At the 7th IIUM Open

I noticed a Facebook post about the IIUM Chess Invitational Championship and immediately signed up to play. This is a rapid tournament and I really needed some practice in this format. On checking my GPS, I found IIUM is in Gombak. I figured IIUM might stand for International Islamic Universiti of Malaysia or something like that. But the road signs were rather confusing (it states UIAM instead).

Anyway, it was a pleasant early morning ride for me and I found the university using my trusty mobile phone's GPS.

On sitting down at the board for the first round, I noticed the clock showed twenty minutes. Great, I have even less time for my aging brain.

I was clearly going to be in a lot of trouble in this tournament judging from the first round where I blundered a piece in a winning position. I switched to blitz mode and managed to flag my opponent.

My second round reached this position

Jumis Hasibin - Jimmy Liew

Although a pawn down, the poor position of the white king is enough for compensation.

28....Re1+ 29. Kc2 Re2+ 30. Kd3 

After 30. Kb1 black has nothing better than to keep checking. White tries to win thinking his two passed pawns give him the better winning chances. However I saw some possibilities for myself.

30....Rxa2 31. h4 Rb2 32. Ke4 

32. Kc4 is answered by 32...a5 and 33 Rc2+

32....Rxb3 33. g4 Rg3 34. g5 b3 35. Rh8 ??

35. Rf7 was the only move to stop the pawn but Black retains better chances.

35... Ka5

The engine shows the simple win with 35... Rg4+ 36. Kxe5 (36. Kf5 Rb4 -+) 36... Ka5 37. Rb8 Kxa4 ! This is the unexpected move. The rook dominates the white king-side pawns and neither can
push forward. 38. Kf5 Rb4 and queens with check. 39. Rxb4+ Kxb4 40. g6 b2
41. g7 b1=Q+ 42. Kf6 Qh7 43. Kf7 a5 44. Kf8 Qf5+ 45. Ke8 Qg6+ 46. Kf8 Qf6+ 47.
Kg8 a4 wins easily.

36. Kxe5 Kxa4 37. Kf4 b2 38. Rb8 Rb3 39. Rxb3 Kxb3 40. g6 b1=Q 41. h5 Qb2 42. h6 Qf6+ 0-1

Replay below

In the fourth round my opponent played a dubious combination.

Ng Jen Sheng  - Jimmy Liew

18. Nxe5?? Bxe5 19. Rd8+ Ka7 20. Rxa8+ Kxa8 21. Rd8+ Ka7
22. Bxf7 Bxc3 23. bxc3 Nxe4 24. Rxe8 Rxe8 25. Bxe8 Nf6 26. Bh5

Better 26. Bf7 Nxg4 Black is still winning but with minor pieces on, more care is needed. The text
move allows liquidation into a won pawn ending for black.

26... Kb6 27. Kd2 Ka5 28. Kd3 Kxa4 29. Kc4 Nxh5 30. gxh5 Ka3? 

I miscounted the moves. The ending is easily won after 30... a5 31. h3 Ka3 32. Kd5 Kb2 33. Ke6 a4 34. Kf7 a3 35. Kxg7 a2 36. f6 a1=Q

31. Kd5 Kb2 32. Ke6 a5 33. Kf7 a4 34. Kxg7 a3 35. f6 a2 36. f7 a1=Q 37. f8=Q Qg1+ 38. Kxh6 Qxh2 39. Qb4+ Kxc2 40. Qxb7 Qd6+ 41. Kg5 Qe5+ 42. Kg6 Qe6+ 1/2-1/2

Replay below

The sixth round was a disaster. I effectively lost a piece after 14 moves.

Kamalarifin Wahiduddin - Jimmy Liew

14....Bh4?? 15 f3 and now 15....Nf6 16 g3 traps the bishop on h4.

I won the last game through some luck...my opponent displaced a piece which is penalized by loss of the game. My final score was 5.5/7 good for 7th place!