Yeoh Li Tian wins Nf6

Yeoh Li Tian has won the Nf6 Invitation Tournament ahead of Kamalariffin on tie-breaks. Both scored 7 points losing one game. This result ahead of many seasoned veterans of the game should put paid to the notion that he did not deserve his sponsorship to China as mentioned by one blogger recently.

Armenia wins 2011 World Team Championship

The 2011   World Team Championship is held in Ningbo, China. Armenia led throughout and won the championship  by holding Ukraine to a 2-2 in the final round.

China is second after beating Hungary 2.5-1.5 with Wang Hao and Li Chao acting as the hero with a nice win over Zoltan Almasi and Judit Polgar respectively. Both games can be replayed below (after the jump).

How to spot liars

Really interesting

What did we learn?

Its always fun when FGM shoots himself in the foot.

Raymond says:
We wanted a written selection criteria and they didn't. And they were saying MCF this and MCF that. But what happened? We got it right?

MCF always had a selection criteria. It was published on their blog long before you brought anything up. You just claimed a worthless "victory"

Raymond says:
Now they are again saying that MCF wont act. MCF this and MCF that.

Did I say that? Putting words into my mouth again. Oh I forgot you think those anonymous guys are me. Poor Raymond. He really believes there is just one guy who hates him , not the whole world.

Raymond says:
Why do you jump to the conclusions that I am trying to drag Marina into my "personal crusade"?

Maybe the fact that you had could not resist to post that part on your blog? You cannot have a chat with an old friend without telling the whole world about it?


Raymond says:
Now that I have reported what I am doing to you, do I have your permission to carry on? 
 
A little analogy. Nobody needs anybody's permission to do whatever when in their own house. The fact is that I never wrote anything like that. I merely posted my opinion that FGM does not have any valid arguments and he brings in re-inforcements instead. Read my original post to see if that is true. But he cannot argue against that so its goal post moving time again..

I'm entitled to my opinion, right Raymond?

Some fallacies exposed

I read with great amusement the latest from FGM . The man just cannot concentrate his thoughts and arguments. No wondor he needs some other people to back him up.

Raymond says:
Why would Jimmy go to such lengths as to conjure up so many anonymous sites with so many different names with the express purpose of attacking FGM?

It will be easier for him to accept that all those anonymous sites are just me alone.  I am so sorry I have to disappoint him. Those are real people behind those sites and they really hate you. 

A very strange man

When I wrote the piece "Organizers have right to refuse entry" , I did not mention K.L. Open, Peter Long nor Raymond Siew. However strange as it may sound, the Mr. Siew has come forward to identify himself as a "trouble-maker". The man has a big ego but this is really taking it too far. Maybe he does not understand, but for his sake, let me just say that "trouble-maker" has negative connotations.

I notice another fallacy which I am sure Chess Ninja will be able to find the correct term. He tries to move the goal-posts. At first it was just his son refused entry (actually I do not know this for a fact) but now he changed it to Peter Long is denying Perak players. The fallacy is to make it appear bigger than it really is. From one person, now it becomes whole of Perak players.

Another trick he uses very often is to force others to take a stand or get involved in his own machinations. We have seen this in junior, junior's parents, even one time he tried to draw in the so called Mamak Gang (I must apologize for using this term. Personally I believe it is not a nice term to use but I got this from FGM blog). Then he tried to get Marina Mahathir involved in his personal crusades. Now it is MCF , FIDE and even Regent of Perak?

One should learn how to fight one's battles and not rely on others to do your dirty work for you. Chinese have a saying and I hope I translate it correctly - "borrow other people's knife to do the killing". I think the meaning need no further clarification.

Malaysian Chess Festival closing dates

Reminder that the Malaysian Chess Festival will be upon us very soon. The closing date(s) for the Chess Festival is as below. Be aware that if you enter late, you may have to pay extra late fees.

8^th IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship
6^th AmBank Malaysia Chess Challenge
2^nd KLK Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng International Seniors Open
01 August 2011

 2^nd Swensen’s Age-Group Rapid Chess Championship
 2^nd Merdeka Individual Rapid Open Chess Championship

31^st ASTRO Merdeka Rapid Open Team Chess Championship
15 August 2011

 

Raja Nazrin Shah International Masters and Open

I am very surprised there is so little news coverage of this major event.

This is scheduled to start 4th September with a Masters (invitation only) and an Open.

The complete list of participants in the Masters -

1. GM Nguyen Anh Dung
2. GM Tahir Vakhidov
3. GM Niaz Murshed
4. GM Dr. Wong Meng Kong
5. IM Oliver Barbosa
6. IM Nguyen Van Huy
7. IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming
8. IM/WGM Tania Sachdev
9. IM Mas Hafizulhelmi
10. IM (Conditional) Jahongir Vakhidov

Great to see our Singaporean friend IM Kevin Goh in the starting list. He will be gunning for his second GM norm! IM Mas Hafizul is the only Malaysian representative in the Masters and he will have another shot at the GM norm.Good luck to both of them!

If you are interested in joining the Open, more details here and here

Organizers have right to refuse entry

Why would a chess organizer refuse anyone entry to their tournament ? The purpose of organizing is to get people to join, right? So there must be good reason for an organizer to deny someone entry. I suppose if that person is a known trouble-maker, that makes as  good a reason as any.

I already wrote on this subject before. Read it here

Chess and Hitler

What does Malaysian Chess Festival and Hitler have in common? Or the forthcoming World Championship title match in Chennai, India? You need to watch the following video to the end to find out.

Plug in your speakers or earphone before playing the video for a better experience. You can also view the video on YouTube if the video here loads too slowly.

2012 World Championship in India!

World Champion Anand is scheduled to defend his title against Israeli GM Boris Gelfand in India next year.

This will be the first time an event of this stature is hosted in India. The match will be played in Chennai, India from April-May 2012.

Press Release


Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has accepted to stage the Anand versus Gelfand World Chess title match either in April or in May of 2012. The budget for the event which is Rs. 20 Crore will be sponsored by the Tamil Nadu Government. This followed a meeting FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister at Chennai this morning.

At a subsequent meet-the-press, held at the Russian Cultural Centre in Chennai on July 13, 2011, J.C.D. Prabhakar, President of the AICF announced the Chennai bid for the world title match which is likely to go through on July 31, 2011.

When this event happens, this will become the biggest chess event ever in India in terms of importance as well as prize money. Two World Championship semi-finals were held at Sanghinagar (near Hyderabad) in February 1995 and the two semi-finals were held in Delhi in December 2000. The finals has never taken place in Indian soil.

Viswanathan Anand is a four-time world champion and would be looking forward to defend and keep his title for a fifth time next summer.

In a Tamil Nadu Government Press Release No.444 dated July 13, 2011, the Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha had sanctioned the amount for this title match which has not been staged in India before.

FIDE Arbiters Seminar in Kuala Lumpur

A FIDE Arbiters Seminar was held in Kuala Lumpur last month. Twenty participants passed the FIDE Arbiters' test  which qualified them for one FIDE Arbiter (FA) norm. See the full name list and pictures at the FIDE site here.

Their goal is to achieve the FIDE Arbiter title which requires passing the exam and to be appointed chief or deputy arbiter in at least three (3) FIDE Rated events .

A game from Hillcrest

[Event "SMK Hillcrest Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.07.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Camilia Johari"]
[Black "Jimmy Liew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D64"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Qc2 e6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Rc1
h6 9. Bh4 Re8 10. cxd5

White avoids the Lasker freeing manouevre after 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nd5 forcing some exchanges of minor pieces.

10... exd5 11. Bd3 

Young Camilia has played the opening moves sensibly and getting ready to complete her development with castling. The position is then equal or maybe with a slight edge for white. I'm not happy with my position and felt I had to do something to unbalance the game.


c5 ?! 12. O-O c4 13. Bf5 a6 14. Bxd7 ?!

White had a slight edge due to the weakness of the black queen-side pawns. But it was nnnecessary to give up the bishop. Maybe white thought she was winning the d5 pawn.

Qxd7 15.Ne5 Qd8 = 16. Qe2

This and the next moves shows Camilia has no idea how to play this position. White should play 16. b3 since black cannot reply with ...b5 since 17. Nc6 exchanges off the bishop.

Be6 17. a4 Rc8 18. b3 ?? cxb3 19. Qb2 Ne4

The engine shows that 19... Qd6 is very strong 20. Qxb3 g5 21. Bg3 Qa3 22. Qxa3 Bxa3 23. Rc2 Bf5 wins material)

Thoughts - What is hypocrisy?

I read a great posting by Najib Wahab on his personal experience at the arbiter's seminar. Quite honest and compelling reading. However when, FGM referenced this and turned it into his personal agenda and start talking about PICA, this is really in bad taste. He goes to the extent of insinuating that some members of PICA fixes tournament pairings. OK, we know he has not finished grinding his axe with PICA and I really doubt it will end.

I had just finished reading Marina Mahathir's moving  article on her personal experience at last Saturday's Bersih 2.0 rally. Along comes Raymond Siew and what does he do? Again turn this into his own self-serving agenda writing a topic which has nothing whatsoever to do with Marina's piece. At the same time , he has the ego to elevate himself to the same status as Marina Mahathir. This is not just bad taste, this is indecent and I just cannot contain myself anymore.

Marina Mahathir is involved in many NGOs and also in women activists movement and write a respected column in The Star, a national newspaper. Comparing yourself to her is like comparing a skyscraper with an ant (btw if you are too dense to understand, she is the skyscraper).

Raymond Siew likes to tell everyone what he does is not about him. I suppose it is for you and me. But why does he keep injecting his own self into everything? Read this  for reference.

This will be spinned into him being attacked again and being  victimised.  But is telling the truth and showing the true nature of someone and unmasking them an attack on them?

SMK Hillcrest Open won by Ian Udani

Just got back from Hillcrest event.

Ian Udani finished in sole first with 5.5 / 6 to take the Open title and first prize of RM400. His only draw was against IM Mas. Mas was an exchange up but could not find a way to utilize his rooks. Nice example of knight against rook ending. The closed nature of the position, the weakness of black's b- and c-pawn combined with the knight able to stand freely on c4 makes this difficult if not impossible to win. Andrew has the game just as the time scramble starts.

Three players tied for 2-4th with five points. In order of tiebreak, IM Mas Hafizul, Cheah Cheok Fun and IM Jimmy Liew.

Maybe some of my games later.

The event drew a record turnout of 480+ competitors for various categories.Congratulations to SMK Hillcrest, Ms Wong Yen Lee and the many student helpers, organizers as well as IM Mok Tze Meng  who all made this happen. He was ably supported by Nik Farouqi, Marcus Yeoh, Haslinda, Gregory and Khairulnissa. (sorry if I missed anyone out). See you all next year :)

Stories beyond the board - Never bring your mobile to a game

We chessplayers all know that a ringing mobile can really mess up our tournament. But what about tennis players? Watch this -



At least you do not get forfeited in tennis :)

Rybka banned for life

The big news in the computer chess world is that the best selling engine, Rybka, has been banned by The International Computer Games Association (ICGA)from previous and future World Computer Chess Championships. The ICGA found that  Rajlich, the creator of Rybka, had plagiarized two other programs ( Crafty and Fruit ). In addition the ICGA is seeking the return of the trophies and prize money won by Rybka in the World Computer Chess Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The accusations have already been floating around chess engine forums for some years. Rajlich had always denied it but apparently the ICGA has gathered enough evidence.