Middle-game Strategy II

Middlegame-Strategy II

White Knight Chess Academy in co-operation with Noble Minds Academy are pleased to present our Middlegame Strategy series of chess classes conducted by Malaysia’s first International Master and FIDE Trainer Jimmy Liew.

The structure of the class will be a lecture on typical middle-game structures. In each class, IM Jimmy Liew will present two types of middle-games and show the ideas for each side. Students will learn how to play these middle-games using well researched games. The first session concentrated on two well-known structures , Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) and Hanging Pawns.

The second session continues on to Doubled bishop pawns and the Caro-kann structure The date and time for Middle-game Strategy 2 is now announced to be conducted on 24th September 2017 starting 2-5 pm. Registration is now open. Send an email to cmliew@gmail.com or SMS/Whatsapp 019-6571628

Venue

F3A-09 Starpac Point, 
Jlnn Tmn Ibu Kota, 
Kuala Lumpur 
Date: 24/09/2017 (Sunday) Time: 2-5 PM

Penang is 4th in Asian Cities

The Penang team did very well to finish in 4th position in the Asian Cities Team Championship in India just last month.

Their final score of 5 wins 2 draws and 2 losses puts them just behind Dhaka, thus missing a podium finish. The team was in third position after seven rounds. A round eight loss to final third placed Dhaka, denied them the bronze medal.


 

The team performance is commendable especially as several members of the team won board prizes. They are

Board 1 (Silver) for Looi Xin Hao

Board 2 (Bronze) for Wong Yinn Loong

Board 4 (Bronze) for Tan Jun Ying

Photo from FIDE website

Middlegame Strategy

I remember starting out in chess a long time ago. I had no opening and I was primarily a tactical player. I had no problem as long as there were some tactical possibilities in the middlegame. I got better and started studying openings and my results improved. Then I noticed something, there were some players that I always had difficulties with. I could never get the type of positions I liked with them.

I knew something was missing from my game. Then I found Ludek Pachman's books called "Modern Chess Strategy" which is a three volume set and I found the gap in my chess understanding. These books took a lot of effort to understand but it helped me to increase my playing strength.

The link between openings and middlegame - the former determines the latter's pawn structure. By studying the games of masters based on this structures, you will come to a better grasp of how to play these type of structures which occur again and again even from different openings.

The basic middlegame structures can be grouped as follows

1. Isolated Queen Pawn aka IQP
2. Hanging Pawns
3. Doubled pawns
4. Caro-kann formation
5. Slav formation
6. Carlsbad center
7. Stonewall center
8. Closed King's Indian
9. Open King's Indian
10. Grunfeld center
11. French center
12. Benoni Center
13. Benko formation
14. Sicilian Centers
15. Miscellaneous others

 So one way of studying the middlegame is to take positions from the above and thoroughly understand how to play them. For this purpose, I am starting a series of classes on Middlegame Strategy. There will be 4-5 sessions cost at RM50 per session. The first session will be on Sunday 20th August 2017.

  More details here
  Registration form here

Summit Subang Juniors

Dr. Cafe Rapid Tournament

The 1st Dr. Cafe Leisure Rapid Tournament will be held on 29th July (Agong's Birthday). There are Open, Under-18 and Under-12 categories. Lunch will be provided for participants. For the full prospectus click link below.

DR-CAFE-ENTRY-FORM-FINAL

Discount for Malaysian Chess Festival 2017

MALAYSIAN CHESS FESTIVAL - ANNOUNCEMENT

There will be a 20% discount for all paid entry registration until 15th May for the following events:

28th Aug – 03rd Sep
14th IGB DATO’ ARTHUR TAN OPEN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
8th IGB SENIORS OPEN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
12th GOLDIS MALAYSIA CHESS CHALLENGE

Exchange Rate for the US $ is 4.3.


Bank Account: DAT Chess Centre  
Maybank Current A/C No: 5145  9822  0396,
Jalan Bunus,  50100 K L, Malaysia - SWIFT : MBBEMYKL


Download Entry Forms here:

http://datcc.net/
Prospectus

44th Selangor Open

The 44th Selangor Open is announced for 27th April to 1st May 2017. The venue is the same as for last year, the Grand Ballroom of the Cititel Hotel.

There is the usual Open event and also the Challengers, the latter is only open to those with FIDE rating below 1900. The closing date is 24th April 2017 so hurry and register yourself today.

Below are the prospectus.



Selangor Open 2017 Challenger Entry Form rEF

Selangor Open 2017 Entry Form rEF

14th Malaysian Chess Festival announced

Prospectus

Zone 3.3 blunders

In many ways I was puzzled at what happened at the Zone 3.3 Championship. The top two seed, GM NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son was held to early draws while Filipino GM Julio Catalino Sadorra lost two consecutive games, one of them to a sub 2000 player.

Malaysian FM Yeoh Li Tian is in the lead with 6/7 drawing two games. His success was probably due to the low number of inaccuracies in his games while many others were struck by some really bad blunders.

Look at the following diagrams.

FM Liu Xiangyi - GM Megaranto

 White is just winning after 39. b7 Rb8 40 Rc1 and 41 Rc8 is unstoppable. Instead he played 39. Be4?? Rd8+ 40 Ke2 g4, black exchanged pawns and sacrificed his knight for the white b-pawn to reach a drawn R+B vs R ending.

IM Goh Wei Ming - Novendra Priasmoro

After sacrificing an exchange, White has started mopping up black pawns. In this position, his b5 pawn is almost unstoppable. Now 40 Kh2 getting his king of the back rank and attacking the black rook is winning. However he played 40 b6?? Rxf3 41 b7 Rxd1+ 42 Kh2 Rb3 allows black to stop the pawn and eventually draw.

FM Liu XiangYi - GM Sadorra

Even the 2nd seed was not immune to blunders. In the above diagram,  white has just checked on f3. What should black play, how should he get out of check? 42....Qf7?? The worst possible move as 43 c6 and the pawn just cannot be stopped.

Interview with IM Yeoh Li Tian

Yeoh Li Tian was already identified as a chess talent at a young age. At the age of 10 he was sent to a six week training stint in Beijing, China, sponsored by Dato' Tan Chin Nam. In the next four years, he came tantalizingly close to IM norms in several tournaments.

In 2015 he finally made his first norm and last December, Yeoh Li Tian made back-to-back International Master norms at two tournaments in Australia, fulfilling the norm requirements of 27 games.

Recently, I did an interview with him to find his thoughts, his preparations and how he sees his future  chess career.


JL: You recently finished your SPM examinations and straight after flew to Australia to play two tournaments. What expectations if any did you have when you were invited to these two tournaments?

LT: Frankly speaking I didn’t expect much before these tournaments. As it was right after SPM examination, I didn’t have time to prepare for my opponents beforehand as if they were round robin tournaments. Hence I was just aiming for IM norms before these tournaments. I was actually quite confident on the chances as my performance has always been stable and seldom become rusty even if I have not played in any tournament for a long time. It turned out to be correct as I got my IM norms with one round to spare in both tournaments.

JL:  How did you prepare for these tournaments? 

LT: As mentioned above, I didn’t prepare for any of the 2 tournaments due to my SPM examination. However, in a round robin tournament, I will normally first check the age and rating of my opponents to estimate their strength. I will then check the required points to achieve IM (maybe GM in future) norm and set a target score (win or draw) for each game, based on my colour if possible. After completing all these only I will start to prepare on a particular opponent by his opening and try to find out which type of position he/she normally loses in.

JL: Which game did you like the most from these two tournaments?

LT: I like some of my smooth wins against lower rated opponents, but I think the most interesting game is my game against Patrick Gong in the Lidums Young Master. (Game below)

JL: Any stories you want to tell us?

LT: There was really not much interesting moment in Australia. It was all about mind duel during the game and resting my mind after the game. I was hosted by a local family in Adelaide and they were really friendly. We actually saw a wild koala on a hill road while getting back home. 

JL: How old were you when you learnt the game?

LT: Around 2-3 years old. I must be literally “playing” with the chess pieces at that time.

JL: How much time do you spend on chess?

LT:It really depends on my other activities. At the very least, I will spend some time daily to follow the current tournaments to keep my chess-mind awake. I will put it as 10 hours per week.

JL: Young talented chess players often make their IM titles even before the age of 14. Why did it take you until 17 years old?

LT: The first factor is of course being an amateur player. Even though I focused in chess as much as in academic, it is still a big disadvantage to not work on chess full time compared to those young professional players. Besides, there are also not many suitable sparring partners in Malaysia as chess is not a mainstream sport. There are also few problems with myself such as easily distracted when I face difficulties during training.

JL: How much the computer plays in your chess preparations? Do you bring it to you every tournament?

LT: Computer definitely plays a crucial role in my chess preparation. Basically all my preparations require computer, including checking opponent’s basic information, database and opening. Computer is a necessity for me in all important and big chess tournaments. I only leave it at home in event like MSSM [Note: MSSM is an annual schools chess competition in Malaysia] or rapid events.

JL:  Who is the player you admire most?

LT: I really admire Magnus Carlsen. Sometimes I simply couldn’t understand how he wins such drawish position against strong players. I really hope I can learn that skill.

JL: What is your career that you think you most likely be in. Is it chess?

LT: To be honest I don’t plan to have a profession related to chess. I may contribute to chess in future, but definitely not full time. I am interested in actuarial science, computer science and engineering.

JL: What subjects are you good in or like at school?

LT: I am really good in mathematics compared to my peer. I like math, physics and chemistry in school. I like part of biology but I have never obtained good results in biology.

JL: What advice will you give to others who wish to pursue their ambition to be a good player?

LT: Study midgame and endgame. I can see many players and coaches focusing too much in the opening. Trying to win fast by trapping your opponent in a sharp opening can never bring a player to high level.

JL: Are you going to be world champion :)

LT: As far as I am concerned, no. It is pretty impossible to reach the elite without doing chess full time.

JL: Thank you for your very informative answers. I believe other young chess players as well as chess parents will find it very useful