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

Blast From The Past: NM Kamal Abdullah vs IM Jimmy Liew (1992)

I found one interesting game of two strong local players from my chess friend (Ilhamuddin ) newspapers cutting book. It was a 1992 Merdeka Inter State team tournament game publish in local newspaper about 16 years ago !

At that time, IM Jimmy Liew (left) and NM Kamal Abdullah (right) is the man to beat in local circuit. Nowadays both are still playing especially Kamal Abdullah but the emerging of many young and new players make life "quiet difficult" to both of them. Still Kamal won a few tournaments recently and it shows that he can still "teach" a lesson or two to some young players and... of course...to the "old" players too.

Nowadays with the helps of "friend" like - Mr.Fritz 11, we could look back at past games from the pre-internet age and search for improvement or missed opportunity. In Kamal-Jimmy game below, Fritz found an interesting saving move on move 16 ! Lets have a look.


NM Kamal Abdullah (Johor) - IM Jimmy Liew (KL) [C02]
Merdeka Open 1992

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nh6 8.Bxh6? This can be called a " high level" opening traps because black compensation is not that obvious. 8...Qxb2 9.Bd2 Qxa1 10.Qb3 Nxd4 11.Bb5+ Kd8 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.0–0 Qxe5 14.Re1 Qd6 15.Nc3 Be7 ?!
better is 15...Bd7 offering an exchange or white has to slow down his attack by retreating his bishop 16.Na4? According to Fritz, white can save the game with a brilliant combination starting with [16.Nxd5!! A brilliant sacrifice. 16...exd5 (The problem after 16...Qxd5 is white can play a strong but "silent" reply with 17.Rd1!! Qxb3? (Black best reply is 17...b6 18.Bf4 Bb7 19.Rxd5+ Bxd5 Although white still have slight advantage of having an active queen compare to black pair of rook) 18.Ba5# checkmate) 17.Rxe7 Kxe7 (17...Qxe7 18.Qxd5+ Kc7 (18...Bd7 19.Qxb7) 19.Bf4+ Kb6 20.a4 and black king is in trouble ) 18.Bb4 Rd8 ] 16...Bd7 0-1 White resign. Possible continuation is 17.Nc5 Qxc5 18.Bxd7 Qb6 19.Qa4 Qa6 20.Ba5+ b6 21.Qc6 Rb8

Blast From The Past

Recently i found that Ian Udani is winning local tournament after tournament. This remind me of the late Agus Salim - a Indonesian who is a Malaysian permanent resident. Agus dominated local chess scence during the 80's and 90's. Agus did the same as what Ian is doing - winning tournament after tournament ( especially local rapid tournament) .

However, sometimes local player manage to beat as what Azhari Md Noor ( a strong retired local chess player) did 15 years ago.


Agus Salim - Azhari Md Noor [B33]
Kejohanan Terbuka Bestari 1993 (Rapid) (5), 1993

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Bc4 b5 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Ne2 Be7 12.Qd3 0–0 13.0–0 d5 14.Bxf6 Rxf6 15.Rad1 d4 16.Kh1 Qf8 17.f3 Rd8 18.Nb1 Nb4 19.Qb3 Rh6 20.f4 Qf6 21.f5 Qh4 22.h3 Qxe4 23.f6 Bxf6 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.Ng3 Qd5 26.Qxd5 Nxd5 27.Nf5 Rh5 28.c3 Rxf5 29.Rxf5 Ne3 30.Rxf6 gxf6 31.Rd3 Kg7 32.Nd2 Nc4 33.Ne4 Nxb2 34.Rg3+ Kh8 35.cxd4 exd4 36.Nd2 d3 37.Rf3 Nc4 38.Rf2 Re8 39.Kg1 Re1+ 40.Kh2 Rc1 41.Ne4 0–1