An enjoyable Olympiad

ONE aspect of Istanbul hosting the world's biggest chess event is that, unlike the previous hosts Elista or Erevan which are underdeveloped by comparison, the good infrastructure in the Turkish city makes communication with the rest of the world seem so effortless. Accessing the Chess Olympiad's homepage through the Internet was so easy and fast.

There I was, early Sunday evening, in front of my computer and already logged onto the Internet. With a few clicks of the mouse, I was ready to follow the fortunes of our Malaysian team which were playing a rather weak Zambia in the final round. This was to be an important match because the team needed a really good result to boost their position in the tournament's final standings.

Actually, our team's progress through the first 13 rounds of the Olympiad was very typical of most teams in the competition: a good win against a weaker team would be immediately followed by a thrashing at the hands of a stronger team.

This would push down the standing of the team whereby it would then be paired with another weak team which it would beat. This cycle normally repeats itself unless there is some extraordinary change to break the pattern.

For example, in the first 10 rounds, the Malaysian team alternated between losing and winning. They lost 0.5-3.5 to Poland, beat Jersey 4-0, lost 1-3 to Argentina, beat Palestine 3.5-0.5, lost 1-3 to Singapore, beat Qatar 2.5-1.5, lost 0-4 to Italy, beat Uganda 3.5-0.5, lost 1-3 to Turkey 'A' and beat Paraguay 3.5-0.5.

In the 11th round, Malaysia drew 2-2 with Colombia, then lost 0.5-3.5 to Lithuania in the 12th round, and drew 2-2 with Syria in the 13th round. These fluctuating fortunes set the Malaysians up against Zambia in the final round of the competition. I was quite hopeful that the Malaysian players could walk through the Zambians.

Mas Hafizulhilmi, our first board player, had been a pillar of strength for Malaysia. Except for a loss to the Italian grandmaster Igor Efimov, Mas Hafizul had either won or drew his other games. His results included draws against Lithuanian grandmaster Aloyzas Kveinys, Singapore's imported Chinese grandmaster Wu Shaobin, Polish grandmaster Bartlomiej Macieja and Argentine international master Alfredo Giaccio.

The Zambian first board proved no match for Mas Hafizul whose patient handling of a slightly defensive position from the opening gradually turned the tables on his opponent. By the end of the game, the Zambian player was staring at an impending checkmate.

But on the second board, Mok Tze Meng was very lucky to have gotten away with a draw. Unless the game score was wrong, I could have sworn that his opponent, having sacrificed a rook and gotten a pawn to the seventh rank, had a won game. There was no way that Mok could defend himself against checkmate or huge material loss. Anyway, it was still a precious half-a-point.

Wong Zi Jing, our third board player, grounded out a win in a tedious rook endgame. Earlier, the position with the rooks and minor pieces on the board had looked rather level but Wong's dogged probing of the weaknesses in his opponent's position led him to gain an important passed pawn in the centre of the board.

By the end of the game, Wong's advantage had increased to two passed pawns, and his opponent gave up soon afterwards.

This Chess Olympiad could almost have been a dream tournament for Jonathan Chuah. Until the 12th round, Chuah had played six games and obtained five points, putting him as the top contender for the gold medal as the second reserve player. Unfortunately, the Syrian player in the 13th round spoilt Chuah's plans and suddenly, he found himself out of contention.

When I watched Chuah's play at the start of the final game last Sunday, I had a feeling that he had perhaps not fully recovered from his disappointment as the opening play was erratic, leading to the loss of the exchange material. But Chuah woke up after that and he not only won back his material but later on, managed to go a piece up. The full point from this game was never in doubt after that.

Chuah finished the Chess Olympiad with a 75% score from eight games, the best achieved among the six Malaysian players in the team.

However, it was not enough even for the bronze medal which was awarded to the Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk who had also obtained a 75% score from 10 games.

The other two Malaysian players were Ismail Ahmad and Azahari Mohd Nor. Fourth-board Ismail played six games but scored only one point, while first reserve player Azahari lost the only game that he played.

Many readers reading this report on the Chess Olympiad may be wondering what was exactly Azahari's role in the team. Assuming that the team had gone to Istanbul on sponsored funds, the Malaysian Chess Federation will have to justify their selection of Azahari instead of some other player who could have contributed more.

The 28.5 points scored by the Malaysian players enabled the team to finish in joint 59th-65th position among the 126 teams in the open event. Malaysia had also fielded another team for the women's event and this team, comprising Lim Jean Nie, Samantha Lee, Eliza Hanum Ibrahim and Siti Zulaika Foudzi, finished in joint 56th-61st position among 84 teams.

The winners of the open and women's events were Russia and China respectively.

Russia won the Russell Hamilton trophy with 38 points, narrowly edging out Germany which had collected 37 points. For the Germans, it was their best-ever performance in the history of the Chess Olympiad which goes as far back as 1927.

In the women's event, the Vera Menchik trophy was won by China after the team had brushed aside a challenge from Georgia and 83 other teams. China accumulated 32 points which was also one point ahead of their closest rivals.

Although the Russian men carried the day in Istanbul, things did not go exactly the way they would have preferred. In the third round, the Russians fell to the Hungarian team after their world champion Alexander Khalifman lost to Peter Leko and the other three games were drawn.

Then there were two drawn matches with Germany and Israel in the sixth and seventh rounds, and this was followed in the ninth round with a Russian loss to Bulgaria. This time, Khalifman lost to Veselin Topalov and Peter Svidler to Kiril Georgiev.

But just as spectacular as Hungary beating Russia in the third round, the Hungarians themselves fell to the German side one round later. So, from the fourth round onwards, Germany assumed the leadership of the pack. It was a lead that the Germans would hold for the next five rounds.

By the ninth round, however, the Germans were forced to give up their sole lead in the competition when they allowed Armenia to catch up with them. Armenia had defeated Spain by 3.5-0.5 which was a big margin considering that the Spanish number one player, Alexei Shirov, was playing on the top board. By the end of this round too, Ukraine had crept up to third place in the standings while Russia and Bulgaria were placed just next in line.

The 10th round saw the final turning point in the Chess Olympiad. Russia stepped up a groove by beating Romania and suddenly, the other teams were lined up behind them. Russia built on this lead by beating Ukraine and Armenia, and then with the trophy already theirs, they eased up by drawing with England and Georgia in the final two rounds.

The women's event turned out to be a two-horse race between China and Georgia after the Russian women's challenge fizzled out. The early rounds saw an interesting tussle between the two teams but by the seventh round, China had claimed a firm lead in the competition.

The past two months have been quite filled with high-level chess activities worldwide which began with the 16-game match between Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.

It took Kramnik just 15 games to eke out an historic 8.5-6.5 victory. At the tail-end of this match, the Chess Olympiad began in Istanbul and even as the world's biggest chess event has ended, the chess world is gearing up towards the next big event which is the World Chess Federation's annual world chess championship.

This event starts on Nov 25 in New Delhi and it will end in Tehran, Iran, on Dec 27. This is a whole month of chess-playing activities for the world's top chess players as they seek to be crowned as the next world chess champion. The URL for this event is http://wcc2000.fide.com/ and I am sure the timezone in India will make this website quite popular among local chess enthusiasts.

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Seremban Parade chess challenge

THE two-day Seremban Parade Chess Challenge, organised by the Seremban Parade with help from the Malaysian Chess Federation, starts next weekend in Seremban.

On Nov 25, the Seremban Parade age-group tournament will be played beginning at 10am while the Seremban Parade open tournament will be held a day later. The total prize fund for both events is RM1,500.

As only the first 100 entries will be accepted for each event, anyone interested in playing should call either Amy Yap ( 06-761 8282) or Norhana ( 03-4108 2590) as soon as possible.

Selangor events

The Chess Association of Selangor will organise their closed Rapid-60 tournament for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age groups tomorrow and Sunday at the Sunway College in Petaling Jaya. This is a six-round event. Although it is open to CAS members only, non-members who wish to play can call Lim Tse Pin ( 012-298 4922) for consideration.

The CAS will also hold their fourth quarter open allegro tournament on Dec 10 at the Sunway College. Originally meant for Nov 26, the change of date is to prevent a clash with the Seremban Parade tournament. For more information, Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237) or Lim.

Kasparov in trouble

THE big surprise in the current 16-game match in London between Gary Kasparov, 37, and Vladimir Kramnik, 25, is the way in which the younger player has baffled his older opponent in just about every game.

Instead of trying to out-prepare Kasparov, Kramnik cleverly plays chess openings that he knew Kasparov would not expect. For instance, Kramnik had dropped his usual Nf3 English openings, his Petroff and Sicilian defences in favour of the solid Berlin defence. This strategy undermined the confidence of the normally unperturbable Kasparov.

Let me recap the first five games. The first game was drawn but in the second game, Kramnik drew blood when Kasparov misplayed it. The third game saw Kasparov trying hard to win but he did not succeed. Then came the fourth game in which Kasparov's tenacious defence of a worse-off position saved him from another loss. The fifth game was a quiet draw.

Gary Kasparov eyes up his opponent Vladimir Kramnik in the 10th match
of the 16-game World Chess Championship in London.

In the sixth game, Kasparov escaped from another lost position in a superbly fought game. Kramnik played a sharp, attacking game and took some positional risks by advancing both his rook pawns in an attempt to attack on the dark squares.

Around the 30th move, Kasparov looked better but Kramnik showed his real strength in time pressure and took full advantage of a misjudgment by his opponent to achieve a won game shortly after the time control. He kept up the pressure and looked almost certain to pocket a full point but somehow, as in the fourth game, Kasparov found some brilliant defensive moves to escape with a draw.

The seventh game was a disappointment because both players agreed to an 11-move draw. Why did Kasparov, playing with the white pieces and a point behind, offer a draw? No explanations were given but I'm sure he would have something to say about this after the match.

This far in the match, Kasparov's only virtue has been his resilient defence of some pretty desperate situations. However, in the eighth game, he finally played like the player we knew.

He sprung a surprise on Kramnik which enabled him to fight for the advantage with the black pieces. However, Kramnik was equal to the task and managed to hold his position by making some good practical decisions despite being short of time.

The ninth game saw Kramnik repeating the Berlin defence opening which had served him so well in the first and third games. At the cost of some passivity, Kramnik frustrated Kasparov by short-circuiting his creativity and attacks.

Then came Kasparov's worst-ever defeat in the 10th game. In just 25 moves, Kramnik unleashed an attack on Kasparov's king and forced the latter to resign the game or face immediate material loss to avert checkmate.

Kramnik was aided by an opportunity to sacrifice a piece deep in Kasparov's position. Surely a player like Kasparov must have seen it coming; it was puzzling why he had allowed it in the first place. A faulty miscalculation, perhaps?

In the 11th game, Kramnik varied from the Berlin defence to another system known as the Accelerated Archangel variation. Either fear of Kasparov's preparation or the desire for the advantage of surprise must have induced this change. Anyway, the queens came off early and an endgame of rook and two pawns against two bishops was quickly reached. Kramnik very comfortably held the draw.

The 12th game was also interesting. Kasparov put Kramnik to the test but the latter was again up to the challenge. Kasparov grabbed a pawn in uncharacteristic fashion and withstood what looked like a tremendous attack from Kramnik.

But halfway through the attack, in a decision that showed his maturity, Kramnik decided to give up playing for a win and instead switched into a defensive mode to save the draw. As he had done so many times with the black pieces in this match, Kramnik dug in and Kasparov was unable to make any headway.

With only four games remaining in the match, Kramnik was leading Kasparov by 7-5. The 13th game was drawn in 14 moves.

It now appears that Kasparov has given up all hope of even drawing level in the match. After this game, he said he was tired and depressed over missed opportunities.

Tomorrow will be the last day for the match and the 16th game will be played. My gut feeling is that there will not be much of a game tomorrow. Kasparov may want to get everything over with fast and leave London as soon as possible!

You can view the final game through the Internet and the various websites dedicated to this match include http://www.chesscenter.com/wcc2000/ (the London Chess Centre), http://www.chessclub.com/ (the Internet Chess Club) and http://www.kasparovchess.com/. The official site is at http://www.braingames.net/.

The most popular bi-annual chess competition, the 34th Chess Olympiad, opened in Istanbul last Saturday. There are 126 men's and 84 women's teams taking part.

Tipped to win the men's event is the Russian team led by world champion Alexander Khalifman on the first board, Alexander Morozevich on the second board and Peter Svidler on the third board. Other players in the team are Sergei Rublevsky, Konstantin Sakaev and Alexander Grischuk.

However, the Russian team, after beating Morocco 4-0 in the first round, could only beat Italy by a 3.5-0.5 score in the second round, thus enabling Hungary, also a strong title contender, to leapfrog them.

Hungary has a very strong line-up in Peter Leko, Zoltan Almasi, Judit Polgar, Lajos Portisch, Gyula Sax and Robert Ruck. After beating the United Arab Emirates 4-0 in the opening round, the Hungarians followed through with a similar 4-0 score against Myanmar.

The Malaysian men's team--comprising Mas Hafizulhilmi, Mok Tze Meng, Wong Zi Jing, Ismail Ahmad, Azahari Md Nor and Jonathan Chuah--played a difficult first round and were almost routed by Poland. It was left to Mas Hafizul to salvage an important half-point from this match.

However, the second round was easier and the Malaysians lost no time in beating Jersey 4-0.

The women's event will probably be dominated by the Chinese powerhouse again. Led by women's world champion Xie Jun, the Chinese team beat Brazil in the first round and Spain in the second round by similar 3-0 results.

The Chinese women's greatest challenge will come from Georgia who have players like former world champion Maya Chiburdanidze, Nana Ioseliani and Nino Gurieli.

Malaysia has a team playing in the women's section and after a first-round 0-3 debacle at the hands of the Czech Republic, the team reversed its luck with a 3-0 score against the Yemenis.

The Malaysian team comprises Lim Jeannie, Samantha Lee, Eliza Hanum Ibrahim and Siti Zulaikha Foudzi. The adventures of the two Malaysian teams in Istanbul can be obtained from the official homepage of the Chess Olympiad at http://www.istanbulchessolympiad.com. The games are played daily from 1am Malaysian time, but both today and Nov 11 are rest days for the competitors.

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Perak closed tournament this month

The Perak International Chess Association will hold the Perak closed tournament over two weekends at the Great World Centre in Jalan Kampar, Ipoh, this month. This will be a nine-round event with a time control of 90 minutes per player for each round.

The tournament is open to all chess players in Perak who have a state rating of at least 1,700 points. Players without any rating points will be accepted on a case-by-case basis.

The first two rounds will be played on Nov 11; this will be followed by three rounds on Nov 12. There are two more rounds on Nov 18, and the tournament wraps up with the final two rounds on Nov 19.

Prizes include RM300 and a trophy for the winner, RM200 and a trophy for the runners-up, and RM120 and a trophy for the third placed player. The fourth to 10th prizes range from RM100 to RM30. The prizes are sponsored by Super Highway Computer (Ipoh) Sdn Bhd.

For enquiries, call W.K. Wong ( 05-3661 692).

Penang Grand Prix continues

The Penang Chess Association will organise the third and fourth legs of this year's Penang chess Grand Prix circuit at the Bayan Baru Residents' Association clubhouse on Dec 10 and 31 respectively.

Both legs will comprise six rounds. For enquiries call Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-226 2209 / 04-658 0809).

Kasparov vs Kramnik

IT HAS been such a long time since Gary Kasparov played a series of games against one and the same opponent that I had almost forgotten the thrill of following the games live through the Internet.

Heck, the last time that the Russian did play a match, his opponent wasn't even human! In May 1997--and that's three years ago, mind you--he precipitated the downfall of mankind by managing to lose a six-game match to Deep Blue which was IBM's little pile of chess nuts and bolts.

Since then, he has carefully avoided playing another match even against his fellow humans. True, there were two attempts to lead Kasparov back to the board but both attempts floundered because of obstacles erected by him.

Nobody is presently more peeved with Kasparov than Alexei Shirov, formerly of Latvia but now a Spanish citizen. Two years ago, Kasparov attempted to set up a small body to organise a match between Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik to determine a winner who would then play him in a chess match.

World No.2 Kramnik (left) is meeting the No.1 Kasparov in the
ongoing London match that boasts a £2mil (RM11mil) prize money.

Clearly, Kasparov would have preferred his friend and compatriot Kramnik to win, but when Shirov unexpectedly won the match, Kasparov downplayed Shirov's achievement by saying that such a match would be of little commercial value. Just imagine how much irreparable damage was done by that statement. It appears that Kasparov was never serious about playing against Shirov at all!

Viswanathan Anand was another "victim''. The Indian grandmaster was promised a match against Kasparov in September last year but the latter caused potential sponsors to back away from the match when he refused to support the idea of a regular cycle of matches among top players.

Anand was preparing hard for this match to the extent that he had to forego playing in many lucrative events in the second half of last year, especially the world chess championship in Las Vegas that was organised by the World Chess Federation.

But Kasparov's name had pulling power and if Kasparov had a preferred bias for playing Kramnik, sponsors would be found to put together such a match with terms even Kasparov himself could not refuse.

This match is now going on in London. It is a series of 16 games which would be completed in four weeks. Already, the match is almost at the halfway stage and there are only nine more games to be played. Four games are played in a week: on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

At this point of writing, Kramnik holds a one-point lead over Kasparov after the first five games. The first game was drawn but in the second game, Kramnik drew first blood when Kasparov misplayed the game while in time trouble. The third game saw Kasparov trying hard to level the score but to no avail, then came the fourth game in which Kasparov's tenacious defence saved him from another loss. With both players feeling very tired at this stage, a draw in the fifth game was never really in doubt.

One good point of this match is that all the games start at 11pm local time, not too late for us here to follow via the Internet. There are various websites dedicated to covering this event live, including:

www.chesscenter.com/wcc2000/ (the London Chess Centre)

www.chessclub.com (the Internet Chess Club)

www.kasparovchess.com

www.braingames.net (the official site which even sports real video clips of the games)

Your move

THIS position arose after Vladimir Kramnik, playing with the white pieces, had captured a pawn with 43.Bxb6. The position looked bad for Gary Kasparov as he was a piece down and Kramnik was threatening to push up his a-pawn. However, with the rooks, bishops and knights still on the board, there was still a lot for Kasparov to play for.

The game continued 43. ... Kd7, 44.a4 Rh3, 45.Nc5+ Kc6, 46.a5 Re3+, 47.Kd1 Re7, 48.Rc8+ Kb5, 49.Ne4 Rxe4, 50.Rc5+ Ka6, 51.Nc7+ Kb7, 52.Rxf5 Be3, 53.Bxe3 Rxe3, 54.Rxf7 Re5, 55.a6+ Kb6, 56.Rg7 Ra5, 57.Kd2 Ra1, 58.Kc2 Rh1, 59.Kb2 (This looks like a blunder as 59.Rg8 looks like a win, e.g. 59. ... Kxc7 60.a7 or 59. ... Ra1 60 Rc8) 59. ... Rh8 (This position is a draw! After Black plays 60. ... Rc8 to win the a7 pawn, the rook and knight versus rook endgame is a fairly straightforward draw) 60.Kb3 Rc8, 61.a7 Kxa7, 62.Kb4 Kb6, 63.Nd5+ Ka6, 64.Rg6+ Kb7, 65.Kb5 Rc1, 66.Rg2 Kc8, 67.Rg7 Kd8, 68.Nf6 Rc7, 69.Rg5 (Cutting off the white king from the black king) 69. ... Rf7, 70.Nd5 Kd7, 71.Rg6 Rf1, 72.Kc5 Rc1, 73.Kd4 Rd1+, 74.Ke5 (1/2-1/2)

Could you have done better than Kramnik?

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Istanbul Olympiad (Oct 28-Nov 12): The Malaysian Chess Federation will send the national men's and women's teams to play in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. The biennial Chess Olympiad is organised by the Turkish Chess Federation under the auspices of the World Chess Federation (Fide).

The men's team: international master Mas Hafizulhilmi (captain), Wong Zi Jing, Mok Tze Meng, Jonathan Chuah, Ismail Ahmad and Azhaari Md Nor. The women's team: Eliza Hanum Ibrahim (captain), Siti Zulaika Foudzi, Samantha Lee and Lim Jean Nie.

MCF secretary Abdul Hamid Majid will be manager of both teams, while MCF committee member Zainal Ishak will head the Malaysian delegation to the Fide general assembly and congress which will be held concurrently with the Chess Olympiad.

A total of 201 teams from 126 countries, comprising 861 men and 422 women, are expected to play in the event.

Royal Selangor Club junior and veteran events (Oct 29): The club will organise its third junior tournament at the multi-purpose hall of the Dataran Merdeka venue in Kuala Lumpur. This will be a rapid-play event over six rounds for the under-10 and under-14 age groups. The first round will start at 9am. There will also be a veterans tournament at the same time for players aged 50 years and above.

Entry forms can be obtained at the RSC's Dataran Merdeka premises or at the Bukit Kiara Sports annexe. Registration can also be faxed to 03-252 3643 or e-mail: awkarim@hotmail.com. Entry fees are RM15 for the two junior sections and RM20 for the veterans section, and will include lunch. Cash prizes and trophies will be given to winners.

Kepong Open (Nov 5): Now in its seventh year, the tournament continues to grow from strength to strength. Even before the closing date is reached, the target of 300 entries has already been achieved. As such, due to organisational and equipment constraints, the tournament organisers said they are unable to accept any more entries. Registered players are reminded to turn up at SJK(C) Kepong Dua in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 5 before 8.30am. The school's parent-teacher association is organiser of the event which is held in four age categories.

Chess at the Olympics

SO, HOW many of you remembered to log on to http://sydney.fide.com on the Internet on Sept 24 to watch the two games between Viswanathan Anand and Alexei Shirov at the Sydney Olympics?

By all accounts, it was a historic event as it marked the first time that a chessboard was officially recognised in the Olympic games village.

Although there were no medals at stake and the games were simply an exhibition, the two rapid-play games were hard fought and played till there was no life left in the positions.

The first game was a fashionable line of the Najdorf variation that will come under close scrutiny for its theoretical value. Anand, known for his speed of play, seemed to obtain an advantage on the board and the clock, but Shirov defended under pressure to reach an ending where Anand's extra bishop had no effect on the result of the game.

In the second game, Shirov played the French. Anand sacrificed a pawn but Shirov repulsed the initiative and was a full pawn to the good. In mutual time trouble, Anand won back his pawn and both players agreed to a second draw.

According to reports from Sydney, Shirov had problems coping with a 39-hour journey from Poland. He missed a connecting flight and arrived just six hours before the match. He was very jet-lagged and had trouble waking up in time for the event.

There was speculation that if chess makes it as an Olympiad event it would most likely be in the Winter Games. Salt Lake City in the United States, two years from now, would be the earliest available opportunity.

Whether it becomes a reality or not will depend on the success of negotiations between the World Chess Federation, the International Olympic Committee and the Winter Games organisers.

In the meantime, here are the two absorbing games that were played in Sydney.

Shirov vs Anand (Game 1)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. g4 h6 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Bb7 11. h4 b4 12. Na4 Qa5 13. b3 Nc5 14. a3 Nxa4 15. axb4 Qc7 16. bxa4 d5 17. e5 Nd7 18. f4 Nb6 19. f5! (This variation is named after the Russian international master, Alexander Grischuk, who was the first to play this attacking move.) 19. ... Nxa4 20. fxe6 Nc3 21. exf7+ Kxf7 22. Bd3 Bxb4 23. Rdf1+ Kg8 24. Qf2 Ba3+ 25. Kd2 Ne4+ 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27. g5 (About two weeks earlier, Anand, himself using the white pieces against Boris Gelfand in the Chess World Cup tournament in Shenyang, played 27.Qf5 but could not avoid a draw after 27. ... Bb4+ 28.Kd1 Qc4 29.Ne6 Qd5+ 30.Ke2 Qc4+ 31.Kd1 Qd5+. Shirov tries a different tack.) 27. ... Bd5 28. gxh6 Bb2 29. Rb1 (After 29.Kd1 Qa5 30.Qf4 Rxh6 31.Nf5 Rh5 32.Rfg1 Kh8 33.Rg5 Rh7 34.Rxg7!, White has a crushing attack.) 29. ... Bc3+ 30. Kc1 Bxd4 31. Bxd4 e3 32. Qxe3 Bxh1 33. Rb6 Rc8? (Although Black has an extra rook, the win is not automatic. Possibly better is 33. ... Bd5, eg 34.Rg6 Rh7 35.e6 Rc8 36.c3 Qa5 37.Qg3 Qa1+ 38.Kd2 Qb2+ 39.Ke1 Qc1+ 40.Kf2 Qd2+ 41.Kg1 Qc1+ 42.Kf2 Rf8+ 43.Bf6 Rxf6+ 44.Rxf6 Rxh6 and White is losing.) 34. Qb3+ Qc4 35. hxg7 Rxh4 36. Rb8! Qxb3 37. Rxc8+ Kxg7 38. cxb3 Rxd4 39. Rc7+ 1/2-1/2 (Black's bishop cannot control the a1 promotion square, thus White ensures a draw in this position.)

Anand vs Shirov (Game 2)

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Bc4 Nc6 9. c3 e5 10. d5 Ne7 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qd2 Kh8 13. O-O-O Bg4 14. Be2 Qd6 15. Nh4 Rg8 16. g3 Rad8 17. Bxg4 Rxg4 18. Qe2 Ra4 19. Kb1 Nxd5 20. Nf5 Qe6 21. Ne3 Rd6 22. Nxd5 Rxd5 23. a3 Raa5 24. c4 Rd4 25. Rxd4 exd4 26. Qd3 Rc5 27. Qxd4 Rxc4 28. Qd8+ Kg7 29. Rd1 Qf5+ 30. Qd3 Qxd3+ 31. Rxd3 f5 32. Rd8 a5 33. Rd5 a4 1/2-1/2

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Allegro finals

THE Malaysian Chess Federation will hold the finals of this year's second Bank Pertanian Malaysia allegro Grand Prix at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur this weekend.

Unlike the earlier legs which were held in the State capitals throughout the year, this final tournament will be played over two days starting tomorrow at 2pm. Players are required to register at the playing venue between 10am and noon.

The winners of the various State legs will get free and automatic entry into the finals but all other participants will be charged entry fees which are RM10 for players under 12 years old, RM15 for women, players under 18 years old and staff of Bank Pertanian, and RM20 for all others.

The event will consist of nine rounds. Four will be played tomorrow and the remaining rounds on Sunday. The prize money totals RM2,600 and the winner will get RM500. The second to 10th prizes range from RM300 to RM80. There are minor cash prizes for the best veteran, woman, Bank Pertanian staff, under-16 and under-12 players.

Entry forms are available from the Riverside Restaurant, at the PWTC, Bank Pertanian headquarters building in Jalan Lebuh Pasar, Kuala Lumpur. For more information or to register, call Ibrahim Bakar ( 03-5519 8451), Ibrahim Yaacob ( 03-636 3082) or Hamid Majid ( 03-4021 9576).

Good prizes for Taiping

The UMNO Youth movements of Salak Baru and Bukit Gantang in Perak will jointly host an open chess tournament at Sekolah Menengah Tengku Menteri Changkat Jering in Taiping on Oct 15 beginning 8am.

This event, for the Dato' Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab trophy, will be played over seven Swiss rounds and run by the Perak International Chess Association (PICA).

The prizes are very attractive for a one-day event. The first prize is RM1,000; the second, RM800; the third, RM700; the fourth, RM600; the fifth, RM500; the sixth RM400; the seventh, RM300; the eighth, RM200; the ninth, RM100 and the 10th, RM50.

There are also trophies for the best veteran, woman, under-16 and under-12 players. The five best Umno players will also be given trophies.

Entry fees are RM10 for children under 12, RM15 for women and members of Umno or Pica, and RM20 for other participants.

For details call Mohd Rodi Nordin ( 05-241 1861, 019-570 8083), Fadil Salaudin ( 05-854 4502) or W.K. Wong ( 05-366 1692).

Reasons to rejoice

I CAN list 88 reasons why this year's Merdeka team chess championship was one of the most memorable ever organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation. Let me just name a few.

Firstly, the Society of the Blind Malaysia (SBM). In what other games can the visually-impaired compete with their able-bodied opponents on an equal footing? Not many, I'm afraid. But I can proudly proclaim that, in this tournament, our visually-impaired friends from the SBM were able to give some of the other teams a run for their money!

Secondly, the Brunei Chess Association. In recent years, one of our nearest neighbours has been making it a welcome habit of sending several teams to compete in both the Open and Youth sections of the Merdeka tournament. This year has not been any different; in fact, playing on the first board of their "A'' team in the Open section was an invited player from Indonesia, no less a person than grandmaster Ardiansyah.

Thirdly, Caissa Chess Enterprise and the St John's Institution Singapore (SJI) from our neighbour down south. Year in and year out, the Singaporeans have been giving the Merdeka tournament tremendous support. The Caissa team finished fourth in the Open section while the SJI Singapore was eighth in the Youth Section this year.

Fourthly, the Sekolah Catur Enerpac from Indonesia. This was their third appearance in the Merdeka tournament. In the past two years, this team of talented Indonesian youngsters had swept the Youth title.

Sensing that there was not much of a challenge left for them, the Enerpac boys turned their sights on the Open section of the tournament and it was to their credit that they finished third!

President of the Malaysian Chess Federation, Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik,
with the Penang team which won both the State and Youth titles at the
recent Merdeka tournament.

Fifthly, Dell Asia Pacific. With this year's Penang Dell Chess League behind them, the enthusiasm must have propelled Dell AP to send a team to play in the Merdeka event for the first time. The participation of this personal computer manufacturing giant is a milestone in Malaysian chess.

Sixthly, PCMM-Petronas. This team from the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia (PCCM), playing under Petronas colours and led by Malaysia's top player, Mas Hafizulhelmi, chalked up a memorable win in the Open section. Mas, playing on the first board, was the inspiration for the team as he was undefeated in all seven games.

Seventhly, Keluarga Effa. There aren't many families who have sufficient members to make up a chess team but for this year's Merdeka tournament, the Mohd Farid siblings turned out in full force to stamp their mark in the Youth section. Effazuwan, Effawira, Effahrin, Effalini and Effaliana, turned in a remarkable performance to finish fifth in this event.

Eighthly, the State teams. This was one of those very rare occasions when all the states sent their teams to play in the State section of the tournament. They were rallying behind the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) which was facing a small crisis over the future of the Merdeka team chess championship itself. I shall comment more about this later on.

Ninthly, the Deputy Prime Minister's challenge trophy. This heavy pewter trophy is shaped like a Chinese steamboat (others say a Mongolian hotpot) but it is the symbol of chess supremacy in Malaysia. The winner of the State competition would get to keep it until the next year. Tenthly, the Merdeka double. The Penang state and youth teams, both sponsored by Dell Asia Pacific, achieved the rare Merdeka double by winning both the State and Youth titles this year.

I do not have to mention all the other participating teams in this tournament, for they are the remaining reasons why the Merdeka team chess championship has garnered such a loyal following over the years. This year's entries numbered a record-breaking 88 teams, making it the largest and most successful national-scale team event ever held by the Malaysian Chess Federation. There were 14 teams in the State section, 34 in the Youth section and 40 playing in the Open section.

The organisers and participants of this year's tournament, played at the Putra World Trade Centre, had every reason to be thankful to the Youth and Sports Ministry.

The Sports Ministry had stepped in to save the event after its fate hung in the balance following the Culture, Arts and Tourism Ministry's decision early this year to cut off its Merdeka financial aid to the MCF.

Nobody in the federation was aware of the decision until the MCF forwarded enquiries to the Ministry at the end of July. Apparently, what the MCF could not understand was why the Ministry had not thought it necessary to inform it about this.

Would almost 20 years of an uninterrupted Merdeka team chess championship come to an abrupt end? Even people in Brunei and Singapore voiced their concern to me and the MCF when the story broke.

But luckily, tradition did count with the Sports Ministry which channelled some RM30,000 to ensure that the Merdeka team chess championship went on. The increased participation this year completely supported the MCF's case that chess is not a dying game in this country.

At the Sydney Olympics

IN 1999, when the International Olympic Committee officially recognised chess as a sport, the foremost question on chessplayers' minds was whether chess would make its way to the Summer Olympics in Sydney as a demonstration event.

There were many people who believed that this would not happen because preparations in Sydney were already far advanced and no provision could be made to accommodate this sudden turn of events.

However in the months since the recognition, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) had been working quietly with the Australian Chess Federation to discuss this possibility with the Olympic organisers in Sydney.

Now, the good news is that chess will be a presentation game in Sydney, and the game will feature Viswanathan Anand and Alexei Shirov at the chessboard.

The presentation will take place in the heart of the Olympic grounds which is the Sydney Olympic Athletes' Village from 1pm (Malaysian time) this Sunday, and it can be viewed live through the Internet.

This is a very significant event for the chess world, so if you have access to the Internet, do keep this Sunday free for surfing at sydney.fide.com

Playing musical chess

READERS in the northern region who receive The Star's North section may have noticed that my interests are not solely confined to chess. Indeed, music has played such a big role in my life that at times it is hard even for me to say whether chess or music holds a greater fascination.

Accordingly, as a chess player and music lover, I have always been on the lookout for music or songs which feature a chess theme. In the last 30 years however, I have not found many and in fact, I have come across only one instance where chess has had such a high musical profile.

This was in 1984 when the song One Night in Bangkok first hit the airwaves. At that time, who could forget Murray Head's famous lines like I get my kicks above the waistline or the queens we use would not excite you.

One Night in Bangkok came from the concept stage musical show called CHESS which was written and produced by ex-ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus in collaboration with English lyricist Tim Rice of Jesus Christ Superstar fame.

The musical, which ran at London's Barbican Centre and later on Broadway, was based very loosely on the 1972 world championship match in Iceland between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

There was a lot of excitement when the music album was released locally. Besides Murray Head, the other notable singer in the cast was Elaine Paige (who was even more successful later on in the musical Cats).

Today, 17 years later, CHESS continues to be staged by various production companies in Europe, Australia and the United States. Apart from the CHESS musical album, I have come across only two other chess-related music on audio compact discs.

Several years ago while wandering through the music shops in an Ampang shopping mall, I chanced upon a New Age audio compact disc by Manuel Gottsching with the very enigmatic title E2-E4.

The whole CD was made up of only one track in which Gottsching used his electronic wizardry to produce one long piece of instrumental music measuring 59 minutes and 20 seconds.

But it was nearly an hour of marvellous music: a racey, sparkling and subtly changing rhythm over which was added a very fluid understated guitar line. The result was hypnotic, refreshing and ideal for relaxation.

However, there was one point which rather irked me. Either Gottsching was just an average chess player or he could not be bothered with the translations of the cover notes from German to English.

For instance, Gottsching roughly divided his hour-long piece into nine segments and had subtitled one of them in German as Damen Eleganza. This was translated as "queen a pawn''" although I felt that "elegant queen'' was closer to the mark.

While CHESS was about a chess story set to music and E2-E4 was music with various chess themes, I have my doubts whether their authors or song writers--Rice, Andersson, Ulvaeus or Gottsching--had ever played competitive chess in their lives.

In terms of real chess and musical talent, none of them can really hold a candle to the next performer who is my third feature.

When I first came across this classical music CD, the first thing that struck me was the signature on the CD cover. It looked familiar; I had seen it before and here it was again, staring me in the face!

If that was not enough, there was also a photograph of a man and a woman at their pianos. The lady was not recognisable but the man, though younger than in any other photographs I had seen of him, was familiar enough. Further, the CD's title confirmed everything.

The man in the photograph was none other than Mark Taimanov, previously one of Russia's top grandmasters and more recently, a senior citizen world chess champion. There are encyclopaedic entries about Taimanov's chess career but very little about his musical side.

In chess, he had suffered greatly after losing spectacularly to Fischer in 1971. The Soviet Chess Federation blamed him and punished him by taking away his chess stipend and preventing him for a very long time from leaving the Soviet Union to play in international chess events.

Luckily, Taimanov could find solace in his music. In the Soviet Union, he was already a very talented concert pianist. He practically grew up together with his future wife, Lyubov Bruk. As teenagers, they had studied music at the Leningrad Conservatory and were brought together to play as a piano duet.

It was a very successful combination. Their duet won wide acclaim and though they could not tour outside the Soviet Union in the early days, the scope for concert activity within their country itself remained extremely broad. Much later, they were permitted to travel together to the Iron Curtain countries such as East Germany, Czechoslavakia and Hungary.

However, their personal and professional relationships ended in the early 1970s, no doubt contributed in part by Taimanov's disastrous showing against Fischer. Taimanov turned to a solo concert career in which he was not altogether successful, while Bruk teamed up with their son Igor, and later their granddaughter Kira, to continue with the duet and trio combinations.

Bruk died in 1996 while until today, Taimanov remains active with his dual concert and chess careers.

The double CD on the Taimanov-Bruk duet is a compilation of their surviving works which were recorded in Leningrad. It is part of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series under the Philips Classics label which appeared two years ago.

Among some of the music in this set are compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Frederic Chopin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A truly commendable collection.

UP NEXT

The Johor Baru District Chess Club and the Southern City Hyper Market will jointly organise the Southern City Open at the hypermarket's premises in Taman Suria, Johor Baru on Sept 17.

Entry fees are RM12 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16, and RM5 for the under-12. The winner of the open section will receive RM200, while the other seven prizes range from RM100 to RM15. Winners of the under-16 and under-12 sections will get RM100 and RM80 respectively. Both these sections offer seven other smaller cash prizes each.

Closing date is Sept 15 and only the first 300 entries will be accepted. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 / email: naraa@tm.net.my) or Zarida Ran ( 07-331 9787 / 012-7222 709).

Collective sigh of relief

THIS week, I am more than happy to inform chess players in the country that the Merdeka team chess championship is back on track. The Youth and Sports Ministry has agreed to provide the necessary funds so that the championship in Kuala Lumpur can continue its fine tradition.

The lifeline means that the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) will be organising this year's championship at the Putra World Trade Centre from Sept 1 to 3.

State chess associations which have been waiting anxiously for news about the championship's fate can now finalise their teams. The public interested in taking part in the open section can also form their teams.

Everything fell into place last week when the MCF received confirmation that the Sports Ministry would contribute RM30,000 to the Merdeka team chess championship after the Culture, Arts and Tourism Ministry had quietly removed it from its programmes for the National Day celebrations.

That decision caused much indignation in chess circles; many quarters felt that, in the enthusiasm to revamp the celebrations, the ministry had overlooked the fact that it would be alienating a few thousand people who have been celebrating National Day in their own special way for the past 19 years by congregating in Kuala Lumpur for the annual championship.

It is not that people are losing interest in the Merdeka team chess championship. On the contrary, the fact that the MCF had to seek even bigger premises for the event at the Putra World Trade Centre two years ago speaks volumes for the increasingly popular tournament.

Even foreign teams from Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei are now looking forward to the championship as a regular event that is not to be missed.

Also, we have had the occasional visitor from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, the Philippines and India playing too.

It would thus be ironic if the Culture, Arts and Tourism Ministry fail to realise that this particular event contributes to its plans to promote the country and encourage more foreigners to visit us!

The main attraction of the championship is the state category where the fight is for the Deputy Prime Minister's trophy. Most of the state chess associations are expected to send their strongest line-ups.

The other main feature of the tournament is the popular open category where competition is always very keen.

According to the MCF, outstation state and youth teams will be put up at the Dynasty Hotel, which is again the official hotel for the event.

Registration for the teams starts at 8.30am on Sept 1. The first round will commence at 3pm and the second round at 6.30pm.

On the second day, the rounds are played at 9am, 1pm and 4.30pm, while on the last day of the competition, the final two rounds are at 9am and 1.30pm.

Prizes for the state category are RM2,000, RM1,500 and RM1,000.

For the youth section, the prizes are RM1,000, RM750, RM500, RM300 and RM150. The Merdeka youth challenge trophy will also go to the winner in that category.

There will be seven prizes for the open category. 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.

Entry fees are RM150 for teams playing in the state and open categories, and RM80 for the youth category. The closing date for entries is Aug 25.

Recent results

MALAYSIA'S top-ranked player, Mas Hafizulhilmi, suffered a rare defeat in this year's PCMM open chess tournament organised by the Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Mas Hafizul lost to Rosli Mohd Noor in the second round; but after this little hiccup, he wasted no time in winning all his remaining games, including the last-round game with Agus Salim.

This crucial win lifted Mas Hafizul on par with Agus as both players had finished the event with equal six points.

However, the first prize was awarded to Agus as he had by far the better tie-break, after having won his first six games.

Interestingly, Rosli could not capitalise on his giant-killing feat as he faded from contention, managing to score only a further two points from his last five games.

Behind Agus and Mas Hafizul in the tournament standings were a group of six players who had each obtained 5.5 points: Mohd Azizul Mat Daud, Muhammad Arshad, Mustafa Kamal Zamhuri, Azahari Mohd Nor, Hafiz Shafruddin and Norazmi Mohd Nor.

Both Abdul Haq Mohamad and Jamalul Husaini, who scored five points each, were among the remaining main prize winners. Kamal Arifin and Hussein Mohd Jamil were unlucky to miss out on the prizes, while Ramli Bahari won a prize as the best veteran player.

Altogether, 71 players took part in the competition which was sponsored by Bank Pertanian Malaysia.

There were also separate events for the under-16 and under-12 players.

The under-16 event saw 42 competitors and the top prize went to Mohd Faizal Shamsudin who scored 6.5 points.

The under-12 section had 25 players, and the winner was Anas Nazreen Bakri who also obtained 6.5 points.

Two other chess tournaments that were played last month were the Kedah and Perlis legs of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit.

Both these events were run directly by the Malaysian Chess Federation because the two state chess associations had become dormant and fallen on difficult times.

This is a real pity because there is a lot of chess interest still in the two states. In Alor Star, for example, there were 155 participants.

Because of this large field, the MCF had recognised at the onset that it would be impossible to adopt the cumulative point system as the tie-breaker as the chances were great that some players could finish with equal points and equal tie-breaks.

True enough, Mok Tze Meng and Mas Hafizulhilmi emerged as the joint winners by winning all their games and without meeting one another. Luckily, the adopted Solkoff tie-breaking system awarded the first prize to Mok with Mas Hafizul collecting the second prize.

Out of the 13 players who finished with five points, those that won prizes were Tan Hong Ghee, Jonathan Chuah, Ismail Ahmad, Hisyam Ismail, Chuah Heng Meng, Chan Chung Ming, Foong Chee Leng and Lee Seow Tze.

Eighty players took part in Perlis and the joint winners were Mas Hafizulhilmi and Ismail Ahmad.

Both players scored 5.5 points each. Also among the prize winners were Siti Zulaikha, Mohd Rosdi Jamil, Mok Tze Meng, Abdul Haq Mohamed and Nor Azmi Mohd Nor who obtained five points each, Hisyam Ismail with 4.5 points, and Shamsudin Mat Isa and Sobri Ibrahim on four points each.

Seventeen other players who also had four points missed out on the main prizes.

UP NEXT

THE Johor Baru District Chess Club and Johor Land Berhad will jointly organise the 10th Johor Baru open Merdeka chess tournament at the Dewan Menara Komtar in Johor baru on Aug 27.

The event is divided into the open, under-16 and under-12 sections, and the entry fees are RM15, RM7 and RM5 respectively.

The winner of the open section will receive RM300, the runners-up will get RM200 and the third-placed winner will receive RM100.

The other winners within the top 10 will get cash prizes ranging from RM75 for the fourth placed to RM15 for the 10th.

The winners of the under-16 and under-12 sections will get RM100 and RM80 respectively.

Both these sections will also have nine smaller cash prizes each.

As only the first 300 entries will be accepted, those wishing to take part in the tournament are required to register with the organisers before Aug 25. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 or e-mail naraa@tm.net.my).  

Consistent champions

FOR the fourth successive year, the Penang Chess League challenge trophy has gone the way of the Penang Free School. In the 10th edition of this annual chess competition in Penang, now sponsored by leading global personal computer manufacturer Dell Computers, the PFS (A) team showed why they continue to be the dominant force in the state.

They started the tournament on a rather subdued note, trailing behind the early leaders, the Chung Ling Old Boys Association and the Old Frees Association. By the fourth round, however, the PFS (A) had caught up with these two leaders and a round later, the team moved into the lead with a slim one-point margin ahead of Chung Ling Old Boys.

This was the opportunity that the Free School players had been waiting for. For the rest of the tournament, they simply built on this lead and were, in fact, never in danger of losing it to any of the other teams.

The Penang Free team receiving their trophy from Penang state executive
councillor Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon. Dell Computer managing director
Simon Wong is third from left.

Second-placed Chung Ling High School (A) had perhaps the best chance of closing the gap on the league leaders. The two teams met in the crucial eighth round but whereas a 3-1 result should be the least that the CLHS (A) could look for in order to tie with the PFS (A) on equal points, the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

This interesting match practically decided the winner of the chess league's premier division since in the final round, PFS (A) was never troubled by Dell (A), winning by an expected 4-0 result.

By contrast, the Chung Ling team had to play their seniors, the Chung Ling Old Boys. Although CLHS (A) prevailed at the end, their triumph was only achieved with great effort as they only managed a 3-1 win.

The winner in the league's first division was the Universiti Sains Malaysia team which finished with a comfortable three-point lead over their nearest rivals, CLHS (D).

The Penang Development Corporation (B) team emerged victor in the second division, taking the top prize with a round to spare. Despite drawing a bye in the final round, the PDC (B) could afford to relax as they were leading by 4.5 points. None of the other teams were successful in closing the gap significantly on PDC (B).

Final standings in the Premier Division: PFS A (28 points), CLHS A (25.5), CLOBA (22), OFA (18.5), Dell A (13), CLHS B (12), PFS B (10), Pessca (9.5), PCA Novices A (4.5).

Division One: USM (22.5), CLHS D (19.5), CLHS C (18.5), PDC A (18.5), PCA Novices B (15), SXI (13.5), SMK Hamid Khan A (13), Hitachi (12.5), PFS C (11).

Division Two: PDC B (23.5), Dell B (21), PCA Ladies (20), MSSPP Girls (19.5), MSSPP Juniors (18), PFS D (14), CLHS E (10.5), SMK Hamid Khan B (9), PFS E (8.5).

Detailed results can be viewed on the Penang Chess Association homepage (http://www.geocities.com/pg-chess).

UP NEXT

Langkawi (Sept 7): The Malaysia Book Village will organise the first Langkawi International Chess Tournament at their premises in Lubuk Semilang, Langkawi. This event is sponsored by RHB Bank.

The open section of the tournament will offer three main prizes: RM750, RM500 and RM300, with five consolation prizes of RM50 each. For the under-16 section, the main prizes are RM150, RM75 and RM50, while the three winners of the under-12 section will get RM100, RM75 and RM50. Each section will also have three consolation prizes of RM20 each.

Entry fees are RM15 for the open section, and RM5 for both the under-16 and under-12 sections. Closing date for entries is Sept 5. To register or for further details, contact the Book Village secretariat ( 04-955 5568 / fax: 04-955 5562 / e-mail: kedah@worldfide.com).

Terengganu Open (Sept 7 to 9): The Terengganu Chess Association (TCA) will hold their annual state chess tournament at the Batu Burok Beach Resort in Kuala Terengganu.

There are 10 cash prizes for the open section of this event with RM1,000 going to the winner and RM700 to the runner-up. The minor prizes range from RM500 for the third, to RM50 for the 10th.

There is also a novice section in this event. Entry fees for the open section are RM20 for TCA members and RM30 for non-members. Fees for the novice section are RM10 for TCA members and RM15 for non-members.

For more information, contact Muhammad Arshad ( 018-895 8041 / e-mail: terengganuchess@hotmail.com).

In a quandary

More than any other chess event in Malaysia, the Merdeka Championships in Kuala Lumpur brings together all sorts of chess players from throughout the country.

In this tournament, you can find a broad spectrum of old and young, strong and weak, male and female, disabled and able-bodied chess player of various cultures, races and from all walks of life, pitting their skills in a common arena.

These are the professionals, specialists, consultants, educationalists, business people, office workers, factory workers, retirees, parents and students. Together, they make up a big happy family, an interesting mix, something you very seldom find in any other game or sport.

Unfortunately, there is now a question mark over the very existence of the Merdeka team chess championship this year. The championship is in danger of being called off this year because it has not been included as a programme by the National Merdeka Day Celebrations Committee.

Normally, at the beginning of every year, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) would forward a working part to the Merdeka Day Celebrations Committee, outlining its proposals for the team championship and including a budget for approval. In February, like for the past four years, this year's proposals were submitted to the committee via the Youth and Sports Ministry.

According to the MCF, nothing was heard from the committee or the Ministry for months and late last month, enquiries were made to ministry officials to check on the status of the proposal.

What the MCF learnt was not very good news. They were told that the whole Merdeka Day Celebrations Committee had been ordered to revamp by the Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister. With the emphasis now on patriotism and cultural events, the ministry has decided that there would be no place for the Merdeka team chess championship.

This piece of news, coming just about two months before this year's Merdeka team championship, scheduled to start on Aug 31, is shocking. Firstly, I can sense the deep disappointment developing in chess players everywhere. Even if they are not involved with the tournament, I am sure that these players are just as interested and curious about the event and would like to see it continue.

Secondly, I do not understand why the Culture Ministry or the Sports Ministry had not conveyed this important decision to the MCF earlier. Does a tournament's long history and tradition count for nothing in this day and age? After all, the Merdeka team chess championship has existed for 19 long years and this year's event will be its 20th.

Instead of celebrating this landmark event, it will be a sad day indeed if the MCF is forced to discontinue the event without any attempt to finding a solution.

Fortunately, there may be one. In recent weeks, arising from discussions between the MCF and the Sports Ministry, it is learnt that the ministry has agreed in principle to sponsor this year's Merdeka event. A final decision is still pending.

Cloba wins appeal

Remember the technical dispute over the line-ups of the Chung Ling Old Boys Association (Cloba) and the Penang Chess Association Novices (PCAN) teams from the 10th Penang Dell Chess League, which I highlighted two weeks ago?

The appeals committee met soon afterwards to discuss this matter and I am glad to say that it made the correct decision to retain the original score of the match between the two teams, which is a 3-1 result in Cloba's favour.

But before I go any further, there are a few pertinent points that require some clarification in order to set the record straight.

Firstly, I have to mention that the Cloba team although late for the round, did not fully assemble untilsome 20 to 25 minutes into the round. Some had arrived earlier and were already seated at their boards within the first 15 minutes. PCAN's irregular line-up, meanwhile, was noticed by the Cloba captain about 20 minutes into the round.

Secondly, the PCAN's only winning point had come from the fourth board and not the second board which I had reported a fortnight ago.

Thirdly, PCAN's counter-appeal was lodged only after the round had finished and fourthly, there were some written and unwritten supplementary rules that governed this tournament in addition to the normal FIDE rules of chess.

By "unwritten rules'', I mean the additional undocumented rules that were agreed upon by the teams at the managers' meeting before the chess league started.

One of these rules had stipulated that in the event of an inverted pair of players, both would be disqualified. Thus, it was correct for the appeals committee to disqualify PCAN's second and third boards, while leaving the fourth board's result unchanged.

As for PCAN's counter-appeal, it was really irrelevant as the committee felt that it should have been lodged during the match and not as an afterthought after it had ended. This was entirely correct too. However, even if the appeal had been lodged during the match, it would also have failed because the supplementary rules in their totality would have overruled it.

According to the rules, if a team's line-up is not submitted before the start of a round, it would mean that the first four players are fielded automatically. However, the team captain could still choose to submit his preferred line-up if he agrees to a penalty deduction of 10 minutes from his players' times.

The PCAN captain, by referring to the first half of this rule without considering the second half, was therefore wrong in interpreting the supplementary rules selectively. Furthermore, the tournament arbiter himself admits to not enforcing the rules strictly in the rounds preceding this dispute.

This being the case, it would be highly inappropriate to penalise the Cloba team for their infringement. Like I told someone in the tournament hall when the appeals committee was meeting, I would have been unhappy if the committee decided to take some strong action against Cloba, such as docking their points.

Moderation is required, and the severest action I could see would be to issue a verbal warning, and let it serve as a notice to the rest of the teams that the next time the rules are breached, the arbiter's decision could very well be very different indeed.

When this technical dispute came to my attention, the first thing that struck me was that it was all about chess education. Chess is more than just knowing how to shift 32 pieces around the chessboard.

Knowing how to rationalise and deal with off-the-board situations is equally important. So here, you have two teams with diametrically opposite viewpoints of the supplementary rules.

I had presented the main facts of the case (though there were some minor inaccuracies which did not affect the general picture) so that you, the readers, could think and discuss the best way, in your own opinion, to resolve the matter.

Quah Seng Sun's e-mail address is ssquah@schach.pc.my His previous chess articles are now archived at http://chesscolumn.20m.com/.

 

UP NEXT

Big Event in Johor

Chess players in the southern peninsula can look forward to the Bandar Raya Chessmaster 2000 Open chess tournament this Sunday which features the biggest prize monies so far for a local chess event in Johor this year.

The event, jointly run by the Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru District Chess Association in conjunction with the Johor Bahru City Carnival, will be played at the Plaza Angsana in Tampoi, Johor Bahru.

Entry fees are RM30 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section.

The winner of the open section will receive RM1,000 and a challenge trophy. The other prizes are RM800 for second, RM600 third, RM400 fourth, RM350 fifth, RM300 sixth, RM250 seventh, RM200 eighth, RM150 ninth and RM100 for 10th. All winners will also get certificates.

There are also 10 prizes each for the two junior sections. The under-16 winner will receive RM150 and the winner of the under-12 event RM80.

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

 

Line-up mix-up

IT IS not often that the organisers of the chess league in Penang are confronted with disputes. Indeed, the last time it happened about five years ago involved, sad to say, the team I was playing for.

However, by and large, local chess players are a reasonable lot and disagreements rarely occur.

Therefore, it was with a raised eyebrow that I learnt of a dispute in the fifth round of the 10th Penang Dell Chess League, played about a fortnight ago.

I shall not give any opinion on this case as it may prejudice the decision of the tournament's appeals committee which has yet to meet, but I will just limit myself to describing what transpired.

The Penang Chess Association had scheduled two rounds to be played at Dell Asia Pacific's premises in Bayan Lepas on July 2. Come 2pm, when the afternoon round was to begin, the Chung Ling Old Boys Association (CLOBA) team was nowhere to be seen. In the meantime, their opponents, the Penang Chess Association Novices, were eager to begin.

Unfortunately, the PCA Novices had mixed up their team's line-up and placed their fourth player to play on the second board. Non-chess players may question whether this constitutes anything serious for a team which submits a wrong line-up of their players, but it is an established convention in team events that the players in a chess team must play according to the registered line-up.

The reason is that in team competition, each side must place their four players in descending order of their strengths, as registered, so that the strongest of two opposing teams meet on the first board, the next strongest on the second board, and so on down the list.

About 20 to 25 minutes into the round, the CLOBA team entered the tournament hall, submitted their team line-up, then started playing.

The facts are a little hazy as to who first noticed the error in the PCA Novices team line-up but after a while, the CLOBA captain asked for action to be taken against one of the Novices due to the wrong line-up. The Novices' third board player was subsequently disqualified.

Much later in the round, the CLOBA captain again asked the arbiter whether the Novice's second board player should be disqualified as well, explaining that the inversion of their players on the second and third boards meant that both were playing in the wrong board order.

The perplexed arbiter, never having had to deal with so many disputes before in a single round, requested that the game be continued but if the CLOBA team was unhappy about his decision, they could play under protest and let the appeals committee decide on the matter.

By this time, it would be an understatement to say that the Novices team was simply unhappy about the developments. The players were in fact livid. With one player already disqualified, they faced the prospect of a second player being disqualified as well. Here was where their ingenuity came in.

The Novices' captain took stock of the situation and realised that he too could file a counter protest against the CLOBA team's line-up. According to tournament regulations, a team's captain is required to submit his players' line-up before the start of a round (2pm in this case) and failure to do so would mean that the first four players must be fielded automatically.

Well, the CLOBA team, having arrived 20 to 25 minutes late for the round, had forgotten about this rule and put in their third, fourth, fifth and eighth players instead. The Novices captain, believing he had legitimate grounds to complain, asked for the disqualification of the entire CLOBA team and the award of the full four points to the PCA Novices.

By the way, after the Novices team had been disqualified on the third board, the CLOBA team subsequently won the match with a 3-1 score. The CLOBA player lost on the disputed second board.

The appeals committee will be meeting this Sunday morning to resolve the issue but in the meantime, what would you (if you were the arbiter) have done do in this situation? You can e-mail your opinion to ssquah@schach.pc.my.

Meanwhile, here are the standings after the fifth round:

Premier Division: Penang Free School A (14.5 points), CLOBA (13.5), Chung Ling High Scool A (13), Old Frees Association (10.5), Dell A (7.5), PFS B (6.5), CLHS B (6), Pessca (6), PCA Novices A (2.5).

Division One: Penang Development Corporation A (12.5), CLHS D (11.5), USM (11), CLHS C (9), Hitachi Semiconductor (8.5), St Xavier's Institution (8.5), PCA Novices B (8), SMK Hamid Khan A (6.5), PFS C (4.5).

Division Two: PDC B (13.5), MSSPP Juniors (12.5), PCA Ladies (11), Dell B (10), PFS D (9.5), MSSPP Girls (9.5), SMK Hamid Khan B (6.5), PFS E (4), CLHS E (3.5).

UP NEXT

Johor

Players here can look forward to the Bandar Raya Chessmaster 2000 open tournament on July 30 which features the biggest prize monies so far for a local chess event in Johor this year.

The event, jointly run by the Johor Baru city council and the Johor Baru District Chess Association in conjunction with the Johor Baru City Carnival, will be played at the Plaza Angsana in Tampoi. Entry fees are RM30 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section.

The winner of the open section will receive RM1,000 and a challenge trophy. The other prizes are RM800 for second, RM600 third, RM400 fourth, RM350 fifth, RM300 sixth, RM250 seventh, RM200 eighth, RM150 ninth and RM100 for 10th place. All winners will also get certificates.

There are also 10 prizes each for the two junior sections. The under-16 winner will receive RM150 and the winner of the under-12 event, RM80.

Participants are required to register with the organisers before July 23. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 / email: naraa@tm.net.my).

BPM allegro

The final two legs of this year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be played in Kedah and Perlis next weekend.

The Alor Star leg on July 22 will be held at the Komplex Jabatan Belia dan Sukan Negeri Kedah, while the Kangar leg will be played on July 23 at the Komplex Jabatan Belia dan Sukan Negeri Perlis.

Entry fees are RM10 for residents of Kedah or Perlis (depending on the event), Bank Pertanian employees, players above 50 years old, and girls below 12 years old, and RM15 for all other participants.

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

To register for the Kedah leg: ( 04-733 6334, 03-4021 9576 / fax: 04-976 7406, 03-4024 4337). For the Perlis leg ( 04-976 7406, 03-4021 9576 / fax: 04-977 1808, 03-4024 4337).

Malay Open 2000

The Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia will organise this year's Malay open championship at the Bank Pertanian Malaysia head office in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow and Sunday. This is a seven-round event with a one-hour time control.

The first prize is RM1,000, second prize RM700, third prize RM500 and fourth RM300. The fifth to 10th prizes range from RM200 to RM50. In addition, there are attractive prizes for the best under-16, under-12, women and veteran players.

To register, contact Ibrahim Yaacob ( 03-636 3082, 012-380 3202 after 8pm) or Haslindah Ruslan ( 03-7885 5257).

Forceful Filipinos

YOU would be forgiven if you had thought that the Filipino chess players were here for a holiday. After all, grandmasters Eugene Torre and Rogelio Antonio, international master Rico Mascarinas and untitled player Ronaldo Nolte were on their way home to Manila after playing in the Vung Tau east Asian zonal tournament in Vietnam when they decided to break their journey in Kuala Lumpur.

When news first broke that these Filipino chess masters were interested in playing in the Royal Selangor Open at the Sungai Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur, many were rather excited about it. Would it not bring a certain glamour to one of Malaysia's biggest local events and pose a challenge to our players?

Unfortunately, it was not until play had begun that people started to realise that the Filipinos' presence was not exactly good for the tournament in general. In the first place, the chasm between these four seasoned international players and our local competitors proved far too wide.

Of the 24 games that the Filipinos played against our local players, they conceded only two draws. Nolte drew a game with Christy Chia while Mascarinas dropped half a point to Mak Weng Yee.

If the results looked rather disappointing, the second realisation was that the Filipinos' game plan was to draw all the games played among themselves. Every game among the foursome was drawn while they were ruthless against the local players. If not for the two small hiccups against Chia and Mak, I would dare say that Torre and company would have become joint-winners of this year's Royal Selangor Open.

In hindsight, I suppose the Filipino players did take the challenge to our local players. In the 24 games, they were effectively challenging the locals to show them what they were capable of. Would our established players be able to pierce the foreigners' defences? Could our up-and-coming junior players outwit these old foxes?

Regrettably, the answer is no. Mohd Saprin Sabri failed to make any headway in the two chances that he got against Nolte and Torre, Ismail Ahmad fired blanks against Antonio and Torre, and Mok Tze Meng came up against a brick wall in Torre and Nolte. Many others had a chance to play at least a game against these four experienced Filipino players but none made an impression.

The top scorers in the Royal Selangor Open were Torre and Antonio with 7.5 points, Nolte and Mascarinas with seven, and Mak Weng Yee and Mohd Saprin with 6.5. Bunched together on six points were Christy Chia, Ismail Ahmad, Joseph Toh, Mok Tze Meng, Nicholas Chin and Gerald Soh. A further half-a-point behind were Agus Salim, Lim Yee Weng, Abdullah Che Hassan, Lim Ven Gee and Muhamad Aizuddin.

Sixty players took part in this tournament organised by the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) and sponsored by Royal Selangor.

Together with this event, CAS also held the Selangor ladies' open at the same venue. However, there were only 12 participants.

Winning this event was Lee Su Ann who scored 6.5 points from seven games. Lim Han Ying was unfortunate to have lost her final game otherwise she would have tied with Lee at the top. Because of the loss, Lim's final score was 5.5 points.

Third was Nurshazwani Zulkafli with five points, while Norhidayah Azman and Wan Khye Theng both got four points.

10th Penang Dell league

WITH only three rounds completed in this year's Penang Dell chess league, the race for the premier division title looks wide open. Although Penang Free School is favoured to win the title again, it's facing stiff challenges from Chung Ling High School (CLHS), Old Frees Association (OFA) and Chung Ling Old Boys Association (CLOB).

Already, CLOB has taken a slim one-point lead over its closest rival OFA, with both CLHS A and Penang Free School A trailing not far behind. Dell Asia Pacific A which gained promotion to the premier division this year is showing good promise and is firmly entrenched in the middle of the tournament standings.

Among the Division One teams, the challenge for the title looks likely to be between the CLHS C and Penang Development Corporation (PDC) A. However, teams like Hitachi Semiconductor and Universiti Sains Malaysia are quite capable of overhauling the two leaders.

In Division Two, PDC B is presently ahead in the standings, but MSSPP Juniors and Dell Asia Pacific B are very close behind. PFS D, MSSPP Girls and the Penang Chess Association Ladies are performing well too and may provide the surprises in this division.

The Penang Dell chess league is the biggest local chess event in the northern region. The tournament, now in its 10th year, is organised by the Penang Chess Association and sponsored by Dell Asia Pacific. Nine rounds have been scheduled for this year's event and the games are played on most Sundays until Aug 6 at the Dell Asia Pacific premises in the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone.

UP NEXT

Kellie's Castle Open (July 2): The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise a one-day open tournament at Kellie's Castle in Batu Gajah, Perak. For details, call W.K. Wong ( 05-366 1692) or Steven Ng ( 05-366 8198).

Royal Selangor under-16 GP (July 8-9): The Chess Association of Selangor will hold the fourth leg of its fifth Royal Selangor under-16 grand prix circuit at the Sunway College. For details, call Mrs Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin ( 012-298 4922, e-mail: tsepin@maxis.net.my).

Systematic College Open (July 9): The Systematic College in Johor Baru, with assistance from the Johor Baru District Chess Association, will stage an open tournament at the college premises in Wisma Cheong Yee Kee, Jalan Meldrum. For details, call Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215, e-mail: naraa@tm.net.my).

A new winner

THERE weren't many surprises at the national closed championship played at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur recently. None of last year's trio of joint winners managed to repeat their feats, meaning there is a new winner of the National Master title in the men's section.

Ng Tze Han played the steadiest chess during the five days of the championship and finished with eight points. A good start in the first half of the nine-round event, comprising four wins and a draw with Lim Chuin Hoong, enabled him to keep within striking distance of Fide master Wong Zi Jing who led the field for most of the way.

Ng drew with Wong in the sixth round and then put in a spurt of victories in his last three games to clinch the title. Ng was helped along the way when Wong fell to Lim in a very crucial game in the penultimate round and thereby allowed Ng to overtake him as tournament leader.

At this stage, Wong's title aspirations were as good as gone. Ng, realising that the National Master title was almost his, mopped up the event with a win over one of last year's joint winners, Teng Wei Khoon. It was little consolation for Wong who tied for the second place with 7.5 points.

Wong had by far the best start in the competition when he won his first five games. He installed himself as a firm favourite after beating last year's joint winner Jonathan Chuah in the fifth round. Wong drew with Ng in the sixth round and then beat Cheah Eu Gene in his next game. Then came the loss to Lim which dashed all his hopes.

Lim, the joint runners-up, was one of two players who went undefeated in this event. However, Lim drew one game too many. Apart from his draw with Ng, Lim also dropped valuable half points against Chuah and Chan. But possibly, his win against Wong counted as one of the biggest highlights of the championship.

One player whom I think we shall be hearing of more often in the future is 13-year-old Nicholas Chan. In the past year, he had been quietly improving in junior events in the Klang Valley but at the national closed this year, Chan surprised everyone with a creditable performance.

Although his results were still scrappy--two losses and a draw interspersed with five wins--Chan did well to score 6.5 points and finish among the top four. Among his wins was one against last year's joint winner, Jonathan Chuah.

The three players who scored six points in this event were Jonathan Chuah, Chan Meng Yang and Thaw Chee Yin. Further down the field were Teng Wei Khoon, Khor Shihong, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Marcus Chan, Ling Kay Soon, Deon Moh and Ahmad Hafiz Shafruddin with 5.5 points each.

There were 47 players from the various state chess associations taking part in the championship. The top four players--Ng Tze Han, Wong Zi Jing, Lim Chuin Hoong and Nicholas Chan--will be eligible to participate in the Malaysian Master which the Malaysian Chess Federation will organise in Kuala Lumpur starting Sept 2.

This event will pool together six other players already listed on the Fide rating list. According to the MCF, this event will determine the national champion for the year. It will also be used to select three other players who will join Ng in the national team that will be playing in the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.

Together with the men's section of the national closed championship, the women's section was held concurrently at the PWTC but it was over only seven rounds.

Defending champion Siti Zulaika Foudzi showed that her success in last year's championship was not a fluke as she easily staved off challenges from other established players like Samantha Lee, Lim Jean Nie, Eliza Hanum Ibrahim, Eliza Hanim Ibrahim, Marina Soh and Nurul Huda Wahiduddin.

Technically, Zulaika and Lee finished as joint winners with 5.5 points each, but the former was declared the national women's champion based on a playoff. For the women's team that will be attending the Chess Olympiad this year, it is expected that Mumtaz and Lim will be selected by the MCF to join Zulaika and Lee.

10th Penang Dell League

The northern region's biggest local chess event, the annual Penang Dell Chess League, began last Sunday at the Dell Asia Pacific premises in the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone.

The tournament, now in its 10th year, is organised by the Penang Chess Association and sponsored by Dell Asia Pacific. The rounds are played on most Sundays and the event is scheduled to end on Aug 6.

UP NEXT

Royal Selangor under-16 GP (June 18, July 8-9): The Chess Association of Selangor will continue with the second, third and fourth legs at the Sunway College on these dates respectively.

Each leg will be a six-round contest with a 30-minute time control. For details, call Mrs Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin ( 012-298 4922 / e-mail: tsepin@maxis.net.my).

Kuala Terengganu Open (June 23-24): The Terengganu Youth and Sports Department will organise an open competition in conjunction with the state-level Sports Month celebrations. The venue of this event will be the Kompleks Belia Dan Sukan in Jalan Pasir Panjang, Kuala Terengganu.

The tournament is divided into the open, under-12 and novice sections, and entry fees are RM10 for the open section, RM5 for the novice section and RM3 for the under-12 section.

Total prize money is RM1,200 which will be distributed to the top winners of the three sections. The first round on June 23 will start at 9.30am, and the time control adopted will be 30 minutes per game.

For details, call Muhammad Arshad ( 018-895 8041 / e-mail: terengganuchess@hotmail.com).

BPM national allegro (June 25): The next leg of this year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro circuit will be played at Seremban Parade.

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

For details, call Charles Chan ( 012-683 5587 / e-mail: izhome@tm.net.my).

JB Carnival Open (June 25): The Johor Baru municipal council will organise an open tournament at the Plaza Kotaraya in Jalan Ibrahim with assistance from the Johor Baru District Chess Association.

The event is divided into the open, under-18 and under-12 sections, and entry fees are RM13 for the open section, RM7 for the under-18 section and RM5 for the under-12 section.

The winner of the open section will receive RM200, a one-night stay in Pulau Tioman, a hamper and a certificate. The runners-up will get RM100, a hamper and a certificate, while the third-placed winner will receive RM70, a hamper and a certificate. The other winners within the top 10 will get certificates and cash prizes ranging from RM50 for fourth to RM15 for the eighth placed.

The top three prizes for the two junior sections will be cash, hampers and certificates, and the remaining winners in both sections will get cash and certificates.

Participants are required to register with the organisers before June 22. For details, call Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 / e-mail: naraa@tm.net.my).

Kellie's Castle Open (July 2): The Perak International Chess Association will organise an open tournament to be held at Kellie's Castle in Batu Gajah.

Kellie's Castle, the unfinished monument to William Kellie Smith who was a pioneer rubber planter in Perak at the turn of last century (the Kinta Kellas Rubber Estate was planted by him), had lain overgrown with weeds for the past 70 years until its recent restoration by Rekreasi Kellie's Castle Sdn Bhd. Now, Rekreasi Kellie's Castle has teamed up with the PICA to organise presumably the first of many chess events in Batu Gajah.

The July 2 competition will be a one-day event, played over six rounds and with a 25-minute time control per player for each game. Registration of players will be at 8am and the first round is scheduled for 9.10am.

The top three prizes will be trophies and RM500, RM300 and RM200. There are seven other cash prizes ranging from RM120 to RM50; the best women's, under-12 and veteran (above 50 years old) players will receive RM50 too.

For details, call W.K. Wong ( 05-366 1692) or Steven Ng ( 05-366 8198).

Close fight

DESPITE the absence of prize monies, the East Asian (Zone 3.2a) men's zonal tournament which ended earlier this week in the Vietnamese town of Vung Tau still attracted five grandmasters and six international masters among the field of 32 players.

At stake were at least two precious tickets to this year's world chess championship. Playing in the world championship would mean the opportunity for qualifiers to earn more money than most regional events could offer. Thus, the importance of the zonal tournament becomes more significant.

The World Chess Federation (Fide) divides the world into many zones and sub-zones. Normally, each zone or sub-zone will consist of several countries in the geographical vicinity but at times it can also be made up of only one country especially if the country is big enough to be a chess power on its own.

For example, in Asia there are six zones or sub-zones. Zone 3.1a comprises the Middle Eastern countries, Zone 3.1b the countries of the Indian sub-continent, Zone 3.2b the southern Pacific countries, Zone 3.3 is the regional chess powerhouse China, while Zone 3.4 is made up of the former Soviet Union countries in central Asia.

Zone 3.2a consists of countries in the east Asia corridor which are Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each of these Asian zones and sub-zones, as well as the others around the world, have either held or are presently holding their zonal tournaments to determine their respective qualifiers to Fide's world championship.

According to Fide, India and Iran have put in a joint bid of US$2.7mil (RM10.26mil) to host both the world championship and the women's world championship. The total cost of holding these events is expected to be US$3.6mil (RM13.68mil) and the shortfall of US$900,000 (RM3.42mil) will be met from elsewhere.

New Delhi will host the preliminaries to the semi-final of the world championship and the whole of the women's world meet, while the final match for the world championship will be held in Tehran. The preliminary rounds will start on Nov 25.

Representing the east Asian zone will be Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam and Buenaventura Villamayor of the Philippines who finished joint first in the Vung Tau tournament with seven points from nine rounds.

Dao, Vietnam's only grandmaster, was the sole leader in the tournament after the third round. He was only the fourth seed in this event but it was obvious that the home crowd was rooting for him all the way. Dao beat two other Vietnamese players in his first two games and in the third round, he beat the Mongolian grandmaster Dashzeveg Sharavdorj.

Interestingly, Dao's remaining five games in the tournament were all against Filipino players. In successive rounds, he drew with international master Rico Mascarinas, co-winner Villamayor and Petronio Roca, then he beat unheralded Enrique Pacienta before ending the event drawing with third-seeded grandmaster Rogelio Antonio.

International master Villamayor was even ranked lower in the pecking order. He was designated as the eighth seed and his progress through the tournament began with two draws with Thailand's Banjuab Jiravorasuk and Vietnam's Vinh Bui.

Then came a spate of good results: winning against Indonesians Sebastian Simanjuntak and Cerdas Barus, and Myanmar's Wynn Zaw Htun, then drawing with Dao and Mascarinas, before finishing with triumphs against an off-form top-seeded Indonesian grandmaster Utut Adianto and Vietnamese international master Thanh Trang Hoang.

Six players shared the third to eighth placings with six points: Mascarinas, Roca, Adianto, Antonio, Pacienta and Filipino player Richard Bitoon. To get an idea of how strong this event was, it is sufficient to add that the illustrious second-seeded Filipino grandmaster Eugene Torre could only score five point and finished jointly ninth to 12th with the likes of Barus, Tu Hoang Thai and Simanjuntak.

Lower down the table of final standings, sixth seed Wynn Zaw Htun and fifth seed Myo Naing (the two Myanmar players who had played in Penang last February) had only four points.

Malaysia's two representatives failed to make any headway in this strong event. Mok Tze Meng finished with 3.5 points while Ismail Ahmad scored only 2.5 points.

UP NEXT

Chess Association of Selangor AGM (tomorrow): Sungei Wang Plaza exhibition hall, Kuala Lumpur (2pm). A new council for the next two years will be elected.

Selangor girls under-20 (tomorrow and Sunday): Organised by CAS, this event will be held at Sungai Wang Plaza. Registration of players will open tomorrow at 9am.

Fifth Royal Selangor under-16 grand prix (June 11, 18, July 8, 9): Also organised by CAS, this event will be held at the Sunway College. For the first leg, players can register at the playing venue at 9am.

Direct inquiries pertaining to the three aforemonetioned events to Mrs Jackie Wong ( 03-703 8237) or Lim Tse Pin ( 012-298 4922, e-mail: tsepin@maxis.net.my).

27th Royal Selangor open: Ending this Sunday at Sungai Wang Plaza.

10th Penang Dell league (June 11): Organised by the Penang Chess Association and sponsored by Dell Asia Pacific, the tournament will be played on Sundays and is scheduled to end on Aug 6. Only teams representing the public and private sectors, institutions of learning, registered associations, societies and clubs are eligible to play. A guest player may be included in each team, but the rest must be employees, students or members of the organisation which they represent. Players without a team to represent can contact the PCA; if there are enough players, the PCA may form a team. Closing date for entries is tomorrow. For details, call Chan Kim Beng ( 012-451 8811, e-mail: Kim_Beng_Chan@Dell.com), Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687 evenings, e-mail: yoon@pdc.gov.my) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-826 3764 evenings, e-mail: ooilsv@pd.jaring.my).

Bank Pertanian Malaysia allegro circuit: June 11 in Johor Baru, call Stephen Cheong ( 07-333 9636) to register. June 24 in Seremban, call Charles Chan ( 06-631 7971). The dates and venues for the Kedah and Perlis legs will be announced later.

Kuala Terengganu (June 23 and 24): The Terengganu Youth and Sports Department will organise an open chess competition in conjunction with the state's Sports Month celebrations. For details, contact Muhammad Arshad (018-895 8041, e-mail: terengganuchess@hotmail.com).