Teen sensation captures the hearts and imagination of players and spectators alike at KL open.
CHINA has a lot of young and talented chess players but few have made an impact like wonder lass Hou Yifan, 16.
Yifan, who started playing chess 10 years ago and is a grandmaster in her own right, stamped her mark on Malaysian chess when she claimed the Kuala Lumpur open chess title on Monday.
She captured the hearts and imagination of both players and spectators alike with a performance rarely matched among women competitors. Though not the top seed in this event, the unassuming and ever obliging No.2 seed was clearly the favourite of many.
Chess prodigy: China’s Hou Yifan, 16, claimed the Kuala Lumpur open chess title.
She reeled off four consecutive wins in her first four games and found herself in a neckand- neck tussle with Vietnamese player Nguyen Anh Dong who had also won the same number of wins. The two of them met in the fifth round and drew their game.
At the sixth round, Yifan and Nguyen were joined briefly at the top of the tournament standings by Thomas Luther, Marat Dzhumaev and Oliver Dimakiling. However, this joint lead proved short-lived as these four rivals drew their games in the seventh round while she won her game.
As a result, the Chinese girl found herself enjoying a sole lead of half a point at this late stage of the tournament. She increased her lead to a full point in the eighth round when her closest rivals faltered again.
By then, it was a foregone conclusion that she was going to win the tournament. Regardless of her result in the ninth and final round, nobody would be able to catch up with her. Still, a loss would certainly be out of the question. She wouldn’t want to spoil an otherwise impressive run with a final-round loss.
Her opponent, Susanto Megaranto, was faced with an even greater dilemma. How was he to approach the game? Should he bring the game to her in the final round and try for a full point (and risk losing a full point, too) or go for a peaceful draw that would suit his opponent better than him?
Yifan was prepared for a fight over the chessboard if the situation warranted but at the end, discretion proved to be the better part of valour and both players quickly agreed to split the point.
Final top standings: GM Hou Yifan 7½ points; GM Nguyen Anh Dung, Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Georgia) 7 points each; GM Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia), GM Thomas Luther (Germany), IM Dhopade Swapnil (India), GM Marat Dzhumaev (Uzbekistan), IM Dzhurabek Khamrakulov (Uzbekistan), IM Ashwin Jayaram (India) 6½ points each.
Leading the field
The best performing Malaysian in the field of 111 players was newly-minted medical doctor Nicholas Chan. Chan, who is a Fide Master, missed out on his second international master norm but only barely. Still, finishing in 16th position was a very creditable effort considering that he hadn’t played at such a level in the last five years due to his studies.
Chan’s next tilt at an IM norm is at the closed Kuala Lumpur Masters tournament now on-going at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, Selangor. Chan and Abdul Haq Mohamad are our two representatives in this 10-play, round-robin event. This third KL open chess tournament was very well run. Playing condition was superb although the lighting in the tournament hall could have been slightly brighter.
Nevertheless, the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association and its technical director Peter Long must be commended for a job well done. It wasn’t easy to coordinate the entries and guests from all parts of the world, but the organisers pulled it off without any observable hitch. I’m looking forward to the fourth edition of the KL Open next year. This event, played at Olympic Sport Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, was sponsored by Masterskill University College of Health Sciences and the Malaysian Intellect Development Foundation.
World chess
Get set for the world chess championship between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov which starts on April 23 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Anand, who turned 40 recently, is the defending champion but he is expected to face great pressure from Topalov who is five years younger. Both are dynamic players with lots of experience at top-level chess.
With the match starting next week, readers can visit the official website at www.anandtopalov.com/ for the latest developments.