IM Mas Games at The 1st Saturday, Budapest ( GM Tournament) !

Below are some of IM Mashafizul games at the recent 1st Saturday, Budapest, Hungary GM Tournament which start from 5th July 2008.

Round 1

IM Mas lost his first game to Hungarian IM David Berces.

Berces,David (2458) - Mas,Hafizulhelmi (2386) [E14]
First Saturday 2008 july GM Budapest (Round 1), 05.07.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Bb7 7.e3 d6 8.Be2

IM Mas (left) against IM David Berces (right)

8... Nbd7 9.0–0 0–0 10.b4 a5 11.Bb2 Qe7 12.Qc2 Ne4 13.Rfd1 f5 14.d5 e5 15.Nd2 Nxd2 16.Qxd2 Ra7 17.f4 Re8 18.Bh5 Rea8 19.Bf3 e4 20.Be2 Nf6 21.h3 axb4 22.axb4 Bc8 23.Bd4 Bd7 24.Qb2 Kf7 25.Rxa7 Rxa7 26.Ra1 Rxa1+ 27.Qxa1 Qd8 28.Qa7 Kg6 29.Bd1 h6 30.Bb3 Be8 31.Qb7 Bf7 32.Ba4 h5 33.Bc6 Bg8 34.Kf1 Bf7 35.Ke2

IM Mas (right) in a difficult position . He was considering his 35th move and later choose 35.. h4

35...h4 36.Kd2 Kh7 37.Kc2 Bh5 38.Kd2 Bf7 39.Bxb6 cxb6 40.Qxf7 Kh6 41.Kc2 g6 42.Kb3 Ng8 43.Be8 Ne7 44.Qf8+ Kh7 45.Bxg6+ 1–0

Round 3

In round 3, Mas draw against China's prodigy - Hou Yifan. She is currently China's youngest ever Women's National Champion. Yifan is no. 4 on the July 2008 FIDE rating list for women and No.1 on the July 2008 FIDE rating list for girls !


Hou,Yifan (2557) - Mas,Hafizulhelmi (2386) [B90]
First Saturday 2008 July GM Budapest (Round 3), 07.07.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a4 Nc6 7.Be2 e5 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.f4 a5 10.0–0 Qb6+ Fritz 11 theory book gave 10...Be7 11.Kh1 Be7 12.Qe1 0–0 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.Qg3 Qc7

Hou Yifan (right) in the process of executing 15.Bh6 against IM Mas in round 3

15.Bh6 Ne8 16.Bc4 I didn't like this move. Ok, some of you may argue that who am i to question Yifan move but you know...i'm a self estimated 2000 FIDE rated player equip with the dreaded Fritz 11 :) . The reason is the move seem to lose a tempo ( or half tempo) because after 16...Ba6 white is more or less force to capture the bishop on a6. The funny think is Fritz 11 actually suggest 16.Bc4...so maybe i'm wrong here but what dou you think? 17.Bxa6 Rxa6 18.Nd1 Rb6 19.b3 Rb4 20.Nf2 f6 21.Bd2 Rb8 22.Nd3 Rf7 23.Bc3 Bf8 24.h3 c5 25.Qe1 c4 26.Bxa5 Qc6 27.Nb4 Bxb4 28.Bxb4 Rfb7 29.c3 cxb3 30.Qd1 Qxe4 31.Qxb3+ Kh8 32.Rad1 Qc6 33.Qa2 Rd7 34.a5 Nc7 35.Rxd7 Qxd7 36.Qe2 Rd8 37.Ra1 h6 38.a6 Ra8 39.a7 Ne6 40.Qg4

IM Mas (right) planning 40...Qc6

40...Qc6 41.Rd1 Ng5 42.Qd7? a mistake that cost half a point for Yifan. She should have play 42.Rd7! threteaning 43.h4 with mating attack on g7 and should have won the game. 42...Qb6 ! believe ot or not, black already have the draw here and white will have serious problems to protect her strong outside passed pawn on a7 ! 43.Ra1 Ne4 44.Qd5 Rxa7 45.Rxa7 Ng3+ 46.Kh2 Nf1+ ½–½

Both players agreed to share the points after Mas play the perpectual 46...Nf1+ .

Round 5

In the 5th round, Mas beat beat Hungarian FM Ervin Toth.

Mas,Hafizulhelmi (2386) - Toth,Ervin (2409) [C05]
First Saturday 2008 july GM Budapest (4), 08.07.2008

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 According to IM Byron Jacobs in his book Starting Out: The French (everymanchess) , this move was popularized by the famous 70's GM - Oleg Romanishin, mainly as a hobby or eccentricity! It has taken the efforts of the creative Russian GM Alexander Morozevich to show that it is a viable system. Nowadays it's accepted as a standard variation for black. The idea is that in the more popular variation 3...Nf6 white can estabilsh a strong center after 4. e5 but after 3...Be7, 4.e5 isn't attacking a knight and if white still choose to play it black can attack d4 straight away for example 4. e5 c5 5.c3 Nc6. 4.Ngf3 Nf6 black play it anyway so 5.e5 Nfd7 ok so what have black achieve? The different is white have already block his f pawn with his knight after 4.Ngf3 so black has avoid the move f4 central clamp by white which usualy play to strengthen white center. Complicated Huh! 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.0–0 g5 9.dxc5

9...Ndxe5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Nb3 Nxd3 12.Qxd3 e5 13.Qe2 Qc7 14.Re1 e4 15.Qh5 h6 16.h4 Qe5 17.Be3 Rg8 18.f4

18...Qg7 19.Bd4 Qg6 20.Qxg6 Rxg6 21.fxg5 hxg5 22.c4 dxc4 23.h5 Rh6 24.Na5 Be6 25.Nxb7 Bd5
26.Nd6+ Bxd6 27.cxd6 Rxh5 28.Rad1 g4 29.Kf2 g3+ 30.Kxg3 Kd7 31.Kg4 Rh6 32.Kf4 Rg6 33.g4 Kxd6 34.g5 Ke6 35.Re3 Rb8 36.Ra3 Rb7?? a blunder. 36...Rb5 would have hold. Now black will lost a piece after 37.Ra6+ Kd7 38.Bf6 38....Rb5 39.a4 Rc5 40.Ke5 and black will lose the d5 bishop 1–0

photo from http://www.firstsaturday.hu/