FM Ooi Chern Ee vs FM Lim Yee Weng - Round 15, DATCC Team League 2009

The highlight of round 15, DATCC Team League 2009 is the match between the top two seed - Goldis vs. SMS Gold. A total of five title players ( 1 IM and 4 FM) feature in this clash. The top board saw former Malaysian top player - FM Ooi Chern Ee playing on board 1 for SMS Gold 1 meet IM elect - FM Lim Yee Weng who is playing for Goldis.

Thanks to the winner - Ooi for sending me the game with his brief annotation. My comment/analysis ( help by Fritzy!) is in italic.

FM Ooi Cher Ee vs FM Lim Yee Weng

DATCC Team League 2009, Round 15, 29.7.09

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 Nf6 5. Nge2 O-O 6. Ng3 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Be2

exd5 9. exd5 Na6 10. O-O Nc7 11. Bf4 Re8 12. Re1 b6

The highlight of round 15 - FM Ooi Chern Ee (left) vs FM Lim Yee Weng (right). The photo above was taken just before Ooi play 13.Qd2

13. Qd2 Bb7 14. Bg5 Qd7??

Ooi : Blunder . Hairulov : Yeah a terrible one indeed 15. Qf4 Ooi: Nf6 cannot be defended. 15...Nfxd5 Ooi : Best chance for black. (15... Qd8 16. Nge4 Rxe4 17. Nxe4 Nce8 18. Bf3 winning for white.) 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5

18. Rad1 Hairulov: During the game i guess that Ooi will choose 18.Bf6! which should be simpler and prevent black serious counterplay as happen in the game. 18...Be5 19. Qh4 Qc6 Hairulov : Now black have some counterattack chances on g2, b2 and a2 20. f4 !? Ooi: White sacrifices two pawns to create mating threats. 2o... Bxb2 21. f5 Bxg2 22. Be7 Be5 ? Ooi: 22... Bh3 23. Bf1 (23. Ne4 !? Rxe7 ! 24. Qxe7 Re8 25. Bb5 Qxb5 26. Qxe8+ Qxe8 27. Nf6+ Bxf6 28. Rxe8+ Kg7 29. fxg6 hxg6 30. Rxd6) 23... Bxf1 24. Rxf1 With dangerous threats of f6 etc. 23. f6 Kh8 24. Qh6 Rg8 25. Bc4 Bf3 26.Rd3 Bd4+ 27. Kf1 ? Hairulov : Actually this move switch the advantage and the initiative to black.

Ooi : 27. Rxd4 ! cxd4 28. Bxf7 Qc2 29. Re2 !! Qc8 Forced; otherwise Bxg8 and f7 is game over 29... Bxe2 30. Bxg8 Rxg8 31. f7

30. Rf2 27... Bg2+ 28. Ke2 d5 29. Rxd4 Hairulov: if 29.Bb3? Bxf6 29...cxd4 30. Bd3 Be4 31. Rc1 Qe6 Ooi: 31...

Bxd3+ 32. Kxd3 Qb5+ 32. Kd2 Bxd3 33. Kxd3 Rac8 34. Rxc8 Qxc8 35. Ke2 Qc4+ 36.

Kf3 Qxa2 ?? Ooi : Black has to play g5; now mate is forced. Hairulov: Yee Weng must have kick himself at home when he check with his computer that with the weird but brilliant 36...g5! should win the game. White can't mate on g7 for e.g after 37. Bf8 Rg6! the idea is to vacate the g8 square for the king 38. Bg7+ Kg8 no checkmate and black d- pawn will march! 37. Bf8 Qb3+ 38. Kg4 Qd1+ 39. Kh3 Interesting and wonderfully fun game with mistakes from both

sides. Fortunately for me his happened to be the last :) 1-0

Photo from : Razali Hamzah (Ng6)

Mas win round 9 !

29 July 2009 - IM Mashafizul end his campaign in the Zone 3.3, World Chess Championship, Vietnam with a win against IM Nguyen Thanh Son (FIDE 2444) . There's eror in the earlier pairing because Mas was scheduled to play against GM Dao Tien Hai but in the end, he was being paired against Nguyen Thanh Son. Mas finish in 6th place with 6 points. This is quite and achievement considering that he was seeded no.18th. in the starting list.

Source : chess-results.com

DATCC Round 15 Result !

Round 15 Results

SMS Gold vs. Goldis 2-2

Pricewaterhouse Coopers vs Nusa Mahkota Chess Club 1-3

The Spawn 2009 vs. Methodist Boy School 4-0

Tan& Tan vs. DATCC 0.5 - 3.5

786 Chess Club vs. Persatuan Catur Wanita Malaysia 3.5-1.5 ( correction 3.5 - 0.5)

Temerloh Open 2009

Temerloh Chess Open 2009 will be held on 1st-2nd August 2009.

For further details, click here.

Mas draw against CM Nguyen Hoang Nam

28 July 2009 - Mashafizul draw against Candidate Master Nguyen Hoang Nam in round 8 of the Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship 2009, Vietnam. He has collected five points so far and will be paired against former World Junior Champion - GM Dao Tien Hai (FIDE 2552) of Vietnam in the last round tommorow.

Source : chess-results.com

IM Mashafizul vs. Tariq : Preview of the First Match of Malaysian Masters Championship 2009 !

The 2009 Malaysian Masters Championship will start this Friday at Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Center (DATCC), Wilayah Kompleks, Kuala Lumpur. The first match will saw 2008 National Junior Champion - Tariq Amru (photo left) against Malaysian no. two - IM Mashafizul Helmi (photo right) . The match will be held on Friday (31st July) and Saturday (1st August).

As we all know, Mas is probably the best chess player Malaysia has ever produced so far. He is now on his quest for the GM title and have been playing in many international tournaments all over the world for the past two years . He is currently playing in Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship in Vietnam.

In contrary, Tariq hardly played in any local tournaments, let alone international tournament since he won the National Junior title last year.

It is clear that Mas will be the heavy favourite for this match and i think he will have Tariq as his "breakfast" in this knock- out tournament.

For Tariq, if he can made an upset against Mas, nothing will be impossible in his coming match.

Mas vs. GM Eugene Torre

Below is Mashafizul game against GM Eugene Torre (photo right) in round 5, Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship 2009, Vietnam. Torre is Asia first GM. Although at 58 he has surely past his prime, Torre still active playing as ever. For the record, he once beat former World Champion - Anatoly Karpov in 1976 !

GM Eugune Torre ( 2560) vs. IM Mashafizul (2391)
Round 5, Zone 3.3 WCC,

Analysed by Hairulov and Fritz 11

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 Qb6 6. Qb3 e6 7. Ngf3 c4 8. Qc2
Nh5 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 g4 12. Ng1 Nxg3 13. hxg3 e5 14. Ne2 exd4 15.
Nxd4 Nxd4 16. cxd4 Be6 17. Be2 Rc8 18. O-O Bd6 19. e4 !?

An interesting pawn sacrifiece which give some room for white pieces to breath. Surely Torre can't just sit and wait Mas use his space advantage to a more concrete advantage . 19...Qxd4 20. Rad1 Bb8 21.Qa4+ Kf8 22. Qb4+ White can also try 22. Nxc4 Qxe4 23. Bd3 Qd4 24. Be2 Qc5 25. Ne3 22... Qc5 22... Kg7 !? followed by 23. Qxb7 Qe5 is probably more aggresive. Black can then play h5-h4 to open lines towards black's king. 23. Qxb7 Kg7 24. exd5 Bxd5 25. Qd7 Be6 26. Qa4 Rhd8 27.Ne4 Qe5 27... Qb6 !? followed by - Be5 attacking the b2 pawn is a good alternative 28. Nc3 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 h5 30. Qb5 Qxb5 31. Nxb5 Be5 32. Nd4 32. Nxa7? would be a serious mistake after 32... Ra8 33. Nc6 Bxb2 and black passed pawn on c3 will be very dangerous. 32... Bxd4

Maybe Mas should keep his double bishop with 32..Bd7!? if he want to go for a win.The bishop
pair has a a better prospect in open position with play on both side. 33.Rxd4 c3 34. bxc3 Rxc3 35. f3 Rc2 36. Kf1 Rxa2 slightly better is 36... gxf3 37. Bxf3 Rxa2 38.Bxh5 a5 37. fxg4 hxg4 38. Bxg4 Bxg4 Once again Mas should probably keep his bishop with 38.Bb3!? .Black doesn't have to worry about his f7 being attack as long as his bishop is still alive. 39. Rxg4+ Mas has a slight advantage because of his outside passed pawn, however white's have active rook which made the endgame looks drawish. 1/2-1/2

Mas beat GM Bu Vinh !

Mashafizul (photo left) beat GM Bu Vinh (FIDE 2517) in round seven ! He is now still unbeaten after 7 round and now with 4.5 points. He will be paired against Vietnam player - CM Nguyen Hoang Nam (FIDE 2320) in round 8 tommorow. Interestingly Mas has meet seven players from Vietnam except in round five when he draw against Asia first GM - Eugene Torre from the Philippines.

Photo from official site

I'm back...

Just went back from a Family Day programme at Port Dickson and found that my blog shoutbox has been relocated at the right bottom of my blog. I don't know how it happen and will try to fix it...so far with no succes...

Mamak time 12

This is an analysis of the game between Anderssen - Kieseritzky dated 1851. Their ability to analyse without FRITZ was fantastic! The move that we are looking for is NORMALLY beyond human's ability.

Sorry for the shoutbox offshoot. You can find the shoutbox at the bottom right of this page. Hope that Mr Hairulov will fix it soon.

White to move. Show me your best shot.

MAKSAK 2009 Photos (part 2)

Penjara vs Kuala Lumpur

Before our 2nd round game against Penjara Malaysia in the prelimanary stage, our team manager Hassan warn us that anyone who lost will be put behind the bar! . Fortunately We won in all board .

From right : Chief Arbiter - Muhammad Arshad , Arbiter - Wan Rozuhan

DATCC Round 15 Preview by Zack Zaheer

786 Chess Club vs Persatuan Catur Wanita Malaysia (PCWM)

3 cheers for wanita for putting up a creditable performance against spawn though they were white washed in the end . Rosalina Mormono was unlucky to lose an opposite colour bishop endgame. 786’s kamaluddin end game manouevre was intriguing against rusdi last week though overall 786 was lucky to come out with their pride intact. Wanita will probably raise their game against 786 but still not enough to win them anything

Likely score 4-0

Tan & Tan vs. Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC)

Seniors Tan and Tan fired blanks last week against SMS Gold but against hosts DATCC they should win comfortably . Though DATCC put up a good show against pricewater house with a win for Dr paul and a draw for Tan Jun Feng ,Tan and Tan has enough firepower to pack the minnows home with nothing to show if IM Giam and NM Choo

can sit and play in a rare get together.

Likely score 4-0

Nusa Mahkota Chess Club (NMCC) vs. Pricewaterhouse Coopers

High flying Price water house’s ambitions for a 4^TH placing was almost grounded when they only beat minnows DATCC with a wafer thin margin 2.5-1.5

nusa mahkota’s courageous and great fight back against 786 should give them the confidence needed to prise the armor of price waterhouse and leap frog over them

likely score 2.5-1.50

Methodist Boy School (MBS) vs SPAWN 2009

SPAWN 2009 has proven that their comeback is real and will show no mercy against enterprising MBS boys who were unlucky not to gain something after the 4th board failed to capitalize on material advantage going into end game against goldis . Jax and co may slaughter the boys for an amazing 8 points in 2 games to further strengthen their grip on the 4th position

Likely score 4-0

SMS gold vs Goldis

Although sms gold would like to prove the win over goldis is no fluke and may go into the battle with high hopes the earlier win may end up just like a flash in the pan. Lim Yee Weng will be eager to let his brain do the talking while IM Jimmy Liew may have some tricks up his sleeves to show pretender Mok Tze Meng who the real master is .

Abdullah and udani may play board 3 and 4 for a unchanged lineup for goldis whereas sms gold may have their perennial problem of whom to play on board 3.

Likely score 1-3

GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son vs IM Mashafizul

Below is my annotated game of Mashafizul against Vietnam chess prodigy - GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (FIDE 2594) in round 2 of the Zone 3.3 FIDE World Championship, Vietnam . Mas performed well by drawing against Nguyen (photo above) who achieved the GM title at the age of 14 ! Nguyen is now 19 years old.

GM Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son (2592) vs. IM Mashafizulhelmi ( 2391)

Zone 3.3, World Chess Championship, Round 2, 23.7.2009

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8. O-O Re8 9. Rb1 Nf8 10. Bg5 Bf5 11. Rc1 c6 12. Bxf6 Maybe white can keep his double bishop and play moves like 12. Nh4 !? Bd7 13.Qd3 and white queen support e4 and b4-b5 push. 12... Bxf6 13. b4 White start a minority attack on the Queen side which is a common strategy for white especially when his bishop is on the h1-a8 diagonal and black has b7-c6-d5 pawn formation.13... b5

This move made the backward pawn on c6 looks weak. However white somehow couldn't manage to exploit it. 14. a4 a6 15. e3 Qd6 16. Qb3 Nd7 17. a5 h5 Mas choose an aggressive move. 17... Be7!? is an alternative because after 18. Na2 White's knight is little bit off-side

18. Ne2 Be7 19. Ne5 Exerts pressure on the backward pawn - c6 19...Nxe5 20. dxe5 Qxb4

21. Qxb4 Bxb4 Black has a new protected passed pawn: b5 22. Nd4 Bd7 22... Rxe5 ?

doesn't lead to anything significant after 23. Nxc6 Bd6 24. Nxe5 Bxe5 25. Rfd1

23. Nxc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 Rxe5 Opposite coloured bishops appeared. Mas could try 24... Bxa5 25. Ra1 Bb4 26. f4 a5 27. Bxd5 Although it's not clear who will have the upper hand. Black of course had two connected passed pawn on the queen side but white has excellent target on f7. White could proceed with attack like e6 and doubling rook on black's 7th rank. 25. Rd1

Re6 Strong alternative is 25... Bxa5 26. Bxd5 Ra7 26. Rxe6 fxe6 27. Rd4 Both player agreed to split the point. 1/2-1/2

Mas once again can play for more with moves like 27... Bxa5 28. Rxd5 Rc8 29. Rxh5 Rc1+ 30. Bf1 However Mas probably decide that a draw against a nearly 2600+ GM is a good start and he didn't want to take any risk. Furthermore, he also might still remember his bad experience in similar situation against World Champion second - Ganguly Shekar in Subic International Open last May.

MAKSAK 2009 Photos

Ismail Ahmad (PDRM)

Abang Reduan (Sarawak)

NM Kamal Ariffin (Kuala Lumpur)

Lim Kian Hwa (Sarawak)

Nasrul (Johor)

IM Mashafizul draw against IM Duong The Anh

IM Mashafizul draw against IM Duong The Anh in round 2 Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship in Vietnam. He will be paired against another Vietnamese - Tran Ngoc Lan (FIDE 2176) in round 4 tommorow.

IM Mashafizul draw against GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (FIDE 2592) !

23rd July 2009 - Mashafizul had a great start in the Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship in Vietnam. He held elo favourite - GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (FIDE 2592) to a draw in the second round. His now collected 1.5 points and will be paired against another host player - IM Duong The Anh (FIDE 2440) in round 3 tommorow.

Source : chess-results.com

IM Mashafizul Win and meet GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in round 2 !

23rd July 2007 - IM Mashafizul win against untitled host player - Nguyen Hung Choang (FIDE 2035) in the first round of the Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship held in Vietnam. He will meet GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (FIDE 2592) in round 2 which will being held on the same day.

IM Mashafizul vs Nguyen Hung Choang - Round 1. Zone 3.3 World Championship

IM Mashafizul (photo above) is being paired against untitled host player - Nguyen Hung Choang (FIDE 2035) in the first round ( 23rd July 2007) of the Zone 3.3 World Chess Championship held in Vietnam.

MAKSAK 2009 Report

The MAKSAK Catur, Dart and Karom ( short form - CD-Rom !?) 2009 was held from 17th-18th July 2009 in Kota Bharu Kelantan. This annual goverment team tournament use 45 minutes time control .

This year attracted many strong and well known players such as NM Kamal Ariffin, Ismail Ahmad - former World Police Champion, Hashim Jusoh, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Abang Reduan, Lim Kian Hwa, Morsin Ahmad, Abdul Rahim Ramli, Mohd Zambri Syarif and many others. 14 teams compete in this year edition . There is few regular teams who didn't participate for e.g Selangor and Kedah. Sabah has not send team for years meanwhile Labuan occasionally played but unfortunately not for this year. I hope in the future all state must participate in this annual tournaments.

The playing venue is at Kelantan Trade Centre . This team tournament was held in two days ( 17th and 18th July). The first day is preliminary stage where teams were divide into three groups ( A,B,C). Top two team of each groups plus one team which is the best 3rd placing team from all group proceed to the winners pools in the next day ( 18th July). The rest played in the losers pools.

Below are the teams who proceed to winners pools and losers pools

Winners Pools

1. Kuala Lumpur ( 12 points)
2.PDRM (10.5 points)
3.Pahang , (10 points)
4.Terengganu , 10 points
5.Sarawak 9.5 points
6.Perak 9 points
7.Johor 8 points
8.Kelantan 9.5 points

Loosers Pools

1. Negeri Sembilan (14 points)
2. Melaka (13.5)
3. Perlis (11)
4. Pulau Pinang (9)
5. Penjara (8.5)
6. Armed Forces (4)

Favourite team and the defending champion - Terengganu, past winners - Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak didn't have serious problems to proceed to the winners pools. Honestly speaking, during the preliminary stage, i sense that the defending champion -Terengganu who won the previous two edition ( 2007 and 2008) will have a tough time this year because they regularly drops points to others . In previous years they usually wallop majority of the teams and won narrowly or draw against the two top seed - Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak. PDRM anchored by former World Police Champion and National player - Ismail Ahmad, surprisingly emerged as the group C champion. I noticed that Ismail has managed to improve his teams strength although his players are not generally known in local chess scene.

The most impressive team in my opinion is Pahang. This year they missed their top gun - NM Ng Ee Vern - last year best board winner for board 1 who is also a former national champion and national player. However they managed to beat the defending champion Terengganu 3-1 and ended in 3rd place.

Kelantan also ended impressively especially in the last round when they beat Terengganu 3-1 to finish as the last medal winner ( 4th place). In the final round, Terengganu was really pressured because they have to win 4-0 to have a slim chance to retain their title. To make matter worse, they also need to win at least 3.5- 0.5 to secured the 2nd place and topple Kl to third place. However the pressure was so high and they eventually collapsed 1-3 to their neighbour - Kelantan. This help Kuala Lumpur to win the second place !

The Armagendon Match!

The crucial final round match - Kelantan(left) vs Terengganu (right) !

A background about the armagendon match ( Terengganu - Kelantan) . My team - Kuala Lumpur(KL) received a bye in the last round and we have to wait and watch (horribly) the other teams playing. Sarawak choose to slow down their engine by securing "safe" points against Pahang so KL was guaranteed at least - third placing. To finish in the 2nd place, KL need the "help" from the host- Kelantan to "steal" at least one points from Terengganu. This was help by knowing that Kelantan was also in the mood of winning the final match because they need to win to end as the medal winner.

Before the final match start, we secretly meet Kelantan top board player - Azizul Mat Daud and "sponsored" him with Power Root Isotonic Drink. Azizul - a GM ( Gua Musang ) player is my old friend and my teamate- Rizal Ahmad Kamal "padawan". They both played for UIA years back.

Azizul Mat Daud (photo above) in his last round game against Hashim Jusoh (Terengganu) . The Power Root Isotonic Drink on his left was sponsored by Kuala Lumpur !

Abdul Rahim Ramli ( Terengganu)

Another interesting story is that my teamate - Rizal Ahmad Kamal mistakenly sponsored the same drink ( Power Root) to - Abdul Rahim Ramli - Terengganu 4th board player. He beat Nik Nazri Nik Hassan - Kelantan 4th board player to collect the only point for Terengganu in the last round!

However losing 1-3 is too much that Terengganu drop into 5th place and failed to finish as a medal winner. I recall the same fate experience by my team (KL) who finish on the 6th place in 2007. Terengganu will surely make a post moterm and shine back next year.

Below is yours truly "blunderful life" game which occur on round 5.

Hairul (KL) vs Morsin Ahmad (Sarawak)

MAKSAK 2009 (Winners Pool) Round 5, 18.7.07

Black last move 29...Rcf8 ( see diagram below) is a force one because i was threatening the desicive 30.Rxf7 . In time trouble, i had less then 5 minutes, i miscalculated a combination thinking that i have a nice force checkmate.

30. Rxf7+ ?? what a blunder. I was dreaming a nice checkmate which was not there. 30...Rxf7 31.Rh7+ Kxh7 32.Qxf7+ Kh8 33.g6 Rh4! and there is no checkmate on h7 and i resign in few more moves. Looking back on my 30th move, my teamate pointed to me that i missed the simple defensive yet clear winning move - 30.b3! and after white move his queen with 30...Qc5 white reply with 31.Na4 attacking the queen and black will lost his rook on d4 and the game ! What a missed.

Yours Truly (left) vs Morsin Ahmad (Sarawak)

I will publish more games and photo in part 2 - stay tune !

The Best Board Prize

Here are the results of best board prizes:

Board 1: Ismail Ahmad (Polis Diraja Malaysia)
Board 2: Lim Kian Hwa (Sarawak) photo above
Board 3: Mohd Hezri Che Aziz (Negeri Sembilan)
Board 4: Morsin Ahmad Bahari (Sarawak)
Board 5: Izaruddin Ahmad (Pahang)
Board 6: Kamaral Arifin Ishak (Pahang)

Thanks to Mr. Md. Arshad, Full results for the winners pools is as below:-

Ranking crosstable

Rk.	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	TB1	TB2
1	SARAWAK	*	3	2	2	2	3½	3	3	18,5	11
2	KUALA LUMPUR	1	*	2½	2	2	2½	3½	2½	16,0	10
3	PAHANG	2	1½	*	2½	3	1	2	2½	14,5	8
4	KELANTAN	2	2	1½	*	3	1	1½	3½	14,5	6
5	TERENGGANU	2	2	1	1	*	3½	2½	2	14,0	7
6	PDRM	½	1½	3	3	½	*	1	2	11,5	5
	JOHOR	1	½	2	2½	1½	3	*	1	11,5	5
8	PERAK	1	1½	1½	½	2	2	3	*	11,5	4

Annotation:
Tie Break1: points (game-points)
Tie Break2: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)

source : chess-results.com