The Malaysian Chess Festival kicks off tomorrow with the Merdeka rapid open team tournament.
YES, tomorrow is the big day for the Malaysian Chess Festival. I was told that at the last count earlier in the week, there would be 43 teams taking part in the curtain raiser event, the Merdeka rapid open team tournament.
That would mean at least 180 players. Most of the teams comprise only four players although there are some with five. Actually, there’s no point in having a fifth (or reserve) player in a team because this is only a two-day event.
Besides, it’s cheaper to register a team of four full-time players than a team of five part-timers.
At the tournament, Dark Knight – with Lim Yee Weng, Nicholas Chan, Marcus Chan and Mak Weng Yee in the line-up – will be one of the teams to watch. Then there’s the Astro Malaysia squad comprising Mas Hafizulehlmi, Ooi Chern Ee, Siti Zulaikha Foudzi and Ismail Ahmad. Now, that’s an interesting and formidable combination. Mas and Ooi haven’t played together for a long, long time.
I’m hedging my bets with the AsliMAS team, with members Kamal Ariddin Wahiduddin, Mohd Saprin, Kamaluddin Yusof, Mohd Fairin Zakaria and Mohd Zamri Sharif. A solid line-up.
Not to be discounted are Chess For Life which comprises Jimmy Liew, Mohd Kamal Abdullah, Yeoh Chin Seng, Tan Hong Ghee and Tham Tick Hong but quietly, I’m rooting for the Astro women’s team to steal the limelight in this event. Astro Women consists of Nur Shazwani Zulkafli, Alia Anin Azwa Bakri, Nurul Huda Wahiduddin, Wan Khye Theng and Khairunnisa Wahiduddin.
There are some foreign teams playing too but will they make an impression? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Finally, a short note to say that on Monday, both the Arthur Tan memorial Malaysia open tournament and the AmBank chess challenge will kick off.
At the last count too, there are 111 entries with representation from 14 countries, including Malaysia, in the Malaysia open. Among them are 10 grandmasters, three woman grandmasters, eight international masters, four woman international masters, seven Fide masters and countless untitled players.
Fide Grand Prix
Last April, I was telling you about the Baku (Azerbaijan) leg of the Fide Grand Prix, a series of six high-level tournaments that will be played over two years. Of the three joint winners in Baku – Wang Yue, Vugar Gashimov and Magnus Carlsen – Wang and Gashimov have just finished competing in the Grand Prix’s second leg in Sochi (Russia) yesterday.
When I was writing this week’s column, there were three more crucial rounds to follow, with a four-way tie at the head of the standings after 10 games. So I have to leave you this week with a cliff-hanger: who won at Sochi yesterday? If you cannot wait for me to tell you next week or perhaps the week after, the tournament’s website is http://sochi2008.fide.com.
In the meantime, here’s a game by one of the tournament leaders. Yes, Wang was one of the four leaders after the 10th round. In the ninth round, he won a delicate bishop ending. It’s an instructional game.
White: Wang Yue
Black: Teimour Radjabov
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 0-0 6. Be3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Bxc5 Nc6 10. Nge2 b6 11. Ba3 Bb7 (Black has sacrificed a pawn and has the initiative as the White king is stuck in the centre. In the next few moves, we’ll see White trying to extricate himself and re-organise his pieces) 12. Rd1 a5 13. Nc1 Nb4 14. Bd3 Bh6 15. Nd5 Nfxd5 16. cxd5 (White’s central phalanx of pawns look formidable but Black continues to chip away at the wall) 16….e6 17. Bxb4 axb4 18. dxe6 Bxc1 19. e7 Rdc8 20. e8Q+ Rxe8 21. Rxc1 f5 (Chipping away again, taking advantage of the fact that the White pawn is pinned down) 22. Rc7 Bd5 23. 0-0 (Finally, White managed to castle and allowed Black to regain the pawn; the position looked better for White) 23….fxe4 24. fxe4 Bxa2 25. Ra1 Bd5 26. Rxa8 Bxa8 27. Bb5 Re5 28. Bc4+ Kf8 (Simple trap: 28. … Kh8? 29. Rc8+) 29. Rc8+ Re8 30. Rxe8+ Kxe8 31. e5 (See diagram: can this position, with equal number of pieces, be won easily? White showed patience to out-manouevre his opponent) 31….Ke7 (This could be the decisive inaccuracy as 31. … Kd7 could be better. Instead, Black allowed White to win one of his queenside pawns.) 32. Kf2 Bc6 33. g3 g5 34. Ke3 h6 35. Kd4 Bd7 36. Bd5 Bb5 (As long as the Black bishop can stay on this square, White’s king cannot cross the c-file) 37. Bf3 Be8 38. Bg2 Ba4 39. Bd5 Bb5 40. Bg8 Kf8 41. Bc4 Ba4 42. Bd5 Bb5 43. Bf3 Ke7 44. Bg4 Bf1 45. Kd5 Bb5 46. Bf5 Be8 47. Kc4 b3 48. Kxb3 (It’s White’s game now) 48….Bb5 49. Kc3 Be2 50. Kd4 Bb5 51. Kd5 Ba4 52. b4 Bb5 53. Bg4 Ba4 54. Bc8 Kd8 55. Ba6 Kd7 56. e6+ Ke7 57. Bc8 Bb5 58. Bd7 Be2 (58. … Bxd7 59. exd7 Kxd7 60. b5 and White will win) 59. Kc6 b5 60. Kb6 Bc4 61. Bxb5 Bxe6 62. Kc7 (1-0)