It's All In The Planning!

INDIA, together with China, the Philippines and Vietnam, are considered among the great chess-playing countries in Asia, if not the world. I say this because these countries continue to produce some of the most exciting names in world chess.

For example, isn’t India’s Viswanathan Anand the world chess champion today? Wasn’t China’s Xie Jun the first Asian to become the women’s world champion? And isn’t Le Quang Liem the first Vietnamese player to break into that elite group of players with a rarified 2700+ chess rating?

In fact, there are so many other talents that have emerged from these four countries.

Wesley So from the Philippines is currently that country’s top ranked player and he is only 17; Hou Yifan from China is currently the women’s world chess champion and she is also 17; Parimarjan Negi, 18, is considered to be a chess prodigy from India. I should also add that Le Quang Liem is 20.

All very talented junior players. When we consider the likes of Norway’s Magnus Carlsen who is approaching his 21st birthday, Italian-American Fabiano Caruana who is 19 and currently the top junior player in the world, and 17-year-old Nepalese-Russian (but now Dutch) Anish Giri, we find that the world is practically littered with junior players who continue to shake up the older chess masters in today’s chess world.

Young champ: Fabiano Caruana, 19, is the current top junior chess player in the world.

Recently, the Delhi Chess Association and the Airport Authority of India joined hands to organise the AAI international grandmasters chess tournament in New Delhi, India, and they invited four of these young chess talents to participate.

Joining Caruana, So, Negi and Hou in this double round-robin tournament were two other players. One was the Czech Republic’s Viktor Laznicka, who at 23 wasn’t that much older than the four, and India’s second-best player Krishnan Sasikiran, who at 30 found himself the oldest player in the tourmanent.

The event was a romp for Caruana who justified his top seeding. He led after the third round and never allowed any of his rivals to get near enough to him. By the end of the eighth round, he was the only unbeaten player and he enjoyed a 1½-point advantage over his closest rival, Sasikiran.

But disaster struck for Caruana in the ninth round. According to him, he had blundered in a position which would have led to a draw. As a result, Sasikiran crept to narrow the gap on him to only a single point. However, Caruana’s first place in this tournament was never in any real danger as a draw in the 10th round was enough to seal his top prize.

Sasikiran came second in the tournament, followed by Laznicka in third place. And what of the other three teenagers in this event? Well, by their own admission, they could have played better but actually, they finished according to expectations. So and Negi were expected to finish in fourth and fifth positions respectively, which they did.

Hou was the weakest player in the field and finished last. In fact, if not for a much steadier performance in the second half of the tournament, she would have ended up with even fewer points. The first half of the tournament was a disaster as she lost her first four games.

On the basis of her play in this tournament, I think she is going to have her hands full later this year when she defends her women’s world championship title against the official challenger, Koneru Humpy. It will be back to the training board for her as her coaches try to build up her game before the big match.

This week, I’m featuring a critical game between the tournament winner and the current chess champion of India. I’m referring, of course, to Negi who had won the Indian national championship in December last year. In this marathon game which went to 98 moves, Caruana sacrificed his queen and in return, got back three pieces as compensation. At first, Caruana’s advantage was slight but his pieces coordinated better and he gradually built up to a winning position. However, he still had to tread carefully to prevent Negi’s queen from continually checking him as he pushed his pawn towards queening. Eventually, though, both players managed to convert their pawns into new queens but where Caruana was concerned, his position was already winning.

Fabiano Caruana – Parimarjan Negi, Round 6

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Qf2 b4 12. Nce2 Nc4 13. Ng3 Qc7 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Kb1 g6 16. h4 e5 17. Nb3 Be6 18. h5 g5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Rc8 21. Rd3 Be7 22. a3 d5 23. exd5 Nxd5 24. Rhd1 Nf6 25. axb4 Qxb4 26. Bd2 Qb8 27. Bc3 O-O 28. Qe3 Rfe8 29. Bxe5 b5 30. f4 Qc4 31. Qd2 Ne4 32. Qg2 Qc6 33. Rd5 Nf6 34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Qxg5+ Kh7 36. Bxf6 Qxc2+ 37. Ka2 Rg8 38. Qxg8+ Rxg8 39. Bxe7 Rg3 40. Na5 Rg2 41. Ba3 Rf2 42. Nb3 Rf3 43. Nc5 Qc4+ 44. Kb1 Rf1 45. Rd4 Qe2 46. Rxf1 Qxf1+ 47. Ka2 Qxf5 48. Rd6 Qf1 49. Nxa6 f5 50. Nb4 Qc4+ 51. b3 Qe2+ 52. Bb2 Qxh5 53. Nd5 Qf3 54. Rd7+ Kg6 55. Ne7+ Kh6 56. Rd6+ Kh7 57. Rd8 Kh6 58. Rd6+ Kh7 59. Rd4 Kh6 60. Nd5 Qe2 61. b4 Kg5 62. Kb3 Qf1 63. Nf4 Qa6 64. Bc1 Kf6 65. Bd2 Qf1 66. Rd5 Qb1+ 67. Kc4 Qa2+ 68. Kb5 Qa8 69. Bc3+ Kg5 70. Be5 Qa7 71. Ne6+ Kg4 72. Rd4+ Kf3 73. Nc5 Ke3 74. Kc6 Qf7 75. Rd3+ Ke2 76. Rd5 Qe8+ 77. Kb6 Qf7 78. Rd6 Kf3 79. b5 Qe8 80. Re6 Qc8 81. Bc7 Qa8 82. Rd6 Ke2 83. Ne6 Qe4 84. Nd4+ Kf2 85. Nc6 Qc2 86. Kb7 Qb3 87. b6 f4 88. Kc8 Qh3+ 89. Rd7 f3 90. b7 Kg2 91. b8=Q f2 92. Qb2 Kh1 93. Ne5 f1=Q 94. Kb8 Qh8+ 95. Rd8 Qhf6 96. Qb7+ Kg1 97. Rg8+ Kh2 98. Ng4+ 1-0

Medias King’s tournament earns a spot in chess world.

I STILL stand by my opinion that the Medias King’s tournament that ended in Romania last week wasn’t by far the most exciting chess event that I had been following recently, despite the presence of some heavyweights in Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk.

But for a different reason, this tournament has earned its special position in today’s busy chess world.

Carlsen, by finishing this event, tied for first place with Russia’s Sergey Karyakin, regaining his position at the top of the unofficial chess live rating list, jumping over Viswanathan Anand. Anand, who is the world chess champion, had occupied the top live rating spot since last October.

The game played between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.

The Norwegian grandmaster’s live rating now stands at 2820.8 points, which is 3.8 points more than Viswanathan’s current live rating of 2817. Before this Medias King’s event, Viswanathan had held a two-point cushion ahead of Carlsen.

Karyakin’s fantastic performance in this tournament also ensured that he would improve his live rating position as well.

In fact, Karyakin’s live rating increased by an impressive 12 points to 2788 points and this raised him from fifth to fourth position on the list, right behind Armenia’s Levon Aronian. This is an all-time high for the 21-year-old player who was once the youngest grandmaster in the world.

Last week, I offered you a game between Ivanchuk and Karyakin, a game where Karyakin’s irresistible attack tore through Ivanchuk’s defence. Today, there is another game from the Medias King’s tournament and this time, it is a game between Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura who is the top-ranked grandmaster in the United States.

Nakamura is an American citizen; his mother is American but his father is Japanese. He was born in Japan but at the age of two, the whole family moved to the United States. By the way, Nakamura’s number six on the live rating list.

So here is a game between Carlsen, 20, and Nakamura, 23, from the very first round of the Medias King’s tournament:

Magnus Carlsen – Hikaru Nakamura

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Bg4 (At first, this move looked a little strange to me as the bishop lands on a square where it doesn’t even threaten a non-existent knight on f3. Then as the game continued, it struck me that all along Black wanted to move his piece to g6.) 7. e3 Bh5 8. Bd3 Bg6 9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. O-O-O (With this move, White gives up the idea of a minority pawn attack on the queenside. Instead, with the black kingside pawns a little awkwardly positioned, White looks to attacking in that direction should Black chooses to castle kingside.)

10… Nf6 11. f3 Nbd7 12. Nge2 b5 (White gets ready to push with h2-h4-h5 on the kingside, but Black starts the fun first by committing to his own queenside pawn roll.) 13. e4 (However, White’s decision to seize the centre puts Black’s strategy immediately into some doubt.)

13… b4 14. Na4 dxe4 15. fxe4 Qa5 16. Kb1 O-O 17. h4 (Here it comes. After due preparation to safeguard his king, White commences with his own initiative against the black king. Question is, whose attack will prevail first: White or Black?)

17…Rfe8 18. e5 Nd5 19. h5 g5 (Of course, Black does not wish to open up the h-file for White.) 20. h6 g6 21. Bc1 N7b6 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. dxc5 b3 24. Qxb3 Qxc5 (Black seems to have an attack going as well but he will always have to keep the white pawn on h6 under observation. It can turn dangerous any time.) 25. Nd4 (Temporarily sacrificing a pawn in order to place his knight on a better square.) 25…Rxe5 26. Nf3 Re2 27. Nxg5

(See diagram. Black looks active but I think it is only illusory. White is better. The h6 pawn will be the key to winning the game. Now, 27…Rxg2 is answered with 28. Nxf7) 27…Qe7 28. Qd3 Rf8 29. Rdf1 (This threatens 30…Rxf7 next.) 29… f5 30. g4 Na4 31. Qd4 Qe5 32. Qxe5 (White mustn’t be too greedy with 32.Qxa4 as the table will turn with 32…Nc3+) 32…Rxe5 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Nf3 Re7 35.Rfg1+ Kh7 (If 35…Kh8, then 36.Nh4 will win material. Or White can also play 36.Rg7) 36. Rg7+ Kh8 37. Rhg1 Rfe8 38. Nh4 Rxg7 (And here, Black gives up. After 39.Rxg7, Black will have to meet the threat of 40.Ng6+ next.) 1-0

FOR most of the past week, I’ve been trying to follow the Medias Kings tournament that was going on in Romania. The first time I heard about this tournament, I thought it would be an interesting event, seeing how the organisers had invited some of the top players in the world to compete.

Leading the pack of six players in this double round-robin event was the Norwegian grandmaster, Magnus Carlsen, who is currently the second highest rated player. Then there was Russia’s Sergey Karyakin who was once the youngest grandmaster in the world, and still an immensely talented player.

Also in the field were Vasily Ivanchuk, the Ukrainian grandmaster who has climbed back to being No.5 in the world, top American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who had won the strong Wijk aan Zee tournament earlier this year, and Azerbaijan grandmaster Teimour Radjabov, who had recently competed in the Candidates elimination tournament.

Of course, this event being held in Romania meant that there would also be a place for a Romanian in the tournament, and it fell to Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu to complete the sextet of players. Nisipeanu isn’t very well-known but he is not unknown either. In 1999, he made it to the semi-finals of the FIDE world chess championship, and six years ago, he won the European individual chess championship.

But former successes count for nothing in this Medias Kings tournament, as Nisipeanu, the lowest rated player in the field of six, found himself outclassed by most of his rivals. Most of his rivals, that is, except one. If not for Ivanchuk’s form, Nisipeanu could have found this tournament an embarrassment. Ivanchuk was so listless that I got the impression that his mind was elsewhere and that he was in Romania only to fulfil an obligation to compete.

However, the Ukrainian grandmaster was not the only disappointment of the tournament. Broadly, I found the whole event rather below my expectations and uninspiring. Still, there were some redeeming moments, such as in this game below, which was played in the fifth round.

Vasily Ivanchuk – Sergey Karyakin

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 (In case you are wondering what the players are up to, they are playing an ultra slow variation of the Guioco Piano. In my opinion, a not very inspiring choice except that soon, I was surprised by the exciting direction that the game was going to turn.) 7…Ne7 8.Re1 Ng6 (Even Black has the luxury to waste two moves in relocating his knight to a presumably better square on g6.)

9.Nbd2 c6 10.Nf1 d5 (By allowing this centre pawn thrust, White indirectly admits that Black has already equalized.) 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Ng3 (White cannot win the e5-pawn by 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Rxe5 because of 13…Bxf2+ and the bishop cannot be captured due to the queen check on f6.) 12…h6 13.Bb3 Re8 14.Bd2 (I really don’t know. Until here, White’s game looked passive to me. Wouldn’t 14.d5 be a better choice?) 14…Bb6 15.Qc2 Be6 16.Rad1 (White continues to play mechanically but with this move, he totally cuts off his queen from the main playground which is the kingside. But then, 16.Nxe5 is still not possible because of 16…Nxe5 17.Rxe5 Bxf2+, etc) 16…Bxh3! (See Diagram 1)

(Black does not miss the opportunity. After this sacrifice, White is in deep trouble. Capturing the bishop loses, for example, 17.gxh3 Qf6 18.Kg2 Nh4+ 19.Nxh4 Qxf2+ 20.Kh1 Qxg3 and threatens checkmate next with …Qxh3.) 17. c4 Ndf4 18.c5 Nxg2 19.cxb6 Qf6 20.Nh2 Nxe1 21.Rxe1 axb6 (Only a miracle can save White now. Despite the recent pieces exchanges, Black hasn’t let up on his attack on the white king. The position is close to winning.)

22.Bc3 Be6 23.Re3 Nf4 24.Rf3 Qh4 25.Bd2 Bg4 26.Qc4 Be6 (With this move, Black exchanges off the bishop and removes possible counter-threats against his f7-square.) 27.Qc2 Bxb3 28.Qxb3 Re6 29.a3 (White cannot afford to allow the black rook to capture the a2 pawn which would then expose his king to a back rank mating attack.) 29…Rae8 30.Qb4 (White tries to keep control of the e1 square but it is useless. Note that 30.Qxb6 loses to 30…Qh3 31.Bxf4 exf4 32.Rxf4 Re1+ 33.Nhf1 Rxf1+ 34.Nxf1 Re1) 30…Rf6 31.Qe4 Ree6 32.Ne2 (See Diagram 2)

(With his next move, Black signals his readiness to simplify into a winning endgame.) 32…Nxe2+ 33.Qxe2 Rxf3 34.Qxf3 Rg6+ 35.Kh1 Rf6 36.Qg3 Qxg3 37.fxg3 Rd6 (Faced with the prospect of losing a fourth pawn to Black, White decided to give up the game.) 0–1

Chess players will be spoilt for choice come August and September.

MANY chess players will be heaving a sigh of relief when they read this, and I mean a really big sigh. I know, because that was what I did upon learning last week that there will be a new edition of the Malaysian Chess Festival this year.

Yes, the country’s premier chess festival will continue for at least one more year. And what it means in practical terms for chess aficionados in this region is that the frenzy of almost non-stop chess activities this year will stretch from Aug 17 to Sept 10, save for a short holiday respite as the country celebrates National Day and Aidil Fitri.

At the conclusion of last year’s Festival, there were real fears that we could have seen the last of the event in its present format.

Datuk Tan Chin Nam, doyen of the Malaysian chess scene, had been hinting rather loudly throughout last year’s festival that he was going to take a sabbatical from sponsoring future major chess tournaments in the country.

He said his continued presence was casting a long shadow on the development of Malaysian chess. As long as he was putting up the money to sponsor chess events here, he feared that other sponsors would be reluctant to step into the picture.

Sponsors needed

Malaysian chess, he told me, could not depend on his largesse forever. We need other sponsors to rejuvenate the game. If he were to move out of the picture, he believed new sponsors could be found.

True enough, when 2011 came around, chess organisers found that Tan had stuck to his promise not to fork out more money for chess. The hardest hit was, of course, the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur, the chess centre that bore his late son’s very name. It is to this chess centre’s credit that it has managed to reinvent itself and survive.

Nevertheless, there would remain a big question mark over the future of the Malaysian Chess Festival, of which the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open tournament was the flagship event. It was the event that attracted foreign chess masters to Kuala Lumpur; it was the event that was synonymous with the reputation of the Malaysian Chess Festival.

But in the event that there really were little funds to run a full-scale Malaysian Chess Festival, what would happen?

The worst case scenario was that the Malaysian open and other supporting events could be scrapped and the organisers would revert to organising only the Merdeka chess events. If that were to happen, it would be a letdown for Malaysian chess and a huge blow to the foreign and local chess players who support the Festival every year.

Therefore, scrapping the Malaysian open was not going to be a popular option. By hook or by crook, the Festival would have to go on and the organisers knew that.

And finally, after many months of suspense and hard work to convince sponsors to continue backing the Festival, the Year 2011 Edition is announced.

So what can we expect this year? First of all, I am looking forward to the eighth edition of the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open. As it still retains the name of Datuk Arthur Tan in the title, I can only presume that there is continuing sponsorship from IGB Corporation Bhd.

Then there are also the Malaysia Chess Challenge and the second Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng seniors open tournament which is sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.

Apart from these three Fide-rated main events which will be played from Aug 17-25, there are four other tournaments that are now considered part and parcel of the Malaysian Chess Festival: the Swensen age group rapid chess open tournament (to be held on Aug 21); the Malaysian Chess Festival blitz open tournament (Aug 25); the Merdeka individual rapid open (Aug 26); and the 31st Astro Merdeka rapid chess team open championship (Aug 28-29).

All these events will be played at the ballroom of the Cititel Mid Valley Hotel.

I mentioned earlier that the chess activities will stretch until Sept 10. This is because we mustn’t forget the fourth Kuala Lumpur open tournament. This event, now officially known as the Raja Nazrin Shah Masters & International Open Chess Championship, will kick off on Sept 4 at the Swiss Garden Hotel and Residences in Kuala Lumpur.

This championship is under the purview of the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association and technically distinct from the Malaysian Chess Festival. There are two separate tournaments here. The first is a Masters event which is a 10-player round robin invitational grandmaster tournament that provides the invited hopefuls with the chance of attaining a grandmaster title norm. And the second is an open tournament that is something very similar to the Malaysia open tournament, that is, with title norm aspirations for the participants, too.

The overwhelming response at this year’s MSSM chess tournament augurs well for the future of chess.

IT’S not often that I get to attend an MSSM chess tournament, so the fact that it was being held in Penang this year meant that, by hook or by crook, I had to go and see this competition of the best of the nation’s schoolboys and girls.

I was surprised when I arrived at the beach hotel in Tanjung Bunga, where the event was taking place. The hotel was practically overrun by youthful chess players. On the sixth floor where the competition was being played, the crowd had spilled out of the tournament hall into the foyer.

Players, teachers, coaches and parents – they were sprawled all over the floor. It was noisy as the chess players, those who had finished their games and were required to leave the hall, were either talking chess or in the midst of playing still more chess.

Pitting skills: The recent MSSM event, held at a beach hotel in Tanjung Bunga, Penang, drew a total of 540 participants.

In a corner of the foyer, the organisers had thoughtfully set up a closed circuit television to beam one or two games from the tournament hall. People were standing around and glancing at the screen every now and then.

I looked around the foyer and picked my way towards the door of the tournament hall. I knew that once inside, I would be able to find some peace and quiet, watch a few of the games and perhaps even catch up with some familiar faces.

As this MSSM was held in Penang, it was not surprising to see several committee members of the Penang Chess Association helping in the running of the event. But I was surprised to see the Malaysian Chess Federation’s secretary, Gregory Lau. It was certainly a good gesture from him to lend MCF’s presence to this national event.

Lau grabbed hold of me and started introducing me around as one of the pioneers of the MSSM chess movement. “You know,” he was saying, “this chap was actually playing in the very first MSSM tournament here in Penang in 1972.”

I could see people’s eyes lighting up. Boy, was I uncomfortable. The very first MSSM at the Dewan Sri Pinang was 40 years ago. That really showed up my age, doesn’t it? Luckily, the moment quickly passed.

But I’d like to make a quick observation. Way back then, there were only eight state teams participating in the inaugural MSSM chess competition. The number of chess players involved? A grand total of 32. Boy, were we lost in the vast expanse of the auditorium!

Last week, however, there were no less than 540 participants divided into three age groups and separated into events for teams and individuals, and boys and girls.

In fact, there wasn’t enough space to seat all of the players together in the tournament hall – and they were sitting elbow to elbow – which meant that the organisers were forced to adopt a novel solution which reduced the number of rounds from seven to six, and resting each age group once during the tournament.

For the record, here is the list of winners of this year’s MSSM chess competition:

Individual section:

> Boy’s under-18 champion: Muhd Nabil Azman Hisham (Selangor);

> Girl’s under-18 champion: Alia Anin Azwa Bakri (Malacca);

> Boy’s under-15 champion: Elgin Lee Kah Meng (Penang);

> Girl’s under-15 champion: Nur Nabila Azman Hisham (Selangor);

> Boy’s under-12 champion: Muhammad Sirajuddin Munawar (Kedah);

> Girl’s under-12 champion: Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar (Selangor)

Team section:

> Boy’s under-18 champion: Penang;

> Girl’s under-18 champion: Wilayah Persekutuan;

> Boy’s under-15 champion: Wilayah Persekutuan;

> Girl’s under-15 champion: Wilayah Persekutuan;

> Boy’s under-12 champion: Wilayah Persekutuan;

> Girl’s under-12 champion: Penang

Boris Gelfand has qualified as the official challenger in the current world chess championship series.

BORIS Gelfand, the 42-year-old former Soviet chess grandmaster who emigrated to Israel in 1998, has earned the right to be the official challenger in the current world chess championship series.

Gelfand qualified from the recently concluded Candidates tournament in Kazan, capital of Russia’s Tatarstan Republic, and he will play against defending world champion Viswanathan Anand of India in a world title match next year.

In a tense final of the Candidates tournament, he defeated Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk in a six-game match. The first five games of the final had been drawn with neither player able to strike a decisive blow.

Before the start of the sixth and final game, many had wondered whether it would again end in a draw, as had many other games in the tournament, thereby plunging the tournament into yet another play-off to break the tie.

Face-off: Former Soviet grandmaster Boris Gelfand will take on defending champion Viswanathan Anand in the world championship next year.

But this time, Gelfand managed to gain the upper hand after Grischuk mismanaged his position, and the Israeli grandmaster held on to his advantage to win the game and match.

This was a heartbreaking result for Grischuk, for he had progressed through the Candidates tournament by eliminating more favoured contestants like Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.

However, he has no reason to complain because in the first place he was able to take part in the Candidates tournament after Norway’s leading grandmaster, the 20-year-old Magnus Carlsen, pulled out.

So as a replacement player, being able to go this far in the final was more than he had bargained for.

On the other hand, Gelfand had qualified for the Candidates tournament from the Chess World Cup in 2009, which he won. Like his opponent, Gelfand’s progress through the Candidates tournament had been a revelation. He eliminated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Gata Kamsky in the quarter-final and semi-final, respectively.

The only question that remains at this stage is how Gelfand will stand up against Anand in the world championship match. But that too would also be the same question asked even if Grischuk had qualified instead of Gelfand.

Chess observers and promoters would have been happiest if higher profile players like Carlsen, Kramnik, Aronian or Topalov were the official challenger instead of second-line grandmasters such as Gelfand or Grischuk.

As it turned out, people will have to sit up and take note of Gelfand. To many people, he has always been a lower profile player living in the shadows of more well-known chess grandmasters.

But there is no doubt that he is an excellent top chess player who has shown an ability to survive the process of elimination and qualification in a gruelling event that had lasted some three weeks. Surely, that counts for something.