Champ of champs

The Malaysian Masters will determine who our best player is.

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WITH the excitement of the Malaysian Chess Festival and the KL Open behind us, it is time to start looking again at the more down-to-earth chess activities in the country. But what have we here?

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For one, it’s the Malaysian Masters knock-out series. This event has been going on over some weekends already. The objective of this series was to let our top players determine who could rightly claim to be the champion of Malaysian champions..

The annual national closed championships were not enough to measure a winner’s credentials. It is not often that defending champions returning to defend their titles. Some risk being labelled flash-in-the-pan champions due to their unwillingness to take part again.

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We can always fall back on the Fide rating list to see who our current crop of best active players are, but there is nothing like a real hand-to-hand, over-the-board combat among the best to settle the issue, is there?

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The Malaysian Masters was designed to be a way for seven of our national masters and the present national junior champion to fight it out among themselves.

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Actually, the organisers had called upon the top four players from the July 2009 Fide rating list, and added the top two players from this year’s national closed championship, the winner of the national junior championship and one player nominated by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF).

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But when Wong Zijing – one of Malaysia’s top four on the Fide list – was unable to confirm his participation, his place went to the fifth person on the Fide list, Mok Tze Meng. Peter Long was the MCF’s top choice but as he too couldn’t play, Ooi Chern Ee filled the last available slot.

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So far, I have written about two of the four preliminary matches, Mas Hafizulhelmi (Malaysian No.1 in the September 2009 Fide rating list) beating Muhammad Tariq Amru (national junior champion) with a 3-0 score, and Mok triumphing over Ooi by the same margin.

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The week before the Malaysian Chess Festival took off, Nicholas Chan (Malaysian No.3 in Fide’s September list) won the match against Evan Timothy Capel (national champion) by 3-0.

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Of course, the players’ experience and rating strengths would be significant in any contest. Chan has had many opportunities to play at international levels whereas Capel’s experience was virtually none. Also, their rating difference was a world apart and a gulf of almost 400 points separated them.
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Chan vs Capel: Game 1
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O Ne4 10. Bf4 Nxc3 11. bxc3 h6? 12. Ne5 Nd7 13. Bxh6 Nxe5 14. dxe5 f5 15. Bf4 g5 16. Bg3 Bc8 17. f4 g4 18. Qb3 Be6 19. e4 Qd7 20. Rad1 dxe4 21. Bc4 Bc5+ 22. Kh1 Bxc4 b Qxc4+ Qf7 24.e6 Qf6 25. Rd7 Rae8 26. e7+ Rf7 27. Rxc7 Rexe7 28. Rc8+ Kg7 29. Rd1 Qe6 30. Qa6 Rd7 31. Re1 Rf8 32. Rxc5 Rd2 33. Rc7+ Kg6 34. Qxa7 Rh8 35. Rg7+ Kf6 36. Rb7 Rxa2 37. Qxb6 Qxb6 38. Rxb6+ Kf7 39. c4 Rd8 40. Rf6+ Kxf6 41. Bh4+ Ke6 42. Bxd8 Rc2 43. Kg1 Rxc4 44. Bb6 Kd5 45. Kf2 Rc3 46. Be3 Ra3 47. Rd1+ Ke6 48. Bc5 Rc3 49. Rd6+ Kf7 50. Rf6+ Kg7 51. Rxf5 Rb3 52. Bd4+ Kh6 53. Re5 Ra3 54. Re8 (1-0)
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Game 2
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 c5 4. c3 h6 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. Nbd2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nc6 8. e3 Qd8 9. Bd3 Be7 10. 0-0 0-0 11. a3 d6 12. b4 Bd7 13. Rc1 a6 14. Qb3 a5 15. d5 Ne5 16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. Nf3 axb4 18. axb4 Ba4 19. Qc3 Qxd5 20. Bc4 Qd6 21. Qxe5 Qxe5 22. Nxe5 Bxb4 23. Nd3 Bd6 24. Rb1 Rfc8 25. Bb5 Bc2 26. Rb2 Ba3 27. Ra2 Bb3 28. Raa1 Ra5 29. Nf4 e5 30. Nh5 Rc5 31. Bd7 (see diagram) Bc4 32. Rfb1 b5 33. Ng3 Rc7 34. Bf5 b4 35. Bc2 Be6 36. Bd1 Kf8 37. e4 Rac5 38. Ne2 Rd7 39. Bb3 Bxb3 40. Rxb3 Rd2 41. Kf1 Rcc2 42. Re3 g6 43. f3 Kg7 44. Ke1 h5 45. Rd1 Rxd1+ 46. Kxd1 Rb2 47. Rd3 b3 48. Rd5 Bb4 49. Ng3 Rb1+ 50. Ke2 b2 51. Kf2 (0-1)
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Game 3
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. d4 Be7 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 Re8 9. Qc2 h6 10. Bh4 c6 11. O-O Ne4 12. Bxe4 Bxh4 13. Bh7+ Kh8 14. Bf5 Bf6 15. b4 Nf8 16. Bd3 Ne6 17. Rab1 Qd6 18. Rfc1 b6 19. b5 Bb7 20. bxc6 Bxc6 21. Nb5 Bxb5 22. Bxb5 Rec8 23. Qa4 Rc7 24. Ba6 Ng5 25. Ne1 Ne4 26. Rxc7 Qxc7 27. Qa3 Be7 28. Qb2 Bd6 29. g3 Rd8 30. Rc1 Qe7 31. Rc2 Rd7 32. Qb3 Nf6 33. Rc8+ Kh7 34. Qc2+ g6 35. Nd3 Rc7 36. Rxc7 Qxc7 37. Qxc7 Bxc7 38. Nb4 Bd6 39. Nc6 Ne4 40. Nxa7 Nc3 41. Nb5 Nxb5 42. Bxb5 Kg7 43. Bc6 f6 44. Bxd5 Kf8 45. Be4 Kf7 46. Kf1 Bb4 47. Ke2 g5 48. f4 Ke6 49. fxg5 hxg5 50. h4 gxh4 51. gxh4 Bf8 52. h5 Bh6 53. Kd3 Kd6 54. Bf5 Bg5 55. a4 Bh6 56. e4 Bf4 57. Kc4 Be3 58. Kb5 Kc7 59. d5 Bf4 60. Ka6 Be3 61. Bg6 Bf4 62. Bf5 Be3 63. Kb5 Bf4 64. Kc4 Kd6 65. Kd3 Ke5 66. Ke2 Bc1 67. Kf3 Bd2 68. Bd7 Kd6 69. Bf5 Bh6 70. Kg4 Ke5 71. Bg6 Bf8 72. Bh7 Bh6 73. d6 and White soon won the game (1-0)

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Up next
The Johor Chess Association is organising this event, to be held on Oct 3 and 4, at Kolej Tun Hussein Onn, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor. The results of this eight-round tournament will be used as the basis for selection of players to represent Johor at the Sarawak team championship in December and possibly next year’s national closed championship.

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Entries are limited to the first 60 players who sign up. Open to non-Johoreans too. To register, contact Leong Mun Wan (016-7419960 / leongmunwan@yahoo.com). -The Star