Sabah Grande Chess Open

The Sabah Grande Chess Open is currently in progress with round seven currently in progress. The event is held after the inter-state team tournament and many of the players were staying back to take part as the event boasts a USD 1,000.00 first prize. Such strong players as Mas Hafizul, Nicholas Chan, Yeoh Li Tian, Fong Yit San and Sumant Subramaniam together with Pinoys Nelson Villanueva and Oliver Dimakiling make this a interesting competition.

 This is a rapid event with twenty five minutes for each player. With such time control, there is bound to be a lot of excitement as players reach the last minutes of play. Below are some positions from the tournament with some amazing errors due to time trouble.

Hadani Abthar- Nicholas Chan, Round 1

 White has just played 1. g5 attacking the black knight. When you have an extra pawn it is always a good idea to exchange queens and just win the ending. Nicholas thought he had a forced exhange with 1...Qg4?? and after 2. Qa6+ Kb8 3. gxf6 he was just down a piece for two pawns. He still managed to draw.

Zaidan Zulkifli - Nelson Villanueva, Round 3

Zaidan is a whole piece up and that a-pawn is impossible to stop.
1. Rh7 Ke4 2. a6 Rb1 3. a7 Ra1 

White can just play 4. Kg2 as the bishop on e1 does not need defending. He can pick up the black e-pawn with 4. Re7+ Kd3 5 Kf3. Well, it's just one of those days

4. Rh8 ?? Rxa7 1/2-1/2

Oliver Dimakiling - Fong Yit San, Round 3

 If you think the previous game was heart-breaking take a look at this one. Yit San is a whole rook up. Pretty much anything wins , right?

1... Nxd4 

This is one of those moves in blitz where you just whip out in a flash because 2. Nxd4+ Rxd4 3. Kxd4 Kf4 and your pawn queens.

2. Nxd4 Kf4

Black realizes too late that there is a flaw in the above line. 2. Nxd4+ Rxd4 3. Kxd4 Kf4 4. Kc5 e5 5. Kb6 e4 6. Kxa6 e3 7. Kb7 e2 8. a6 e1=Q 9. a7 reaches a standard drawn position. But even without the knight he is still winning!

3. Nc6 Re1 4. Kb6 Rc1 5. Nd4 Rb1+ 6. Kxa6 e5 7. Ne2+ Kf3 8. Nc3 Rb3 9. Nd5 e4 10. Ka7 Rd3


The most straightforward win is 10... e3 11. Nxe3 Kxe3 12. a6 Kd4 13. Ka8 Kc5 14. a7 Kb6 15. Kb8 Rh3 reaching a text book win.


11. Nb4 Rd4 12. Nc6 Rd5? 

Simply 12...Rd1 and stop the pawn from behind, sacrificing the rook where necessary.

13. Kb6 e3? 

Last chance for 13...Rd1

14. a6 e2 

Now 14...Rd1 fails because white can block the rook with Na5

15. a7 e1=Q 16. a8=Q 

Although black still has winning chances if he has time on the clock the game was drawn after a few more moves in mutual time trouble

The seventh round has some sweet pairings -

Nelson Villanueva  - Oliver Dimakiling
Mas Hafizul - Yeoh Li Tian
Sumant Subramaniam - Abdullah Che Hassan
Nicholas Chan - Fong Yit San