only manage a 2-2 draw with Padang while Shijiazhuang won handsomely by a 3 1/2-1/2 score against Chrompet.

Final standings: Shijiazhuang 29 points; Tashkent and Palembang 27.5 points each; Tehran and Padang 20 points each; Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City and Talesh 19.5 points; Yangon 19 points; Beirut, Doha, Singapore and Mandalay 18.5 points; Chrompet, Sydney, Shah Alam and Karachi 18 points; Dubai and Auckland 17.5 points; Johor Bahru 17 points; Abu Dhabi and Penang 16 points; Pontianak 15.5 points; Macau 11 points; Bandar Seri Begawan 9.5 points; and Hong Kong 1 point.

The participants were very appreciative of the superb facilities provided by the sponsor, Resorts World Berhad. Apart from the full board and lodging, the facilities at the hotel created an atmosphere really conducive to chess playing.

The run-up to the two events, covered by the national dailies, had helped promote an awareness in the country. I recognised people who made repeated trips to the Awana in order to watch the various teams and players.

The official website, located at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/ registered more than 2,800 hits during the first eight days of the Asian cities team and Asian women's individual championships. Yes, I would say that publicity for these two events has not been lacking.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Here are several interesting games from the Asian cities team event.

Rustam Kasimdhanov - Peng Xiaomin

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Rd8 13. Nf1 cxd4 14. cxd4 exd4 15. Nxd4 d5 16. e5 Ne4 17. Nd2 Bc5 18. N2f3 Bb7 19. Bf4 Rac8 20. Rc1 Qb6 21. Bb1 Nc4 22. Re2 Re8 23. Rcc2 Rcd8 24. Nb3 Bf8 25. Qd4 Qxd4 26. Nbxd4 Bc5 27. Rc1 Bb6 28. b3 Na3 29. Bd3 g6 30. Be3 b4 31. Bd2 a5 32. Be3 Nc3 33. Rd2 Rc8 34. Re1 Ne4 35. Rdd1 Rc3 36. Nf5 Bxe3 37. Nxe3 Nc5 38. Bf1 Nc2 39. Nxc2 Rxc2 40. Rc1 Rxc1 41. Rxc1 Ne6 42. g3 Ra8 43. Bb5 g5 44. Bd7 d4 45. Nd2 Bd5 46. Kf1 Rd8 47. Bb5 Kg7 48. Bc4 h6 49. Ke2 Bxc4+ 50. Rxc4 Rd5 51. Nf3 Kg6 52. Kd2 h5 53. Rc8 0-1

Zhang Zhong - Saidali Yuldachev

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Qe2 c5 8. Nc3 Nd7 9. Nd5 O-O 10. b3 Bd6 11. Bb2 Re8 12. d3 Nf8 13. a4 a5 14. Rae1 Ng6 15. Kh1 Be6 16. Ne3 f6 17. g3 Qd7 18. h4 Ne7 19. h5 Rf8 20. Nh4 f5 21. f4 exf4 22. gxf4 fxe4 23. Qg2 Nf5 24. Nexf5 Bxf5 25. Rg1 Rf7 26. h6 Bg6 27. Bxg7 Qe6 28. Rxe4 Rxf4 29. Nxg6 hxg6 30. Rf1 Rxf1+ 31. Qxf1 Qd5 32. Qf3 Kh7 33. Kg2 c6 34. Kf2 b5 35. Ke2 Rd8 36. Qg4 bxa4 37. Re6 g5 38. bxa4 Bf4 39. Re5 Qf7 40. Qf5+ Qxf5 41. Rxf5 Rd5 42. Rf7 c4 1-0

Ng Tze-Han - Sakr Nassim

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 g6 7. Nc3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bf4 Bd7 10. Qd2 Qa5 11. Rad1 d5 12. e5 Nh5 13. Bh6 f5 14. Bxg7 Nxg7 15. Qh6 Ne6 16. a3 Be8 17. b4 Qd8 18. Bc4 dxc4 19. d5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Qc7 21. Rfe1 Nd8 22. Nf3 Nf7 23. Qh4 a5 24. Rxe7 Qd8 25. d6 Bc6 26. Ne5 axb4 27. Qf6 Be8 28. axb4 Ra6 29. Nxf7 Bxf7 30. Rxf7 Qxf6 31. Rxf6 Rxf6 32. d7 Rfd6 33. d8=Q+ Rxd8 34. Rxd8+ Kf7 35. g3 1-0

Tan Wee Sin - Arif Khouri

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9. g4 Rc8 10. h4 Ne5 11. h5 gxh5 12. g5 Ng8 13. Rxh5 Qa5 14. Be2 Qb4 15. O-O-O Nc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. a3 Qc5 18. Nde2 Qa5 19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 b5 21. Nb3 Qb6 22. Nd5 Qb8 23. Ne3 Rc6 24. Nd4 Rc5 25. Ndf5 Kf8 26. Qd4 f6 27. g6 hxg6 28. Rxh8 gxf5 29. Rg1 Bc6 30. Nxf5 Qb6 31. Kb1 Bd7 32. b4 Re5 33. Qxb6 axb6 34. f4 1-0

Zhang Pengxiang - Barus Cerdas

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. a3 Nc6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Ba2 Qa5 12. Re1 Rad8 13. Qe2 Bc8 14. b4 Qh5 15. d5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. b5 Bf6 18. Bb2 Bxb2 19. Qxb2 Nb8 20. Re5 Qh6 21. Rxd5 Be6 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Re1 Bxa2 24. Qxa2 Qd6 25. h3 Nd7 26. Ng5 Qf6 27. Qd2 Nf8 28. Qe3 h6 29. Nf3 a6 30. a4 axb5 31. axb5 Ng6 32. Qe4 b6 33. g3 Nf8 34. Rc1 Qb2 35. Qc6 Ne6 36. Re1 Qa3 37. Ne5 Qd6 38. Qf3 Ng5 39. Qf5 g6 40. Qg4 Re8 41. f4 Qc5+ 42. Kg2 Qxb5 43. Re3 Qd5+ 44. Kh2 1-0

Mas Hafizulhelmi - Tim Reilly

1. e4 d6 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nxd5 5. Qf3 e6 6. Bc4 Nb4 7. Bb3 N8c6 8. Nge2 Na5 9. Ba4+ Bd7 10. a3 Bxa4 11. axb4 Bc6 12. Qg3 Nc4 13. b5 Bd7 14. O-O Nd6 15. Nd4 Qf6 16. Qf2 Nf5 17. Nf3 b6 18. Ne4 Qh6 19. c4 Nd6 20. Qe2 Qxf4 21. d3 Qg4 22. h3 Qh5 23. Neg5 Be7 24. g4 Qh6 25. Qg2 Qf6 26. d4 Bc8 27. Ne5 Bb7 28. Qh2 Nf5 29. gxf5 exf5 30. Be3 Bd6 31. Qf2 g6 32. Ngxf7 O-O 33. Bg5 Qe6 34. d5 Bxd5 35. cxd5 Qxd5 36. Rad1 Qxb5 37. Nxd6 cxd6 38. Nf3 Rae8 39. Rxd6 Re2 40. Nd4 Rxf2 41. Nxb5 Rxb2 42. Nxa7 Ra8 43. Rd7 Re8 44. Rc1 1-0

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

 

Championship homepage launched

The Asian cities team and Asian women's chess championships homepage on the Internet was launched officially earlier this week by Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik, who is also the president of the Malaysian Chess Federation.

He said the time was ripe for the MCF to take advantage of the Internet to publicise its activities to the chess world. During the two events, readers with Internet access can receive regular updates from the homepage at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/6485/.

The championships are due to start next week at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort. Resorts World Berhad is the main sponsor for the two events, while the Dubai Chess and Culture Club donated US$25,000 towards the cost of running the championships.

Meanwhile, I shall be going to Genting Highlands with a happy heart next week, having received the blessings from my employer, Ban Hin Lee Bank Berhad, for me to assume duties as the chief arbiter of the Asian women's chess championship.

I know it will be a heavy responsibility and it may not be easy to keep the peace between 19 women who are jostling for the Indira Gandhi challenge trophy and eyeing the cash prizes at the same time.

The highest rated player is China's woman international master Xu Yuhua who weighs in with a rating point of 2335. Whether or not she will win the championship remains to be seen, but she will face tough competition from woman grandmaster Eva Repkova who is representing Lebanon. Repkova is rated at 2330.

The incumbent champion, Indonesian woman international master Tamin Upi Darmayana (rated at 2250), of course, cannot be overlooked in this contest of 11 rounds. Then there are also two former Asian women's champion, woman international masters Gokhale Anupama and Bagyashree Thipsay Sathe, who are both from India.

The other titled players who are capable of creating an upset in this event are woman international master Maria Lucia Sulista of Indonesia, and woman Fide masters Angela Khegai (Uzbekistan), Rena Mamedova (Uzbekistan) and Ngan Koshnitsky (Australia).

As for the remaining players, the untitled rated players are Nguyen Thi Thuan Hoa (Vietnam), Maria Sergeeva (Kazakhstan), Nguyen Thi Dung (Vietnam), Le Thi Phuong Lien (Vietnam), Irina Gorshkova (Uzbekistan), Roslina Marmono (Malaysia) and Nurul Huda Wahiduddin (Malaysia), while those unrated are Malaysia's Samantha Lee and Lim Jeannie, and Singapore's Cynthia Yap.

Amber tournament

I received a number of enquiries last week after I reported on the Melody Amber tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. All of those enquiries were curious about the blindfold games between the participants. Everyone wanted to know how they were played.

What I know about the blindfold chess is that the games were played on a computer system designed by Tasc BV of the Netherlands. Each player would sit in front of a screen displaying an empty chessboard and he would make his moves through his mouse or keyboard.

What a move is made, it would be announced on the screen of the player's opponent. The computer system, at the same time, checked on the legality of the moves and all the time used by the players would be registered automatically.

Although the players always saw an empty board, the arbiters and audience were able to follow the game on video screens which were not visible to the players.

The Melody Amber tournament was actually a combination of two events. The first was a Rapid Chess tournament which was tied by Alexei Shirov and Vassily Ivanchuk with eight points each. Anatoly Karpov was third with seven points and Vladimir Kramnik was fourth with 6 1/2 points.

Further down the table were Ljubomir Ljubojevic with six points, Vesselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand with five points, Jeroen Piket, Matthew Sadler and Loek van Wely with 4 1/2 points each, Joel Lautier with four points and Predrag Nikolic with three points.

The other event was the blindfold chess itself. Kramnik demonstrated a marked superiority over the other players by winning the blindfold event with 8 1/2 points. Anand and Shirov were tied with seven points each, while further back were Ivanchuk and Topalov with 6 1/2 points each, Lautier with 5 1/2 points, van Wely with five points, Karpov, Ljubojevic and Piket with 4 1/2 points, Nikolic with 3 1/2 points and Sadler with three.

The eventual winner of the Melody Amber tournament was decided by a combination of the results of the Rapid and blindfold events. Shirov and Kramnik thus shared the top honours with 15 points each. Third was Ivanchuk with 14 1/2 points, while Anand had 12 points.

The remaining standings: Karpov and Topalov 11 1/2 points each, Ljubojevic 10 1/2 points, Lautier and van Wely 9 1/2 points, Piket nine points, Sadler 7 1/2 points and Nikolic 6 1/2 points.

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

University tournament

Readers who are interested to take part in the International Islamic University Malaysia's team tournament on April 18 and 19 should note that there has been a change in the tournament venue to 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.

For more details, contact Azlan of the IIU (tel: 03-681-4052 after 4pm).

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organise the third of their nine-leg chess grand prix this Sunday at the Pusat Rekreasi Catur in the Taman DR Seenivasagam in Ipoh.

Six rounds are scheduled for this tournament, and the time control is 25 minutes per player for each game. Only players who are born, residing, working or studying in Perak will be eligible to take part.

The overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player. The top 24 players at the end of the grand prix series will qualify for the Perak state championship in September this year. The interim grand prix standings will also be used for selecting Perak players to national events like the Merdeka team championship.

Those interested in playing in the third leg must register at the playing venue by 8.30am tomorrow. For more details, contact WK Wong (tel: 05-366-1692).

Tebrau open

Players in the south of the peninsula can take part in a team tournament on April 26. This team event, jointly organised by the Johor branch of the Police Administrative and Civilian Staff Union and the Johor Bahru Chess Club, will be played on the third floor of the Bangunan JOTIC along Jalan Air Molek, Johor Bahru.

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

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)

 

Chess champ on a roll

One of the strongest tournaments in chess history ended in Linares last week. In the final round of the tournament, all three games ended drawn and this left India's Viswanathan Anand in undisputed first place, half a point ahead of Alexei Shirov.

Anand, who had been playing solidly for most of the three-week event, catapulted himself to the front of the standings by winning two of his last three games against tail-enders Vassily Ivanchuk and Veselin Topalov who were terribly out of form in this tournament.

In his final game, Anand drew comfortably with Vladimir Kramnik, currently the world number two, and then watched Shirov easily hold off Gary Kasparov in another drawn game.

Anand said after the event that he valued his Linares triumph as much as his results in Reggio Emilia in 1992, in which he finished ahead of Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, and the recent World Chess Federation's knock-out world championship tournament in Groningen.

Anand is obviously on a hot streak. After Groningen, he flew to Lausanne for his match with Karpov and within a few days of the end of this match, he played in the Category 17 Wijk aan Zee tournament in which he finished tied for the first place. He has now added Linares to his string of triumphs.

Immediately after winning the Linares event, Anand confirmed he would not play any match against Kramnik in Cazorla, Spain, to decide who would face Kasparov in Seville and Linares this October for a US$1.3 million (about RM5 million) showdown.

(This match was jointly announced a month ago by Linares organiser Luis Rentero who said a World Chess Council was being formed to look after the two matches. It was reported that when Anand's reluctance to play Kramnik surfaced, Rentero had tempted Shirov with: "If Anand doesn't play, you will take his place in Cazorla.")

"I have signed a contract with FIDE that prevents me from participating in world championships of other organisations. Even if it is true that the clause in question is poorly worded and maybe would not hold up in court, my signature binds me. I am a man of my word," said Anand.

Days earlier in an interview with The Hindu newspaper, Anand had said that he did not feel like breaking a document that he signed. "I feel uncomfortable with the idea. Just to sign something, then ignore it and play. I also feel that I have a legal obligation not to break it," he added.

Shirov, who finished second after leading the field for most of the way, was probably unlucky not to finish with at least a share of the first prize. The former Latvian grandmaster, who is now settled down in Spain, was well prepared and mentally determined. He produced some of the most convincing chess of his career.

The Linares tournament was probably one of the most disappointing for Kasparov. He won just one game - against Anand in the third round - but never again did he find the momentum to win any more. In fact, Kasparov also played fewer moves than the other players in the tournament.

Incidentally, before the tournament began, Kasparov had grandly announced the World Chess Council with Rentero. At the end of the tournament, Kasparov stood to be fined 500,000 pesetas (about RM12,500) by the same Renteros for playing too many short draws in Linares!

By Kramnik's own standard, his performance should be considered disappointing as he was considered a favourite for one of the top prizes. Kramnik managed to get some nice positions in his games but he was able to convert only two into a win. One of these games, a nice positional effort, was played against Svidler. His only loss was against Shirov.

For Peter Svidler, a three-time champion of Russia, his results in Linares could be considered quite satisfactory as this was his first competition among elite opponents. He recognised that none of his games would be easy and he brought along Nigel Short to prepare for this event.

Ivanchuk's certainly played below many people's expectations in Linares but he contributed greatly to the entertainment in the tournament by scoring a fine win against Shirov. As for Topalov, this was an event which he would like to forget for a long while. Nothing went right for him as he struggled through game after game.

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.

PFS OPEN

The Penang Free School Chess Club will hold their annual PFS open tournament this Sunday at 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 tomorrow, and RM7 per person on Sunday.

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).

PERAK GRAND PRIX

The Perak International Chess Association recently initiated a nine-leg chess grand prix. The first of the grand prix tournaments was organised three weeks ago, and the second leg will be held tomorrow and on Sunday at the Dewan Serbaguna on the first floor of the Perpustakaan Tun Razak in Ipoh.

Six rounds are scheduled for this weekend's tournament, and the time control is 60 minutes per player for each game. Only players who are born, residing, working or studying in Perak will be eligible to take part.

According to PICA secretary Eddy Fong, the overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player. The top 24 players at the end of the grand prix series will qualify for the Perak state championship in September this year. The interim grand prix standings will also be used for selecting Perak players to national events like the Merdeka team championship.

Those interested in playing in the second leg must register at the playing venue by 1.15pm tomorrow. For more details, contact WK Wong (tel: 05-366-1692).

Meanwhile, Wong Ming Wai won the Taman D.R. February open tournament in Ipoh last month. The 14-year-old player from Batu Gajah scored 5 1/2 points from six games in a field of 32 players. Wong is considered one of a group of up-and-coming young players in Perak.

Final Standings: Wong Ming Wai 5 1/2 points; Eddy Fong and Mohd Hussein b Jamil 5 points each; Ahmad Mudzafar b Ramli 4 1/2 points; Mohd Johan b Jamil, Aaron Yee, Ahmad Daud, Ooi Chong Hean and Azmi b Ishak 4 points each.

KLANG TEAM EVENT

The Klang High School Chess Club will organise an open team chess tournament over two consecutive Saturdays starting tomorrow. This will be a seven-round event, and it will be played in the school's library. Entry fee for each team of four players is RM28.

There are four cash prizes for the boys' category and three cash prizes for the girls' category. In addition to trophies for the five best teams in the boys' category and four best teams in the girls' category, board prizes will also be given.

For more details, contact Tor Wee Liam (tel: 03-341-2448), Yeo Kuan Lok (03-341-2635) or Lim Yee Nah (03-341-0784).

 

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

 

Asian chess meet

When I was in Kuala Lumpur last September for the Merdeka team championship, one of the first questions I put to Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Hamid Majid was whether there was any truth that the MCF had been asked to organise the Asian cities team championship.

Yes, according to Hamid, who showed me the fax that he had received from the Dubai Chess & Culture Club. In the fax, Dubai had offered US$25,000 to the MCF for organising the event.

But Hamid implored me to keep this tournament out of the news until he had worked out a sponsorship programme. His intention was to organise a chess festival in which the Asian cities tournament would be one of the main attractions.

That was in September, half a year ago.

The passage of time has, however, upset all the planning. The depreciation of the ringgit and the subsequent economic downturn, has put paid to Hamid's idea of a chess festival.

Instead, we are left with the Asian cities event and one other tournament, the Asian women's chess championship, which shall be run concurrently beginning April 8 at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resort.

Still, getting Resorts World Berhad to fully sponsor the board and lodging for some 200-odd players and officials is a big achievement for the MCF. Conservatively, the sponsorship deal could amount to something like RM125,000 to RM150,000; it is not cheap to organise an international chess event.

The Asian cities event is a team tournament where cities from all Asian and Oceanic countries that are affiliated to the World Chess Federation (Fide) are eligible to participate. The winning city team will be awarded the Dubai Cup.

In the previous championship two years ago in Dubai, Tashkent emerged as the winner with Samarkand and Askabad coming second and third respectively.

The MCF expects about 30 teams from the 40 member federations that make up Fide's Zones 3.1 to 3.4 to respond to this event.

The Genting venue will be the third occasion that the Asian cities championship is held in Malaysia. The first time was in 1984, in Penang, and the second in 1994 when Kuala Lumpur hosted it.

Simultaneously with the team event, the top Asian women will be playing in their own tournament for the Indira Gandhi challenge trophy. This is a Fide continental individual championship which is held biennially.

Two years ago, Indonesia's Tamin Upi Darmayana broke India's grip on the event by becoming the first non-Indian to take the title.

MAIL

I am very involved in chess development and have watched the game grow from strength to strength. At a time when the nation is crying for children to stay away from drugs and the streets, someone has decided to take chess and two other games off the Malaysian Schools Sports Council's competition calendar.

Do you see chess players fighting or bashing up one another? People who have never seen chess competitions should step into a hall with over a hundred players and admire the disciplined atmosphere.

The spirit of competition and mental strength are what make men great. In the past few years, Malaysia has produced young chess players who are making the country proud. Instead of being taken off the MSSM calendar, I strongly believe more funds should be invested in this game than many others.

The reason given for striking out chess and two games is because of money. However, there are many other ways for cost-cutting, and the main one I know should be the abolishment of the state dinners for every game. For the future of our youths, I urge the parents, officials and fair-minded Malaysians to speak up and pray that good sense will prevail. - Eoh Hook Kim, Penang

I share your sentiments and I certainly hope the Malaysian Schools Sports Council will change its mind. I was told by Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Hamid Majid that he had tried unsuccessfully to meet the council secretary general. Instead, he managed to see Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn who expressed his surprise at the exclusion of chess. Hamid said Fong had pledged to look iinto this matter.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

After seven rounds of the Linares super-grandmaster tournament, Alexei Shirov is now the sole leader despite the defeat which he suffered at the hands of Viswanathan Anand in the first round.

At the half-way point of the tournament, Shirov has four points while half-a-point behind him are Gary Kasparov, Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Veselin Topalov and Peter Svidler have 2.5 points each, while Vassily Ivanchuk takes cellar position with 1.5 points.

Readers with Internet access can connect to the tournament web site at http://www.elpais.es/p/d/ajedrez3/1998/english.htm

Here are some interesting games from the event.

Viswanathan Anand - Peter Svidler, Round 2

1. e4 g6, 2. d4 Bg7, 3. Nc3 d6, 4. Be3 a6, 5. Nf3 b5, 6. Bd3 Nd7, 7. e5 Bb7, 8. e6 fxe6, 9. Ng5 Nf8, 10. O-O Nf6, 11. Re1 Qd7, 12. Bd2 h6, 13. Nf3 Rb8, 14. a4 b4, 15. Ne4 Nxe4, 16. Bxe4 Bxe4, 17. Rxe4 Qc6, 18. Re3 Qc4, 19. c3 b3, 20. Re1 g5, 21. Be3 Qd5, 22. Qd3 a5, 23. Ra3 Kf7, 24. Nd2 Ng6, 25. Qe2 Nh4, 26. f3 Ng6, 27. c4 Qf5, 28. Ne4 Kg8, 29. Qd1 Rb4, 30. Rxb3 Rxc4, 31. Rb5 Qf7, 32. Rxa5 Kh7, 33. Rb5 d5, 34. Nc5 Qf5, 35. b3 Rc3, 36. Qd2 Rc2, 37. g4 Nh4, 38. gxf5 Nxf3+, 39. Kh1 Nxd2, 40. Re2 Nc4, 41. Rxc2 Nxe3, 42. Re2 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov, Round 2

1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bc4 Bc5, 4. c3 Nf6, 5. d3 d6, 6. Qe2 Bb6, 7. Bg5 h6, 8. Bh4 Qe7, 9. Nbd2 g5, 10. Bg3 Bg4, 11. Nf1 Nh5, 12. Bb5 Nf4, 13. Bxf4 gxf4, 14. N1d2 Rg8, 15. g3 fxg3, 16. fxg3 O-O-O, 17. a4 Nb8, 18. a5 Bc5, 19. Bc4 a6, 20. h3 Be6, 21. g4 Nd7, 22. Bxa6 bxa6, 23. d4 Nb8, 24. dxc5 dxc5, 25. O-O-O Qe8, 26. Nxe5 Qa4, 27. Rhf1 Rge8, 28. c4 Rd4, 29. Kb1 Red8, 30. Rf3 Rxe4 0-1

Veselin Topalov - Vladimir Kramnik, Round 2

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 d5, 4. Nc3 Be7, 5. Bg5 h6, 6. Bh4 O-O, 7. e3 b6, 8. Be2 Bb7, 9. Bxf6 Bxf6, 10. cxd5 exd5, 11. b4 c6, 12. O-O a5, 13. b5 c5, 14. Re1 Re8, 15. Rc1 Nd7, 16. g3 Nf8, 17. Na4 c4, 18. Bf1 Qd6, 19. Bg2 Rad8, 20. h4 Ne6, 21. Nc3 g6, 22. Nd2 Ba8, 23. h5 g5, 24. Nf1 Be7, 25. g4 Qd7, 26. Ng3 Ng7, 27. a4 Bb4, 28. Bh3 Bb7, 29. Qc2 Bd6, 30. Nf5 Nxf5, 31. gxf5 Bb4, 32. Kg2 Qd6, 33. f3 Re7, 34. Re2 Rde8, 35. Rce1 Qf6, 36. Bg4 Bd6, 37. Qd1 Bb4, 38. Qc2 Rd8, 39. Rd1 Bc8, 40. e4 Bxc3, 41. e5 Rxe5, 42. dxe5 Bxe5, 43. Rde1 Bc7, 44. Re8+ Kg7, 45. Rxd8 Bxd8, 46. Rd1 Bb7, 47. f4 d4+, 48. Bf3 d3 0-1

Alexei Shirov - Veselin Topalov, Round 3

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 e6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 a6, 5. Bd3 Qb6, 6. Nb3 Qc7, 7. Qe2 Nf6, 8. Nc3 d6, 9. f4 Be7, 10. e5 dxe5, 11. fxe5 Nfd7, 12. Bf4 Nc6, 13. O-O Ndxe5, 14. Rae1 Qb6+, 15. Kh1 Nxd3, 16. Qxd3 O-O, 17. Qg3 Kh8, 18. Bc7 Qa7, 19. Na4 f6, 20. Bb6 Qb8, 21. Bc7 Qa7, 22. Nb6 e5, 23. Nxa8 Qxa8, 24. Rd1 Re8, 25. Bd6 Bd8, 26. Nc5 b6, 27. Ne4 Nd4, 28. Bxe5 Nf5, 29. Qg4 Ne3, 30. Qh5 Rg8, 31. Qf3 Nxd1, 32. Nd6 Qa7, 33. Nxc8 Qd7, 34. Nd6 1-0

Peter Svidler - Vassily Ivanchuk, Round 3

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be2 e6, 7. O-O Be7, 8. a4 O-O, 9. f4 Qc7, 10. Kh1 Rd8, 11. Bf3 Nc6, 12. Be3 Ne5, 13. Be2 b6, 14. Qe1 Nc4, 15. Bc1 Bb7, 16. b3 Na5, 17. Bf3 Nd7, 18. Bb2 Bf6, 19. Rd1 Rac8, 20. f5 Bxd4, 21. Rxd4 Nc6, 22. Rd2 Nce5, 23. fxe6 fxe6, 24. Be2 Nc5, 25. Qg3 Rf8 26. Rfd1 Rcd8, 27. Qe3 Bc6, 28. Ba3 a5, 29. h3 h6, 30. Rd4 Rf6, 31. Bb2 Nb7. 32. R4d2 Rff8, 33. Kg1 Nc5 34. Rd4 Kh7, 35. Bh5 Rd7, 36. Nb5 Bxb5, 37. axb5 Qd8, 38. Qg3 Qe7, 39. Kh2 Kg8, 40. Bc1 Qf6 41. Be3 Kh8 42. R1d2 Kh7, 43. Bd1 Qe7, 44. Bh5 Qf6, 45. Bd1 Qe7, 46. c3 Rf6, 47. b4 Nb7, 48. Qxe5 dxe5 49. Rxd7 1-0

Gary Kasparov - Viswanathan Anand, Round 3

1. e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 dxe4, 4. Nxe4 Nd7, 5. Ng5 Ngf6, 6. Bd3 e6, 7. N1f3 Bd6, 8. Qe2 h6, 9. Ne4 Nxe4, 10. Qxe4 Qc7, 11. Qg4 Rg8, 12. Nd2 Nf6, 13. Qf3 e5, 14. dxe5 Bxe5, 15. Nc4 Be6, 16. Bd2 O-O-O, 17. O-O-O Nd7, 18. Rhe1 Rge8, 19. Kb1 g5, 20. h4 Bf4, 21. Bxf4 gxf4, 22. Bf5 Nf8, 23. Qh5 Kb8, 24. Bxe6 Nxe6, 25. a4 Qe7, 26. Qe5+ Qc7, 27. Qh5 Qe7, 28. b3 Qf6, 29. Ne5 Re7, 30. Ng4 Rxd1+, 31. Rxd1 Qg7, 32. f3 Re8, 33. Qf5 Ka8, 34. h5 Rf8, 35. Rd7 1-0 (on time)

Yet another body set up by Kasparov

Well, I told you last week that there would be an announcement by Gary Kasparov before the start of the Linares super-grandmaster tournament.

Yes, he did make an announcement but I could not help laughing when I learnt what it was all it. Do you what Kasparov did? He announced the formation of yet another chess organisation - the World Chess Council!

I suppose I should not have been surprised, but I was caught unawares. Clearly, I am amazed by this man's gall. How many so-called organisations has he created or helped to create in the last 12 years to promote his own ends? And how many chess professionals will fall for it again just like the way they fell for his past endeavours?

There was the Professional Chess Association and before it, the Grandmaster Association. All had the Kasparov touch in their formation, and all suffered the same Kasparov touch when they went into oblivion.

Let me go back in time. During the Dubai Chess Olympiad in 1986, Kasparov, who was already the world champion, played a big part in drumming up support for forming the Grandmaster Association.

One of its aims was to work with the World Chess Federation (Fide), but a more important objective was to provide reasonable income for the top grandmasters through the organising of a Chess World Cup grand prix.

The idea worked for several years until Kasparov had a fallout with the Grandmaster Association's president, Bessel Kok, who was at that time the chief executive of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecommunication (SWIFT).

Kok had his principles. He wanted everything run in a very disciplined manner diametrically opposite to Kasparov's style. With Kok's departure, the association quickly lost its standing in the chess world and it died a quiet death.

Fast forwarding to 1993: Nigel Short had some disagreements with Fide on holding the world championship match between himself and Kasparov.

Kasparov seized the opportunity to convince Short that the time was ripe for them to play their match outside Fide's jurisdiction. To give their match some credence, Kasparov formed the Professional Chess Association.

Although the Professional Chess Association did try to hold qualifying events for their version of the world championship, there were accusations that the organisation was only looking after the interests of a few elite players.

In reality, the Professional Chess Association served only the interest of Gary Kasparov. This organisation only lasted until 1995 when Kasparov played a match against Viswanathan Anand, after which it drifted into a long hibernation.

There were no more qualifying tournaments, no more so-called Professional Chess Association's version of the world chess championship matches. No wonder some people referred to Kasparov as the person who nominated himself Champion.

So there is every reason to be skeptical about Kasparov's latest project, the new World Chess Council. Will it last or suffer the same fate as its two predecessors?

At the opening ceremony of the Linares tournament, he announced that the main purpose of this new body, whose president is Luis Rentero, would be to organise a match in Seville and Linares sometime no later than October this year, when Kasparov would defend his "title".

However, at present nobody has the details on the match and how it will materialise. There is no information on Kasparov's probable opponent or how he will be chosen, although there are rumours that Vladimir Kramnik and Anand will be playing a match soon and the winner will play Kasparov.

It will be interesting to see how this alliance between Kasparov and the volatile and controversial Rentero will work out. Rentero, the owner of a supermarket chain in Spain, has been associated with the Linares super-grandmaster tournament since its inception.

He is certainly no fool when it comes to finance and business. For him to agree to be the president of Kasparov's World Chess Council, he must have seen some possible short-term benefits in it.

Anyway, back to this year's Linares tournament. This is a double round-robin event where the rate of play is two hours for the first 40 moves, then one hour for the next 20 moves, and finally 30 minutes for play-to-the-finish.

In the first round on Sunday, Vassily Ivanchuk, who was playing the black pieces against Kramnik, countered the latter's favourite Queen's Pawn Opening with the Chigorin Defence.

The game followed the opening theory for a while but after some complications provoked by Ivanchuk, Kramnik obtained a favourable ending due to a superior pawn structure and the position of his king.

However, the Ukrainian grandmaster defended very resourcefully and managed to draw a very instructive rook endgame.

Alexei Shirov, who was up against Anand, played badly in a Caro-Kann Defence and quickly obtained an inferior position. Anand was able to isolate his opponent's pawns which condemned the latter to a passive game.

Once Anand traded his queen for Shirov's two rooks, it became clear that the Indian grandmaster would soon pocket the full point. The exchange allowed Anand to capture all of Shirov's vulnerable pawns one after the other.

And in the third game of the first round, between Peter Svidler and Kasparov, the Scheveningen variation of the Sicilian Defence was played.

Kasparov's treatment of the opening was especially interesting. He avoided the usual moves ...Bf8 and ...g6, so as not to weaken his kingside too early. After that, the position appeared to be level for the remainder of the game.

Tebrau open

Players in the south of the peninsula can take part in the 10th Tebrau open chess tournament. Organised by the Rukun Tetangga Taman Sri Tebrau with assistance from the Johor Bahru Chess Club, the event will be held on Mar 22 at the Sek Men Sri Tebrau in Johor Bahru.

There are three sections in this tournament and the entry fees are RM10 for the open section, RM6 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section. Entries close on Mar 20, and only the first 200 entries will be accepted.

For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-333-8215).

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Readers with Internet access can connect to the tournament web site at http://www.elpais.es/p/d/ajedrez3/1998/english.htm

Vladimir Kramnik - Vassily Ivanchuk

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Bf4 Bg4 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Nf6 (Also playable is 6...Nge7 from which it can later go ...Ng6 and ...Nh4) 7. Rc1 O-O 8. h3 8...Bxf3 (A common theme in this opening: Black gives up the two bishops so as to free his position with ...e5) 9. Qxf3 Qe7 10. Bg5 (The only way to prevent the opening of the centre) 10... Bxc3+ 11. Rxc3 Qb4 12. Bxf6 (Otherwise Black would play 12...Ne4) 12... Qxb2 13. Rb3 Qc1+ 14. Qd1 Qxd1+ 15. Kxd1 dxc4 16. Rxb7 gxf6 17. Kd2 Rab8 18. Rxc7 Na5 19. Kc2 (19. Kc3 would probably have been countered by 19... Rb1, leaving the rook on h1 out of play) 19... Rb4 20. Rxa7 Ra4 21. Rxa5 (A necessary sacrifice) 21... Rxa5 22. Bxc4 h5 23. h4 Rc8 24. Kd3 Rxc4 (An interesting decision. As he has no chance of winning this position, Ivanchuk decides to return the exchange so as to reach a rook ending where he has a pawn less but is compensated with a tenable position) 25. Kxc4 Rxa2 26. Rf1 f5 (White's pawns are paralysed and his rook on f1 passively guards the second rank) 27. d5 Kf8 28. dxe6 fxe6 29. Kd4 Ke7 30. Ke5 Ra4 31. f3 Ra5+ (Not 31... Rxh4 which is answered by 32. Ra1, and followed by Ra7+ and Rxe6) 32. Kf4 Ra2 33. Rb1 Kf6 (If 33... Rxg2, then 34. Ke5) 34. Kg3 Re2 35. Rb3 e5 36. Rb6+ Kg7 37. Rb3 Kf6 38. Ra3 Kg6 39. Kh3 Kf6 40. g4 hxg4+ 41. fxg4 fxg4+ 42. Kxg4 Kg6 43. h5+ Kh6 44. Ra6+ Kh7 45. Ra3 Kh6 46. Kf5 e4 47. Kxe4 Kxh5 48. Kf5 Rf2+ 49. Ke6 Re2 (Holding the pawn from behind and forcing White to retrace his steps) 50. Kf5 Rf2+ 51. Ke5 Kg6 52. e4 Rb2 53. Ra7 Rb5+ 54. Ke6 Rb6+ 55. Ke7 Rb5 56. Ra6+ Kg5 57. Re6 Kf4 58. Kf6 Rh5 (58... Rh5 59. Re8 Rh6+ 60. Kg7 Rh5) 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov - Viswanathan Anand

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ne7 8. c4 (This variation became popular after Boris Gelfand's victory over Anatoly Karpov in 1995) 8... Nbc6 9. Nc3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 (This is a novelty, instead of 11.Qa4+, played in Xie Jun-Chiburdanidze, Groningen 1997, and continuing 11... Nc6 12. Rd1 Bd3 13. Bxd3 cxd3 14. Be3 Bb4 15. O-O Bxc3 16. bxc3 Qd5 17. Bd4 O-O) 11... Nc6 12. Bb5 Be7 13. O-O O-O (Black's position is already very comfortable. His minor pieces are occupying good squares) 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Ne2 c5 16. Bc3 Qb6 17. Ng3 Bg6 18. Qg4 Rad8 19. h4 h6 20. h5 Bh7 21. f4 c4+ 22. Kh2 Bb4 23. f5 exf5 24. Nxf5 Bxf5 25. Rxf5 Bxc3 26. bxc3 Qe6 (White's pawns on c3, e5 and h5 are all isolated and vulnerable) 27. Raf1 Rfe8 28. R1f4 Rd5 29. Re4 Re7 (White is completely tied up) 30. Qf4 Rc7 31. Rxc4 Qxf5 (Exchanging the queen for the two rooks) 32. Qxf5 Rxc4 (Black now plans to double the rooks against the isolated pawns and capture them one by one) 33. Qb1 Rd8 34. Qb7 Rxc3 35. Qxa7 Rcc8 36. a4 Ra8 37. Qc7 Rdc8 38. Qb7 Re8 39. Qc6 Rac8 40. Qd7 Rcd8 41. Qc7 Rd5 42. a5 Rdxe5 43. a6 R5e7 44. Qc6 Rf8 45. Kh3 Ra7 46. g4 Rfa8 47. Kh4 Rxa6 48. Qb7 Ra5 49. Qc6 Rf8 50. Qb6 Rg5 51. Qb3 Kh8 52. Qb4 Re8 53. Qa4 Rd8 54. Qe4 f5 55. gxf5 Rf8 0-1 (White will lose all his remaining pawns)

Karpov barred from Linares tournament

When the organisers of the annual Linares Super-grandmaster tournament were finalising their list of invited players last year, Anatoly Karpov ran into a storm when he declined to take part in it.

Karpov's reason was simple: he was busy campaigning for a seat in the Russian parliament.

But this did not go down well with the volatile Luis Rentero who, for many years, had been involved with the Linares tournament in many capacity but notably as its main sponsor.

He charged that Karpov had known of the dates for the Linares tournament as far back as the middle of 1996, and despite several reminders in January 1997, Karpov did not have the courtesy to inform the organisers of his plans.

Obviously, the organisers have not forgotten this incident for when they were preparing for this year's Linares tournament, Karpov was not given an invitation to play.

The ones who will be playing, however, are Peter Svidler (Russia), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Viswanathan Anand (India), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Gary Kasparov (Russia).

They are currently seven of the world's strongest players, and they will play in the double round-robin tournament, a Category 21 event with an average rating of 2752, which starts tomorrow and will go on until Mar 10.

Speaking of Kasparov, we know the man is today the strongest player in the world. He has, by far, the highest rating in the latest international rating list released by the World Chess Federation (Fide) recently.

But would you consider Kasparov the world champion, or the Anatoly Karpov who won the Fide world chess championship in Lausanne last month?

Kasparov, in my opinion, can no longer call himself the world champion. Remember that it was Kasparov who in 1993 created turmoil by refusing to defend his world champion's title under the auspices of the World Chess Federation.

Remember too that it was Kasparov who was instrumental to founding the Professional Chess Association to serve his own interest by organising a rival match with Nigel Short in 1993 and Viswanathan Anand in 1995, and then let the association fade into obscurity.

The World Chess Federation is today still the only legitimate world chess body with an active chess programme, despite its own shortcomings. And Karpov, although only the sixth-ranked player in the world today, must still be regarded as the winner of the federation's world championship cycle.

Kasparov was interviewed last month by Sport Express, a Moscow magazine.

In the magazine article, Kasparov was asked when his own "world championship match" would take place. Some people, according to the interviewer, Y Vasiliev, were already call Kasparov the person who nominated himself Champion.

Kasparov was asked when he would agree to play a match against his strongest challengers. It seemed that there have been some interest shown by sponsors to finance a match between Anand and Kramnik, and the winner would be playing against Kasparov.

Kasparov's reply was non-committal other than to say that he planned to play such a match in October this year, but the announcements would only be made before the start of the Linares tournament. Well, the Linares tournament will start tomorrow, and I am sure we shall have the details in these pages next week.

There is another interesting development concerning Kasparov. It has just been announced that Kasparov and Topalov will play a highly unusual six-game match in Leon, Spain, from June 9 to 13.

What is so unusual about this match is that both the players will have access to a computer each. Both computers will be identical in their hardware configuration, but the players will load in their private database of chess games.

Very few sports in this world can claim to have such a close affinity with computers. Chess is one of them. Personal computers have become a boon for chessplayers. There are many chess database programmes, and the top players such as Kasparov and Topalov keep detail databases of games played by their comtemporaries.

The Internet has also given chess a boost in a way that would be almost inconcievable five years ago. Today, chess events are relayed through the Internet almost as soon as they happen and the obscure chess game can also very quickly gain the attention of the top players.

So, what will happen in this highly unusual chess match between Kasparov and Topalov is that both players will be using their private databases where they keep their secret research and analyses.

They will be helped by an analytic programme which will be like a tactical mistakes detector.

However, the six games will be played using a time control of one hour per player for each game. With only this limited time allotted for each player, they will have to judge how much time they can afford to spend in consulting their computers.

Although this match will be highly unusual, it is not surprising seeing that Kasparov is heavily involved with it. Soon after he lost the second match to Deep Blue last May, he had been going round with this suggestion that players should be allowed to consult chess computers during games.

There is even a name given to this form of chess. The organisers of the match have called it Advanced Chess, in which humans and computers join forces and compete as a team against each other.

They claim that Advanced Chess represents a very high-tech approach to the game and it increases the level of play to heights never before achieved. It would also give the viewing public a unique insight into the thought processes of chessplayers and computers.

Computers calculate at prodigious speeds. On a fast computer, the strongest chess programs generate and evaluate about 150,000 positions per second. In tactically complex positions they are superior to any human player.

In the opening, computers can access unlimited knowledge from their database of chess games - literally millions of tried and tested moves. In the endgame, the computers use hash tables to search very deeply, and in certain restricted endings (for instance, with just five pieces on the board) computers do play absolutely perfect chess.

Human chessplayers, on the other hand, look at only a very limited number of positions. However, they are able to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant, and look at meaningful moves instead of every nonsensical variation.

Humans are able to judge the quality of a move in the very long-term, and formulate plans that go a long way beyond the horizons of even the fastest computers. If a human chess master can survive the tactical onslaught of the machine, his strategical superiority will triumph.  

In Advanced Chess, claimed the organisers, there is symbiosis between man and machine. Each human player is equipped with a personal computer which he can consult at will during the game.

The human player enters moves for the computer to analyse, and spends time pondering the position himself while the computer checks the crucial variations. The human player is always in charge and has the final decision on which move to make.

Does all these seem interesting? I rather think so and I just can't wait for June to come around.

A case of brawns over brains

It would have been easy to overlook that short but significant sentence in the sports pages of the Sunday Star five days ago. There, tucked away in a corner of the newspaper, was a small mention that chess would be out of this year's Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) calendar.

For those who missed the news item, it was reported that the Education Ministry had slashed their budget for the MSSM, forcing three sports to be dropped from the schools calendar this year.

The report quoted the MSSM secretary general, Abdul Aziz Mohamed, as saying the MSSM would only receive RM550,000 from the Education Ministry.

"The amount is half of what we (normally) received. Under the circumstances, we don't have any alternative but to reduce the number of sports for this year," he said.

Apart from chess, the other two sports dropped by the MSSM are handball and softball.

My first reaction was one of outrage. There we are, having made so much progress locally during the last few years and having the results to show for it, and here we have a decision which in a stroke cancels almost everything chess officials in the country have worked for.

I would like to know from the MSSM authorities whether they had considered the alternative of a uniform reduction in the allocation of funds for all the sports.

Instead of removing certain games from the calendar, why can't the MSSM uniformly scale down the size of all the sports? I would think that it would be more important to retain continuity for all the games, such as by organising them on a smaller scale, than to sacrifice the three affected sports altogether.

The cut is especially hard to accept when you realise that chess is the only game in the MSSM calendar that deals with the mental development of the players. By taking away chess, the MSSM has effectively removed the only opportunity for school children to compete in mental sports.

I would think that mental prowess goes hand-in-hand with physical prowess. Even Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Council, acknowledged as recently as last month that chess players have to be physically fit in order to play chess.

So do the authorities in the MSSM have differing views? Are they trying to signal that nothing, not even mental activity, can be as important as physical activity? Is brawn better than brains? I hope to be proven wrong, but these recent developments seem to point in this direction.

As long ago as the beginning of last year, even before the economic crisis hit Malaysia, there were already rumours that the MSSM might be trying to do away with chess in their calendar.

I may be wrong again, but the rumour mill also suggested that some quarters were uncomfortable that chess, in the last few years, was threatening to overshadow a few sports that have greater mass appeal. Ooi Chern Ee surprised many people by coming third in the 1995 MSSM Sportsboy ceremony. Then, in a milestone development, Mas Hafizulhelmi finally bagged the Sportsboy award in the 1996 ceremony.

Whatever the real reason may be, I can only hope that common sense can prevail in the end and chess can be reinstated immediately. Why take away a sport which has featured regularly in the MSSM calendar for the past 25 years?

Does it really cost that much amount of money to run an MSSM chess tournament? If so, I will be the first outsider to support any move to reduce the number of different categories of chess events, just as long that the game can be retained in the MSSM calendar.

For example, instead of holding separate individual and team events for two or three different age-groups, the organisers can hold just one team event for the most senior age-group and award the MSSM chess champion's title to the best Board One performer among the teams.

This is just one suggestion. If the MSSM would care to contact the Malaysian Chess Federation (try telephoning MCF secretary Hamid Majid at 03-421-9576, for instance) and discuss strategy together, I am sure other viable alternatives can be considered too.

In the meantime, if readers have any strong opinion about chess and its exclusion from the MSSM calendar, you can write to me through The Star or e-mail me at ssquah@schach.pc.my .

PERAK CHESS

The Perak International Chess Association will organise a one-day open competition this Sunday at the Taman DR Seenivasagam in Ipoh. This is a six-round event with a time control of 25 minutes per player for each game.

Registration for the event will start at 8.30am on the day of the competition, and the first round is expected to begin by 9.10am. Entry fees are RM8 for members of PICA and RM10 for non-members.

Prizes will include trophies with cash given to the best eight players. The best under-12, under-16 and woman players will also receive prizes. For more enquiries, call Wong (tel: 05-3661692).

UNION CHESS

The Union High School, Penang, will organise its first Union open tournament this Sunday. This will be played over seven rounds.

The entry fee for the one-day tournament is RM7 per player, and participants are required to register themselves at the school hall at 7.30am on the day of the event.

Six cash prizes ranging from RM150 to RM20 will be offered. Trophies will also be given to the best under-12, under-18, women's and Union High School players.

For more details, contact Lim Chu Ai (tel: 04-226-7067), Lim Swee TIn (tel: 04-262-9824) or Wong Wai Quan (e-mail: waiquan@tm.net.my).