I read Mr Raymond "Once we taught China" Siew that there was a thrown game at the recent Nationals. He fails to reveal any names but confirmed that this player has previous "questionable practices".
"Questionable practices"? This brought my mind immediately to Mark Siew's previous cheating scandal in 2011. Then I remembered his round eight game. Let me describe this game.
Mark had queen and knight hounding his opponent's king on h1 with mate imminent. After long thought, his opponent desperately played the h-pawn to h4 to get some breathing space for his king. Now instead of mating, Mark captured this pawn thus allowing his opponent some breathing space and time. Mark's position was still so strong that a few moves later he had to win a piece. Furthermore, the opponent's king is now chased to the centre of the board. With Q+R+N against a naked king, it is quite impossible not to mate. But what happened next?
Mark gave back the knight for nothing. In fact, he played a move that forced his opponent to capture the knight (only move). Then he forced the exchange of the remaining pieces into a lost pawn ending for him. This gift propelled his opponent to the top boards in the last round.
All this is on record and many players were watching this game. The circumstantial evidence is just too over-whelming. It is clear MCF should investigate this incident. Thanks for highlighting this, Raymond.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Carlsen on the Candidates
Carlsen discusses the 2014 Candidates after the sixth round together with his manager. Interesting comments from Carlsen. This video has way too little views at the moment. Let's bring it up!
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
A new National Champion
After five days of hard fought chess, the new National Champion for 2014 is Fong Yit San. This is the man I said to watch out for and not Mark Siew. Yit San has thus completed the the feat of being both National Junior and National Champion. From memory, not many has achieved this , only Lim Zhuo Ren comes to mind.
Things were not so clear in the final round. No less than six players still had a chance to claim the top prize. On top board I was paired with Fong Yit San (7 points). On second table, Sumant faced Erowan Masrin. Sumant was a queen down for rook and bishop but in the complications even managed to win his game.
This left my game against Yit San to decide the champion. A draw for Yit San would mean a tie with Sumant with the latter getting the title on account of their individual encounter which Sumant won. A series of blunders late in the game cost me the half point and gave Yit San clear first. A sad day for me and Sumant whose tournament was going so well.
In the Women's tournament, Renitha took clear first a point and a half from her nearest rival. A big surprise was the failure of former champion WCM Fong Mi Yen who lost her first game to Melanie Koo and struggled thereafter to chase the leaders.
Things were not so clear in the final round. No less than six players still had a chance to claim the top prize. On top board I was paired with Fong Yit San (7 points). On second table, Sumant faced Erowan Masrin. Sumant was a queen down for rook and bishop but in the complications even managed to win his game.
This left my game against Yit San to decide the champion. A draw for Yit San would mean a tie with Sumant with the latter getting the title on account of their individual encounter which Sumant won. A series of blunders late in the game cost me the half point and gave Yit San clear first. A sad day for me and Sumant whose tournament was going so well.
In the Women's tournament, Renitha took clear first a point and a half from her nearest rival. A big surprise was the failure of former champion WCM Fong Mi Yen who lost her first game to Melanie Koo and struggled thereafter to chase the leaders.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
4th HD Banks in progress
From the previous post, some sharp eyes might have realized that one of the bigger names that is not playing in the National Closed is Yeoh Li Tian. The reason is he is now playing in the HDBank Cup in Vietnam. Three rounds have been played so far and Li Tian has two wins and one loss. In the next round, Li Tian plays Indian IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao.
This event is in its 4th edition. There are many strong GMs and IMs competing. Three players have scored 100% so far. They are Vietnamese IM Nguyen Doc Hoa and GM Le Quang Liem and GM Zhang Zhong from Singapore.
One name in the starting list caught my eye. Mark Siew. I wonder how he can be playing in Vietnam when I just saw his name in the participants list for the National Closed. It became clear when in the first round he gave a walkover. That is, he never showed up but did not inform the organizers he was not going. The benefactor of this free point is someone called Bersamina Paulo. Who is Bersamina Paulo? I believe this is the training partner of Mark in the Philippines as claimed by his father, Raymond Siew.
Is this what Raymond likes to call "a thrown game"? Its very convenient. Now, if I am Raymond Siew I would be screaming conspiracy. However I am not Raymond Siew so I'll just say there was a misunderstanding somewhere and leave it at that.
2014 National Closed Participant list
Open List of Participants
Women's Participants List
There are a few players which are conspicously missing, former champions Nabila and Najiha is not in the list as well as last year's Women Malaysian Masters Champion, Camilia.
One of the playing rooms. There are total of two rooms.
Women's Participants List
There are a few players which are conspicously missing, former champions Nabila and Najiha is not in the list as well as last year's Women Malaysian Masters Champion, Camilia.
One of the playing rooms. There are total of two rooms.
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