Social fun

I have been either an observer or participant in a chess team tournament for almost as long as I have been playing the game, and that’s going back a very long time. 

Team tournaments can be fun, if you don’t take it too seriously. If you are in the game for the money, which isn’t much anyway since you are splitting the prize with the other members of the team, then of course you must be very serious about where you are going to place your next piece. That should be the attitude.

But if your intention to just to enjoy the camaraderie of friends and the mental wrestling with other people, then don’t you think that it is perfectly all right to allow yourself to be more casual with the way you play?

As for me, I’m way past being in full competitive mood. I don’t wear my full armour suit anymore. Maybe a protective codpiece in case I lose my sense of danger, but that’s about all. I leave all the serious posturing to the younger generations below me. 

If they live for the thrill of “crushing” their opponent’s ego or “taming” them or wherever they call it nowadays, well and good. That’s their objective, their game plan, but it’s not mine anymore. 

No Sirree Bob, since I only play whenever I feel like playing, I’m good humoured about the losing bit. If people can feel happy with winning, I can also feel happy with losing. There’s absolutely no problem with me. I don’t feel psychologically crushed, I don’t sulk or regret. Just make sure you don’t allow me half a chance in our game, though. I’ll still go after you.

I won’t say much about the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s annual team chess tournament that ended just last weekend except it was a good show by the boys and the girls that organized it.

At the USM, organizing their annual chess festival is actually part of their extracurricular course activities. It contributes towards their credit points. So, their Bridge And Chess Club undertakes an individual tournament and a team tournament every year. I hear that this year, they will have a Chinese chess tournament as well, and it will be at the end of February.

A friend who just came back to playing chess after 10 years remarked that the crowd at the individual and team events was markedly different. Definitely, there should be less people at an individual competition but he also observed that while the players at the individual event were young – many of them in primary schools – the team competition attracted a lot more adult players.

Many of them had even come up from the Klang Valley for a weekend of chess. Was it about the money, I asked one of the competitors. I had noticed him at the USM events for the past three or four years.

Oh, definitely not, he had answered. Good if his team wins something, he said, but it was more about the fun of participating and meeting friends. Curiously enough, some of his friends were from, yes, the Klang Valley too! Imagine coming here to catch up with your friends back home! 

Yes indeed, the USM chess fest has certainly become a fixture on the local chess calendar. People are actually coming to play chess in this team competition regardless of the prize moneys.

Meeting friends, he had said. That’s just goes to show exactly what I was talking about. A team competition is always about meeting people and being social about it, a reunion of sorts. 

Nobody feels particularly threatened because in a team competition, sometimes the chances of meeting a “friendly” rival over the board can be remote. Their teams may meet each other but there are always enough chances that they won’t face one another if they are playing on different levels in their respective teams.

And even if they do, well, so what? Someone has to win, and someone has to lose. No point sulking over a loss. There will always be a next time. Anyway, we’re all adults and we should know better, right? Ha ha, I’ll leave it at that.

Next week is Chinese New Year, so I’ll catch up with everyone in a fortnight’s time. But before I go, I just want to tell you that the Tata Steel chess tournament is presently going on. Inclusive of today, there are only three rounds remaining.

In case you are not familiar with this event, it has a very long history going back to 1938. It used to be called the Corus tournament (does it sound familiar?) and before that, the Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee, named after the Dutch seaside town of Wijk aan Zee.

Anyway, the Tata Steel chess tournament is a very strong event. There are three Grandmaster Groups, with 14 players each and each competitor playing against every other.

The world’s chess eyes are mainly focused on the Grandmaster Group A tournament. This year’s players include world champion Viswanathan Anand, former world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov, world top-ranked player Magnus Carlsen and other equally big names: Levon Aronian, Alexei Shirov, Alexander Grischuk, Anish Giri, Wang Hao and Hikaru Nakamura.

The Grandmaster Group B have players like Wesley So, Li Chao, Vlad Tkachiev, Luke Shane and Le Quang Liem. And meanwhile the Grandmaster Group C, while featuring less known names, still have interesting participants like Katherina Lahno, Daniele Vocaturo and Mark Bluvshtein.

You can follow the live games and the fortunes of the players from the official Tata Steel Chess website, http://www.tatasteelchess.com/, from 8.30pm nightly. Do enjoy the games!

Up next

DATCC renegade chess

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the DATCC renegade rapid chess weekend at their Wilayah Complex premises in Kuala Lumpur this Sunday. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 12 years old) and RM25 (all other players). Please register before Jan 28. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Percawi chess

The Kuala Lumpur FT Chess Association (Percawi) will organise the Percawi City Day age group open (under-18 open and under-18 girls’ open) at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 1. Six rounds, 30-minute time control games. Entry fee is RM15, inclusive of one-year Percawi junior membership. Closing date is Jan 31. To register, contact Collin Madhaven (016.2123578), Azwan (019.2788471) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542).

Cerdik chess

The Cerdik Catur Enterprise will organize their second Cerdik Catur tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Feb 5. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM25 (adults) and RM20 (school children). To register, contact Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com.)

 

Looking to the future

It is three weeks into the new year already but pardon me if I’m still delving into the past. I do need to mention two things before I move along. 

The first was the demise of a fellow Malaysian chess journalist, one whom I’ve known since the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the past four or five years that we really got down to talk more to one another.

Local chess enthusiasts will know the name of Lim Chong who worked with the Economics Desk of our national news agency, Bernama. Lim passed away in November last year while enroute from an assignment in London.

In the 1980s, The Star and The Malay Mail were the only two newspapers in the country with a regular chess page, and Lim was in charge of the chess output over there. So you wouldn’t be wrong to say that we were rivals. However, I have to confess that though we had different styles, I rather enjoyed what he wrote.

After a long helm, he was transferred to a sister publication of that newspaper and was in charge of the computer section. Much later, he left to join Bernama. Though he no longer wrote about chess, he was still very much in touch with the game and concerned about the accuracy of local chess news.

For instance, in April last year, I had a rather long conversation with him about a news item on one of the Malaysian chess players. It was quite clear that the reporter had misunderstood our player and written something that created a minor flap in our chess circles. I was right there when the player was interviewed, so therefore I could explain to Lim on what went wrong. 

However, that was an exception rather than the norm because Lim was always a quiet man. He was a person of very few words, even in conversations. What he wanted to say, he preferred to say by email messages. At least, that was my impression. 

In the last year of his life, we exchanged quite a number of emails. He was working to compile information on the history of the Selangor open chess tournaments and he wanted me to fill in some blanks. I don’t know the extent of his work but I hope that he had already completed it and handed it to the Chess Association of Selangor.

The other thing I must mention is the withdrawal of Datuk Tan Chin Nam from chess sponsorship. Immediately after the conclusion of last year’s Malaysia Chess Festival, Tan announced that he would be taking a sabbatical from sponsoring chess activities in the country.

He was saying that in order for chess in Malaysia to progress beyond the present, the chess movement should no longer be dependent on him to provide the monetary assistance. 

Chess organizers, he said, should be prepared to look at other sources of sponsorship. He considered himself as a hindrance to chess. Though he did not say it, that could possibly mean that he did not want chess organizers to take him too much for granted. 

I believe the implication of his decision has finally sunk in. I heard that when the Malaysians went down to Singapore in December for the annual chess match between the two countries, Tan declined to help meet the travel expenses. The Malaysian Chess Federation was forced to look elsewhere for the funds.

I have also been told that the running of the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur may also have been impacted. For the past two years, Tan had been meeting the cost of running this place. But since the beginning of this month, it has been different. Several chess supporters have banded together to keep the centre up and running. 

There is definitely change in the air. In the months ahead, surely there will be more changes. The greatest impact will be felt nearer August and September. How will the next Malaysia Chess Festival be affected?

Although I’m not privy to the Festival’s finances, I know that the cost of staging it can be quite monumental. Hundreds of thousands of Ringgit, perhaps? If Tan is not prepared to bankroll it, we should not expect this year’s Malaysia Chess Festival to be organized the same way as before.  Only time will show how this will turn out.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten these two things out of my system, I’d just like to mention that this year’s Malaysian chess calendar has been released. Frankly, I’m very much surprised as this is only January. That’s pretty efficient on the Malaysian Chess Federation’s part. 

So what sort of events can we expect this year? Well, in two months’ time, there will be the national age group championship and the national closed championships. They follow one another: the age group event is on Mar 12-15, while the national closed and the national women’s championships are on Mar 16-20.

In May, there will be the Malaysian men’s and women’s masters tournaments. Also in May and extending into June, we shall see the national schools chess tournament, organized by the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Malaysia (MSSM).

Also on the calendar will be a Malaysia inter-state chess championship in June, the Merdeka team chess championship and the Malaysia open championship in August, the national rapid age group and the national rapid championships in September, various chess camps for students in November, and the national junior chess championship in December.

On top of all that, the Chess Association of Selangor is certain of holding their Selangor open tournament, the Penang Chess Association will want to hold their Penang open tournament, the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association will be planning their next KL open and the Sarawak Chess Association looking into organizing their Sarawak open. 

Then, we should also expect to see all manner of organizers around the country coming out to plan their one-day tournaments as well. All too many to mention here at this stage, but they shall be announced as we go along, as always.

It sure looks like it’s going to be another busy chess year indeed. 

Up next

USM chess festival

The 17th Universiti Sains Malaysia chess festival continues this weekend with a seven-round team event starting tomorrow. For this event, time control is 40 minutes per game. Entry fees are RM70 (under-12 teams), RM90 (university, college and school teams) and RM110 (all other teams). Details are available from Lee Youn Hock (014.9445491), Sia Chye Ching (012.7258828) or Lee Chiew Seng (016.5152312). 

DATCC renegade chess

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the DATCC renegade rapid chess weekend at their Wilayah Complex premises in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 30. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 12 years old) and RM25 (all other players). Please register before Jan 28. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Percawi chess

The Kuala Lumpur FT Chess Association (Percawi) will organise the Percawi City Day age group open (under-18 open and under-18 girls’ open) at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 1. Six rounds, 30-minute time control games. Entry fee is RM15, inclusive of one-year Percawi junior membership. Closing date is Jan 31. To register, contact Collin Madhaven (016.2123578), Azwan (019.2788471) or Najib Wahab (016.3382542).

Cerdik chess

The Cerdik Catur Enterprise will organize their second Cerdik Catur tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Feb 5. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM25 (adults) and RM20 (school children). To register, contact Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com.)

 

Focused or aimless?

If some of us are still feeling smug two weeks after the Malaysian side had beaten their Singapore counterparts in the annual chess match between the two countries, my advice is just this: stop. It’s over; let’s not waste further time with it. We should move on, because chess-wise there is a lot to do.

My own general sense of euphoria ended right after I had written last week’s article. I don’t gloat over the results because in reality, this isn’t much of an achievement. I know the Malaysian team badly wanted to win but what do the results really mean? Don’t read too much into it.

We went into the match with a senior team that lacked our best players. We missed out on several key players until the Malaysian Chess Federation were forced to field our better junior players for the senior side. Not that I am complaining about this, though. I’ve always been an advocate of the move to bleed in new talent. Our national chess body as well as our state chess associations must always allow talented juniors to come forward and show their mettle.

It’s the only way forward. If junior players are cloistered and shielded behind their age group events, we are simply limiting them. How on earth can they develop and blossom if not given the chance? So what the Malaysian Chess Federation did was right. In the absence of the usual senior regulars, the boys were asked to play like men. 

Budding players like Edward Lee, Evan Capel (yes, there are even former national champions who are no older than 20), Lim Zhuo Ren, Sumant Subramaniam and Yeap Eng Chiam … yes, they all stepped up admirably to fill the senior shoes. 

But this positive aside, what had also been at the back of my mind was whether or not the Singapore side had fielded their best players against us. 

I do acknowledge that their players like Daniel Chan, Jarred Neubronner and Tan Weiliang are at least among the top 15 active home-grown players in Singapore today, but their senior line-up was never near the best they could assemble either.

Despite this, there was still about a 100 rating-point gap that separated the two senior sides. With the strength of their senior side far out-weighing ours, it wasn’t any surprise than we lost out on these boards. We were not good enough, period. 

But at least, we redeemed ourselves with far better results in the age-group encounters. It’s almost impossible to determine for sure which side was the stronger on paper as many of the players were young and without official ratings. Nevertheless, based on the results, we were better in the age groups.

However, one thing became clear looking deeper at the results. Regardless of whether we talk about Singapore or Malaysia, the future of the game will always have to come through from the younger ranks. We shall have to continue nurturing and training them from small. There is no other way for succession planning.

The important question that needs be asked is how well are we moving forward today? What is the big picture? Are we focused or are we simply moving aimlessly? How are our young chess players here being trained? If you ask me, I’d say the road ahead is bumpy. It is not going along smoothly. Not at all.

Since November, we have lost our one and only big-name foreign chess trainer. The Bangladeshi grandmaster, Ziaur Rahman, has finished his stay here in Kuala Lumpur and returned to his home country. He was on contract for a year but he asked to be released early.

From what I heard, it was an amicable separation for both him and his private chess employers. And since his departure, all that we have left are the same old local chess coaches. We continue to be so dependent on them to impart chess knowledge to the young. 

In the last decade or so, chess coaching clinics have sprung up in the bigger chess centres around the Klang Valley and elsewhere in the country but sad to say, coaching techniques and quality are far from being uniform or consistent. 

So how can we determine whether one coach is better than another? Just because a local coach may have been successful as a player does not necessarily mean that they are competent enough to teach. On the other hand, a local coach who is just an average-level player can turn out to be a good teacher that inspires his students. I suppose that at the end of the day, the only measure of a coach in Malaysia is his track record, that is, how successful his students are when they play competitively. 

From my point of view, it looks unlikely that anyone will be bringing in more foreign chess coaches at anytime soon. Malaysia is spread too wide as a country, compared to a compact place like Singapore, and there is not enough spending power to support the presence of foreign coaches. It’s the vicious law of supply and demand.

To my mind, Ziaur Rahman was under-utilised during his short stay here. But for better coordination with all the state chess associations, more could have been achieved with him. But then also, chess exists in this country as a result of parents and volunteers pitching in their time or money for the game. The state chess associations are not exactly rich, so that leaves the parents to fork out the dough.

When I was in Singapore a fortnight ago, I had noticed that there are quite a number of foreign trainers – players with acceptable credentials – around to provide chess tuition to the children there. Fees are not cheap, but the parents are prepared to pay good money to make their children play better than the next kid.

One parent there claimed to have spent SGD20,000 over the years on foreign chess trainers for her children. Are our parents here capable of spending RM20,000 on their children’s chess and if so, how many such parents are there?

(Unfortunately, spending so much also puts the children under immense parental pressure to perform well in competitions and not all children can deal with it. However, this is not a topic I would want to raise here.)

Nevertheless to answer my own question, I doubt that there are many parents in Malaysia who are able to spend that amount of money on foreign chess tutors. And without these parents spending on foreign coaches, all we have left are the local ones. How far they can bring their students forward will depend on their local expertise. No more and no less. 

At the end of the day, some will say that we get what we pay for. We reap what we sow. I suppose its true, after all. 

Up next

USM chess festival

The 17th Universiti Sains Malaysia chess festival kicks off this weekend with an eight-round individual event on Saturday and Sunday, and a seven-round team event on Jan 22-23. For both events, 40-minute time control games. Entry fees for the individual tournament are RM17 (under-12 players), RM19 (under-18 players), RM21 (university and college players) and RM27 (others). Members of the Penang Chess Association will be charged at RM15, RM17, RM19 and RM22 respectively. For the team event, entry fees are RM70 (under-12 teams), RM90 (university, college and school teams) and RM110 (all other teams). Details are available from Lee Youn Hock (014.9445491), Sia Chye Ching (012.7258828) or Lee Chiew Seng (016.5152312). 

DATCC renegade chess

The Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre will organize the DATCC renegade rapid chess weekend at their Wilayah Complex premises in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 30. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (players under 12 years old) and RM25 (all other players). Please register before Jan 28. For inquiries, contact Najib Wahab (016.3382542 or najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com.)

Cerdik chess

The Cerdik Catur Enterprise will organize their second Cerdik Catur tournament at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur on Feb 5. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM25 (adults) and RM20 (school children). To register, contact Fadli Zakaria (014.2312370 or cerdikcatur@yahoo.com.)

 

Malaysia wins

So what did you do at the turn of the decade? Me, I went to Singapore. I went there not so much as to watch the fireworks display at their Marina Bay but to participate in the latest annual match between Malaysia and our neighbours down south, the 21st in a series that goes back to 1985.

With the Singapore Chess Federation being the hosts this time around, a contingent of about 50 people, comprising players and accompanying officials, travelled there bent on reversing the fortunes of the past few years.

It’s to be noted that in February 2010, when the last encounter was played in Kuala Lumpur, we had lost out to the Singapore team by the narrowest of margins: 76½ points to them and 75½ points to us.

What made it heartbreaking last year was that we as the hosts had taken the lead from the first two rounds of games played at normal time controls, only to see the visitors winning the other two rounds, which adopted rapidchess time controls, and thus overhauling us in the process. 

This time around in Singapore, the situation was the reverse. 

After the first day of normal time control games, we found ourselves down by an unenviable seven points. The first round in the morning had landed us in negative territory. We had tripped ourselves up. From the 38 games played in this round, we scored only 15½ points compared to the Singaporeans’ 22½ points. 

Luckily, the situation stabilized in the afternoon. Here, both sides were unable to find the advantage and the results were split right down the table with the Malaysians and Singaporeans scoring 19 points each. So, collectively at the end of the first day’s games, Singapore were leading us 41½ points to 34½ points.

If you were to suggest that the Malaysians were depressed, that would be an understatement. Not only were they depressed, they were openly asking what it would take to beat the Singaporeans at chess. Seven points was a big margin and an extraordinary effort, coupled with a large dose of luck, would be needed to overturn it.

Nevertheless, it could still be done. Someone mentioned that if ever we needed to the luck of the Malaysian football team, this would be the time. If the courage of the plucky footballers can be emulated on the chessboard, of course there was a chance for the chess players to overcome the seven points of deficit. It wasn’t insurmountable.

And so it proved not to be insurmountable. The second day’s matches would be played with rapidchess time controls and here, the Malaysians found back their own self-belief. 

Slowly, the seven-point gap was being narrowed. At one stage, the two teams were running neck-to-neck. But eventually, the Malaysians collected 24 points from this third round and the Singaporeans 14 points. At the end of the morning’s third round, the Malaysians suddenly found themselves leading by a narrow three points. 

The sudden reversal of fortune caused nerves to set in: nerves that obviously affected not only the Malaysians but the Singaporeans as well. Everything would now boil down to the fourth round. The last 38 games would be crucial. 

The Singaporeans, smarting from being dismantled in the third round, were looking not only to win the fourth round but by a big margin as well. As for the Malaysians, they were hoping that the same winning momentum would carry them through till the end of the last game. Whatever, I knew that the match would be very, very close.

And it was! Singapore threw everything at the Malaysians but perhaps because of nerves, maybe they couldn’t find the killer touches. Anyhow, the Malaysians built up a wall and stood firm behind it, despite their own nervousness too. Eventually, this round finished tied with both sides scoring 19 points.

Overall, the Malaysian team had collected 77½ points to the Singaporeans’ 74½ points. A modest three-point spread, you may say, but it was a fortunate result for us and of course correspondingly, an unfortunate loss for them. But that’s how chess is like.

So that’s how the year started with a chess win. For this year at least, the Tan Kim Yeow trophy is finally back in Malaysia’s hands.

Here’s a little trivia to end this week’s story. As I travelled back to Kuala Lumpur by train from Singapore’s Tanjung Pagar station, having purposely chosen this mode of transportation for nostalgia reasons as KTM would soon cease running their trains right through the middle of Singapore, I noticed a lady was still reading last week’s story about Hou Yifan winning the women’s world championship match in Turkey. Suddenly, she pointed to the picture of 16-year-old Hou and blurted out quite loudly to her husband, “Wah, so young, ah!”

I guess in a way, this reaction also pays tribute to the youth in the Malaysian team. Of the 38 games in each round, at least 30 players of our players were below the age of 18. Once again, they are proving to be the backbone and the future of Malaysian chess. If not for their determined effort in Singapore, I really doubt that we could have won back the Tan Kim Yeow trophy.

Meanwhile, here are some of the games from the women’s world championship match between Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei. Do enjoy them.

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game One

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 dxe4 4. fxe4 e5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. c3 b5 8. Bd3 Ngf6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Nbd2 h6 12. Bh4 Qc7 13. Qc2 Nh5 14. h3 Be6 15. Rae1 Nf4 16. Bg3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Rad8 18. Bf2 a6 19. Nh4 Nb6 20. b3 Rfe8 21. Qf3 b4 22. Rc1 bxc3 23. Qxc3 exd4 24. Bxd4 c5 25. Bxg7 Bf4 26. Nhf3 Rxd2 27. Nxd2 Bxd2 28. Qxd2 Kxg7 29. Qc3+ Kh7 30. Qxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Rxc5 Ra8 32. Ra5 Nc8 33. Rc1 Nd6 34. e5 Nf5 35. Kf2 h5 36. Rc2 Nd4 37. Rd2 Nc6 38. Rc5 Ne7 39. b4 Kg6 40. a3 Kf5 41. Ke3 Rg8 42. Ra5 Rg3+ 43. Kf2 Rb3 44. Rxa6 Nd5 45. Ra5 Ne3 46. Rc5 Nc4 47. Rc2 Nxa3 48. R2c3 Rb2+ 49. Kg3 Nb1 50. Rf3+ Kg5 51. h4+ Kg6 52. Rc7 Kg7 53. Rf6 Kg8 54. Rf4 Rb3+ 55. Kh2 Rb2 56. Rc5 Na3 57. Rc3 Nb5 58. Rg3+ Kf8 59. Rg5 Nc7 60. Rxh5 Nd5 61. Re4 Kg7 62. Rg5+ Kh7 63. Rc4 Rb3 64. Rg3 Rb2 65. Rg5 Rb3 66. Rd4 Nxb4 67. Rg3 Rb2 68. Rc3 Nd5 69. Rcd3 Ne7 70. Rd2 Rb5 71. Re2 Ng6 72. Rde4 Bf5 73. e6 Bxe6 

½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Two

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 e5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Kh1 exf4 12. Bxf4 Be6 13. Bf3 Qb8 14. b3 Qb4 15. Qe1 a5 16. Rd1 Rfe8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Rac8 19. Qg3 g6 20. Na4 Nd5 21. Bxd5 cxd5 22. Bc3 Qg4 23. Qxg4 Bxg4 24. Rxd5 Bb4 25. Bxb4 axb4 26. Rd2 Bf5 27. Kg1 Rxc2 28. Rxc2 Bxc2 29. Kf2 Bd3 30. Re1 Rc8 31. Ke3 Bb5 32. Rd1 Re8+ 33. Kf4 Re2 34. g4 Bxa4 35. bxa4 Rxa2 36. Rd4 Rxa4 37. h4 Kf8 38. Re4 f6 39. Rc4 Ke7 40. Rd4 Ke6 41. Ke4 Ke7 42. Kf4 h6 43. h5 gxh5 44. gxh5 Kf7 45. Re4 Kf8 46. Kg4 f5+ 47. Kxf5 Ra5+ 48. Kg6 Ra6+ 49. Kh7 Rb6 50. Rf4+ Ke7 51. Rf1 b3 52. Kg7 b2 53. Rb1 Ke6 54. Kxh6 Kf5+ 55. Kg7 Kg5 56. Kf7 Kxh5 57. Ke7 Kg4 58. Kd7 Kf3 59. Kc7 Rb3 0-1

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game Three

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 g6 7. N1f3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 h6 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 c5 12. Bc4 e6 13. Be3 Nf6 14. Qd3 Ng4 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Rad1 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 b6 18. Nd2 Qxc5 19. Qxc5 bxc5 20. c3 Bb7 21. Nb3 Rfc8 22. Na5 Rc7 23. Nxb7 Rxb7 24. Rd2 Rab8 25. Bb3 a5 26. Rc1 a4 27. Bxa4 Rxb2 28. Rxb2 Rxb2 29. Bd1 Rxa2 30. g3 Ra3 31. c4 Bd4 32. Kg2 Ra2 33. Rc2 Ra1 34. Bf3 Kf8 35. h4 Ke7 36. Bc6 g5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. g4 Ra3 39. Be4 Kd6 40. Re2 Kc7 41. Bh7 e5 42. Be4 Kb6 43. Rd2 Ka5 44. Bd5 f6 45. Kf1 Kb4 46. Ke2 e4 47. Rc2 e3 48. fxe3 Rxe3+ 49. Kd1 Rg3 50. Rg2 Rh3 51. Re2 Kc3 52. Rd2 Rh4 53. Rg2 Kd3 54. Rd2+ Ke3 55. Re2+ Kf4 56. Re4+ Kg3 57. Be6 Rh8 58. Kd2 Re8 59. Kd3 Rxe6 60. Rxe6 Kxg4 61. Re4+ Kf5 62. Re1 g4 63. Rf1+ Ke5 64. Re1+ Kd6 65. Ke4 Bf2 66. Rd1+ Ke6 67. Rd5 g3 68. Kf3 f5 69. Kg2 Kf6 70. Kf3 Kg5 71. Re5 Kg6 72. Rd5 Kf6 73. Kg2 Ke6 74. Kf3 f4 75. Kg2 Be3 ½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Four

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. h4 Nc6 8. Rg1 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bg2 Qe5+ 12. Be3 Qh2 13. f4 Bd7 14. Qd2 Nxd4 15. O-O-O Bc5 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 O-O-O 18. Qc4+ Kb8 19. Qe4 Bc8 20. h5 Ka8 21. a4 Rd5 22. Rdf1 Qh4 23. Qc4 Rd7 24. a5 Qd8 25. a6 Qa5 26. Kb1 Kb8 27. axb7 Bxb7 28. Bxb7 Rxb7 29. Qd4 Ka8 30. Rf3 Rhb8 31. b3 f6 32. Rd1 Qb4 33. Qe3 Rb6 34. Rd4 Qe7 35. Qd3 R6b7 36. Re3 Re8 37. Rd6 e5 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Re4 Qc7 40. Rd5 Qb8 41. Rc4 Rf8 42. Kb2 Qe8 43. Rdc5 Qe6 44. Qe4 Kb8 45. Rxe5 Qf6 46. Rc6 Qf7 47. Rf5 1-0

 

Teen queen

Nobody who had met Hou Yifan in April this year, when she took part in the Kuala Lumpur open chess tournament, could have expected that the petite 16-year-old chess prodigy from China would close 2010 crowned as the new women’s world champion.

When do you think you can become the world champion, I had asked her then. She let out a stifled giggle, a reaction which I had mistaken for a nervous laugh. I don’t know, she replied.

But that’s your ambition, isn’t it, I persisted in asking her. Your last attempt at the world chess title had been so very close, I mentioned, referring to the previous world chess championship in Nalchik, Russia in 2008. 

At that time, Hou was only 14 years old and she had progressed through the knock-out tournament till the final stage where she met the other finalist, Alexandra Kosteniuk. However, her opponent proved to be the better player and she was left to reflect on her lost opportunity.

Oh, I hope to be better prepared and play better this time, she had replied modestly.

Well, Hou Yifan has really played better this time and gone one better than before. Two additional years of travelling the world and playing chess against top-notch men’s and women’s players had added to her experience. 

Just last Friday in Hatay, Turkey, she finally claimed the women’s chess crown as her own. In the final of the championship, she played the match of her life and just about eked through with a hard-fought win against her compatriot, Ruan Lufei.

Hou had started the knock-out women’s world championship as the third seed just behind India’s Humpy Koneru, the second seeded player. Despite being rated so much lower in the 64-player field, Kosteniuk as the defending champion had been given top seed in deference to her World Champion’s title but it was clear as the championship progressed that Kosteniuk would not be able to repeat her success of 2008.

In the third round, Kosteniuk was eliminated by Ruan. Both players had drawn their first two games and so it was left to the tie-break games to decide. A gritty Ruan won the first game of the tie-break before she then closed down Kosteniuk in the second tie-break game and thus, the Chinese player advanced to the quarter-finals.

It will be interesting to note that throughout this championship, Ruan gained a reputation as the tie-break queen. Right from the word Go, all of Ruan’s mini-matches (each round except for the final would be an encounter of two games at normal regulation time control and if there was no decision, then tie-break games at a faster time control would decide) went into nerve-wracking tie-breaks. None of her rounds were ever decided under normal time control.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise to observers when Ruan pulled level with Hou after four normal regulation games in the final of this world championship. 

The first game of the final began with Hou playing with the white pieces and pressing to strike the first blow. At one point the position was better for Hou but try as she could, she could not overcome Ruan and the game ended drawn.

Hou was not to be denied, however, and she did pick up her first win against Ruan in the second game. The point was split again in the third game, but I can assure you that it was no tame stuff. Ruan could have won it and equalized. She had that pressing advantage which she could have converted into a win but did not. 

So going into the fourth game, Hou was still leading and needed just a draw. On the other hand, the fourth game was going to be a do-or-die mission for Ruan. Anything less than a win for Ruan would mean that the women’s world chess championship would have ended then and there for her.

It was fascinating to watch this game as it unfolded. Maybe it was due to nerves but Hou, after defending well against Ruan’s onslaught, succumbed after Ruan found the very best moves over the board. At the end of the four normal regulation time control games, the final was back where it started: on equal footing for both players.

The first game of the tie-break was drawn, then Hou won the second tie-break game. In the third tie-break game, the players drew again. But this was where the resemblance to the normal regulation games ended. In the fourth tie-break game, Hou seized the initiative from Ruan and did not let go. As much as Ruan tried, she could not turn the game around and finally, defeat staring at her on the chessboard, Ruan conceded the game.

So there we have it: Hou Yifan is the newest and youngest of the long line of women’s world chess champions. Hail to the new queen of chess. 

[Just an interesting footnote here: China’s Ruan Lufei is 23 years old. She is a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. "I think there are three reasons why she beat me," Ruan reflected after the championship. "Firstly, she is really a good player, and unlike me, she plays chess every day. Secondly, I played tie-break in every round, so I have played for 20 days with only one day of rest. Finally, she has two coaches here, but I'm fighting alone. My coach is in China."]

Here are the normal regulation games from the final of the women’s world championship.

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game One

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 dxe4 4. fxe4 e5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. c3 b5 8. Bd3 Ngf6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Nbd2 h6 12. Bh4 Qc7 13. Qc2 Nh5 14. h3 Be6 15. Rae1 Nf4 16. Bg3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Rad8 18. Bf2 a6 19. Nh4 Nb6 20. b3 Rfe8 21. Qf3 b4 22. Rc1 bxc3 23. Qxc3 exd4 24. Bxd4 c5 25. Bxg7 Bf4 26. Nhf3 Rxd2 27. Nxd2 Bxd2 28. Qxd2 Kxg7 29. Qc3+ Kh7 30. Qxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Rxc5 Ra8 32. Ra5 Nc8 33. Rc1 Nd6 34. e5 Nf5 35. Kf2 h5 36. Rc2 Nd4 37. Rd2 Nc6 38. Rc5 Ne7 39. b4 Kg6 40. a3 Kf5 41. Ke3 Rg8 42. Ra5 Rg3+ 43. Kf2 Rb3 44. Rxa6 Nd5 45. Ra5 Ne3 46. Rc5 Nc4 47. Rc2 Nxa3 48. R2c3 Rb2+ 49. Kg3 Nb1 50. Rf3+ Kg5 51. h4+ Kg6 52. Rc7 Kg7 53. Rf6 Kg8 54. Rf4 Rb3+ 55. Kh2 Rb2 56. Rc5 Na3 57. Rc3 Nb5 58. Rg3+ Kf8 59. Rg5 Nc7 60. Rxh5 Nd5 61. Re4 Kg7 62. Rg5+ Kh7 63. Rc4 Rb3 64. Rg3 Rb2 65. Rg5 Rb3 66. Rd4 Nxb4 67. Rg3 Rb2 68. Rc3 Nd5 69. Rcd3 Ne7 70. Rd2 Rb5 71. Re2 Ng6 72. Rde4 Bf5 73. e6 Bxe6 

½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Two

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 e5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Kh1 exf4 12. Bxf4 Be6 13. Bf3 Qb8 14. b3 Qb4 15. Qe1 a5 16. Rd1 Rfe8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Rac8 19. Qg3 g6 20. Na4 Nd5 21. Bxd5 cxd5 22. Bc3 Qg4 23. Qxg4 Bxg4 24. Rxd5 Bb4 25. Bxb4 axb4 26. Rd2 Bf5 27. Kg1 Rxc2 28. Rxc2 Bxc2 29. Kf2 Bd3 30. Re1 Rc8 31. Ke3 Bb5 32. Rd1 Re8+ 33. Kf4 Re2 34. g4 Bxa4 35. bxa4 Rxa2 36. Rd4 Rxa4 37. h4 Kf8 38. Re4 f6 39. Rc4 Ke7 40. Rd4 Ke6 41. Ke4 Ke7 42. Kf4 h6 43. h5 gxh5 44. gxh5 Kf7 45. Re4 Kf8 46. Kg4 f5+ 47. Kxf5 Ra5+ 48. Kg6 Ra6+ 49. Kh7 Rb6 50. Rf4+ Ke7 51. Rf1 b3 52. Kg7 b2 53. Rb1 Ke6 54. Kxh6 Kf5+ 55. Kg7 Kg5 56. Kf7 Kxh5 57. Ke7 Kg4 58. Kd7 Kf3 59. Kc7 Rb3 0-1

Hou Yifan - Ruan Lufei, Game Three

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 g6 7. N1f3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 h6 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 c5 12. Bc4 e6 13. Be3 Nf6 14. Qd3 Ng4 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Rad1 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 b6 18. Nd2 Qxc5 19. Qxc5 bxc5 20. c3 Bb7 21. Nb3 Rfc8 22. Na5 Rc7 23. Nxb7 Rxb7 24. Rd2 Rab8 25. Bb3 a5 26. Rc1 a4 27. Bxa4 Rxb2 28. Rxb2 Rxb2 29. Bd1 Rxa2 30. g3 Ra3 31. c4 Bd4 32. Kg2 Ra2 33. Rc2 Ra1 34. Bf3 Kf8 35. h4 Ke7 36. Bc6 g5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. g4 Ra3 39. Be4 Kd6 40. Re2 Kc7 41. Bh7 e5 42. Be4 Kb6 43. Rd2 Ka5 44. Bd5 f6 45. Kf1 Kb4 46. Ke2 e4 47. Rc2 e3 48. fxe3 Rxe3+ 49. Kd1 Rg3 50. Rg2 Rh3 51. Re2 Kc3 52. Rd2 Rh4 53. Rg2 Kd3 54. Rd2+ Ke3 55. Re2+ Kf4 56. Re4+ Kg3 57. Be6 Rh8 58. Kd2 Re8 59. Kd3 Rxe6 60. Rxe6 Kxg4 61. Re4+ Kf5 62. Re1 g4 63. Rf1+ Ke5 64. Re1+ Kd6 65. Ke4 Bf2 66. Rd1+ Ke6 67. Rd5 g3 68. Kf3 f5 69. Kg2 Kf6 70. Kf3 Kg5 71. Re5 Kg6 72. Rd5 Kf6 73. Kg2 Ke6 74. Kf3 f4 75. Kg2 Be3 ½-½ 

Ruan Lufei - Hou Yifan, Game Four

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. h4 Nc6 8. Rg1 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bg2 Qe5+ 12. Be3 Qh2 13. f4 Bd7 14. Qd2 Nxd4 15. O-O-O Bc5 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 O-O-O 18. Qc4+ Kb8 19. Qe4 Bc8 20. h5 Ka8 21. a4 Rd5 22. Rdf1 Qh4 23. Qc4 Rd7 24. a5 Qd8 25. a6 Qa5 26. Kb1 Kb8 27. axb7 Bxb7 28. Bxb7 Rxb7 29. Qd4 Ka8 30. Rf3 Rhb8 31. b3 f6 32. Rd1 Qb4 33. Qe3 Rb6 34. Rd4 Qe7 35. Qd3 R6b7 36. Re3 Re8 37. Rd6 e5 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Re4 Qc7 40. Rd5 Qb8 41. Rc4 Rf8 42. Kb2 Qe8 43. Rdc5 Qe6 44. Qe4 Kb8 45. Rxe5 Qf6 46. Rc6 Qf7 47. Rf5 1-0

 

Rivalry renewed

Christmas is tomorrow. I hear the best time to visit Singapore is during Christmas. In this part of the world, the street decorations in this island republic are reputedly second to none and tourists from all over the world flock there to take in this experience.

Actually, Malaysians are in the best position to experience Singapore’s Christmas lights and they don’t have to be chess players. But if they happen to be one, then there is the added bonus of the Singapore international chess festival. 

This chess festival, now in its seventh year, starts on Sunday. Where previously the Singapore open chess tournament had been its main event, the organizers of the festival have introduced two new events this time.

The first one is the ASEAN open and women’s chess championships and the other is the Singapore open and girls’ international youth championships. 

The last I checked into the Singapore Chess Festival’s website earlier this week, there were at least 28 names in the ASEAN open, led by top-ranked Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem. 

The Vietnamese players are set to make a big impression on this event as it is not only Le that means business but also their other participating grandmasters: Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Cao Sang, Dao Thien Hai and Nguyen Anh Dung. Malaysian chess players know them only too well.

Throw in other familiar names like Susanto Megaranto, Richard Bitoon and Cerdas Barus, and this event actually becomes very competitive. There are lots of chances for hopefuls to gain their grandmaster and other international title norms and in fact, this is a main reason why our own Mas Hafizulhelmi and Edward Lee are playing in this event.

With the ASEAN open now taking top billing, the Singapore open has of course been pushed down the pecking list of importance. Nevertheless at the last count, I see at least 75 names in the participant’s list which includes seven Malaysians, among whom are Collin Madhaven, Lim Zhuo Ren, Lim Kian Hwa and Tan Li Ting. 

One other event that has been included into the chess festival is the annual match between Singapore and Malaysia. This match has a very long history, going back to 1985. This year, both sides are putting up 38-player teams and as always, it is a test of our relationship.

The focus will be on the six men and four women who prop up the team at the top. Then there are the 12 boys and 12 girls (from under-18 to under-8 age groups). Supporting them will be four veteran players (two above 50 years old and two above 45 years old).

Close friendly neighbours though we are, friendship takes a definite back seat when it comes to this match. We only want to be better than them. Naturally, they also only want to be better than us.

But seldom have I seen chess rivalry taken to such dizzying heights. In past editions of the match, I’ve heard of harsh opinions being exchanged, only to be regretted later. 

The heat of battle is always an anxious moment. Both sides are tallying the scores as the individual game results come in. There are smiles from one side of the causeway. Naturally, there are scowls from the other side. No surprise then that sometimes, emotions do spill over. 

When this happens, it’s normally not the players who over-react. No, players are too circumspect, even the junior ones. They always accept the results, win or lose. They know that it’s only a game. So it’s usually the non-players that go too far in venting their feelings. 

Of course, this shouldn’t be the case that all. Winners should be gracious and losers should be big enough to accept the results. After all, there’s always another year to take up cudgels again.

This year as the Malaysians make their way across the causeway, it is no secret that Singapore holds the upper hand in the 21 years that we’ve been playing this match. Will our friendly southern neighbours win again when the match starts on Dec 31 or will they “give chance” this time? We’ll know very soon.

Who’s the new women’s champ?  

As the women’s world chess championship ended only yesterday in Turkey, I’m not in a position to report on the results. However, I’m able to say (with unusual full confidence) that there is a new women’s chess champion and she is from China. 

You see, not only was the defending champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk, knocked out in one of the earlier rounds, all the other hopefuls other than Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei were eliminated too.

This included one of the very top seeds, India’s Humpy Koneru. She was blown away in the semi-finals by the 16-year-old Hou. The Indian player had already lost a match once to the Chinese two years ago at the women’s world championship in Nalchik. At that time she also lost the first game of the semi-final match but succeeded to win the second game. This time, it was different. 

As I wrote this column earlier in the week, the four-game match between Hou and Ruan had yet to start. However with a difference of 111 ratings points, Hou is definitely the favourite to beat Ruan. I’ll be very surprised if she didn’t.

Up next  

Here’s a Christmas tournament for you: the Stonemaster 1Malaysia chess open, organized by Cerdik Chess Enterprise at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre in the Wilayah Complex, Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Seven-round Swiss event, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM25 (adult) and RM20 (school children). More dtails from Fadli (014.2312370, http://cerdikcatur.blogspot.com).

 

Huge chess potential

I greatly believe that it is time for our Sports Ministry and Tourism Ministry to take a serious look at promoting sports tourism in this country. 

If the experience of this year’s Penang Heritage City international chess tournament is anything to go by, there is a huge potential for the country to attract quality sportsmen and sportswomen to come play in our regional tournaments and enjoy the best we can offer at the same time.

Never mind if it is only a regional tournament outside of the Klang Valley. If the event is serious enough and big enough, meaningful support from the authorities can mean a big difference in attracting players and tourists to come here.

The biggest surprise awaiting me at this tournament last week was the unusually large number of foreigners in the open section. Of course, I had anticipated that there would be foreign players in the field but I had not expected that there would be so many of them.

I counted 29 of them in the 71-player field, almost all from the countries around us but there was even one from distant Uzbekistan. Pleasant surprise, indeed!

Now, having known all that, what didn’t surprise me was that the Filipinos would dominate the event. Not at all. The Filipino players are known to be fiercely competitive, giving no quarter and expecting none in return, and they really made their presence felt. 

Can you imagine that when all the dust settled, nine of them took away the 15 prizes on offer? Four Filipino players among the top five prize winners, led by international masters Oliver Dimakiling and Oliver Barbosa who both finished with equal 7½ points with Dimakiling adjudged the overall winner by virtue of a tie-break.

Bangladesh’s Niaz Murshed, the sole grandmaster in the field, snatched the third prize while the fourth and fifth prizes were again claimed by two Filipino international masters, Yves Ranola and Luis Chiong.

Then there were also their other compatriots – Haridas Pascua, Edgar Olay, Julius De Ramos, Ian Udani and Christopher Castellano – among the other prize winners.

It was left to our own Mas Hafizulhelmi to leave the first mark by a Malaysian in the winners’ list. A very honourable sixth place for him, considering the strength of the field. But in truth, I was also very glad to see Tan Khai Boon, Edward Lee and Ng Tze Han finishing among the prize winners; all of them our national champions at one time or another.

There was also a sizeable Singaporean presence in the open section. All juniors, they came with their parents and coaches to play chess first and tour the heritage areas of George Town second.

Among them, I can pick out Andre Jerome Eng and Benjamin Foo as the only two bright sparks among the Singapore players who were capable of mixing it up with the top players but in the end it was only Eng that managed to take home a prize.

Finally, let me say something about Luis Chiong. Now, that was a name that I had to dig out from the deep recesses of my memory. How many years was it since I first met him? Must be 1977 or 1978 when one of the legs of the first Asian grandmaster chess circuit was held here in the same building, the Dewan Sri Pinang.

Physically, he has changed, of course. Everybody has changed. In 30 years, everyone changes. However, he said this building – referring to the Dewan – looked the same to him. Ah, at least he remembered that.

Up next  

Perak Grand Prix final

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will hold the final of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak chess Grand Prix at the Dewan Majlis Sukan Negeri Perak in Ipoh on Dec 19. Seven rounds, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM25 (open section), RM15 (under-16 players), RM10 (under-12 players). PICA members and players born or residing in Perak pay RM5 less. To register, contact Yunus Sharif (013.3908129). Entries close today.

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.

Christmas tournament

The Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur will organize a Christmas chess tournament for veterans above 45 years old and children below 12 years old on Dec 19. Five rounds, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM20 (children), RM40 (veterans 45 to 49 years old) and RM30 (veterans (above 50 years old). More information from Wahid Karim (013.3638815, awkarim@gmail.com) or Joseph Toh (016.6784648, joetohcl@hotmail.com). 

 

Queen uprising

Many years ago, I was asked in a casual conversation my opinion about women’s chess. Can women really play chess as well as men, this friend of mine wanted to know. I was about to answer him but I hesitated. 

It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable to give him an immediate answer but somehow, a wild thought raced through my head. Was it Bobby Fischer who once said that he could give a knight handicap in a game against any woman chess player and still win? 

Fifty or sixty years ago, many people could very well have laughed with Fischer. But not today. Anyone who dares to give even a pawn handicap against the top women chess players will be asking for a lot of unnecessary trouble.

You see, women’s chess is no longer a poor cousin to men’s chess. After all, chess as played by men or women is still the same game. Chess still uses the same grey matter “up there” for thinking and evaluation. Besides, since the days of Pia Cramling and Judit Polgar, who started the trend of women competing in men’s or open tournaments and playing successfully in them, the myth has well been exploded. 

To a large extent, the World Chess Federation has made sure that there should no longer be discrimination. A long time ago at the Chess Olympiads, women’s chess teams consisted of only two players and one reserve. Today, there are four players and either one or two reserve players, same as the men’s teams.

Where chess titles are concerned, women chess players have as many opportunities to earn the full chess grandmaster title. In the past, the highest title they could hope to attain was the woman grandmaster title which today, is about at the same level as an international master.

There’s also the women’s equivalent of the (men’s) world chess championship and since about a week ago, the latest women’s world chess championship is currently going on in Antakya, Turkey. 

But unlike the latest men’s world chess championship which was played as a match, the present women’s world chess championship is still run as a knock-out. The event started off with a 64-player field in the first round and since then, the number of players are halved with each progressive round.

Today is the start of the third round, so there will only be 16 players left. Each of these knock-out rounds are played as a mini-match of two games at normal regulation time control and should tie-break games be required, these are played with rapidchess rules. The sixth round will pit the two final survivors together and they will then play four games to decide the new women’s world chess champion.

I know there are people who favour this type of knock-out event as they feel that it creates more excitement and the defending champion shouldn’t get a free ride to the final round but personally, I would prefer an official challenger to emerge from this knock-out event who would then go on to challenge the defending champion for the title. It makes for more prestige.

Nevertheless, these are the regulations already agreed for this current championship. Perhaps we’ll see a change for the next cycle. 

As it stands, there’s always the chance that we may not have Russia’s Alexandra Kosteniuk advancing all the way to the final round. Kosteniuk is the defending women’s world champion and is the top seed. She got through the first round but there are no results yet for the second round as I write this.

So far, except for the elimination of the eighth seed, Pia Cramling, in the first round, there have been no other surprises among the top seeds. 

Also going through to the second round were notable players like India’s Humpy Koneru, China’s Hou Yifan (who lost the final to Kosteniuk in 2008), Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova (women’s world champion from 2004 to 2006), Ukraine’s Kateryna Lahno, Georgia’s Maya Chiburdanidze (women’s world champion from 1978 to 1991) and Qatar’s Zhu Chen (formerly from China and women’s world champion from 2001 to 2004).

Humpy is the second seed in the championship and Hou is the third seed. If they proceed through successfully round after round, they should be meeting in the fifth round and one of them will be eliminated. 

Want to know more about this women’s world chess championship? There is the official website at http://wwcc2010.tsf.org.tr/ and you can also view the live games from 9p.m. (local time here) when they are played. 

Up next  

National junior

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organize the third national junior chess championship at the Hotel Olympic, Jalan Davidson, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 15-19. There will be two categories: the boys under-20 and girls under-20 events. This will be a FIDE-rated event over nine rounds and full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (existing FIDE-rated players) and RM80 (non-rated players). For more information, contact Gregory Lau (012.9020123, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605). 

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.

Christmas tournament

The Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur will organize a Christmas chess tournament for veterans above 45 years old and children below 12 years old on Dec 19. Five rounds, 25-minute time control. Entry fees are RM20 (children), RM40 (veterans 45 to 49 years old) and RM30 (veterans (above 50 years old). More information from Wahid Karim (013.3638815, awkarim@gmail.com) or Joseph Toh (016.6784648, joetohcl@hotmail.com). 

 

Remembering Lim Chong Eu

I STARTED chess quite late in my school life. It was not until Form Three going on Form Four that I finally got into playing the game. Before that, chess meant almost nothing to me. Hard to imagine it now, but it’s true.

It took me about five years from the time I saw my first chess pieces before I started learning to play. I still remember the occasion when I laid my eyes on the pieces. Again, it was at the end of the year. It was in Standard Four and there was this guy, one of my classmates, who was showing around his set of mysterious wooden pieces.

For a young boy whose only exposure to the chequered board at that time was the game of draughts (or checkers, if you like), I took the revelation that there could be other forms of board games rather coolly. But I never got involved with the game. Not at all.

Anyhow, that was my first exposure to chess. I’m telling all this because that classmate of mine turned out to be the younger son of Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, Penang’s second chief minister who passed away more than a week ago.

I don’t know at all whether Tun Dr Lim played chess or if he did, how good was his standard but I do know that my classmate friend must have got the inspiration for the game from one of his father’s closest buddies.

In case anyone doesn’t know, that would be Prof Dr Lim Kok Ann from Singapore, an expert on bacteriology who later became the general secretary of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

The two Lims – Tun Dr Lim and Prof Dr Lim – had forged a close friendship since their University days in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a friendship that later contributed a significant part to the growth of chess in this country and beyond.

In 1974, FIDE was celebrating its Golden Jubilee and had wanted their affiliates to organize chess events in their part of the world. At that time, Prof Dr Lim was already the FIDE Zone 10 president and he wanted to organize the first Asian team chess championship.

It was here that the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) entered into the picture. The federation was formed the same year and its founding president, Datuk Tan Chin Nam, had quickly persuaded Malaysia’s second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, to donate a handsome silver challenge trophy in his name.

But still, where could the tournament be held? At this point, both Datuk Tan and Prof Dr Lim turned to the one friend that they had in common: Tun Dr Lim who, five years earlier had become the Chief Minister in Penang.  Datuk Tan had known Tun Dr Lim since the 1960s and remember, the two Lims were fast friends since the 1940s.

When the idea was mooted to Tun Dr Lim, he readily agreed to let the MCF use the Dewan Sri Pinang for the Asian team chess championship. But Tun Dr Lim went further than just providing the venue. 

Through the state government, he also rendered a lot of assistance to support the numerous other activities in Penang during the FIDE Golden Jubilee celebrations, in particular, the FIDE Bureau meetings that were held at the Merlin Hotel (now the City Bayview Hotel).

As a consequence of his unreserved support for chess, Tun Dr Lim was made an honorary patron of both the MCF and the Penang Chess Association. Where the MCF was concerned, he was with excellent company as the other honorary patrons of the federation were the nation’s first three Prime Ministers: Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn. Unfortunately, with his passing last week, he has become the last of the patrons of the two chess bodies. 

Lim Chong  

It is with a heavy heart that I mention here of the passing of a chess friend and fellow chess journalist. Lim Chong, the economic news service sub-editor with Bernama, died last Thursday on a flight from London to Kuala Lumpur. In the 1980s, Lim was in charge of the chess pages in The Malay Mail.

UP NEXT

Penang Chess League

The annual Penang Chess League takes place tomorrow and on Sunday at the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Kheng Thean in Jalan Van Praagh, George Town. Seven rounds, one-hour time control games. The event is open to teams from the public sector, business community, factories, institutions of learning and registered societies and clubs. More information from Penang Chess Association assistant secretary Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517).

Penang open

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the Penang Heritage City international open chess championship at the Penang City Hall in George Town, Penang on Dec 8-12. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM5,000 first prize. Nine rounds, full time control games. Entry fees for the open tournament are RM50 (Fide-rated player), RM150 (PCA member) and RM180 (others), while for the challengers section, they are RM30 (Fide-rated player), RM50 (PCA member) and RM80 (others). Contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@streamyx.com) for more details.

National junior

The Malaysian Chess Federation will organize the third national junior chess championship at the Hotel Olympic, Jalan Davidson, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 15-19. There will be two categories: the boys under-20 and girls under-20 events. This will be a FIDE-rated event over nine rounds and full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (existing FIDE-rated players) and RM80 (non-rated players). For more information, contact Gregory Lau (012.9020123, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605). 

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.

Lowkey affair

Normally, the first time is always very eventful: the first time you take part in a local tournament, the first time you return home with a prize, the first time you represent the country in a sport event. For organizations, maybe the first time your game is featured in a multi-sport event like the SEA Games. Or the Asian Games.

I remember when chess was first included in the SEA Games in Vietnam in 2003, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) made a lot of fuss over the fact. Rightly so, because it also marked the first time the MCF ever went anywhere under the banner of the OCM.

Chess was also in the 2005 SEA Games in the Philippines and the Malaysian chess players were also right there mixing with the athletes of the other sports. But thereafter, for the 2007 Games in Thailand and the 2009 Games in Laos, chess was dropped from the respective organizer’s calendars.

Nevertheless, there is also the Asian Games which is a much bigger and more significant multi-sport event than the SEA Games. When chess was introduced into the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, there was much hope that the MCF would participate but it did not. 

But being absent once does not mean that we would be absent a second time. This year at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, the Malaysian chess players are finally there. 

It was a rather small contingent of three chess players that were picked for duty in Guangzhou: Mok Tze Meng, Alia Anin Bakri and Nur Nabila Azman. They would play in only the men’s and women’s individual rapid chess tournaments and come home immediately. There would be no Malaysian team in the men’s and women’s classical chess tournaments. 

When I asked the MCF secretary about this, he said that everything boiled down to mainly two issues: funding and player availability.

As far as the OCM was concerned, chess was in their B category of games, which means that if the MCF wanted to play in the Asian Games, the federation or the players would have to raise their own funds to stay and play in Guangzhou. 

As for player availability, many of them were indisposed due to commitment of work. Some had already taken time off for other chess tournaments so it was near impossible for them to play again this year. For the MCF to go down their list of eligible players would mean coming up with a hotchpotch team of dysfunctional players. So a decision was taken not to play in the team events.

All that was left was for Mok, Alia and Nur Nabila to play in the individual rapid chess events. Perhaps for this fact, the MCF decided against making any noise to inform the Malaysian chess public about our participation in this Asian Games. Personally, I feel that instead of keeping it also very low key, the MCF should still have announced it just for the record. But I defer to their decision.

Mok played in the men’s rapid chess individual tournament and finished 38th, while both Alia and Nur Nabila participated in the women’s rapid chess individual tournament and finished in 22nd and 28th spots respectively. Both events consisted of nine rounds of rapid chess games and these were completed in four days flat.

As a measure of the strength of the men’s rapid chess tournament, 12 of the participating countries sent their top grandmasters. Indeed, Mok found out the hard way that negotiating his way through this minefield of grandmasters was no easy task. His quest for a first grandmaster title norm will have to wait till another time.

The rapid chess gold medal went to Uzebekistan’s Ruslan Kasimdzhanov who scored 7½ points. By the way, Kasimdzhanov was the FIDE world chess champion in 2004 and he had been working with Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the latter’s world chess championship matches in 2008 and 2010.

Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem also scored 7½ points but he had to be contented with silver. The bronze medal went to China’s Bu Xiangzhi.

The women’s rapid chess tournament also featured several top-class players that included three women players with the full-fledged grandmaster titles as opposed to the lesser woman grandmaster title.

The Chinese grandmasters made a clean sweep of the top medals with Hou Yifan, as the outright winner of the event, taking the gold and Zhao Xue the silver. India’s Dronavalli Harika took the bronze.

Meanwhile, there are 17 teams taking part in the men’s team tournament and 12 teams in the women’s team tournament. In both events, China are the top seeds for the gold medal. The ninth and final round of both events is scheduled for today.

Up next  

Perak closed

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) together with the Majlis Sukan Negeri Perak and KLK Berhad will jointly organize the Perak closed chess championship at the Dewan MSN in Ipoh tomorrow and on Sunday. Only players born, residing and working in the state are eligible to take part. Nine rounds, 45-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (PICA members and players below the age of 16) and RM20 (others). Contact Yunus (013.3908129) to register.

Chess camp

A fun and informative Kids For Chess camp for beginners, intermediate-level and aspiring tournament players will be held at the Pandan Lake Club in Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 1-2. Entry fees are RM90 per participant. Closing date is Nov 30. More details available from http://www.kids4chess.com.

Penang Chess League

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the annual Penang Chess League at the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Kheng Thean in Jalan Van Praagh, George Town on Dec 4-5. Seven rounds, one-hour time control games. The event is open to teams from the public sector, business community, factories, institutions of learning and registered societies and clubs. Entry fees per team are RM150 (open category), RM90 (under-18 teams) and RM60 (under-12 teams). Entries close on Dec 1. More information from Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517)

Penang open

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the Penang Heritage City international open chess championship at the Penang City Hall in George Town, Penang on Dec 8-12. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM5,000 first prize. Nine rounds, full time control games. Entry fees for the open tournament are RM50 (Fide-rated player), RM150 (PCA member) and RM180 (others), while for the challengers section, they are RM30 (Fide-rated player), RM50 (PCA member) and RM80 (others). Contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@streamyx.com) for more details.

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.

 

Shock pullout

If you are waiting for the next world chess championship match to be played between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, you can forget about it.

It’s not going to happen any time soon, not after the gifted 19-year-old Norwegian (he’ll be celebrating his 20th birthday in 11 days’ time, on Nov 30) pulled out from the Candidates matches that are due to be played next March.

It was a decision that shocked the chess world. The Norwegian grandmaster is currently the highest rated player in the world. Certainly, a match between him and defending champion Anand would have captured the world’s imagination.

But in order to reach Anand for the title, Carlsen would have to go through the series of elimination Candidates mini-matches. First off would be the Candidates quarter-final match and if he was successful, then the Candidates semi-final match and then the Candidates final match itself. The winner earns a ticket at a tilt with Anand in 2012.

Last week, Carlsen informed the World Chess Federation (Fide) that he was withdrawing from the Candidates. He claimed that the current world championship cycle was unfair to him. Also, the rules were not sufficiently modern enough. As such, he would not be able to motivate himself to compete. 

What Carlsen wanted was an end to the Candidates matches. He preferred an eight to 10 player world championship tournament to decide who would be the world champion, like what was played in 2005 and 2007. He didn’t like the idea of a series of knock-out matches.

Well, maybe to a teenager, the matches are not exciting or appealing enough. But to the rest of the world – and when I say the “rest of the world”, I mean the top-ranked professional chess players – the return to the Candidates matches were what they demanded and received from Fide. 

Few of the professional chess players wanted the world championship title to be decided on tournament play. There are tournaments a-plenty to satisfy the professional players throughout the year but a true test of a worthy champion, they said, is the ability to go through a series of games in a match with his challenger. For example, if two players were to play for the very highest stakes, would they want to stake everything on only one game or on a series of games? 

Therein lies the other argument in Carlsen’s withdrawal: the world championship is not a fight on equal terms. While players have to slug it out in the Candidates quarter-finals, semi-finals and final matches, the champion only needs to sit pretty and wait for a challenger to emerge.

Why should one player have one out of two tickets to the final, which is to the detriment of all remaining players in the world, he asked. Curiously enough, he then made a very puzzling comparison. Imagine, he said, if the winner of the 2010 Football World Cup directly qualifies to the 2014 World Cup final while all the rest of the teams fight for the other spot.

To me, this comparison with the World Cup is simply not spot-on. World championship chess and the football World Cup are two different creatures. World championship chess is a contest between individuals whereas the World Cup is a team game. 

In any tournament for individuals, the players do not change once the event had started. In team events, the players in a team do change from game to game. Even if two football teams play each other in quick succession, in all practical likelihood, the make-up of the teams on the two occasions would be different. Thus, it makes little sense to make this sort of comparison.

Another of Carlsen’s argument was that five years was too to complete a world chess championship cycle. To me, this is certainly true. However, one must understand the turmoil that world chess had undergone in the last two decades.

Since the days of Wilhelm Steinitz (the year was 1886), there had been a long chain of undisputed world chess champions. This chain snapped in 1993 when Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short chose to play their world championship match outside Fide. From 14 years, there were two parallel championship cycles. 

Although unification of the two titles eventually happened in 2006 after a lot of intense negotiation, the stakeholders still had much to demand from Fide.  You can say that Fide had to tread a fine line to satisfy everyone involved and that needed time. But eventually, everything settled down and there is now again one accepted format and one undisputed world chess champion in Anand. It was a tough lesson learnt. Would anyone want to repeat the same mistake?

But of course, it is all up to Carlsen. If he chooses to withdraw from the Candidates matches, that is up to him. Nobody can force him to accept a system which he dislikes. So without him playing, there is no potential Anand versus Carlsen world chess championship match to look forward to.

Nevertheless, the situation is still okay by Fide. All this had been anticipated and one or two days later, the world body announced that Alexander Grischuk has replaced Carlsen in the Candidates.

The Candidates matches will be world class with or without the Norwegian grandmaster. Only difference is that it will have that little less glamour. In fact, come next year, I’ll be looking forward to Veselin Topalov versus Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Kramnik versus Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian versus Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand versus Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. 

Up next  

November rating tournament

The Cheras Chess Academy will hold a Fide-rated open tournament, limited to players with Fide ratings of 1950 and below, at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Jalan Cochrane, Kuala Lumpur from tomorrow until Nov 24. Seven rounds, two-hour play-to-finish time control games. Entry fees are RM50 (Fide-rated players) and RM80 (non-Fide-rated players). More details from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578, geodat@yahoo.com).

Perak closed

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) together with the Majlis Sukan Negeri Perak and KLK Berhad will jointly organize the Perak closed chess championship at the Dewan MSN in Ipoh on Nov 27-28. Only players born, residing and working in the state are eligible to take part. Nine rounds, 45-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (PICA members and players below the age of 16) and RM20 (others). Contact Yunus (013.3908129) to register.

Chess camp

A fun and informative Kids For Chess camp for beginners, intermediate-level and aspiring tournament players will be held at the Pandan Lake Club in Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 1-2. Entry fees are RM90 per participant. Closing date is Nov 30. More details available from http://www.kids4chess.com.

Penang Chess League

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the annual Penang Chess League at the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Kheng Thean in Jalan Van Praagh, George Town on Dec 4-5. Seven rounds, one-hour time control games. The event is open to teams from the public sector, business community, factories, institutions of learning and registered societies and clubs. Entry fees per team are RM150 (open category), RM90 (under-18 teams) and RM60 (under-12 teams). Entries close on Dec 1. More information from Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517)

Penang open

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the Penang Heritage City international open chess championship at the Penang City Hall in George Town, Penang on Dec 8-12. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM5,000 first prize. Nine rounds, full time control games. Entry fees for the open tournament are RM50 (Fide-rated player), RM150 (PCA member) and RM180 (others), while for the challengers section, they are RM30 (Fide-rated player), RM50 (PCA member) and RM80 (others). Contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@streamyx.com) for more details.

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.