Blast from the past - Collin Madhavan - Jax Tham (1983 Malaysia First Rated Tournament)

I found an interesting game from a chess column in  Malay Mail dated way back in 1983. It feature a game between two well known chess player in local scene - Jax Tham and Collin Madhavan. Jax  is till playing regularly in local chess tournament and he is the owner of the Excell Chess Academy (ECA) in Jalan Kelang Lama, Kuala Lumpur.

The photo in your right is Jax - 27 years ago ...with still a lot of dark black hair !


Collin Madhavan vs Jax Tham Tick Hong
First Malaysian Rating Tournament 1983


Analysed by Hairulov and Rybka 3

 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 

Sicillian Schevenikov - this opening is quite popular in the 90`s. The top players who used to play this opening regularly is Peter Leko and Kramnik. Unfortunately for Kramnik, he  prefer to use the "Super Boring" Petroff Defense nowadays. 


6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Bxf6 gxf6 9. Na3 Be6 10. Nc4 Rc8 11. Ne3 Bh6 12. Ned5 Nd4 13. Bd3 Rg8 14. Qh5 Rg6 Both player are following theory till this move. They must have been a chess book worm in those days. I mean in 1983 there`s no internet, computer is rare (especially for chess usage) so the only possible chess source is from printed document like book, magazine and newspaper.  


15. Ne3 Theory recommend 15. h3 Kd7 16. Kf1 Rc6 17. a4 Qg8 18. a5 Qg7 19. g3 Kd8 20. Kg2 Bf4 21. Rag1 Rg5


15... Qa5 15... Qb6!  looks stronger for e.g  16. Rb1?? Rxc3


16. O-O Bf4 17. g3 Kd7 Jax gave room for his other rook (Rc8) to join the fun!

18. Kh1 Rh6 19. Qd1 Rg8?! Good idea but the timing is not right. Best is taking the knight on e3 with   19... Bxe3 20. fxe3 Nc6


20. gxf4 20. Nf5! is best and black will found it difficult to continue his attack


20... exf4 21.Ned5 ? The best reply according to Rybka is to sacrifice the white`s queen with 21. Nf5! Bxf5 22. exf5 Rg2 (22... f3 23. Rg1 Qe5 24. Rg3 Rxg3 25. fxg3 Qxg3 26. Qg1) 23. Kxg2 f3+ 24. Qxf3 (24. Kh1?? Qe5) 24... Nxf3 25. Kxf3 


21... Bh3 22. Nxf4?? It`s mate on 8 (maximum) according to the tin monster -  22. Rg1 Rxg1+ 23. Qxg1 Rg6 24. Nxf4 Rxg1+ 25. Rxg1 Be6 26. a3 Qe5 27. Nfd5 Nf3 28. Rg3 Ne1 29. Rg7 h5 30. f4 Qd4 31. f5 Bxd5 32. Nxd5  

22... Qg5  22... Bg2+ $1 23. Nxg2 Rxh2+ 24. Kxh2 Qg5 25. Bb5+ axb5 26. Qg4+ Qxg4 27. Nf4 Qxf4+ 28. Kh3 Qh6#


23. Rg1 Bg2+ 23... Qxf4 also win


24. Rxg2 Qxf4 25. Rg3 If 25. Qf1 Rxg2 26. Qxg2 Nf3 27. h3 Rg6 28. Nd5 Rxg2 29. Kxg2 (29. Nxf4 Rh2#) 29... Nh4+ 30. Kg1 Qg5+ winning


25... Rxh2+ 26. Kxh2 Qxf2+ 27. Kh1 Qxg3 0-1