Northern challenge

THE northern region's biggest chess event, the annual Penang Bayview Chess League, starts on June 6 and will be on till mid-August. The tournament, now in its ninth year, is organised by the Penang Chess Association.

The City Bayview Hotel, which donated a pewter challenge trophy worth RM6,000 in 1993, is sponsoring the use of its premises for the championship which will be played on Sundays.

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 others 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 PCA immediately. If the response is encouraging enough, the PCA will consider grouping them together to play under the association's banner.

Provision has been made for about 30 teams to take part, and each team is allowed up to eight players. However, only four from each team will play at a time 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 teams that have taken 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 May 30 A managers' meeting will be held at the hotel on June 2 at 8pm.

For more details, visit the PCA website at http://come.to/the.pca.homepage or call Goh Yoon Wah at 04-644 5687, Ooi Kiem Boo at 04-826 3764 or Eoh Hook Kim at 04-826 0196 in the evenings.

Endah Parade challenge

THE four-day Endah Parade Chess Challenge, jointly organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation and Endah Parade, continues this weekend at the shopping centre in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling.

The Endah Parade under-12 and under-16 tournaments will be played at 9am tomorrow. There are six cash prizes for each age group, including one for the best girl player. The winners of the two categories will each receive RM150 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10.

On Sunday, the Endah Parade open tournament will be held. The winner will receive RM250 and a trophy, the second placed RM200 and a medal, and the third RM150 and a medal. The fourth and fifth prizes are RM100 each, and the sixth to 10th prizes are worth RM50 each.

In addition, RM50 prizes await the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players. The entry fee for this final event is RM15 except for under-12 players who need to pay only RM10.

According to the organisers, only a maximum of 100 players will be accepted for each event. For registration or more information, call Zac, Yvonne or Soo Kee at 03-583 0100 or fax: 03-583 0300.

The Endah Parade Chess Challenge had kicked off earlier with two tournaments. Last Saturday, an 11-round blitz event with 56 players was held in the shopping centre's concourse area. Ng Ee Vern came out tops in this tournament with a score of 9 1/2 points. Except for a loss to Cheah Eu Gene and a draw with Ismail Ahmad, Ng won all other games, including the ones against second-placed Jimmy Liew and third-placed Fikrul Saifuddin.

Liew scored nine points while Fikrul, together with Abdul Razak Saidin and Cheah Eu Gene, obtained eight points each. Ismail Ahmad, Wong Zi Jing and Julian Navaratnam scored 7 1/2 points each. Half-a-point behind them were Ahmad Maliki, Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin and Rizal Ahmad Kamal. Indonesian international master Nasib Ginting led a group of seven players who had 6 1/2 points each.

On Sunday, the under-20 age-group tournament attracted 64 entries. The event was also won by Ng who scored the maximum six points. Joint second to fourth were Chew Zi Li, Wong Zi Jing and Effarin Mohd Farid who each scored five points. Thirteen-year-old Nicholas Chan led five players in obtaining 4 1/2 points. The others were Nanda Kumar, Effawira Mohd Farid, Tang Wai Lip and Wong Chong Ee.

Sarawak tournament

CHESS players in Sabah and Sarawak can look forward to the three-day Sarawak open chess tournament from May 30 to June 1. This eight-round event, to be held at the Kelab Shell Lutong in Miri, is jointly organised by the Sarawak Chess Association, Kelab Shell Lutong and the Persatuan Melayu Miri.

The winner will receive RM600 and a challenge trophy, the second placed will get RM400 and the third RM300, the fourth RM200 and the fifth RM100. There are five other smaller prizes ranging from RM90 to RM40. In addition, the under-19 and women's champions will get RM100 each, while the second- and third-placed winners in each of these two categories will receive RM60 and RM40 respectively.

Entry fees are RM10 for adults, RM5 for women and players under the age of 19. Closing date is next Tuesday.

Players in Kuching can get the entry forms from Morsin Ahmad ( (o) 082-235 810 or (h) 082-313 619) or Lim Kian Hwa ( (o) 082-203 202 or (h) 082-427 772 or 011-218 192).

Those in Miri can contact the Kelab Shell Lutong office ( 085-452 453), the Persatuan Melayu Miri office ( 085-431 394), Matthew Lutu ( (o) 085-452 853) or Bujang Poli ( (o) 085-456 176).

Those in Bintulu can contact Marzuki Hussain ( (o) 086-252 300) and if in Sibu, contact Ong Bee Hua ( (h) 084-336 909 or 010-819 1129).

Inter-school event

THE Perak International Chess Association will organise an inter-school team tournament at the Tarcian Convent in Ipoh, tomorrow.

This will be the fourth such event organised by PICA this year. The first, held at the Sek Men Kebangsaan Jalan Pasir Putih on Feb 27, was won by SMK Jalan Pasir Putih team. The second was held on Mar 20 at the Sek Men Kebangsaan Sultan Yussuf and the third was held a week later at the Sek Men Kebangsaan Anderson. These two tournaments were won by SMK Anderson.

Registration for tomorrow's event will start at 8pm at the school hall. For enquiries, call Yau at 05-528 0958 or Mala at 05-526 9904.

Up next

THE Bank Rakyat-PWTC national age-group chess championship will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from May 28 to 30. This tournament will be played over seven rounds with a time control of one hour per player for each game.

There are five age-groups--under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18--with separate competitions for boys and girls. The top five players in each category will receive cash prizes and medals and the champions will each get a challenge trophy as well. The prize fund of RM6,000 is sponsored by Bank Rakyat Malaysia.

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

The entry fee is RM10 per player. Late entries will not be entertained and players are required to produce either their identity cards or birth certificates.

According to the organisers, entry forms have been sent to all state chess associations. They are also available at the Bank Rakyat headquarters and the PWTC. Readers with Internet access can also download the entry form from my web page at http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library/Library.html

The completed entry forms can be posted without the entry fees to Hamid Majid, 5110 Medan Intan Apartment, Jalan 1/21-C, Gombak, 53000 Kuala Lumpur. Alternatively, you can e-mail him at aham@pc.jaring.my

 

 

Deadline over for world title

INDIA'S Viswanathan Anand was true to form when he decided to let pass a deadline to respond to a proposal that he play a US$3mil (RM11.4mil) match with Gary Kasparov.

Two weeks ago, I reported that a match between the two highest rated players in the world may be a possibility this October. Gary Kasparov agreed to play this match while Viswanathan was given a deadline to respond. According to the match rules, the winner would get two-thirds of the prize fund.

The match was backed by well-known chess mentors like Bessel Kok (chairman of the now defunct Grandmasters Association) and grandmaster Fridrik Olaksson (a former president of the World Chess Federation).

Kasparov had agreed to put his personal version of the world championship title at stake, meaning that if Viswanathan wins, he could call himself a world champion. Anand had once before refused to be a part of Kasparov's plans.

The Indian newspaper, Indian Express, reported after the deadline that the Indian grandmaster is still considering whether or not to play this match with Kasparov. Viswanathan said his tight schedule for the rest of the year is a deciding factor. When asked again about the match, he said: "Maybe towards the end of the year."

Now Kok has to decide whether to extend the offer.

More tournament results

THE Penang Chess Association (PCA), just like many other chess organisations, is finding it difficult to raise funds for its projects. As such, the association has to use its own resources to keep some of its projects going, said Penang state executive councillor and PCA president Dr Toh Kin Woon.

Toh appealed to corporations not to withhold their sponsorship programmes altogether as this would stifle the development of healthy games like chess in the state.

He was speaking at the close of the sixth leg of the national allegro chess circuit which was played at the Kolej Damansara Utama campus in Penang. The tournament which attracted 87 participants, including many from outstation, was won by Lim Chuin Hoong who obtained 5 1/2 points.

Tied with second-placed Chuah Heng Meng on five points were Lim Cheng Teik, Khor Shihong and Ng Tze Han. The other main prize winners were Teng Wei Hong, Beh Chong Chin, Ahmad Iskandar, Eoh Thean Keat and Fikrul Saifuddin.

The prizes were sponsored by Bank Pertanian Malaysia while Kolej Damansara Utama allowed its premises to be used for the tournament.

Early last month, University Multimedia Telekom's (UMT) chess club organised the Rakan Muda Unitele Chess Extreme in conjunction with the Rakan Muda programme. Eleven university teams and 21 teams from Malacca secondary schools played in the four-day event.

The tournament was played under three categories. In the university men's category, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) was the winner of the round-robin contest, scoring 15 points. The UTM team comprised Mak Weng Yee, Teng Wei Hong, Wong Kim Kuan, Toh Chin Kok and Lau Kar Hoe. Second was UMT "A" which obtained 13 points, and third was Universiti Islam Antarabangsa with 12 points.

In the women's category, the winner was UMT "A" with 11 points. In second place was Universiti Islam Antarabangsa with nine points, while UTM was third with five points. The UMT team comprised Roslina Marmono, Eliza Hanim Ibrahim and Adiratna.

UMT, which collected a total of 24 points from both the men's and women's categories, was awarded a challenge trophy for being the best university contingent in the tournament.

At the secondary school level, sharing the lead at the end of the tournament were the Sek Men Kebangsaan Gajah Berang "A" and "C" teams which collected 14 1/2 points each. However, the "C" team was adjudged the winner on a better tie-break. Third was the Malacca High School "A" team with 14 points. SMK Gajah Berang showed its chess prowess with its "D" team finishing fourth and its "B" team fifth.

In Kuala Kangsar last month, the Kelab Catur PHS held a six-round tournament at the Perak Hanjoong Simen premises. The event, which attracted 88 participants from Perak schools, was won by Muhamad Ridzuan Kamarudin who scored six points. Among the five pointers were Mohd Izzuddin Mohd Zawawi who was second followed by Fahimy Kamaruddin, Ammar Zakaria, Mohd Razief Hakim, Ansar Masuri, Mohd Mazran Ibrahim, Mior Mohd Hilmi, Al-Farabi Marasid and Lee Choon Haur.

Endah Parade challenge

THE four-day Endah Parade Chess Challenge, jointly organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation and Endah Parade, starts next weekend in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling.

On May 15, the 11-round Endah Parade blitz tournament begins at 2pm. The registration of players will start one hour earlier. There will be five cash prizes with the champion receiving RM200 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10.

The next day, the six-round Endah Parade junior (under-20) open tournament will start at 9am. The winner will receive RM150 and a trophy, first runner-up RM100 and second runner-up RM80. There are seven other main cash prizes and also special prizes for the best girl, under-12, under-14 and under-16 players. Entry fee is RM10.

On May 22, the Chess Challenge continues with the Endah Parade under-12 and under-16 tournaments beginning at 9am. There are six cash prizes for each age group, inclusive of one for the best girl player. The winners of the two categories will each receive RM150 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10.

The last event will be the Endah Parade open tournament on May 23. The winner will receive RM250 and a trophy. The second prize is RM200 and a medal, the third RM150 and a medal, the fourth and fifth RM100 each, and the sixth to 10th prizes are worth RM50 each.

In addition, RM50 prizes await the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players. Entry fee for this final event is RM15 except for under-12 players who need only pay RM10.

All games will be played in the concourse area on the ground floor of Endah Parade. Cash prizes totalling RM3,250, hampers, trophies and other prizes in kind will be given to the winners.

According to the organisers, only a maximum of 100 players will be accepted for each event. For registration or more information, call Zac, Yvonne or Soo Kee at 03-583 0100 or fax: 03-583 0300.

Up Next

THE seventh leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be held this Sunday at Sunway College in Petaling Jaya. There will be six rounds with a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize fund goes to the main winners.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Chess Association of Selangor, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants. For details, call Jackie Wong at 03-703 8237 or Lim Tse Pin at 03-733 0927.

In Penang, the Penang Chess Association will hold its annual general meeting at the Bayan Baru Residents Association's clubhouse in Bandar Bayan Baru this Sunday at 5.30pm. As usual, there will be a special social tournament for members before the AGM which begins at 4pm.

Meanwhile, the annual national age-group chess championship will be played at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from May 28 to 30. The event will be hosted by Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia on behalf of the Malaysian Chess Federation.

The winners of the boys and girls under-18, under-16, under-14, under-12 and under-10 categories will stand a chance to be picked for the world age-group event later in the year.

 

Meeting of the titans?

GARY Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, the two highest rated players in the world, may pit their wits against one another in a US$3mil (RM11.4mil) match this October. If the match is played, the winner stands to receive two-thirds of the prize fund.

According to a report published in Inside Chess magazine this week, Kasparov is willing to play this match, but Viswanathan has yet to confirm participation.

The match, to be organised by Canadian entrepreneur Serge Grimaux, has the full backing of well-known chess mentors like Bessel Kok (chairman of the now defunct Grandmasters Association) and grandmaster Fridrik Olaksson (former president of the World Chess Federation).

Kasparov has also agreed to put his title at stake, meaning that if Viswanathan wins the match, the Indian grandmaster can call himself a world champion!

Last year, Viswanathan had refused to play a match with Vladimir Kramnik. The winner was supposed to earn the right to play Kasparov for big bucks. Alexei Shirov then took his place and won, but later, Kasparov called off his match with Shirov, saying there were no funds for it.

A glorious fest

HERE are some tournament results. The highlight of the four-day Klang Parade Chess Fest was the Klang Parade open tournament held on April 11. At the end of the six-round event, which attracted 118 participants, only one player, Rizal Kamal, scored the maximum six points to bag the first prize of RM250 and a trophy.

Close on Rizal's heels were Fikrul Saifuddin, Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin, Ismail Ahmad, Nanda Kumar, Julian Navaratnam, Tay Boon Siang and Lim Tse Pin who scored five points each. The 10th prize went to Marcus Chan who scored 4 1/2 points.

The best girl player was Samantha Lee who obtained four points. The best under-16, under-14 and under-12 players were Nanda Kumar, Muhammad Aizuddin and Wong Zi Chuang respectively.

A day earlier, the Klang Parade blitz tournament was played. It was an 11-round contest which attracted 98 players. Honours were split between Fikrul Saifuddin and Julian Navaratnam who scored 10 points each. However, Fikrul was declared the champion on a better tie-break. Ng Ee Vern was third with nine points and Mohd Saprin Sabri was fourth with 8 1/2 points.

Three players - Hairul Hamid, Nanda Kumar and Lim Khay Soon - took the next three prizes with eight points each, while another three players - Lim Yee Weng, Joseph Toh and Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin - scored 7 1/2 points to win the remaining prizes. Roslina Marmono, who obtained a creditable seven points, was the best girl player.

On April 3, the Klang Parade Chess Fest was primarily a junior affair featuring the under-12 and under-16 events. The under-20 tournament was held the following day.

In the under-20 event, Mohd Haizul Jamaluddin staved off a strong challenge from Stewart Chan and Lim Beng Poh to take the top prize with 5 1/2 points. Both his challengers finished with five points each. Also scoring five points was Muhammad Aizuddin who won the best under-16 prize, while Lee Su Ann again featured as the best under-16 girl player. Wong Zi Chuang was the best under-12 player and Nurul Atiqah was the best under-12 girl player.

The under-12 event was won by Ooi Ching Chung with a clean score of six points from as many games. Fariz Shafruddin, Muhanad Johan Iskandar and Joshua Tan tied for the second to fourth prizes with five points each, while on 4 1/2 points was Hazuin Husain. Siti Zulaika Foudri took the prize for best girl player.

The under-16 event also saw a clean score by the winner, Deon Moh, who won all his six games. Far behind him were Marcus Chan, Eugene Khoo, Matthew Low and Ahmad Abid, who each won a prize with 4 1/2 points. Lee Su Ann was the best girl player with 4 1/2 points.

The Klang Parade Chess Fest, held in Klang over two weekends, was a joint effort between the Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade.

Meanwhile, the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) has been kept busy with a number of events. Late last month, CAS held its 13th Royal Selangor junior open tournament for the under-10, under-14 and under-18 categories. Each of these events was held as a seven-round Swiss at the Sunway College in Petaling Jaya.

The winner of the under-18 event was Ng Ee Vern who scored 5 1/2 points. Also sharing the same points as Ng was Law Zhe Kang who was given only the second prize. In third place was Nanda Kumar with five points, followed by Effazuwan Mohd Farid with 4 1/2 points. Rounding up the winners were Thaw Chee Yin and Marcus Chan who scored four points each.

In the under-14 section, Wong Zi Chuang was the big winner with 6 1/2 points. In a long tie for the second to seventh prizes were Chan Tze Wei, Gerald Soh, Ragu Ram, Tan Kiat Tat, Effawira Mohd Farid and Hafiz Shafruddin who obtained five points each. Nicholas Chan, Siti Zulaikha and Fariz Shafruddin scored 4 1/2 points each.

The top under-10 prize went to Ooi Ching Chung who scored six points. Second was Eric Ng Kheng Gee with 5 1/2 points, while Effaliana Mohd Farid, Chan Tze Chen and Loke Zhi Kin were in joint third to fifth places with five points each. Mo Kim Hung was sixth with 4 1/2 points, and Abel Yap Jin Wei and Tan Kian Hui scored four points each.

CAS had also been experimenting with a chess circuit of its own, and the first such tournament, held on March 29, was won by Ng Ee Vern with 5 1/2 points.

Second was Ismail Ahmad with five points, and third was Julian Navaratnam also with five points. Finally, both K. Premnath and Cheah Eu Gene scored 4 1/2 points each.

The best under-16 prizes were given to Marcus Chan, Effawira Mohd Farid and Ahmad Abid, while the best under-12 prizes went to Siti Zulaikha, Ahmad Fariz Shafruddin and Lim Ven Gee.

Also in March, the first of three Rapid Chess tournaments was played at the Kelab Shell Lutong in Miri. The one-day event, which attracted 44 players, was played over seven rounds.

The tournament was won by Junby Layoen of Brunei who earned RM200, while Leong Voon Choon, another player from Brunei, took the second prize of RM150. Third was Junaidi Gusni from Miri.

The next two Rapid Chess tournaments in Miri will be played in May and July. Come August, the Miri Chess Club will be organising its Merdeka chess tournament.

Four-day event

THE Malaysian Chess Federation and Endah Parade are jointly organising a four-day chess fest which will be held over two weekends in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur. All games will be played in the concourse on the ground floor of Endah Parade. Cash prizes totalling RM3,250, hampers, trophies and other prizes in kind will be given out.

On May 15, the organisers will hold the Endah Parade blitz tournament which is an 11-round event. The registration of players will begin at 1pm, and the tournament will run from 2pm to 6.30pm. There will be five cash prizes with the champion receiving RM200 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10.

On the next day, the six-round Endah Parade junior (under-20) open tournament will start at 9am. The winner will receive RM150 and a trophy, first runner-up RM100 and second runner-up RM80. There are seven other main cash prizes, with special prizes for the best girl, under-12, under-14 and under-16 players. Entry fee is also RM10.

On May 22, the Endah Parade under-12 and under-16 tournaments will begin at 9am. There are six cash prizes for each age group, inclusive of one for the best girl player. The winners of the two categories will each receive RM150 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10.

The last event will be the Endah Parade open tournament on May 23. The winner will receive RM250 and a trophy. The second prize is RM200 and a medal, the third prize RM150 and a medal, the four and fifth prizes are RM100 each, and the sixth to 10th prizes are worth RM50 each.

In addition, RM50 prizes await the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players. The entry fee for this final event is RM15 except for those under 12 who need to pay only RM10.

Only a maximum of 100 players will be accepted for each event. For registration or more information, call Zac, Yvonne or Soo Kee ( 03-583-0100; fax: 03-583-0300).

Up Next

THE sixth leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be held this Sunday at Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang. There will be six rounds with a total cash prize of RM1,500.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Penang Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants. The closing date for the Penang leg is today but the organisers may receive last-minute entries subject to availability of space and the payment of a late penalty of RM10. For details, call Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596, office hours) or Khor Bean Hwa ( 04-658 1662, evening).

In Petaling Jaya, the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organise the 13th Royal Selangor junior open tournament for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age groups tomorrow and on Sunday at Sunway College.

On May 9, CAS will organise the seventh leg of the BPM national allegro chess circuit also at Sunway College. For details call Jackie Wong at 03-703 8237 or Lim Tse Pin at 03-733 0927.

In Kuala Terengganu, three days have been allotted for the 21st Terengganu closed championship at the Dewan Jabatan Laut Wilayah Timur. The senior category of this tournament will be held from April 29 to May 1, while the novice category will be played on April 30 and May 1. There are also the women's and under-12 categories which are scheduled for May 1.

According to the Terengganu Chess Association, there will be 10 cash prizes for the senior category; the champion will receive RM250, and the winners of the other categories will get trophies. Entry fees are RM10 for the senior category, RM3 for the novice and women's categories, and RM2 for the under-12 category. For registration, call Jefri at 010-984-3648.

 

Myanmar chess under probe

IN A press release issued by the World Chess Federation (Fide) soon after its presidential board meeting in Ankara, Turkey, last month, there was an ominous statement which must have chilled the Myanmar Chess Federation and its players. Let me quote from the press release:

"The board resolved to suspend with immediate effect the publication of the new ratings of players from the Myanmar Chess Federation, pending a full investigation by the Qualification Commission in conjunction with the Titles and Ratings Committee, to ascertain the exact circumstances how some players could have obtained such exceedingly high ratings as to place them among others in the top 10 list of Fide."

There were several recent incidents that made a probe into Myanmar chess almost inevitable. Firstly, an investigative article which appeared in the German chess magazine Schach, said in Myanmar, players could push their Fide ratings to unknown heights with the blessing of Fide, the international chess governing body.

The writer of the article, Milan Novkovic, claimed that Myanmar could produce the world's next number one and the top 100 of the Fide rating list would be filled with absolutely unfamiliar names.

He noted that in January 1997, Myanmar had only six internationally rated players and the highest ranked among them was Lwin Aye with 2,360. But that year saw the beginning of a chess boom in the country as their players started fighting numerous tournaments among themselves.

Some managed to achieve almost superhuman feats. For example, in the Ninth TMW Invitational Rating Tournament last September Moun Moun Latt scored 15.5 out of 18 against his fellow countrymen who had an average rating of 2,391 and as a result, gained a rating of 2,554 and Number 196 on the current list, one point ahead of well-known grandmasters like Lobron and Dzindzichashvili.

Novkovic said Moun Moun Latt was only one of many examples. By July last year 73 Myanmar players had catapulted themselves into the Fide list. In the January 1999 list, there were 201 Myanmar players, 16 of whom had a rating higher than 2,500 and 36 with more than 2,400.

He noted that only Russia, Germany, the Ukraine, the United States, the former Yugoslavia and Hungary had better achievements. Even chess powers like Britain, Israel and the Netherlands had failed to push many of their players beyond 2,400 despite decades of hard work.

Then, in January/February this year, the Myanmar Chess Federation organised a GM Scheveningen tournament in Yangon with 28 players. Among them were foreign players like GMs Ye Jiangchuan and Liang Jinrong of China, GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki of Qatar, WGM Zhu Chen of China, IM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj of Mongolia, IM Wong Meng Kong of Singapore and our own IM Mas Hafizulhelmi.

When the results of this tournament were made known on the Internet, someone from the Netherlands made a quick calculation and noted that the six players who managed to get a GM norm were Zhu Chen, Sharavdorj and four Myanmar players: Zaw Win Lay, Aung Thant Zin, Nay Oo Kyaw Tun and Myo Naing. In addition, at least eight players could have made an IM norm, among them, five Myanmar players.

The Dutch observer said something about the tournament and the ratings of the Myanmar players was not right. Although the tournament chart showed a large number of untitled Myanmar participants with ratings above 2,500, some performed below 2,200 in this event.

Australian grandmaster and chess journalist Ian Rogers also commented on the event in the Canberra Times' chess column last month. He said the six GM results and eight IM results were astonishing as some who had obtained the GM results had struggled to score even 50% in the zonal tournament last December.

He claimed that corruption was rampant in this tournament and other Myanmar chess events held last year. He said seven highly rated Myanmar locals who lost all their games to their compatriots were unrated in January last year but on the January 1999 Fide list, had rankings higher than Australia's other GM, Darryl Johansen.

Rogers wrote: "The following game is not atypical of their play, with the heavily 'outrated' Mas winning one of the easiest games of his career: Rangoon 1999 White: H. Mas Black: Thein Dan Oo 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bb5 g6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.d3 Rb8?! 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Qe1 0-0 10.b3 d5? 11.e5 Nd7 12.Ba3 Re8?! 13.Na4 Rb5 14.e6 Nf6? 15.c4 Ra5? 16.exf7+ Kxf7 17.Ne5+ Kg8 18.Nxc6 1-0

"Mas, the honourable Malaysian IM who performed so creditably in Sydney in January, was not one of the favoured many who scored title results. His opponent, rated 2,539 - a near-GM ranking, managed only four points from 14 games. There is no suggestion that any of the foreign visitors were involved in anything other than pre-arranged draws; they simply took advantage of the extraordinarily overrated opposition.

"However, the local players in Yangon probably knew the results of many of their games before the event began and if an 'accident' occurred to one of those destined to score a title norm - example losing to a foreign player - their compatriots pitched in and provided some extra points or half points.

"Unusually for a corrupt tournament, the foreign invitees were not needed to help out the locals, since the enormous rankings of the weakest players meant that the scores required for title results were relatively low."

Rogers speculated that this type of event was likely to be repeated in a few months' time, before the ratings of the tail-enders are adjusted on the July 1999 Fide rating list. He claimed that after one more such tournament, Myanmar could obtain four GMs and six IMs and after a few more such tournaments, they could have more GMs than any other Asian country.

However, in the light of the Fide move, it now looks unlikely that Myanmar's almost perfect strategy will come to fruition.

Another matter announced in the Fide press release was that the annual World Chess Championship, which will be held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas from July 26 to Aug 29, will sport a prize fund of US$3mil (RM11.4mil).

Fide also mentioned that the women's world championship match between Zsuzsa Polgar (Hungary) and Xie Jun (China) will be played in Elista, Russia, from end May to July.

Regarding the late publication of the January 1999 Rating List, Fide said it shared the concern of players and national federations worldwide and would, from now on, handle publication of the Rating List, the Fide homepage and other specific projects and publications. In the past few years, the publication of the Rating List was contracted out to third parties.

UP NEXT

THE Union High School Open, which doubles up as the second leg of the Penang Grand Prix chess circuit, will be held on April 18 and played over eight rounds using a 25-minute time control.

The main prizes range from RM200 for the winner to RM30 for the eighth placed. In addition, consolation prizes will be given to the best two under-10, under-12 and under-15 boys and girls.

Entry fee is RM10 per player, and the closing date is tomorrow. However, outstation players may still enter on the day of the event, if places are available. For more information, contact Lim Chu Ai at 04-226 7067 or Lim Swee Tin at 04-262 9824.

On April 25, the sixth leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored BPM national allegro chess circuit will be held. The venue is Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang. There will be six rounds with a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize goes to the main winners (first prize is RM300) while a portion is set aside for minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Prix final.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Penang Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

For the Penang leg of the national circuit, the closing date for entries will be April 23. However, the organisers are prepared to receive last-minute entries subject to availability of space and the payment of an additional RM10 as late penalty. For details, contact Ooi Kiem Boo at 04-657 4596 during office hours or Khor Bean Hwa 04-658 1662 in the evenings.

In Klang, the Klang Parade blitz tournament will be played tomorrow in the concourse area of the shopping centre beginning 1.30pm. There are 11 rounds and five cash prizes for the winners. The champion will get RM200 and a trophy. The entry fee for this event is RM10.

On Sunday, the Klang Parade open tournament will be held. The winner will receive RM250 and a trophy, and the runner-up RM200 and a trophy. There are eight other cash prizes for the main winners and in addition, RM50 prizes await the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players. Entry fee is RM15 except for those under 12 who need to pay only RM10.

According to the Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade, organisers of the Klang Parade Chess Fest which started last weekend, only a maximum of 100 players will be accepted for each of the events. For registration or more information, call Stephanie, Christopher or Kuek at 03-343 7889; fax: 03-343 7313.

Meanwhile, the Chess Association of Selangor has scheduled two tournaments for this month. The first is the second CAS Selangor blitz open tournament on April 18, and the second is the 13th Royal Selangor junior open for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age groups on April 24 and 25. Both events will be played at Sunway College. For details, call Jackie Wong at 03-703 8237 or Lim Tse Pin at 03-733 0927.

Finally, readers may want to prepare themselves for the annual Labour Day team tournament which is due to be organised by the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur from April 30 to May 2. Hopefully, there will be more details on this event in two weeks' time.

Double trouble

SINCE my last article about the Malaysian players on the Fide rating list, I have uncovered additional information that seems to support my contention that the World Chess Federation is unable to administer its rating system efficiently.

I mentioned that when organisers do not pay much attention to the players' identification numbers, a lot of problems can arise. A player can sometimes find himself with more than one identification number and I cited two such cases among the Malaysian players on the list of Fide, the international chess governing body.

The first was Wong Zi Jing whose two identification tags gave different readings. As "Wong, Zi-Jing", he was credited with a rating of 2220 but as "Zi-Jing, Wong", his rating was 2304. The second case was Ng Tze Han. As "Ng, Tze-Han", he has a 2140 rating but as "Han, Ng Tze", his rating was 2284!

You can easily verify these anomalies on the Internet from the Fide January 1999 ratings homepage at http://www.chess.gr/ratings/default.asp .

I came across another database of the Fide rating list which was compiled by a Jose Alberto Ferreira dos Santos. From this database, I extracted a list of 63 Malaysian names. In most parts, the ratings of the Malaysian players mirrored the official rating list but there were a number of surprises too!

I found that Wong and Ng had been made to suffer multiple personalities. Wong was given three identification numbers with two of them having the same name, "Zi-Jing, Wong."

But Ng's predicament was even worse for he was listed four times. And just like Wong, two of his identification numbers bore the same name, "Han, Ng Tze."

Ng confirmed that he had played in only three rated events last year - the Asian Cities team championship at Genting Highlands, the Chess Olympiad in Russia and the World Under-18 championship in Spain. How then was a fourth event attributed to him?

I think all of us need an explanation on how these anomalies had come about. The Malaysian Chess Federation should make it a point to press Fide for an answer for unless this is done, how can we be confident of the integrity of the Fide rating list?

In the meantime, there were pleasant surprises. On dos Santos' list are Malaysia's two other inactive players: Eric Cheah (2255) and Dr Wahid Karim (2210).

At last year's Asian Cities team event, those unrated players who had played all the nine games and achieved a minimum 50% score were supposed to have gotten a nominal rating. Apart from Ng, the only other Malaysian player who scored at least 50% was Ahmad Maliki, but his name was missing from the official Fide rating list. Nevertheless, he was listed and rated 2200 in the dos Santos database.

And finally, the biggest surprise was finding Mohamed Jamil Yahaya's name in dos Santos' database. Jamil's rating, which was given as 2061, was obtained from a minor tournament in Hungary last year. He had then accompanied his son, Hussein Jamil, to one of the many First Saturday tournaments in Budapest. This was the first time in Malaysian chess that a father and son had made it to the rating list together.

Penang tourneys

April will be a busy month in Penang and chess players can look forward to tournaments on three Sundays. The first tournament on April 4, which is the Penang Free School Open, will double as the first leg of the 1999 Penang Grand Prix chess circuit.

Because a high turnout of participants is anticipated for this event, the tournament will be played over eight rounds. The first two rounds will employ a 20-minute time control while the remaining rounds will use a 25-minute time control.

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 two under-10, under-12 and under-15 boys and girls.

The entry fee is RM5 if payment is made before April 3, and RM7 if paid on the day of play. For details, contact Eoh Thean Keat (tel: 04-826-0196) or Tan Khoon Yeow (tel: 04-890-3609).

The Union High School Open will be played on April 18. Incidentally, this event also doubles as the second leg of the Penang Grand Prix chess circuit. It will be played over eight rounds using a 25-minute time control, and the prizes will be similar to the first leg.

Entry fee is RM10 per player, and the closing date is Apr 10. For more information, contact Lim Chu Ai (tel: 04-226-7067) or Lim Swee Tin (tel: 04-262-9824).

On April 25, the sixth leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored BPM national allegro chess circuit will be held. The venue is the Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang.

Each leg of the circuit consists of six rounds and has a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize fund goes to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Prix final in Kuala Lumpur.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the state chess associations organising their respective legs, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

For the Penang leg of the national circuit, the closing date for entries will be April 23. However, the organisers are prepared to receive last-minute entries subject to availability of space and the payment of an additional RM10 as late penalty. For details, contact Ooi Kiem Boo (tel: 04-657-4596 during office hours) or Khor Bean Hwa (tel: 04-658-1662 in the evenings).

UP NEXT

Four-day fest in Klang

The Malaysian Chess Federation and the Klang Parade are jointly organising a four-day chess fest which will be held over two weekends in Klang. All games will be played in the concourse area of Klang Parade. Cash prizes totalling RM2,500, hampers, trophies and other prizes in kind will be given to the winners.

On April 3, the organisers will hold the Klang Parade under-12 and under-16 tournaments beginning at 9am. There are four prizes for each age-group and the winners of the two categories will each receive RM100 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10.

On the next day, the Klang Parade junior (under-20) open tournament will start at 9am. The winner will receive RM100 and a trophy, first runner-up RM80 and second runner-up RM70. There are also cash prizes for the best under-12 and under-16 boys and girls. Entry fee is also RM10.

The Klang Parade blitz tournament will begin at 1.30pm on April 10. There are altogether 11 rounds and five cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. The champion will get RM200 and a trophy. The entry fee for this event is also RM10.

The last event will be the Klang Parade open tournament on Apr 11. The winner will receive RM250 and a trophy. The second prize is RM200 and a trophy, the third prize RM150 and a trophy, the four and fifth prizes are RM100 each, and the sixth to 10th prizes are worth RM50 each.

In addition, RM50 prizes await the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players. The entry fee for this final event is RM15 except for under-12 players who need to pay only RM10.

According to the organisers, only a maximum of 100 players will be accepted for each of the events. For registration or more information, contact Stephanie, Christopher or Ms Kuek (tel: 03-343-7889, fax: 03-343-7313).

Perak circuit continues

THE Perak International Chess Association's (Pica) own state-level Grand Prix chess circuit continues with their second leg on April 3 and 4 at the Sekolah TAR library in Ipoh.

Category A, a six-round event with a time control of 60 minutes per player for each game, will be played on April 3 and 4. It is open to all players with a Fide, MCF, Perak or Penang rating of 1,700 or better. Entry fees are RM10 for PICA members and RM15 for non-members.

Category B is a one-day event on April 4, open to players without a rating or rated below 1,700. Entry fees are RM5 for PICA members and RM8 for non-members.

Registration will start at 2pm on April 3 for the Category A event, and 8.30am on April 4 for the Category B play-off. For details, call W.K. Wong at 05-366-1692.

2001: A chess odyssey

DO YOU know that legendary British director Stanley Kubrick, who died in London on Sunday at the age of 70, was a keen amateur chess player?

The "grand master of filmmaking" (in Steven Spielberg's words) of such classic films as the 60s' 2001: A Space Odyssey was not a strong player but he could count on the American grandmaster Larry Evans as one of his friends. Stories have been told of Kubrick playing chess with his stars before the start of filming.

2001, together with many other thought-provoking films like A Clockwork Orange (1971), gave Kubrick cult status.2001 was about astronauts on a long voyage to Jupiter. To relieve the tedium of the voyage in the USS Discovery One, the astronauts matched wits at chess with HAL 9000, a supercomputer that could see, hear and think. Here was the working partnership between man and machine, who must rely on each other for mutual survival.

IBM contributed advice about computers of the future, but insisted that all references to the giant computer company be removed from the film when it realised that HAL 9000 was to become a renegade device.

IBM bigwigs were even less pleased when they saw that H, A and L were the letters of the alphabet that preceded the I, B and M in IBM's name. The producers maintained that this was purely a coincidence, but the conspiracy theorists maintained that it was Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (the co-writers of the movie) having a swipe at IBM.

Nevertheless, despite IBM's reluctance to be associated with the film in 1968, it could not escape its eventual destiny. Almost 30 years later, the film's theme of artificial intelligence was reprised in 1996 and 1997 when IBM's own supercomputer machine, Deep Blue, played Gary Kasparov, in two celebrated chess matches in the United States.

HAL was programmed to ensure that above all else the mission was to carry on to Jupiter at all costs. HAL was given details of the true purpose of the mission, which was withheld from the crew, but it was also programmed never to lie to humans and to administer psychological tests to determine if the crew was in danger of jeopardising the mission.

In the movie, the trip went awry when a malfunction caused the crew to lose faith in the machine. They unplugged it briefly while deciding what to do, but they were unaware that HAL could still read their lips. With icy logic, perceiving that their irrational behaviour would foul up the mission it was created for, HAL got rid of all but one of the astronauts as they slept.

In a memorable scene from this film, one of the astronauts, Frank Poole, played chess with HAL on a video screen. The game was nearly over. In a menacingly calm voice, HAL intoned: "I'm sorry, Frank, I think you missed it. Queen to Bishop three, Bishop takes Queen, Knight takes Bishop, mate."

This was not shown but Frank then said: "Yeah, looks like you're right. I resign."

The board before White's 14th move could be seen. But HAL, playing Black, should have said: "Queen to Bishop six," which was the right way of describing this move from Black's viewpoint in the old descriptive notation.

Surely the slip was unintentional since Kubrick was a chess player, yet it had the merit of showing that the machine was indeed flawed. HAL also overlooked that White could delay his fate for one move after 15...Qf3 by 16 h4 Nh3 17 Kh2 Ng4 mate.

The game in the movie replicated a real one that took place at Hamburg in 1913 between Roesch and Schlage, two German amateurs. Here is the game (Frank Poole vs HAL 9000) as played in the film: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. c3 O-O 8. O-O d5 9. exd5 (safer is 9 d3, though White's fatal error comes a few moves later) Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nf4 11. Qe4 Nxe5 12. Qxa8? (correct is 12. d4! Bb7! 13 Qxb7 (or 13. Qxf4 Nd3 14. Qe3) Ne2 14. Kh1 Nxc1 15. Rxc1 Nd3 16. Rf1 Nxb2 17. Nd2) Qd3 13. Bd1 Bh3 14. Qxa6 Bxg2 15. Re1 and White resigned when HAL gives 15. ... Qf3! 16. Bxf3 Nxf3 mate.

In reality, what happens aboard spaceships when chores are done, exercise is over, and time drags?

You guessed it--they play chess. The first game between Earth and outer space took place during the flight of the Soviet Union's Soyuz 9 in 1970, two years after the movie was released. One of the cosmonauts, Vitaly Sevastianov, later became head of the Soviet Chess Federation.

Big turn-out

THE second leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia national allegro chess circuit, held last weekend at the Kuala Terengganu regional maritime office, received an astounding 214 entries which included international masters Nasib Ginting (Indonesia) and Malaysia's own Mas Hafizulhelmi.

Due to the large number of entries, the organisers had to hold a preliminary three-round elimination event to trim the participants down to a more manageable 116 players who then took part in the actual six-round tournament.

After a tense struggle, Kelantan player Mohd Nizam Hamzah won the tournament with a perfect score which included a win over Mas Hafizulhelmi. Half a point behind the winner were Ghalam Sani and Nasib Ginting, but Ghalam was declared the runner-up on the basis of a better tie-break.

Other prize winners were Fikrul Saiffudin, Ismail Ahmad, Mas Hafizulhelmi, Abdul Rahim Ramli, Abdul Haq, Senu Mohd Nor and Mas Harithul Fadli who scored five points each.

The three prizes for the best players from the Terengganu Chess Association went to Nor Azmi Md Nor, Hashim Jusoh and Md Sallehuddin Salleh. Abdul Kadir Othman took the best veteran's prize, while Md Shazali Ruslan won the prize for the best Bank Pertanian player.

The prizes for the best women's players in the tournament went to Atikah Mustaffa, Haslindah Ruslan, Rusdiah Rozanna, Azwani Hussin and Wan Nor Shazni. Siti Zulaika Firdaus won a prize as the best under-12 girl's player.

The under-16 prizes were given to Md Saiful Adli, Azman Anuar and Ahmad Izzuddin Yusuf; the under-14 prizes went to Noor Haziq Noor Ariff, Che Wan Hafez, Hafex Saifuddin and Musa Azmi; while the under-12 prizes were won by Muaz Nor Azmi, Md Johan Iskandar and Md Kamal Firdaus.

Playing sessions

THE Penang Chess Association meets on Sunday mornings at the Berjaya Georgetown Hotel in Pulau Tikus, and on Sunday afternoons at the clubhouse of the Bayan Baru Residents Association in Bayan Baru.

In Johor, there are weekly playing sessions organised by the Johor Chess Association at Level One of the Leisure Mall in Taman Pelangi, Johor Baru.

Up Next

THE fifth leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia (BPM) national allegro chess circuit will be staged in Johor on March 28. The venue is the Leisure Mall in Taman Pelangi, Johor Baru. Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Johor Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

The total cash prize is RM1,500. The bulk of this prize money will go to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify automatically for the Grand Prix final. To register, contact Sumathy ( 07-332 4366), Wong ( 07-333 0931), Lim ( 07-861 5951) or Cheong ( 016-720 2272).

For details of the fourth leg in Kota Kinabalu on March 21, call the Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Abdul Latif Mohamed ( 03-282 6341 / 013-301 0204). There will be 10 other legs in various cities and towns around the country before the grand final in October.

Meanwhile, according to the Chess Association of Selangor calendar, three tournaments are scheduled for this month. The first is the fifth friendly chess match for the disabled at the Sunway Pyramid in Petaling Jaya on March 21, the second is the 13th Royal Selangor junior open for the under-10, under-14 and under-18 age categories on March 27 and 28, and the third event is the association's first quarter allegro open on March 29.

The junior and allegro open events will be played at the Sunway College. For more details, contact Mrs Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin ( 03-733 0927).

April will be a busy month in Penang. Chess players can look forward to the Penang Free School Open on April 4 and the Union High School Open on April 18. Incidentally, these two events will double as the first and second legs of the third Penang Grand Prix chess circuit.

A week later, on April 25, the sixth leg of the BPM national allegro chess circuit is scheduled to be held at the Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang. There will be more details on these three tournaments in a fortnight's time.

In Ipoh, the second leg of the Perak Grand Prix, organised by the Perak International Chess Association (PICA), will be played at Sekolah TAR on April 3 and 4. For more information, contact W.K. Wong at 05-366 1692.

In the meantime, PICA will hold its annual general meeting at 9am at the Taman Dr Seenivasagam in Ipoh this Sunday. As there will be an election this year, the association is appealing for new blood to strengthen the organisational structure of the committee. A blitz tournament will be organised after the meeting.

 

The numbers game

TWICE a year, chess players around the world await the release of the World Chess Federation's international rating list with some impatience. For them, this list indicates whether the form of a chess player has improved or deteriorated over the past six months.

However this is an exclusive list because only those who play in Fide-recognised tournaments can hope to get listed. Even then, they must have played against a minimum number of Fide-rated players and performed reasonably well against them.

Since the start of last month, I had been impatiently waiting for Fide to announce its January 1999 rating list. After an exciting 1998, I wanted to see how the Malaysian players had fared. I was particularly curious to know how Mas Hafizulhelmi, Ng Tze Han and Wong Zi Jing stood in this list.

But for several weeks, Fide kept everyone in suspense. In early January, only an initial list of the top 100 players was released. But shortly after it was published on the Internet, something seemed to be amiss. For instance, Vesselin Topalov (Bulgaria) had played 22 games during the rating period but he was credited with having played 33 games; he believed that the Tilburg Fontys tournament might have been rated twice.

Within a week, Fide released two more versions of the January 1999 rating list. And a fourth revision came out a fortnight ago. This embarrassing state of affairs, of course, spoke volumes for Fide's accuracy and efficiency.

But in all these lists and revisions, Gary Kasparov (Russia) remained entrenched at the top with 2,812 points. Despite having played only six games in the previous six months, the former world champion was virtually invincible.

(Regular readers of this column are already aware of my stance with regards to Kasparov and the world chess title. By refusing to defend his world champion's title under the World Chess Federation's auspices in 1993, Kasparov had effectively relinquished any legitimate claim to this title.)

Viswanathan Anand (India) had been more active with 20 games but he did not gain from Kasparov's relative inactivity. In fact, Viswanathan's rating dropped a few points to 2,784.

Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) saw an even more drastic drop of 30 points to 2,751. Meanwhile, Alexei Shirov (Spain) rose several points to 2,726, which kept him clear of a vastly improving Alexander Morozevich (Russia) who added a hefty 98 points to 2,723.

Also in the world's top 10 list are Michael Adams (England, 2,716), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2,714) and Peter Svidler (Russia, 2,713).

Anatoly Karpov (Russia) is now an embarrassment. His standing in the list and his rating of 2,710 does not speak well for his continuing position as the world champion. He lost 15 points on one poor performance in a tournament in Poland and is in danger of dropping out of the top 10 in the future.

Topalov's rating remains unchanged at 2,700 with a bad Tilburg being compensated by a good Olympiad result.

Nigel Short (England), Peter Leko (Hungary) and Boris Gelfand (Byelorus) all gained points and are on the verge of cracking into the top 10. Judit Polgar (Hungary) is still the world's top woman player with a rating of 2,677, far ahead of her sister Zsuzsa Polgar (with a rating of 2,565) who is the women's world champion.

Among players from the Asia-Pacific region, Ian Rogers (Australia) is rated at 2,618 while Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan) is at 2,625 and Utut Adianto (Indonesia) at 2,607. Vladislav Tkachiev, originally a Kazakhstan player but now staying in France, is rated at 2,634.

It was not until about three weeks ago that Fide finally released its full January rating list on the Internet. However, it was no longer available at the Chess Planet homepage (http://www.chessweb.com.) but instead was posted at the Hellas Chess Club homepage (http://www.chess.gr/ratings/default.asp).

I do not know why Fide had terminated its arrangement with Chess Planet. Neither did Fide explain why it chose this Greek site instead of its own homepage (http://www.fide.com). I can only surmise that after a hacking incident during last year's Chess Olympiad, Fide no longer has faith in the security of its own site.

There were a few surprises when I extracted information on the Malaysian players. For one, Fide relisted almost all the inactive players who had not lifted a single chess piece internationally for umpteen years. These players are: Chia Soon Keat (2,235), Francis Chin (2,275), Choong Yit Chuan (2,205), Paul Foo (2,210), V. Gregory (2,235), Christi Hon (2,235), Thomas Lam (2,105), Peter Long (2,350), Collin Madhavan (2,220), Ahmad Muzzafar (2,185), Ng Ek Teong (2,200), Phuah Eng Chye (2,205), Sabar Md Hashim (2,195), Seto Wai Ling (2,020), Ignatius Si (2,205), K. Vimalavathy (2,005), Audrey Wong (2,070) and Yeoh Chin Seng (2,195).

Some names are missing from this list. When Eric Cheah was taken off the active list several years ago, his rating was 2,255. Now, his name does not even appear in this list!

This is true also of Wahid Karim who was last listed with a rating of 2,210. And I noted, too, that among the inactive members, Fide had again overlooked acknowledging Audrey Wong as Malaysia's international woman master. She was given this title when she became a joint winner of the 1985 Asian women's junior championship.

So what about those players that Fide still consider as active? As of January this year, 38 names are listed, with 13 having played in tournaments during the rated period. But here, too, there are inaccuracies, and the fault is not Fide's alone.

You see, when players get onto the Fide list, they are automatically given identification numbers. By right, chess players should disclose their ID numbers to organisers whenever they play so that when the tournament results are sent to Fide, there is no ambiguity about the players' identities.

Unfortunately, most of the time, players do not know their identification numbers. And the result is that a player can sometimes find himself having more than one identification number. I found two such cases among the list of Malaysian players.

The first was Wong Zi Jing whose two identification tags gave different readings. As Wong, Zi-Jing, he was credited with a rating of 2,220 but as Zi-Jing, Wong, his rating was 2,304. The second anomaly was with Ng Tze Han. As Ng, Tze-Han, he was given a 2,140 rating but as Han, Ng Tze, he was rated 2,284.

Obviously, this is a matter which must be taken up by the Malaysian Chess Federation. Anyway, using Fide's own formula for calculating ratings, I would safely adjust Wong's and Ng's ratings to 2,283 and 2,208 respectively.

Let's take a look at the players who were active in the last six months or so. Mas Hafizulhelmi, as expected, tops the list with a 2,401 rating but this is an increase of only one point from the July 1998 list! Although he gained points from an international tournament in Singapore, he lost them in the Asian junior championship in Rasht, Iran, and the zonal tournament in Yangon.

Jimmy Liew was rated 2,325, losing five points in the PWTC-Dynasty rating tournament in Kuala Lumpur. Wong Zi Jing improved the most over the past six months. His rating shot up a hefty 163 points to 2,283. He had good results in four international tournaments--the Asian open in Shenyang (China), the PWTC-Dynasty rating tournament, the zonal tournament and the Chess Olympiad in Elista (Russia).

Azahari Md Nor was rated 2,121, down 19 points from the previous list. Ismail Ahmad's rating increased 32 points to 2,072, and Lim Yee Weng increased his rating from 2,140 to 2,149.

Finally, there are five new players in the rating list: Ng Tze Han (2,208), Jonathan Chuah (2,337), Aaron Yee (2,337), Lim Jean Nie (2,227) and Deon Moh (2,205).

National Allegro circuit

THE second leg of the chess circuit will be played in Terengganu on March 6 at the Dewan Jabatan Laut Wilayah Timur in Kuala Terengganu. To register, call Jefri at 010-984 3648.

For details of the third leg which is to be held in Kuching on March 7, call the Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Abdul Latif Mohamed at 03-282 6341 or 013-301 0204.

Twelve other legs will be held in various cities and towns around the country before the Grand Final in October. Each leg consists of six rounds and has 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. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Final.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the state chess associations organising their respective legs, Bank Pertanian employees, girls under-12, and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

 

From the chess board to the courts

ONE of the most significant developments in the country during the past two weeks must be the appointment of an independent four-member commission to look into the injuries of former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while in police custody.

Heading the commission is the former Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Anuar Zainal Abidin.

Now, I know many readers will be wondering what this has got to do with chess. A fortnight ago I was writing about horses and now I am telling you a story about a retired judge.

But Anuar is no ordinary judge. He holds a special pride of place among many chess players who were active in the game during the 70s. The retired judge even had a television show and that is something which I believe no other local chess enthusiast can boast about.

The epic match of 1972 between American Bobby Fischer and the then Soviet Union's Boris Spassky had created an unprecedented interest in the game in almost all four corners of the world, including here in Malaysia, too. Riding on this interest, Radio Television Malaysia introduced a short series of weekly chess programmes to teach the game to beginners. Anuar was at the helm in every programme.

Soon afterwards, I learnt that he had become the president of the Chess Association of Perak. During his tenure in Ipoh, Anuar led a team of Perak chess players to play the Chess Association of Selangor in a friendly inter-state chess match in 1976.

Upon his transfer to Kuala Lumpur one year later, Anuar was made the president of the Chess Association of Selangor, a position which he held until 1980. During this time, he was also elected to the Malaysian Chess Federation as one of the vice-presidents. I hear that much later Anuar was also with the Johor Chess Association for a short while.

Of course, the pressures of being one of the High Court judges meant that in the 80s and onwards he had less time for the game. But during those 10 years or so Malaysian chess really benefited from a man who had one of the keenest legal minds in the country. Dare I say that he had honed his mind on the logical thinking process which chess accorded him?

National allegro circuit

A LONG time ago it was quite normal for chess organisers to decree that cash prizes must be shared among players with the same points. Nobody thought that this policy was wrong; in fact, this policy was wholeheartedly adopted by all and sundry as an equitable way of distributing the rewards to the winners of chess competitions.

Thus, at the very top of the winners' list, you may find two or three players with the same points and each receiving the same amount of cash prize. But as you go down the list of winners, this policy gives rise to very peculiar situations which are aggravated by the Swiss tournament rules.

You see, the Swiss tournament rules allow for many players to participate in a competition with a limited number of rounds. Usually, you can determine an outright winner but occasionally too, you can have more than one player tying at the top. If you already have a situation where there can be two or more players at the top, imagine how it is like lower down in the list when, say, 10 people have the same points ... and they are all sharing one of the minor prizes!

I have played in tournaments where eight people eventually shared the final advertised prize of RM20, and each of them were given RM2.50 as their prize money. Pretty meaningless, I should think, and in the long run, the organisers thought so too!

Very much later, the organisers began to get cleverer and they decided that prize monies should no longer be shared. The winners' positions would be decided by a series of tie-breaking systems and the prizes would be awarded accordingly. Therefore, the last person on the prize winners' list is now assured of a more respectable prize.

This brings me to another related topic. Should a player be given more than one prize? This situation can arise when a player qualifies for one of the main prizes and also one or more minor prizes. I think common sense dictates that a player should win only one prize and he should be given the prize with the highest intrinsic or monetary value. Moreover, as an encouragement to the field, organisers owe it to the competitors that the prizes be given to as many people as possible.

Thus, if a player is eligible for an under-16 prize, an under-14 prize and so on, he should be given the prize with the highest value and in this case, the under-16 prize. It does not mean that the other prizes are his too.

The reason why I am bringing this up is because I am not particularly agreeable with the way the organisers had dispensed with the prizes at the close of the first leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro Grand Prix chess circuit in Kuala Lumpur 12 days ago.

I have no qualms with Ng Ee Vern being given the top prize. As the player with the most points--six points--at the end of the competition, he deserved the top prize of RM300.

The second prize of RM200 went to Ghazali Che Cob but because he was also the BPM employee with the best score in the 130-player field, he was given the allotted RM50 prize. Furthermore, Ghazali qualified as a veteran and he was given the RM40 prize accordingly. All in, Ghazali won almost as much as the tournament winner. With a little bit more patience, perhaps one day we shall see a second-prize winner walking away with more prizes than the winner!

The third prize of RM150 went to Fikrul Saifuddin who, together with Ghazali, scored 5 1/2 points each. Among the four players with five points, Agus Salim was fourth, Khairul Aziz Abdullah was fifth, Mohd Saprin Sabri was sixth and Ismail Ahmad, seventh.

Fourteen players obtained 4 1/2 points each, but the eighth, ninth and 10th prizes went to Loo Fah Kuan, Mohd Zambri Shariff and Gregory Lau respectively.

Eleven-year-old Siti Zulaikha Faudzi also had 4 1/2 points but as she was the best performing women's player, under-12 player, under-14 player and under-16 player in this tournament, the organisers decided to give her the four prizes totalling RM120. Oh, by the way, her earnings were more than what Agus Salim received as the fourth-placed winner.

Meanwhile, the second leg of the chess circuit will be played in Kuala Terengganu on March 6, and this will be followed by the third leg in Kuching on March 7. There will be 12 other legs in various cities and towns around the country before the Grand Final in October.

Each leg consists of six rounds and have 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 minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Final.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the state chess associations organising their respective legs, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

Grand Prix results

TENG Wei Ping put up a spirited display to win RM200 at the fourth leg of the Penang Grand Prix circuit held two weeks ago at the Berjaya Georgetown Hotel in Pulau Tikus, Penang. Lim Chuin Hoong was second, winning RM120. The third prize of RM80 went to Ng Tze Han.

Fourth was Lim Cheng Teik; fifth, Chuah Heng Meng; sixth, Teng Wei Khoon; seventh, Khor Shihong and eighth, Lim Jean Nie. The best junior in the competition that was sponsored by the hotel was Jonathan Chuah while Oh Hui Ling took the best lady's prize.

The hotel also presented special prizes of meal vouchers which were won by Ooi Chuen Chieh, Evelyn Chang and Oh Seong Hor.

Fischer in the news again

I WAS looking through back copies of The Star before consigning them to the kacang putih man when I came across an article in the racing pages heaping accolades on the horse which won the Lion City Cup in Singapore last Sunday. No, I haven't become a racing correspondent, neither am I a particular fan of horse racing. But this horse caught my eye--Fischer was its name. Surely it had been named after American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer.

Who has not heard of the legendary Fischer, the only man to have spooked the Soviet chess machinery when he beat Boris Spassky in a world chess championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland, back in 1972 and then failed to defend his title three years later or play another competitive chess game for the next 20 years?

Fischer reappeared on the chess scene in 1992 when he played Spassky again in another match that took place in Yugoslavia. But this time, Fischer was no longer a hero in the Americans' eyes. By playing in Yugoslavia which was in the midst of a civil war that was breaking it up into four or five pieces, Fischer brought the fury of the American government down on his head.

The US Government claimed that by playing the match, Fischer was contravening a United Nations resolution on sanctions against Yugoslavia. He was warned of "dire consequences" upon his return to the United States. As a result, after the match ended Fischer chose to remain behind in Europe rather than face the music at home.

So what has he been doing since then? I don't really know, but two weeks ago, Fischer resurfaced when he consented to be interviewed by grandmaster Eugene Torre over a Filipino radio station. During the interview, a really upset Fischer complained about the way that the "Jewish-controlled" US Government had seized his personal belongings and auctioned them off.

He claimed that a safe and cabinets in his home were broken into and memorabilia like books and photographs taken away and sold for a few hundred dollars. Throughout the 10-minute interview, he ranted and raved about a Jewish conspiracy against him.

If you are interested in this interview, you can retrieve it from the Internet. It can be downloaded from (http://www.philchess.com.ph) but you will need a software program like RealPlayer or MediaPlayer to listen to the soundclip.

Fischer the man may be down on his luck with the US Government, but Fischer the horse is currently basking in glory here in Malaysia and Singapore.

Reading about its exploits brought another chess-horse racing connection to mind. Datuk Tan Chin Nam, the honorary life president of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), has a penchant for naming his horses after chess players and chess terms. I have heard his horses have been named Gufeld and Bishop's Opening, among others; though it turns out that Fischer doesn't belong to him.

There's an even closer connection between racing and chess, thanks again to Tan. A horse of his called Saintly (not all his horses have chess names) won the prestigious Melbourne Cup in Australia two years ago so Tan has allowed this name to be used in conjunction with an international chess tournament in Sydney.

The QVB Saintly Cup tournament, touted as Australia's strongest chess event, will end on Sunday; there are 10 grandmasters and international masters taking part. Malaysia's Mas Hafizulhelmi is one of the players while the others are GM (grandmaster) Ian Rogers, GM Darryl Johansen, IM (international master) Alex Wohl, IM Stephen Solomon, IM Guy West (all Australians), GM Joel Benjamin (United States), GM Zhang Zhong (China), IM Tomas Oral (Czech Republic) and IM Mathias Roeder (Germany). You can follow the tournament at its website at (http://www.eagles.bbs.net.au/).

Mas Hafizul seems to be holding his own against the other top-notch players. Many are becoming admirers of this local lad. Certainly, he is now Malaysia's top chess player. If you are interested in seeing how he plays, you can download some of his games from my web page at (http://come.to/my.library).

The site also has games from several international events where Malaysian players have taken part: events such as the 1996 and 1998 Chess Olympiads in Erevan (Georgia) and Elista (Russia) respectively, the 1998 World Youth Chess Festival in Spain, the recent Cairnhill open tournament in Singapore and the Yangon zonal tournament late last year.

I would like to expand this collection of Malaysians' games as much as possible, so if any reader has anything to contribute by way of a chess database of games, you can send them to me at (ssquah@schach.pc.my).

National allegro circuit

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the national allegro Grand Prix chess circuit which is being re-introduced by the Malaysian Chess Federation after a lapse of several years. This 15-leg event, sponsored by Bank Pertanian Malaysia, will kick off with the first leg at the Bank Pertanian building in Jalan Lebuh Pasar, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.

Following are dates for the other legs which will be played in various parts of the country:

Second leg--Kuala Terengganu, Feb 25

Third leg--Kuching, March 7

Fourth leg--Johor Baru, March 21

Fifth leg--Kota Kinabalu, April 4

Sixth leg--Penang, April 25

Seventh leg--Petaling Jaya, May 9

Eighth leg--Kuantan, June 13

Ninth leg--Alor Star, July 1

10th leg--Kangar, July 4

11th leg--Seremban, July 27

12th leg--Kota Baru, Aug 5

13th leg--Ipoh, Sep 26

14th leg--Malacca, Oct 10

The Grand Prix final will be staged in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 23 and 24.

Each leg consists of six rounds with a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize money will go to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Prix final.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the state chess associations organising their respective legs, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

The closing date for entries for the first leg this Sunday is tomorrow. However, the MCF is prepared to receive last-minute entries provided such players pay an additional RM10 as a late penalty.

Entry forms are available from the Bank Pertanian building foyer, and also from MCF secretary Abdul Latif Mohamad ( 03-282 6341) or Ibrahim Yaacob ( 03-636 3082).

UP NEXT

THE Perak International Chess Association (PICA) is organising its own state-level Grand Prix chess circuit beginning with its first leg next weekend at the Sekolah TAR library in Ipoh.

Category A is a six-round event with a time control of 60 minutes per player for each game; it will be played on Feb 6 and 7. It's open to all players who have a Fide (the international chess governing body), MCF, Perak or Penang rating of 1,700 or better. Entry fees are RM10 for PICA members and RM15 for non-members.

Category B is a one-day event on Feb 7, open to players without a rating or rated below 1,700. Entry fees are RM5 for PICA members and RM8 for non-members.

Registration will start at 2pm on Feb 6 for the Category A event, and 8.30am on Feb 7 for the Category B play-off. For details, call W.K. Wong at 05-366 1692.

Further north in Penang, the fourth preliminary leg of the Penang Grand Prix will be played this Sunday at the Berjaya Georgetown Hotel in Pulau Tikus.

Only members of the Penang Chess Association can take part.

Qualified readers interested in playing in this event should contact Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687 in the evening) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596, office hours).

For details of this tournament, visit (http://come.to/the.pca.homepage).

On Monday (Feb 1), the FCLCHESS club will hold its third local rating tournament at the Holiday Villa hotel in Subang Jaya, Selangor, beginning 9am. The event will have four categories: the under-15, under-12, under-9 and beginners.

The entry fee is RM20 if you register before Sunday, and RM25 if you register on the day of the competition, though these entries will only be accepted if there are vacant places. The total prize fund is RM900 but the organisers may reduce the prizes if there are fewer than 30 players in each of the categories.

For more information, contact Foong Chee Leng ( 013-332 3380).

Also in the same area, the SMK Subang Jaya will hold its open tournament in its school hall on Feb 11 and 12.

On the first day, the boys' under-17 and girls' under-17 individual events will be held; this will be followed by the boys' and girls' team events on the next day.

Entry fees are RM10 per player for the individual events and RM45 per team for the team events. The prizes for the boys' individual and team events will be RM150 for the winner, RM100 for second position and RM50 for third. For the girls' individual and team events, the three winners will receive RM120, RM80 and RM40 respectively.

For details, contact Chan Wei Wei ( 03-747 1822), Lee Su Ann ( 03-733 7526) or Edward Teoh ( 03-733 0875) in the evenings.