| Open | ||||||
| 85 | Malaysia (MAS) | Rtg | 1-3 | 47 | Switzerland(SUI) | Rtg |
| IM | Mas Hafizulhelmi | 2422 | 0.5-0.5 | GM | Pelletier Yannick | 2592 |
| IM | Mok Tze-Meng | 2416 | 0-1 | GM | Gallagher Joseph G | 2517 |
| Tan Khai Boon | 2160 | 0-1 | IM | Kurmann Oliver | 2452 | |
| FM | Long Peter | 2302 | 0.5-0.5 | IM | Buss Ralph | 2433 |
| Women | ||||||
| 72 | Malaysia (MAS) | Rtg | 1-3 | 83 | Sri Lanka(SRI) | Rtg |
| WCM | Bakri Alia Anin Azwa | 1904 | 1-0 | Muhandiram R M M U | 1744 | |
| Nur Nabila Azman Hisham | 1829 | 0-1 | Basnayake I U | 1746 | ||
| Wahiduddin Nurul Huda | 2020 | 0-1 | Premanath Dinushki | 1853 | ||
| Fong Mi Yen | 1905 | 0-1 | Ranasinghe S D | 1822 | ||
In Turin 2008, we managed to beat Switzerland 2.5-1.5 albeit that team was much stronger. Today our second and third boards had no chance.
There is nothing much to say about Khai Boon. He was the sacrificial lamb from the start when he was moved up to the third board. The strategy is to allow Peter Long to collect some points on fourth board. This kind of works except that Khai Boon will be hard pressed to contribute much. If any of the other three boards lost, there will be almost zero chance of winning the match.
Mok continues to depend on his Modern but this is a handicap he imposed on himself from the first move. He had a difficult position and overlooked a simple tactic losing an exchange.
Peter did well to hold the draw with the black pieces in a Benko Gambit.
Mas almost pulled off another trade-mark Mas Hafizul game against GM Yannick. From an equal position he has won a pawn and now reached the following position.
Instead he could have forced a won rook ending with 55 Nd5+ Bxd5 (Forced 55...Kd7 56. Rh7 Ke8 57.Nc7+ wins the rook) 56 exd5 gxf5 57. d6+ (This is the move that one has to see when going for this variation. The pawn cannot be captured) Kd7 58. Rh7+ Kc8 (58.. Kc6 59 Rc7+ Kb6 60. Rc8 Ra7 (otherwise d7 and the pawn queens) 61. Ke6 and the pawn cannot be stopped) 59. Ke6 f4 60. Rf7 Rb6 61 Rf8+ Kb7 62 Ke7 Kc6 63 d7 Rb7 64. Rf6+ Kd5 65 Rxf4 with an easy win.
The women's team had a disastrous result against an unfancied Sri Lankan team. Something went very wrong. But what is a question for the players and captain themselves to figure out.
2 comments:
I've been following Mas's games with interest. So far he's played 3 GMs and has gained 14.4 elo points!! He's in line for a GM norm. Yes, he's play seems very interesting too - like a crouching tiger, waiting for an opportunity.
Collin Madhavan
Everyone has a bad tournament, even World champions. Khai Boon is no exception. He emerged this year's national champion one full point ahead of some strong opposition like Edward Lee, Kamalarifin Wahiduddin, Yeoh Li Tian, Mohd Saprin, Nik Ahmad Farouqi, Lim Zhuo Ren , Yusof Kamaluddin,Che Hassan Abdullah, Muhd Tariq, Sumant etc,etc. I don't think that is luck.
Anyway I hope for the team's sake, he finds his form double quick.
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