Insofar September 2012

The next Insofar tournament is happening this Sunday 30th September. The venue will again be the DATCC in Wilayah Kompleks. Entries are limited to 64 participants so to book your place contact Raja Aiza at 0123415030. For more information, go to Insofar web site.

The prizes offered:-

MAIN PRIZE

1^st – RM250 + RM250 Voucher (50 x 5) =RM500 

2^nd – RM150 + RM150 Voucher (50 x 3) =RM300 (including voucher)

3^rd – RM100 + RM100 Voucher (50 x 2) =RM200

4^th – RM80 + RM100 Voucher(50x2) =RM180

5^th – RM70 + RM100 Voucher(50x2) =RM170

6^th – RM60 + RM100 Voucher(50x2) =RM160

7^th – RM150 Voucher (50 x 3) =RM150

8^th – RM150 Voucher (50 x 3) =RM150

9^th – RM150 Voucher (50x3) =RM150

10^th – RM150 Voucher (50x3) =RM150

Christmas Day for me

I've been asked to deny certain accusations, which I have denied many many times which anyone reading my blog will know. And asked to say where he lied. I think Christmas is coming early for me.

A Blind Fool

I know that most readers are not interested in reading this kind of post which I am starting on. I have been maligned, libelled and denigrated almost on daily basis by he-who-I-shall-not name. Words and acts I have not made have been attributed to me by that deceiving lout. Therefore, I beg your indulgence to allow me to defend myself once in a while.
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It never ceases to amaze me how someone can have so much hatred in him that without any supporting facts he can come up with such venomous conclusions. Is it because without this hate in your heart, you have no reason to get up from bed in the morning?

How can you give commentary on chess when you do not know a knight fork from a pawn move? Can a blind man give commentary on an archery contest? Is this a clue? Are things clearer now? Is this me making fun of  you? Do you see now how silly you sound when you write using just questions? (Maybe this is a good time to review what I wrote back in 2011)

K.L. Open begins

The old K.L. Open has being renamed to DYMM Dr. Raja Nazrin Shah International Open Championship 201. The tournament begins today with 82 players with 10 GMs, 1 WGM, 9 IMs, 3 FMs and 1 WFM taking part.

This year , Peter managed to attract the top GM Sergei Tiviakov. Other grandmasters include Filipinos Mark Paragua and Oliver Barbosa, fresh from the olympiad in Istanbul. The Philippines had one of their best outings in recent years finishing 21st.

Malaysians taking part include Ronnie Lim who will be trying for his second norm. It is also good to see our olympiad member, Lim Zhuo Ren taking part. Zhuo Ren was supposed to return to England after the olympiad, but few of us advised him to stay back for this tournament. It is not that often once has the chance to be able to meet so many title holders in a tournament. If he can make a IM norm here he will have completed the required number of 22 games (13 from olympiad and 9 from this tournament). Make us proud again , Zhuo Ren!

Good luck too to Tan Li Ting and Najiha, our Women's representatives at Istanbul , Elgin Lee and Dilwen Ding, our representatives at Under-16 Olympiad in Istanbul.

Captain's report

Now that the Olympiad is over, I can tell the story as a member and captain of the team. Is it not better to hear everything from someone from the inside and has all the facts?


Board order

Some trouble-maker claimed the board order was arranged for my benefit and tried to "prove" it with outlandish claims and contrived "circumstantial evidence". Nothing is further from the truth. From the start Yee Weng asked for the possibility that he be given the chance to try for the GM norm. By ratings, the board order should be IM Mok, IM Jimmy, IM Yee Weng. Therefore we (Mok, Gregory and myself)  moved Yee Weng up to second board leaving myself on third.  I decided to move Li Tian up to give him a shot at the IM norm. This was my decision as captain and Greg accepted it. Thus the board order became IM Mok, IM Yee Weng, Yeoh Li Tian , IM Jimmy and Zhuo Ren.

LZR Interview

If you have not read it , go to Wei Min's blog.

Many can learn from the approach and thinking of this young man. I'm proud he is part of the team  that secured a commendable final placing in an olympiad which Malaysia have not had for the past few years and also delivered the first IM norm in an olympiad for the country.

'Nuff said!

At the Istanbul Olympiad

At the 2012  Istanbul Olympiad, we had one of the more successfuly outings in many years.

Seeded 86th and finished 64th ahead of Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand. We finished on same match point as Singapore but tie-breaks were superior for the Singaporeans.

For the first time in the men's participation, we finally had a norm result. Lim Zhuo Ren brings home his FM title plus a 13 game IM norm. The women's team also gained, WFM for Camilia and WCM for Tan Li Ting.

The women's team performed above their seeding to finish in 61st position. The tireless efforts of their coach, Peter Long no doubt contributed to their success. Read about it here

Next post I will write more details of our campaign at this olympiad.

Round 11 Results

Malaysian men beat Thailand 3-1. Congrats to Zhuo Ren who won to make his first IM norm. He also collects the FIDE Master title for scoring 2/3rd of the total points.

Our girls team lost 1-3 to Estonia. A draw would have given them the Category D prize.  The consolation was Camilia drew her game to gain the WFM title. Earlier, Tan Li Ting had made a CM title so the girls team comes home with two new titles.

In the Open section, joint leader China lost badly to Ukraine thus they finish out of  medal contention. The medal winners are Russia, Armenia and Ukraine with Ukraine taking bronze while Armenia is the likely champion on tie-breaks and Russia taking the silver.

In the women section, Russia takes gold, China the silver and Ukraine the bronze.

Final round about to start

The 11th and final round of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad will start in another 1.5 hours.

Both Malaysia's Men and Women team are doing well. The women are leading Group D with Turkey2016 team. The Turkish team is playing Vietnam and I predict they will lose. This means that our girls can win Group D with a draw with Estonia. The Estonians have two WIM on the first two boards so our girls have their work cut out for them. Camilia Joharia is aiming for WFM title by drawing her last game.

We are paired with the Thai team. On paper this should be a win for us. Lim Zhuo Ren is gunning for a IM norm. The regulations for norms are quite vague and can lead to different interpretations. If he is allowed to raise one of his opponents rating to the IM rating floor than a draw might suffice. To be on the safe side, he has been told to win.

The championship will  be decided in this round as well. The three leaders, China, Russia and Armenia have 17 match points just one point ahead of Ukraine. Ukraine have to beat China on top table to finish with a medal. Armenia plays Hungary and Russia plays Germany.

Russia should win their match and its up to China and Armenia to catch up and decide the medals on tie-breaks. A win for China should give them the trophy as their tie-breaks is the highest amongst the three leaders. 

Malaysia round ten results

Men's Team

Malaysia's men's team bounced back from 9th round defeats to score a 3-1 victory over Japan. In round nine we were defeated by Columbia 1.5-2.5

Lim Zhuo Ren was rested today to avoid meeting a lower rated opponent. Zhuo Ren needs another draw from a 2300 player to make his first ever IM norm! Currently he has already scored the 66.67% number of points and assured of the FIDE Master title.

We were better on all boards at one stage. Yee Weng decided to draw to safeguard our match win after his advantage slipped away. Li Tian had an exchange up plus a passed pawn on the seventh rank. Still he decided not to press the win so the final result was two wins and two draws in our favour. Hopefully this result will ensure that we meet a strong team for Zhuo Ren to realise his IM norm hope.

Women's team

Our girls also recovered from a disastrous 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in round nine. In the tenth round, they were paired with the stronger Philippines team. Their score of 2-2 was a success though this could have been a 2.5-1.5 win if Najiha had converted an ending with an extra piece

Interestingly both Malaysia and Philippines were leading their group before this round. With this draw, Philippines would have lost their lead in Group C. Malaysia still have a chance to top Group D with a final round win.

Tomorrow will be a rest day. The final round starts earlier on 9th September at 11:00 A.M local time (4 PM in Malaysia).

Double victory in Round 8

The Malaysian team scored a first double victory in Round 8. The Men's team defeated Libya 3.5-0.5 while the Ladies upset Bosnia & Herzegovina 3-1.

On paper, Bosnia & Herzegovina with a WIM and two WFM looked like white washing our girls. But Camilia won quickly while the first three boards were still at it when I came over after my game. Najiha was already up a rook though her WIM opponent still did not resign. Nabila was an exchange and pawn down and her game looked hopeless. Li Ting had an edge in a knight ending but looked like heading for a draw. So we were expecting a 2.5 - 1.5 win.

We were all pleasantly shocked when we received news that Nabila had managed a draw and the final result of 3-1.





The girls continue to lead Group D after this with a one point lead. They will try to maintain the momentum when they meet The Netherlands in the next round. Men's team meets a strong Columbia line-up.

Later that night, Camilia and Li Ting celebrated their birthdays with a cake and presents

Playing Bosnia & Herzegovina

In the men's team, IM Lim Yee Weng scored very quickly utilising a neat tactical idea.

IM Lim  - Al-Zayat

20. Bf6! gxf6 21.Rg3+ Kh8 22. Qf4 Kh7 

After 22..Kh7

 It seems like black has everything covered . 23.Qe4+ f5 24. Qh4 Rg8 25. Rh3 Rg6. But the sting is in the tail.

23. Rg7+!! Kxg7 24. exf6+ winning the black queen.

Lim Zhuo Ren - Asabri, Hassan

Black is close to drawing despite white's advanced a-pawn due to the exposed white king. Zhuo Ren thought a long time and came up with a final trick.

40. g5+ Kxg5 41. Qe7+ Kh5 42. Qh7+ Kg5 43. Qh3 Qe2+ 44. Kg1 Qe1+ 45. Kh2 Kf6 

Black saw the trick 45...Qf2+?? 46. Qg2+ exchanging queens.

46. Qe6+ Kg5?? 

But he fails to see the second one. 46...Kg7 is drawn

47. Qg4+ Kf6 48. a8=Q 1-0

After 48...Qf2+ 49.Kh3 Qf1+ 50 Qg2 there are no more checks