3rd MBPJ Open

The 3rd MBPJ Open was held Sunday, 30th June, in Petaling Jaya. The tournament was a success with an estimated eighty players gunning for the many prizes. One new feature was that the first four rounds were played with twenty minutes while the last three rounds were twenty-five minutes. This was to ensure that the tournament finished within the allotted time.

I started with six straight wins and that put me a point ahead of my nearest competitor. A short draw in the last round clinched the title. Mohd. Saprin was undefeated with five wins and two draws to take the second prize of RM400. The RM300 third prize went to Muhd. Nabil with six wins and one loss.

Full results here.

Nabil - Jimmy

24.... f5 25. Nd2 b5 26. Nxc4 bxc4 27. Bf3 Rfb8 28. g4 fxg4 29. Bxg4 Rb3 30. Re1 Bh4 31. Bd7 Nb4 32. Ree2 Ra6 33. f5 Bxf2+ 34. Bxf2
Nd3 35. Bg3 ??

I expected 35. e6 a3 (35... Nf4? 36. Re1 Nh3+ 37. Kg2 Nxf2 38. e7 Ra8 39.
Kxf2 Rxb2+ 40. Kf3 Kf7  41. e8=Q+ Rxe8 42. Bxe8+ Kf6 43.
Bxc6 a3 44. Bxd5 a2 45. Bxc4 is winning for white) 36. e7 Ra8 37. e8=Q+ Rxe8 38. Rxe8+ Kf7 39.
bxa3 Rb1+ 40. Kg2 Rb2 {wins back the piece. The rest is too hard to calculate
in the short time available.})

35... Rxb2 36. Rxb2 Nxb2 37. e6 a3 38. e7 Ra8 39. Bxc6 a2

White resigns as 40. Bxa8 a1=Q+ 41. Kg2 Qxa8 and stops any queening.

Tal Memorial 2013

This year's Tal Memorial is scheduled to begin today

The list of participants is mouth watering -

1 Magnus Carlsen NOR
2 Vladimir Kramnik RUS
3 Sergey Karjakin RUS
4 Viswanathan Anand IND
5 Fabiano Caruana ITA
6 Hikaru Nakamura USA
7 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE
8 Alexander Morozevich RUS
9 Boris Gelfand ISR
10 Dmitry Andreikin RUS

The last player, Andreikin , is a very promising young grandmaster who has not received world wide attention. His inclusion in this event should change that. He played well in the World Blitz recently, finishing 9th.

GM Dmitry Andreikin

World Blitz Champion

The 2013 FIDE World Blitz champion is Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem. The Vietnamese scored 20.5 out of a possible 30 points to finish half a point ahead of  three players,Alexander Grischuk , Ruslan Ponomariov and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Grischuk took the silver and Ponomariov the bronze on tie-break. Le won a USD40,000.00 for this win.


A bit of a surprise was the fine placing of  fellow Vietnamese, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son who scored 19.5 points just missing out on a medal. While everyone seems to be tiring on the last day, the Vietnamese made less blunders and took advantage of all the tactical breaks that came his way.

Black has unstoppable pawns and should win with some careful play. Instead 48 Ke4 Rb4+ 49. Kd5 Bb2?? 50 f5+ discovered attack on the black rook.

Another example, 30 Rc8?? Rc4! 31. Be5 Bxf2+

The situation looks bad but things can still change. 59. Bd5
Rd8 60. Rf7 Rd6+ 61. Kb5+ Kb8 62. Rb7+ Kc8 63. Rxa7 d3 64. Ra3?? d2 65. Rd3 Kc7
66. a3 Rh6 67. b4 Rh3 68. Rxh3 d1=Q and black won.

In case I gave the impression that he only wins by opponent's blunders, here is a powerful tactical game from Nguyen.

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz

The FIDE World Rapid Championship 2013 and FIDE World Blitz Championship 2013 are being held in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia) from June 06 to 10, 2013. The prize fund is  USD400,000 split between the rapid and blitz and no doubt was the reason many famous and strong grandmasters were taking part.

The rapid event has completed and the Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the title ahead of Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi. In fact , the Russian was leading with a two points advantage after the first two days. However, on the last day he could only manage four draws and one loss. Mamedyarov won all his five games! The final top spots are Mamedyarov with 11.5, Nepomniachtchi 11 and Grischuk 10.5. Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem was fourth with 10 points. Le was satisfied with a quick draw in the last round for a nice share of the prize fund.

There is a live telecast and commentary at the official site. Another fourteen games starts around 4:00 PM local time today.

Another look at Aron-Jianwen ending

After Sumant commented that the ending is drawn, I decided to analyze it in more detail. I start with this position as black cannot prevent white from achieving it.

The next step for white is to cut off the black king from the f5 pawn. Black cannot stop this but he can decide whether he is cut off on the rank or on the file. The game continued

1...Kf4 2. Rb8 Ke4 3. Rf8 Bb2 4. Kg5

Now black made a fatal mistake with 4...Bc3  ?? and lost after 5. Rf7?  Bb2?? 6. Kg4 Bf6 7. Ra7 Ke5 8. Ra6 Kd5 9. Re6 . The black king is cut off along the e-file and white won as in the actual game.

From the diagram above, black had only one drawing move, 4...Kf3! White cannot
improve his position for example, 5. Rb8 Bf6+ 6. Kg6 Kf4 7. Rb4+ Kf3 ! (Not 7...Ke5 8. Rb6 and black is in zugzwang). Black is cut off on the 4th rank but this is alright as white cannot maintain this and attack the g7 pawn e.g  8. Kh5 Kg3! 9. Kg6 Kf3 10. Rb7 Kg4 (Whenever the rook attacks the g7 pawn, black just ensures that his king is around f4 or g4) 11. Rd7 Kf4 draws

Aron Teh is 2013 National Champ

Aron Teh became the 2013 National Champion winning his final game when Fong Yit San drew a winning position. After a second round loss to Li Tian he scored six wins and a draw. Congrats to Aron. I have already singled out this boy as a talent last year here. Aron also tied for first in the World Amateur as mentioned in Kevin's blog

Yit San must be pretty upset after he found out that he had a mate when he gave perpetual check. If he had won, he would have tied with Aron and possibly the better tie-break would have given the title to Yit San instead. Curiously he had plenty of time on the clock. Nerves do play a part in this game.

Fong Yit San - Muhd Syazwan

White bailed out with a draw believing he had nothing more, with checks on c6 and c7. Instead he totally overlooked a mate with 1. Bxh5+ Rxh5 2. Qc6+ Kd8 3. Rf8 mate.

Aron sacrificed two pieces for a rook and strong passed pawn on b3.

Kamin Al Kamil - Aron Teh

1....b5! cuts off the white queen. 2. e4? This must be a time pressure move 2...Qd2 3. Bc1 Qxc3 4. Nf5 Qxc1! and white could not prevent the b-pawn from queening.

Open Final Rank

In the women's section, the leader Nur Nabila suffered a defeat to Puteri Rifqah.  This did not affect the first place as Nabila already had a one point lead. Her sister, Nur Najiha drew with Teh De Zen.

Women Final Rank

Congratulations to the winners of the Open and Women!

National Closed - leader falls again

The 2013 National Chess Closed is being held in University Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu.The nine round Swiss is is held from 28th May to 2nd June with two rounds, one in the morning at 9:00 AM and the other in the afternoon at 3:00 PM. The final round will start tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM.

The leader, Wong Jianwen was defeated by Aron Teh in the pen-ultimate round. The former over-looked an exchange and he struggled into a R+P v B+P ending until ninety moves. Aron showed some good technique to bring in the full point.

Aron Teh - Wong Jianwen, Round 8

White needs to bring his king to g6 to win.

1. Rc1 Kf4 2. Rf1+ Kg4 3. Kf7 Kg5 4. Ke6 Kg4 5. Rg1+ Kf4 6. Rh1 Kg4 7. Rh8 Kf4 8. Rf8

The white rook wants to give itself for the bishop but black will have none of it

8... Bb2 9. Rd8 !

Aron sees the winning plan

9... Bf6 10. Rd5 Kg4 11. Kf7 Kg5 12. Rb5

Zugzwang! If the bishop moves, white pushes his pawn f6+ and wins

12... Kg4 13. Kg6 

Objective achieved! The next step is to drive the black king further away and capture the black pawn on g7

13... Kf4 14. Rb8 Ke4 15. Rf8 Bb2 16. Kg5 Bc3 17. Rf7 Bb2 18. Kg4 Bf6 19. Ra7 Ke5 20. Ra6 Kd5 21.Re6 Bd8 22. Kh5 Ba5 23. Kg6 Bc3 24. Re7 Bb2 25. Rxg7 1-0

As we go into the final round tomorrow morning, the lead is shared by Fong Yit San and Aron Teh with 6.5 points Incidentally these are the very two I picked  as the ones to watch for 2013 and not Mark Siew.

Following half a point behind are Wong Jianwen and Zulkifli Muhd Syazwan with six points. One of these four will be the 2013 national champion. Yeoh Li Tian dropped out of the race when he drew his eight round game. So tomorrow will be an exciting finale.


The top three pairings will decide the champion -


 

Jianwen still have a chance to be champion if he wins and Aron loses and Yit San does not win. Good luck to everyone!

There is no such excitement over at the women's section. Nur Nabila has a one point lead over Nur Najiha who in turn has a one point lead over a group of five pointers. The interest will centre on who will take the third and last qualifying spot for the Malaysian Masters.

National Closed - wide open now

The 2013 National Chess Closed is being held in University Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu.The nine round Swiss is is held from 28th May to 2nd June with two rounds, one in the morning at 9:00 AM and the other in the afternoon at 3:00 PM.

The tournament is now wide open after Wong Jianwen defeated the leader, Fong Yit San in round six. From the black side of a Sicilian Pelikan, the former started to outplay the leader in the middle-game. The following position was reached after move white's 35th move.

Fong Yit San - Wong Jianwen , round six

Fritz showed a very attractive win with 35... Bf2 36. Rxh7 (36. Qd5+ Qf7 37. Bxh7+ Kg7 38. Qg5+ Kf8 39. Qh6+ Ke7 40. Qg5+ Kd7 41.
Bf5+ Kc7 42. Rc3+ Bc5 and there are no more checks) 36... Rb1+ 37. Bxb1 Re1+ 38. Kg2 Rg1+ 39. Kh3 Qe3 mate

Black played 35...Qe7 which wins anyway.

There are now four players tied for the lead, Jianwen, Yit San, Aron Teh and Zulkifli Muhd Syazwan. The latter has been steadily improving his game. Syazwan upset Yeoh Li Tian in the six round in a equal position. Li Tian seemed determined to either win or lose the game even though objectively it was a draw at best. He succeeded in losing instead.

The pairings for the top two boards are Jianwen - Syazwan and Aron - Yit San. I think Jianwen has the best chance to take the championship. It is quite difficult to beat him. I expect a last round encounter between him and Li Tian unless the latter self-destructs again.

This morning's pairing -

Men round seven pairing

Over at the women's section, the favourites are leading. Both Nabila and Najiha has a full point lead with five points. The interest centres around who will take the third spot.

Women round seven pairing

National Closed - Two in lead

The 2013 National Chess Closed is being held in University Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu.The nine round Swiss is is held from 28th May to 2nd June with two rounds, one in the morning at 9:00 AM and the other in the afternoon at 3:00 PM.

Surprisingly, after only four rounds two players have opened a one point gap from the rest of the field. Fong Yit San defeated Yeoh Li Tian to remain on full points. A big surprise is Erowan Masrin who also won all his games to join Yit San in the lead. The other hot favourites, Sumant Subramaniam and Wong Jianwen drew their game leaving the two leaders a clear point ahead of a big group of three pointers.

In the women's section, sisters Nur Nabila and Nur Najiha lead after dropping one half point.

 

Fong Yit San - Yeoh Li Tian, round 4

Black has equalised and can now start operations against white's backward c-pawn. First he should kick away the knight with ...Rd5.

22. ... Na5 ?  23. Qd1 Rd5 24. Qg4 Nb3 ?? 25. Nxf7 and black is lost

National Closed 2013 early leaders after three rounds

In the Open section, top seed Yeoh Li Tian has full points after three rounds. He beat Mark Siew in a Pirc Defence. The other favourites, Sumant Subramaniam and Wong Jianwen dropped half points in earlier rounds. Three players are tied for the lead with Li Tian, Erowan Masrin and Fong Yit San. The latter will play Li Tian on the top board in round four.

In the Women's section, fifth seed Nithyalakshmi Sivanesan almost pulled off a big upset against Nur Najiha.  However she let Najiha off the hook with inprecise play. There are four leaders all of whom have dropped half a point. They are Nur Najiha, Nithyalakshmi, Nur Nabila and Mohd Saufi Najihah

Below are the games with some light notes.

[Event "National 2013"]
[Date "2013.05.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Yeoh Li Tian"]
[Black "Mark Siew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]


1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7

The Pirc have almost disappeared from top grandmaster practice for very good reasons. Here, Li Tian shows how difficult it is for the black side to counter white's space advantage.

 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O a6 7. a4 b6 8. Re1 Bb7 9. Bf1 e6 10. Bf4 Nc6

It does not make sense to block the bishop that is fianchettoed on b7.10...Nbd7 looks much better

11. Qd2 Re8

Black delays the counter in the centre. He is already on the edge of disaster. 11... e5 12. Be3 exd4 13. Nxd4 Re8 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Bd4 was playable

12. Rad1 Nh5 13. Bg5 f6 14. Bh6 Ne7 ?

Still refraining from challenging white's centre.

15. Bc4  Bxh6 16. Qxh6 Ng7 17. Qh3 d5 18. Bb3 Bc8 19. Qh6 Bb7 20. Qf4 Nh5 21. Qh4 Qd6 22. e5 fxe5 23. Rxe5 Nf5 24. Qg5 Nhg7 25. g4 +- Ne7 26. Qh6 c5 27. Ng5 cxd4 28. Rxe6 Qxe6 29. Qxh7+ Kf8 30. Nxe6+ Nxe6 31. Ne4 Ng8

31... dxe4 32. Bxe6 is mate

32. Qxb7 1-0



[Event "National Closed"]
[Date "2013.05.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sivanesan"]
[Black "Najiha"]
[Result "draw"]
[ECO "B42"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 b5 

Not a common reply in this line for good reason.

6. O-O Qc7 7. Qe2 d6 8. c4 !?

The reason ...b5 is not good is it gives white a target on the queen-side to weaken the black pawns.
Normally white plays 8. a4 here.

8... bxc4 9. Bxc4 Nf6 10. Nc3 Be7 11. b3 Nbd7 12. Bb2 Ne5 13. Bd3 Qa7 14. Rad1 O-O 15. Bb1 Ng6

Black gives up the bishop pair for no reason.

16. Nc6 Qc7 17. Nxe7+ Nxe7 18. Qd3 d5 19. e5 Qxe5 20. Nxd5 Qxd5
21. Qg3 Nf5 22. Qh3 Qc6

Black keeps the queen on the long diagonal in anticipation of white playing g4 to regain his piece but there is a tactical refutation for this move

23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qg4+ Kh8 25. Be4

White wins a clear exchange.

25...Qc7 26. Bxa8 Rg8 27. Qh3 Bb7 28. Bxb7 Qxb7 29. Rd3

Black has no counter-play and is totally lost.

29...e5 30. Rfd1 Nd4 31. Kh1 Qe4 32. Rg3 

Better 32. f3 Qe2 33. R3d2 Qe3 34. Qd7 Kg7 35. Qb7 White has defended
the threats on g2 and can now pick up pawns on the queen-side

32... Qc2 33. Rxg8+ Kxg8 34. Qg4+

34. Rf1 Qxa2 35. Qh6 White threatens Rc1 with mate on black's back rank, 35... Nxb3 36. Qxf6 and White is winning due to the exposed black king

34... Kf8 35. Rf1 Qxa2 36. Qc8+ Kg7 37. Qg4+ Kf8 38. Qc8+ Kg7 39. Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

White bails out with a draw