Mashafizul at the 8th Asian Continental 2009 , Philipines

IM Mashafizul continue his quest for GM norm in the ongoing Asian Continental held in the Philipines starting from 13th May till 23rd May 2009. 

After 3 round, Mas has collected 1 points. In the 1st round, he lost to Indian GM - Abhijeet Gupta  (FIDE 2530)  - last year World Junior Champion. 

In round 2 and  he drew against Vietnamese CM Nguyen Hoang Nam ( FIDE 2270) and Philipines IM -  Ronald Bancod ( FIDE 2370) 

In round 4 tommorow , he is being paired against host player - Deniel Causo (FIDE 2367).

Below is his 1st round game against last year World Junior Champion - GM Abhijeet  Gupta (2570)  from India. 

IM Mashafizul Helmi ( 2425) vs GM Abjiheet Gupta ( 2570)

Asian Continental , Round 1, 13.5.2009

1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. c4 e6 7. Qe2 Be7 8.

dxe6 fxe6 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. Ne5 Qd6 11. Nxc6 Qxc6 12. Nc3 O-O-O

13. d3 Rhe8 14. Be3 Bd6 15. O-O-O e5 16. f5 e4 17. Nb5 Bb8 18. d4 a6 19. Nc3

cxd4 20. Bxd4 Bc7 21. g4 e3 22. Rhf1 h6 23. h3 Ne4 24. Nxe4 Qxe4 25. Bc3 Bf4

26. Rd5 Rxd5 27. cxd5 Re7 28. Rd1 Rc7 29. d6 Rc6 30. a3 Kd7 31. Rd3 b5 

Although Mas is  a pawn up,  black control the game and  black's  e3 passed pawn is a real threat. 

32. Kd1? The correct move is 32. Kb1 heading to a more safe heavan at a2. Then if 31...Rxd6 33. Kc2 Qa4+ 34. Kb1 Qe4 35.Kc2 =  and white could defend the position   32...Qh1+ 33. Kc2 Qe4 34. Kd1?  The correct move is freeing the king from being pinned with  34. Kb3 Qc4+ 35. Kc2 Qe4 =  34... a5 35. Be1?? maybe Mas is in serious time trouble here   35... Qa4+ 0-1  after 36. b3 Qxa3 ...white could resign already.