May's many events

THERE are a number of local events to report on this week, and I shall start with the Royal Selangor Open which was played in Petaling Jaya late last month.

The tournament was taken by local schoolboy Lim Yee Weng who won the nine-round event handily. He had a slow start, suffering a shock second round defeat at the hands of Terengganu's Mohamad Arshad, but as the tournament progressed, Lim showed enough resilience in his games.

He kept pace with the tournament leaders and by the eighth round, had hauled himself within reach of the winner's purse. He defeated Ismail Ahmad in the final round of the tournament to finish with 7 1/2 points. Along the way, he had also defeated Khor Shihong, Agus Salim, Ng Ee Vern and last year's winner, Mok Tze Meng. Lim's only draw was with Kamaluddin Yusof.

Mok had a breezy start, winning his first five games before being held to draws in the sixth and seventh rounds by Julian Navaratnam and Ahmad Maliki. However, a loss to Lim in the eighth round effectively ended his quest for another Royal Selangor chess title. Mok had to settle for a third draw with Jimmy Liew in the final round to take the second prize with 6 1/2 points.

Four other players -- Ng Ee Vern, Ismail Ahmad, Kamaluddin Yusof and Ghalam Sani -- also scored 6 1/2 points while Jimmy Liew, Law Zhe Khang and Mustafa Kamal Huri obtained six points each. This tournament must have been a disappointment for Liew; apart from a loss to Ghalam Sani, he was held to draws in four games.

The Royal Selangor open tournament was just one of several events organised by the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) to commemorate its silver jubilee. At the start of May, CAS had held its Royal Selangor Juniors Open for the under-10, under-14 and under-18 age groups. The under-12, under-16 and under-20 events have been organised in mid-May.

The under-12 event which attracted 74 entries was won by Jonathan Chuah who swept all his seven games for maximum points. In joint second place were Wong Zi Chuang, Lim Choo Seng and Chan Tze Wei with six points each, while five points went to Effazuwan Farid, Ooi Ching Chung, Ahmad Hafiz, Low Chung Peng, Lim Han Ying, Nishaah, Ungku Iskandar, Kow Wen Fey, Lim Tao Sheng and Mohd Irman.

In the under-16 section, Lim Yee Weng again proved a notch over the rest of the players by winning the event with 6 1/2 points from seven games. Second was Law Zhe Khang with six points, while in joint third to seventh places were Lee Su Ann, Effawira Farid, Soh Hui Siang, Effahrin Farid and Thaw Chee Yin with five points each. There were 41 participants.

There were only 28 players in the under-20 event and this was won by Mak Weng Yee with six points. Joint second to fourth were Chua Lin Kiat, Lim Kweng Seng and Premnanth with five points each.

CAS also held a round-robin team event for institutions of higher learning, and the champion team was the International Islamic Universiti A which scored 24 points. In second place was Universiti Malaya with 22 1/2 points.

Bayview League

THE eighth Penang Bayview Chess League squared off last Sunday at the City Bayview Hotel with a record 30 teams taking part. The teams will be locked in a nine-round contest which is played on Sundays until Aug 16. The City Bayview Hotel is sponsoring the use of their hotel premises for the games.

In the first round of the Premier Division last Sunday, Chung Ling High School A crushed their B team 4-0, while Penang Free School A also won 4-0 against Universiti Sains Malaysia. Old Frees Association A beat their B team by 3 1/2-1/2, while methodist Boys School A defeated Chung Ling Old Boys Association 3-1. The match between MSSPP Juniors and Pessca was drawn 2-2.

The Division One results saw St Xavier's Institution A beating Union High School 4-0, and Penang Free School B winning 3 1/2-1/2 against the Penang Chess Association Novices team.

The other three matches in this division -- Chung Hwa High School A vs Penang Free School C, Penang Development Corporation vs Hewlett Packard, and Chung Ling High School C vs their D team -- all ended in 3-1 scores.

In Division Two, the MSSPP Girls team beat St Xavier's Institution B and the Police beat Penang Free School D by 3-1 results. Chung Ling High School E narrowly beat Westlands Secondary School 2 1/2-1 1/2, while two matches -- Chung Hwa B vs Methodist Boys School B and Penang Chinese Girls High School vs Dynacraft -- were drawn 3-1.

The second round will be played this Sunday morning beginning 10am at the hotel's Revolving Restaurant on the 15th floor.

Klang team event

THERE will be a two-day open team chess tournament for school students starting tomorrow at the SM Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang. This is a six-round event with a time control of 45 minutes per player for each game. Each team can have only four players.

Registration of teams will be from 8am tomorrow and the first round is expected to start at 9.30am. For more details, contact Lee Kok Foong (03-332 1020), Law Zhe Khang (03-331 4160) or Edwin Lam (03-343 4792).

Penang GP

THE Penang Chess Association will organise their second Penang grand prix chess circuit this year, and the first of four legs will be held on June 28 at the Bayan Baru Residents Association clubhouse. Only paid-up members of the PCA can take part in this circuit.

According to organising secretary Goh Yoon Wah, the circuit is to provide playing opportunities and training to PCA members throughout the year, as well as rating and selecting players for representing the state.

The circuit is divided into four preliminary legs and a final. Each of the preliminary legs will be a six-round event using a 30-minute time control.

For these legs, the prizes include RM200 for the winner, RM120 for the runners-up and RM80 for the third-placed. There are five other minor cash prizes, and also prizes for the best junior and woman players. Entry fee is RM10 per player.

Besides cash prizes, the top players from each leg will be awarded GP points. For example, the winner will be given 1,000 GP points, the second-placed 900 GP points, and so on until the 10th-place winner who shall receive 100 GP points.

The 10 finalists are determined by the total GP points accummulated by the players from their best three legs. Entry to the final will be by qualification only. The final will be a round-robin tournament with a one-hour time control. The winner will receive RM400 and a challenge trophy; the second-prize is RM200; third, RM100; and fourth and fifth, RM50 each.

Details of this circuit can also be obtained from the PCA homepage at www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/

 

Age group event put off

THE national age-group championship, due to be played this weekend, has been postponed to next month, according to Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Hamid Majid.

Hamid, who had just returned from Iran where he accompanied Malaysia's top player, Mas Hafizulhelmi, to the Asian junior championship, apologised for the postponement. He said there was insufficient time to organise the national age-group event effectively.

The new dates for this event will be announced later.

Bayview League starts on Sunday

The eighth Penang Bayview Chess League kicks off at 10am this Sunday at the City Bayview Hotel's Revolving Restaurant. This year's league sees a record of 30 teams participating in the 12-week event which is played every Sunday until mid-August.

Because of the large number of entries, the Penang Chess Association has divided the teams into the Premier, First and Second Divisions.

Entry fees are RM150 per team. There will be cash prizes for the top teams in each of the three divisions.

Meanwhile, State Executive Councillor Dr Toh Kin Woon has been re-elected president of the Penang Chess Association for a two-year term. Wong Mun Hoe was re-elected vice-president, Ooi Kiem Boo as secretary and Goh Yoon Wah as treasurer.

The new assistant secretary is Chan Kim Beng, while Chuah Soon Pheng, Eoh Hook Kim, Khor Bean Hwa, Dr Lim Boon Liang, Quah Seng Sun and Tan Hock Lye have been elected as committee members.

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will hold the fifth stage of their nine-leg chess grand prix at Taman Dr Seenivasagam in Ipoh this Sunday.

Six rounds are scheduled for the one-day event, and the time control will be 25 minutes per player for each game. This event is open to all chess enthusiasts in the state.

The overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player and the top 24 players at the end of the series will qualify for the Perak state championship in September. 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 this weekend must register at the playing venue by 8.15am on Sunday. For details, contact W.K. Wong ( 05-366-1692).

Playing sessions in Johor

The Johor Chess Association meets weekly at Level One of the Leisure Mall in Taman Pelangi, Johor Baru. Tournaments and coaching sessions are available for beginners.

Anyone interested can contact Soh Zee Wee ( 07-354-5418 after 8pm) or just turn up at the Chess Corner from 3pm to 5pm every Saturday.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

I find the Internet to be the perfect medium for chess. Not only can I play online chess with someone across the globe, but I can also visit the official tournament websites to find out more about international chess events.

One event, though, has eluded me lately. I would have thought that an event as significant as the Kramnik-Shirov match now taking place in Cazorla, Spain, would be worthy of a web page.

But, no! The unpredictable Luis Rentero, who formed the World Chess Council with Gary Kasparov, had decided that there would be no official coverage of the match on the Internet! According to a report from Spain, this has made the mayor of Cazorla rather unhappy since the town is not getting the worldwide publicity it wanted.

But it is not a total loss. The Spanish newspapers are following the match quite closely and there are sites such as http://www.elpais.es (the online edition of the Spanish newspaper, El Pais) or http://visitweb.com/wcc which give the results and game scores. Pretty good, if you happen to speak or read the Spanish language.

So where does this leave us, who know no Spanish? Luckily, there are two rather dependable websites to visit: firstly, Mark Crowther's This Week In Chess at http://www.chesscenter.com/twic and secondly, the Chess Planet site at http://www.chessweb.com. These two web addresses provide reasonable coverage of the match.

Meanwhile, back in Cazorla, their local hero Alexei Shirov is leading pre-match favourite Vladimir Kramnik by a 3 1/2-2 1/2 score after six games in the 10-game match.

Last week, I gave the first game of the match which was drawn by the players after 25 moves. The second and third games of the match were also drawn. Then, in the fourth game, Shirov drew the first blood when he beat Kramnik. After that, both players settled down to draw their fifth and sixth games.

Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik, Game 2

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Qh5 f5 11. Rb1 b6 12. Re1 c6 13. Bg5 Qc7 14. c4 Be8 15. Qh3 dxc4 16. Bxc4+ Bf7 17. Be6 Bxe6 18. Rxe6 Rae8 19. Qb3 Rxe6 20. Qxe6+ Rf7 21. Qe8+ Rf8 22. Qe6+ Rf7 23. Qe8+ Rf8 1/2-1/2

Vladimir Kramnik - Alexei Shirov, Game 3

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 c5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+ Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14. Kxf1 cxd4 15. cxd4 e5 16. d5 Nc4 17. Qd3 Nxe3+ 18. Qxe3 Qh4 19. h3 Bh6 20. Qd3 Rf8+ 21. Kg1 Qf2+ 22. Kh1 Qe3 23. Qxe3 Bxe3 24. Rd1 Rf2 25. Ng1 Kf7 26. Rd3 Bb6 27. Rf3+ Ke7 28. Rxf2 Bxf2 29. Nf3 Kd6 30. g3 Bxg3 31. Kg2 Bf4 32. Kf2 Kc5 33. Ke2 b5 34. Kd3 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik, Game 4

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Qh5 O-O 11. Qxd5 Bc6 12. Qh5 g6 13. Qh3 Ng5 14. Bxg5 Qxg5 15. Nc3 Rfe8 16. d5 Bxd5 17. f4 Qd8 18. Nxd5 Bc5+ 19. Kh1 Qxd5 20. Rac1 Be3 21. Bc4 Qf5 22. Qxf5 gxf5 23. Rcd1 Rad8 24. g3 Bd4 25. b3 Bf6 26. Bb5 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Rd8 28. Rc1 Rd5 29. a4 Bd8 30. Rc8 Kg7 31. Rb8 Bb6 32. Rxb7 Rd1+ 33. Kg2 Rd2+ 34. Kh3 Bg1 35. g4 Bxh2 36. gxf5 h5 37. Kh4 Bxf4 38. Kxh5 Kf6 39. Bc4 Kxf5 40. Rxf7+ Ke4 41. Rxa7 Be5 42. Bf1 Rf2 43. Bh3 Rf8 44. Be6 Rf1 45. Rd7 Rh1+ 46. Kg6 Rg1+ 47. Kf7 Rg7+ 48. Ke8 Rxd7 49. Kxd7 Bc3 50. Kc6 Ke5 51. Bg8 Be1 52. Kb6!! Bf2+ 53. Ka6 Kd6 54. a5 Kc7 55. b4 Kc6 56. b5+ Kc5 57. b6 Kb4 58. b7 Bg3 59. Kb6 Bf2+ 60. Kc6 Ba7 61. a6 Ka5 62. Bc4 Bb8 63. Bf1 1-0

Vladimir Kramnik - Alexei Shirov, Game 5

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be6 14. Rc1 Bxa2 15. Qa4 Bb3 16. Qb4 b6 17. Bg5 f6 18. Bh4 Qd6 19. Qxd6 exd6 20. d5 f5 21. exf5 gxf5 22. Ng3 Bb2 23. Nxf5 Bc4 24. Ne7+ Kh8 25. Bxc4 Rf4 26. Bg5 Rxc4 27. Rce1 Rc2 28. Nf5 Nc4 29. Re6 Rf8 30. Nxd6 Nxd6 31. Rxd6 Re8 32. Rd1 Ree2 33. Kh1 Rxg2 34. Rd8+ Kg7 35. Bf4 Bf6 36. Ra8 Bg5 37. Be5+ Bf6 38. Bf4 Bg5 39. Rxa7+ Kg6 40. Ra8 Kf7 41. Ra7+ Kg6 42. Bb8 h5 43. Rb7 Be3 44. Re7 Bc5 45. Re6+ Kg5 46. Re4 Kf5 47. Bf4 Rge2 48. Rxe2 Rxe2 49. Bg3 Re8 50. Kg2 Rd8 51. Kh3 Rd7 52. d6 h4 53. Rd5+ Ke6 54. Re5+ Kf6 55. Kxh4 Rh7+ 56. Rh5 Rxh5+ 57. Kxh5 b5 58. d7 Ke7 59. Be5 Kxd7 60. Bb2 Ke6 61. Kg6 Bd6 62. h4 b4 63. h5 Bf4 64. h6 Bxh6 65. Kxh6 Kf5 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik, Game 6

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Nxe5 d5 7. Bxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 O-O 9. c3 Re8 10. cxd4 Bxd4 11. O-O Rxe5 12. d3 c6 13. Nf4 b6 14. Qc2 Rc5 15. Qe2 Ba6 16. Be3 Qd6 17. Rac1 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 Be5 1/2-1/2

World finals in December

THE executive council of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), which met earlier this month in Bled, Slovenia, has unanimously approved the staging of the World Chess Championship finals this December. The event will be played in Las Vegas and carry a prize fund of US$3mil (about RM11.4mil).

This resolution is seen as further endorsement of the decision by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to change the two-year world championship cycle to an annual event.

Ilyumzhinov, who chaired the executive council meeting, said his action was motivated by the need to seize the initiative after the success of the last world championship in Groningen and Lausanne, which was held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee.

The council lauded Ilyumzhinov's offer to increase the prize fund from US$5mil (RM19mil) to US$6mil (RM22.8mil) over two years, and noted that the rules and regulations used in last year's event provided an adequate legal framework for the change.

The regulations will be finalised by a committee which will set November as the deadline for the world championship cycle qualifiers to sign their player's contracts with FIDE.

The council re-emphasised the decision adopted at last year's general assembly in Kishinev that top players would not be granted any special privilege that could be seen as giving them an unfair sporting advantage over other participants.

At the last world championship cycle, FIDE was heavily criticised for allowing Anatoly Karpov direct entry into the final match against Viswanathan Anand. It was felt at that time that Anand, after having survived an exhausting knock-out series of games in Groningen, would be too tired to play against a fresh Karpov.

From this year's event, the world champion will be required to join the knock-out series from the second round. A number of other top players like Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik will also enter the world championship from the second round.

According to FIDE, these players will be chosen based on their best average ratings from the January and July rating lists this year.

Also approved at the executive council meeting was a proposal to increase the number of zonal qualifiers. It was hoped that this move would encourage the top players to participate in their respective national championships and zonal events.

Meanwhile, in another discussion by the FIDE executive council, Ilyumzhinov insisted that the national chess federations must get their national Olympic committees to support the move to recognise chess as a sport.

So far, FIDE has received 49 letters signed by various national Olympic committees. He wanted another 50 letters before officially asking the International Olympic Committee's secretariat to put the matter into its agenda.

Up next

Johor open: Organised by the Johor Chess Association with assistance from Pelangi Berhad, this event will be staged at the Menara Pelangi on June 7. It will be played over six Swiss rounds and divided into the open, under-16 and under-12 sections. Winners will get cash prizes.

Entry fees for the open section are RM10 for men and RM6 for women. Players have to pay RM6 to join the under-16 event, and RM5 for the under-12. For entry forms or more details, call Sumathy ( 07-332 4366), Wong ( 07-333 0931), Lim ( 07-861 5951) or Cheong ( 016-720 2272). Entries will close next Friday at 4pm.

National age-group: The Malaysian Chess Federation will hold the national age-group championship in Shah Alam from June 5 to 7. Although medals will only be given to the winners this year, the MCF will continue to select players from this event to play in the world age-group championship later in the year.

Malaysia-Singapore: The annual Malaysia-Singapore match will be played at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on June 27 and 28.

Royal Selangor open: The Royal Selangor silver jubilee open chess tournament is now on at the Sunway College in Subang Jaya, Selangor (final on Sunday).

Sakura Selangor girls junior: This two-day event starts tomorrow at the Sunway College.

Penang Bayview League: The eighth Penang Bayview Chess League will kick off on June 7 at The City Bayview Hotel. The games will be played every Sunday until mid-August. Entry fees are RM150 per team and there will be cash prizes for the top teams in each of the three divisions.

Closing date for entries is tomorrow, and a managers' meeting will take place at the hotel next Wednesday at 8pm. For more details, call Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687), Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-826 3764) or Eoh Hook Kim ( 04-826 0196) in the evenings.

Penang AGM: The Penang Chess Association will hold its annual general meeting on Sunday at the Bayan Baru Residents Association clubhouse. The meeting at 6pm will be preceded by a blitz tournament one hour earlier. Members of the association who wish to play in the blitz event are required to be at the clubhouse by 4pm. There will be dinner for the members after the meeting.

Game of the week

REMEMBER the World Chess Council which was formed by Gary Kasparov and Luis Rentero last March to look into staging a match between Kasparov and the winner of another match between Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand?

When Anand refused to be associated with this World Chess Council, Rentero decided that Alexei Shirov would take Anand's place in the match. Two months down the road, the match between Kramnik and Shirov finally began last Sunday in Cazorla, Spain.

The first game of the match was drawn after 25 moves. For most of the game, the players followed chess opening theory. The match will be played over 10 games. Here is the first game:

Kramnik vs Shirov

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. Nc3 d5, 4. cxd5 Nxd5, 5. e4 Nxc3, 6. bxc3 Bg7, 7. Bc4 0-0, 8. Ne2 c5, 9. 0-0 Nc6, 10. Be3 Bg4, 11. f3 Na5, 12. Bd3 cxd4, 13. cxd4 Be6, 14. Rc1 Bxa2, 15. Qa4 Bb3 16. Qb4 b6, 17. Bg5 f6, 18. Bf4 e5, 19. Be3 exd4, 20. Nxd4 Bf7, 21. Ba6 Re8, 22. Rfd1 Qe7, 23. Qxe7 Rxe7, 24. Nc6 Nxc6, 25. Rxc6 (1/2-1/2)

 

Gearing up for local tournaments

THERE are a number of local chess events organised by various chess organisations around the country during the next one month or so.

For starters, the Malaysian Chess Federation will organise the national age-group championship at the Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam building from June 5 to 7.

According to the Federation's secretary, Hamid Majid, this year's championship will be held on a smaller scale because sponsorship has not been forthcoming. As a result, there will not be any cash prizes for the winners. Instead, the various age-group winners will be given medals.

Hamid also said that the winners will be selected to play in the world age-group championship later in the year.

The Federation has also slotted in the annual Malaysia-Singapore match on June 27 and 28. This match will be played at the Putra World Trade Centre, and the visitors housed at the Stamford Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Labour Day team tournament in Kuala Lumpur has been postponed indefinitely.

Bera Chess Open

In Pahang, The Persatuan Catur Daerah Bera will organise a three-day open chess tournament starting today at the Dewan Majlis Daerah Bera. This is a seven-round event with a time-control of 1 1/2 hours per player for each game.

The prize fund is quite attractive, with a RM700 first prize, a RM500 second prize and a RM400 third prize. There are seven other prizes ranging from RM300 to RM100. Entry fees are RM15 for members of the Persatuan Catur and RM50 for non-members.

As the first round will start at 2.30pm today, readers planning to take part should contact Zakaria Saleh ( 09-255 6103), Mohd Fadzal Hamid ( 09-255 7823) or Ghazali Mamat ( 09-255 5370) immediately.

Accommodation is not provided for outstation players but, according to the organisers, there are a number of hotels nearby which offer reasonable room rates.

Royal Selangor Open

The Royal Selangor silver jubilee open chess tournament — which is the highlight of the month-long silver jubilee activities of the Chess Association of Selangor — will be played at the Sunway College in Subang Jaya from May 27 to 31.

Several top players from around the country are expected to play in this nine-round Swiss event. There will be 20 cash prizes, including a first prize of RM1,500, a second prize of RM1,000 and a third prize of RM700.

The minor prizes range from RM500 for the fourth-placed winner, to RM60 each for those who finish 11th to 20th in the tournament. Trophies are also awarded to the top three winners.

In addition, there are cash prizes of RM50 each for the best woman and the best under-16 players if they score at least 50% in the tournament. Those who do not qualify for any of the cash prizes will be eligible to take part in five lucky draws during the closing ceremony.

Entry fees for the Royal Selangor silver jubilee open tournament are RM35 for Chess Association of Selangor members, RM50 for members of clubs that are affiliated to the CAS, and RM60 for other players. International masters and the visually handicapped players are given free entry to this tournament.

Readers are reminded that, apart from this event, the CAS's silver jubilee blitz tournament will be held tomorrow and on Sunday, and the Sakura Selangor junior girls tournament will be played on May 30 and 31.

Anyone interested in taking part should contact either Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin ( 03-733 0927) for more details or registration.

Eighth Penang Chess League

The Penang Chess Association's eighth Penang Bayview Chess League will start on June 7 at the City Bayview Hotel. The hotel, which donated a 45cm pewter challenge trophy worth RM6,000 in 1993, will sponsor the use of its premises for the championship which will be played on Sundays until mid-August.

Only teams legitimately representing the public and private sectors, institutions of learning and registered associations, societies and clubs are allowed to play in the league. A guest player may be included in each team, but the other players must strictly be employees, students or members of the organisation they represent.

In the past, the organisers recognised the fact that there were several players who were interested in playing in the league but could not do so because they were not accepted as guest players on any of the teams. For this year's event, the organisers are requesting that these players contact the Penang Chess Association immediately. If the response is encouraging enough, the association will consider grouping them together to play under its banner.

Provision has been made for about 24 teams to take part, and each team is allowed up to eight players. However, only four players from each team will play in every round.

This year's event will again be split into three divisions. The third division will comprise teams of mainly novice players, while the first and second divisions will be made up of the teams that have been taking part regularly in previous chess leagues.

Entry fees are RM150 per team and cash prizes are guaranteed for the top teams in each of the three divisions. Closing date for entries is May 30, and a managers' meeting will take place at the hotel on June 3 at 8pm.

For more details, contact Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687), Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-826 3764) or Eoh Hook Kim ( 04-826 0196) in the evenings.

Meanwhile, the Penang Chess Association will hold its annual general meeting on May 31 at the Bayan Baru Resident's Association clubhouse. The 6pm meeting be preceded by a blitz tournament one hour earlier.

Members who wish to play in the blitz event are required to be at the clubhouse by 4.30pm. There will be dinner for the members after the meeting.

Batu Gajah events

There will be two tournaments this Sunday at SK Toh Indera Wangsa Ahmad in Batu Gajah, Perak. The first is the Batu Gajah open tournament and the second, the Batu Gajah under-12 closed tournament.

Both are six-round events. Registration for the tournaments will be from 8am and the first round is expected to start at 9.10am. For details, call Azmi Ishak ( 05-365 1848) or W.K. Wong ( 05-366 1692).

Kalmyk tournament winding down

THE strong knock-out tournament in Elista, in the Russian republic of Kalmykia, which I wrote about last week, has reached the semi-final stage. Of the original 32 players in the field, only four are left.

In the first of the two semi-final encounters, Evgeny Bareev (of Russia) will play the Ukraine's Vassily Ivanchuk. The second semi-final match is between Alexander Khalifman and Alexei Dreev, both Russians. So far, their first games have ended drawn.

Earlier, in the quarter-final stage of the knock-out event, Ivanchuk had triumphed easily over Armenia's Rafael Vaganian. Bareev, Khalifman and Dreev had taken slightly longer to dispose of their respective opponents, Konstantin Sakeav, Sergei Tiviakov and Valery Salov.

The knock-out event began in Elista, the Kalmyk capital, on May 6. At stake is a US$100,000 prize fund raised by the Kalmyk president, Kirsan ljumzhinov, who is also the president of the World Chess Federation.

The official tournament web site is located at http://www.ruschess.com. When I visited the site, what struck me was that the official flag of the Kalmyk Republic is an open lotus flower. Furthermore, the President's Cup is adorned with an etched picture of the Buddha — all this from a land that was formerly Communist, under the old Soviet Union's regime!

But it seems that there is good reason for these symbols: the people of Kalmykia are predominantly Buddhists. The republic was settled by Chinese migrants in the 17th century who managed to retain their beliefs and culture even under Communist rule.

 

Mishap upsets event

LAST week in the Russian republic of Kalmykia, its president Kirsan Iljumzhinov — who is also president of the World Chess Federation — was about to stage a strong knock-out tournament when news of an accident on the outskirts of the nation's capital Elista came through.

Former women's world champion Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian Chess Federation president Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Kiril Georgiev were in a car travelling from Volvograd to Elista when their driver tried to overtake another vehicle along the narrow road but met a third one coming from the opposite direction.

According to reports from Elista, the driver avoided a head-on collision but he lost control of the car, causing it to roll down a hill.

Chiburdanidze, who was beside the driver, was thrown from the car; she suffered severe knocks on her head and multiple contusions on the chest and liver regions.

Luckily for her, the accident occurred near a village hospital about 15km from Elista. She was taken to the hospital and her condition is reportedly stable and not critical.

Azmaiparashvili and Georgiev, who were in the backseat, suffered minor head injuries and scratches.

Iljumzhinov later postponed the tournament by one day, with the agreement of the other players who were all upset by the bad news.

The knock-out event was originally due to begin on May 5 in Elista with a US$100,000 prize money. This tournament for the President's Cup was supposed to have been the Russian Championship which has since been postponed to July in St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) but Iljumzhinov decided that his event should still proceed as planned.

And since it was no longer an internal Russian event, Iljumzhinov was able to attract a much stronger field with some players from outside Russia also taking part.

To get an idea of the strength of this tournament, the grandmasters in this 32-player field are Valery Salov, Evgeny Bareev, Sergei Rublevsky, Alexander Khalifman, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Sergei Tiviakov, Alexey Dreev, Konstantin Sakeav, Evgeny Sveshnikov, Ildar Ibragimov, Alexander Galkin, Marat Makarov, Alexander Fominyh and Alisa Galliamova (all from Russia), Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Onischuk, Vladimir Tukmakov and Vladimir Malaniuk (all from Ukraine), Boris Gelfand and Aleksej Aleksandrov (both from Belarus), Vladimir Akopian and Rafael Vaganian (both from Armenia), Kiril Georgiev (Bulgaria), Mikhail Gurevich (Belgium), Jaan Ehlvest (Estonia), Viktor Bologan (Moldavia), and Georgi Giorgadze (Georgia).

When I looked at this list of players, it struck me that if the Soviet Union had not disintegrated in 1991, this tournament in Elista would just about qualify as the Soviet championship itself.

Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Estonia, Moldavia and Georgia were all formerly a part of the Soviet Union, and Mikhail Gurevich, now playing for Belgium, was a former Soviet player.

Only Georgiev stood out differently from the rest of the players.

In the first stage of the knock-out event over last weekend, Ivanchuk beat Ehlvest 2-0, Zvjaginsev beat Makarov 2 1/2-1 1/2, Georgiev beat Sveshnikov 1 1/2-1/2, Vaganian beat Shovunov 2-0, Bologan beat Akopian 1 1/2-1/2, Sakaev beat Erendzhenov 2-0, Bareev beat Tukmakov 2-0, Gurevich beat Poddubny 1 1/2-1/2, Gelfand beat Malaniuk 2-0, Tiviakov beat Galliamova 4 1/2-3 1/2, Khalifman beat Galkin 1 1/2-1/2, Aleksandrov beat Lusto 2-0, Rublevsky beat Ibragimov 2-0, Dreev beat Kozak 1 1/2-1/2, Salov beat Onischuk 1 1/2-1/2 and Giorgadze beat Fominyh 4-3.

I shall have more news for you next week but in the meantime, readers with Internet access can visit the official tournament web site at http://www.ruschess.com .

Mak is Selangor junior champion

THE 12th Royal Selangor juniors open tournament on May 1 and 2 was the first of several activities organised by the Chess Association of Selangor in conjunction with its silver jubilee celebrations.

Despite losing to Lim Yee Weng in the sixth round, Mak Weng Yee was declared winner of the 29-player under-18 section of the tournament due to a better tiebreak. Both players had scored 5 1/2 points from the seven-round event.

Given the tie-break system which is commonly used in such events, it would be almost impossible for players who lose in the early rounds of a tournament to score highly on tie-breaks. In Lim's case, the title slipped from his hands after a surprising loss to Samantha Lee in the third round.

In joint third and fourth places were Wong Ziwei and Premnaath with five points each. Samantha Lee, Wong Kat Fooi, Choo Voo Koon, Chua Lin Kiat, Marina Soh and Law Zhe Kang scored four points each.

The under-14 section of the tournament was won by Perak schoolboy Aaron Yee who obtained 6 1/2 points from seven games. The second place went to Gerald Soh with six points, while sharing the third to sixth prizes with 5 1/2 points each were Effahrin Farid, Wong Zi Chuan, Choi Wai Yew and Ragu Ram.

This was the most popular age-group event of the junior tournament with 60 players taking part. The third age-group category was the under-10 section which attracted 28 players.

Effaliana Farid was the winner with 6 1/2 points and second was Ooi Ching Chung with six points. Hemnaath scored five points to take the third prize while the fourth to ninth places were shared by Thaw Chee How, Chan Tze Chen, Eric Ng Keng Gee, Mo Kim Hung, Gavin Ng Khai Wei and Lee Su Lynn who obtained 4 1/2 points each.

On May 3, the Chess Association of Selangor organised a six-round Allegro tournament that attracted 40 participants. Mohd Saprin Sabri was the winner with 5 1/2 points, followed by Lim Yee Weng and Azhari Mohd Nor with five points each, and Chay Joon Hoong and Lau Tze Thong with 4 1/2 points each.

This weekend, the second half of the Royal Selangor juniors open tournament will take place at the Sunway College in Subang Jaya. This will be for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age-groups.

On May 23 and 24, the CAS silver jubilee blitz tournament will be organised and this event will be followed by the Royal Selangor silver jubilee open chess tournament from May 27 to 31.

The Sakura Selangor junior girls tournament will be played on May 30 and 31.

For all these events, intending participants can call Mrs Jackie Wong (03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin (03-733 0927) for registration details.

Perak Grand Prix

The Perak International Chess Association will hold the next stage of their nine-leg chess grand prix at the Perpustakaan Tun Razak in Ipoh this weekend.

Six rounds are scheduled for the two-day event, and the time control will be 60 minutes per player for each game. Only players who are born, residing, working or studying in Perak are eligible to take part.

The overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player and the top 24 players at the end of the series will qualify for the state championship in September. 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 this weekend must register at the playing venue by 1.15pm tomorrow. For details, call W.K. Wong (05-366 1692).

 

Solo strike for Lim

I CAN safely say that in all the 25 years of the Malaysian Chess Federation's existence, the handful of local players in the World Chess Federation's international rating list had the MCF to be thankful for.

If not for the MCF having organised international rating tournaments on our shores or sent our players to play in international events, they would surely not have obtained their international ratings on their own accord.

Take, for example, the recently concluded Asian cities team chess championship in Genting Highland, Pahang. Ahmad Maliki and Ng Tze Han were the two local players to meet the minimum criterion for obtaining their first international ratings. Could they have done so without the MCF giving them the opportunity to play in this event? I very much doubt it.

In the wake of what I have just written, the feat of Lim Chin Lee is, therefore, of great significance to Malaysian chess. Lim, on his own initiative, took part in a rating tournament at the second New Hampstead chess festival in England last March and came away a joint winner of the event.

The New Hampstead chess festival comprised three tournaments: a grandmaster event, an international master event and a rating event. Lim approached the organisers of the chess festival and was accepted into the rating tournament. This was a 10-player round-robin event with four rated players in the field.

According to Lim, he was surprised to win the tournament. He admitted to being very lucky. Lim played with unrated opponents in the first five rounds and his score of 4 1/2 points gave him confidence.

"I beat the lowest rated player (Angus James) in the sixth round, then drew with Adam Raoof in the seventh round. I am quite happy with that because I had lost to him in last year's British Rapid Play tournament," Lim said.

"My loss to Ben Savage, who is from Oxford University, frustrated me because if I had beaten him I would have secured my sole first placing.

"However, I managed to beat Marcus Osbourne in the last round. He was the highest rated player in the event.... I never expected to get first place. My initial target was just to get a rating," he said.

So who is this Lim Chin Lee?

He is a first-year mechanical engineering student at the Britain's University of Leeds. He claims to be a "chess maniac" and has just been appointed captain of his university's chess team. Some readers will have recognised him as one of Klang's home-grown players.

In 1994, he was the under-18 winner of the national age-group tournament in Shah Alam. This earned him a trip to Szeged in Hungary later in the year, where he took part in the under-18 section of the World Age-Group tournament.

Lim had also played in the Malaysian Schools Sports Council's chess championship in 1994, where he helped Selangor to win the under-20 team title.

His last event in Malaysia, before he left for England, was last year's Merdeka team chess championship in which his team, Independent Star, took the fourth prize.

Lim's future chess-playing plans will depend greatly on how he can juggle chess with his studies.

"If there are tournaments during my holidays, then most probably I won't miss the opportunity to play," he said. "My next target is to increase my rating so that I can participate in the IM tournament."

Selangor Events

May 9-11: Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) inter-team tournament for institutions of higher learning in the Klang Valley

May 16-17: Royal Selangor juniors open tournament (under-12, under-16 and under-20 age categories)

May 23-24: CAS silver jubilee blitz tournament

May 27-31: Royal Selangor silver jubilee open chess tournament

May 30-31: Sakura Selangor junior girls tournament

Contact persons: Mrs Jackie Wong (03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin (03-733 0927). Sponsors are Royal Selangor, Sakura Cafe and Cuisine, and Sunway College.

Northern exposure

THE Penang Chess Association will organise the eighth Penang Bayview Chess League starting June 7 at The City Bayview Hotel.

The hotel, which donated an 18in pewter challenge trophy worth RM6,000 in 1993, will sponsor the use of their premises for the championship which shall be played on Sundays until mid-August.

Only teams which legitimately represent the public and private sectors, institutions of learning and registered associations, societies and clubs are allowed to play in the league.

A guest player may be included in each team, but the other players in the team must strictly be employees, students or members of the organisation which they represent.

In the past, the organisers have recognised that there were several players who were interested to play in the league but could not do so because they were not accepted as guest players in any of the teams.

For this year's event, the organisers are requesting that these players contact the PCA immediately. If the response is encouraging enough, the PCA will consider grouping them together to play under the association's banner.

Provision has been made for about 24 teams to take part, and each team is allowed up to eight players. However, only four players from each team will play in every round.

This year's event will again be split into three divisions. The third division will comprise teams of mainly novice players, while the first and second divisions will be made up of the more regular teams that have been taking part in previous chess leagues.

Entry fees are RM150 per team and cash prizes are guaranteed for the top teams in each of the three divisions. Closing date for entries is May 30, and a managers' meeting will take place at the hotel on June 3 at 8pm.

For more details, contact Goh Yoon Wah (04-644 5687), Ooi Kiem Boo (04-826 3764) or Eoh Hook Kim (04-826 0196) in the evenings. Chess enthusiasts can contact Quah Seng Sun via e-mail (ssquah@schach.pc.my). His chess articles are archived at Malaysia On-Line which readers can visit at http://www.mol.com.my

 

Selangor's silver jubilee celebration

TODAY signals the start of the month-long silver jubilee activities of the Chess Association Of Selangor, one of the oldest and most active chess associations in the country.

I remember attending the inaugural general meeting of the CAS way back in 1974. My name should be there as a founder member of the association, although, admittedly, my membership lapsed a long time ago after I returned to Penang.

There was a big group of chess enthusiasts gathered at the La Salle Secondary School in Petaling Jaya, and a very colourful and vocal figure, K.C. Lee, was elected as the association's first president. J.J. Singam, if I remember correctly, was the first secretary of the CAS.

Although there were already some chess activities in Kuala Lumpur in those days, particularly the weekly games sessions at the Royal Selangor Club, every chess player in the area looked forward to the CAS' first chess tournament.

This was the Selangor open chess tournament, which was held at the Royal Selangor Club. At that time I was a student in Petaling Jaya, fully dependent on public transportation, but I made it a point to be at the RSC to take part in this tournament. I have stories to tell of my chess adventures in Selangor, but they are better left to another occasion.

Coming back to the CAS silver jubilee, the first item on their calendar is the two-day 12th Royal Selangor juniors open tournament, for the under-10, under-14 and under-18 age groups, which begins today at Sunway College in Subang Jaya.

Malaysian Chess Federation president Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik will launch the month-long CAS chess festival at 10am today.

The two-day event this weekend is actually only the first half of the Royal Selangor juniors open tournament. The second half of this tournament, which caters for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age categories, is scheduled for May 16 and 17 at the same venue.

Next week, from May 9 to 11, an inter-team tournament for institutions of higher learning in the Klang Valley will be organised, and on May 30 and 31, the Sakura Selangor junior girls tournament will be held. Both events will be held at Sunway College.

If these events seem to convey the impression that the CAS is giving a lot of emphasis to youth, rest assured that the association has also planned several tournaments for the adult chess players in the community.

For starters, there will be a silver jubilee allegro tournament this Sunday, and on May 23 and 24, the CAS silver jubilee blitz tournament will be held. The venue for both these events is yet to be finalised. Those interested can contact CAS secretary Jackie Wong (03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin (03-733 0927).

The expected highlight of the month-long chess festival is, of course, the Royal Selangor silver jubilee open chess tournament. This tournament, a nine-round Swiss event, is scheduled to start from May 27 to 31 at Sunway College.

There will be 20 cash prizes, including a first prize of RM1,500, a second prize of RM1,000 and a third prize of RM700.

The minor prizes range from RM500 for the fourth-placed winner to RM60 each for those who finish 11th to 20th in the tournament. Trophies will also be given to the top three winners.

In addition, there are cash prizes of RM50 each for the best woman and the best under-16 players if they score at least 50% in the tournament.

Those who do not qualify for any of the cash prizes will be eligible to take part in five lucky draws at the closing ceremony.

Entry fees for the Royal Selangor silver jubilee open tournament are RM35 for CAS members, RM50 for members of clubs that are affiliated to the CAS, and RM60 for other players.

International masters and visually-handicapped players are given free entry to this tournament.

The main partners who are making this silver jubilee chess festival possible for the CAS are Royal Selangor (which has been sponsoring chess events in Selangor for the past 16 years), Sakura Cafe And Cuisine (which sponsors the junior girls' tournament annually) and Sunway College (which is providing the venue for most of the events this month).

IIUM tournament results

RIGHT after the Asian cities team championship had ended at the Awana Genting Highland Golf And Country Resort last month, the International Islamic University Chess Club organised an open team tournament at Wenworth Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

This event was won by the Royal Selangor Club team which comprised Jimmy Liew, Wong Zi Jing, Ng Ee Vern and Mak Weng Yee.

Second was the Keramat Wangsa team in which Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin, Hashim Jusoh, Mohd Zamri Mohd Sharif and Annuar Idhuan Yusoff played; and third in the tournament was the Muhibbah team which consisted of Agus Salim, Julian Navaratnam, Ismail Ahmad, Fikrul Saifuddin and Chay Joon Hong.

Also participating in this event was the Beirut team, comprising Ahmed Najjar, Antoine Kassis, Nassim Sakr, Maan Ftouni, Mouhamad Ben Archad and Elias Khairallah.

Initially, I had expected this team to be placed among the top three, but it failed to do so. The team eventually finished fifth in the standings.

The first inkling that the situation was not going well for the Beirut team was when I suddenly found Kassis and Ftouni back at the Awana late on the evening of May 17.

The previous day, MCF secretary Hamid Majid had arranged to send off the Beirut team but like a bad penny, the two Beirut players suddenly turned up at the Awana without any plans to return to Kuala Lumpur.

It seemed like a bad dream, but Hamid was forced to put them up for the night and made hasty arrangements to send them to Wenworth Hotel the next morning.

If Hamid and I had thought that this would be the end of the matter, imagine our surprise again when we saw Ftouni at the Awana on the morning of May 19, chatting to one of the Uzbekistan players!

Anyway, the six board prizes at the IIUM team tournament were awarded to Aziz Jaafar, Law Zhe Kang, Ng Ee Vern, Mak Weng Yee, Abdul Aziz Shoukor and Mohd Azizul Mat Daud.

The Best Junior prize was won by Wong Zi Jing, and the Best Woman prize went to Effalini Mohd Farid.

Amcorp blitz tournament

HERE are the results of the Amcorp Mall national blitz open chess tournament, organised jointly by the Malaysian Chess Federation and the Chess Association Of Selangor on April 12.

The winner of the knock-out event was China's Zhang Pengxiang who won RM500. Second was Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar, who won RM300.

The winners of the RM200 prizes were Wang Rui of China and Aung Myo Hlaing of Myanmar.

The Myanmar players dominated the field of 58 players when Myint Han and Naing Lim Aung both won RM100 each, while Maung Maung Lwin and Zaw Oo each took back RM50.

Local players Darren Yong and Law Zhe Kang were the other winners of RM100 each.

 

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).