Move First Think Later !!!

I would like to share one of my game in MERDEKA Team Rapid 2007 held recently. In the 8th round (19 August 2007), my team face GILACHESS team. We manage to beat them 2.5-1.5 and i playing on 4th board won my game against Ahmad Ezran Eizra.
Actually i'm not planning to play in this round because i've just lost 2 games in a row so i thought i should take a rest. Unfortunetly, the tournament rules allow only 5 player to play with one reserve player and on that particular day one of my team member Irwan could'nt play for some reason so i could not take my really needed rest. Anyway life have to goes on so i sat down and play. Below are the game.

Analyse by Fritz and Hairulov

Ahmad Ezran Eizra - Hairul [A85]
Merdeka Rapid (Round 8), 19.08.2007

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 f5 The first time i'm playing this stonewall formation. It's good to adventure with many kind of formation. I've play King Indian, Slav, Queen Gambit Accepted and Nimzo Indian before. 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.e3 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.Bd3 Nbd7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Ne4 11.Ne1

At this point i was considering my plan . Actually i was quite tired because the reason i mention before. Without any concrete analysis, I choose to attack with 11...Rf6. I'm certain it's not the best plan but in rapid time control anything can happen! :) 11...Rf6 12.f4 Rh6 13.Nf3 Ndf6 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Nd1 g5!?

Another direct attacking move based on intuition. That's why my friend Rizal and Irwan always label me "move first , think later" :) . Objectively speaking, i think it was a correct desicion because when you play Rf6-h6 in this kind of position , you should follow with the pawn break to justify it . 16.g3 black others moves is :-

16.fxg5 Nxg5 17.Nxg5? (17.h3) 17...Qxh2+ 18.Kf2 Rg6 19.Nf3 Rxg2+ 20.Ke1 Rxc2 21.Nxh2 Rxh2 with a winning endgame; or

16.Bxe4 Nxe4 17.fxg5 Nxg5 18.Nxg5 Qxh2+ 19.Kf2 Rg6 20.Ke1 Rxg5 with a large advantage for black

16...gxf4 17.exf4 Ng4 18.Bxe4 fxe4 19.Nh4 Bd7 20.h3 Nf6 21.Kh2 Kh8 22.Rc1 Rg8 23.Ne3

This was the turning point of the game. White threaten to play Nf5 and disturb black attacking formation. I took quite a lot of time here and decided that i've to mantain the initiative. So... 23...Rxh4 !? 23...Qe6 24.f5 Qd6 25.Rg1 Rxh4 26.Qc5 Qb8 is Fritz choice but in rapid time control it's hard to find such a deep move- at my level of course :) so i just choose the obvious plan of attack . 24.gxh4 Nh5 24...Qe6 is stronger according to Fritz. 25.f5 Qd6+ 26.Kh1 Nh5 With all kind of threat. 25.Qc5 Qf6 26.Ng2

Ng3 26...Bxh3! It's a pity i cant find this winning move. 27.Kxh3 Qg6! And it mate in 1!!! 27.Rfe1 Qf5 White lost on time. 27...Bxh3! Once again but i'm sure my move is still winning. Actually i played fast because Ezran was in time pressure. 0-1

Meeting Old Friend-Richard Conrod Kimbin

Richard Conrod Kimbin

During the AMBank Chess Challange 2007, i had a pleasant surprised when i meet my old friend Richard Conrod Kimbin . It have been quiet a long time since we meet each other. As usual when old friends meet, we chat about the past . Back in 1992 and about 3o kilo's ago, we are in the same boarding school Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM), Jasin, Melaka and played together for MRSM in several tournament and inter MRSM. Richard was then playing 1st board and i played for the 4th board.

Richard was our strongest player at that time and his main rival was Irman Ibrahim who is playing 1st board for MRSM Muar, Johor. Irman was among Malaysia top player back then-having beaten Chuah Heng Meng (Penang) in one local tournament and his game were publish in local news paper.

In the Inter MRSM 1992 tournament, Richard as white have to meet Irman who if I'm not mistaken played 1.e4 Nf6 - Alekhine Defense-his pet opening! The game ended in a draw.

Interestingly, both now are no more active chess player and have been employ with local giant oil company PETRONAS (Irman) and K&M (Richard)-not sure really the full name of his company (. Richard now have a decent job with local oil company based in Rome, Italy.

DATMO 2007 Photo.

This is the remaining photo i took at DATMO 2007.

GM Zhang Zhong . I was shock to know that he is now playing for Singapore because in the last FIDE ranking he still playing for China.

GM Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh) is a chess player from Bangladesh and the second grand master of the country after Niaz Morshed.

James Constance (England)

Right : FM Lim Yee Weng (Malaysia) lost to GM Dao Tien Hai (Vietnam) in round 5 .

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave French Champion 2007!

Watch this entertaining final tie-break blitz game for the French Championship 2007 between GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and GM Vladislav Tkachiev.

Maxime won the 1st blitz game and Tkachiev had to win the 2nd game to tie the score. Unfortunately he cracked under pressure and blunder on move 31.Nxe3? where as 31.Na5 should maintain the advantage and probably enough to win the game.


Tkachiev,Vladislav (2655) - Vachier-Lagrave ,M (2595) [A29]

Championnat de France Aix-les-Bains (1),


1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Nd5 Bc5 6.d3 Nxd5 7.cxd5 Nd4 8.Nd2 [Instead of 8.Nxe5 Qe7 9.f4 d6-/+] 8...d6 9.e3 Nf5 10.Nc4 c6 11.dxc6 b5 12.Bg2 Qc7 13.Na3 a6 Secures b5 14.Nc2 0-0 15.0-0 Ne7 16.d4 Bb6 17.d5 f5 18.a4 bxa4 19.Rxa4 a5 20.Na3 Ba6 21.Re1 Ng6 22.Bf1 Bxf1 23.Rxf1 e4 24.Nc4 Bc5 [>=24...Ne5!?+/-] 25.Bd2+- Qf7 [>=25...Bb6+-] 26.Bxa5 f4 [26...Ne7 27.b4 Nxd5 28.bxc5 dxc5 29.Ne5+-] 27.exf4 [ 27.b4 keeps an even firmer grip 27...Ba7 28.exf4 e3 29.fxe3 Ne7+-] 27...Nxf4 [27...Ne7 doesn't improve anything 28.b4 Rxa5 29.Nxa5+- (29.bxc5?! is much worse 29...Rxc5 30.Nxd6 Qxd5+-) ] 28.gxf4 Qxf4 29.Bd2 [29.Kh1+- secures the point] 29...Bxf2+30.Kh1 e3 31.Nxe3?? White lets it slip away. [ 31.Na5 Qg5 32.Be1 Bxe1 33.Rxe1= (‹33.Qxe1 Qxd5+ 34.Kg1 Qg5+ 35.Kh1 Qe5-+) ] 31...Rxa4-+ 32.Ng2 Qe4 33.Bc3 Raa8 34.Qh5?? a mistake, not that it matters anymore [>=34.Bd2-+] 34...Bd4 [>=34...Bc5 and Black has reached his goal 35.Re1 Rf2-+] 35.Re1?? causes further problems for ? [>=35.Rxf8+ Rxf8 36.Bxd4 Qxd4 37.h3-/+] 35...Bxc3!-+ [35...Bxc3 36.bxc3 Ra2-+] 0-1

Chess Solved !?

This year we were surprise by an announcement made by computer scientists at the University of Alberta in Canada that their develop chess programme Chinook cannot ever lose. An opponent, no matter how skilled, practiced or determined, can at best achieve a draw. Read http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul07/5379

The most horrifying story i could ever imagine happen to our beloved game CHESS is it will suffer the same fate with checker. And it's all happen just within month after Chinook made the breakthrough. Recently I've read an article at Chessdom about a player who have managed to solved chess by defeating strong players! Read abstract of the story;-

"....I tried again, and I played a completely different opening that couldn't possibly result in such a position, but after a series of very queer-looking moves, once again I found my king surrounded, with mate to fall on the 12th move. I asked the man to wait while I ran downstairs and fetched Emmanuel Lasker, who was world champion before me. He was extremely skeptical, but agreed to at least come and play. Along the way we snagged Alekhine, who was then world champion, and the three of us ran back up to the room."

"Lasker took no chances, but played as cautiously as could be, yet after a bizarre, pointless-looking series of maneuvers, found himself hemmed in a mating net from which there was no escape. Alekhine tried his hand, too, but all to no avail....."

For full story go to http://jokes.chessdom.com/chess-solved

GM Murray Chandler beat Gary Kasparov - Twice!

GM Muray Chandler analyzing his 5th round (DATMO 2007) win against FM Mok Tze Meng (Malaysia)

In the previous article i wrote about an interesting fact that his lifetime score of two wins, no draws, no losses against Garry Kasparov. One win was in the World Under-16 Championship in 1976, and the other in a simultaneous display in 1985.

Below are both of the games:-

Murray Chandler - Garry Kasparov [B22]World Under-16 Championship, 1976
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.cxd4 e6 7.a3 d6 8.Bd3 Qa5+ 9.Bd2 Qb6 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 dxe5 12.dxe5 Be7 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Nd2 Qc7 15.Qg4 0-0-0 16.Rfc1 Kb8 17.Qc4 Rc8 18.b4 f6 19.Nf3 Qb6 20.Qe4 f5 21.Qe1 a6 22.Rab1 g5 23.Nd2 Nd4 24.Qe3 Rxc3 25.Rxc3 f4 26.Qe1 g4 27.Ne4 Bc6 28.Nc5 Ka7 29.a4 Bf3 30.a5 Qd8 31.Bc4 Bxc5 32.bxc5 Qh4 33.gxf3 gxf3 34.Kh1 Rg8 35.Qe4 Rg7 36.Qxd4 Qg5 37.c6+ Kb8 38.c7+ Rxc7 39.Rg1 Qh5 40.Rg8+ Rc8 41.Qd6+ Ka7 1-0

[Event "Simul Hamburg"]
[White "Murray Chandler"]
[Black "Garry Kasparov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 Qb6 10. c4 Bb4+ 11. Ke2 f5 12. Nf2 Ba6 13. Kf3 Ne7 14. Be3 Bc5
15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16. Qd6 Qb6 17. b3 c5 18. Rd1 Bb7+ 19. Ke3 Kf7

20. Qxb6 axb6 21. Rxd7 Bc6 22. Rd2 g5 23. Nh3 h6 24. fxg5 Ng6 25. gxh6 Nxe5 26. Be2 Rxh6 27. Nf4 Rg8 28. h3 Ke7 29. Rhd1 Ng6 30. Bf3 Bxf3 31. Kxf3 Nxf4 32. Kxf4 Rhg6 33. Ke5
1-0

IM Gary Lane In Action!

IM Gary Lane

In round 7, IM Gary Lane beat GM Muray Chandler in a very interesting game.

Australian chess player and author Gary W. Lane (born 1964 United Kingdom) is an International Master. He has written over a dozen chess books and is considered one of the leading chess authors in the world.

He became an International Master in 1987 and he won the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 1988. Also notably he was an early coach of Michael Adams.

After his marriage to Woman International Master Nancy Jones, he moved to Australia, winning the Australian Chess Championship in 2004. He has also represented Australia in the 2002 and 2004 chess olympiads. In the 2004 Olympiad he helped Australia score 2-2 draw with his former country England, scoring a spectacular win over Nigel Short.

Source : Wikipedia

Below are his game against chandler with annotation from Fritz and Hairulov

IM Gary Lane (2412) - GM Murray Chandler (2540)

[B42]DATMO 2007 (6), 22.08.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 This move is quite tricky to play against because black keep his wide option to play move such as Ne7, Nc6 ,Nf6 and Be7, Bc5 or even Bb4 later. 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Be7 According to GM John Nunn and GM Joe Gallagher in Beating The Sicilian 3, this move appears from time to time, the idea being akin to that of the...Qb6,...Qc7 ploy seen in many lines of the Sicilian, namely to force the knight to retreat from its active central post. [6...Bb6; 6...Ba7 Is another alternative.] 7.0-0 The simplest way to play. White can also try the active 7.Qg4 7...Nc6 8.Qg4 Nf6 9.Qxg7 Rg8 10.Qh6 Ne5 11.f3 b5 12.Nc3 Bb7 [12...b4 13.Nd1 d5 14.Qe3 Bb7 is alternative.] 13.Qe3 [13.Be3 Qc7+/=] 13...Qc7 14.a3 Secures b4 14...Rg6 15.Ne2 [15.f4 Nxd3 16.cxd3 d5=] 15...Bd6 [15...d5 16.Nf4 Rg8 17.exd5 Nxd3 18.Nxd3 Nxd5 19.Qf2=] 16.Nf4 [16.h3 Be7+/=] 16...Nxd3 17.cxd3 Bxf4 18.Qxf4 Qc2 19.Nd2 Qxd3 20.Rf2 d6 21.Nf1 e5 22.Qh4 22...Qb3 [22...d5!? should be considered because it open the line for the b7 bishop and treathen 23.Bg5 dxe4+/= 24.Bxf6 e3 25.Nxe3 Qxe3 regaining the piece with favourable position.] 23.Bg5+/- Qe6 Now black have to defend. 24.Rc1 Kd7 [24...h6!? Is the Fritz suggestion but who want to play a bad endgame position without any counterplay? 25.Bxf6 Qxf6 26.Qxf6 Rxf6+/- 27.Rc7 Bc8 28.Ne3 Control the d5 and f5 square and will follow with Rfc2] 25.Rfc2+- Ne8 26.Ng3 Rc8 27.Rxc8 Bxc8 28.Bd2 Bb7 29.Ba5 Qf6 30.Qxh7 [30.Qh3+ Qe6 31.Qxh7 Bc6+-] 30...d5 [30...Rh6 31.Qf5+ Qxf5 32.Nxf5 Rh7+/- (32.exf5?! Rh4+/=) ] 31.Qh3++- Qe6 32.Qh4 Qf6 33.Qxf6 Rxf6 34.exd5 Bxd5 35.Re1 Re6 36.Bc3 f6 37.Nf5 Nd6 38.Nxd6 Rxd6 39.h4 White is clear winning. 39...Ke6 40.Kf2 Rd7 41.g4 Bb7 [41...Kf7 42.g5+/-] 42.Re3 Kf7 43.Kg3 Rd1 44.h5 Rg1+ 45.Kf2 Rd1 46.Kg2 Bc6 47.Kg3 Bb7 48.Kf2 Bc6 49.Ke2 Rh1 50.Kf2 [50.b4+/=] 50...Ra1?? a transit from better to worse [50...Rd1= is the best option Black has] 51.g5! Demolishes the pawn shield 51...Rh1 [51...fxg5 Deflection from e5 52.Rxe5] 52.gxf6 Rxh5 53.Bxe5 Kg6 54.f4 Bd5 [54...Rh2+!? 55.Ke1 Rh7+-] 55.Rg3+ Kf5 56.Ke3 a5 [56...Bc4+-] 57.Kd4 Bc4 [57...Bf7 does not save the day 58.Kc5 Rh8 59.Kxb5+-] 58.Rg7 [58.a4 and White can celebrate victory 58...Ke6 59.axb5 Bxb5+-] 58...Rh8 59.Rg5+ [59.a4!? and White can already relax 59...Rd8+ 60.Kc5 Rc8+ 61.Kd6 bxa4+-] 59...Ke6 60.f5+ Kf7 [60...Kd7 there is nothing else anyway 61.Kc5 Rc8+ 62.Kb6 Ke8+-] 61.Rg7+ Kf8 [61...Ke8 does not help much 62.Re7+ Kf8 63.Bd6 Rh4+ 64.Re4+ Kf7 65.Rxh4 Kxf6 66.Ke4+-] 62.Bd6+ Ke8 63.Re7+ Kd8 64.Bc7+ [64.Kc5!? makes it even easier for White 64...Rf8 65.Ra7 Rf7 66.Be7+ Ke8+-] 64...Kc8 65.f7 [65.f7 Bxf7 66.Rxf7+-] 1-0

None Title Player Won DATMO 2007!

Li Chao from China won this year Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open (DATMO) with 9 points from 11 rounds ahead of strong field GMs and IMs. It was quite an unusual story for untitled player won a tournament with such a big name playing e.g GM Zhang Zhong, GM Utut Adianto, GM Muray Chandler, GM Dao Tien Hai and others GM and IM. In fact, the second place also won by another "untitled" player Wan, Yunguo (China).

Some of photo taken by me during the tournaments.

GM Utut Adianto (Indonesia) 7 points from 11 . Chairman of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) finding hard to compete with younger generation nowadays.

GM Murray Chandler - 6.5 points from 11 . Managing Director of Gambit publication found that selling books are easier than playing chess!

One unusual feat was his lifetime score of two wins, no draws, no losses against Garry Kasparov. One win was in the World Under-16 Championship in 1976, and the other in a simultaneous display in 1985

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Chandler

IM Jimmy Liew In Action

Below is IM Jimmy Liew (Malaysia) 2nd round win against IM Tirto (Indonesia) . The game have the same scenario like GM Dao Tien Hai lost against IM Mas. Tirto had a superior position from early stage an even a piece up on move 27. Unfortunetly he mishandled the position and made a serious mistake on move 29 that give Jimmy 5 strong connected passed pawn that was very difficult to handle.


Below are the game with annotation from Fritz and hairulov.


IM Jimmy Liew (2309) - IM Tirto (2418)
[D00]DATMO 2007 ,20.08.2007

1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 (Veresov opening, Jimmy favourites openings) Bf5 3.f3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c6 5.Qd2 Nbd7 6.g4 [6.e4 dxe4 7.Qf4 Qa5 8.0-0-0 e6 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.fxe4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bb4 12.Nge2 0-0-0 13.e5 According to Fritz Opening Books] 6...Bg6 7.e3 e6 8.h4 h5 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 [i think taking with the pawn 9...gxf6 is better because black can then break the centre with his pawn and rely on his double bishop to exploit the open position] 10.g5 Ng8 11.Nge2 Bd6 12.Bg2 Ne7 13.e4 Qb8 14.e5 Bc7 15.Nd1 b6 16.Ne3 c5 17.c3 Qc8 18.Nf4 b5 19.0-0 Bb6 20.Kh1 b4 21.Rac1 bxc3 22.bxc3 Qa6 23.Nxg6 Nxg6 24.f4 Nxh4 25.f5 Nimzovich: attack the chain at its base 25...Nxg2 26.Qxg2 Qd3 [26...cxd4 27.fxe6 fxe6 28.Nxd5 exd5 29.Qxd5+-] 27.g6 [27.Qf3!? should be investigated more closely 27...0-0 28.Rfd1-/+] 27...Qxe3-/+ 28.gxf7+ Kf8?? Black is ruining his position [28...Kxf7 29.Qg6+ Kf8 30.fxe6+ Kg8 31.Qf7+ Kh7-/+] 29.fxe6= Qh6? [29...cxd4!? is an interesting idea 30.Rce1 Qxc3 31.e7+ Kxe7 32.f8Q+ Raxf8 (32...Rhxf8 33.Qxg7+ Ke6 34.Qg6+ Kd7 35.Qd6+ Kc8 36.Qxf8+ Kb7 37.Qf5+/=) 33.Qxg7+ Ke6 34.Qg6+ Kd7 35.Qd6+ Ke8 36.Qe6+ Kd8 37.Qd6+ Ke8 38.Qe6+ Kd8 39.Qd6+ Ke8=] 30.dxc5+/= Bc7? [30...Bxc5? 31.Qxd5; 30...Qxe6 is the best option Black has 31.cxb6 axb6+/-; ] 31.c4+- Rb8?? shortens the misery for Black [31...Qxe6 32.cxd5 Qg4+-] 32.cxd5 Bd8 [32...a5 33.e7+! here's the full point 33...Kxe7 34.d6+ Kf8 35.dxc7 Rc8+-] and the notation become illegible after this move 1-0

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open 2007

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open 2007




The event took place from August 20 to 26 August 2007 at CitiTel Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It’s a 11 round open tournaments.


Players from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, England, United States, China, Philipines, Indonesia and the host country Malaysia took part in this annual events. Top GMs, IMs and others title player such as former Junior World Champion Dao Tien Hai (Vietnam), GM Utut Adianto (Indonesia), IM Gary Lane (Australia) GM Zhang, Zhong, WGM Zhang Jilin, IM Oliver Dimakiling , IM Richard B Bitoon (Philipines) , GM Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh), GM Chandler Murray (New Zealand), IM Mas, Hafizulhelmi and IM Liew, Chee-Meng-Jimmy from Malaysia.

IM Mas Hafizul Helmi


Below are the game.

[Event "DATMO 2007"]
[Date "2007.08.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "GM Dao Tien Hai"]
[Black "IM Mas Hafizulhelmi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2537"]
[BlackElo "2372"]

Analyze by Fritz and Hairulov

1. d4 d6 {Mas used his favourites opening.He has used this move to beat GM Ian Rogers before so i think he's quite comfortable with this opening. The advantage of this move is black can avoid heavy theoritical analysis in the more famous opening such as King Indian
Defense, The Slav or the Queen Indians.} 2. c4 e5 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 f5 5. g3 Be7
6. Nh3 Nf6 7. Nc3 c6 8. Bg2 O-O 9. O-O Na6 10. f3 {
This is all theory so far according to Fritz.} 10...Be6 11. d5 Qb6+ 12. Kh1 exf3 13.
exf3 Bd7 14. Nf4 Rfe8 15. b3 Nc5 16. Be3 Qc7 17. Qd2 a5 18. Rad1 Na6 19. h4 {
Dao should have play Na4 instantly to exploit the weakness on b6. He should
not afraid of Bxa4 later because it will left the e6 square for his knight.} (
19. Na4 c5) 19... g6 20. dxc6 bxc6 21. Bd4 Rf8 22. Rfe1 Qd8 23. Kh2 (23. h5)
23... Rf7 24. Na4 c5 25. Bxf6 (25. Bc3 Nb4 26. a3 Nc6 27. Bxf6 Rxf6 28. Nd5 Re6
29. Rxe6 Bxe6 30. Nxe7+ Qxe7 31. Qxd6) 25... Bxf6 26. Qxd6 {
White has won a pawn and probaly winning.} 26...Bxa4 27. bxa4 Qxd6 28. Rxd6 Nb4 29.
Ne6 Ra6 30. Rxa6 Nxa6 31. Rb1 f4 32. Rb6 ?! {
Although he still winning, Dao missed} (32. Nxf4 Bxh4 33. Bh3 Kh8 34. Rb6 Nc7 (
34... Nb4 35. Ne6) 35. Rb7 Bg5 36. Ne6) 32... fxg3+ 33. Kxg3 Ra7 {
Mas position is hopeless but his carry on playing like a real fighter!} 34. f4
Kf7 35. Bd5 Ke7 36. a3 Bc3 37. Kg4 Nc7 38. Nxc5 Bd4 39. Rc6 Bb2 40. Bg8 Ne8 41.
Kf3 Kf8 42. Bd5 Bxa3 43. Ne6+ Ke7 44. Ng5 Kd8 45. Rb6 Nd6 46. Rb8+ Kc7 47. Rh8
Kb6 48. Ne6 Re7 49. Rd8 Nf5

50. Rc8 ?? {This was the turning point of the game.
Dao let Mas a combination that instantly give black a winning position.I'm not
sure what is the real reason of this mistake. Probabaly tine trouble or just
over confident.} 50..Rxe6 51. c5+ Bxc5 52. Bxe6 Nd4+ 53. Ke4 Nxe6 54. Kd5 (54. Ke5
142 Kb7 55. Rg8 ) 54... Nxf4+ 55. Ke5 Nd3+ (55... Ng2 56. Rb8+ Ka6 57.
h5 ) 56. Kd5 (56. Ke4 Nf2+ 57. Kf3 Bd4 ) 56... Nb4+ 57. Kc4 (57. Ke6 Bf2
58. Rb8+ Kc5 59. Rb5+ Kc6 ) 57... Nc6 58. Rh8 h5 59. Re8 Ne7 {
White rooks cleary no match to black two active pieces.} 60. Rf8 Bb4 (60...
Bb4 61. Rf6+ Kc7 {And the king will march to the kingside to assist the
knight to create passed pawn on the king side and finish white completely.
Well done Mas. Although some may said Mas did'nt deserve to win this game but
he probaly a real fighter and did'nt gave up untill the last blood-More in the
spirit of MERDEKA!!!}) 0-1


GM Dao Thien Hai

Merdeka Rapid 2007

The ASTRO - IGB Merdeka Team Rapid 2007 were held from 18-19 August 2007 at CitiTel Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. 5o teams took part in this anual events. Team from Philipines, Indonesia, New Zealand and Malaysia participate.

I played for Nusa Mahkota Chess Club with my good friends Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Irwan Zulkarnain, Azizi Shukor and Rusdi Sidi. Our team finish 21st with 19 points.

Apocalypse Manila from Philipines emerged as the winner with 28 points.

below are some of the photo i took during the events.

IM Dede Liu, Fide rating 2398 (Indonesia) playing 1st board for Bhayangkara A

IM Mashafizul Helmi, Fide rating 2372 (Malaysia) playing 1st board for ASTRO

FM Sebastian Simanjuntak, Fide rating 2271(Indonesia)playing 5th board for Bhayangkara A

MAKSAK 2007 Part 2

Below are the remaining photo of MAKSAK 2007

From left;- NM Kamal Arifin, Ahmad Maliki, Azman Hashim and Hairul Abdul Hamid (Kuala Lumpur)

From left (black jacket):- Abang Mohd Reduan, Lim Kian Hwa,Martin Quek (Sarawak)

Left : Kor Bean Hwa (Pulau Pinang) Right : Ismail Ahmad (PDRM and World Police Champion!)
The arbiters lead by Mr. Ibrahim Yaakob (Centre)

Zulkifli Mat Daud-Selangor (father of NM Zarul Shazwan)

Terengganu win MAKSAK (Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-Anggota Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) 2007 –Part 2 by Hairulov

Below are the full standing after Final round

1. Terengganu
2. Perlis

3. Sarawak
4. Pahang

5. PDRM
6. Kuala Lumpur


Best Board Price

Board 1 : Abang Mohd Reduan 5.5/6 (Sarawak) (picture above)

Board 2 : Marzuki Mat 5/6 (Perlis)

Board 3 : Norazmi Mohd Nor 5/5 (Terengganu)

Board 4 : Abd Rahim Ramli 5/5 (Terengganu)


Board 5 : Azman Hisham Che Dol (father of Nabila!)2.5/3 (Kuala lumpur) (picture above)

Board 6 : Nordin Md Yamin 3/3 (Pahang)

Terengganu win MAKSAK (Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-Anggota Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) 2007

Terengganu win MAKSAK (Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-Anggota Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu 2007 ) -Part 1 by Hairulov




12.08.2007 – The Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-Anggota Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (MAKSAK) Chess, Dart and Carom tournaments finished after three days of battle at The Glory Beach Resort, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan from 10-12 August 2007. This annual event is organised this year by Jabatan PENJARA as a team event of six-round Swiss, with time controls of 1 hours to finish the game. 15 state and three government agencies compete in this annual event hosted by PENJARA .


Several top Malaysian players played at the events such as NM Kamal Ariffin, Ahmad Maliki (highest rated player) , Ismail Ahmad, Hashim Jusoh, Abang Mohd Reduan from Sarawak and seasoned and experienced players such as Kor Ben Hwa (Penang), Lim Kian Hwa (Sarawak), Rizal Ahmad Kamal and others to name a few. I played with the KL team this year with NM Kamal Arifin, Ahmad Maliki, Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Mohd Zambri, Azman Hisham (reserve) and yours truly Hairul Abdul Hamid (reserve).

(Terengganu in action vs Johor)
Terengganu emerged as the well deserved winner after they grind down each team they played except in the last round after safely secured the 1st place in the previous round, they play with their reserved and lost to Perlis 1.5-2.5. Kuala Lumpur the defending champion were gasping for breath to catch the leaders and in the 5th round it was already clear that others team have to fight for the second place. Well done Terengganu!

I’ll will bring you results, selected games and a photo’s of the tournament part by part. And for the start, how about yours truly position in the 1st round against PDRM :)

Below are the position after move 20 : (white to play and win)

The answer is as the photo below:-

21.Rxg7! and black resign 1-0 . Last chance for black is 21...Qe3 but after 22.f6 Be6 23.Rh7+ Kg8 24.Rxh6 there is no more play.

A Game with Demre Kerigan (Turkey)

Tonight i played an interesting blitz game (draw) with a young boy from Turkey , Demre Kerigan (demo05). He's 13 years old and he said that he was 1st in his age range in Turkey with a score of 7.5/9 .
He has lived 5 years in Holland and speak dutch,turkish and a little english.
His website is (in Turkish)
http://dkerigan.sitemynet.com/DEMRE/index.htm

In the game i produced a very speculative sacrifiece and found that it is the Fritz second choice move. Demre later blunder on move 26 but unfortunetly i failed to find the best continuation and only managed to draw the game.

Here are the position after white 24 move :

demo05 - hairulov
ICC Internet Chess Club, 08.08.2007

24... Bc3 !? a very speculative and interesting sacrifiece (24...Be7 is equal) 25.bxc3 bxc3 26.Nxc3?? Qxc3? missing the winning move 26...Rb8+!! 27.Kc1 (27.Ka1 Qa3 28.Qxb8 (28.Rb1 Rxb1+ 29.Nxb1 (29.Kxb1 Rf1+ 30.Rd1 Rxd1+ 31.Nxd1 Qxg3) 29...Qxg3) 28...Rxb8) 27...Qa3+ 28.Kd1 Rb1+ 29.Ke2 (29.Nxb1 Qxg3) 29...Re8+ 30.Kf2 Rxh1] the game continue for another 13 more move and ended in a draw 1/2-1/2

A Blitz Game With Joe Franks.

Tonight i played a couple of blitz games with Joe Franks from Ruislip, England.

He is 57 and a self-employed Telecoms consultant. He play much OTB nowadays.
His BCF grade is 150 which equates to an Elo of 1800 – but according to him, he only
played a few games in the last season.

His homepage can be reach at http://www.thefranksfamily.com/ - but there is no Chess in it (except some Chess magazines for sale) - mostly Holiday Photos .


The photo above is Joe at Roland Restaurant with the copy of Baron Von Kemplen's Turk Chess Automaton. According to him, he could hardly pass this cafe, without checking it out!

Ivanchuk: Chess Genius !? or Chess Madness ?!

See an interesting (humour!?)interview with Ivanchuk at http://blip.tv/file/323349

This time , he show another typical ivanchuk behaviour after winning The 8th Montreal International 2008. Watch the video above.

Ivanchuk gave an interesting interview after winning the Montreal 2007.
You should look at Ivanchuk strange behaviour during the interview. Wearing a suit and moving his head left and right and later holding his shirt button. The flowers next to him are moving all the time, probably because his leg is trembling.

His form have been so tremendous that he won several major tournaments. I am not a veteran! - said Vassily Ivanchuk in an interview for the newspaper "Komanda". The Ukrainian leading player continues his impressive winning streak after he took Capablanca Memorial and Aerosvit Foros. This time he edged World Championship participant Alexander Grischuk by half point in the 10-player rapid Pivdenny Bank Chess Cup.

Recently he won The 8th Montreal International took place 19th-28th July 2007. Vassily Ivanchuk continued his hot run of form taking clear first with 7/9.

John Henderson wrote an interesting behavior of Ivanchuk at Chessbase in 2002. here is part of the interesting stories….

….“My own personal favourite, witnessed at first hand, came at the end of the 1994 Intel Grand Prix in London after he had beaten Vishy Anand in the final. Intel had decided to go into the PR of the tournament in a big way and had presented Chucky with a large cardboard cheque (about 3 ft x 4 ft) for $30,000, which before the ceremony they had quickly written his name on it with a black marker. After the photographers had finished taking their pictures and everyone started to leave the theatre, Chucky was left alone on stage still holding the presentation cheque. Looking a bit bemused by it, he stared at it for a priceless 10 seconds or so before attempting to fold it to get it into his wallet! You could hear the organizer frantically shouting to him "No! No, Chucky! The real cheque is in the envelope inside the trophy”…

You can read the full article at http://www.chessbase.com/events/events.asp?pid=110

A game with Pete Tumborro

I play a game against Pete Tamburro on Internet Chess Club (ICC) . It was a bad game for me because Pete won it effortlessly but anyway, it’s a nice opportunity to play with some well known chess figure in USA.

Pete Tamburro, a well known chess writer, and has been named Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America a few years before. He has authored "Learn Chess from the Greats (Dover)", and has been host of chess.fm's "Openings for Amateurs" flash lecture series.

Tamburro is editor of the Kasparov Chess Foundation's three volume set on teaching chess to children. He co-hosts a web site with his youngest son, Matt, at njscf.org, Tamburro has been president of the Chess Journalists of America, co-founder and editor of "Atlantic Chess News", feature writer for "Chess Life" and "Chess Life for Kids".

Tamburro has been the weekly chess columnist for the "Newark Star-Ledger" (N.J.) since 1997 and has served as chairman of the Cramer Awards for chess journalism.

Tamburro was the US Chess Federation's nationally syndicated and award winning columnist for five years. A high school teacher for 33 years, he was also named New Jersey's Outstanding Teacher of History in 1990. He has been a successful high school and college basketball coach, and high school cross-country coach and volleyball coach.

Tamburro has taught Advanced Placement U.S. History, Cultural Anthropology, Law, World History, Future Studies and Sociology. For a number of years, Pete has been listed in "Who's Who in America". Tamburro currently teaches AP US History at the prestigious Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey.

Source : http://www.arcamax.com/

Below are the game:


PTamburro (1894) - hairulov (1885)
ICC Internet Chess Club, 06.08.2007
B53: Sicilian: 2...d6: Lines with Qxd4

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 e6 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.Qd3 0-0 11.Nd4 Bd7 [11...Qa5; 11...Rc8 12.f4] 12.f4 Qa5 13.Kb1 Rfe8 14.f5 Ng4 15.Bxe7 Rxe7 16.Qg3 Nf6 17.Qxd6 Rae8 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.e5 Ng4 20.Ne4 Qxe5 21.Qxe5 Nxe5 22.Nc5 Bc8 23.Rhe1 Ng4 24.h3 Nf6 25.Re5 Nd7 26.Nxd7 Bxd7 27.Rde1 Kf7 28.g4 Kf6 29.h4 h6 30.g5+ hxg5 31.hxg5+ Kg6 32.c4 b6 33.Kc2 Ba4+ 34.b3 Bd7 35.Kc3 a5 36.a3 Rc8 37.b4 axb4+ 38.axb4 Ra8 39.Kb3 Ba4+ 40.Kc3 Bd7 41.Nxe6 Bxe6 42.Rxe6+ Rxe6 43.Rxe6+ Kxg5 44.Rxb6 Kf4 45.Rg6 Ra7 [45...Rg8 does not save the day 46.c5 Kf5+-] 46.c5 Kf5 47.Rg2 g5 [47...Ke6+- is the last straw] 48.Kc4 g4 [48...Ke6 does not win a prize 49.Re2+ Kd7 50.b5 Ra4+ 51.Kd5+-] 49.Kd5 Kf4 50.Kc6 Kf3 51.Rb2 g3 52.b5 g2 [52...Rg7 does not solve anything 53.b6 g2 54.Rxg2 Rxg2 55.Kb7 Rg7+ 56.Ka6+-] 53.Rb1 [53.Rxg2 and White can already relax 53...Kxg2 54.b6 Ra4+-] 53...Kf2 [53...Rh7 a fruitless try to alter the course of the game 54.Rg1 Rh1 55.Rxg2 Kxg2 56.b6+-] 54.b6 Ra2 [54...Re7 doesn't get the bull off the ice 55.b7 Re8 56.Rb2+ Kf3 57.Rxg2 Kxg2 58.Kd7+-] 55.b7 Rb2 [55...g1Q desperation 56.Rxg1 Kxg1+-] 56.Rxb2+ [56.Rxb2+ Ke3 57.b8Q Kf3 58.Rb3+ Ke4 59.Rb4+ Kd3 60.Qg3+ Kc2 61.Qxg2+ Kc3 62.Qb2+ Kd3 63.Qa3+ Ke2 64.Rb2+ Kd1 65.Qa1#] 1-0