Round 3 Pairings for Malaysia

Open
39	Lithuania (LTU)	Rtg	-	85	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg
GM	Rozentalis Eduardas	2611	-	IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2422
GM	Sulskis Sarunas	2544	-	IM	Mok Tze-Meng	2416
GM	Malisauskas Vidmantas	2510	-		Tan Khai Boon	2160
IM	Zagorskis Darius	2497	-	FM	Long Peter	2302

Our men's team are out-pointed and out-titled everywhere. Realistically we can only hope for one or two draws. My prediction: 1-3 for Malaysia.

Women
32	Austria (AUT)	Rtg	-	72	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg
IM	Moser Eva	2436	-		Bakri Alia Anin Azwa	1904
WFM	Exler Veronika	2130	-	WCM	Nur Nabila Azman Hisham	1829
WFM	Novkovic Julia	2134	-		Marmono Roslina	1933
WFM	Newrkla Katharina	2123	-		Fong Mi Yen	1905

On paper, we should lose all boards. This will be the real test of our strength in the womens. Most of our women except for Roslina does not have experience at this level. This will show if they are under-rated or not.

Why drawing is the correct decision

First GM thinks Mas should be too hasty to draw and gives his reasons as well

Read Rationality's comments on this. Thanks to Rationality for his explanation as well as his analysis of the first round games - I rather enjoyed reading his non-chess comments. And just in case you think Rationality does not know what he is talking about, let me assure you, he is much stronger most of you reading this. But I like to add on to that for completeness.

A team game is unlike a normal individual game - more so when that game is in an event like the olympiad.

It does not further the team cause to play on - at that moment we had already lost the match. Personally I would do the same and preserve energy for the coming rounds. Yes, even though chess is a mind game, the physical effects cannot be discounted. Fatigue will set in around the ninth round. There is a very good reason why there is a reserve player (in older olympiads there were even two).

If you dig around hard enough, you will find examples where players continued in drawn positions and finally brought in the decisive point, as well as those where good winning chances were abandoned to ensure a half point was added to the team final score.

Mas made the correct decision. One should not continue the battle when it is already lost. Besides, there is that matter of the difference of three hundred rating points.

Round 2 results for Malaysia

No surprises this round. Both men and women win as expected

Open
		Rtg	-	85	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg
	Tsang Hon Ki	2085	0-1	IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2422
	Borigas Edgardo	2005	0-1	IM	Mok Tze-Meng	2416
	Lee T H Bryan	1935	0.5-0.5		Tan Khai Boon	2160
	Kuan Julian	1760	0-1	FM	Long Peter	2302
Women
		Rtg	0-4	72	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg
	Leykun Ruth	0	0-1	WCM	Bakri Alia Anin Azwa	1904
	Zeleke Zemenay Menasse	0	0-1		Nur Nabila Azman Hisham	1829
	Abera Haregeweyn	0	0-1		Marmono Roslina	1933
	Tulu Tigist Legesse	0	0-1		Fong Mi Yen	1905

Men's team plays Lithuania next and women's team gets Austria. Individual pairings are not available yet.

Normally I feel that I need 2-3 rounds before my game gets settled down. In this respect both teams had perfect pairings so far. No expectations for the first round and an easy round following that. Third round is where they will really get their first serious match-up.

Malaysia Round 2 live comments

I read First GM take on Mas game against Michael Adams. He thinks Mas had chances and should play on. I think he should stick to mind coaching and leave the chess to those who knows something about it. Does he even know who Michael Adams is? Adams did not want to waste energy chasing an extra half point which may or may not be useful in the final tie-breaks.

Malaysia actually had no chance to avoid a white wash. The draw was because this tournament is based on match points. If game points were in effect as in the old days, rest assured that Adams will continue to play to get the full point.

In the second round of the 1980 Malta Olympiad, we were paired with the former Yugoslavia. Our third board (the late Chang Hing Wah) drew with GM Kurajica. The late Yugoslavia IM Nikola Karaklajic came up to me. "It is unheard of for a Yugoslav grandmaster to draw with someone from such an unknown country. This will be in every Yugoslav newspaper tomorrow morning!". Of course, he meant it as a compliment.

Board 1 Tsang Hon Ki - Mas
Mas has positioned his pieces actively. It is only a matter of technique to bring home the point. Mas has an extra pawn so it is almost over

Board 2 Mok Tze Meng - Borigas Edgardo
Yesterday Mok could not castle, now today his opponent is facing the same problem. Black king in the middle of the board with heavy pieces all around. This one is as good as in the pocket.

Mok wins.

Board 3 Bryan Lee - Tan Khai Boon
Khai Boon is in a spot of trouble perhaps overlooking white's 11.e5 move. The pawn cannot be taken, 11...dxe5 12.Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Nxa5 loses a piece. Also 11..Nxb3 12. exf6 Nxa1 13. fxg7 Kxg7. 14. Qxa1 wins material for white.

The black piecs are very awkwardly placed.

Khai Boon down an exchnage for a pawn offered a draw which is accepted.

Board 4 Julian Kuan - Peter Long
Something is wrong with the moves in this game

Conclusion: First two boards are winning, bottom two not so clear. This could be a trend for the rest of the tournament. Maybe we can win 2.5-1.5 or the unthinkable 2-2.

Round 2 Pairings for Malaysia

Malaysia will get a gift today for both men's and women. The men's team gets Hong Kong and the women's Ethiopia.


Our own K.K. Chan is playing for Hong Kong and declined to play today. Most wise. In his absence the pairings are:

Open
		Rtg	-	85	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg
	Tsang Hon Ki	2085	-	IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2422
	Borigas Edgardo	2005	-	IM	Mok Tze-Meng	2416
	Lee T H Bryan	1935	-		Tan Khai Boon	2160
	Kuan Julian	1760	-	FM	Long Peter	2302
Women
		Rtg	-	72	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg
	Leykun Ruth	0	-	WCM	Bakri Alia Anin Azwa	1904
	Zeleke Zemenay Menasse	0	-		Nur Nabila Azman Hisham	1829
	Abera Haregeweyn	0	-		Marmono Roslina	1933
	Tulu Tigist Legesse	0	-		Fong Mi Yen	1905

We should win this match easily.

For the women's, Fong Mi Yen sees action today and I expect no less than a 4-0 win from them.

Malaysia Round 1 results

Round 1 Results

Open
85	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg	0.5-3.5	12	England (ENG)	Rtg
IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2422	0.5-0.5	GM	Adams Michael	2728
IM	Mok Tze-Meng	2416	0-1	GM	McShane Luke J	2657
	Tan Khai Boon	2160	0-1	GM	Howell David W L	2616
FM	Long Peter	2302	0-1	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2576
Women
72	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg	-	18	Slovakia (SVK)	Rtg
WCM	Bakri Alia Anin Azwa	1904	0-1	IM	Repkova Eva	2447
	Nur Nabila Azman Hisham	1829	0-1	WGM	Pokorna Regina	2370
	Wahiduddin Nurul Huda	2020	0-1	WGM	Kochetkova Julia	2327
	Marmono Roslina	1933	0-1	WIM	Mrvova Alena	2253

Perhaps a first round pairing against England was not so bad. Our players could go in with no expectations, anyone getting a draw will be a considered a success. Maybe that was why everyone seemed to be taking extra risk. But the grandmasters showed why they are the grandmasters.

What is worrying is that with the exception of Mas, the rest seemed to be ill prepared in the openings.

Michael Adams must have given away a bucketful of points drawing someone three hundred points lower than him. Sometimes this kind of "sacrifice" have to be made to ensure the match points.

On the women's side, nothing much need be said. They were simply overcome by their stronger opponents. I will mention Nur Nabila. It seems like she thinks she is still playing rapid games in Malaysia. Blundering a whole piece right in the opening. This is a different level of chess altogether and sooner she gets that the better. What are the two more experienced players doing on board three and four?

Malaysia Round 1 live comments

Round 1 games are live at DATCC

All the Malaysian men's are very tactical and I am not sure who is winning or losing.

Everyone has come to fight! Especially the Englishmen! Two of them sacing a piece for attack. Do they think Malaysian's are beginners at chess? LOL

Board 1 Mas - Michael Adams
Mas plays his favourite Bishop Opening and both sides opposite castled! Who will succeed in the attack?

Mickey offers a draw I think. It is quite dicey for him to play on. Well ,they know they do not need to win all games :) Still it is a small victory to take even a half point from England. And Mok still might be another draw.

Board 2 Luke McShane -Mok Tze Meng
White sacrificed a piece for a strong attack drawing out Mok's king. It will be hard for Mok to survive this. Even if he can find a defence, white should always have a draw by perpetual

Mok just walked into a mate.

Board 3 Tan Khai Boon - David Howell
Black played a Grunfeld, Khai Boon tried to play aggressively. Current position is going to a double rook+bishop ending where Khai Boon is one pawn down. It will be difficult for him to find a draw.

One pair of rooks exchanged to go into a R+B v R+B ending with one extra pawn for the English. This ending should be lost.

Board 4 Gawain Jones - Peter Long
Another crazy sac from the English player. Peter's king in the centre of the board but he has an extra piece for three pawns...I think he has good chances to survive and bring in a point.

Peter just played 25...g5 which seems to completely disregard his king position. He will try to bring his bishop to g7 and castle. But this is a very dangerous move for him to play.

Ah...he proved its a horrible move by following up with a blunder. Now the white queen forking both rooks. It is over for him.

I'm beginning to think we might lose 3-1 "only". Revised to 3.5-0.5 , Mok just walked into a mate.

Round 1 pairing for Malaysia

As usual I am right and Gregory Lau has taken over as Team Captain from Hamid. Here is the screen shot from Chess Results

National Master Tan Khai Boon is placed on third board instead of Peter Long. It is very strange because the latter outpoints him by over a hundred rating points. In the women's team, current National Champion Fong Mi Yen has been relegated to reserve. Again I do not understand the rationale. A national champion should count for something , no?

It is a tough first round pairing for our teams , no thanks to their low ratings. By contrast, our neighbour , Singapore,  is seeded seventy-one and rewarded with paring with Senegal. Anything less than a 4-0 score will be embarrassing for them.

Open
85	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg	-	12	England (ENG)	Rtg
IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	2422	-	GM	Adams Michael	2728
IM	Mok Tze-Meng	2416	-	GM	McShane Luke J	2657
	Tan Khai Boon	2160	-	GM	Howell David W L	2616
FM	Long Peter	2302	-	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2576
Women
72	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg	-	18	Slovakia (SVK)	Rtg
WCM	Bakri Alia Anin Azwa	1904	-	IM	Repkova Eva	2447
	Nur Nabila Azman Hisham	1829	-	WGM	Pokorna Regina	2370
	Wahiduddin Nurul Huda	2020	-	WGM	Kochetkova Julia	2327
	Marmono Roslina	1933	-	WIM	Mrvova Alena	2253

Looking at this match-up, it will be very difficult for either team to score even a half point. Anyway this tournament is using match points (one point for a drawn match and two points for a won match) so anything less than two points makes no difference.

Khanty-Mansiysk Chess Olympiad starts today

The first round of the chess olympiad will start today at 3:00 PM local time (5 PM in Malaysia).

The official web site does not show any signs of live games telecast. Playchess will be broadcasting games though it is unlikely that I can follow any of the Malaysian games as I am sure they will be only showing games at the top matches.

Fortunately for the first round I should be able to observe our mens' team games. According to Hairulov our men's team will face England in the first round. I normally get home after 7 PM so the games should be just about getting interesting when I log on to Playchess.

Malaysian team in Moscow

Malaysian olympiad team has reached Moscow safely, according to Mok Tze Meng who was just on-line from his Moscow hotel room.

The team had a seven hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. After an eight hour delay, they caught another five hour flight to Moscow where they will spend the night.

Tomorrow morning will be another three half hour flight to Khanty-Mansiysk. They should make it in time for the opening ceremony which is always an interesting affair with cultural presentations and the like. Amongst the VIPs that are expected to attend the ceremony is Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will also make a special video conference call.