45.White to move

In the position above it seem like an equal position for both side.The question is

a)What is the best continuation possible for White to gain an advantage and lead to a winning position?

Thanks again to Eugene for solving problem 44 by 1.Ra8! There's no square for Black Queen to escaped if 1....Qh7 2.Bg6 Qxg6 3.Ra6+ Kb5 4.Rxg6, 1...Qxa8 2.Bf3+ Kb5 3.Bxa8, 1....Qd5 2.Bf3 ,1...Qe6 2.Ra6+,1...Qc4 2.Rc8+,1....Qa2 2.Rxa4 Qxa4(...Qg8 3.Ra8) 3.Be8+

44.White to move

In the position above it seem that Black gain an advantage by a Queen.The question is

a)Is there anything that White could do to prevent from losing?


Thanks again to Eugene for solving problem 43 by 1...Bd3 2.Bxd3(if white capture with Rook mate is inevitable) Qxd6 winning a rook.

Penang Heritage FIDE Rated Event 2009 - Updates!

Just I expected, IM Mas Hafizul won his 5th round game against GM Gerhad Schebler, and FM Mok Tze Meng won against NM Ronnie Lim Chuin Hong. So, right now once again, IM Mas and FM Mok is in the lead in the Penang Open with 4.5/5. IM Mas and FM Mok had played against each other and it ended in a draw for both of them in round 4, so if they both managed to maintain the lead until the end, then tie-break will decide. But, bear in mind, up to round 5 has been concluded, we still got to wait the result of GM Gerhard and FM Mok soon!

Keep updated at gilachess blog for more updates and pictures taken by GilaChess.

10th ASEAN Age Group - Rapid Updates!

After the classical game of under age group, now the players are competing in the Rapid event. I guess this is the event most kids are looking forward for, since it involves quick play. Hmm.. kids just love quick play! I guess most of them got bored waiting for opponent to make moves in the classical hours (perhaps!).

The players will play 4 rounds today, and 3 rounds tomorrow! with my age now, I dont think I can endure such stress, tiring and pressure of playing chess after chess. At this age, after classical event, I need to catch up with rest. But kids certainly enjoying themselves now. Lets check out the score ;

Amier Hamzah again playing in the Open U-8, makes an upset by beating the classical U-8 champ. he is now with 3/4, he lost in the first round. Jerome Yong - Open U-12, is 2.5/4. While NM Edward Lee after 4 rounds he is now with 1/4. Is the grueling and intense the recently concluded National Closed aftected his performance in Vietnam? Or he is definitely not a Rapid player?. NJM Muhd Tariq Amru is now with 2/4.

The girls, WFM Nur Najihah competing in Girls U-10, looking good with 3/4, Nur Nabila competing in U-12 Girls with 1.5/4, while Camilia drew 3 times and won 1 game, makes her with 2.5/4.

Lets just hope we get something out of this Rapid event too! Malaysia Boleh!

Ole-Ole Shah Alam Chess Open 13 June 2009

Tomorrow is the Ole-Ole Shah Alam Chess Open. I will be there to do the coverage for the event. All in support for one of our PCWM members, also our team Kapitan for the DATCC Chess League game, Pn Roslina Marmono.

So, if anyone of you will be playing, I'll meet you guys there!

Penang Heritage Open is still ongoing, at the moments as at round 5, IM Mas on board 1 playing against the GM Gerhard. I think Mas will pull this one through coz Mas is known to beat others famous GM in his career, among the famous is, GM Victor Korchnoi. And besides like I said, the GM's rating is not intimidating at all, although true, once a GM is forever a GM!

On board 2, the battle of FM Mok and NM Ronnie. Top 2 boards, all scored 3.5/4 games so far. NM Ronnie is the one that held the GM to a draw in round 2. Others behind are with 3 points are : Sumant Subramniam, Ismail Ahmad, Loo Swee Leong and Wong Hao. To find out about the results dont forget to click link gilachess blog for the updates of each rounds.

I'll do the updates later when I get back from Shah Alam.

10th ASEAN Age Group 2009 - Results

Pic left : Nur Nabila in action in Girls U-12 category
Pic right : her sister, Nur Najiha in Girls U-10 category, seen in blue shirt is their father also their coach, En Azman Hisham Che Doi, monitoring every game his daughters playing to ensure victory!

What a remarkable achievement made by our Girls U-10 player, Nur Najiha Azman Hisham, for being the Champion in her own age category!! What can I say.... What can I say...!

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! she proved Malaysian Boleh spirit is alive and kicking in Hue city of Vietnam! She played well with unbeaten records, of 5 wins and 4 draws from the total 9 rounds to emerge as the champion. As been reported by the Malaysian manager, Pn Haslindah, FIDE Secretary General - Mr Ignitius Leong, announced during the opening ceremony that the ASEAN tourney has been given the priviledge to honour the champion for U-1o category the FIDE Master (WFM) title!

It has been long and hard journey for us Malaysian women players to be given another WFM title like this. The first woman to ever the title for Malaysia, is WFM Seto Wai Ling, once to be said a very strong player, achieved it in the 80s. Then next came Siti Zulaikha Foudzi with the title she won more than 10 years ago, then later on she became WIM. Then now, the newest in the list is WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham.

Next in line is her older sister, Nur Nabila Azman Hisham. She took off rather slow in the event when she suffered her first round defeat to vietnamese, Huyn Ngoc Thuy Linh, but then rounds after rounds she bounce back by winning the rest of the game, before she stumble upon the group champion Medina Warda Aulia (she was at last year KL Open Chess, playing in the Challengers section where Nabila was the Champion), the game ended in a favour to the Indonesian player. But that wasnt the end of Nabila's journey. After 2 defeat, it doesnt cost her a thing as she maintained the second spot for the remaining rounds. She won 6 games, drew 1 and lost 2, she was in the second place with 6.5 points! As been reported by Pn Haslindah, Nabila perhaps will be awarded with WCM title (Candidate Master).

I think the major success is their father, who is also acting as a coach since they were kids playing chess. Whenever I saw their father, En Azman Hisham, I knew the kids will strive their best the win the game. When the father was absent it cost them the game, just like what happened during the National Closed 2009. How important having motivator, at the same having a coach does bring a lot of different in the tournament. Congrats to the kids, congrats to En Azman Hisham and wife Pn Zazaluma. This victory is just a small test for a bigger task in future!


pic left : Camilia Johari in Girls U-12 category
pic right : Amier Hamzah Muhd Zuhri playing in Open U-8 category


NM Edward Lee in Open U-16 category.

How did others faired? Camilia Johari whom also playing in U-12 Girls category bring home 4.5 points. And she is ranked 11th overall with 3 wins and 3 draws. I saw her game during round 7 DATCC, she played much better game than before. Hope when I meet up with her next time, I see a much improved game with the experience the brought back from Vietnam.

Open U-8, our rep - Amier Hamzah Muhd Zuhri scored 5 points with 4 wins and 2 draws, securing him 12th place overall. The champ in this category is Nguyen Huang Viet Hai from host nation - Vietnam.

Open u-12, the champ in this category goes to Tran Tuan Minh also from Vietnam. Our player, Jerome Yong Lik Boh as Sarawakian scored 3 points to be ranked 19th overall. This is his first experience playing, surely no one is expecting anything from him. But I hope he will benefited a lot from this tournament.

Open U-16, our rep for this category is NM Edward Lee. He scored 5.5 points to be ranked 4th overall. He won 4 times and drew 3 times. Not bad performance considering that most other players at that age showed a future potential to become IM or GM one day. The champ in this category is Nguyen Van Hai with 7.5 points.

Open U-20. our rep NJM Muhd Tariq Amru, managed to score 3 points and is ranked 22nd overall. Like I said from the average age of 16-20, most other asean players showed a very powerful game as a future IM of GM one day, so, open U-20 category is a very tough category for Tariq Amru. The champ in this category is Le Quang Long with 7.5 points.

The players will be taking part in Rapid event which will begin on 12th June. All the best!

Penang Heritage FIDE Rated Event 2009

After Selangor Open Fide rated, then we had National Closed which is also FIDE rated event, now we have in Malaysia another FIDE rated event, Penang Heritage International Chess Open 2009. It is currently held from 10th June to 14th June 2009, at Wisma Pinang, Pulau Pinang.

I had in mind about taking part in Penang, since I am being told GMs and top Malaysian players will be participating in the event. But since I heard about the Malaysian Open thing, I had to make a choice, Penang or Malaysian Open? Since I am currently working is a private company, I dont have many annual leaves left, so, the wise decision is - Malaysian Open!

But, forget about me! no one is paying attention after all if it is me playing.. hehehe. But all eyes must have been to the only GM participating in the event, GM Gerhard Schebler from Germany. His ratings is just 2470 slightly higher than our IM Mas Hafizul who is also playing, and also the second seeded. IM Mas is currently at 2425. The GM's rating doesnt seems to be intimidating, right? So, the question is, can Malaysian lift the champ? and walk away with the first prize of RM4000? Hmm.. that is something we shall see on the updates that can be make available to us by GilaChess Blog, the blogger Andrew Ooi is there to report about the event and make the coverage on the daily basis. Thanks Andrew!

There are 35 players participating in the Open Section, while 41 players playing in the Challengers Section, fighting to take home RM1000 prize money for the winner. Currently the round 1 is under way.

In the open section, I dont think there will be any upsets in the first rounds, as based on performances and ratings, the favourites are sure to win. (to check out the first round pairings, click GilaChess Blog at Link provided). GM Gerhard is paired against David Gates, IM Mas is paired against Anthony Dass, FM Mok Tze Meng will be playing against Narayanan Sri Shiva, NM Lim Chuin Hong is against Tan Yik Ping. Ismail Ahmad, Fadli Zakaria, Sumant Subramaniam is also in the house! Cant wait to find out the results!

10th ASEAN Age Group 2009 - Updates!

Pic left : National Junior Master (NJM) 2008, Muhd Tariq Amru, playing in Open U-20.
Pic right : The opening ceremony, which was broadcast live in Vietnam.


Pic left : Jerome Yong from Sarawak playing in Open U-12, with Mrs Wong.
Pic right : Huang Giang Hotel, the official hotel where the Malaysians are currently staying and playing.

As at round 5, Nur Najiha and Nur Nabila Azman Hisham showed an impressive results for being on the top spot of the ranking. Najiha is clearly unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 draws, collecting 4 points from 5 rounds. She is the leader for U-10 Girls. She will be paired against Dita Karenza from Indonesia in round 6.

Nabila also not bad, climbing up to the top spot after the first round defeat. She is now with 4 points from 5 rounds. She will be playing against Aulia Medina in round 6 this morning. She is just 1 point behind tournament leader Aulia Medina from Indonesia for U-12 Girls.

While others are scoring 50% from 5 rounds so far. Camilia in U-12 Girls score 2.5 points, and she will be paired against Joyce Semilano from Phillippines in round 6. NM Edward Lee playing in Open U-16 also with 2.5 points, will be playing against Dang Duy Linh from Vietnam in round 6. In earlier round he lost to Lennon Selgados from Phillippines. NJM Muhd Tariq Amru scored 2 points and will meet Rian Kapriaga from Indonesia in round 6. Tariq is representing Malaysia in Open U-20. Amier Hamzah scored 2 points in Open U-8, and he will meet with another vietnamese in the same category. While the Jerome Yong, after suffered defeat 3 rounds in a row, is slowly making a comeback with a win in round 4 and drew in round 5, therefore currently scoring 1.5 points and shall be playing against Kiril Chebota in round 6.

It is nice to hear this time, few parents actually hire personal coach to coached their children during the tournament, and there are also parents who take the role of coaching themselves. Few of them as being reported by the Team Manager, Pn Haslindah, are in a winning position but failed to secure the winning and eventually lost later on. Hope they learned something from it, and when I see these kids again I truly hope I can see the future champs in the making! Bring back something from Vietnam ok! :-) Malaysia Boleh!!

To find out the analysis of games, Hairulov is doing the updates on that.

**Pictures courtesy of Pn Haslindah Ruslan**

More from Hue, Vietnam

Pic left : the venue for U-8 and U-10
pic right : Najiha against Neha Shankar from Singapore, Najiha won this game!


Camilia with Haslindah at the Hue Airport after transit from Ho Chi Minh city.

** PICTURES COURTESY FROM PN HASLINDAH RUSLAN - MALAYSIA'S TEAM MANAGER**

Malaysians in ASEAN Age Group 2009

Vietnam's ancient city, Hue is the host for the 10th ASEAN Age Group 2009. There are 12 categories for the juniors to take part; Open U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18 and U-20. Also Girls U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18 and U-20.

Malaysia is represented by:
1. Amier Hamzah B. Mohd Zuhri - Open U-8
2. Jerome Yong Lik - Open U-12
3. NM Edward Lee Kim Han (rated 2087) - Open U-16
4. NJM Muhd Tariq Amru (rated 2045) - Open U-20
5. Nur Najiha Azman Hisham - Girls U-10
6. Nur Nabila Azman Hisham - Girls U-12
7. Camilia Johari - Girls U-12

The game started from 6th June and will ended on 15th June 2009. Up until today, Malaysian players have played 3 rounds, and as I am posting this, round 4 is on the way.

The results so far taken from the chess-result.com :

DATMO 2009 is on!

We all thought last year was the last installment of Malaysian Open, but all of us hoping that the tourney will goes on again this year, and for the years to come (hopefully).

And it is confirmed! It is on!!!! I am sure I am not the only one excited about the event, or the excitement to meet another GM players that will sure be playing, but I bet there are others too! But unfortunately, this year there will only be Malaysian Open, unlike last year we have the Ambank Chess Challenge for the underrated players. Whatever it is, the heat is on again this year.

Based from the date 21st - 31st august, this will be the first time chess is held during the Fasting month of Ramadhan here in Malaysia. I dont think fasting will be a problem, as for me, playing during fasting month gives us the pleasure to play under a calm mind since we are fasting not juz from food but from all sorts of things that we are supposed to. Hope that is an advantage for all muslim players playing then.

Hope Kuantan will send players for the Malaysian Open, or the Merdeka Rapid, or the Malaysian Blitz open. I had the chance to play in all the categories, and it was a chance in a life time!

For more info : Gilachess Blog

43.Black to move

In the position above White already won the game by 1.Qxe5 and there's nothing black can do to prevent from losing. The question is

a)Is it possible for Black to turn the tide if Black's make the first move?

Tourney Today!

Currently today, Sunday 7th June, Padang Jawa Open is being held at Padang Jawa Klang. I heard from my students playing there and read at Gilachess blog, most top rapid players are there! For more report and photos click link at Gilachess blog.

Today also, mark the first round of ASEAN Age Group 2009, which is being held at Hue, Vietnam. Malaysia is represented by our Juniors that won the National Age Group event last march. Malaysia manager there, Puan Haslindah will keep us updated with the result.

Few players that I can recall are : NM Edward Lee, Amier Hamzah Mohd Zuhri, Nur Nabila Azman Hisham, Nur Najiha Azman Hisham, Camilia Johari. I just cant wait to find out the rest of the players and their results too!

All the best to them!