On the campaign trail

The message was clear enough. The World Chess Federation (Fide) must change or else it will continue to lose influence and significance in the world at large, said Anatoly Karpov, the 12th world chess champion, who was in Kuala Lumpur last week.

Karpov, 59 years of age, was in the country for three days as part of a whirl-wind visit through several south-eastern and east Asian countries to raise support from national chess federations in his campaign to be elected as the next Fide president. 

According to the Fide presidential candidate, the leadership in Fide has not had much achievement in the past 15 years and the federation has also neglected the interests of many of the chess federations in its fold.

One of the sore points that Karpov raised was that the incumbent Fide president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, had alienated international sponsors from playing their roles in the world body.

“Chess is one of the most active sports in the world and Fide has 158 member countries. In terms of members, we are among the biggest international sports federations in the world and yet we don’t see long-term ties with sponsors that should benefit us,” Karpov charged.

“For example, world chess championship matches used to offer big prize moneys by the millions of dollars but ever since the present Fide president came on board, we have seen lower prize moneys. In fact, the many changes in the formats for the world championship cycles have caused a lot of confusion in the chess world and is it any wonder that international sponsors have shied away from this mess since 1995?” he asked.

If his team gets elected at the Fide congress this September, one priority would be to bring dignity back into chess. According to him, short 10-game or 12-game matches were hardly reflective of chess struggles at the highest levels. “World championship matches should not be less than 16 or 18 games but Fide presently finds difficulty to bring in quality sponsors who can support matches of this length. Why should this be so?” he said.

Karpov gave another example of the decreasing visibility, saying that significant activities like world championship matches used to be played in the big cities of the world – New York, London, Seville, Paris – but he claimed that since 1995, these events were being moved to lesser cities. 

“Also, it doesn’t say much for chess that this year’s chess Olympiad, which is the traditional biennial gathering for the world-wide chess family of close to 160 countries, is being held in Siberia, a place called Khanty-Mansiysk,” he claimed. 

And in truth, that is correct because I’ve written about Khanty-Mansiysk before. Even getting there is going to be problematic enough, as most connecting flights are only available from Moscow and it’s a journey of several days.

But the chord that struck home was that in recent years, national chess federations have been feeling the pinch of paying increasingly higher fees to Fide for all sorts of activities. The smaller chess federations such as the Malaysian Chess Federation find that annual fees have been growing significantly. 

Getting new players onto the Fide rating list, no matter their rating levels, means getting billed for them. Federations need to pay significant amounts for players to have their chess titles formalized. Then there are the high registration fees for registering even Fide-rated events. All these fees add up and it is not surprising that there are countries that find themselves temporarily out-of-benefit from Fide because fees are in arrears. The MCF, for example, found out painfully that our players were temporarily removed from the Fide rating list because of unsettled fees.

According to Karpov, countries should not be forced to fund Fide. It should be the other way around, that Fide should instead be helping the countries raise their own funds for their internal activities.

“It should make sense,” he argued, “that a happy national chess federation will contribute more towards the progress of chess.”

Apart from Malaysia, Karpov and his small entourage that included his candidate for deputy president, Richard Conn Jr, had moved through China, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

While in Kuala Lumpur, Karpov paid a courtesy call on Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tunku Imran ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja'afar at the OCM office in Kuala Lumpur and was guest of honour at a function hosted by the Malaysian Chess Federation’s honorary life president, Datuk Tan Chin Nam, who incidentally also sits in Karpov’s Advisory Team.

The former world champion also played two exhibition blitz games with Malaysian international master Mas Hafizulhelmi and up-and-coming youngster Yeoh Li Tian, winning both of them.

Up next  

Tebrau open

The Johor Chess Academy, the Rukun Tetangga Sri Tebrau, Rakan Muda Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru Chess Association are jointly organizing the 21st Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Sunday. 

Entry fees are RM10 for players below 10 years old, RM12 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for all other participants. Closing date is today. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525 or jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

DATCC razzmatazz

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) will organize their third DATCC razzmatazz rapidchess weekender at their premises in the Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. 

Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM15 for children below 12 years old. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) or Justin Kumar (018.3960781, kjustin09@yahoo.com). 

Cerdik Catur

The Cerdik Catur chess challenge will be played at the Kompleks Belia dan Kebudayaan Negeri Selangor in Section 7, Shah Alam on Aug 8. For Shah Alam residents, the entry fees are RM20 for adults and RM15 for under-18 players. Non-Shah Alam residents are required to pay RM5 more. For inquiries, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, seme_event@yahoo.com). 

Merdeka rapid events

The Merdeka individual rapid open tournament will be played on Aug 28 and the Merdeka team rapid open tournament on Aug 29-31. Venues for both events is the Cititel hotel ballroom at the MidValley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur. Closing date for entries is Aug 10.

For the individual rapid event, entry fees are RM20 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for others. For the team rapid event, entry fees are RM300 for four-player teams and RM375 for five-player teams. Junior teams (all players to be below 16 years old) will be charged at RM150 for four-player teams and RM175 for five-player teams. More details from Hamid Majid (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com).

 

Mating season

I’ve this particular friend, you see, who calls me up once in a long while to enquire about forthcoming big tournaments in the country. He’s always like that. He very keen on chess but he seldom plays. A few times I’d bump into him at tournaments but more often, I don’t see him anywhere.

Lately, I haven’t heard a word from him. I thought his interest in chess tournaments was waning but out of the blue, he gave me a tinkle again two weeks ago.

“Hey,” he asked me, “mid-August is coming up soon. That’s school holidays time, isn’t it? Haven’t you heard anything yet about this year’s Malaysia open?” 

Yes and no, I told him. Yes, I have been informed about the Malaysia open. Or maybe I should say more correctly, the Malaysia Chess Festival. But no, mid-August is not school holidays time any more. Not this year any way, because the schools’ mid-term break has been shifted to Sep 3-12.

Because of the shift in the school holidays, the organizers of the Malaysia Chess Festival have also shifted the chess festival to accommodate more locals to play in some of the programmes.

This year’s festival dates run from Aug 29 to Sep 7. All the traditional features are there: from typical one-day local rapidchess events to full-fledged international Fide-rated tournaments. 

If you need to warm up your nimble mind and fingers before the big events start, the first item on the Malaysia Chess Festival calendar is the new one-day Merdeka individual rapid open tournament at the ballroom of the CitiTel Midvalley hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 28.

After that, you can then proceed to the traditional Merdeka team rapid open tournament. This event has a history going back some 30 years. It had its humble beginnings at the Wisma Belia before progressing to larger venues like the Putra World Trade Centre before finally finding its present home at the CitiTel Midvalley.  

Like in previous editions, this annual event brings out the teams from all over the country. Although not billed as such, it is often acknowledged as the unofficial national team open championship. As such, it is not unusual to find several state teams from both ends of the country converging in Kuala Lumpur over the Merdeka weekend and mingling with a mish-mash of other teams and players.

This Merdeka team event is a great crowd-puller not least because many foreigners who take part in the Fide-rated Malaysia open tournament that comes later are often roped in to play.

Naturally, the local players take this into their stride. In recent years, I have seen that our local teams have become more adept at challenging the foreign player-led ones for the main prizes. No more are they satisfied for the special prizes that have been created for the best performing local teams. 

It’s now the big prizes – RM5,000 for the champion team, RM4,000 for the runners-up, RM3,000 for third place, and many more – or none at all, which is good because we are shedding the old mentality that had been our glass ceiling for decades.

So for this year, the 30th ASTRO Merdeka team rapid open tournament will be played at the same CitiTel Midvalley hotel ballroom from Aug 29 to Aug 31. 

Although entries for both the Merdeka individual rapid open and the Merdeka team rapid open will close on Aug 10, do register early for this event because the organizers are capping the entries at 100 players for the individual event and 50 teams for the team event due to constraints of space. 

The biggest three events in the chess festival will commence immediately after the conclusion of the Merdeka tournaments from Sep 1 to Sep 7. 

The top billing is, of course, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open chess tournament which is already in its seventh year. There is a USD4,000 first prize which should see a host of foreign grandmasters and international masters turning up. Even the prize for the top Malaysian player is worth USD800.

With this incredible foreign talent pool here, there will be lots of opportunities for all players to work on their own title norms. Anyone serious enough about their chess should not miss the chance to participate.

Apart from this, there’s also the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge, also another Fide-rated event but limited to players whose international ratings are below 2200 points. I know that there will be some comparisons with the main event in terms of prestige but believe you me, the challenge of playing in this lesser tournament cannot be any easier. Just ask any of the previous participants and they will tell you that this AmBank chess challenge can be equally mind draining.

This year, the organizers are introducing a new event into the chess festival: a tournament for senior chess players. This idea had been under discussion for at least a year and at long last, it is time to take the wrappings off the first Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open chess tournament.

It’s not any ordinary social tournament for senior citizens, mind you. This is as serious as any international chess event can be, except that no player can be younger than 55 years old.

Maybe as a comparison, I should mention that the World Chess Federation have their world senior and world women’s senior chess championships organized since 1991. Illustrious names Vasily Smyslov, Efim Geller, Mark Taimanov, Alexey Suetin, Viktor Korchnoi and Nona Gaprindashvili have appeared in the world senior’s roster as worthy winners.

So this seniors tournament is going to be a new event in the Malaysia Chess Festival. Of course, anything new will require some time to gain a degree of acceptance but there is no reason why this inaugural tournament cannot take a short-cut and attain the same prominence as the other events.

Need more information and details about the Malaysia Chess Festival? Just contact Abdul Hamid at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (019.3158098, fax 03.40244337, aham@pc.jaring.my or aham4you@gmail.com) and he’ll send you the entry forms. 

Up next  

Perlis team open

The Perlis Chess Academy, the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Perlis and the Persatuan Catur Prestij Perlis will jointly hold the Perlis team open tournament at the Dewan Sek. Men. Putra in Kangar, Perlis tomorrow. For more details, contact Syaifulzamani bin Ismail (013.3939838) or visit http://chessperlis.blogspot.com. 

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises tomorrow. For enquiries, contact teachers NK Chin or (Mdm) LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

Perak grand prix

The sixth leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St Anthony in Teluk Intan, Perak this Sunday. For more information, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Andrew (016.6295352) or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

Tebrau open

The Johor Chess Academy, the Rukun Tetangga Sri Tebrau, Rakan Muda Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru Chess Association are jointly organizing the 21st Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Aug 1.

Entry fees are RM10 for players below 10 years old, RM12 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for all other participants. Closing date is July 30. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525 or jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

DATCC razzmatazz

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) will organize their third DATCC razzmatazz rapidchess weekender at their premises in the Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 1. 

Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM15 for children below 12 years old. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) or Justin Kumar (018.3960781, kjustin09@yahoo.com). 

 

Battle lines drawn

Come this September, we shall see what will possibly be the most acrimonious presidential contest for the World Chess Federation (Fide) for a long while. 

Lining up on one side of the contest is the incumbent president of the world body, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is seeking re-election since first getting elected to the top post in 1995. On the other side is his very worthy opponent, former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov.

When nominations closed at the end of last month for the submission of electoral tickets, the only two teams that met the deadline were that of Ilyumzhinov and Karpov. This means that they will go head-to-head in a direct clash of wills and personality that will see no compromise from either party.

Lined up on Ilyumzhinov’s team are Georgios Makropoulos, Ignatius Leong, Nigel Freeman, Beatriz Marinello and Lewis Ncube. 

Makropoulos is the president of the Greek Chess Federation but he is also the Fide deputy president since 1996. Leong is the president of the Singapore Chess Federation and also the Fide general secretary since 2005. Freeman, the president of the Bermuda Chess Federation, is the current Fide treasurer, a position held since 2006. Marinello is a former president of the United States Chess. NCube is a former president of the Zambia Chess Federation and presently a Fide vice-president since 2006. 

All of them, except for Marinello, are seeking to be returned to the same positions they are currently holding in the federation while Marinello is seeking to fill a Fide vice-president’s slot.

Karpov’s ticket consists of Richard A Conn Jr of the United States who is the candidate for deputy president, Ukrainian Chess Federation president Viktor Kapustin who is the candidate for treasurer, Malaysia’s own Abdul Hamid Majid who is the candidate for secretary general, and the two candidates for vice-presidents, Angolan Chess Federation president Dr Aguinaldo Jaime and woman grandmaster Alisa Maric who is also the vice-president of the Belgrade Chess Federation.

I did mention at the start that this Fide election may be the most acrimonious in recent years. For the first time in many years, Ilyumzhinov faces a very serious opponent. The credentials of Anatoly Karpov speak for itself. People know him as the 12th world chess champion, having succeeded Bobby Fischer in 1974 and only giving up his world title to Garry Kasparov in 1985. Truly, he is one of the greatest chess players of all time.

However, Karpov’s very attempt at becoming the next Fide president has been full of obstacles, not least from within Russia itself. This is because Fide regulations require all candidates to be nominated by their own chess federations, and only one candidate at any one time. 

And therein lies the problem because both Ilyumzhinov and Karpov are from Russia. The problem became even more complicated after both of them claimed to have their federation’s nod. 

According to reports, the Russian Chess Federation had narrowly nominated Karpov as its candidate at a meeting in May. A few days later at another meeting which was purportedly just shy of a quorum, Ilyumzhinov was nominated. A sticky situation that became more absurd when the Russian government sacked the president of the Russian Chess Federation and installed someone else to look after the federation’s affairs.

Lawsuits have also been flying around from both parties. Earlier, Ilyumzhinov had sued Karpov for libel. The former world champion fought back with a suit to force Fide to disclose the nomination forms of Ilyumzhinov’s team. At the heart of the matter was the status of Marinello because it was claimed that she was not a member of either the Chilean or Brazilian chess federations.

If the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland rules in Karpov’s favour, it could mean the automatic disqualification of the whole of the Ilyumzhinov ticket because there’s also another Fide regulation that stipulates that at least one member of a ticket must be a woman candidate. It would be impossible for Ilyumzhinov to replace Marinello at the last minute.

In the meantime, both candidates are continuing to circle the globe to visit national chess federations and drum up support for their teams at the Fide election in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Yes, it’s going to be an intense but interesting fight indeed.

Up next  

Perlis team open

The Perlis Chess Academy, the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Perlis and the Persatuan Catur Prestij Perlis will jointly hold the Perlis team open tournament at the Dewan Sek. Men. Putra in Kangar, Perlis on July 24. Entry is limited to the first 70 teams.

Entry fees are RM30 for teams representing schools and institutions of higher learning, RM50 for teams from Perlis and RM70 for all other teams. For more details, contact Syaifulzamani bin Ismail (013.3939838) or visit http://chessperlis.blogspot.com. 

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers NK Chin or (Mdm) LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

Perak grand prix

The sixth leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St Anthony in Teluk Intan, Perak on July 25. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Closing date for entries is July 22. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Andrew (016.6295352). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

Tebrau open

The Johor Chess Academy, the Rukun Tetangga Sri Tebrau, Rakan Muda Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru Chess Association are jointly organizing the 21st Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Aug 1.

Entry fees are RM10 for players below 10 years old, RM12 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for all other participants. Closing date is July 30. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525 or jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

 

Serious business

Bangladeshi grandmaster Ziaur Rahman, who is based in Malaysia for the next year or so, will soon be getting down to the serious business of training young chess talents in the country.

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), working with the training provider and sponsors, have finalised a 15-month development programme stretching over six standalone terms, each aimed at growing the potential talent amidst our youngsters.

Each term of the MCF Young Talent chess development programme is self-contained and will last 30 days. In each programme, all aspects of chess training will be covered and these include constant assessment of a player's capability and understanding of the game, an intensive study into the chess middlegame and endgame and of course, focusing on the important chess opening theory.

Ziaur Rahman will take the students through all stages of chess preparation, identify their playing styles, their strengths and weaknesses, and look into areas of improving them. To achieve this, he will have a small group of local international masters to assist him during each term. 

According to the MCF, the focus of the programme will be unearthing and developing junior chess talents in the country who are between eight and 14 years old as they represent the future of our chess achievements. Nevertheless, older youths are more than welcomed to participate. 

The 15-month programme will run from this month until September next year. The first term is scheduled from July 24 until Aug 22 so that the first set of students who pass out from the programme can also plan to take part in this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival that’s already planned for September. 

There will be fresh intake of new students every term. The second term starts in September, the third term in November, the fourth in February next year, the fifth term in April 2011 and the sixth term in July 2011. Therefore, there are ample opportunities for readers to send their children to attend these intensive MCF development programmes.

The approach to each term’s programme is simple: group training for all students to learn the common fundamentals and basics of chess, and a personalized session where the students are paired with either the grandmaster or an international master and participate in a more detailed study mode. The latter session will help the trainer fine-tune the student to take best advantage of his or her playing style and preferences.

At the end of the term, each student would have undergone a maximum of 68 hours of end-to-end chess improvement experience and learning. 

The MCF says the fee of RM500 has been made attractive because of sponsorship. Normally, such training programmes with grandmasters can easily cost between RM4,000 and RM6,000. Students interested to attend the first term should contact the MCF before July 19. However, due to initial space constraints, only 10 students will be accepted.

The MCF also stressed that the development programme is not meant for beginners in the game. The students are required to possess certain playing strength and skills, and the training provider may request for additional information to substantiate a student’s playing strength before accepting him into the programme.

For enquiries or to request for the programme prospectus, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542, najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com) or the MCF secretary Gregory Lau (012.9020123).

Fischer’ body exhumed

The body of former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was exhumed from his grave at an Icelandic church last Monday. This came weeks after the Supreme Court in Iceland gave the final go-ahead to authorities there to extract Fischer’s tissue sample in order to prove a paternity case.

According to reports, the process was completed smoothly and Fischer’s coffin was not unearthed from the ground. Instead, the earth at the side of the grave was dug and a hole then drilled into the coffin to extract the tissue sample. Present were a specialist doctor, a priest, the local sheriff and several lawyers.

The chess legend died intestate and his estate, worth at least USD2 million, is being claimed by various parties, including the United States government. Nine-year-old Jinky Young from the Philippines is set to inherit the bulk of Fischer’s estate if DNA tests prove conclusively that she is Fischer’s daughter. Other claimants include Fischer’s Japanese wife and his two nephews.

Up next  

Perlis team open

The Perlis Chess Academy, the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Perlis and the Persatuan Catur Prestij Perlis will jointly hold the Perlis team open tournament at the Dewan Sek. Men. Putra in Kangar, Perlis on July 24. Entry is limited to the first 70 teams.

Entry fees are RM30 for teams representing schools and institutions of higher learning, RM50 for teams from Perlis and RM70 for all other teams. For more details, contact Syaifulzamani bin Ismail (013.3939838) or visit http://chessperlis.blogspot.com. 

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers NK Chin or (Mdm) LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

Perak grand prix

The sixth leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan St Anthony in Teluk Intan, Perak on July 25. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Closing date for entries is July 22. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Andrew (016.6295352). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

Tebrau open

The Johor Chess Academy, the Rukun Tetangga Sri Tebrau, Rakan Muda Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru Chess Association are jointly organizing the 21st Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Aug 2.

Entry fees are RM10 for players below 10 years old, RM12 for players below 16 years old and RM30 for all other participants. Closing date is July 30. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525 or jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

 

New winners

The first thing that I’ve got to do this week is to admit that I was wrong with my prediction two weeks ago. Yes, I was wrong because this year, a teenager did not run away with the title of national chess champion.

Instead, the honour this year went to Tan Khai Boon. Although he’s 28 years old, not in the same age group as our national chess champions of the past few years, but he certainly is still young enough to prove to be the equal of any of them.

He is known well enough in local chess circles but if you don’t know him, let me tell you that when he is in his best form, he can be a very tough nut to crack. At the national championship, he has shown that this was indeed very true. 

Now before I say anything more, I must mention here that both of this year’s national championship and national women’s championship met with an unprecedented number of entries: 94 for the national and 44 for the national women’s. These numbers brought wide smiles to the Malaysian Chess Federation as well as to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia which co-hosted the events at their campus.

The only possible setback when a field is too large is that even with nine rounds, it can be possible for a tournament to finish with some of the top seeds playing with one another much later in the event. Sometimes, they may not even get to meet. This is a recognized trait of the Swiss pairing system. Because of this and under the right conditions, a large-player field can sometimes mean a sprint towards the finish line for some players. 

Anyway, Tan entered the national championship not as the top-seeded player. He was only ranked fourth in the tournament and he lost the very first game that he played. Losing in the first round is not a very good omen for any player because for the rest of the tournament, he will have to play “catch up” with the tournament leaders. 

This was precisely what happened to Tan. He picked himself up after the loss and gave chase to the leaders. For the next five rounds, he was always one step behind them. He kept pace with them but somehow because everyone was sprinting forward at the same time, he never seemed able to over-haul them. Not until the sixth round, anyway.

He was lucky. In the fifth round, the leaders began to falter as the pressure set in. Mohd Nabil Ahmad Hisham, one of them, had breezed through his first four games to lead the standings but now, he couldn’t keep up with his own blistering pace. With a draw in the fifth round, he suddenly found himself tied on equal points with Yeoh Li Tian and Mohd Tariq Amru.

In the sixth round, all these three players could do no better than to draw their games. In the meantime after Tan got over his first-round loss, he kept his cool and began winning one game after another. By the end of the sixth round, he now found himself tied with Mohd Nabil, Yeoh and Mohd Tariq as the joint tournament leaders.

It was at this point in the championship that Tan realized that maybe, just maybe, he did have a realistic chance to pull ahead of them and go on to win the tournament. But there were still three more rounds to go. 

Regardless, he pushed on. Mohd Nabil kept up with him, but both Yeoh and Mohd Tariq lost their games. So by the end of the seventh round, it was down to a two-horse race. 

By now, the pressure on the players had crept a notch higher. Who would be the first to capitulate? In the eighth round, the two top contenders finally played one another. Imagine, it took eight rounds of this 94-player tournament before the top two front-runners could face off. How would they fare in this game?

Unfortunately, Mohd Nabil’s form imploded and left Tan as the sole leader of the tournament. So, before the start of the final round, Tan already held a one-point lead over the rest of the field. A draw would be enough for him to clinch the title but he cruised through with his last victory. Eight straight wins in nine games had landed him with the Tun Hussein Onn challenge trophy and the title of Malaysia’s newest national master. 

Over in the national women’s championship, the race to the finish was just as tense once Alia Anin Bakri faltered in the defence of her title. She got off to a breezy start but she then gave away a draw in the third round. A fifth-round loss meant that her effort to retain her title was effectively over. 

So all eyes now turned to both Fong Mi Yen and Tan Li Ting who were both seeded just below Alia in this tournament. 

In the fourth round, both of them met. That’s the other trait of a Swiss pairing system. When the number of participants is smaller, the chances of the leaders meeting early would increase almost proportionately. Here with only 44 players, it wasn’t a surprise that this had happened in the fourth round and there were still five more rounds to go.

Anyway in the fourth round, Mi Yen got the better of Li Ting to take sole lead of the national women’s championship. It was a lead that she held on tightly to until the end of the tournament despite losing in the sixth round to Amira Shahmina Zulkafli. 

That sixth-round loss actually allowed Amira Shahmina to level up with Mi Yen as co-leaders but Amira Shahmina could not keep up the momentum and promptly dropped half a point behind by the end of the next round. 

By contrast, Mi Yen kept her cool to collect two more points in the seventh and eighth rounds, and a draw in the ninth round was enough for her to be declared as the new national women’s champion. With it went the title of national woman master and the opportunity to hold the Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik trophy for one year.

Top six players in the national championship: Tan Khai Boon 8 points; Edward Lee and Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin 7 points each; Yeoh Li Tian, Mohd Saprin Sabri and Nik Ahmad Farouqi 6½ points each.

Top seven players in the national women’s championship: Fong Mi Yen 7½ points; Tan Li Ting, Amira Shahmina Zulkafli and Nithyalakshmi Sivanesan 6½ points each; Alia Anin Bakri, Puteri Rifqah Fahada and Camila Johari 6 points each.

Up next  

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Your move, Fischer

The great Bobby Fischer may have died more than two years ago but even from his grave in Iceland, he continues to command a lot of attention.

The latest news to surface is the decision by the Supreme Court in Iceland to have his body exhumed to prove a paternity case. It seemed that when Fischer died in Jan 2008, nobody thought of preserving any blood sample for DNA analysis. But then at that time, nobody expected that he would be at the centre of an inheritance battle.

Yes, there is an on-going court battle for Fischer’s estate. He was said to have left an estate that was worth about USD2 million (about RM6.4 million). This estate is now being claimed by various parties from far-flung reaches of the earth. And all this is because he died without a will.

One of the parties is Fischer’s two nephews, Alexander and Nicholas Targ, who being the sons of his sister would seem to be the closest living blood relatives of the deceased former world chess champion in the absence of other claimants.

However, there are other claimants to Fischer’s estate. In the last years of his life, dating even before his sensational detention at Tokyo’s Narita international airport in 2004 for travelling on a revoked American passport, he had developed a close relationship with Miyoko Watai.

Watai herself is a chess player and holds the title of woman international master. At one time she was the acting president of the Japan Chess Federation. It’s known that Fischer and Watai had been living together in Tokyo. Even after he had been granted Icelandic citizenship in 2005, Watai continued to travel to Iceland to be with him.

Of course, the validity of Fischer’s marriage to Watai loomed large in the battle for the chess grandmaster’s estate, it being disputed by the two nephews. It is believed that an Iceland lower court had accepted that their marriage was registered legally and had been certified in Japan but there are now even conflicting reports about this.

In any case, there now emerges a fresh twist to the inheritance joustings. From the Philippines came word that about 10 years ago, Fischer had a Filipino girlfriend, Marilyn Young, and he could have fathered a young girl named Jinky. That young girl is nine years old today. 

According to Jinky’s mother and their lawyers in Manila, they have proof that Jinky is related to Fischer and he had accepted the girl as his daughter. 

They said that he had been sending Jinky money and toys regularly, and signing off on his letters and postcards to her as “daddy”. Images of the postcards floating on the Internet showed Fischer’s purportedly famous handwriting.

However, the court could not consider them as conclusive or indisputable proof of the blood ties between Fischer and Jinky. To prove a link, Jinky’s lawyers demanded for DNA tests on Fischer. Jinky had already given her blood to a hospital in Iceland but it was then learnt that the hospital where Fischer was last warded before his death did not keep any of his blood samples. 

In the absence of Fischer’s DNA specimens, Jinky’s lawyers then petitioned the court for exhumation, a move opposed quite naturally by the other claimants. When the District Court of Reykjavik turned down the petition, the lawyers turned to the Iceland Supreme Court and won.

It’s now expected that the exhumation process may be carried out soon, maybe within the fortnight. But if anyone thinks that the battle for Fischer’s estate could soon be over, there is yet another twist in the tale. 

The last claimant to Fischer’s estate is, believe it or not, the United States government itself. While he was alive, the United States were already hunting him down as a fugitive from their law.

All because in 1992, Fischer had thumbed his nose at an American-sponsored United Nations embargo on dealings with the former Yugoslavia Republic to play a highly publicized 24-game chess match with his old adversary, Boris Spassky. 

He won millions from this match and now in his death, the US government is claiming for unpaid taxes from the estate. Why the US is doing this is because Fischer, despite dying as an Iceland citizen, was a United States citizen for almost all of his life.

I said “almost” because until 2004, he was still an American citizen. But his detention at the Narita international airport changed all that. During the months that he was detained and fighting deportation to the United States, he gave up his American citizenship and was stateless until the Iceland government voted to give him their citizenship.

I don’t know what other surprises the late great Bobby Fischer can toss up from his grave but in the meantime, the world is closely watching the outcome of the exhumation. It’s still your move, Bobby Fischer.

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Telok Gong pro-am

The Persatuan Penduduk Telok Gong will hold their pro-am tournament at the Dewan Kampung Hamid Tuah in Telok Gong, Port Klang on July 4. For a one-day event, the total cash prizes on offer is more than RM5,000.

Entry fees are RM30 (for players in the Pro category, that is, with national ratings above 1701), RM25 (for payers in the Am category, rated below 1700) and RM20 (for Telok Gong residents and players below 12 years old). Entries close on Jun 26. To register, contact Zamri Sajari (016.2775005) or Azhar Mohd Said (012.6796193).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Will history repeat itself?

I’ve got a feeling in my bones that we may see a youngster as national chess champion this year. I know, I know, some of you will say that we have always had young national champions before, and you are not wrong.

For instance, in the last three national championships alone, the titles had gone to youngsters like Evan Capel (2009), Edward Lee (2008) and Zarul Shazwan (2007) and indeed, the list of national champions is peppered with names of other players who were till in their teenaged years when they won their titles.

I’ve this feeling that the trend will continue. I may be wrong but when I look at the list of participants in this year’s national championship, I believe the future of Malaysian chess rests with the likes of Edward Lee (good, that’s a former champion coming back to play), Sumant Subramaniam, Lim Zhuo Ren and of course, Yeoh Li Tian.

In the women’s national championship, Alia Anin Bakri is the current torch-bearer among the youngsters but two names to look out for are Fong Mi Yen and Tan Li Ting.

Interestingly, this year’s events are remarkably strong and there is a rather long list of players. Maybe it’s because of the prize moneys which have been increased from previous years. 

I still remember how the national champions were “rewarded” with a RM300 first prize that came from toiling hard for five or six days at the chess board. In my opinion, a rather bad return on investments (the entry fees).

This year though, the first prize is a more reasonable RM1,000 for the open championship and RM600 for the women’s championship, and these have certainly attracted more players to the event. Never mind that the national championships are being held at the more remote Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia campus in Bangi, the numbers are there and this should make the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) a happier organisation. 

Now, the next big task for the federation next year is to convince more of the top players to take part. Nevertheless for this year, there are many experienced names to count on: players like Loo Swee Leong, Tan Khai Boon, Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin, Kamaluddin Yusof, Nik Ahmad Farouqi, Ismail Ahmad and Lim Kian Hwa. On their good days they are quite capable of upsetting the form books. 

We shall see how they prevail in this year’s tournament. Today is already the third day of the event and with four rounds have already been played since Wednesday, there are five more rounds to go.

All are very critical rounds because I know that as the championship progresses, the tension takes a great toll on the players. And the surprising revelation is that tension strikes hardest during a national championship than in any other tournament.

I’ve seen players almost collapsing from exhaustion towards the end of a national championship. Once, for example, I noticed a player close his eyes to snatch forty winks in between moves and he kept nodding off thereafter until the time limit. 

Many times, I’ve seen winning games ending up lost because the players could no longer think straight. Thoughts get muddled up or they become too tired to think. Either way, their games collapse. What matters is how well they can pace themselves and at the same time out-pace their rivals. 

If you want to follow the progress of national chess championships, visit the MCF national championship blog at http://nc-2010.blogspot.com/

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Perak grand prix

The Slim River leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Slim River on Jun 27.

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Closing date for entries is this Jun 23. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Ustaz Ismail (019.5520391). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com

Stonemaster chess

The third Stonemaster amateur chess tournament, organized by Cerdik Catur Enterprise, will be played at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex in Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Jun 27.

Entry fees are RM30 for adults and RM20 for students. For enquiries, contact Mohd Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370, email: seme_event@yahoo.com). 

Telok Gong pro-am

The Persatuan Penduduk Telok Gong will hold their pro-am tournament at the Dewan Kampung Hamid Tuah in Telok Gong, Port Klang on July 4. For a one-day event, the total cash prizes on offer is more than RM5,000.

Entry fees are RM30 (for players in the Pro category, that is, with national ratings above 1701), RM25 (for payers in the Am category, rated below 1700) and RM20 (for Telok Gong residents and players below 12 years old). Entries close on Jun 26. To register, contact Zamri Sajari (016.2775005) or Azhar Mohd Said (012.6796193).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Russian roulette

Khanty-Mansiysk in the middle of Russian Siberia experiences wide swings in temperature during the course of a year. Historically, summer temperature is highest at 18 degrees Celsius while the lowest temperature in winter is around minus 21 degrees. 

September may be the last best opportunity to visit the Russian town while the average temperature hovers around eight degrees Celsius without dropping below zero. However, it’s still cold enough to threaten visitors from the tropics with some big shivers.

This September, however, should see the temperature rise a notch higher in Khanty-Mansiysk because not only will the next Chess Olympiad be held there, but the World Chess Federation (Fide) is set to hold its elections.

Yes, it’s election time In Fide. They are normally held every four years and in the months leading to the elections, candidates would start posturing themselves to the worldwide Fide family. Many times, however, the elections would fizzle out tamely. Why? Because by the election day, either the candidates have opted for a compromise solution or they would have withdrawn from contesting.

This year’s Fide elections may yet turn out tamely but then, there is also a fair chance that it will not. It’s particularly interesting this year because the former world champion, Anatoly Karpov, is making a big play for the Fide president’s position.

He has made his position quite clear by challenging the incumbent president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. And two developments have made this challenge very interesting. 

The first is that Karpov and Garry Kasparov have put their previous differences aside to work together. I know, there are gasps all around. It’s quite unbelievable, isn’t it? The two of them are now working together with Kasparov actively supporting Karpov’s candidacy for Fide president.

They have been the most bitter of bitter enemies in the 1980s when they were at the pinnacle of their chess careers. Their world chess championship matches were stuff that could inspire comparisons with the Cold War except that the two of them were from the same country, the former Soviet Union.

The second development is that the Russian Chess Federation has been put into a quandary. Who should they support? Karpov Is obviously Russian but so is Ilyumzhinov, and Fide regulations say that a federation can only support one candidate. 

Karpov is their former world champion so he merits their support. But Ilyumzhinov is the incumbent Fide president and also a political figure in Russia, he being the president of the autonomous state of Kalmyk in Russia. He would also be demanding support from the Russian Chess Federation.

About two or three weeks ago, the situation in Russia reached crisis point. One faction within their federation nominated Karpov for Fide presidency while a second faction insisted that that nomination was illegal. Of course, the second faction’s choice was Ilyumzhinov.

To make matters more complicated, soon afterwards, the second faction descended on the office of the Russian Chess Federation, sealed it off and sacked the federation’s sitting board chairman who supported Karpov’s candidacy. The situation is so fluid now that it is impossible to gauge who is in control over there.

In the meantime, it has also emerged that Ilyumzhinov is striking back at Karpov, claiming that the former world champion had libeled him. 

The battle lines are clearly drawn and there does not seem to be any resolution or compromise until the Fide elections in Khanty-Mansiysk this September. That’s why I say that the heat is being turned up in the Russian town despite the dropping temperature. 

It’s still early days where most of the national chess federations are concerned, the Malaysian Chess Federation included. For sure, these three months are very critical months and they will pass by very quickly. The two presidential candidates or their teams have already started campaigning and crisscrossing the globe to convince the national chess federations for their support. 

Up next  

Gula Perlis open

The Kilang Gula Felda Perlis will organize the Gula Perlis open chess challenge at the Dewan Warisan in Kangsar, Perlis tomorrow. The organizers said that the total prize moneys have been increased to RM5,650. Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM15 for under-18 players and RM15 for women players.

For more details, contact Syaifulzamani bin Ismail (013.3939838) or visit the tournament website at http://www.kgfp.com.my/kgfp

Chess camp

The seventh Kids for Chess Camp will be held at the Pandan Lake Club in Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur on Jun 14-15. This chess camp should interest beginners, intermediate players and the aspiring tournament players. Those who know absolutely nothing about the game are also encouraged to join the camp.

The coaches and instructors will include resident Bangladeshi grandmaster Ziaur Rahman and our own international master Jimmy Liew. A flat fee of RM90 per player is applicable. For details, contact Collin Madhaven (03.91316474 or 016.2123578) or visit http://www.kids4chess.com

Perak grand prix

The Slim River leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Slim River on Jun 27.

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Closing date for entries is this Jun 23. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Ustaz Ismail (019.5520391). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com

Telok Gong pro-am

The Persatuan Penduduk Telok Gong will hold their pro-am tournament at the Dewan Kampung Hamid Tuah in Telok Gong, Port Klang on July 4. For a one-day event, the total cash prizes on offer is more than RM5,000.

Entry fees are RM30 (for players in the Pro category, that is, with national ratings above 1701), RM25 (for payers in the Am category, rated below 1700) and RM20 (for Telok Gong residents and players below 12 years old). Entries close on Jun 26. To register, contact Zamri Sajari (016.2775005) or Azhar Mohd Said (012.6796193).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Giving back

It’s school holidays again for the next two weeks. And traditionally, during the mid-year semester holidays, the national chess championships get organized. This year, the tournaments move a little south of Kuala Lumpur to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia campus at Bangi.

I find it interesting and encouraging that the Malaysian Chess Federation is now finding it more comfortable to hold their signature events outside of Kuala Lumpur. It definitely gives the game exposure to more people who do not normally get to see quality chess competitions in their backyard.

Besides, the University environment should provide an ideal atmosphere to the players. Not only will they be surrounded by academia, it will also prove more peaceful without the distractions that come with staying within the city.

According to the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), both the national closed chess championship and the national women’s closed chess championship will be organized at the same time, and both shall be nine-round events with long regulation time control. Dates will be Jun 16-20.

Each state chess association is eligible to send four players to the national closed event and four women players to the national women’s closed event. However, the states are now required to put up a commitment fee of either RM25 or RM50 for each of their players, depending on their associations’ status with the Malaysian Sports Commission.

Anyone wishing to represent their state in these annual chess championships should, therefore, get in touch with their state chess associations as soon as possible.

Alternatively, players may choose to register directly with the MCF, in which case an entry fee will be charged to each player. Those with Fide ratings need pay only RM50 to participate while others are required to pay RM150. With entries closing soon on Jun 8, players will need to hurry up with their registrations.

The MCF also allows former national champions to take part free of charge and I always encourage these former champions, especially those who won in the past 10 years – players like Evan Timothy Capel (picture), Edward Lee, Zarul Shazwan, Jonathan Chuah, Marcus Chan, Nicholas Chan, Wong Zijing and Ronnie Lim – to come back and play. 

After all, they are products of the Malaysian chess system and they became national champions because of the MCF. In return, they should give a little bit back to the federation by supporting these two national events. 

Furthermore, former champions shouldn’t be afraid of having to prove themselves again in the championships. Actually, there’s nothing to prove at all. If anything, I would say that former champions who take part are likely to gain a lot of respect and goodwill from the other players (and from me).

For more information about the national closed championships, contact Gregory Lau (012.9020123) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605).

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Holiday activities

Readers may be interested to know that the school semester break also brings with it other holiday chess activities. 

The Polgar Chess Asia is organizing several holiday workshops at Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur. 

Complete beginners with very little idea about playing chess can attend the beginners-level workshops on Jun 7-10 or Jun 14-15. Fees are RM280 per student. For slightly more advanced players, there are workshops on learning strategies of attack and endgame fundamentals. The “strategies of attack” workshop is on Jun 7-8 while the “endgame fundamentals” workshop is on Jun 9-10. Fees are RM300 per student.

For more information, contact Louisa Yip of Polgar Chess Asia (03.23001680 or 019.2586355).

Meanwhile, the seventh Kids for Chess Camp will be held at the Pandan Lake Club in Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur on Jun 14-15. This chess camp should interest beginners, intermediate players and the aspiring tournament players. Those who know absolutely nothing about the game are also encouraged to join up.

The coaches and instructors will include resident grandmaster Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh and our own international master Jimmy Liew among many others. There’ll be a flat fee of RM90 per player. For details, contact Collin Madhaven (03.91316474 or 016.2123578) or visit http://www.kids4chess.com.

Perak grand prix

The Slim River leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Slim River on Jun 27. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Closing date for entries is Jun 13. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129), Hamisah (012.5008723) or Uztaz Ismail (019.5520391). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the 5th MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. There will be three categories of events: under-20, under-17 and under-14 for boys and girls. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. More details are available from Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

Telok Gong Pro-Am

There will be a Telok Gong Pro-Am chess tournament at the Dewan Kampung Hamid Tuah in Telok Gong, Port Klang on July 4, organized by the Persatuan Penduduk Telok Gong. For a one-day tournament, the cash prizes are very attractive, totalling more than RM5,000. 

Entry fees are RM30 (players in the Pro category, that is, with national ratings above 1701), RM25 (players in the Am category, rated below 1700) and RM20 (Telok Gong residents and players below 12 years old). Entries will close on Jun 26. For registration and enquiries, contact Zamri Sajari (016.2775005) or Azhar Mohd Said (012.6796193).

 

Long-running tourney

Earlier this month, I made an unplanned private day trip to Kuala Lumpur. One aspect of most of my unplanned trips is that one way or another, I find myself visiting the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) at the Wilayah Complex along Jalan Dang Wangi. 

The place is such a magnet for me. It’s so conveniently located in KL that just about any chess player can visit it with ease. I was mildly surprised when I got there. The place had been expanded. Now occupying about twice the original floor space, the chess centre is now big enough to cater comfortably for any tournament with up to about 120 players.

As just my luck would have it too, the Selangor open chess tournament was going on that day when I visited the chess centre.

Good timing, I noted to myself, here was a perfect opportunity to see how the country’s longest-running chess tournament was being organized. Events may come and events may go but this one seems to go on forever. This tournament has been running non-stop without any interruption since 1974, the same year that the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) was formed.

That’s an unbroken stretch of 37 years. It’s a local achievement and I think this is mentioned in the Malaysian Book Of Records too. I remember having played in the first two editions of the tournament way back in 1974 at the Royal Selangor Club and in 1975 at a school in Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya. That school would be used by the CAS for several more years.

But that was a very long time ago. Today, the organizers are using the DATCC in Kuala Lumpur. I gathered from the playing list that there were 71 participants at this year’s event. 

This was a reasonably big enough number for an event of this stature but I kept feeling that the organizers would have wanted to see more people taking part in their premier chess event. They didn’t have to tell me so but I have known them for so long that I knew that they would gladly accept better numbers.

Another thing that struck me about this tournament was that for the second year running, the Selangor open has been organized without any sponsorship deal. The prize moneys and the money for our expenses are being met mainly from the entry fees and partly from the association’s internal funds, I was told. 

Well, it is a shame that the country’s longest-running chess event hasn’t been able to obtain any sponsor again. The association’s long-term sponsor cried out last year, citing economic problem as the reason. But the tournament still had to go on, and the CAS decided on using its internal funds to carry on.

This year, the sponsor must have pulled out again and left the association carrying their baby for yet another year.

In my opinion, this can’t be continuing. It was quite understandable if the sponsor had been forced to pull out last year. After all, the global problems triggered by the sub-prime crisis in the United States last year had left many companies faced with economic difficulties. 

But if the same sponsor had pulled out again for a second year, my instinct would be to suggest to the CAS – or any other chess association for that matter – that they should come up with a Plan B and search for alternative sources of sponsorship. They shouldn’t allow this situation to spill into the third year.

Chess associations in Malaysia operate almost exclusively on sponsorship funds. Everybody works purely on a voluntary basis for the good of the game. As much as chess players owe it to the chess associations to uplift the level of chess in the community, chess associations also owe it to the chess players for the support. It’s the only survival technique the associations need or otherwise they become irrelevant.

Dependency on one another makes it a symbiotic relationship. One cannot do without the other. But the only way for chess players to support their associations is for the associations to organize quality events for players. No matter how hard a voluntary organization may work, it becomes impossible for it to continue working hard for long without external sponsorship funds coming in.

So definitely, a Plan B is in order for the CAS to move forward. I hope they are already doing this because I shall really be sad if Malaysia’s longest-running tournament gets affected again next year and in the years to come.

Oh, by the way, just for the record, Dr Nicholas Chan bounced back from his disappointing display at the Kuala Lumpur Masters event to bag the first prize at the Selangor open tournament. A convincing performance here which saw Chan finish half-a-point ahead of Jimmy Liew and Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin who ended in joint second place.

However, the most impressive result was scored by 11-year-old Yeoh Li Tian who finished in joint fourth place with Loo Swee Leong, Muhd Syazwan Zulkifli and Tan Ken Wei.

Up next  

Chess workshops

With the school holidays just around the corner, Polgar Chess Asia is organizing several holiday chess workshops at Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur. Complete beginners with very little idea about playing chess can attend the beginners-level workshops on Jun 7-10 or Jun 14-15. Fees are RM280 per student.

For slightly more advanced players, there are workshops on learning strategies of attack and endgame fundamentals. The “strategies of attack” workshop is on Jun 7-8 while the “endgame fundamentals” workshop is on Jun 9-10. Fees are RM300 per student.

For more information, contact Louisa Yip of Polgar Chess Asia (03.23001680 or 019.2586355).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the 5th MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. There will be three categories of events: under-20, under-17 and under-14 for boys and girls. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. More details are available from Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Fighting draws

One feature that anyone following the recent world chess championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov could not fail to notice was the absence of short draws.

Yes, the two players did agree to draw seven of the 12 games but all of them were great fighting draws. The games were hard fought all the way and the players had to prove to one another that they’d only agree to split a point when there was no more possibility of squeezing a win from the position.

Great fighting chess. That was what we all wanted to see when those two players came together. Of course, we know that Topalov’s uncompromising style would guarantee excitement in every game. He wouldn’t take a draw if he could help it. It was just not his style. It was aggression all the way. Streetwise aggression.

However, Anand refused to let all that aggro affect him too much, if at all. He had such a universal style that he could absorb everything that his opponent threw at him and then he would throw everything back at the opponent.

The end result? Twelve games that made us worldwide spectators sit up enthralled from the first to the last move. Though I was only observing the games through the Internet, the feeling and excitement was exactly the same as the time I was watching Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman play onstage in Kuala Lumpur 20 years ago. You’d think you were watching only two persons on a huge but near empty stage but no, there was also all the tension that went with the game.

Same here, online. We marvelled at the resourcefulness of the players. We applauded when we saw the players go for each other’s throat and we groaned when we noticed their mistakes. They are undeniably humans first, prone to making mistakes and other inaccuracies, and only chess gods second. 

Of course, it helped that when we watched through the Internet, there’d be some chess grandmasters or international masters around to give their real-time opinions about the games. It helped create a better understanding of the games for all the spectators. The downside, of course, was having to put up with the incomprehensible comments of the kibitzers in the Internet chat room at the same time. That was the only compromise but if you can ignore them, the three or four hours that you spend online can be very beneficial to any learner of chess.

A lot of the fighting games in Sofia could be put down to a little-known chess rule that has become very popular lately at top-level chess events, but never employed before at the world chess championship level. It’s known as the Sofia Rule, not because it was used in this match but because it’s generally accepted that the it was first used in a top-level chess competition in the Bulgarian capital in 2005.

The Sofia Rule dictates that players could not draw their games by agreement. They could have technical draws through stalemate or threefold repetition of position or the 50-move rule or through insufficient material, but that was all. Other draws would only be allowed if the arbiter declared it as a drawn position.

The FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009 series of tournaments did not even allow players to offer a draw directly. The draw had to be claimed with the arbiter, who was assisted by an experienced grandmaster. 

At this world chess championship match, Topalov tried to impose the Sofia Rule on Anand during the pre-match negotiations. He would not talk to Anand over the board, he declared. He would also ignore any attempt by Anand to offer a draw by talking to him during a game. If there was any draw offer, he would make it through the arbiter.

This request was rejected by Anand because according to him, world championship chess should be played with world championship regulations, and the Sofia Rule had never been accepted in any world championship regulation before.

Of course, there could always be a first time but how could there be a first time when both players cannot agree to using the rule? Nevertheless despite Anand’s rejection of the rule, Topalov’s team insisted that they would use it unilaterally and effectively force Anand to recognize it.

I think Anand’s response to this Sofia Rule was masterful. It was okay with him if Topalov refused to offer draws or accept draws. Anand was prepared to fight it out with Topalov in each and every game, no matter how long they played, but even without talking to his opponent, Anand could still tacitly offer to repeat positions on the chessboard. He was confident that if Topalov refused to accept such offers, it would make him continue the game and maybe, the pressure of trying to find the best alternative plans may force him into errors.

We all saw that happen in the 12th game. At one stage, the two players could have played their queen and bishop up and down the board and repeat the position three times but Topalov baulked at that. Drawing that game would mean extending the match into the tie-break which Topalov didn’t want, so he tried something else and he allowed Anand to break open the centre and train his guns on him.

The rest, as they say, is history. Anand carried out an irresistible attack and Topalov had to recapitulate at the end. Final result: 6½ points to world champion Anand and 5½ points to vanquished challenger Topalov.

Here are three more games from the match:

Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 6

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Qa4 Nc6 14. Rac1 e5 15. Bxc6 b5 16. Qc2 Qxc6 17. Ncxe5 Qe4 18. Qc6 Bb7 19. Qxe4 Bxe4 20. Rc2 Rfe8 21. Rfc1 f6 22. Nd7 Bf5 23. N7c5 Bb6 24. Nb7 Bd7 25. Nf4 Rab8 26. Nd6 Re5 27. Nc8 Ba5 28. Nd3 Re8 29. Na7 Bb6 30. Nc6 Rb7 31. Ncb4 a5 32. Nd5 a4 33. Nxb6 Rxb6 34. Nc5 Bf5 35. Rd2 Rc6 36. b4 axb3 37. axb3 b4 38. Rxd4 Rxe2 39. Rxb4 Bh3 40. Rbc4 Rd6 41. Re4 Rb2 42. Ree1 Rdd2 43. Ne4 Rd4 44. Nc5 Rdd2 45. Ne4 Rd3 46. Rb1 Rdxb3 47. Nd2 Rb4 48. f3 g5 49. Rxb2 Rxb2 50. Rd1 Kf7 51. Kf2 h5 52. Ke3 Rc2 53. Ra1 Kg6 54. Ra6 Bf5 55. Rd6 Rc3+ 56. Kf2 Rc2 57. Ke3 Rc3+ 58. Kf2 Rc2 ½-½ 

Viswanathan Anand – Veselin Topalov, Game 7

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Bf4 dxc4 9. Ne5 b5 10. Nxc6 Nxc6 11. Bxc6 Bd7 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. f3 Nd5 14. Bd2 e5 15. e4 Bh3 16. exd5 Bxf1 17. Qxf1 exd4 18. a4 Qxd5 19. axb5 Qxb5 20. Rxa7 Re8 21. Kh1 Bf8 22. Rc7 d3 23. Bc3 Bd6 24. Ra7 h6 25. Nd2 Bb4 26. Ra1 Bxc3 27. bxc3 Re2 28. Rd1 Qa4 29. Ne4 Qc2 30. Rc1 Rxh2+ 31. Kg1 Rg2+ 32. Qxg2 Qxc1+ 33. Qf1 Qe3+ 34. Qf2 Qc1+ 35. Qf1 Qe3+ 36. Kg2 f5 37. Nf2 Kh7 38. Qb1 Qe6 39. Qb5 g5 40. g4 fxg4 41. fxg4 Kg6 42. Qb7 d2 43. Qb1+ Kg7 44. Kf1 Qe7 45. Kg2 Qe6 46. Qd1 Qe3 47. Qf3 Qe6 48. Qb7+ Kg6 49. Qb1+ Kg7 50. Qd1 Qe3 51. Qc2 Qe2 52. Qa4 Kg8 53. Qd7 Kf8 54. Qd5 Kg7 55. Kg3 Qe3+ 56. Qf3 Qe5+ 57. Kg2 Qe6 58. Qd1 ½-½

Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 8

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6 15. Bxd7+ Kxd7 16. Ke2 f6 17. Rhd1 Ke8 18. a5 Be7 19. Bb6 Rf8 20. Rac1 f5 21. e5 Bg5 22. Be3 f4 23. Ne4 Rxc1 24. Nd6+ Kd7 25. Bxc1 Kc6 26. Bd2 Be7 27. Rc1+ Kd7 28. Bc3 Bxd6 29. Rd1 Bf5 30. h4 g6 31. Rxd6+ Kc8 32. Bd2 Rd8 33. Bxf4 Rxd6 34. exd6 Kd7 35. Ke3 Bc2 36. Kd4 Ke8 37. Ke5 Kf7 38. Be3 Ba4 39. Kf4 Bb5 40. Bc5 Kf6 41. Bd4+ Kf7 42. Kg5 Bc6 43. Kh6 Kg8 44. h5 Be8 45. Kg5 Kf7 46. Kh6 Kg8 47. Bc5 gxh5 48. Kg5 Kg7 49. Bd4+ Kf7 50. Be5 h4 51. Kxh4 Kg6 52. Kg4 Bb5 53. Kf4 Kf7 54. Kg5 Bc6 55. Kh6 Kg8 56. g4 1-0

Up next  

Perak grand prix

The Manjung leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, postponed from last week due to the unavailability of the venue, is now confirmed as scheduled for this Sunday at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist (ACS) in Sitiawan. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Hamisah (012.5008723). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

Chess workshops

With the school holidays just around the corner, Polgar Chess Asia is organizing several holiday chess workshops at Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur. Complete beginners with very little idea about playing chess can attend the beginners-level workshops on Jun 7-10 or Jun 14-15. Fees are RM280 per student.

For slightly more advanced players, there are workshops on learning strategies of attack and endgame fundamentals. The “strategies of attack” workshop is on Jun 7-8 while the “endgame fundamentals” workshop is on Jun 9-10. Fees are RM300 per student.

For more information, contact Louisa Yip of Polgar Chess Asia (03.23001680 or 019.2586355).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the 5th MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. There will be three categories of events: under-20, under-17 and under-14 for boys and girls. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. More details are available from Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293)