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).

National contest next month

THE Malaysian Chess Federation will organise this year's national closed chess championship at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from Dec 16 to 20.

The men's section will be a nine-round Fide-rateable event with the winner awarded the Datuk Hussein Onn challenge trophy.

The winner of the women's section will receive the Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik trophy. In addition, the PWTC will award trophies to the most promising under-18 male and female players.

Like in previous years, 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.

Anyone interested in this competition and who would like to be selected should contact their respective chess associations immediately since the MCF has fixed Dec 11 as the closing date for entries. Call:

Mrs Jackie Wong of the Chess Association of Selangor ( 03-703 8237, evenings).

Ooi Kiem Boo of the Penang Chess Association ( 04-657 4596, office hours).

Dr Yee Meng Khoon of the Perak International Chess Association ( 05-546 4530, evenings).

Stephen Cheong of the Johor Chess Association ( 07-333 9636, evenings).

Muhammad Arshad of the Terengganu Chess Association ( 018-849 0497).

The national champions of the past 15 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.

(Click here for a more comprehensive list)

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 ( 03-4021 9576, e-mail: aham@pc.jaring.my).

UP NEXT

Chess camp (Nov 21 to 25): Jointly organised by Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) and Royal Selangor at Genting Highlands.

This annual camp is aimed at grooming selected junior players in the state to achieve the status of national players within three years.

The eight junior players selected this year are Wong Zi Chuang, Nicholas Chan, Marcus Chan, Ahmad Hafiz Shafruddin, Ahmad Fariz Shafruddin, Siti Zulaikha, Lim Ven Gee and Lim Han Ying. The camp will be conducted by Terry Van Derveen, winner of the CAS second quarter allegro tournament.

CAS members who have benefited from previous camps are Ng Ee Vern and Lim Yee Weng who both went on to become national champions.

CAS fourth quarter allegro (Nov 28): This six-round event with a 30-minute time control will be held at Sunway College in Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya.

Prizes totalling RM1,000 will be given to winners in the open, junior and best CAS player sections.

As this will be the last CAS chess tournament of the year, the association will print limited edition T-shirts to usher in the new millennium. It is learnt that CAS may organise up to 25 chess events next year, including nine events which will be exclusive to CAS members only.

For more information, contact Lim Tse Pin (e-mail: tsepin@visto.com)

UKM tournament (Nov 27 to 28): Urusetia Alumni Kamsis Rahim Kajai, UKM, will organise an open tournament at the university.

Entry fees are RM15 for students and RM30 for the public. Closing date for registration is tomorrow. For more details, contact Bakri Abdul Karim ( 03-829 3101, e-mail: uaunderscorecatur@yahoo.com).

JB Open (Dec 5): The Bandaraya Chessmaster tournament, organised by the Johor Baru city council, will be played at the Indoor Stadium in Johor Baru.

There are three sections in this event: open, under-16 and under-12. The open section features 10 cash prizes totalling RM4,150 with a first prize of RM1,000. The winner will also receive the Piala Datuk Bandar Johor Baru. The under-16 and the under-12 sections also have 10 cash prizes each, totalling RM645 and RM455 respectively. The top prize for the two sections are RM200 and RM100 respectively.

Entry fees are RM30 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12. Entries will close tomorrow. For details, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215, e-mail: naraa@tm.net.my).

Penang Grand Prix (Dec 12): The fourth and final leg of the Penang Chess Association's GP circuit will be played at the Bukit Mertajam Country Club starting 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 from island players, the PCA is arranging for a bus to take them to the tournament venue. Readers interested in playing can call Goh Yoon Wah (04-644 5687, evenings) or Ooi Kiem Boo (04-657 4596, office hours).

MAIL

Longer time control

ALTHOUGH I am not a chess player, I have been following some of the local tournaments. I have also taken an interest in your column and visited your web page occasionally. I hope you don't mind if I share some personal observations with you.

Firstly, I wish to compliment you on the Oct 22 article. It was good that you highlighted the selection of players for the Asian cities chess tournament in China recently. The Malaysian Chess Federation should be transparent in its selection of senior and junior players, especially those sent overseas, if they are sponsored by the MCF.

In fact, all participants representing the country must be selected through proper tournaments and not picked at random. The criteria for selection must be based on certain performances, and their subsequent results must be made known in the media for the knowledge of other chess enthusiasts and MCF members.

Despite the numerous local tournaments being held, the time control is usually only 30 minutes per player, except for a few tournaments with a longer time control. I would think that local tournaments should have a time control of at least 1 1/2 hours per player. This is important, especially for the upcoming junior players to prepare themselves for international tournaments.

Last but not least, I hope you will continue to report more on our local tournaments and results.

Han Nako (via e-mail)

YOUR points on the MCF's transparency and selection procedures are very valid.

Certainly, the MCF has to be more professional in its approach to selection. Not only must the selection committee be seen to select players based on merit or some pre-agreed principles, the selected players must also be given enough time to respond to the selection and then to prepare themselves.

On your point about local time controls, most organisers have to balance between making their tournaments popular with the public and catering only to the smaller number of more serious-minded players.

To draw the crowds, tournaments must be fast enough to finish within a day or two. The allegro or Active Chess time control (30-minute games) was recognised by Fide more than a decade ago and since then, Malaysians have grown to embrace this format fully.

The only danger is that our players, being accustomed to playing so fast, may not be able to appreciate or cope with long playing sessions, such as at the Asian team championships or Chess Olympiads.

Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to hold local events with long time controls. Most players do not have the time to spare.

I think as a good compromise, the occasional tournaments with 1 1/2 to two-hour time controls have helped fill the players' needs sufficiently.

Web game ends on sour note

THE Internet chess game between Gary Kasparov and the World has ended after 124 days of play. On a positive note, it was claimed by Microsoft, which hosted the event on its MSN network, that the game attracted more than seven million visitors from 79 countries during the course of the four-month game.

It was a fascinating game which went much better than I had expected. On Oct 8, I wrote about how Kasparov had not managed to gain a clear upperhand, and how the World team had maintained its strategy of active defence, even taking risks during the early stages of the game (see http://http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Chess/1999/99Oct08.html).

Soon afterwards, however, the event became deeply embroiled in controversy. There were charges that ballot stuffing, delayed move transmissions and computer hacking had denied the World team a draw.

Angry World players, furious at what they saw as the unwillingness of Microsoft to address the problems, then organised a cyber-mutiny by voting for a move that would have given their queen to Kasparov for free. This move had been voted by about 67% of the players but Microsoft refused to accept it and instead chose the next most popular move. Needless to say, this further enraged the World players.

The game, when it started on June 21, had been hyped by Kasparov as "perhaps the most important in the history of chess," but most people, myself included, had expected him to win easily against a disorganised team in which the votes of rank amateurs counted just as much as those of grandmasters.

But the World had an unexpected asset in 15-year-old Irina Krush who is the reigning US women's chess champion and one of four appointed Internet coaches for the game. Her job was to recommend moves for the World players and she had a lot of help from a team of grandmasters in St Petersburg, Russia, and other strong players around the world. As a result, the World put up an unexpectedly tough fight to lead the game into a near equal queen-and-pawn ending.

As an indication of her influence, Krush's recommendations were adopted by the World voters 48 times in the first 50 moves, including every instance after the sixth move.

But in a close vote in a crucial position on Sept 29, her suggestion for the 51st move was rejected in favour of a pawn move that was widely regarded as markedly inferior. The next day, someone calling himself Jose Unodos posted an e-mail saying he had rigged the vote in favour of the pawn move. Hours later, Microsoft officials posted a reply saying they had checked their security procedures and found no flaws.

Nevertheless, Unodos insisted that the 51st move was not the only time his vote stuffing had affected the choice of the World. He claimed he had also been successful in the 19th and 26th moves.

Five days after the vote stuffing claims surfaced, another participant, Martin Sims, revealed that he too had been able to rig the voting. His choice of a ridiculously weak move that would have given up the queen to Kasparov allegedly obtained 4.55% of the votes. Sims said he was not trying to sabotage the game, "but the fact that the move got into the top five choices proves that ballot-stuffing can and almost certainly does occur, and Microsoft's security reassurances are empty."

Things came to a boil on the 58th move when Krush's recommendation was posted late to the Microsoft site, causing the World to choose an inferior move that gave a decisive advantage to Kasparov. Disgruntled World voters rejected Microsoft's explanations for the delay and registered their protest by voting overwhelmingly on the 59th move to give up the black queen. This choice was not accepted by Microsoft which then proceeded to choose the next move from among the voters' choices.

According to Spanish chess journalist Leontxo Garcia writing in El Pais, the majority of the fans became even more upset when Microsoft "would not even let them lose the way they wanted."

However, it must be said that not everyone agreed with all the ruckus made by most of the World players. I, for one, am not impressed with these irresponsible players' plan to sabotage the game one way or another.

Granted that people like Unodos and Sims had a point to prove, but at least the game could continue without the World losing immediately. You just had to accept as a fact of life that there are always hackers on the Internet.

However, when you have a large group of people who plan a most deliberate attempt to throw the game, it becomes objectionable and a great disservice to chess. They may claim that it was their right to give up their queen in a nonsensical way as a sign of protest, but I would support Microsoft, as the host for the game, for rejecting the farcical move immediately. The company had a right to ensure that the game, despite all that happened, would not end so stupidly.

Another chess writer, Michael Greengard, was also critical of the World voters. He said the complexity of this game has been mind-boggling and even teams of grandmasters were unable to find the correct moves.

If anyone should be worried about vote rigging, he said, it would have been Kasparov himself. Three or four times during this game there were votes decided by fewer than 100 voters and all were in favour of the best move for the World.

He claimed that if there had been rigging, it would have been much earlier in the middlegame, and not during a hyper-complex queen's ending that few people understood.

"So now we have a lot of sore losers who do not even realise when the game was lost. Instead of the positive coverage this event deserves, this group of people are now even spamming the media centres to cry about how Microsoft had cheated them," he said.

He added that Microsoft had run this event for far beyond its expected life and budget, advertising it heavily all over the Internet. "It has done wonders for chess awareness and, from what I can tell, been great fun for thousands of people around the world."

Kasparov vs The World

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.0-0 g6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bg7 10.Nde2 Qe6 11.Nd5 Qxe4 12.Nc7+ Kd7 13.Nxa8 Qxc4 14.Nb6+ axb6 15.Nc3 Ra8 16.a4 Ne4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4 18.Qb3 f5 19.Bg5 Qb4 20.Qf7 Be5 21.h3 Rxa4 22.Rxa4 Qxa4 23.Qxh7 Bxb2 24.Qxg6 Qe4 25.Qf7 Bd4 26.Qb3 f4 27.Qf7 Be5 28.h4 b5 29.h5 Qc4 30.Qf5+ Qe6 31.Qxe6+ Kxe6 32.g3 fxg3 33.fxg3 b4 34.Bf4 Bd4+ 35.Kh1 b3 36.g4 Kd5 37.g5 e6 38.h6 Ne7 39.Rd1 e5 40.Be3 Kc4 41. Bxd4 exd4 42. Kg2 b2 43. Kf3 Kc3 44. h7 Ng6 45. Ke4 Kc2 46. Rh1 d3 47. Kf5 b1=Q 48.Rxb1 Kxb1 49. Kxg6 d2 50. h8=Q d1=Q 51. Qh7 b5 52. Kf6+ Kb2 53. Qh2+ Ka1 54. Qf4 b4 55. Qxb4 Qf3 56. Kg7 d5 57. Qd4+ Kb1 58. g6 Qe4 59. Qg1+ Kb2 60. Qf2+ Kc1 61. Kf6 d4 62. g7 (1-0)

Just for the record, Kasparov announced a forced mate in 25 moves after 62 ... Qc6+ 63. Kg5 Qd5+ 64.Qf5 Qg2+ 65.Qg4 Qd5+ 66.Kh4! Qg8 67.Qf4+ Kc2 68.Qf8 Qh7+ 69.Kg5 Qh2 70.g8(Q) Qg3+ 71.Kf5 Qf3+ 72.Ke6 Qb3+ 73.Kd6 Qb4+ 74.Ke5 Qe1+ 75.Kxd4 Qa1+ 76.Ke4 Qa4+ 77.Ke3 Qa7+ 78.Kf3 Qb7+ 79.Kg3 Qc7+ 80.Qf4 Qxf4+ 81.Kxf4 Kd3 82.Qb3+ Kd4 83.Qb5 Kc3 84.Ke3 Kc2 85.Qb4 Kc1 86.Kd3 Kd1 87.Qd2 mate.

If Black deviates from this line, then checkmate arrives even sooner.

UP NEXT

* Kepong Junior Open (Sunday, Nov 7): The parent-teacher association of SJK(C) Kepong Dua, Kuala Lumpur, will hold the sixth Kepong junior open tournament at the school hall. The tournament is divided into the under-8, under-10, under-12 and under-16 categories. The top four winners in each age group will also receive cash prizes, while the next six winners will get consolation prizes. For enquiries, contact Mrs F.L. Wong ( 017-888 2216, 03-636 4197 between 3pm and 10pm).

* Perak Closed (Nov 13-21): The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise the Perak closed championship at the Great World Centre, Jalan Kampar, Ipoh. This will be a nine-round Swiss event with a 1 1/2-hour time control per player for each game. All players residing, working, studying or born in Perak with a state rating of 1,700 and above are eligible to participate in the tournament. Entry fees are RM15 for PICA members and RM20 for non-members. There are 10 cash prizes totalling RM1,000 with the top prize being RM300. The tournament is sponsored by Super Highway Computer (Ipoh) Sdn Bhd. For enquiries, contact W.K. Wong ( 05-366 1692).

* JB Open (Nov 14): The sixth Johor Baru open tournament, jointly organised by the Johor Baru District Chess Club and Johor Land Bhd, will be at the Dewan Menara Komtar. There are three sections in this event: the open, under-16 and under-12. The open section features 10 cash prizes totalling RM1,710 with a first prize of RM500. The winner will also receive the Piala Mentri Besar Johor. The under-16 and the under-12 sections also have 10 cash prizes each. The top prizes for the two sections are RM100 and RM80 respectively. Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section. Entries will close on Nov 12; only the first 300 entries will be accepted. For details, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 / e-mail:naraa@tm.net.my).

Sunk in oblivion

IN THE past fortnight, a four-man Malaysian team slipped quietly out of the country to compete in this year's Asian team chess championship in Shenyang, China.

Normally, I would have expected the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) to issue a press release, but this time there was none. It is as if the MCF had been caught procrastinating over the selection of team members and is now embarrassed by its final choice.

The question begging to be asked is why only four players were sent. With that number, every one of them would have been required to play without rest. Not only is that mentally tiring, it is also psychologically and physiologically bad, especially if one player were to hit a bad patch during the event.

Including a fifth player would have allowed some sort of rotation within the team. The stabilising effect of an extra player can mean the difference between sinking into oblivion or giving a respectable performance.

Because the challenge trophy was originally donated by the late Tun Abdul Razak in 1974, Malaysia has always considered the Asian team championship a very important tournament. It will be a shame if Malaysia no longer considers this event worthwhile enough to send our strongest possible team.

According to precedence, three of the team's players are selected from last year's national closed championship. The MCF committee then select two more players while the federation's president has the right to choose the sixth player.

In last year's national closed championship, the top three places had gone to Ng Ee Vern, Lim Chuin Hoong and Jonathan Chuah. They would have automatically qualified but since Ng and Lim were unable to join the national team, Agus Salim and Ng Tze Han were selected in their places.

However, a most embarrassing situation arose when it turned out that Agus does not hold a Malaysian passport. He has a Certificate of Identity which means he is not a Malaysian citizen. His place was offered instead to Azahari Mohd Nor.

Luckily, Mas Hafizulhelmi had indicated to the MCF that he would be available to play in the Asian team event. The experienced Mas would be the asset required to prop up the team on the first board. Ng had already played in several international tournaments, so he was the logical choice for the second board. But of the other two players in the team, neither could really be considered to have the necessary temperament for such a high-level event.

It would have made sense to select a more experienced fifth player for the team. Names like Jimmy Liew or Mok Tze Meng readily come to mind, but there are also a host of younger and relatively stable players like Wong Zijing or Lim Yee Weng to consider. Regrettably, for one reason or another, the fifth position in the team was never filled.

Malaysia was one of 16 teams in Shenyang. The first round was a real embarrassment as Malaysia went down 0-4 to the Philippines. After a 1.5-2.5 loss to Tajikistan, the Malaysians beat Macau 3-1, drew 2-2 with China "B" and lost 1.5-2.5 to New Zealand.

Another 2-2 draw followed, this time with Mongolia, after which the team's luck went downhill for the rest of the tournament. A 1.5-2.5 loss at the hands of traditional rival Singapore was quickly followed by 0.5-3.5 results against Iran and China "C."

The total points scored was 12.5 which placed the team in 14th position ahead of only New Zealand and Macau. By Mas' own standard, four points from nine games cannot be considered good but I suspect he was affected by the form of the other players. Ng was slightly better, scoring 50% with 4.5 points, while Chuah and Azahari ended with 2.5 and 1.5 points respectively.

At the other end of the table, there was a strong fight for the Tun Razak trophy. Going into the final round, India was the surprising leader with 20 points but only half a point behind the Indians were Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Iran. A further half-point behind the trio were China "A," Uzbekistan and Indonesia.

In the final round, India could only overcome a stubborn Indonesia by 2.5-1.5. It was not enough for the Indians who watched Uzbekistan breeze ahead of them with a 4-0 trashing of hapless New Zealand. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan and the Philippines joined India in joint second to fourth placings with similar 3-1 scores against Vietnam and Iran respectively.

Final standings: Uzbekistan 23 points; India, Kazakhstan and the Philippines 22.5 points each; China "A" and China "B" 22 points each; China "C" 21.5 points; Indonesia and Iran 20.5 points each; Vietnam 19 points; Singapore and Mongolia 17.5 points each; Tajikistan 16 points; Malaysia 12.5 points; New Zealand 6 points; and Macau 2.5 points.

CAS allegro

The Chess Association of Selangor held its third-quarter allegro tournament at the Sunway College in Petaling Jaya last month. Although there were only 34 players, the field was very strong and included Singaporean international master Giam Choo Kwee and second-quarter allegro winner, Terry Van Der Veen.

The eventual winner of the competition was Fikrul Saifuddin who beat Giam in the fourth round and Van Der Veen in the fifth. A fighting draw with Saprin Sabri in the final round ensured Fikrul the first prize. This round also saw Giam drawing his game with Lim Chin Lee and Van Der Veen drawing with Ilhamuddin to keep the standings of the top boards unchanged from the previous round.

Top standings: Fikrul 5.5 points; Van Der Veen, Giam, Saprin, Lim and Ilhamuddin 4.5 points each; Mohd Erwan, Abdullah Aziz Shukor and Mak Weng Kong 4 points each; Cheah Eu Gene and Nicholas Chan 3.5 points each.

National allegro results

The Kelantan leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit was played at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (formerly ITM) campus in Machang earlier this month.

The tournament attracted 36 participants and it was won by Ahmad Maliki Mohamad with 5.5 points.

Mohd Nizam Hamzah and Fairul Yusoff both tied with five points each, while Mohd Bakri Jusoh and Mas Harithul Fadli obtained 4.5 points each. The four-pointers who were among the prize-winners were Arjunawira Ahmad, Halim Suhaimi, Hashim Jusoh, Farid Hassan and Tengku Zulkifli Tengku Amri.

Wan Abdul Fatah Wan Ali won the prize for veterans, while the three women's prizes were given to Yusma Yuhanis, Wan Syarina and Che Nor Emelia Abdul Halim. The under-12 prizes were won by Mohd Tajul Aris, Mohd Tajul Subki and Mas Latiful Syukri.

UP NEXT

Kuala Beliat Open

THE Kuala Beliat Chess Association and the Brunei Shell Recreation Club are jointly organising a one-day open chess tournament at the BSRC in Seria, Brunei, this Sunday.

The nine-round event will be played using a 15-minute time control per player for each game. The first round will start at 10am and the final round is expected to conclude by 5.30pm.

There are five cash prizes with B$300 (about RM675) going to the winner. The second prize is B$200 (about RM450) and the third prize B$100 (about RM225), while the fourth and fifth prizes are B$75 (about RM170) and B$50 (about RM112) respectively. In addition, the top three winners shall receive trophies.

Entry fee is B$10 (about RM23) per player. Registration closes tomorrow. For more information on the event or accommodation, contact Leong Voon Choon at 673-3-373 612 during office hours or e-mail (voon-choon.v.c.leong@shell.com.bn).

Kepong Junior Open

FOR the sixth year runnng, the Parent-Teacher Association of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (China) Kepong Dua in Kuala Lumpur will be organising the Kepong junior chess open tournament. This annual event, which is divided into four age categories, will be played on Nov 7 in the school hall.

Children born in 1991 or later will be eligible to take part in the under-eight section, and the winner will receive the SJK (C) Kepong 2 PIBG trophy. The winner of the under-10 section will get the Cheah Lim Choy trophy, the under-12 winner will win the Kong Foo Leong trophy and the under-16 winner, the Datuk Tan Kim Hor trophy.

The top four winners in each age-group will also receive cash prizes, while the next six winners will get consolation prizes.

Entry fees are RM7 for pupils of the school and RM10 for other players. Anyone registering after Oct 30 will be required to pay a RM5 late fee.

Lunch and snacks will be provided for all players, and the first 180 entries will be given souvenir chess boards. There will also be lucky draws after the event.

Enquiries, contact F.L. Wong at 017-888-2216 or 03-636 4197 between 3pm and 10pm.

JB Open

THE sixth Johor Baru open chess tournament, jointly organised by the Johor Baru District Chess Club and Johor Land Bhd, will be played on Nov 14 at the Dewan Menara Komtar in Johor Baru.

There are three sections in this event: the open, under-16 and under-12. The open section features 10 cash prizes totalling RM1,710 with a first prize of RM500. The winner will also receive the Piala Mentri Besar Johor. The under-16 and the under-12 sections also have 10 cash prizes each. The top prize for the two sections are RM100 and RM80 respectively.

Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section. Entries will close on Nov 12; only the first 300 entries will be accepted.

Details, contact Narayanan Krishnan at 07-333-8215 or e-mail (naraa@tm.net.my).

UKM tournament

THE Urusetia Alumni Kamsis Rahim Kajai, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, will organise an open tournament at the university on Nov 27 and 28.

Entry fee is RM15 for students and RM30 for the public. The closing date for registration is Nov 20. Details, contact Bakri Abdul Karim at 03-829 3101, e-mail (ua_catur@yahoo.com) or write to Penganjur Kejohanan Catur Terbuka KRK UKM 99, Urusetia Alumni KRK UKM, Kamsis Rahim Kajai, UKM, 43600 Bangi.

Against Kasparov, the world survives

GARY Kasparov is perhaps the only chess player who can truly proclaim: "been there, done that." He became the youngest world chess champion at 22 years old, broke with the World Chess Federation (Fide) over the running of the world championship series, yet - paradoxically still embracing certain Fide programmes like the Chess Olympiad - became the highest rated player in the annals of chess, and twice played with the world's strongest chess computer, IBM's Deep Blue.

Just when it seemed that there were no more mountains for Kasparov to climb, he embarked on a project in June to play a chess game on the Internet against the Rest Of The World.

On July 2, when commenting on this project, I wrote in this column that Kasparov was embarking yet again on another publicity stunt.

I had expected the game to last about two months with Kasparov scoring a quick knockout punch. I was very confident that Kasparov, with his vast experience, would not lose the game. And I said that The World, with its many cooks, diversions and opinions, would not be able to agree on the best moves and would eventually spoil the soup.

Today, almost four months later, the game is still going on. I am surprised that Kasparov has not managed to gain a clear upperhand. The revelation so far is that The World has maintained its strategy of defending resourcefully, even taking risks during early stages of the game, and will most probably draw it!

Recently, I received a very interesting e-mail from a reader, Soo Ching Pin, who chided me for my dismissive comments. Let me reproduce the salient points:

"I remember that after the game was started on the Internet, in your column you dismissed the whole thing as a publicity stunt by Kasparov. You thought that the game might be rather dull as you did not believe that The World team could put up a consistently good fight. From the tone of your writing I did not expect you to take an active part in the game, if at all.

"Having followed the game since it started, with the exception of a few moves which I could not participate in as I was outstation at the time, I find the game an entertaining and interesting one so far. I will give you the moves that have been played so far so that you can judge for yourself.

Kasparov vs The World

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.0-0 g6 8.d4cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bg7 10.Nde2 Qe6 11.Nd5 Qxe4 12.Nc7+ Kd7 13.Nxa8 Qxc4 14.Nb6+ axb6 15.Nc3 Ra8 16.a4 Ne4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4 18.Qb3 f5 19.Bg5 Qb4 20.Qf7 Be5 21.h3 Rxa4 22.Rxa4 Qxa4 23.Qxh7 Bxb2 24.Qxg6 Qe4 25.Qf7 Bd4 26.Qb3 f4 27.Qf7 Be5 28.h4 b5 29.h5 Qc4 30.Qf5+ Qe6 31.Qxe6+ Kxe6 32.g3 fxg3 33.fxg3 b4 34.Bf4 Bd4+ 35.Kh1 b3 36.g4 Kd5 37.g5 e6 38.h6 Ne7 39.Rd1 e5 40.Be3 Kc4 41.Bxd4 exd4 42.Kg2 b2 43.Kf3 Kc3 44.h7 Ng6 45.Ke4 Kc2 46.Rh1 d3 47.Kf5 b1=Q 48.Rxb1 Kxb1 49.Kxg6 d2 50.h8=Q d1=Q 51.Qh7 b5 52.Kf6+ Kb2

"To find out Kasparov's 53rd move, as well as to vote on The World's reply, visit (http://www.zone.com/Kasparov/TodaysMove.asp).

"On voting days, votes will be accepted online between 3am and 9pm Malaysian time. On non-voting days, The World's response can be checked practically at any time. Only the percentages of votes received by the main candidate moves will be posted. So far, the closest approach to a unanimous vote (even for a forced move) has been 98+%. The narrowest vote so far was decided by a margin of less than half a percentage point. So these votes have not all been dull and predictable affairs.

"We are now in a complicated end-game, and the World Team can use all the help it can get. As a knowledgeable chess writer, if you are not already on the team, your contributions from this point onwards would certainly be welcome. There is a forum which you can access from the above webpage where The World team discusses strategy against Kasparov.

"Incidentally, at this point I think the best The World can hope for is a draw against the world champion, but let's at least give him a good fight while we're at it!

"Thank you for your time. Keep up the good work in your column."

Well, Soo, thank you for your feedback and opinion. For your information, although I had not written about the game since July, I have been following its progress occasionally. I have to concede that it has been very interesting. Let me make a few observations.

It is widely accepted that 10...Qe6 was a surprising move that took the game into uncharted territory. The former world champion accepted the challenge to win the exchange (rook for knight) but he also had to give up two pawns in the process. The World played vigorously to keep an even keel and, after the queens went off the board, much depended on how both sides could carry out ideas on the opposite sides of the board.

By the time the new queens appeared, Kasparov found himself down a pawn. Nevertheless, I still do not foresee him losing the game. He has an active king and a more dangerous pawn remaining on the board. Perhaps The World can find a quick way to force a draw by continually putting Kasparov's king in check.

I still maintain that the whole idea of this chess game is a publicity stunt. It is good publicity - there is no doubt about it - but the worldwide response to the game in the past four months remains unknown.

The official website does not mention the number of people who actually voted on each of The World's moves; only the voting percentages are given. Without such figures, it is open to speculation whether interest or participation in this project has waxed or waned.

But what a stunt it has been so far. I think The World has played admirably. No matter how the game ends eventually, everyone who takes part will be a winner.

UP NEXT

The Kuala Beliat Chess Association and the Brunei Shell Recreation Club are jointly organising a one-day open chess tournament at the BSRC in Seria, Brunei.

This is a nine-round event which will be played using a 15-minute time control per player for each game. The first round on Oct 24 will start at 10am and the final round is expected to conclude by 5.30pm.

There are five cash prizes with B$300 (RM750) going to the winner; the second prize is B$200 (RM500) and the third prize B$100 (RM250), while the fourth and fifth prizes are B$75 (RM187) and B$50 (RM125) respectively. In addition, the top three winners shall receive trophies.

Entry fee is B$10 (RM25) per player. Registration closes on Oct 23. For more information on the event or accommodation, e-mail Leong Voon Choon of the BSRC at (voon-choon.v.c.leong@shell.com.bn); or contact him at 673-3-373 612 (office hours) or 673-3-333 157 (after office hours).

(Seria is about one-and-a-half hours drive from Miri which has an active chess community of its own.)

 

A friendly rivalry

THE annual match between the chess players of Malaysia and Singapore is always an eagerly awaited occasion; this year, it was the Malaysians' turn to troop across the border to our southern neighbour.

The match was hosted by the Singapore Chess Federation last month at the Parkway Parade shopping centre. The two-day match was played over 40 boards with the players separated into veterans, seniors and juniors.

The first day of the match was dominated by the Malaysians who scored a resounding 26.5-13.5 win over the Singaporeans. However, the Singaporeans came back much stronger on the second day and they managed to reduce the Malaysian winning margin to a slim 22-18 score. Overall, the score was 48.5-31.5 in Malaysia's favour.

The Singapore team was strongest in the veterans and men's senior sections where they had a lot of experienced players. Our veteran players were completely overshadowed during the two days and they suffered greatly. In both rounds, they lost by identical 0-2 scores.

Malaysia's men's senior players were also generally outclassed by their Singapore counterparts. Other than Tan Wei Sin who beat Tan Chor Chuan and drew with Teo Kok Seong, Ooi Chern Ee who picked up two draws with Koh Kum Hong and Chan Peng Kong, Ismail Ahmad who won against Jopie Massie and Julian Navaratnam who drew with Tan Chor Chuan, the other men's senior players lost their games. On the first day, the Singaporeans won by 3.5-2.5 but the second day saw the Malaysians losing further ground with a 1.5-4.5 result.

At least the contest between the women's senior players was closer. On the first day, both sides were tied at 2-2, but on the second day, the Malaysians won by 3-1.

The boy's section saw the Malaysians beating their Singaporean counterparts by 12-6 on the first day and 10-8 on the second day. But it was in the girl's section that the Malaysians really shone. A 9-1 win on the first day was followed by an 8.5-1.5 score on the next day.

The next friendly match between the two countries will be hosted in Kuala Lumpur by the Malaysian Chess Federation next year. Tentatively, the match will be played on the first weekend of Feb 2000.

An Asian chess challenge

This year's Grand Asian Chess Challenge will be the fourth such event organised by Universiti Malaya's Second Residential College in as many years.

What started out as a team competition among the institutions of higher learning in the country in 1996 has evolved into an ambitious project aimed at attracting universities in Asia to take part.

Last year's competition was limited only to the universities in the Asean region. However, the response was not very encouraging because of the lingering effects of the Asian economic slowdown.

This year, the organisers are extending invitations directly to the foreign universities instead of channelling them through the national chess federations, and they are hopeful that many universities will reply.

According to the organisers, confirmation of participation has already been received from several foreign universities in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Iran, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam and India.

The competition will be played from Oct 23 to 30. The first eight rounds will be held at UM's Engineering Faculty. For the final round and the closing ceremony, the venue is the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur.

The tournament will be conducted as an individual Swiss event and the accumulated results of the best four players from the same university, inclusive of a women's player, will be used to compute the team results.

Each university is allowed to register up to six players for its team. The entry fee is US$260 (RM1,000) for a team of six, US$220 (RM846) for a five-player team and US$180 (RM692) if the team has four players. The entry fee for individual players will be US$50 (RM192) each.

Trophies and medals will be given away to the top three teams. In addition, the winning team will receive a cash prize of RM1,000 while the second-placed team will get RM500 and the third-placed team RM250.

The individual prizes will consist of RM1,000 as the first prize, RM500 as the second, and RM250 as the third prize. The best women's player will receive RM100. Also, all these winners will each receive a trophy.

The main sponsor for the tournament is the PWTC. Malaysia Airlines, as the official airline, will provide discounts to participating teams from various points in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Royal Selangor is sponsoring the trophies, Nestle is sponsoring the refreshments for the event, and Kodak is the official image sponsor. The official website is hosted by MyWeb at (http://wowsites.com/gacc).

UP NEXT

National Allegro, Perak leg

THE year-long national allegro chess circuit, a project of the Malaysian Chess Federation, continues this Sunday with the Perak leg which will be played at the Dewan Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh at 9am. The registration of players begins at 7.30am.

Eleven of the legs have already been organised in various cities and towns around the country. There will be one more leg in Malacca before the Grand Final next month.

Each leg consists of six rounds and has 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 Final in Kuala Lumpur.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Perak International Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, girls under 12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants. As entries will close tomorrow, anyone interested in taking part should contact either Wong Weng Kong ( 05-366 1692) or Hamisah Ramli ( 05-313 3809) as soon as possible.

Penang Grand Prix

The third leg of the Penang Chess Association's Grand Prix chess circuit will be played at the clubhouse of the Bayan Baru Residents' Association on Oct 3 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.

The closing date for entries is Oct 1. Entry fee is RM10 per player. For details, contact Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687 evenings only) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596 office hours only).

Obituary:

Death of an icon

Garry Koshnitsky, one of Australia's oldest chess icons who had been reported to be ill for the past few months, died last weekend. He passed away in his Malvern, South Australian, home on Sept 17 at the age of 91, leaving behind his wife, Evelyn, who herself is an active administrator of women's chess in Australia.

Koshnitsky was many times the Australian champion and a vice-president of the World Chess Federation's Zone 10 from 1960 to 1966. His later chess career was entirely administrative and organisational. He was the secretary of the Australian Chess Federation and represented the federation as a delegate at International Chess Federation meetings.

I first got to know Koshnitsky and his wife in the mid-70s when they led a team of girl chess players from Australia on a tour of Malaysia. Although we remained in contact occasionally over the years, the last time I met them was in Manila seven years ago.

Another 'K' carries the day

AFTER a month of intense competition, Russia's Alexander Khalifman won the World Chess Championship in Las Vegas. In the six-game final, he bettered Armenia's Vladimir Akopian with a 2.5-1.5 score.

So yet another player with a name beginning with "K" has become the world champion, after Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov. Khalifman was declared the 14th world chess champion by World Chess Federation (FIDE) president Kirsan Iljumzhinov.

Khalifman won the first game after Akopian's surprise of a piece sacrifice went wrong. Khalifman managed to exchange enough pieces until his opponent no longer had the initiative. He then moved his remaining pieces into action and Akopian was forced to resign the game.

The second game saw little excitement on the board and was quickly drawn.

The third game lasted almost seven hours. There was a lot of manoeuvring in the endgame with Akopian trying to find the best squares for his pieces. The Armenian showed some excellent technique by squeezing a point from his opponent.

"This game features the most beautiful rook ending in the history of the World Chess Championship," said an excited Valery Salov, the Russian grandmaster.

"This endgame was a theoretical draw, but Akopian played almost perfectly, finding every trick and trap. The attractive conclusion to the game would not have been possible if Khalifman had played the best defence."

But Khalifman bounced back immediately by winning the next game.

With only two games remaining, Akopian was in a "must win" situation in his last game with the white pieces. He emerged with an edge but could not capitalise on it. The game whittled down into a rook ending with Akopian nursing an extra pawn. However, Khalifman dug in deep to draw the game.

The last game of the championship was not an anti-climax despite the month of exhausting chess. Khalifman did not play conservatively and took the game to Akopian.

As he said later, "In the beginning I could have kept the game quiet but I told myself, 'come on, this is the final,' I have to try to play the best moves. But at the end, I was no longer fighting to find a win. I said, 'enough is enough, I only need a draw.' "

Iljumzhinov was among the first to congratulate Khalifman. He said: "I want to congratulate Alexander Khalifman, the 14th FIDE world chess champion. I want to say that he must come back next year to play and defend his title."

When asked if he felt like a true world champion, Khalifman responded: "I don't claim to be the world's best chess player. But I am the FIDE world champion. Kasparov has some informal claim to being the world's best player. I'm afraid to say anything about Karpov because he is very experienced with lawsuits!"

Khalifman has his own chess school in St Petersburg, Russia, and a popular website (www.gmchess.spb.ru). And now that he has won US$660,000 (RM2.5mil), what is he going to do with it?

Khalifman said that he had not given it much thought, but added: "My wife is a very reasonable person. We agree on most things. For some years we have lived modestly. I don't think she will spend half a million in the first week!"

On to the Olympics

Towards the close of the world championship, FIDE's presidential board met in Las Vegas. In his address to the board, president Kirsan Iljumzhinov said that on June 20, the International Olympic Committee had recognised chess as a sport. He has received a certificate from IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch confirming this. Iljumzhinov said that FIDE should now drastically change its administration based on this decision.

Ilyumzhinov said FIDE executive director Emmanuel Omuku would go to Sydney, Australia, to discuss arrangements for a chess event at the 2000 Summer Olympics. One question which would be raised was whether coffee, whiskey and vodka were drugs. He said this is a serious matter.

Iljumzhinov also said the FIDE world championship will be held every year during the last week of November and the first three weeks of December. Regarding next year's event, he said that Hong Kong, Dortmund in Germany and Sun City in South Africa have expressed interest in hosting it.

Turning his sights next on Karpov and Kasparov, Iljumzhinov said, "When (they) continue to criticise, I have one answer: the title of the world champion has to be won and defended in an honest chess fight and not in the courts or at press conferences.

"They have to prove their superiority by playing in the world championship. There will be no matches between the winner here and Kasparov or Karpov. If Kasparov and Karpov have questions, FIDE will be happy to invite them to the 2000 World Championship.

"FIDE will enter the new millennium with the 14th world champion," declared Iljumzhinov. "Samaranch said that chess has been recognised as a sport because we have destroyed the monopoly and dictatorships of some chess players. We have given all chess players the opportunity to fight for the world title."

Record entries for Merdeka championship

THIS year's Merdeka team chess championship had a record 82 teams playing in the three-day event at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, from Aug 29 to 31.

Without a doubt, the PWTC provides a very conducive atmosphere for playing chess. The vast lobby was big enough to accommodate all the teams; there should not be any problem if even more teams were to take part next year.

It was a pity, though, that players were initially not allowed to walk along the aisles once they had finished their games. More understandably, spectators were also prevented from walking into the cordoned-off area. This rule was somewhat relaxed in the later rounds when the organisers realised the pulling power of the games.

After a year on the sidelines, Penang returned to win the state title. Although Penang did not lose any of its matches, the team was eclipsed by Selangor and Terengganu in most of the rounds.

Johor had a good start but after losing to Selangor in the fourth round, the team began to fall back and eventually finished fourth. Terengganu also had a good start, but then lost by similar 1-3 scores to Selangor and Penang. However, a tremendous effort in the sixth round saw Terengganu drawing level, with Penang going into the final round.

In the meantime, Selangor, which led for five rounds, was upset by Perak in the sixth round. A 1.5-2.5 loss to its northern neighbour put paid to its hopes of retaining the Deputy Prime Minister's trophy.

Going into the final round, only Terengganu and Penang were neck and neck for the top prize. Tension was high as Penang realised that it had to beat Perak by 4-0 to win the title.

But then, Terengganu drew one of its games with Johor and Penang's target of 3.5 points became more realisable. In the final analysis, Penang's 3.5-0.5 win over Perak was impressive but unnecessary since Terengganu could only draw 2-2 with Johor.

Final standings: Penang 20 points, Terengganu 18.5 points, Selangor 17.5 points, Johor 17 points, Kuala Lumpur 16 points, Sabah 14 points, Sarawak 13.5 points, Perak 13.5 points, Malacca and Perlis 13 points each, Kelantan 11 points, Kedah 12 points, and Negeri Sembilan 3 points.

Apart from the state section, the open section of the championship also attracted a lot of attention. There was a good turn-out this year with 42 teams.

There was a tight finish with two teams fighting closely for the top prize. After the sixth round, the PCMM Invitation team was leading the field by two full points ahead of the Royal Selangor Club.

But the PCMM team, with international master Mas Hafizulhelmi on the top board, almost faltered in the final round when it drew 2-2 with the Safe Aim Mutual team to collect 21.5 points.

The Royal Selangor Club team could have tied with the PCMM had it managed to win 4-0 over Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Instead, RSC could only get a 3.5-0.5 score, half a point less than the winner, which meant that it got only the second prize.

Singapore entered two teams in the open section. Caissa Chess Enterprise came third with 19.5 points while IntChess was seventh with 17 points. Brunei was the only other country with a significant presence in the Merdeka event. Apart from two teams in the youth section, there were three Brunei teams in the open section.

The fourth prize went to Clofa with 18.5 points, Safe Aim Mutual was fifth with 18 points, while the Johor Black Knights took the sixth prize with 17.5 points.

The other top standings in this section were: Terengganu and Chelsea Forever 16.5 points each; Universiti Kebangsaan "A" 16 points; Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 15.5 points; Kuala Beliat, Nusa Mahkota and Bandar Seri Begawan "B" 15 points each; Kolej Za'Ba Universiti Malaya, Bandar Seri Begawan "A", Ericsson Sports and Social Club, Star, Setiausaha Kerajaan Perlis, Pasukan Bumiputra Sarawak and Tian Ha 14.5 points each.

In the youth section, almost everyone was again left breathless by the steam-rolling exploits of the Sekolah Catur Enerpac team. This group of under-12 players from Indonesia practically ran away with the title.

Except for a draw with Penang, the Enerpac team felled all other opponents, including the Johor, Perak and Selangor teams. Second-placed Penang put up a spirited challenge to the Indonesian boys but dropped a number of points unnecessarily in other matches. These two teams led all the way from the start of the tournament.

Perak, second last year, put on an encouraging show with Deon Moh and Aaron Yee, two very promising junior players in the team.

Final standings: Sekolah Catur Enerpac 22.5 points; Penang 21 points; Perak 17.5 points; Johor and Malacca 17 points each; KL Boys 16.5 points; Alam Shah 99 and SMK Kepong Baru 15.5 points each; Sarawak and Subang Jaya "A" 15 points each; Selangor, Terengganu, Sabah and San Peng Boys 14.5 points each; Perlis and SMK Sea Field 14 points each.

Xie Jun defends title

NOT so very long ago, the world chess championships were made up of two- or three-year cycles that would almost invariably be decided by long matches between the defending champion and challenger. Then, about two years ago, the World Chess Federation radically changed the championship format to an annual knockout contest.

Since the end of last month, the chess world's attention has been focused mainly on the US$3mil (RM11.4mil) world championship taking place at the Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas. From a field of 100 players, the participants have now been reduced to two and, since last Sunday, Alexander Khalifman and Vladimir Akopian have been engaged in a six-game match to decide the next world chess champion.

However, for much of the last fortnight, a lot of talk had centred on whether this knockout format was achieving its desired result. The quarter-finals was a crucial stage for the championship but at its end, the top players who had been booted out included Vladimir Kramnik (world No.3), Alexei Shirov (world No.5), Vassily Ivanchuk (No.8), Veselin Topalov (No.12), Alexey Dreev (No.15), Nigel Short (No.17), Judit Polgar (No.19) and Zoltan Almasi (No.20).

Left in the contest were Michael Adams (world No.7), Vladimir Akopian (No.36), Alexander Khalifman (No.45) and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (No.136). Adams (Britain) was expected to beat Akopian (Armenia) in the semi-finals but to everyone's surprise, Adams too was shown the door when Akopian prevailed by a 2.5-1.5 score.

The Romanian grandmaster Nisipeanu, aged 23, with a rating of only 2,584, was the surprise of the event. His passage through the championship was not easy but his victims had been Yugoslav GM Stefan Djuric, Georgian GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili (10th highest rated player in the event), Brazilian GM Fafael Leitao and Ivanchuk and Shirov. His luck was expected to run out against Khalifman who, despite his placing as 45th in the world, is actually a very seasoned player.

Yet, Nisipeanu almost upset the form book again. Khalifman won the third game of the semi-final match but Nisipeanu struck back with a fourth-game win to take the match to extra time. It was only in the play-off that Khalifman managed to send off his opponent.

The final of the world championship thus pitted two non-favourites against each other. This is already a surprise, but one can guess how much bigger the surprise would have been if this had been Akopian playing not Khalifman but Nisipeanu for the world chess championship title!

Throughout the past month, Gary Kasparov, despite his non-involvement with this event, has been making general observations and comments on the games through his Club Kasparov chess site on the Internet. In one of his comments, Kasparov described Akopian, Sergei Movsesian and Nisipeanu as tourists, meaning that he considered them lightweights who would surely be eliminated by the heavyweights in the event.

As the unfolding events have shown, it is actually the lightweights that have displaced the heavyweights.

An indignant Nisipeanu pointed out that Kasparov "doesn't even know me," but he was quick to add: "Okay, next to Kasparov, I am a tourist."

Akopian was more critical. He said about playing Kasparov: "Once, I had a completely winning position, but his luck saved him. It was a team match and I gave him a draw because my team had already won. In the other game, he was White. He immediately began trading all the pieces and he made a draw against me. So he was White and I could not prevent him from doing this. But for me, for sure Kasparov is the tourist."

Although readers can follow the progress of the world chess championship from the official web site at (http://www.worldfide.com/), there are other chess sites on the Internet which provide comprehensive coverage. Among them are the Inside Chess Online homepage at (http://www.insidechess.com/) and the Club Kasparov homepage at (http://www.clubkasparov.ru).

Xie Jun wins women's crown again

At about the same time that the world chess championship was starting in Las Vegas, the lesser-known match between Xie Jun of China and Alisa Galliamova of Russia for the women's world chess title was also being contested almost half a world away.

This championship match, which was also a World Chess Federation event, had been split between two venues with the Russian town of Kazan hosting the first half of the match and Shenyang in China hosting the second.

The Kazan half of the match had ended in a 4-4 tie between the two players but Xie quickly seized control of the match once the venue shifted to Shenyang. Xie went into a two-point lead, then saw it reduced to only one point before she fought her way back to take the match with a 8.5-6.5 score.

By winning this encounter against Galliamova, Xie has reclaimed her women's world championship crown which she lost to Zsuzsa Polgar in 1996. When it came to Polgar's turn to defend her title against Xie who had qualified as the challenger, she refused, citing many non-reasons such as having a baby, her doctor's advice not to travel within six months of her delivery, and a US alert to its residents against travelling to China.

(At that time, diplomatic relations between the United States and China were at an ebb following the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy building in Belgrade at the height of the NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.)

The World Chess Federation then said that Polgar had defaulted on the match, and decided that Xie and Galliamova would instead battle it out for the women's chess title. At first, Galliamova refused to play this match, saying it was unfair that the full match would be held in China. After much wrangling by both parties, the Chinese agreed that the first half of the match would be played in Kazan.

The match began with Xie drawing first blood with a win in the second game. However, Galliamova struck back immediately in the third game. Xie then went ahead by winning the fifth game but again, Galliamova equalised by taking the sixth game.

Xie began the Shenyang half of the match with a win in the ninth game. After a drawn 10th game, Xie went further ahead by winning the 11th game. Galliamova managed to reduce the margin by winning the 12th game but after Xie won the 14th game, Galliamova's title hopes evaporated. The draw in the 15th game gave Xie the women's crown.

UP NEXT

Merdeka Team Championship

THE 18th Merdeka team chess championship starts on Sunday at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Like in previous years, the three-day championship is divided into three categories: state, youth and open.

The state category of the championship has always elicited the best performances from the state chess associations which view the competition as the de facto national team tournament. Prizes for the state category are RM2,000, RM1,500 and RM1,000. The winner will also receive custody of the Deputy Prime Minister's challenge trophy.

The youth category normally also gets a good response from chess players. The five prizes in this category are RM1,000, RM750, RM500, RM300 and RM150. The Merdeka youth challenge trophy will also go to the winner.

The other main feature of the championship is the open category in which the winning team will receive RM2,000 and the runner-up RM1,500. The other prizes are RM1,000, RM800, RM600, RM400 and RM200. In addition, there are special prizes for the best government department, women's, school, and family teams.

For a list of the teams that have signed up for the championship, visit my website at (http://www5.mol.com.my/qss/Library/index.html).

Registration for the teams will start at 8.30am on Aug 29. The first round will commence at 1pm and the second, at 4.30pm. On the second day, the rounds begin at 9am, 1pm and 4.30pm, and on the last day of the competition, the final two rounds are at 9am and 1.30pm.

According to the Malaysian Chess Federation, the outstation state and youth teams will be put up at KL's Dynasty Hotel, the official hotel for the event.

Johor Baru Open

THE Johor Baru District Chess Club will hold its ninth Johor Baru open chess tournament at the Dewan Menara Komtar, Johor Baru, on Sunday in conjunction with National Day celebrations.

This event, which is jointly organised with Johor Land Berhad, will be divided into open, under-16 and under-12 sections. There will be 10 cash prizes in each section, with prizes of RM300, RM100 and RM80 going to the respective winners.

The entry fee for the open section is RM15 while players entering the under-16 and under-12 events will be charged RM7 and RM5 respectively. The games start at 8.30am on Aug 29, and only the first 300 entries will be accepted.

For more information about the tournament, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 or e-mail naraa@tm.net.my). Entries will close today.