Mas First Win In The 1st ASEAN Chess Circuit 2008 !!

GM Tournament A

IM Mashafizul (2382) gained his first win in the 1^st ASEAN Chess Circuit held at Tarakan, Indonesia after beating the host country player FM KOSASIH Cecep (2408) in the 5^th round . With 3 points he is now sharing the second place with Indonesia IM Nathanael Situru who have the same point. They are trailing the top seed Singaporean GM ZHANG Zhong (2617) – originally from China – who is leading with 3.5 points and one game less!

So far Mas has a stable performances but he still haven’t meet the top 3 seeded such as GM Zhang Zong, host player GM Megaranto Susanto (2563) and Pinoy world youngest Grandmaster - Wesley So (2526). Could he held them? I hope so. Mas have beaten top GM’s like Victor Korchnoi and Ian Rogers before so if he believe in himself I think he can do it! Go Mas!

Two upset happen in the 5^th round after host player IM Nasib Ginting beat the legendary Pinoy GM TORRE Eugenio (2519). But Torre lost was pay back by his fellow country man GM Wesley So (2526) – world youngest GM who beat Indonesia top seed GM Megaranto Susanto (2563).

GM Tournament B

Meanwhile another Malaysia representative FM Mok Tze Meng continue his slump performances in GM group B tournaments when he lost to Armenian IM NADANIAN Ashot (2431) in the 5^th round. He now only managed to collect 0.5 point so far after 5^th round to share the last place with Indonesia young hope-WIM SUKANDAR Irine (2266). Lack of tournaments play must be Mok main reason of his poor performances .

Pinoy GM Mark Paragua is leading the B group with 4 points so far.

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Below are the Mas game with analysis by Hairulov and Fritz.

IM HAFIZULHELMI,Mas (2382) - FM KOSASIH,Cecep (2408) [B92]
ASEAN Masters Chess Circuit 2008 Round 5, 12.01.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg5 0–0 9.Qd3 Nbd7 10.0–0 Qc7 11.a4 b6 12.Rfd1 Bb7 13.f3 Fritz opening book suggest 13.Rac1 Rac8 14.Bg4 Rcd8 15.Bxd7 Qxd7 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.Qxd5 Qc7 13...h6 14.Bh4 Rac8 15.Rac1 Rfd8 16.Bf2 Nf8 A wild continuation suggest by Fritz involving a queen sacrifice by white ! 16...d5!? 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 Bxd5 19.Nxd5 Qd6 20.Nxb6 Qc7 21.Nd5 17.Qe3 White pressure black weak spot at b6 17...N6d7 Black is planning to put his night at f4 but i seem to slow. Probably black should break the center with 17...d5!? 18.h4 Ne6? The decisive mistake by Cecep that cost him a pawn and the game. Black simply forgot the Nd5 fork. 18...Nc5!? should be better 19.Bxa6!± Nf4 19...Bxa6? failed to 20.Nd5 Qb8 21.Nxe7+ Kh7 22.Nxc8+- 20.Nb5 Qb8 21.Bxb7 Qxb7 22.Nxd6 Qc6? Another mistake by Cecep giving his rook when 22...Bxd6 23.Rxd6 Rc6+- would be more stubborn. 23.Nxc8+- Rxc8 24.g3 Nh3+ 25.Kg2 Nxf2 26.Qxf2 Qxa4 27.Ra1 Qc6 28.Ra7 Cecep resign as his position is quite hopeless. Possible continuation would be 28.Ra7 Rc7 29.Rxc7 Qxc7 30.Qd2+- 1–0