IT WOULD be ideal if I could tell you that our representatives in Dresden – where they had been playing in the Chess Olympiad – had played well but then I would be stretching the truth. Fact is, the results of the Malaysian team could have been better.
It was not the losses against the better teams that disappointed. Instead, it was the inability of the team to produce the form when it mattered most. And usually, it would be the final round that was the most important.
Granted that the scoring system deployed in this year’s Chess Olympiad was a departure from past practices, but against a team like Guatemala, Malaysia should have won this match instead of drawing it.
Winning this match would have added one more point to the team’s tally. Would this extra point make a difference? Definitely, because it would propel them several notches up the final standings. Instead of tying with 18 other teams in the 82nd to 100th positions, the Malaysian team could have shared the 64th to 81st positions instead.
Let’s do a short recap by recollecting the events before this rest day. The Malaysians started very fresh by beating Libya 3½-½ and then winning 2½-1½ against Jersey. In the third round, Malaysia was in the spotlight as they faced the mighty German first team and lost ½-3½. They also lost to Slovakia in the fourth round by the same score but in the fifth round, edged Dominican Republic by 2½-1½.
Then nothing else they did turned out right. Three losses in a row starting first with a ½-3½ result at the hands of Slovenia, then a 0-4 drubbing by the Egyptian team and finally, a narrow 1½-2½ loss to the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA).
Last Thursday, I had mentioned in my blog that I winced when looking at the results of the sixth round.
“It was quite painful to see the type of results that the Malaysian team is getting at the hands of the better teams. Slovenia was the latest team to treat us like a punching bag and only Lim Yee Weng was successfully holding his own against them,” I wrote.
Yes, at that time Yee Weng was scoring his sixth draw in a row. However, he too went down together with the others in the seventh round to Egypt. To be fair, I did observe that Egypt was quite strong as they had given Israel a tough fight in an earlier round. This match really turned out bad for our team.
It would appear that a turning point in the Malaysian team’s fortune was reached after they had lost their third consecutive match to the IPCA. By then, their standings were already so low that they were then paired against Liechtenstein, a European team not known for their chess abilities. It was an uneven match that they won rather handily.
That was as far as the team’s recovery. In the 10th round, a draw with Ecuador and in the final round, Malaysia found themselves paired with Guatemala. These were matches that I had expected our players to win but they did not.
By the way, Armenia are the champions. They successfully defended the title that they won two years ago in Turin, Italy. Second was Israel and third was the United States.
Anyway, this week, I’d like to show you a game played by an Indonesian in Dresden. It’s rather long and complicated but worth taking a look at. The main feature of this game was the Indonesian’s dogged attempts at pushing through an attack on his opponent’s king and the Venezuelan finding one resource after another to keep his game alive.
White: Oliver Soto Paez (Venezuela)
Black: Farid Firmansyah (Indonesia)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 Nbd7 8. g4 h6 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O Bb7 11. h4 b4 12. Na4 Qa5 13. b3 Nc5 14. a3 Rc8 15. Qxb4 Qc7 16. Nxc5 dxc5 17. Qa4+ Nd7 18. Ne2 c4 19. b4 Bc6 20. Qxa6 Ra8 21. Qxc4 Rxa3 22. Bd4 e5 23. Kb2
So far, Black has given up two pawns on the queenside to expose White’s king. However, with White threatening to consolidate the position and push back the rook, what was Black to do? The answer: sacrifice his bishop for the tempo to bring his second rook quickly into play.
23….Bxb4 24. Qxb4 Ra4 25. Qc3 O-O 26. Be3 Qb7+ 27. Kc1 Rc8 28. Ng3 Bd5 29. Qb2 Rb4 30. Qa1 Bb3 31. Rh2 Ra4 32. Qb1 Ra2
Incredibly, both the black bishop and the rook on a2 cannot be touched. In the next few moves, Black successfully forces White to give up his queen for some minor pieces.
33. Nf5 Rc3 34. Rd3 Qb4 35. Rxd7 Qa3+ 36. Kd1 Ra1 37. Qxa1 Qxa1+ 38. Bc1 Rxf3 39. Bd3 Qc3 40. Ne3 Be6 41. Rd8+ Kh7 42. Ke2 Rf4 43. Rg2 Qa1 44. Rg1 h5 45. gxh5 Rxh4 46. Kf2 Qa5 47. Rb8 Rxh5
The dust has settled a bit but White’s king is far from being safe. But slowly, he is unravelling his position. If he can exchange off Black’s active rook, he may actually stand better.
48. Rb5 Qa7 49. Rg2 Qe7 50. Bd2 Qh4+ 51. Ke2 Bh3 52. Be1 Qf6 53. Rf2 Qg6 54. Bc3 f6
I don’t like this move because suddenly, the g7 pawn is exposed.
55. Rb7 Qg3 56. Be1 Qg1 57. Rxf6 Bg4+ 58. Nxg4 Qxg4+ 59. Rf3 Qg2+ 60. Rf2 Qg4+ 61. Kd2 Rh1 62. Rff7 Qg5+ 63. Kd1 Qe3 64. Rf1 Rh2 65. Bc3 Qc5 66. Bb2 Qe3 67. Rxg7+ Kh8 (67…Kxg7 is answered by 68.Bxe5+ and 69…Bxh2 with all the winning chances.) 68. Bc1 Qh3 69. Rgf7 Qg4+ 70. R7f3 Kg7 71. Be3 Rh1 72. Kd2 Rxf1 73. Rxf1 Qg2+ 74. Rf2 Qh3 75. Bc4 Qd7+ 76. Bd5
White is better but he needs to find the right plan. In this game, he didn’t and he gave Black enough space to force a draw.
Qa4 77. Rf5 Qb4+ 78. Ke2 Qb5+ 79. Kf2 Qa4 80. Rf7+ Kg6 81. Rc7 Qb4 82. Rc6+ Kg7 83. Bc4 Qf8+ 84. Ke2 Qd8 85. Rc5 Qd6 86. Rd5 Qb4 87. Kd3 Qa3+ 88. Bb3 Kf6 89. Bd2 Qa6+ 90. Bc4 Qa1 91. Ke2 Qh1 92. Rd6+ Ke7 93. Re6+ Kd7 94. Bd5 Qg2+ 95. Kd1 Qf1+ 96. Be1 Qf3+ 97. Kc1 Qf1 98. Kd2 Qf4+ 99. Ke2 Qg4+ 100. Ke3 Qf4+ 101. Kd3 Qf3+ 102. Kd2 Qf4+ 103. Kd1 Qf3+ 104. Kc1 Qf1 105. Kd2 Qf4+ 106. Kd1 Qf3+ 107. Kc1 Qf1 108. Kd1 Qf3+ 109. Kd2 Qf4+ 110. Kd3 Qf3+ 111. Kd2 Qf4+ 112. Ke2 Qg4+ 113. Kd3 Qf3+ 114. Kd2 Qf4+ (see the diagram for the final position) ½-½