Round 3: Malaysia 0.5 - South Africa 3.5

Last night, Malaysia lost 0.5-3.5 to South Africa. Rating wise, a reasonable result but I was hoping for more.

The only draw came from Fadzil Nayan. His opponent played a passive opening and white and never got anything from the opening.

The first and second boards had the same identical opening and up to the 11th move both positions were the same.  Yee Weng was doing alright until he overlooked a tactic and lost a pawn for nothing.

Aron ended up worse from the opening and forced to give up his queen for rook and bishop. He tried to set up a fortress. It was a good effort but not enough to avoid losing.

Yit San could have had a draw as he had a equal position from the opening. Maybe he thought he should try for more and inexplicably sacrificed a bishop. The attack was an illusion and there was no doubt to the result.

The fourth round opponent is Guatemala with two IMs and higher rated. The difference is only 40 points so we certainly have chances. The last meeting was in Dresden in 2008 where we drew 2-2. Note that at that time we were higher rated than Guatemala.