Ambush ?!

Dato Tan Chin Nam in his friendly game against the late Campomanes (right) last year

As announced earlier, The 2010 Malaysian Chess Festival (Malaysian Open)  will be held from 28th August - 7th September 2010. This  annual event which has been held since 2004 has attract many international players from all over the world and mainly from  the Asian Pacific region. However, as point out by IM Jimmy Liew in his blog, this year edition will have  a serious  competitor - The 2010 Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup Chess Championship which will be held from 28th August till 5th September 2010.

Is the  Campo tournament's organizer simply "overlooked" the date which clash with this year Malaysian Open?

Interesting note that the Campo's Tournament offered more prize money then the Malaysian Open. This will surely influence the players and the Philippines  who are among the biggest participants in the annual Malaysian Open. The Philippines players  will surely choose to play in their homeland.

As we all know, Malaysia is supporting Karpov while  Philippines choose the incumbent - Kirsan. Is the Campo Tournament is being use as  an "ambush" strategy  for the  the 2K  ( Kirsan-Karpov)  2010 FIDE Election battle?  If yes, i don't think the late Campomanes will agree to this strategy especially by using his name on this tournament. Many knows Campomanes was a good friend to Malaysian Chess!

IM Mashafizul - GM Anatoly Karpov

Not every day you got the chance to play against former World Champion. IM Mas got it when GM Anatoly Karpov pay a visit to Malaysia for his FIDE Presidential campaign recently. The game progress quite well but Mas who was behind on time and probably nervous, blunder a whole rook in the end.

IM Mashafizul Helmi vs GM Anatoly Karpov
Exhibition Blitz Game,  20.7.2010

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. O-O-O O-O-O 14. Ne4 Ngf6 

IM Mas before playing 15.g3 against GM Anatoly Karpov (left)

15. g3 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Bd6 17. Kb1 Rhe8 18. Qh7 Bf8 19. Qe4 Bd6 20. c4 c5  21. dxc5 Theory recommend  21.Bc3 21...Qxc5?!  22. Be3  Qc7 

23. Qc2  Mas can win a pawn with 23. Qd4! Bc5 24. Qxg7 Bxe3 25. fxe3 and black's h and f pawn are weak. If white can capture black'c h pawn then his own h-pawn can be a real threat.  23... Bc5  24. Nd4 a6 25. Qh7 Bf8 26. Rd2 Nf6  27. Qc2 Qe5 28. Bf4  Qe4 29. Re1?? Mas was behind on time and blunder a whole rook. Mas mentioned that he somehow thought that his rook on e1 was protected by his Bishop on f4.  Karpov suggest 29. f3 and after 29... Qxc2+ 30. Nxc2  Rxd2 31. Bxd2 with equal chance  29... Qxe1+  0-1

Karpov - Yeoh Li Tian

GM Anatoly Karpov (left) vs Yeoh Li Tian 

Yeoh Li Tian - GM Anatoly Karpov

Exhibition Blitz Game, 20.7.2010

Black to play

1... Rc8 2. Kg2 Rec7 3. Nf3 Qd8 4. h5 Ka7 5. Rh1 Qf8 6. Ree1 b5 Li Tian manage to  held Karpov so far but with less then a minute, he made a crucial mistake.   7. Qe2? After the game, Karpov suggest 7. a3 to stop black from playing b4 and according to him, the position is equal 7... b4! 8.cxb4? a blunder in a time trouble. 8... Rc2 Now it's game over 9. Nd2 Bxb4 10. Rd1 Rxb2  0-1 Black will play Rcc2 next and win a piece.

Karpov in Malaysia !

20th July 2010 - GM Anatoly Karpov is in Malaysia as part of  his World-Wind Tour. The 12th World Chess Champion - Karpov is running for the presidency of FIDE. Abdul Hamid Majid from Malaysia is running for the General Secretary post under Karpov ticket. Karpov visit in Malaysia is sponsored by Dato Tan Chin Nam who is a member of the Karpov Campaign Advisory Board

GM Anatoly Karpov press conference at the G Tower, Kuala Lumpur . 

Dato Tan Chin Nam (left) play a friendly game against GM Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly  play two exhibition blitz matches against Malaysian no. 1 - IM Mashafizul and against Yeoh Li Tian.

GM Anatoly Karpov  vs IM Mashafizul (right)

GM Anatoly Karpov vs Yeoh Li Tian (right)

Yours truly (left) with GM Anatoly Karpov

I will publish the blitz games and result (!) along with the photo report soon.....

How to beat a GM by...Yeoh Li Tian!

GM Ziaur Rahman (photo right) lost his first clock simul game last Thursday against none other then our young hot shot - Yeoh Li Tian. After four series of similar event, no player has beat the GM and only Fairin Zakaria  managed to 'steal' a half point. 


However, the record was break on the 5th simul. Below is the game.  Read the full results and report at DATCC blog




Yeoh Li Tian  - GM Ziaur Rahman
5th GM Ziaur Clock Simul, 15.7.2010

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be3 Nf6 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Bxf3 O-O 9. Qd2 e5 10. d5 Theory recommend 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Be2 10... Nd4 11. Be2 White didn't fall into a thematic trap with 11. Bxd4?! exd4 12. Qxd4? Nxe4! 13. Qd3 (of course 13.Qxe4?? will lost the queen after 13...Re8) 13...Nxc3 14. bxc3 Re8+ and white is in trouble.11... Re8 12. f3 c6 13. dxc6 bxc6 14. O-O Nh5 Black can choose to play in the centre with 14... Nxe2+ 15. Nxe2 d5! 15.Rfe1 Rb8 16. Rab1 Qa5 16... Nf4  followed by 17...Qh4 later looks like a strong idea 17. Bd3 Ne6 18. Bc4  Rbd8 19. Rbd1 Qc7 20. Qf2 Rd7 21. Rd2 Kh8 22. Red1 White hold black from playing the thematic freeing move in the center - d5 Nhf4 23. Bb3 f5 24. Qf1 fxe4 25. Bxe6 Nxe6 26. fxe4 Rf8 27. Qc4 Rf6 28. b4 Bf8 29. a4 Qb7 30. b5 Rc7 31. Qb3 Nd4? Wrong square. 31... Nf4!?  will create more threat to white's king side 

32. Rxd4! exd4 33. Bxd4 Bg7 34. Bxf6 Bxf6 35. Rxd6 White is two pawn up. Qb6+ 36. Kf1 Bh4 37. Nd1  Li Tian of course saw that black is threatening mate on f2! 37...Qa5  and now at e1! a lesser mortal would probably missed it. 38. g3! 38... Bg5 and  38... Be7 and black will lost the c6 pawn so GM Ziaur try to mess the position with 38...Bxg3 But without success   39. Qxg3 Rf7+ 40. Kg2 Kg7 40... cxb5 41. Qe5+ Kg8 42. Ne3 winning  41. Qc3+ and the GM resign not wishing to see 41. Qc3+ Qxc3 42. Nxc3 cxb5 43. axb5 and white has to much material to win the game. 1-0


Game source: Razali Ng6

5th GM Ziaur Rahman's Clock Simul

The 5th GM Ziaur Rahman's Clock  Simul will be held  at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Center (DATCC), on 15th July 2010 (Thursday). The simul will start at  7.45 PM .  GM Ziaur Rahman will face five players - NM Yeoh Chin Seng, Yeoh Li Tian, Abdul Haq Mohamed, NWM Roslina Marmono,  and  Razali Hamzah.

GM Ziaur won the first four  edition with a total score 19.5 - 0.5. Only ex-National player - Mohd Fairin Zakaria managed to get a half point.

In this 5th edition, GM Ziaur will play black in all his games and both the GM and his opponent will have equal time - 1 hour and 10 seconds increment per move.

Kamaluddin Yusof Win 2nd Ole-Ole Shah Alam Chess Championship 2010 (Open)

Kamaluddin Yusof won the 2nd Ole-Ole Shah Alam Chess Championship 2010 (Open) which was held last Saturday - 10th July 2010. The rapid tournament was held at the Ole - Ole  Shopping Center, Seksyen 17, Shah Alam.

Kamaluddin Yusof (left) receivie the trophy from Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) President- Shafruddin. Photo from Mohd Saprin Sabri.

4th GM Ziaur Rahman's Clock Simul

The 4th GM Ziaur Rahman's Clock  Simul will be held  at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Center (DATCC), on 8th July 2010. The simul will start at about 7.45 PM .  GM Ziaur Rahman will face five players - Mohd Saprin Sabri, Nik Ahmad Farouqi, Nor Ilhamuddin, Abdul Aziz Shukor and  Razali Hamzah.

GM Ziaur won the first three edition with a total score 14.5 - 0.5. Only ex-National player - Mohd Fairin Zakaria managed to get a half point.

In this 4th edition, GM Ziaur will play black in all his games and his opponent will have equal time - 1 hour and 10 seconds increment per move.

21ST TEBRAU OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT

Mr.Narayanan Krishnan email me the following tournament announcement:-

21ST TEBRAU OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT

Organiser : The tournament is organized by the Johor Chess Academy, RT Taman Sri
Tebrau, Rakan Muda JB & JB Chess Association

Venue : Plaza Pelangi Johor Bahru

Date & Time : Sunday - 1st August 2010 from 9.00 am to 6.00pm. Participants are to
report by 8.30 am.

Time Control : Swiss System of 7 rounds with 25 minutes per player to complete the
game.

Entrey Fee :-

Open - RM 30.00
U.16 - RM 12.00
U.12 - RM 10.00

Prizes :-

Open : RM400, RM200, RM100, RM80, RM70, RM60, RM50. RM50,
RM50, RM50
Under 16 : RM200, RM100, RM80, RM60, RM50, RM40, RM40, RM30
RM30, RM30
Under 12 : RM100, RM80, RM60, RM50, RM40, RM30, RM30, RM20
RM20, RM20

Closing Date : Shall not be later than 30th July 2010 Late entries and entries without
payment will not be accepted. Entries fees are not refundable.

Those interested in participating in this event, please email your names to me.

For more information, kindly contact :
Narayanan Krishnan
Tournament Director
Johor Chess Academy
Tel N0 : 013 7717 525
email : jb_chess_association@yahoo.com

Abdul Hamid Majid Letter of Nomination

As we all have already now, IA Abdul Hamid Majid has been nominated by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) for FIDE General Secretary in the ticket of former World |Chess Champion - Anatoly Karpov. Below is the letter of the nomination.

Abdul Hamid's letter of acceptance is below:-

Click here to read Karpov's team nomination. MCF's letter of nomination for Abdul Hamid Majid as General Secretary can be found on page 8-9.

GM steamroll the young team 5-0!

GM Ziaur Rahman (photo right) show no mercy and demolish his young opponents ( Lim Zhou Ren, Mohd Izz Saifuddin, Yap Eng Chiam, Tan Ken Wei and Yat Guo Jie) 5-0 in a five players clock simul held  at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Center (DATCC), last night. The  time control used for this simul is 1 hour + 10 seconds increment for the GM and 45 minutes + 10 seconds increment for  the players.

After three series , only Mohd Fairin Zakaria - former National player managed to get  half points from the GM during the second series.

Next week, the 4th series will be held and the organiser will make a slight change to give more chance for the GM's opponents. Both side will have equal time 1 hour + 10 seconds increment and the GM will be playing black!

July 2010 FIDE Rating Release!

You can click the image for larger view or click here for complete list

The Malaysian top 10th place for the July 2010 FIDE rating list which was release today was more or less occupied by the same players from the previous list. Only Law Zhe Kang who make a welcome return into serious tournament play, reactivate his previously inactive rating and occupied the 10th place with 2215.

IM Mashafizul (2422) remain as Malaysian no.1 and  same goes to IM Mok Tze Meng (2416)  who remain on no. 2.  The 3rd - 9th place was occupied by the same player and basically they gain or lost a small number of points. IM Jimmy Liew slip to the "2200+ club" after losing only 2 points. His previous rating is FIDE 2301.

From my brief check, our young hot shot - Yeoh Li Tian is the top gainer. He add 94 rating points and now on 24th place with FIDE 2112. This young kid is fast climbing the ladder and i think it is a matter of time before he will be knocking the  top ten door.

The biggest lost was record by  Ismail Ahmad who lost a hefty 48 points. He also  slip into the "below 2000 club" with FIDE 1996 . In my opinion,  his current rating didn't show his  real strength. Lately Ismail have to spend extra days and  hours  to perform his duty  as a police officer  mainly to reduce the crime rate in our country. Recently, he has many times worked more then 24 hours straight on the street to fight and reduce crime.  The NKRA crime reduce statistic shows that the crime rate  has drop significantly early this year  and i know Ismail did contribute on it but unfortunately... it cost Ismail 48 FIDE rating points. I belief Ismail will be back on track soon.