Malaysian Masters 2015 (Women): Najiha victorious

The 2015 Malaysian Masters (Women) started off today with ten participants in a round robin format. The tournament will be played over five days starting today till Wednesday , 3rd June 2015 at Dewan Ho Koh Chye at the Olympic Hotel in Jalan Hang Jebat.

The new Masters Champion is Nur Najiha Azman Hisham with a clear half point lead over the rest of the field. Najiha defeated Camilia in the final round to tally 7.5 points.

Tan Li Ting managed to win her last round against Alia Bakri but could only come second once Najiha won. The other front runners , Nur Nabila and Puteri Rifqah Fahada also won and maintained their standings as third and fourth respectively.

At the end of the tournament, there was a simple closing with MCF Secretary giving out the certificates to all the players. The trophy will be awarded to Nur Najiha during the Malaysian Chess Festival scheduled for September.

The full crosstable below:

Now the game which decided the champion with some light notes.

[Event "Malaysian Masters 2015 (Women)"]
[Site "Wisma OCM, Kuala Lumpur"]
[Date "2015.06.03"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Johari, Camilia"]
[Black "Azman Hisham, Nur Najiha"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1924"]
[BlackElo "1957"]
[EventDate "2015.05.30"]
[EventRounds "9"]


1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 f5 8.
Nf3 d6 9. e3 Nd7 10. Bd3 Ndf6 11. O-O g5 !? 

This aggressive move is more show than real threat. It is hard to believe that Black can whip up an attack on the king-side without help from white.  

12. Nd2 d5 13. b4 Ng4 14. Nf3

14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Be2 will show black that the advance on the king-side with 11...g5
is uncalled for.

14... c6 15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. dxe5 g4 17. b5

Again 17. Bxe4 dxe4 and Black has no attack although the opposite colored bishops could be good
for a draw.

17... Ng5 18. a4 Rf7 19. Ba3 Rg7 20. bxc6 bxc6 21. cxd5 cxd5 22.
Qc5 Bb7 23. Rab1 Qe8 24. Qd4 Qh5 25. Kh1 Kh8 26. Rb3 ?

Prepares to double rooks on the b-file but black has been amassing pieces on the king-side and a
sacrifice on f3 is coming.

 26... Rag8 27. Rxb7?

White was in serious time trouble with less than two minutes on the clock and facing serious problems with her king. But still giving up the exchange is as good as resigning. The only defence is 27. Rbb1 in order to answer Nf3 28. gxf3 (There is an interesting mate after 28. Qf4 g3!  29. h3 Qxh3+ 30. gxh3 g2 mate) 28... gxf3 with 29. Rg1 Rg2 30. Rxg2 Rxg2 31. Qf4  and the king-side holds and white has his own threats on the b-file for counter-play

 27... Rxb7 28. Be2 Ne4 29. Kg1 Qh4 30. g3 Qh5 31. Rc1 Ng5 32. Qd3 Nf3+ 33. Bxf3 gxf3 34. Qf1 Qg5 35. a5 h5 36. a6

36. Qa6 with the idea of Qxe6 and Qf6+ exchanging queens was the only chance
not to lose outright.

36... Rh7 0-1

White cannot prevent the opening of the h-file with h5-h4 and so resigned.