Malaysian Open 2009 ...is Off?

Yesterday i wrote a breaking news regarding Malaysian Open 2009 which according to BERNAMA.com will be held this year. In it's article, BERNAMA ( Malaysian National News Agency) quote Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) Official - Mr. Abdul Hamid Majid as the main source but last night one of my fellow blogger told that the news is false and Mr.Hamid never made such annoucement about this year Malaysian Open .

Today, Andrew Ooi in his blog stated that it's probably a technical mistake made by BERNAMA. I hope MCF or BERNAMA will clarify about it as soon as possible.

NMCC Saturday Blitz Thematic Tournament 6/09 : Benko Gambit!

To allow more participants especially kids to participate in NMCC Thematic Tournaments, the date and time for the tournament has been changed . From this Saturday onward, all NMCC Thematic tournament will be held on Saturday evening ( start at 2.30 pm).

Next NMCC Thematic Tournament will be organised on Saturday ( 4th April 2009). The opening is Benko Gambit. This will be the 6th edition of this thematic tourney.

Read the full details here

ASEAN Age Group 2009

I was told that the place for 2009 ASEAN Age group has not been decide yet so my previous report about it should be corrected. Actually what i write in my previous article is ..."if all happen according to plan, four international chess tournaments ( Commonwealth Chess Championship, KL Open , Malaysian Open and ASEAN Age Group) will be held in Malaysia this year "...so in my opinion, it's not a confirmation statement.

However to avoid any confuses, i advise to log into FIDE.com from time to time for confirmation about the tournaments details .

Breaking News : Malaysian Open 2009 is On !

Malaysian Open 2009 is on! Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) official - Abdul Hamid Majid (photo right) announce in BERNAMA.com that Malaysian Open will be held this year. This should be a great news for local chess fan and if all happen according to plan, four international chess tournaments ( Commonwealth Chess Championship, KL Open , Malaysian Open and ASEAN Age Group) will be held in Malaysia this year !

Read the full article in BERNAMA.com here

Rorschach Win UM Open 2009 !

29th March 2009 - Team Rorschach create an upset by winning the 2009 Universiti Malaya Open held at Tun Syed Zahiruddin Residential College ( 9th College) today. Rorschach (photo right) is a fictional comic book vigilante and the main protagonist featured in the acclaimed 1986 DC Comics mini series Watchmen.

Runners up goes to favourite team - CITY MAP with strong players like FM Mok Tze Meng, Ian Udani, ex-World Police Champion - Ismail Ahmad and blitz expert - Shukeri Alang Shukor. 3rd placing goes to team NAMELESS with players like Lim Zhou Ren,Kaushal Khandahar and others.

The tournament is a team event with 6 rounds and rapid 30 minutes time control. The arbiter is Mr. Abdul Hamid Majid from Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF).

I play with team Bloggers United . Our players is Marcus Yeoh, Shamsul Bahrin, Lee Kwan Pin and me. Only Kwan Pin didn't have his own blog and i joke to him that he should have one to play in this team :)

Our team perform quiet well going into last round where we play Rorschach in table 3. Unfortunately there's no happy ending for us. We got hammered 4-0 by the eventual champion and finish in 10th place.

Photo

The Champion : Rorschah . From left : Cheah Cheok Fung and his Rorschah's team members

The Playing Hall

The top seed - team GENG MAMAK who will definitely failed on "DNA test" ! from left : Ahmad Nazri, Kamaluddin Yusof, NM Kamal Ariffin and Fairin Zakaria. They finish in 6th place.

The favourite - CITY MAP from left : FM Mok Tze Meng, Ian Udani......

..........Ismail Ahmad and Shukeri Alang Shukor finish in second place.

From Left : Leong Mun Wan and Abdullah Che Hassan. I was shock to see Abdullah playing in this event because a day before he just finished second in a chess tournament at Kelantan. This guy really have "crazy" chess stamina !

UM Open 2009 - Tommorow !

Tommorow i will play with team Bloggers United at the UM Open 2009 ( Kolej Kediaman Tun Syed Zahiruddin 0r - 9th College). Our team member is Marcus Yeoh, Lee Kwan Pin, me and Shamsol Bahrin. It's have been quite sometimes since i play in a rapid tournament. Lately i have been actively playing blitz tournaments and friendly games at NMCC and hope that i can adopt well with "longer" time control.

Kaushal Khandahar Win NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic Tournament 5/09 : French Defense : Winawer Variation !

Kaushal Khandahar (photo above - right) win NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 5/09 : French Defense : Winawer Variation last night ( 27th March 2009) .

A thematic chess tournament is a tournament with every game is played with a certain opening variant. And for last night, the French Defense : Winawer Variation (diagram below) has been selected as the starting position. ( with white to play) .You will find the board set up for this variant at the start of the game. So all white player will start the game on the 7th move ! And black player will start after white's 7th move.

NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic Tournament 5/09 : French Defense : Winawer Variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7


White to move !

Ismail Ahmad Break Malaysian Book Of Record !

Yes. He made it. Yesterday ( 26th March 2009) at Cheras , Sergeant Ismail Ahmad - ex World Police Chess Champion break Malaysian Book Of Record for the Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents. He won 90 games , draw 21 games and lost only 9 games against 120 players. The total score is 100.5 -19.5 . According to Ismail, the simul took 10 hours starting from 9.30 am till 7.30pm. Ismail ( photo right) was allocated 10 hours rest and 30 minutes lunch break.

For further details and photo, read Selangor Chess Blog.

Bravo Sergeant !

NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic Tournament 5/09 : French Defense : Winawer Varation !

This Friday, ( 27th March 2009), Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) will organised the NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 5/09 : French Defense : Winawer Variation. This will be the 5th edition of this thematic tourney. The 1st edition ( Sicilian Dragon) and the 3rd edition ( Ruy Lopez : Marshall Attack) and the 4th edition ( King's Indian defense) was won by Abdullah Che Hassan. Ian Udani won the second thematic tournament ( Chigorin Defense).

For further details, click here

Ismail Ahmad Attempt To Break Malaysian Book Of Record ( 26th March 2009) !

Ex-World Police Chess Champion and National player - Ismail Ahmad (photo above) will try to break the Malaysian Book of Records for the Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents. The events will be held this Thursday ( 26th March 2009) in conjunction with the celebration of the National Police Day . Details of the events is as follow:-

Date : 26th March 2009 (Thursday)

Time : Registration : 7.30 am - 8.30 am

Official Opening : 8.45 am ( by Dato' Rosli Mohd Nizam - Komander Briged Tengah)

Simul start : 9 am

Place : Markas Briged Tengah (maps below)
Pasukan Gerakan Am,
Taman CEUPACS, Cheras

Fee : Free !

Click the image for larger view

The current record is currently held by Collin Madhavan who did it against 101 players last year.The past world record is held by GM Susan Polgar who play against 326 players in 2005 ! For the record , Susan is a women and to be more precise...a chess mom ! However, recently Bulgarian - GM Kiril Georgiev has break the world record by playing against 360 players !

Ismail Ahmad (photo from utusan Online)

According to Sergeant Ismail Ahmad , 115 players have already register to play. The players are from Kelab Catur Kuantan, Wesports Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Majlis Sukan Sekolah (MSS) Kedah, MSS Kuala Lumpur, MSS Selangor, MSS Negeri Sembilan, MSS Pahang, Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM), Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Bukit Jelutong, SK Jenjarom, SK Dato' Abu Bakar Baginda, SMK Dato Razali, SMK Telok Datok, Banting, Sekolah Menengah Agama Persekutuan Kajang, SMK Sains Kuala Selangor, SK Kebun Baharu, Teluk Panglima Garang, SJK (C) Kepong 3, SJK (T) Kajang and SK Taman Seroja.

All the best Sergeant !

FM Peter Long NMCC Chess Talk : Chess Training

FIDE Master and former National Champion - Peter Long (photo above) gave a chess talk organised by Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, Kuala Lumpur on the 22nd March 2009. Peter Long is a FIDE Trainer, Fide Arbiter and FIDE Web Editor. Recently he was appoint as Concillor for both the FIDE Trainers' and FIDE Chess in Schools Commission. Peter is two time National Junior champion who in 1986 also won the National Championship. In the past, he was also a prolific chess writer with columns in 3 major national newspapers.

In his two hours talk, Peter share his vast experience and knowledge gain from attending several international chess training seminars all over the world .

Read the full report here

To many news to tell yet...

I'm in dillema! A positive dillema perhaps. At the moment, there's so many chess news/story for me to write and share which unexpectedlly cause me dillema to pick the first news to write !?

It's like you enter a critical position in a chess game where there's several good moves available but don't know which one to pick and in the end you find that you have already ( or nearly) lost on time ?!

Ok just to summarize about it, below are list of article that is already in my head...just waiting for my brain and finger to type it ......

ex-World Police Chess Champion - Ismail Ahmad attempt this coming Thursday ( 26th March) to create Malaysian Book of Records for the Most Simultaneous Chess Opponents ;

NMCC King's Indian Thematic 4/09 - won by Abdullah Che Hassan

NMCC Chess Talk : Chess Training by FM Peter Long ( 22nd March 2009)

MSSM 2009

Selangor Open 2009

The KL Chess League Open Team Championship 2009 in DATCC

An email from Fusion Excell Excutive Director - FM Mok Tze Meng about FusionExcel sponsor 50 Quantum Pendants as prizes to the 61st National Schools Individual Chess Championships 2009, jointly organized by the Singapore Chess Federation and the Civil Service Club @ Tessensohn.

etc...

Coffee pleaseeeee !!!!!

Zambri Sharif won che....che..che... checkers Karnival Pesta Rakyat 2009 !

I tought i read it wrong but later i got a confirmation sms from source that Zambri Syarif (right) have won a tournament...a checkers tournaments ! Yes, Zambri Syarif won a checkers tournament at Karnival Pesta Rakyat held at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam Selangor yesterday.

Congratulation my friend! I hope checkers players will not seek for revenge by playing in local chess tournament after this !?

NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic Tournament 4/09 : King's Indian Defense !

Tonight, ( 20th March 2009), Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) will organised the NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 4-09 : King's Indian Defense. This will be the 4th edition of this thematic tourney. The 1st edition ( Sicilian Dragon) and the 3rd edition ( Ruy Lopez : Marshall Attack) was won by Abdullah Che Hassan. Ian Udani won the second thematic tournament ( Chigorin Defense).


For further details, click here

Alien vs Predator in ...chess !

Click the photo for larger view

Saw this photo after reading Mig's blog . Actually i got it from Ads of the world ....I bet Rybka also will think twice to compete against this guys. The funny things is if you look closely you will find that the alien (right) who is playing black............. make the first move ?!

NMCC Chess Talk : Chess Training by FM Peter Long - 22nd March 2009 !

FIDE Master and former National Champion - Peter Long (photo right) will give a chess talk at Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) on 22nd March 2009 (Sunday). Peter is two time National Junior Champion (MSSM) and won the National Championship in 1986 . Currently, he is a FIDE Master (FM), FIDE Trainer and FIDE Arbiter.

For further details about the talk, visit NMCC blog here

Amber and Chess Videos !

The 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament is being held from March 14 (first round) to March 26 at Nice, Monaco. This tournaments is quite unique in term of the format. Each player will play two type of chess games - blindfold and rapid.

The game was also broadcast live in Internet Chess Club (ICC). And for none members, you can see a free video coverage for each round provided by the official site and ICC.

PEARL POINT NATIONAL AGE GROUP 2009 (4th & 5th APR 2009 )

Last year National Juniors Master winners

The Malaysian juniors are invited to compete in the annual Pearl Point National Age Group Chess Championship 2009 to be held from the 3rd April to 5th April 2009 at Pearl Point Shopping Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Winners in the various categories will be eligible for selection to international age-group chess events subject to terms and conditions as stipulated by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF).

Last year the events was held at the same venue and won by Muhammad Tariq Amru who create an upset by winning the first National Junior Champion and as a results he got the National Junior Master title. In the women section , Nur Nabila Azman Hisham won the National Junior Master (Girl) title. Read my last year report here

For further details about the tournament, visit MCF blog here

Sorry guys, i made a mistake. National Age Group and National Juniors Master is two different tournaments. Thanks gilocatur for spoting it.

NMCC Monthly Blitz Grand Prix 2009 Tommorow ( 14th March 2009)!

Today - 14th March 2009 , Two NMCC Monthly Blitz tournaments will be held . The 1st tournament start at 11.30 am and the second tournament start at 3.30 pm . Last week, FM Mok Tze Meng won both tournaments.

For further details, click here

NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic Tournament 3/09 : Ruy Lopez : Marshall attack !

Tommorow , Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) will organised the NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic Tournament 3-09 : Ruy lopez : Marshall attack. This will be the third edition of this thematic tourney. The 1st edition ( Sicilian Dragon) was won by Abdullah Che Hassan whereas Ian Udani won the second thematic tournament ( Chigorin Defense).

For further details , click here

Chess Puzzle (7)

Chezz puzzle is back ! Try find the best answer for white's 28th move. If you want to test your tactical ability, don't ask for assistance, especially from your chess programme. First, try solve it on your own .

Game below is played in Chess Olympiad. Black last move 32...Qf7 looks like it defend everything and black will looking foward to push his a-pawn for victory . Try find the desicive winning moves for white.

White to move

Change in Law Of Chess - starting 1st July 2009 !

I love to play chess. But one thing i don't love about chess is the Laws of Chess. Probably because law is not my favourite subject so i might be biased. However i found that law of chess changed frequently and it confuse players or perhaps...arbiters too. I bet that some qualified arbiters also found it's hard to master the laws of chess. Probably because not all chess player have law background.

Another things is law is not always straightforward. Always there will be a situation when an arbiter needs to interpret. When this happen, a different interpretation might arise. Sometimes it's like to decide which come first - egg or chicken ?

Ok, you all might wonder why i write about laws of chess in this article...actually i would like to mentioned that some of the major changes to the Laws of Chess will come into force on July 1, 2009.

Read an important article from famous arbiter Guert Gijssen at chesscafe.com

For me the changes is quite tricky. I advised all serious player (and arbiter !) read and understand it carefully! However please take note that the changes will only apply starting from July 1, 2009. Below are some interesting changes .


Article 12.3.c was added.

"Smoking is permitted only in the section of the venue designated by the
arbiter"

Ok, i know some of my friends will appreciate this changes !

Another interesting changes was added to Article 12.6:

"It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner
whatsoever. This includes unreasonable claims, unreasonable offers of a
draw or the introduction of a source of noise into the playing area"

According to Geurt Gijssen, this likely applies to MP3 players and IPods, but perhaps even crying babies can be banned from the playing hall with this addition.

FM Mok Tze Meng Chess Talk !

On 9th March, NMCC organised a chess talk by FIDE Master (FM) Mok Tze Meng. Mok is well known chess player in local scence. He is also a National Master (NM) and a national player who has play many international tourney such as the Olympiad and Zonal.

In the chess talks, Mok touch about his chess playing and coaching experience , his career before chess, his experience coached by the late Georgian GM - Eduard Gufeld and the most interesting part is when he show some of his best and worse game.

Read the full article here

Ismail Ahmad NMCC Simul

Ismail Ahmad play a move against his young opponent

World Police Champion and National player Ismail Ahmad had a tough day during the 1st NMCC simultaneous display at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail yesterday ( 8 March 2009). He faced 14 strong opponent which include 12 MSSM KL players such as Muhammad Izz Saifuddin, Nor Izzudin, siblings - Nurul Akila Rohiza and Nurul Atikah Rohizan. The MSSM KL players managed by their team manager Mr. Suhairi participate in this simul as part of their preparation for next week MSSM in Klang, Selangor. The other two players are season player Norazman Ismail and Khairul Anuar.

Read the full report here

FM Mok Tze Meng NMCC Chess Talk ! 9th March 2009

FIDE Master and former National Champion - Mok Tze Meng (photo right) will give a chess talk at Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) on the 9th March 2009. Mok Tze Meng is a National player and well known coach. He has vast experience playing for national team in international tournaments such as the Olympiad ( Novi Sad 1990, Yereven 1996, Istanbul 2000, Calvia 2004, Dresden 2008), The Zonal ( Jakarta Zonal 1993, Vung Tau 2000) and tournament such as ASEAN Chess Circuit, Tarakan, Indonesia 2008 .

Mok has won many local chess tournament and his recent succes is winning the Terengganu "Semi" Open Tournament last year. His current FIDE rating is 2283.

Details of the chess talks is as below:-

Topic : "Chess in the eye of a FIDE Master" by FM Mok Tze Meng

* FIDE - World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs, known as FIDE from its French acronym)

Location : No.42B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman Tun
Dr.Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Date : 9th March 2009 ( Monday)

Time : 2pm - 4pm

ONLY the first 30 participants will be accepted for the first session ! So be quick !

FEES : Adults : RM 10.00, Student ( below 18 years old) : RM 5.00

Payment can be made to AlRajhi Bank , Current Account : 10300-001-0001080211285 under the name NEO MANHATTAN CHESS CENTRE or pay during the registration of the chess talks on 9th March 2009.

*** accompanying parents/teachers is invited and will not be charged but seat are limited and priority will be given to the participants.

For further details, please contact : Shamsol Bahrin o129363119 or Irwan Zulkenain 0193866587 or email us at neo.manhattanchess@gmail.com

Maps to NMCC, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad, TTDI, KL ( red colour !)

Use full direction to NMCC :-

1. Near Balai Bomba & Penyelamat Taman Tun Dr Ismail


2. Near CELCOM branch office


3. Near IBM Plaza
   

World Police Chess Champion - Ismail Ahmad NMCC Chess Simuls on 8th March 2009 !

As a warm -up for Ismail Ahmad (photo right) chess simul record breaking attempt, Neo Manhattan Chess Centre (NMCC) is gladly annouced that ex- World Police Chess Champion and National player - Ismail Ahmad will give a simultenous display on 8th March 2009.

Details of the chess simuls is as below:-

Location : Neo Manhattan Chess Centre,

No.42B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman Tun Dr.Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Date : 8th March 2009 ( Sunday)

Time : 2pm

ONLY the first 20 participants will be accepted for this session ! So be quick !

FEES : RM 15.00

Payment can be made to AlRajhi Bank , Current Account : 10300-001-0001080211285 under the name NEO MANHATTAN CHESS CENTRE or pay during the registration of the chess simuls on 9th March 2009 (before 1.45pm).

For further details, please contact : Shamsol Bahrin o129363119 or Irwan Zulkenain 0193866587 or email us at neo.manhattanchess@gmail.com

Maps to NMCC, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad, TTDI, KL ( red colour !)

Use full guide to NMCC :-

1. Near Balai Bomba & Penyelamat Taman Tun Dr Ismail


2. Near CELCOM branch office


3. Near IBM Plaza
   

Alexander Grischuk Win Linares 2009 !

This year edition of the Super Elite Tournament - Linares is won by Russian Super GM -Alexander Grischuk . "Sasha" Grischuk (right) tied with another super GM - Vasilly Ivanchuk. Both finished with 8 points each.

Grischuk victory was quite surprising considering that this annual super elite GM features players like the World Champ - Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen and others. If i'm not mistaken this is his first major victory in super GM tournament although he has compete in several super gm tournament since 90's.

He is also a strong poker player and play in serious poker tournament before.

NMCC Blitz Thematic 2-09 : Chigorin Defense - Part 2

Below are the remaining photos during the NMCC Blitz Thematic 2-09 : Chigorin Defense held at Neo Manhattan Chess Centre last Friday night.

Mohd Irman Ibrahim (left) and Ahmad Nazri (right) - making a comeback into local chess scenes !?

Mohd Saprin Sabri (standing) - a special guest during the tournament act as the "live commentator". Among his comment is : "let see how player coach by local play against player coach by foreigner ( GM Eduard Gufeld) ". The players burst into laugh !

Below are one interesting position occur during the tournament.

Mohd Zambri Syarif vs Kamaluddin Yusof

NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic 2-09

Zambri (white) is leading a piece and should have won the game but Kamaluddin who is well known with his swindle resources try his best to confuse matter. I don't remember what Zambri's reply after the diagram above but Fritz gave the winning line as follow:-
1.Bxa8 ! 1.bxc3 Qxb7 is more or less equal. 1...cxb2 2.Rb1 bxc1Q 3.Rdxc1! This is the idea. A tricky one. Black has to spent a tempo to move his queen from being attack and then after 3...Qd6 And White bishop is safe after 4.Bb7 However in the actual game Zambri lost the game . I wonder how the game proceed after diagram above

"Blogger in duty" - Marcus yeoh equip with his mobile wireless at NMCC

Change Date for Commonwealth Chess Championship 2009 in Ipoh, Malaysia.

FM Peter Long sent and email to me regarding the change of date of the 2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship which will be held in Ipoh. Below are his email to me:-

"All, I have been informed our dates end too close to the Bristish Chess Championship so I have taken the liberty to move the dates back to 14-21 July 2009 which seem to also accommodate the Zonals in Vietnam and a big event that ends in Australian on 12 July. The revised prospectus is attached and has been emailed to member Federations"

Peter Long

Organising Secretary & Tournament Director,

Commonwealth Chess Championship 2009

Executive Director, ASEAN Chess Confederation

Web Editor, FIDE.com FIDE Trainer / FIDE Arbiter

B: www.thefidetrainer.blogspot.com

M: +60 13 3920 920

Ian Udani Win NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic 2-09 : Chigorin Defense !

Ian Udani (right) received the prize from Mr.Irwan Zulkanaen from NMCC for winning the NMCC Friday Night Blitz Thematic 2-09 (Chigorin Defense)

6 March 2009 - Ian Udani win the NMCC Friday Blitz Thematic 2-09 : Chigorin Defense last night. The single round robin tourney feautes a strong fields. Two National Master (NM) took part - NM Kamal Abdullah and NM Kamal Ariffin. Actually it could be three NM took part if NM ( and also FM) Peter Long who visit the centre earlier particpate but he unfortunately can't stay . Peter drop by to have a discussion with NMCC representative about a possible coopereation with NMCC but that will be another story.

The starting position for the 2nd Thematic tournament is the Chigorin Defense ( 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6) which have been selected as the starting position ( with white to play) .You will find the board set up for this variant at the start of the game ( diagram below). So last night, all white player start the game on move 3! And black player start after white's 3rd move.

The Chigorin Defense

(1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6)

Back to the tournament, the list of the players is as follow:-

1. NM Kamal Abdullah
   
2. NM Kamal Ariffin


3. Ian Udani


4. Shamsol Bahrin


5. Mohd Fairin Zakaria


6. Kamaluddin Yusof


7. Abdullah Che Hassan


8. Ahmad Nazri


9. Mohd Irman Ibrahim


10. Zambri Syarif


11. Khaushal Khandahar


12. Khairul Annuar

Photo

NM Kamal Ariffin - Master of Chigorin Defense lost the final playoff against Ian Udani

Young Talent - Kaushal Khandahar

Earlier a disscusion between FM Peter Long (left) with NMCC representative were held

The tournament hall

Part 2 report will follow soon......