Alive and kicking among the young

I WAS at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur last month to see for myself this year's national age-group chess championship and I must say I was rather unprepared for the sight of more than 300 enthusiastic schoolchildren competing in the big hall.

Yes, I am proud to say that despite the setback caused by the withdrawal of the game from the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) calendar three years ago, scholastic chess is still very much alive in the country.

In fact, I can safely say that the popularity of chess among the school-going population is showing no sign of diminishing, thanks to parental encouragement as well as continuing support from the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF).

Ever since chess was removed from the MSSM programme, the MCF had tried its best - and succeeded - in raising the quality of the national age-group championship so that schoolchildren would not be deprived of the chance of playing in an important competition at least once a year.

To see the hall and the corridors filled with supportive parents says a lot about what they think of the MSSM's short-sighted decision. I had the opportunity to speak to some of them and I could sense the hidden anger when they talked about the MSSM's failure to reinstate the game in its calendar.

They talked of discrimination and of getting the short end of the stick from the MSSM. Basically, the parents could not express their frustrations to the education authorities because most of the schools' chess advisors (that is, the teachers) are themselves not very concerned about the fate of the game in the MSSM programme.

Without a direction, most of the schools meekly go along with their Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Negeri, which in turn simply follow the decisions made at national level.

Apart from Selangor and Penang, I do not know of any other state that continues to have their respective schools' chess competitions at the state level every year. The absence of such competition deprives the students of an opportunity to develop themselves mentally in one of the most structured and expressive means.

In the meantime, the national age-group championship will have to remain as the only conduit in the country for chess-playing schoolchildren to compete with one another.

The championship was divided into six age-groups, with separate events for the boys and girls.

The under-eight boys' section attracted 22 players and the top five winners were Tai Wei Yang (6.5 points), Sumanth Subramaniam (six points), Joel Tan Weng Yu (five points), and Koh Zhuan Khye and Bryan Homi Mehta (both with 4.5 points). The under-eight girls' section had 17 players and the winners were Adeline Gan Li Ling and Har Wanth Kaur (both with 5.5 points) and Alena Wan Yuin Yee (five points).

There were 44 players in the under-10 boys' section and the winners were Anas Nazreen Bakri (6.5 points), Loke Zhi Kin (six points), Tan Wei Jian (5.5 points), and Lim Tao Sheng and Abdul Kadir Jailani Ramli (five points each). However, there were only 14 players in the under-10 girls' section and the three winners were Effaliana Farid (clean score of seven points), Wan Khye Theng (5.5 points) and Ong Mei Wen (five points).

The under-12 boys' section had 48 players and the event was won by Zarul Shazwan Zulkafli with seven points. The other winners were Joshua Tan Hoong Yu (six points), and Thaw Chee Hou, Chan Litt Binn and Hemnath Renganathan (all with five points). With only 11 players in the under-12 girls' section, the winners were Nur Shazwani Zulkafli (six points), and Lee Su Lynn and Lim Han Ying (both with 5.5 points).

The under-14 boys' section was hotly contested and the winners were Jonathan Chuah and Nicholas Chan (6.5 points each), and Zach Han Kun Lin, Hafiz Shafruddin and Lim Choo Seng (all with five points each).

The girls' section, with nine players, was won by Nishaah Renganathan (6.5 points), Effalini Farid (six points) and Hazuin Husain (five points).

There were 57 players in the under-16 boys' section which were won by Khor Shihong (6.5 points), Deon Moh Teng Keong and Au Yoong Yow Loo (six points each), and Aaron Yee Keng Yew and Low Han Boon (five points each). There were 15 players in the under-16 girls' section which was won by Lim Jean Nie (6.5 points), Norsyafawati Ishak (six points) and Jolene Lim Suet Fung (4.5 points).

The top section of the championship for under-18 boys' attracted 35 entries and the winners were Lim Chuin Hoong (6.5 points), Teng Wei Khoon and Lim Yee Weng (5.5 points each), and Thaw Chee Yin and Ahmad Abid (five points each).

Nine players took part in the under-18 girls' section which was won by Lee Su Ann (6.5 points), and Sim Chui Fong and Marina Soh (five points each).

Meanwhile at the Malaysian Chess Federation's annual general meeting held on April 1, Datuk Sri Sabbaruddin Chik was unanimously re-elected president for a further two years. The incumbent deputy president, Datuk Mohd Rosli Abdul Aziz, also retained his post.

The three vice-presidents are Ibrahim Abu Bakar, Mrs Jackie Wong and Nasir Hussein. The secretary is Abdul Hamid Majid and his assistant is Ghazali Che Cob. The treasurer's post is filled by Collin Madhavan and the six committee members are Chan Kwai Keong, Zainal Ishak, Wong Fook Loy, Ahmad Safruddin, Haslindah Ruslan and Ibrahim Yaacob.

National closed tourney

National closed championship The Malaysian Chess Federation will organise this year's national closed chess championship at the Putra World Trade Centre from May 27 to 31. It is the most important annual event in the Malaysian chess calendar and will have separate sections for men and women.

The men's section will, at the very least, be a nine-round event and the winner will be awarded the Datuk Hussein Onn challenge trophy. The winner of the women's section, which will be played over seven rounds, will receive the Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik trophy. In addition, the PWTC will award trophies to the most promising under-18 male and female players.

The Penang Chess Association, Chess Association of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur Chess Association, Malaysian Malays Chess Association and Terengganu Chess Association can send a maximum of six players to the men's event and four to the women's, while the other state chess associations can each send a maximum of four and two players respectively.

Anyone interested in this competition and who would like to be selected, should contact their respective chess associations immediately.

The persons to contact are Mrs Jackie Wong, Selangor 03-703 8237; Ooi Kiem Boo, Penang 04-826 3764; Dr Yee Meng Kheong, Perak 05-546 4530; Stephen Cheong, Johor 07-333 9636; Muhammad Arshad, Terengganu 018-895 8041; Wan Abdullah, Pahang 09-583 3205; Khirluddin Darus, Perlis 06-976 5485; Dr Mohd Ishak, Malacca 06-283 5878; Charles Chan, Negeri Sembilan 06-631 7971; Sylvester Asai, Sabah 088-764 305; Lim Kian Hwa, Sarawak 082-427 772, Dr Mohd Foudri, Kuala Lumpur 03-9074 4810 and Rahman, Kelantan 09-787 8079.

The national champions of the past 16 years and local players who are on the FIDE rating list are given direct entry into the competition. However, they must still be registered for the championship through their respective chess associations.

10th Penang Dell chess league

The northern region's biggest chess event, the annual Penang Dell Chess League, starts on June 11 at the premises of Dell Asia Pacific in the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone. The tournament, now in its 10th year, is organised by the Penang Chess Association and sponsored by Dell Asia Pacific.

The championship will be played on Sundays and is scheduled to end on Aug 6.

Only teams 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 in the team must strictly be employees, students or members of the organisation which they represent.

Players who are unable to play as guest players in any team are requested to contact the Penang Chess Association (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 a maximum of 30 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.

The entry fee is RM150 per team and cash prizes are guaranteed for the top teams in each of the three divisions. Closing date for entries is June 3.

For more details, contact Chan Kim Beng 012-451 8811 Goh Yoon Wah 04-644 5687 or Ooi Kiem Boo 04-826 3764 in the evenings.

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will hold their latest grand prix events at the Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh next weekend.

The two-day Category A event for players with PICA ratings of above 1700 will be played on May 13 and 14, while the Category B event for players with no PICA ratings or with rating points below 1700 will be held on May 14. Both events will be conducted over six rounds but with different time controls.

For more information, contact WK Wong 05-366 1692.

Sri Aman Junior Open

The Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Aman in Penang will hold an open tournament for boys and girls in the under-12 and under-10 age categories from 8am to 1pm on May 14. Entry fee is RM3 per player and registration closes on May 12. For details, contact Eoh Hook Kim 04-826 0196.

  

Chess-computing connection forged

THE Penang Chess Association has entered into a partnership with Dell Asia Pacific to promote chess in Penang.

For the next three years, Dell Asia Pacific will give RM12,000 annually towards Penang Chess Association activities. Among the activities Penang chess players can look forward to are the 10th Penang Dell chess league, the Penang grand prix chess circuit and the Penang closed chess championship.

In addition, Dell Asia Pacific will sponsor the Penang state teams that will be playing in the annual Merdeka team chess championship in Kuala Lumpur.

In a statement released by Dell Asia Pacific in conjunction with the cheque presentation ceremony on March 30, the company said that the three-year partnership beginning in May will assist the country in strengthening the intellect and discipline of youth. Chess is a discipline which harnesses the mental capacity and releases the human potential of the players. The game requires strategy, tactics, foresight, and the ability to take calculated risks.

Dell Asia Pacific's parent company, Dell Computer Corp, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is an acknowledged leader in the direct marketing of computers worldwide. From Dell Asia Pacific's regional headquarters in Penang, the company provides services and support to its Asian customers. It provides global customers with centralised ordering and billing, customised products and the advantages of local delivery and local on-site service.

Some east coast results

THE Terengganu Chess Association recently concluded its 23rd Terengganu closed championship with veteran chess player Ghalam Sani Abdul Rashid and Heng Aik Kiat jointly tying for first and second in the open section of the tournament.

Both players obtained equal 5.5 points from seven games, which placed them a half point ahead of Hashim Jusoh and Adnan Salleh who tied for third and fourth places. On 4.5 points were Muhammad Arshad, Abdul Rahim Ramli, Ruzenan Abu Bakar and Fairul Yusoff, while Ahmad Rizal Othman and Senu Mohd Nor were among the four pointers who finished within the top 10.

The novice section was won by Abdul Kadir Jailani Ramli who scored 5.5 points from six games. Other prizes were given to Wan Najihah Farhanah for being the best woman player and Afif Abdul Fattah Che Omar for being the best under-12 player.

Meanwhile, the Terengganu leg of the Bank Pertanian national allegro chess circuit, held at the Dewan Jabatan Laut in Kuala Terengganu on March 4, was won by Muhammad Arshad who scored the maximum six points.

There was a four-way tie for second to fifth places between Mohd Nizam Hamzah, Hashim Jusoh, Lufti Amir Abdul Rahman and Ahmad Rizal Othman, who all scored five points each. The players with four points who also won prizes were Heng Aik Kiat, Alias Mohd Amin, Zaharuddin Sulaiman, Abdul Rahim Ramli and Mohd Zulhaimi Awang.

Senu Mohd Nor won the prize for the best Terengganu Chess Association member, Ramli Setapa took the veteran's prize, Mohd Ariff Ramli won the under-12 prize and Noor Hafiq Noor Ariff received the under-16 prize. All four players obtained four points. The prize for the best woman player went to Siti Sharina Abdul Rashid. A total of 56 players took part in this tournament.

In Kota Baru, the Kelantan leg of this chess circuit was played on April 8 with 37 players; the joint winners were Nizam Hamzah and Abdullah Che Hassan who both scored 5.5 points. Ezanie Mohamad and Muhammad Arshad were third and fourth with five points, Mohd Aizuddin was fifth with 4.5 points, while tied from sixth to 10th were Abdul Haq Mohamad, Wan Abdul Fatah Ali, Mohd Syaiful Azli, Zaharuddin Sulaiman and Wan Rozuhan with four points each.

UP NEXT

BPM Allegro Events

The next three legs of this year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be played in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, Kuching on May 1 and Ipoh on May 21.

The entry fees are RM10 for members of the organising chess associations in each state, Bank Pertanian employees, players above 50 years old and girls below 12 years old, and RM15 for all other participants.

Prizes for the open section will be RM300 for the winner, RM200 for the second-placed, RM150 for third, RM100 for fourth and fifth, and RM60 for sixth to 10th. The best Bank Pertanian player will also win RM60, while the best players in the other categories will get RM50.

To register for the event, contact Ibrahim Yaacob for the Kuala Lumpur leg ( 03-636 3082); Lim Kian Hwa for the Kuching leg ( 082-427 772) and Dr Yee Meng Keong for the Ipoh leg ( 05-546 4530).

Chess players in Malacca can collect entry forms for the Malacca leg from the Mahkota Parade shopping complex, while entry forms for the Kuala Lumpur leg are available from the Riverside Restaurant at the Putra World Trade Centre.

The other legs of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia allegro series are:

* Johor, June 11 (contact Stephen Cheong 07-333 9636);

* Negri Sembilan, June 24 (contact Charles Chan 06-631 7971);

* Kedah, July 23 (contact Abdul Hamid Majid, e-mail aham@pc.jaring.my);

Perlis, July 24 (contact Khirluddin Darus 04-976 5485).

Union School Open

The Union High School in Penang will hold its annual open tournament this Sunday in the school hall beginning at 8am. Entry fee is RM10 per person. According to the organisers, lunch will be served to all participants who will also receive copies of the school's Chess Digest.

The closing date for entries is tomorrow and players are required to register at the school between 10am and noon. Those who have yet to pay the entry fees are also requested to do so by tomorrow.

Enquiries, contact Teoh Sze Ni ( 04-643 7037), Grace Lee ( 04-829 6268) or Evelyn Chang ( 04-228 9829).

Selangor events

Klang Valley chess players can play in the third Selangor blitz open team tournament at Sunway College this Sunday. This is a seven-round event and the top three prizes are RM200, RM120 and RM80 respectively. The best teams in the schools category will receive RM100, RM75 and RM50 and certificates. Chess Association of Selangor chess mats will also be given to some winners.

Entry fees are RM10 for association members and RM15 for others. Schools entering at least two teams qualify for a 20% discount from their total entry fees.

To register, contact Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237), Lim Tse Pin ( 012-298 4922) or Jason Yap ( 017-888 9121).

JB Unity Open

The Jabatan Perpaduan Negeri Johor will organise an open chess tournament at Dataran Bandaraya in Johor Baru on April 30. The tournament is being held jointly with the Johor Baru District Chess Club.

The event is divided into the open, under-16 and under-12 sections, and the entry fees are RM10 for the open section, RM6 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section.

Prizes for the open section will include cash and trophies, while winners in the two junior sections will receive trophies. Certificates will also be given to the top six players in each section.

The games start at 9am on April 30; participants are required to register with the organisers by April 28. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 or e-mail naraa@tm.net.my).

Penang Chess Association AGM

The Penang Chess Association will hold its annual general meeting at 6pm on April 30 at the clubhouse of the Residents' Association of Bayan Baru. Dinner will be provided to members after the meeting.

Preceding the meeting will be a friendly blitz tournament with prizes in kind put up by the association. Members have been requested to turn up at the clubhouse by 4pm if they want to take part in the blitz event.

Lessons from an international tourney

FROM the organiser's point of view, there were several significant games played during the Wah Seong Penang International master chess tournament last month.

In the fourth round, Malaysia's current national champion inflicted a loss on one of Indonesia's most experienced players. Jonathan Chuah, 14, is the youngest Malaysian to have beaten a grandmaster in competitive play.

Ardiansyah - Jonathan Chuah

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.Qd2 b6 9.0-0-0 Bb7 10.h4 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nd7 12.Qc2 Qe7 13.Ne4 c5 14.g4 cxd4 15.g5 Bxe4 16.Qxe4 Rac8 17.gxf6 Rxc4+ 18.Kb1 Nxf6 19.Qd3 Qc7 20.Nxd4 Rc8 21.Nb5 Qe5 22.Nd6 Rc2 23.Qb3 R8c6 24.f4 Qc5 25.e4 Re2 26.e5 Ne4 27.Qd3 Qf2 28.Qb5 Rcc2 0-1

One round later, yet another foreign player fell at the hands of a Malaysian. Though not as earth-shattering as the preceding game, this game showed Wong Zi Jing at his most dangerous when he has the upperhand in an attack.

Wong Zi Jing - Liu Wenzhe

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Be3 Qxb2 8.Ndb5 Qb4 9.Qe2 Qa5 10.Bd2 Qd8 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Ne5 13.Bb3 a6 14.f4 Ng4 15.Na3 b5 16.c4 Bd7 17.cxb5 axb5 18.Nxb5 Qb6 19.Bc4 Ra4 20.Rb1 Rxc4 21.Qxc4 Qf2+ 22.Kd1 f5 23.Re1 Kf7 24.Re2 Qb6 25.Nc3 Qa7 26.h3 Nf6 27.Be3 Qa8 28.Bd4 h5 29.Ke1 h4 30.Qc7 Qc8 31.Rb7 Qxc7 32.Rxc7 Be8 33.Bxf6 gxf6 34.a4 Kg6 35.a5 Bh6 36.Rexe7 Bxf4 37.Ne2 1-0

Unfortunately, one round later, Wong was brought down to earth when he walked into a prepared variation. The game mirrored a similar one Wong had played two months earlier but Lim Chuin Hoong found an appealing improvement which Wong could not solve in over-the-board play.

Lim Chuin Hoong - Wong Zi Jing

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.f3 e6 6.e4 exd5 7.e5 Qe7 8.Qe2 Ng8 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Nh3 c4 11.Be3 axb5 12.0-0-0 Qb4 13.Nf4 Ne7 14.Qf2 Qa5 15.Bb6 Qa6 16.Rxd5 Bc6 17.a3 Ng6 18.Nxg6 hxg6 19.Rxb5 Bxb5 20.Nd5 Qb7 21.Nc7+ Kd8 22.Nxb5+ Kc8 23.Bxc4 Qc6 24.Kb1 Qxc4 25.Rc1 Qxc1+ 26.Kxc1 Nc6 27.Bc7 Ra6 28.Qe2 Ra8 29.Qc4 f6 30.Qf7 Bc5 31.Qxg7 Rxh2 32.exf6 Rh1+ 33.Kd2 Nd4 34.Qg8+ Kb7 35.Qd5+ 1-0

Lim's quest for an international master result ended when he lost a do-or-die game in the seventh round to Mok Tze Meng. This win was vital for Mok who later went on to achieve an IM result. In the game, the wily Mok paralysed Lim by simplifying the game through the exchange of many pieces. Later, he won a pawn and the game.

Mok Tze Meng -Lim Chuin Hoong

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Nf3 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 Re8 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.cxd5 c6 12.Bc4 cxd5 13.Bxd5 Nd7 14.Rc1 Nb6 15.Bb3 Be6 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.Ke2 h6 18.Be3 f5 19.Rhd1 f4 20.Bc5 Rc6 21.Bxb6 axb6 22.a3 Rac8 23.Rxc6 Rxc6 24.Ne1 Bf8 25.Rd7 Rc4 26.f3 Bc5 27.Rc7 Ra4 28.Nd3 Bd4 29.Kd2 Ra8 30.Kc2 g5 31.Kb3 h5 32.h3 Re8 33.Rxb7 Re6 34.Rd7 Rg6 35.Rd5 g4 36.hxg4 hxg4 37.fxg4 Rxg4 38.Nxe5 Bxe5 39.Rxe5 Rg3+ 40.Ka2 Rxg2 41.Rf5 Rf2 42.e5 f3 43.e6 Re2 44.Rxf3 Rxe6 45.Kb3 Kg7 46.Kb4 Re5 47.Kc4 Rc5+ 48.Kd4 Rb5 49.b4 Rh5 50.a4 Rh4+ 51.Kc3 Rh5 52.Kb3 Rh1 53.Rf4 Rh5 54.Rd4 Kf7 55.Rd6 Ke7 56.Rxb6 Kd7 57.a5 Kc7 58.Rg6 Rh1 59.Ka4 Kb7 60.Rg7+ Kb8 61.a6 Ra1+ 62.Kb5 Rh1 63.Kb6 Rh6+ 64.Ka5 Ka8 65.b5 Rh5 66.Rc7 Rg5 67.Kb6 Rg6+ 68.Rc6 Rg8 69.Rh6 Rc8 70.Ka5 Rc5 71.Kb4 Rg5 72.b6 Rg4+ 73.Kb5 Rg5+ 74.Kc6 Rg8 75.Kd6 Rf8 76.Ke7 Rb8 77.Rd6 Rh8 78.Rd8+ Rxd8 79.Kxd8 Kb8 80.b7 Ka7 81.Kc7 Kxa6 82.b8Q Ka5 83.Qb3 1-0

Ng Tze Han, with nothing else remaining for him in the tournament after failing to achieve a title result, faced a daunting task against the Chinese player Liu in the final round. It is a great credit to Ng that he withstood the pressure from Liu. This interesting game was the last to finish as Liu wanted the full point to place himself more respectably in the final standings. In the end, however, he had to concede that all he could get was a half point.

Ng Tze Han - Liu Wenzhe

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Nb3 e6 8.Bf4 Ne5 9.Be2 Be7 10.g4 a6 11.g5 Nfd7 12.Qd2 Qc7 13.0-0-0 b5 14.Qd4 Rb8 15.a3 0-0 16.Kb1 Nc4 17.Bc1 Bb7 18.h4 Rfc8 19.Rh3 Qb6 20.f4 Qxd4 21.Rxd4 Ndb6 22.f5 e5 23.Rd1 Rc7 24.Nd2 Rbc8 25.Nxc4 Nxc4 26.Rdd3 Nb6 27.Rhe3 Rc5 28.f6 Bf8 29.fxg7 Kxg7 30.Bh5 R8c7 31.Rf3 Na4 32.Rfe3 Nxc3+ 33.Rxc3 Rxc3 34.bxc3 Rc4 35.Bf3 Be7 36.Kb2 f6 37.gxf6+ Bxf6 38.h5 Kf7 39.Re2 Ke7 40.Bd2 Bc6 41.Re1 Ke8 42.Re2 Ra4 43.h6 Ke7 44.Re1 Rc4 45.Re2 Be8 46.Re1 Bg6 47.Re2 Kf8 48.Re1 Bh4 49.Re2 Bd8 50.Re1 Bb6 51.Bg5 Rxc3 52.Kxc3 Ba5+ 53.Kd3 Bxe1 54.Bg4 Bf2 55.Bc8 a5 56.Bb7 Bc5 57.Bc1 Bf7 58.Bc8 Bc4+ 59.Kd2 b4 60.a4 Bd4 61.Bf5 Kg8 62.Bd7 Bf2 63.Kd1 Bg3 64.Bg5 Bf4 65.Be7 b3 66.cxb3 Bxb3+ 67.Ke2 Bxh6 68.Bxd6 Bf8 69.Bxe5 1/2-1/2

UP NEXT

BPM Allegro Events

The next three legs of this year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia- sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be played in Kota Baru tomorrow, Malacca on April 15 and Kuala Lumpur on April 23.

The entry fees are RM10 for members of the organising chess association, Bank Pertanian employees, players above 50 years old and girls below 12 years old and RM15 for all other participants.

The prizes for the open section will be RM300 for the winner, RM200 for the second-placed, RM150 for third, RM100 for fourth and fifth, and RM60 for sixth to 10th. The best Bank Pertanian player will also win RM60, while the best players in the other categories will get RM50.

To register for the event contact:

Nizam Hamzah ( 09-790 9870) for the Kelantan leg;

Abdul Hamid Majid ( 03-4021 9576, fax 03-4024 4337, e-mail aham@pc.jaring.my) for the Malacca leg;

Ibrahim Yaacob ( 03-636 3082) for the Kuala Lumpur leg.

Readers in Malacca can collect the entry forms for the Malacca leg from the Mahkota Parade shopping complex, while entry forms for the Kuala Lumpur leg are available from the Riverside Restaurant at the Putra World Trade Centre.

The other legs of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia allegro series are in:

Sarawak, May 1 (contact Lim Kian Hwa 082-427 772);

Perak, May 21 (contact Dr Yee Meng Keong 05-546 4530);

Johor, June 11 (contact Stephen Cheong 07-333 9636);

Negeri Sembilan, June 24 (contact Charles Chan 06-631 7971);

Kedah, July 23 (contact Mansor Muda);

Perlis, July 24 (contact Khirluddin Darus 04-976 5485).

Free School Open

The Penang Free School will hold their annual Free School open tournament this Sunday. It will be an eight-round event with an entry fee of RM8 per person and a total cash fund of RM600.

The first prize is RM200, second RM120, third RM80, fourth RM50, fifth RM40, sixth RM30 and seventh to 10th RM20 each. There will also be prizes for the three best players in the under-15, under-12 and ladies groups, and the best performers among the under-10, Penang Free School and Old Frees players.

Closing date for entries is tomorrow. The first 200 people to register before this date will get souvenirs. To register, contact Saw Chee Wooi ( 04-8297695) or Tan Jee Jian ( 04-8284487) or e-mail pfschessclub@yahoo.com.

Union Open

The Union High School in Penang will organise their Union open tournament on April 23. This is an eight-round contest and it will be played at the school hall using a 25-minute time control. The first round will start at 8am.

Entry fee is RM10 per player. For more details, contact Teoh Sze Ni ( 04-643 7037), Grace Lee ( 04-829 6268) or Evelyn Chang ( 04-228 9829).

Selangor events

Klang Valley chess players can participate in the Chess Association of Selangor's (CAS) second quarter allegro open chess tournament this Sunday at the Sunway College in Bandar Sunway.

This event, organised by the CAS, will be contested over six rounds and features 16 prizes which include a top prize of RM100, other cash prizes, books, chess sets and free entry to the CAS third quarter allegro tournament.

Entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and RM15 for other players. However, there is an incentive for non-CAS, under-20 players from schools and colleges: they need pay only RM12 per participant if they have at least three participants from the same school or college.

On April 16, the CAS will hold its first closed junior blitz tournament at the same venue. There are nine rounds and the prizes include cash and free entry to the Selangor blitz open tournament later this year.

Entry fees are RM5 for current CAS members and RM25 for players joining the CAS for the first time.

The third Selangor blitz open team tournament will be played at the Sunway College one week later on April 23. This is a seven-round event and the top three prizes are RM200, RM120 and RM80 respectively. The best team in the schools category will receive RM100, RM75 and RM50 and certificates. CAS chess mats will also be given to some winners.

Entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and RM15 for others. Schools entering at least two teams qualify for a 20% discount from their total entry fees.

To register for these events, contact Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237), Lim Tse Pin ( 012-298 4922) and Jason Yap ( 017-888 9121).

Chance of a lifetime

ABDULLAH Che Hassan is one lucky kid. While most chess players only dream of playing against the strongest chess player in the world, Abdullah actually did it.

Thanks to the Internet, Abdullah played Gary Kasparov in the early hours of March 15; he was one of 30 children worldwide selected to play the former world champion in a clock simultaneous chess exhibition.

The event, set in New York City, was billed the "United Nations of Chess." It involved players from every continent except Antarctica. The simultaneous exhibition marked the worlwide launch of Kasparov's http://kasparovchess.com website.

Ten children played him live in the ABC Times Square television studios and 20 more were logged online in the website's Playing Zone. In the television studios, 20 computers, each representing one online player, were set in two rows next to where the other 10 kids were playing. Kasparov went from hand to mouse and back again as he walked round and round the room.

In a normal simultaneous exhibition, a player is required to make his move immediately when the chess master arrives at his board. But for the online simultaneous exhibition, some technological tricks were employed to ensure smooth play. When Kasparov arrived at a computer, he clicked a special "Move Now" button that sent a signal to the player to let him know that Kasparov was at his board.

Kasparov was in no way distracted by this unusual format, winning 28 games and drawing only one against his opponents. Unfortunately, the 30th game was not played as the player could not log onto the website. The lone draw was achieved by Victoria Zaks of Israel and it came from a repetition in a position where the 12-year-old girl was doing fine.

Abdullah was not so lucky in his game. He was nervous initially because, he says, "I respected Gary too much." Although he had prepared for Kasparov's opening move, 1 d4, Abdullah said that he played too fast, hoping to beat the grandmaster on time. He managed to hold on for 51 moves, finally resigning because he had to go to school. Despite the loss, the young lad said that playing Kasparov was a chance of a lifetime.

(In the exhibition, Kasparov was given two hours on his clock while each of his opponents had one hour. Considering that Kasparov had to play 29 opponents moving from one game to another, his average time spent on each game was a mere three minutes!)

Abdullah was informed of this opportunity to play Kasparov through an e-mail message from the International E-mail Chess Group, of which he is a member.

The message said that Kasparov would be launching his new http://kasparovchess.com website in New York City and the organisers of the event were looking for 25 to 30 chess players from around the world, aged 16 years and under, who would be interested to play in the exhibition through the Internet.

Abdullah responded to the e-mail and, as he was the only one from Malaysia to submit an application, he was given the opportunity to play.

Two weeks before the event, the organisers had a few anxious moments when they lost touch with Abdullah. They even contacted me to help them find the boy. Fortunately, Abdullah replied to the organisers in the nick of time.

UP NEXT

BPM Allegro Events

The next three legs of this year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be played in Kuantan on March 25, Kota Kinabalu on March 26 and Kota Baru on April 8.

The entry fees are RM10 for members of the organising chess associations, Bank Pertanian employees, players above 50 years old and girls below 12 years old (there are no under-12 boy players), and RM15 for all other participants.

Prizes for the open section will be RM300 for the winner, RM200 for the second-placed, RM150 for third, RM100 for fourth and fifth, and RM60 for sixth to 10th. The best Bank Pertanian player will also win RM60, while the best players in the other categories will get RM50.

To register for the event, contact Wah Abdullah ( 09-583 3205) for the Kuantan leg, Sylvester Asai ( 088-764 305) for the Kota Kinabalu leg, and Nizam Hamzah ( 09-790 9870) for the Kota Baru leg.

The other legs of the series are in:

Malacca: April 15 (contact Eugene Kong 06-232 1018)

Kuala Lumpur: April 23 (Ibrahim Yaacob 03-636 3082)

Sarawak: May 1 (Lim Kian Hwa 082-427 772)

Perak: May 21 (Dr Yee Meng Keong 05-546 4530)

Johor: June 11 (Stephen Cheong 07-333 9636)

Negri Sembilan: June 24 (Charles Chan 06-631 7971)

Kedah: July 23

Perlis: July 24 (Khirluddin Darus 04-976 5485).

Shah Alam Open

The Selangor Library will organise the Shah Alam Open over four days from March 26 to 29 at the Radisson Hotel, Shah Alam. The event, sponsored by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, offers cash prizes totalling RM5,000.

The tournament will be divided into five categories with each category played on a different day and with different entry fees:

Under-12: March 26, RM10

Open: March 26, RM25

Student: March 27, RM15

Under-12 team: March 28

Under-18 team March 29

For more details, contact Hashim 03-5519 7667.

National Age-Group Chess Championship

The second Bank Rakyat-PWTC national age-group chess championship will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on April 1 and 2. This tournament will be played over seven rounds with a time control of one hour per player for each game.

There are six age-groups in this event: under-eight, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18, with separate competitions for boys and girls.

The prize fund of RM6,000 is sponsored by Bank Rakyat Malaysia and this amount will be awarded between the top five players in each category. In addition, champions will receive challenge trophies.

The Malaysian Chess Federation will also consider the champions for qualification to the World Age-Group Chess Championship in Spain this October.

Entry fees for the Bank Rakyat-PWTC tournament are RM15 for the under-18, under-16 and under-14 age groups, and RM10 for the under-12, under-10 and under-eight age groups. Registration will be in PWTC's lobby foyer between 3pm and 6pm on March 31; last-minute entries will not be entertained.

Participants are required to produce either their identity cards or birth certificates for verification upon registering. If you have Internet access, you can download the entry form from my web page at http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library

The completed entry form can be posted, without the entry fees, to Hamid Majid, 5-1-10 Medan Intan Apartments, Jalan 1/21-C, Gombak, 53000 Kuala Lumpur. Alternatively, e-mail him at aham@pc.jaring.my

Tebrau Open

The Johor Baru District Chess Club will hold its 11th Tebrau open chess tournament at SM Sri Tebrau in Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Baru, on April 2. The event is divided into the open, under-16 and under-12 sections with each section offering 10 prizes.

The entry fee for the open category is RM10; for the under-16, RM7; under-12, RM5. Games start at 8am. Participants are required to register with the organisers by March 30. Only the first 300 particiapnts will be accepted.

For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan 07-333 8215 or e-mail naraa@tm.net.my

Free School Open

Penang Free School will hold its annual open tournament on April 9. It will be an eight-round event with an entry fee of RM8 per person and prizes totalling RM600.

The first prize is RM200, second RM120, third RM80, fourth RM50, fifth RM40, sixth RM30 and seventh to 10th RM20 each. There will also be prizes in kind for the three best players in the under-15, under-12 and ladies groups, and the best performers among the under-10, Penang Free School and Old Frees players.

Closing date for entries is April 8. The first 200 people to register before this date will get souvenirs. To register, contact Saw Chee Wooi ( 04-829 7695) or Tan Jee Jian ( 04-828 4487) or e-mail pfschessclub@yahoo.com

 

Tournament ends on high note

WHEN I set out to organise the Wah Seong Penang international master chess tournament two months ago, one of the main objectives was to provide an opportunity for local players to achieve international master title norms.

There was no lack of title aspirants in this tournament. Apart from Mas Hafizulhilmi who was already an international master, there were five other local players who were hopeful of playing well enough to get their norms.

Unfortunately, in an event of this kind where none of the players can be considered a pushover, not everyone would be able to realise this target. Exemplary play would have to be the order of the day, and the players would have to sort it out themselves over the chess board to see who was best qualified to gain the title norm.

I had written two weeks ago that if there was anyone who could earn an international master title norm, Mok Tze Meng would be a prime candidate. As the tournament progressed, Mok proceeded to show that I was correct in my prediction.

He had a very encouraging game in the first round against Wynn Zaw Htun, stretching the Myanmar player into a long drawn endgame before they finally agreed to a draw. In the second round, Mok made short work of national champion Jonathan Chuah and continued with another win in the third round against Ng Tze Han.

Two draws then followed against Myo Naing, an international master (IM) from Myanmar, and IM Mas Hafizulhilmi before he suffered a defeat at Chinese IM Liu Wenzhe's hands. It was a loss which could have been avoided if Mok had not been overly ambitious. A safe draw against the Chinese would have seen him on an easier track towards the title norm.

Instead, Mok found Lim Chuin Hoong very determined to stop him in the seventh round. However, he managed to avoid complications when he successfully negotiated an early simplification of the position. Lim tried hard but could not win and in the end, he had to concede defeat to Mok.

In the eighth round, despite spirited play by Wong Zijing, Mok managed to pocket the full point. Finally, Indonesian grandmaster Ardiansyah's offer of a draw in the ninth round was sufficient for Mok to reach the target of six points which was the requirement for the international master title norm in this tournament.

Amidst all the excitement over a Malaysian player getting this norm was the fact that another player had also played well enough to get a similar norm. Seventeen-year-old Wynn Zaw Htun, who came into this tournament with an impressively high rating of 2,524, played solidly enough to score six points.

He had a slow start in this event: a draw with Mok in the first round was followed by a loss to Ardiansyah. But then Wynn beat Chuah in the third round, drew with Ng, Myo and Mas in the fourth to sixth rounds, and then unleashed a victory against Liu in the seventh round. Wynn put in a final spurt in the last two rounds of the tournament by defeating Lim and Wong to achieve his norm.

The nine-day tournament, sponsored by Wah Seong (M) Trading Co Sdn Bhd and played at the CitiTel Penang, was won by Mas Hafizulhilmi. This was my first opportunity to see Mas Hafizul play in an international event and I was suitably impressed with his confidence and preparation. He made all his games seem rather effortless.

He was particularly deadly against the foreign competitors and he scored victories against Ardiansyah, Liu and Myo. Wynn was the only player to give Mas Hafizul some initial difficulties but the draw was never in doubt.

He was generous with the local players at the start of the event but towards the end when it became clear that some could no longer get their norms, Mas Hafizul moved into higher gear and mopped up everyone else.

Gone are the days when the foreigners can beat our players at will--as proven by the results of this tournament. Our players are on par with the foreign players. Otherwise, how would you explain the performances of the foreign players?

Ardiansyah, Liu and Myo obviously did not play at their very best levels or else they would not have suffered embarrassing losses to our own players.

In the fourth round, Ardiansyah went down to a shock defeat at the hands of Chuah; and one round later, Wong defeated Liu. Ng's high point in the tournament was when he beat Myo in the seventh round.

Anyway, it would be too presumptous to dismiss the foreigners for not trying hard enough. I know they did try very hard. In the second round, for instance, Ardiansyah pulled himself together to defeat Wynn in a delicate endgame position. In the final round, Liu piled a lot of pressure on Ng's position but failed to make a breakthrough and had to agree to a draw.

The tournament homepage is located at http://www.geocities.com/pg-chess/WahSeong2000/index.html

UP NEXT

BPM Allegro events

Readers wishing to take part in the Penang leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia national allegro chess circuit this Sunday are reminded that today is the closing date for entries.

The entry fees are RM10 for members of the Penang Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, players above 50 years old and girls below 12 years old, and RM15 for other participants.

To register for the event, contact Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596), Eoh Hook Kim ( 04-826 0196; e-mail: hkeoh@tm.net.my) or Chuah Soon Pheng ( 04-657 4316; e-mail: jinhai@tm.net.my). Participants are required to turn up at Kolej Damansara Utama in Anson Road, Penang, at 8am on Sunday.

The other legs of the BPM allegro series in the next couple of months are: Pahang leg on March 25 (contact Wan Abdullah 09-583 3205), Sabah leg on March 26 (Sylvester Asai 088-764 305), Kelantan leg on April 8 (Nizam Hamzah 09-790 9870), Malacca leg on April 15 (Eugene Kong 06-232 1018) and Kuala Lumpur leg on April 23 (Ibrahim Yaacob 03-636 3082).

Perak Grand Prix

Next weekend will be a busy time for the Perak International Chess Association which will be holding their annual general meeting at 9am on March 19 at Sek Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh. In conjunction with this meeting, a two-day chess competition has been planned.

The first event is a continuation of the Perak chess grand prix for their Category A players who are locally rated above 1,700. The top prize for this event is RM150, so anyone wishing to take part should be present at Sek Tuanku Abdul Rahman by 2pm on March 18. A separate one-day Category B event for players below 1,700 will be held at the same place beginning 10.30am on March 19.

Both are six-round tournaments. The time control for the Category A event is one hour, while that for the Category B tournament is 25 minutes. For more details, call W.K. Wong ( 05-366 1692).

Shah Alam open

The Selangor Library will organise the Shah Alam open tournament over four days from March 26 to 29 at the Radisson Hotel in Shah Alam. The event, sponsored by Tenaga Nasional Berhad, will feature total prize money of RM5,000.

The tournament will be divided into five categories, with each category being played on different days. The under-12 category will be contested on March 26; the entry fee is RM10 per player. On March 26 and 27, the open and student categories will be held. Entry fees are RM25 and RM15 respectively. For these events, the games will start at 2pm on the first playing date.

The under-12 team tournament will be played on March 28 while on March 29, the under-18 team tournament will be held. Entry fees are RM40 and RM60 respectively. For more details, call Hashim (03-559 7667).

National Age-Group championship

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organise the second Bank Rakyat national age-group chess championship at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on April 1 and 2.

Entry fees are RM15 for the under-18, under-16 and under-14 events, and RM10 for the under-12, under-10 and under-8 events. Entries will be accepted until March 31. For details contact Hamid Majid ( 03-402 19576; e-mail: aham@pc.jaring.my)

Winners of the various age-group events will be considered for qualification to the world age-group chess championship in Spain this October or November.

 

10 to slug it out

TODAY is the eve of the nine-day Wah Seong Penang international master chess tournament. All hostilities over the chess board will begin tomorrow at the CitiTel Penang and continue daily until March 5.

The past two months had been very trying for me as I had to cope with the organising of this event. Luckily, I had the full support of Datuk Tan Chin Nam, honorary life president of the Malaysian Chess Federation, and the assistance of friends in the chess circle, without whom my task would have been very difficult.

For instance, there was the selection of foreign players. World Chess Federation (Fide) regulations require that at least one-third of players at an international master event must be foreigners. For a 10-player event, I needed four.

Initially, I had shortlisted grandmaster Ardiansyah from Indonesia, Chinese international master Liu Wenzhe, Indonesian international master Nasib Ginting, and Myanmar Fide master Maung Maung Lwin.

However, Ginting, who for the past year had been in Malaysia, could no longer be contacted while Maung had commitments elsewhere. But Maung offered to arrange for two highly-rated players from Myanmar to play, thus I now have their international master Myo Naing and untitled Wynn Zaw Htun.

The only thing left to do was wait and see whether the four foreigners would accept this invitation to play. As a standby, I have Singapore's international master Giam Choo Kwee who could come at very short notice.

It was a long wait, especially with the Chinese player. I received a message from Beijing that Liu's passport needed renewal and he would have to apply for a visa from the Malaysian Embassy in China. Compounding this problem was the long lunar festival in China when it was almost impossible to get in touch with many people. Luckily, the problem quickly sorted itself out after a few frantic phone calls to friends in Kuala Lumpur.

Another major task was to select local players for this event. From the onset, our international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew are automatic choices for two of the six places.

The criterion for selecting the other four was simple. The Penang Chess Association would nominate two of their players while the remaining two would be selected by going down the latest Fide rating list. Local players who were overseas or had retired from playing were automatically scratched.

Aaron Yee was the first consideration but he declined from playing due to his school work. This left the field open to Fide master Wong Zijing and national master Jonathan Chuah, and they duly accepted the offer to play.

As for the Penang Chess Association nominations, Ng Tze Han and Lim Chuin Hoong were clearly the best choices.

Soon after invitations had been sent out, it occurred to me that Mok Tze Meng would be a good addition to this event if there were more places available. After all, Mok is a very experienced player, next in line in the Fide rating list after Jonathan Chuah. If there is anyone who could earn an international master norm, Mok would be a prime candidate.

Malaysian Chess Federation's Tan gave the okay for me to expand the field to its maximum 12 players. It should have been a 12-man event in the first place, but I was working within a budget. After referring to Fide regulations, I concluded that it is legitimate to have an 11-man event or the first four games played over two days.

(Fide regulations allow for a maximum two rounds per day for an international master result. For a grandmaster result, there can be no more than two days of two rounds each but definitely not in the final three rounds.)

A peculiar number, I must admit, but there were also two other reasons for staying with 11 players. For one thing, this event would be played without a rest day and I believe the players would welcome having a round during which they can relax.

The other reason was, despite confirmation from all the local players that they would play, there was a possibility someone would withdraw later. Call it intuition if you like, but Jimmy Liew later informed me that he was withdrawing due to his unavoidable work commitments.

So there I was, down to 10 players, the original number that I started out with. All the players are arriving today but I will not be able to rest completely until I see them all!

With these 10 players, the tournament is now a Category Five. To qualify for an international master result, our Fide master and untitled players must score at least six points from nine games.

I do not think it is an insurmountable target. Gone are the days when the foreigners can whip our players at will; our players can at least be their equals now.

It is not very often that an international chess event of this sort is held in Malaysia. I sincerely hope that chess enthusiasts, even those from outside Penang, can make it a point to visit the CitiTel Penang from tomorrow until March 5 to see these players in action. The playing times are from noon to 7pm daily at the hotel's Bayan Room.

Wah Seong (M) Trading Co Sdn Bhd is the sponsor of this event, while the CitiTel Penang is the official hotel for the tournament.

For readers with Internet access, you can follow the progress of the tournament at www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/2379/WahSeong2000/index.html

Chinese demo

In conjunction with the Wah Seong Penang international master chess tournament, the Penang Chess Association is arranging for Chinese international master Liu Wenzhe to give some simultaneous chess displays to schools in Penang and selected members of the association.

Tentatively lined up is a simultaneous chess display to 30 students on March 7, a clock simultaneous chess match with six senior members of the PCA on March 8, and a second clock simultaneous chess match with six top junior players on March 9.

All these programmes are scheduled for the evenings starting at 7pm. Students who wish to play against the Chinese international master on March 7 should contact Chuah Soon Pheng ( 04-657 4316 / e-mail: jinhai@tm.net.my) or Khor Bean Hwa ( 04-658 1662 / e-mail: shihong@pl.jaring.my). The fee is RM2 per student.

UP NEXT

March 12: The Penang Chess Association will hold the Penang leg of the second Bank Pertanian Malaysia allegro grand prix at the Kolej Damansara Utama premises in Jalan Anson.

The event will consist of six rounds and there is a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize fund will go to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners such as the best women, under-16 or under-12 players.

Entry fees are RM10 for adults and RM5 for junior players. Closing date is March 10. Late entries will not be accepted. There is also a cap at a maximum of 100 players.

For registration, contact Eoh Hook Kim ( 04-826 0196 / e-mail: hkeoh@tm.net.my), Chuah Soon Pheng ( 04-657 4316 / e-mail: jinhai@tm.net.my) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596). Registered players are required to turn up at KDU by 8am on March 12.

Intriguing tournament

THE Wah Seong Penang international master chess tournament is set to become one of the most intriguing tournaments ever organised in this country. Slated to begin in 15 days' time, the tournament will feature a group of experienced, highly-regarded foreign chess players facing off against what is considered to be the cream of Malaysian chess players.

Led by two veterans--Indonesian grandmaster Ardiansyah and Chinese international master Liu Wenzhe--the foreign chess masters are obviously not interested in having a holiday here.

They are well-known for their fierce competitive spirit, so the other participants had better be well-prepared when they sit down to face the Indonesian and the Chinese across the chessboard.

Ardiansyah was one of the very first Asians to become a grandmaster. When he was at the height of his playing powers in the 70s and 80s, he could claim to be among Indonesia's top three players.

Datin Rebecca Tan, wife of the late Datuk Tan Kim Yeow, former chairman
of Wah Seong group of companies, presenting a mock cheque to Datuk Toh
Kin Woon, Penang State executive councillor and president of the Penang
Chess Association. Looking on is Pauline Tan, Wah Seong director.

However, the emergence of new players in the last decade has gradually sidelined him. With a World Chess Federation rating of 2396, Ardiansyah is presently ranked 10th in Indonesia. He remains active in chess circles there and is still capable of delivering a few stings.

Interestingly, China's Liu Wenzhe is in a similar situation as his Indonesian counterpart. In the late 70s, he was considered the strongest player in China but now, with an international rating of 2451, he is ranked only 25th in his country. But his exploits are almost legendary. Till today, Liu is held in awe, especially for his celebrated victory over the late Dutch grandmaster Jan Donner during the Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad in 1978.

At that time, China was just making its presence felt in international chess circles, so it was inconceivable to many that Donner could lose to an unknown player. Yet, in the China-Netherlands game, Liu completely smashed Donner's defence and capped the game with a queen sacrifice that rippled through the Olympiad.

The two other foreign players invited to the tournament are from Myanmar. Myo Naing is an international master with a rating of 2545 while Wynn Zaw Htun, although untitled, still has a high rating of 2524.

On the Malaysian side, we have our two international masters who are expected to lead the challenge: Mas Hafizulhelmi, who is rated 2413, and Jimmy Liew, whose rating is 2325. Others who have confirmed their participation are Fide master Wong Zijing (rated 2324), Jonathan Chuah (rated 2271), Mok Tze Meng (rated 2270), Ng Tze Han (rated 2216) and Lim Chuin Hoong (rated 2214).

It will be interesting to follow the fortunes of our local, untitled players in this event as all of them will certainly aspire to play well enough to gain their first international master title norms. If any of them achieves the norm, it is by no means a guarantee that they will have the title but, nevertheless, it will be the first of several stepping stones towards becoming a master.

At Wednesday's cheque presentation ceremony in Penang, Datin Rebecca Tan of the Wah Seong Group of Companies presented a cheque of RM40,000 to Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon, State Executive Councillor and president of the Penang Chess Association (PCA). The Wah Seong Group are the sponsors of the tournament while CitiTel Penang is the official hotel.

Busy year ahead for local chess

If this year's chess calendar--released recently by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF)--is anything to go by, it promises to be a year jam-packed with activities for chess enthusiasts of all playing levels.

It's only the second month of the new year but both the Chess Association of Selangor and the Perak International Chess Association have already held a few programmes for their members.

From this month onwards, the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit starts anew. The circuit is now in its second year and, according to the MCF calendar, the first leg was organised by the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia at the start of this month in conjunction with Federal Territory Day.

Altogether, there will be 14 regional legs which the various state chess associations are scheduled to hold. The second leg will be played in Kuala Terengganu on Feb 25, the Selangor leg in Petaling Jaya follows two days later.

The other legs in this series are Penang (March 12), Kota Kinabalu (March 26), Kota Baru (April 14), Kuantan (April 16), Kuala Lumpur (April 23), Kuching (May 1), Ipoh (May 21), Johor Baru (June 10), Malacca (June 11), Seremban (June 26), Alor Star (Aug 12) and Kangar (Aug 13).

At the end of these legs, the final will be played in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 6 and 7. For the grand final, the winners of the various regional legs will be invited to join the paying participants to compete for the grand prizes on offer.

Next month, the programmes will include a three-day inter-university chess competition organised by Universiti Telekom in Malacca beginning March 10, the 14th Royal Selangor junior open tournament for the under-12 and under-18 organised by the Chess Association of Selangor on March 11 and 12, and the second Perak International Chess Association tournament in Ipoh on March 18 and 19.

The Selangor asssociation will also hold its closed allegro tournament on March 19, followed by the 14th Royal Selangor junior open tournament for the under-14 and under-16 on March 25 and 26.

One of the main local events that many chess players look forward to is the national men's and women's closed chess championships. These two MCF events are traditionally held in December but the federation has now decided to bring them forward to the first half of the year.

Thus, the Year 2000 edition of the two championships will be played beginning on March 31 and they will continue until April 4. On April 1, the federation will also be having its annual general meeting with the main item on the agenda most likely being the biennial election of new office bearers.

Some of the other events that will take place in April are the second Chess Association of Selangor allegro open tournament on April 9, the association's third blitz open tournament on April 23 and the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia-organised Labour Day team tournament which will be played from April 29 till May 1.

May and June are similarly quite busy months for chess organisers with Chess Association of Selangor planning the most number of activities. For instance, there will be the closed under-20 team tournament on May 20 and 21, the 27th Royal Selangor open chess tournament from May 31 to June 4, the third girls open tournament on June 3 and 4, the Royal Selangor under-18 grand prix on June 11 and 18, and the inter-institution team tournament on June 24 and 25.

The MCF will not be sitting still as it has its own chess events lined up. After the national closed championship in March/April, there will be a Government versus Private Sector match scheduled for May 18, and the national youth age-group chess championship which the federation will co-organise with the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia from May 28 to 30.

Almost immediately after the end of this event, two groups of Malaysians and Singaporeans will have the opportunity to renew their rivalry over the chessboard when the federation plays host to this year's annual Malaysia-Singapore match on June 2 and 3 in Kuala Lumpur.

The other significant federation event this year will be the annual Merdeka team chess championship in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 31 to Sept 3.

Apart from these tournaments, there is the third Perak International Chess Association tournament in Ipoh on May 13 and 14, the Selangor Merdeka tournament which will be organised on July 1 and 2 by the Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam, the fourth PICA chess tournament in Ipoh on July 13 and 14, the Terengganu open tournament in Kuala Terengganu on Aug 5 and 6, the Kuala Kubu Baru Merdeka tournament organised by the Persatuan Catur Kuala Kubu Baru on Aug 23, the Malay Masters tournament organised by the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia in Bangi (Selangor) from Oct 26 to 28, and the Universiti Malaya Second College's seventh Grand Asian Chess Challenge sometime in October.

Although the MCF has done a commendable job in collating the activities of the various state chess associations into the Malaysian chess calendar, it is quite obvious that the list is not complete as some of these chess bodies have not been able to release their own calendars to the MCF.

The activities of the Penang Chess Association (PCA), for example, are not included in the federation's calendar but it is well-known that yearly, the PCA will hold its Penang Chess League over a number of consecutive Sundays from June to mid-August. There is also the Penang grand prix chess circuit, played over four legs over the course of the year and which culminates in the Penang closed championship.

Awaiting foreign flavours

CHESS enthusiasts in the country can expect some fascinating clashes between our local junior players and several veteran foreign players when they compete in an international chess tournament in Penang towards the end of next month. 

This round-robin event, which will be known as the Wah Seong Penang international master chess tournament, is organised by the Penang Chess Association and will be played at the CitiTel Penang from Feb 26 to Mar 5. The sponsor is Wah Seong (M) Trading Co Sdn Bhd. 

The list of invited foreign players has not been finalised but tentatively, grandmasters Herman Ardiansyah and Edhi Handoko from Indonesia, international master Liu Wenzhe of China and Fide master Maung Maung Lwin of Myanmar have been identified. 

The other six participants in the tournament will be our local players led by international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew, Fide master Wong Zijing and national champion Jonathan Chuah. Ng Tze Han and Lim Chuin Hoong, both nominated by the Penang Chess Association to play in this event, complete the line-up. 

There will not be any prize money for the winners but the champion is given custody of the Dato Tan Kim Yeow trophy. 

However, since the tournament is expected to qualify as a Category Four event, there is an added incentive for the two Fide masters and three non-titled players who can aspire to gain an international master title norm if they can score at least six points from the nine games. 

Although this shall only be the fifth time in 28 years that the Penang Chess Association is organising an international-level event, the association is confident that the Wah Seong Penang IM tournament can be the first of several more that will be held in the state. 

Selangor chess kicks off the new year 

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organise a six-round CAS closed under-20 tournament for its members on Sunday. Registration for this event starts at 9am and the games will be played from 10am to 6pm. 

Cash prizes, millennium T-shirts and complimentary entries to future CAS tournaments will be given to 10 winners in the under-20 section and three winners in the under-12 section. Non-CAS members who wish to play in this event can contact Mrs Jackie Wong ( 03-7038237) or Lim Tse Pin ( 012-2984922) for more details. 

In the meantime, the CAS first quarter allegro tournament on Jan 16 attracted 70 participants. The open section was won by Ng Ee Vern who scored 5.5 points from six games. The players who scored five points were Law Zhe Kang, Fikrul, Rizal, Chin Ching Shiung and Terry Van Der Veen, while a further half point behind were Thaw Chee Yin, Cheah Eu Gene, Ismail Ahmad and Foong Chee Leng. 

The CAS members section was also won by Ng Ee Vern with Law Zhe Kang placed second, Chin Ching Shiung placed third, Thaw Chee Yin fourth and Cheah Eu Gene sixth. Lim Han Ying won the Best Girls section, Gerald Soh took the under-16 prize with Nicholas Chan and Marcus Chan placing second and third respectively, while the under-12 prize was won by Zarul Shazwan with Fang Chin Yao in second place and Abel Yap third. 

Also, in the first CAS closed blitz tournament held recently, there were 28 players. The winner of the CAS members section was again Ng Ee Vern who scored 6.5 points from seven games. Jointly second and third were Mok Tze Meng and Nicholas Chan with 5.5 points each, while fourth was Julian Navaratnam with five points. The other winners were Navin Pillay, Chin Ching Shiung and Marcus Chan with 4.5 points each, and Thaw Chee Yin, Cheah Eu Gene and Wong Zi Chuang with four points each. 

The under-16 winner was Nicholas Chan, with Marcus Chan second and Wong Zi Chuang third. The best under-12 player was Thaw Chee Hou, while second and third were Anas Nazreen Bakri and Mohd Kamal Firdaus respectively. 

In a Deep Blue funk over Kasparov 

FOR two years after Gary Kasparov lost to IBM's Deep Blue in the historical match between man and machine three years ago, he kept challenging IBM and the Deep Blue development team to a rematch. 

Until earlier this month, computer scientists and chess players worldwide were salivating on the anticipation that a third match would prove once and for all whether Deep Blue's defeat of Kasparov in 1997 was indeed a fluke. The only question was when the match would be played. 

These scientists and chess players do not have to wait anymore. There will not be any third match. 

According to Hsu Feng-hsiung, one of the three main programmers of Deep Blue, the rematch is unlikely to take place because Kasparov has effectively backed down from his challenge. 

About two weeks ago, Hsu released an open letter on the Internet to relate the developments after Deep Blue had beaten Kasparov in 1997. 

Hsu said that he had done everything within his power to make the new match happen, but Kasparov had not responded positively, and added that he doubted Kasparov would change his mind. 

In his open letter, Hsu said that when Kasparov challenged the Deep Blue team for a rematch at the end of the 1997 match, he believed that the Deep Blue team had a personal obligation to honour Kasparov's request. 

When Hsu left IBM a few months ago, he spent a small personal fortune to get the right to the chess chip. Officially, he was getting the right to commercialise the chess chip but his real purpose was to answer Kasparov's challenge. If Kasparov was serious about his challenge, Hsu would see to it that Kasparov got his match. 

Towards the end of last year, Hsu contacted Owen Williams who was Kasparov's agent. In his first e-mail, Hsu asked Owen directly whether Kasparov was serious about the match and whether Kasparov was indeed willing to play the match as a world title match. According to Hsu, the initial response was not encouraging as Owen ruled out the possibility of a title match immediately and was noncommittal about the new match. 

"In reality, I was not unhappy that Owen ruled out the possibility of a title match. I don't believe that a computer should be the World Champion. Personally, I believe that the title should be for humans only. Some of the potential sponsors did indicate that a match with the title on the line was certainly more desirable, although I believed that it might be okay if Kasparov was willing to state that he would treat the match as seriously as if it were a title match," Hsu wrote. 

After a long sequence of e-mail exchanges, Owen sent a message vaguely suggesting that Kasparov was not interested. Hsu now said that he then asked Owen point blank: "Can I safely assume that Gary is not interested in a match any more?" and received Owen's reply that "Gary does not want to be involved in any way." 

Hsu mentioned that throughout the entire sequence of e-mail exchanges, Owen never said a straight yes or no to his question of whether Kasparov was interested in a match. But, Hsu added, the last e-mail has only one reasonable interpretation and that was, after over two years of issuing public challenges, Kasparov was no longer interested in playing a new match. 

"I don't know the reason behind Kasparov's decision. Maybe his priority changed; maybe he felt offended somehow in my dealings with Owen. (But) it is no longer of concern to me. Even if Kasparov somehow changes his mind, the chance of a new match is now very slim," he said. 

"Given what has happened so far, it would be very hard to convince match sponsors or funding sources that the match will happen. Kasparov could change his mind yet again or come up with match conditions that are unacceptable. Anyway, I give up. I have now done everything possible to make the match happen," Hsu added. 

Hsu said that there were people who were interested in seeing the chess chip commercialised. However, he said it was unlikely to happen as the Deep Blue chess chip was not commercially viable. 

To be commercially viable, he would have to redesign a new chip but without a new match, it was difficult for him to muster the energy to create it. He said that the only chance that anyone would ever see the chess chip commercialised would be if he decided to build a Shogi (a Japanese chess game) chip someday. "Then you may see a new chess chip designed as a by-product," he added. 

Mas' golden touch

A FORTNIGHT ago, while most of the country was caught up in the excitement of ushering in a new year, there were at least 10 people in Kuala Lumpur who felt they had more important things to do. They were hard at work at a tournament which would decide the ultimate pecking order of chess players in the country.

For this event, which was named the PWTC Malaysian junior masters tournament, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) had gathered together the country's only two international masters, three past and present national champions and five promising junior players who had proven themselves locally and in international chess tournaments.

Needless to say, our two international masters, Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew, proved themselves a cut above the rest.

Mas Hafizul, especially, was rather ruthless in handling his opponents and he only agreed to draws with Deon Moh, Jimmy Liew and Ng Tze Han.

All the other players could not stop the Mas juggernaut from rolling over them. Every slightest misjudgment, apparently, was punished decisively and by the fourth round, Mas Hafizul had opened up a small lead which was widened considerably by the end of the tournament.

Liew, on the other hand, was more laidback in his approach. He was not adverse to drawing his games and in fact, he conceded six draws. However, those draws did not mean that Liew could not bite, for as Wong Zijing, Ng Ee Vern and Ng Tze Han found to their regret, Liew still had a lot of venom in his games.

Tze Han found out the hard way that when the situation required Liew to conjure up a win, he was prepared to dig in for a battle. In the final round of the tournament, Ng had a chance to finish second but he found that Liew, who was his final-round opponent, was in an uncompromising mood. Ng had to concede the game and was not the runner-up.

So with Mas Hafizul and Jimmy Liew finishing one-two in the tournament, it was left to the other eight players to pick up the rest of the spoils. Ng Tze Han's loss to Liew in the final round meant that he was in sole third place, while taking the fourth and fifth places were Lim Chuin Hoong and Deon Moh respectively.

There was also a two-way tie for the sixth and seventh places by Wong Zi Jing and former national champion Lim Yee Weng, in eighth place was another former national champion, Ng Ee Vern, and propping up the standings were present national champion Jonathan Chuah and Aaron Yee in the ninth and 10th spot respectively.

The tournament was organised by the MCF at the Putra World Trade Centre which also sponsored the event.

Latest Fide ratings

THE World Chess Federation has released its latest Fide Rating List which shall be effective for a six-month period beginning this month.

The full list includes more than 33,000 chess players throughout the world whose ratings are at least 2,000 points. Topping the list yet again is Gary Kasparov (Russia) who remains at 2,851 points despite not having played any rateable game during the past six-month rating period.

His closest rivals are still Viswanathan Anand (India) who is rated at 2,769, Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) at 2,758, Alexei Shirov (Spain) at 2,751 and Alexander Morovich (Russia) at 2,748. Also in the Top 10 are Peter Leko (Hungary) at 2,725, Michael Adams (England) at 2,715, Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Evgeny Bareev (Russia) at 2,709, and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) at 2,702.

This list also marks the first time in three decades that the former world champion, Anatoly Karpov (Russia), had fallen outside the Top 10. Karpov is presently in 11th spot with a rating of 2,696. It is interesting to note that the present world champion, Alexander Khalifman (Russia), is in the 31st position in the list with a rating of 2,656 while his opponent in the last Fide world championship, Vladimir Akopian (Armenia), is placed higher than him in 27th position with a 2,660 rating.

Eyebrows are already being raised in the western world with the emergence of Myanmar player Zaw Win Lay among the world's Top 50 with a rating of 2,633. Zaw, in 44th position, is supposedly the highest-rated player without a title but I do remember reading from the Fide homepage last November that an International Master title had already been awarded to him. There are five other Myanmar players in the Top 100.

To the westerners, players like Zaw are unknown to them but to Asians who have seen the Myanmar players perform in events such as the Asian team or Asian cities team championships, we know how strong they are. Still, as long as Myanmar remains closed to the world, the capability of their players will continue to be questioned by the west.

There are 58 Malaysians in the Fide Rating List, headed by Mas Hafizulhelmi who is rated at 2,413. Ooi Chern Ee is rated at 2,340, Aaron Yee at 2,337, Jimmy Liew at 2,325, Wong Zijing at 2,324, Jonathan Chuah at 2,271, Ng Ee Vern at 2,240, Ng Tze Han at 2,216, Lim Chuin Hoong at 2,214, Mohd Saprin Sabri at 2,210, Mohd Kamal Abdullah at 2,205, Ahmad Maliki at 2,200, Lim Jean Nie at 2,168, Deon Moh at 2,164, Lim Yee Weng at 2,149, Julian Navaratnam at 2,125, Lim Kian Hwa at 2,110, Azahari Md Nor at 2,108 and Lim Chin Lee at 2,081.

Among those players listed as inactive by Fide are Peter Long (2,350), Francis Chin (2,275), Mok Tze Meng (2,270), Eric Cheah (2,255), Mohd Fadli Zakaria (2,250), Christi Hon (2,235) and Yeoh Chin Seng (2,195).

The full list of Malaysian players in the Fide Rating List, together with some new collection of games, can be downloaded from my web library at http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library/index.html

Selangor chess kicks off

THE Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) is organising its first tournament of the new year this Sunday at the Sunway College. Registration for the six-round allegro event will begin at 9am and the first round is slated for 10am.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the CAS and RM15 for non-members. Cash prizes and other prizes in kind will be given to the winners of the open, under-12, under-16 and girl sections. In addition, the best CAS members will receive prizes and the best junior players will get certificates of achievement.

Also, to mark the first CAS event in the new millennium, there will be limited edition T-shirts available for sale to chess enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, CAS also said that its chess camp at Genting Highlands last November was a success. The group of six boys and two girls who took part in the camp have started to produce respectable results in tournaments such as the recently concluded national closed chess championshp.

Among the achievements were the good results of two young CAS members, Siti Zulaikha and Lim Han Ying, who emerged as the champion and the third-place winner respectively in the women's section of the national closed.

To strengthen and widen the players' horizon, CAS is starting a three-month chess programme designed for tournament players from tomorrow. The programme is divided into two classes: the core group which comprises participants from the chess camp and the enthusiast group which will be made up of tournament players. Both the programmes will be conducted by Terry van der Veen.

Each class will be conducted over two hours on a weekly basis. For enquiries, contact Mrs Jackie Wong (03-703-8237) or Lim Tse Pin (012-298-4922).

Perak event

The Perak International Chess Association will organise its first competition of the new year at the Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh on Jan 22 and 23. For more information, contact Hamisah (05-313-3809) or Wong (05-366-1692).

Triple winners

THE national closed chess championship ended a fortnight ago with a three-way tie at the top, which was unprecedented in the history of the championship. Two-way ties had occurred before, but never a tie among three players.

Even more remarkable was that the combined age of the three players was just 45 years. Lim Chuin Hoong and Teng Wei Khoon are both 16 years old and Jonathan Chuah is even younger at 13.

The three ended the nine-round championship, held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, with 7.5 points each. Abiding by the rules, the Malaysian Chess Federation decided to have a play-off event for the national champion's title and the Datuk Sabbaruddin challenge trophy.

The double round-robin playoff was eventually won by Chuah who scored 3.5 points compared to Lim's 1.5 points. Teng collected one point. Chuah is by far the youngest player to become the national champion.

Lim had only himself to blame for missing out on the champion's title. He was the most solid player among the 67 contestants who represented the 13 state chess associations in the country. In the nine games that he played, Lim was undefeated with six wins and three draws.

Going into the final round, Lim was leading the field with seven points. This was only a slim half-a-point more than his closest rivals and nothing less than a win in his final game was required if he wanted the undisputed first prize.

However, a draw with Julian Navaratnam turned out to be insufficient for Lim as both Chuah and Teng scored vital wins to catch up with him. Chuah beat Wong Zijing while Teng accounted for Rizal Ahmad Kamal. Chuah's game against Wong was very crucial. If the results had been reversed, Wong would instead be the one to tie with Lim and Teng at the top. Instead, Wong ended fourth in the standings.

If tradition is followed, not only has Chuah become the latest national champion, but he will also be awarded the national master title by the Malaysian Chess Federation.

But we have three very deserving winners this year and the contest had been very close and exciting. Under such circumstances, I think it would not be wrong if the MCF were to consider a change to its policy and decide on making the three winners all national masters.

In fact, I would like to propose to the MCF that the national master title be given to all previous co-winners of the national closed championship in recognition of their abilities. But, by all means, the title of national champion should still be reserved specifically for the undisputed winner in any year or the eventual winner of any playoff tournament.

The top finishers in this year's national closed championship: Lim Chuin Hoong, Jonathan Chuah, Teng Wei Khoon (7.5 points each); Wong Zi Jing, Ismail Ahmad, Ng Tze Han, Julian Navaratnam, Khor Shihong (6.5); Sit Seng Yaw, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Taulani Tukiran (6); and Deon Moh, Lim Kian Hwa, Chan Meng Yang, Law Zhe Kang, Mohd Irman Ibrahim, Effawira Mohd Farid, Eddy Kwan, Wong Ziwei, Jeffery Chan, Nanda Kumar (5.5).

Together with this year's national closed championship, the MCF also held its annual general meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre.

This year's AGM was, however, marked by some grumblings from some parents who were unhappy with the federation. Their unhappiness stemmed from the MCF's failure to register players for this year's world junior chess championship in Spain in October.

The annual world junior meet is a tournament popular with Malaysian parents. However, the problem is that not everybody can play in it. Since it is an event organised under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, convention has it that the participants must be registered through their national chess bodies. In our case, this is the MCF.

For many years the MCF had been organising the national age-group chess championship , where the winners of the various age-group events are given the opportunity to play at the world junior level. For individual world events of this type, the parents of the players are required to pay for their children's travel and boarding expenses.

The MCF does not provide financial assistance to help the players. All it does is to finish the necessary paperwork which includes registering the players with the organisers and preparing letters to the players' schools and education authorities.

This year, alleged the parents, there has been a total breakdown in the MCF's efficiency. Letters which were to have been prepared a long time ago were not ready at all. Repeated attempts by the parents to get the letters failed. As a result, none of the Malaysian juniors were registered for the world age-group championship and consequently, nobody went to Spain.

There were some discussions at the AGM on the MCF's shortcomings in this area but with the damage already done, the best that the members could hope for was for the MCF to improve on its efficiency in the future.

Young and capable

TODAY may be the last day of the year, decade, century and millennium, but for some players, it is simply another day to play chess.

Since Monday, 10 players have been involved in a closed international rating tournament organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur. This tournament will take a break tomorrow, but it will continue from Sunday until Jan 5. Playing sessions on these days are from 11am to 6pm.

According to the MCF, this is the definitive tournament to determine the best players in the country. Taking part in this round-robin event are international masters Mas Hafizulhelmi and Jimmy Liew, Fide master Wong Zijing, current national champion Jonathan Chuah, and former national champions Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng. The other players are Aaron Yee, Ng Tze Han, Lim Chuin Hoong and Deon Moh.

A very confident Mas Hafizul is expected to win the event but it will be intriguing to see where "elder statesman" Jimmy Liew stands among the others. Liew is still the yardstick that many young players measure themselves against. My expectation is that he can expect a torrid time against the youngsters but he has the experience to extricate himself from most predicaments.

Jonathan Chuah will be eager to prove himself against his peers now that he is the newly crowned national champion. However, in his eagerness and maybe confidence, there is a danger that he may over-reach himself in his games. None of his rivals are pushovers so it will be interesting to see how he reacts in his games.

Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng, like Mas Hafizul, were absent from this year's national closed championship. They had been taking the past weeks to prepare themselves for this event, so must be considered as quietly confident to get some good results.

As for the other players, suffice it to say that despite their busy playing schedules this month, they are young and quite capable of standing up to the stress of a few more games.

I shall have the results of this tournament ready for you next month but in the meantime, as we stand literally on the eve of a new year, I would like to thank all readers of this column, especially the faithful ones who have stuck with me since August 1980. See you next millennium!

 

Top contender in national championship

WHO do you think will win the national closed chess championship which started yesterday at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur? In the absence of the defending champion, will it be someone new or one of the former winners?

In all likelihood, the answer will be a foregone conclusion. I do not see how any of the other players can touch Mas Hafizulhelmi who is playing in the national championship again after a lapse of three years. He is by far the most experienced player in the field.

Of course, I am not saying that Mas Hafizul cannot be toppled. The other players still have a chance to upset his game. Only thing is, without defending champion Ng Ee Vern or previous winner Lim Yee Weng playing, there are not too many players who can give Mas Hafizul a good fight for his money.

The torch-bearers this year are likely to be young veterans like Wong Zijing, Lim Chuin Hoong, Ng Tze Han and Jonathan Chuah who should all be capable of beating Mas Hafizul on their best days. I am sure there are many other lesser known hopefuls waiting for the opportunity too. Well, there are nine rounds for the hopefuls to prove themselves.

The national championship was originally scheduled to finish before the start of the Muslim fasting month. However, the Malaysian Chess Federation decided to postpone the tournament to the middle of December because the public school examinations had not ended yet.

The winner of the men's section of the championship will receive the Datuk Hussein Onn challenge trophy. The women's section is a seven-round event and the winner will get the Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik trophy. Trophies will also be awarded to the most promising under-18 male and female players.

Nightmare event for FIDE

The World Chess Federation's 75th anniversary celebrations in Paris on Nov 20 turned out to be a public relations nightmare. According to reports, it was a badly organised event.

FIDE had initially planned a parade through the streets of Paris with the participation of numerous celebrities. However, the plans were continually changed until there was no parade or celebrity in the end. When the Mayor of Paris was asked to come to the stage, it turned out that she was not there.

Then, the celebration banquet was snubbed by the world champion, Alexander Khalifman, in protest over FIDE's failure to pay him his prize money for winning the world championship in Las Vegas last August. At a press conference earlier in the day, Khalifman confirmed that he had not yet been paid his prize money.

Even Xie Jun, the women's world champion, walked out of the ceremonies after receiving FIDE's recognition of her title. Later, when asked why, she said that it was boring.

FIDE had planned to honour a select group of celebrities and volunteers who made organisational contributions to the world body and organised FIDE events over the years. But during the celebration ceremony, there was not enough time to mention the names of those who had come from all over the world to receive the recognition.

It turned out that FIDE had chosen instead to give lengthy speeches to honour celebrities such as the Pope, French President Jacques Chirac, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lennox Lewis, none of whom were present. Naturally, those who were present were outraged. One said that he intended to request the FIDE Secretariat to reimburse his expenses.

FIDE executive director Emmanuel Omuku went round apologising for FIDE's failure to properly recognise the invitees. However, he was unable to get to all the tables, thereby causing further resentment.

Earlier in the day, FIDE had cancelled the midday buffet luncheon without notifying the guests who were waiting for the lunch. Eventually, word of the cancellation got around.

Adding to this nightmare was a report from FIDE's Verification Commission, prepared by Israel Gelfer of Israel and Don Schultz of the United States, which warned that there was a large overdue loan of Swiss francs 478,000 (about RM595,000) from FIDE to the World Chess Foundation, and any failure to collect this could mean that FIDE would be unable to continue providing a full complement of services to its members. At the very worst, FIDE's existence itself could be threatened.

But according to Schultz, FIDE president Kirsan Iljumzhinov had said that all obligations to the players who took part in Las Vegas would be paid by the end of the year. He attributed the delay to poor coordination in bank transfers, delays in payments from sponsors, a large prize fund and dates that kept changing.

Meanwhile, in what may be the most serious challenge to FIDE yet, Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman is threatening to set up a rival chess federation.

According to The Australian newspaper, Timman said he was willing to walk out of FIDE over the spectacle of drug tests.

"I will not comply with the tests and because I do not want to give up chess for this nonsense, I might create an alternative federation that has no ties with the International Olympic Committee," he said in an interview on Dutch television.

Timman appeared to be quite set on this matter. If he leaves FIDE and sets up another organisation, there may be a lot of professional players who would follow him, and not all of them would be because of the drug testing. It would be ironic if FIDE's public relations victory of joining with the IOC ended up spelling its own end instead of buffeting its position.

The idea of some drugs enhancing chess performance is old, but there is no information publicly available on the subject.

Anatoly Karpov and Kasparov were both recently accused by Leonxto Garcia, a Spanish journalist writing in the El Pais newspaper, of using a drug developed by the Soviet space programme to enhance endurance during their matches in the 80s.

The Australian added that an unnamed Canadian international master once experimented with marijuana as an aid to chess during the 80s but gave it up after losing 10 consecutive games.

Deep Blue's next incarnation

IBM has unveiled a US$100mil (RM380mil) plan to build the world's fastest supercomputer, according to a Reuters report last week. The computer would be used in understanding how proteins fold, which is considered important in studying diseases and finding cures.

The ambitious plan envisions a new RS/6000 computer named Blue Gene, capable of more than one quadrillion operations per second, or 1,000 times more powerful than the Deep Blue machine that beat Gary Kasparov in 1997.

"We think a tremendous gain in performance will be made possible by the first major revolution in how computers are built since the mid-80s," said Dr Ambuj Goyal, IBM Research's vice-president of computer science.

Blue Gene will consist of more than one million processors, each capable of one billion operations per second, IBM said. That would make it two million times more powerful than today's top personal computers.

Researchers believed that they can achieve that level of performance in about five years, when the computer would be put to work on complex genetic mysteries.

"In many ways, Deep Blue got a better job today," said Paul Horn, senior vice-president of IBM Research. "If this computer unlocks the mystery of how proteins fold, it will be an important milestone in the future of medicine and healthcare."

Proteins, which control all cellular functions in the human body, fold into highly complex, three-dimensional shapes that determine their function.

A change in the shape of a protein can dramatically change its function, and even a slight change in folding can turn a desirable protein into a disease.

Mail

Give chess its due recognition

THE Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) cancelled chess as one of its annual events last year because of the economic crisis.

However, our district continued to hold chess competitions for the schools. In this year's competition, I finished third in the boys' under-18 category but I felt disappointed because I could not go any further.

In 1997, the top four players represented our district at the state level but now, there is no more state level competition.

Now that the economy is picking up, I believe the MSSM should not have any more funding problem. Chess is already recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee.

I hope the MSSM will reinstate chess competitions at all levels to find more talented players in the country.

Fischer Yu

Ayer Tawar, Perak

(via e-mail)

Good turnout for Asian chess challenge

LAST October's fourth Grand Asian Chess Challenge was a considerable success for the Universiti Malaya's Second Residential College; the event took place at the university's Engineering Faculty and the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

The tournament attracted some 138 players from 12 universities in Asia, and among them were numerous titled and rated players. It was conducted as an individual Swiss event and the accumulated results of the best four players from the same university, inclusive of a woman player, were used to compute team results.

The winner of the tournament was the Mongolian State Pedagogical University which accummulated 29.5 points from nine rounds. The points came from Duurenba Erkhembayar who won the men's Swiss event with 7.5 points, WFM Tuvshintugs Battsetseg who scored 8.5 points in the women's event, Grand Master Dashzeveg Sharavdorj with seven points and FM Odondoo Ganbold with 6.5 points.

The University of Gunadarma (Indonesia) was second in the tournament with their points coming from IM Liu Dede and Eko Supriyono (both seven points), Majella Rudijanto (six points) and WIM Upi Darmayana Tamin (eight points).

Other standings in the tournament: Rizal Technological University (Philippines) 27 points; University of Khorassan (Iran) 23.5 points; Cyberjaya Multimedia University "A" 23 points; Hue University (Vietnam) 22.5 points; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 22 points; University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) 21.5 points; Higher Colleges of Technology (UAE), University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Malacca Multimedia University "A" 20 points each; Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman 19 points; Universiti Malaya "A," Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Sabah Malaysia 18 points each; Parayangan Catholic University (Indonesia) 17 points; Universiti Utara Malaysia "B" 16.5 points; Cyberjaya Multimedia University "B" 16 points; Universiti Malaya "B" 15.5 points; Kolej Yayasan Mara Kuantan and Malacca Multimedia University "B" 13.5 points each; Universiti Utara Malaysia "A" 11.5 points; and Universiti Brunei Darussalam 10.5 points.

Impressive Juniors

Also in October, the Royal Selangor Club organised a junior chess tournament for 97 children at its new sports annexe in Bukit Kiara, Selangor.

The six-round tournament featured separate events for children in the under-8, under-10 and under-12 age categories.

There were 42 players in the under-12 category and the winner was Wong Zi-chuang who scored 5.5 points. In second place was Chan Litt Binn with five points, while Eric Ng Keng Gee, Low Chung Deng and Thaw CheeHou--all with 4.5 points each--were joint third to fifth. The best girl player was Lim Huey Jer who scored four points.

Litt Binn was the winner of this year's national under-10 age-group championship at the PWTC while Eric was the winner of the same event a year ago. They are still 10-year-olds, so it was a great credit to them that they chose to play in the under-12 category. Zi-chuang was the national under-10 champion in 1997.

The under-10 category attracted 28 players and the winner, Mo Kim Hung, scored five points. The second prize went to Wong Sing Kiat and the third prize to Ooi Ching Chung, both having obtained 4.5 points. Chan Wei Qi, with four points, was the best girl player.

In the under-8 category, the three players who took the top prizes had similar scores of five points each. Chong Geng Cheng was declared the overall winner, followed by Teh Qing Yang and Arshant Nair. The best girl in the event was Harwanth Kaur who scored four points. There were 27 players in this category.

The two youngest players were both five years old. Brian Homi Mehta, who scored three wins against his older opponents, learned to play chess solely by following the simple diagrammed instructions that came with a chess set his father had bought him. The other five-year-old, Teh Kai Wen, was largely outplayed in the competition but she was able to correct her older opponents who had wrongly recorded their moves.

According to RSC chess convenor Dr Wahid Karim, 28 of the 97 participants were girls. Although none of them finished within the top three in any category, they scored many wins against the boys. The top girls in the three categories all scored four points each, which he considered very encouraging as the tournament had attracted many current and former national age-group winners.

Penang Grand Prix

The fourth and final leg of the Penang Chess Association's Penang Grand Prix chess circuit will be played at the Bukit Mertajam Country Club on Dec 12 starting at 8am.

The main prizes range from RM200 for the winner to RM30 for the eighth place. In addition, consolation prizes will be given to the best under-15 boy and girl.

To encourage more participation by players from the island, the PCA is arranging for a bus to take them to the tournament venue.

Readers interested in playing should contact Goh Yoon Wah

(04-644-5687, evenings) or Ooi Kiem Boo (04-657-4596, office hours).

MAIL

I WISH to comment on your article in Section 2 (Sunk in Oblivion, Oct 22) on the selection of players who participated in the Asian team championship in China. I wonder why, in the first place, Agus Salim's name was chosen by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) when it was clear that he is not a Malaysian citizen. In fact, I remember reading that Agus Salim had even played in last year's national closed championship.

I am quite surprised that nobody was interested in Agus' status. I should think that this tournament, being the top one which chooses players to represent Malaysia, would be exclusively for Malaysians only. The MCF should be more careful about whom they allow to play in this tournament. I hope that it will not be repeated.

Anon2342 (via e-mail)

THANK you, Anon2342, for your e-mail. Normally, I do not respond to letters or e-mail in which the writer has not identified him/herself adequately--but you have brought up a point which is too pertinent to ignore, especially with this year's national closed championship just round the corner.

Yes, I do agree with you that the MCF must be more careful about the people they allow to participate in our country's top tournaments. But, maybe, the inclusion of Agus' name in last year's national closed championship was a plain oversight.

What I do know is that the MCF's rules are silent on a player's eligibility. The state chess associations are allowed to send four representatives to the national closed championship but the selection of the representatives is left entirely to the associations. Traditionally, the MCF accepts all names in good faith.

Perhaps the MCF should lay down clear guidelines for the state associations on whom they can or cannot select for national events like the national closed championship or the state section of the Merdeka team championship. It goes without saying that the MCF should screen their own tournaments to ensure that their own guidelines are followed.

I, for one, would like to see only local participation in these two national events. We already have such a wealth of talent at the grassroots level. Therefore, we have to be possessive of these two titles--our national individual and team champions--and we should be proud of the Malaysians who have won them. It will be awkward if a non-Malaysian were to win the national closed championship or be part of the winning state team in the Merdeka chess championship.

In defence of Agus, maybe I should say that there is nothing to prevent him from playing in the many open tournaments in the country. In fact, he is already a very familiar face. A popular figure with many chess friends in this country, Agus is also a strong player and organisers readily accept him into local events.

UP NEXT

National Closed Championship

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organise this year's national closed chess championship at the Putra World Trade Centre from Dec 16 to 20. The men's section will be a nine-round Fide-rateable event while the women's section will most probably be played over seven rounds.

MCF-affiliated chess associations can each send a maximum of four official representatives for the men's section and two players for the women's section. With eight days left before the closing date, readers interested in being selected should contact their respective chess associations as soon as possible.

The persons to contact are Jackie Wong, Selangor ( 03-703 8237); Ooi Kiem Boo, Penang ( 04-657 4596); Dr Yee Meng Khoon, Perak ( 05-546 4530); Stephen Cheong, Johor ( 07-333 9636); Muhammad Arshad, Terengganu ( 018-849 0497); Wan Abdullah, Pahang ( 010-989 4924); Norlaili, Perlis ( 06-976 0006); Eugene Kong, Malacca ( 06-232 1018); Charles Chan, Negeri Sembilan ( 06-631 7971); Taulani, Sabah ( 088-788 843); Lim Kian Hwa, Sarawak ( 082-427 772), Ibrahim Yaacob, Kuala Lumpur ( 03-636 3082) and Nizam, Kelantan ( 09-790 9870).

The entry forms for the championship can be downloaded from my website at (http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library). For more information, contact Hamid Majid at 03-4021 9576 or e-mail (aham@pc.jaring.my).