ASIAN AMATEUR OPEN and WOMEN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2011

Folks

I am proud to inform everyone that Malaysia will be hosting the ASIAN Amateur Open and Women Chess Championship 2011 to be held in Crown Plaza Mutiara Hotel Kuala Lumpur from 25^th November until 1^st December 2011. The 9 round Swiss event is offering a prize fund of USD 7,000 with USD 1,500 set aside for the winner. Women and Unrated players are entitled to win additional prize of up to USD 400 if they finished first in their category.

This is an ASIA level event sanctioned by the ASIAN Chess Federation and the winner will have the rights to be crowned as the best Amateur player in ASIA. The Open section offers 9 main prizes and both the Women and Unrated category offers 4 additional prizes.

Information brochure for the event can be viewed at www.chess-malaysia.com/AmateurInvite.pdf

Registration form can be downloaded at www.chess-malaysia.com/AmateurRegister.pdf

For additional information or clarification, please respond to this email or SMS/call +6016 338 2542.

Thank you and Warm Regards

Najib Abdul Wahab

Program Manager/Coordinator

Tel: +6016 338 2542

Email: najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com

Web: http://www.chess-malaysia.com

Blog: http://datcchess.blogspot.com

Breaking News : Malaysian Open 2009 is On !

Malaysian Open 2009 is on! Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) official - Abdul Hamid Majid (photo right) announce in BERNAMA.com that Malaysian Open will be held this year. This should be a great news for local chess fan and if all happen according to plan, four international chess tournaments ( Commonwealth Chess Championship, KL Open , Malaysian Open and ASEAN Age Group) will be held in Malaysia this year !

Read the full article in BERNAMA.com here

Blast From The Past : Kamal Abdullah - Alexander Wohl 1/2-1/2 : 1992 Commonwealth Chess Championship, Bangi, Malaysia !

Thanks to NM Kamal Abdullah (photo left) for his valuable game and details of his past game in the 1992 Commonwealth Chess Championship held in Bangi. . Below an excerpts from his email :-

..."Salam Hairul,

The Commonwealth Chess Championship 1992 was held from the 22nd May (my b’day) to the 2nd June at the Multi Purpose Hall, Petronas Sports Complex, Bangi.

I played rather well with losses to GM Anthony Miles and GM William Watson only before the final round, which I needed to win to gain an IM norm! I played IM Sundhakar Babu (2365-IND). The pressure was tremendous and played real badly, despite having the white pieces. Could not sleep the night before thinking about the norm!

I was happy with the way I played before the last round game of course. Wins against WGM Susan Arkell (ENG), and draws against Alex Wohl (AUS), IM Ravi Lanka (IND). My performance rating was 2406.. (I was at that time 2205)".....

Kamal – Alex Wohl Round 6 – Alekhine Defense (maybe you and Fritz can analyze this)"...

I'm honoured to analyse it Kamal ! - Hairulov

Mohd Kamal Abdullah (2205) - Alexander Wohl (2280) [B04]
Commonwealth Chess Championship, Bangi, Malaysia (Round 6), 1992

Analysed by Hairulov and Fritz 11

1.e4 Nf6 The Alekhine Defense. This opening is not only weird in it appearance but the pronunciation also . Normal chess player will pronounce it as Alehain but my old chess friend said that it's actually -Alekin. 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 c6 5...dxe5?! Is dubious because 6.dxe5! c6 7.Nc3 Be6 not (7...Nxc3?? 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Qxd8) 8.Ng5± 6.0–0 Bg7 In Round 4, Wohl play the weak 6...Bg4?! against IM William Watson 7.exd6 Qxd6 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Bg7 10.Nc3! e6 (of course not 10...Bxd4? 11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.Bxd5) 11.Ne4 Qc7 12.Bb3 0–0 13.c4 Ne7 14.Bf4± With large advantage to white however Wohl managed to draw the game. 7.Bb3 Kamal prepared for c4 push. The main line is 7.exd6 Qxd6 7...0–0 8.c4 Nc7 9.h3 dxe5 10.dxe5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1

The game has been simplified. 11...Ne6 12.Bd2 Na6 13.Bc2 Rd8 14.Na3 Bd7 15.b4 Be8 16.Bc3 Rdc8 17.Be4 Kamal is trying to exploit black weak pawns on the queen side mainly b7 and c6 . 17...Rab8 18.Nc2 Nac7 19.a4 h6 20.Ne3 Ng5 21.Nxg5 hxg5 22.Bf3 Rd8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Rd1 ½–½ There's no clear advantage for both side so draw is the fair result for both player.

Commonwealth Chess Champion 1992, Bangi, Malaysia !

As you all know, i'm collecting information about the 1992 Commonwealth Chess Championship which was held in Malaysia. This is as a build up for this year Commonwealth Chess Championship which was unofficially announced to be held in Malaysia !

Thanks to my friend Rizal and a newspaper cutting from Ilhammudin which gave me a valuable info about The 1992 Commonwealth Chess Champion which was held at the Kompleks Sukan PERMATA (PETRONAS Training Unit), Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor.

According to Rizal, he got 8 out of 9 of the 1992 tournament bulletins which consist about 220 from 320 games. Unfortunately he didn't have the round 9 bulletin.

Below are the details i got so far:-

Venue : Kompleks Sukan PERMATA , Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor.

Date : 22 May 1992 - 2 June 1992

Format : Swiss 9 round

Participants :- 50 ( 25 local players)

1. GM Julion Hodgson (2580) - England
2. GM Anthony Miles ( 2565) - England
3. GM William watson (2535) - England
4. GM Mihail Suba (2520) - Romania
5. GM Joe Gallagher (2510) - England

6. GM Stuart Conquest (2505) - England
7. IM Darryl Johansen (2485) - Australia
8. IM Pravin Thipsay (2485) - India
9. IM Collin McNab (2475) - Scotland
10. IM D V Prasad (2415) - India
11. IM Lanka Ravi (2375) - India
12. IM N. Sudhakar (2365) - India
13. Alexander Wohl (2280) - Australia
14. WGM Susan Arkell - England
15. Deborah Cooper - Wales

Local Players

1. Mohd Kamal Abdullah (2205)
2. WIM Audrey Wong (2020)
3. Mok Tze Meng (2000)
4. David Chin
5. Wendy Lai
6. Mohd Zaini Hamid

Any additional info is welcome and can be send to my email hairulov@gmail.com

Commonwealth Chess Champion 1991 or 1992 in Kuala Lumpur/Bangi ?

As a build up for the 2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship which will be held in Kuala Lumpur this July, i will try to share some info about the past Commonwealth Chess Championship held in Kuala Lumpur in the early 90's. Unfortunately there's no ( so far) valuable info about the tournament in the Internet. According to Mr. Muhammad Arshad, the tournament was held in Bangi in 1991 but i think the tournament was held in 1992 because in my chess database, there's several games between local and international chess players held in 1992 at Kuala Lumpur. I would like to ask anyone who know or better still who participate or involve in organizing the tournament to share the details.

Below are one of a game held in Kuala Lumpur in 1992 which i found from one of my chess book. The game is between local player Azhari Mohd Noor and British player - Susan Arkell who is now better known as Susan Lalic ( She married with Bogdan Lalic ) .


Azhari Mohd Nor - Susan Arkell [B12]
?, Kuala Lumpur , 1992

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.f4 cxd4 6.cxd4 Qb6 7.Nc3 e6 8.Nf3 Nh6 9.Bd3 Bd7 10.Bb1 g6 11.0–0 Nf5 12.Bxf5 gxf5 13.Rf2 Rc8 14.Be3 Na5 15.Kh1 Nc4 16.Qe2 Be7 17.Rc1 0–0 18.Rg1 Kh8 19.g4 fxg4 20.Rxg4 Nxb2 21.Qxb2 Qxb2 22.Rxb2 Rxc3 23.Rxb7 Rxe3 24.Rxd7 Rxf3 25.Rxe7 Rg8 26.Rxg8+ Kxg8 27.Rxa7 Rxf4 28.Ra4 Kg7 29.Kg2 Kg6 30.Rb4 Kf5 31.a4 Rg4+ 32.Kf3 Rh4 33.Kg3 Re4 34.Kf3 Rf4+ 35.Kg3 Rf1 36.Kg2 Ra1 37.Kg3 Ra3+ 38.Kh4 Ra2 39.Kg3 h5 40.h3 Ra3+ 41.Kh4 Kg6 42.Rb1 Rxa4 43.Rd1 Ra3 44.Rf1 Rd3 45.Rf6+ Kg7 46.Rf4 Re3 47.Kxh5 Rxh3+ 48.Kg4 Rd3 49.Kh5 Rg3 50.Rf6 Rg1 51.Rf4 Rg6 52.Rf1 f6 53.Ra1 Rg5+ 54.Kh4 Kg6 55.Ra6 Kf5 56.exf6 Rg4+ 57.Kh3 Rg8 58.f7 Rf8 59.Ra1 Rxf7 60.Rf1+ Kg6 61.Rxf7 Kxf7 62.Kg3 Ke7 63.Kf3 Kd7 64.Ke3 Kc6 0–1

Commonwealth Chess Championship 2009 will be held in Kuala Lumpur !?

According to Peter Long, unofficialy the 2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 19-27 July 2009. This will certainly be a good development for Malaysian chess. For the past years, the Commonwealth Chess Championship has been held in India and it must have been an interesting attraction for the international players to play in other country such as Malaysia for this year.

This also will be a good opportunity for Malaysian to play against international GM's and IM's. I hope we will not miss this golden opportunity to organised such a strong international tournament.

This tournaments usually include strong GM's such as the always controversial personality...ex-Vice World Champion and ex-President of the Commonwealth Chess Champion - GM Nigel Short. How interesting it would be ...Peter Long organised the event and Nigel Short as the player.

The names of former champions is like GM Ian Rogers, GM Kevin Sparagett, GM Murray Chandler, GM Alexander Baburin, IM Gary Lane, and others well known players.