FM Mok Win ! IM Mas Lost :(

FM Mok Tze Meng (right) won his first game in the GM Tournament B after beating Indonesian FM Syarif Mahmud on the 6^th round of the 1st ASEAN Chess Circuit yesterday. This win could be the morale boost for Mok after only collecting ½ points from the previous 5 round. His standing have also improved from last place to 10 place ( 2 place higher) .

Analyze by Hairulov and Fritz

FM Syarif Mahmud (2344) - FM Mok Tze Meng (2346)
1st ASEAN Chess Circuit, Tarakan, Round 6, 14.1.2008

The position would be equal after 37.Qf1 but Syarif blunder with

37.Qc4?? throws away the game 37.Qf1 threatening (38.Bf5+) 37...Re8 (37...e2? 38.Qb1+) 38.Qb1+ Kh8 39.Re4! This was the main idea and very hard to find. Black queen is too burden with defensive duty. 39...Rxc8 (39...Qxe4?? 40.Qxe4 Rxc8 41.Bxc8 e2 42.Qe8+ Kh7 43.Bf5#) 40.Rxe5 Bxe5 41.Bxc8= e2 42.Qe1 Rd1 43.Kf2 Bd4+ 44.Kxe2 Rxe1+ 45.Kxe1 b6 The different colour bishop ending should lead the game into a draw although white have extra pawn. 37...e2–+ 38.Bxe2 Qxe2 0–1

Unfortunately in GM Tournament A, our GM hope IM Mashafizul (2382) failed to create an upset against GM Zhang Zhong (2617) when he lost in round 6 again the top seed. I hope that he could perform better for the next games because there’s 3 more GM waiting for him in the next round - GM Susanto Megaranto (2563), World youngest GM- Wesley So (2526), and Pilipino legendary GM - Eugene Torre (2519)!