Ooi vs Mok 3rd game, Malaysian Masters (Quarterfinal): Mok Win Game 3 and the Match !

The 3rd game resume today at 9.30 a.m. Ooi Chern Ee is in difficult situation where he has to win both games ( 3rd and 4th) to tied and play the tie-break to proceed to the semifinal stage. His opponent- Mok just only need a draw. Below is the game LIVE from DATCC !

The 3rd Game : FM Ooi Chern Ee (left) vs. FM Mok Tze Meng(right)

FM Ooi Chern Ee vs. FM Mok Tze Meng

Malaysian Masters (Quarterfinal), Game 3, 9.8.09

1.d4 g6 Mok stay loyal with his Mokdern Defense. He played the same opening in game 1 . 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.Nc3 e5 5.Nge2 Nc6 6.Be3 Nh6 7.f3 f5 8.d5 Ne7 9.Qd2 Nf7 10.g3 So far so theory according to Fritz opening book 10...h5

Quite an aggressive move by Mok. Fritz opening book suggest 10...0-0 or 10...c5 . Now white probably will castle queen side to avoid Mok's king side pawn armada. 11. h4 fxe4 12. Nxe4 Nf5 13. Bg5 13.Bf2 keeping the bishop is an option 13...Nxg5 14. hxg5 Qe7 15.0-0-0 as expected Ooi castle on queen side. Mr.Hamid Majid the arbiter in charge for this match said Ooi mentioned to him before game 3 that the score will be 3-0 to Mok or 2-2 ! 15...Bd7 16.Bh3 0-0-0 17.Qd3 Kb8 18.Kb1 Ooi's plan is clear. He will clear the c1 square for the rook and then he will push c4-c5 to open lines towards black defense. 18...a6 19.N2c3 h4 20.g4 Nd4 21.Bg2 Rdf8 22.Rh3

I wonder why Ooi didn't proceed with the idea of playing Rc1 and later push the pawn to c5. Probably the move 19.N2c3 distract that idea. 22... Rf7 23. Rdh1 Rhf8 Mok offer his h-pawn for Ooi's f3 pawn which...24. Rf1 Ooi reject 24...Rh8 25.Qe3 Rf4 Mok have 22 minutes to reach move 4o while Ooi have 49 minutes. (correction : there's no 40 moves time limit . They actually play 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment till finish)

Mok (standing) waiting Ooi to play his 26th move

26.Qe1 Rhf8 27.Qd1 Rh8 Both player seems to focus around h4 and f3 pawns 28.Re1 c5 29.a4 b5 Fritz didn't like this move. 30.axb5 axb5 31.cxb5Now Ooi is a pawn up. Black can't simply get the pawn with 31...Nxb5? because of 32.Qb3 1... Kb7 32. Qa4?! Ra8 33. Qc4 Rxe4! 34. Nxe4 if 34...fxe4 then 35.Qxg5 34...Bxb5 35. Qc3 Kb6 36. Kc1 Ra437. Kd1 Rc4 38. Qa3 Ba4+ 39. Kd2 Rc2+

Mok(left) after playing 39...Rc2+

40. Ke3 40...Qf7?! Mok missed the clear winning move 40... Rxg2! 41.Qxa4 Nc2+ 42. Kd3 Nxe1+ Probably Mok want to get rid white's queen because psychologically it's difficult to play without queen when your opponents have one ! Update : After the game, Mok told me that he reject 40...Rxg2! because after 41.Qxa4 Nc2+ 42.Kd3 Nxe1 he was afraid if white have desicive check with Qc6+ . However what he probably missed during his time trouble is he can actually win more easily after 43.Kc3 Rc2+ 44.Kb3 Qb7 ! and he don't have to worry about the Qc6+. anymore 41. Qxa4 Qf4+ 42. Kd3 c4+ 43. Qxc4 Rxc4 44. Kxc4 Qf7 45. Nc3 Qf4 46. Kd3 Qxg5 47. Ne4 Qe7 48. Rhh1 Qb7 49. Nc3? Qa6+ 50. Ke3 Nc2+ 51. Kf2 Nxe1 Ooi lost more material 52. Rxe1 Qd3 53. Bf1 Qd4+ 54. Kg2 Qf4 55. Ne4 h3+ 56.Kf2 Qh2+ 57. Ke3 Bh6+ 57...Qg1+ 58.Kd2 h2+ is probably stronger 58. g5 Qf4+ 59. Kf2 Bxg5 60. Ra1 Qh2+ 61. Ke1 Bh4+ 62. Kd1 Qxb2 63. Ra6+ Kc7 64. Rc6+ Kb8 65. Bxh3 Qb1+ 66. Ke2 Qe1+ 67. Kd3 Qd1+ 68. Ke3 Qe1+ 69. Kd3 Qd1+ 70. Ke3 Qe1+ 71. Kd3 Qd1+ Both player must have miscalculated. Mok actually can claim a draw based on three fold repetition. Probably Mok is confident that he's winning anyway 72. Kc4 Qe2+ 73. Kb4 Be1+ 74. Ka4 Now it's mate in three 74...Qa2+ 75. Kb5 Qb3+ 76. Ka6 Qa4+ 76...Qb7++ is faster but it's mate anyway after ...77. Kb6 Qa5++ Checkmate 0-1 Mok win the game and the match .