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News News Astro Merdeka Team Chess Championship, Day 4
| Astro Merdeka Team Chess Championship, Day 4 |
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| Written by PS Lim | |
| Monday, 24 September 2007 | |
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2 September, Day 4 And so, it's a final day of the Merdeka event. All Penang contigents has to wake up a bit earlier to pack their things as everyone has to checked out the hotel. However, with the help of Mdm Hong and husband, luggage keeping arrangement went on very smoothly. We then only rush to the tournament venue to check out the happening there. And as expect, Selangor A, at 18.5 points, in full strength hoping to trash Penang Team so that they could chase the leader Astro who is 1 point ahead... 
Penang Team line up : PCC Tan Khai Boon(2138), NM Ng Tze Han(2283), Anthony Liong(2159) and Chuah Heng Meng faces the top seed, Selangor A. 
The top seed presented by FM Nicholas Chan(2380), FM Lim Yee Weng(2336), FM Mok Tze Meng(2346) and Mak Weng Yee (Note : all rating are FIDE rating) The result is a hard fought 1.5-2.5 favours the top seed. PCC Tan Khai Boon with Black, upset FM Nicholas Chan in a skillful fashion : 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. Nf3 c5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Nc6 9. e3 O-O 10. Be2 (Nicholas is the first one to get out of line, maybe he has something up his mind. normal is 10. c4) cxd4 (10... c4 gain space on the queen side would equalised. Khai Boon's idea is to get pawn majority on Queen side) 11. cxd4 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Bd3 Na5?! (13... Rac8, develop Rook on open file is better) 14. Rfb1?! (White should go 14. Rfc1 to get in to open c-file first. If 14... Rfc8 15 Qa4 threaten to double black's a pawn) Rfc8 (Black has achieve equality) 15. Qd1 Nc4 16. Be1 Ne4 17. Bf1 g6 18. a4 Ned6 19. Nd2 Na5 20. Nf3(better is 20. Qg4 to generate some activity on King side) Nac4 21. Kh1 h5 22. Ng1 Rc7 23. Ne2 Rac8 24. Rb3 Qg5 25. Nf4 Be4(Nicholas's manuevering seems working fine to consumed some of Khai Boon's time. However, Black piece is becoming more active) 26. Nh3?? (This leads to no ends of trouble) Qf5! 27. Qe2 Qxh3 28. f3 Qf5 29. fxe4 Nxe4 30. Qd3??(30. Kg1 should be played to avoid Black's next move) Ncd2 31. Bxd2 Nf2+ 32. Kg1 Nxd3 33. Bxd3 Qd5(with little tactics, Khai Boon is exchange up and having winning advantages) 34. Rab1 Rc1+(When you are winning go for exchange!) 35. Kf2 Rxb1 36. Rxb1 Qa2 37. Ke2 Qxa4(the rest is technical) 38. Rb4 Qa2 39. e4 Qa1 40. Be3 Rc3 41. Bd2 Ra3 42. Rc4 Qg1 43. Bc3 Qxg2+ 44. Ke3 Ra2 45. Rc8+ Kh7 46. Kf4 Rf2+ 0-1 NM Ng Tze Han vs FM Lim Yee Weng features the sharp Yugoslav attack of the Sicilian Dragon : 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Bb3 Qa5 12. h4 Rfc8 13. Kb1 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Nb3 Qc7 16. g4 Be6 17. h5 Rc8 18. Bd4 a5 19. a4 b5 20. Nxb5 Qb8 21. Nc3 Rb4 22. hxg6 hxg6 23. g5 Bxb3 24.cxb3?(Correct defense is 24. gxf6 when 24... Rxd4 25. Qxd4 Bxf6 26. Qe3=) Nxe4! 25. Nxe4 Rxd4 26. Qe3 Rb4 27. Rd3 d5 28. Nc5 d4? (This allow Tze Han escape! 27... Qb6 28. Rc1 Rc4! Black retain his winning advantage) 29. Qxe7!(now draw is the most likely result...) Bf8 30.Qf6 Bg7 31. Qe7 1/2-1/2 On third board, FM Mok Tze Meng is simply a class above Anthony Liong, pressing all the way from the opening and finally win the game. While board 4 Chuah Heng Meng, as White has miscalculation on his game and come under heavy attack with the help of a good outpost White Knight on f4. Chuah can't hold the attack and resigned. With this, Selangor A is 2.5 points behind and ASTRO just needed 2 points to become overall champion. On U16B team, they have no problem beating the young girls of MSSK girls team 4-0 but was very unlikely to catch the leader, Selangor Generasi-8; because Selangor Generasi-8 has just beat Myanmar Juniors 4-0 and is leading second placing Penang U16B by 4 points! Meanwhile, Penang U16G beat Karisma Knight from Negeri Sembilan with 3-1. Janet Tan and Chen Nee wins their game while Jing Jia and Hui Ting drew. Now, they are behind MSSK girls by 0.5 point (for the "Best girl" prize) Final round will start after lunch and during this time, Chung Ling High School team capture down memorable moments with Mdm Hong : 
After lunch final rounds begin! Penang Senior team faced with a mix team of 2 Myanmar and 2 Malaysian, so called MYAMAS team. Coincidently, Penang U16B team is up against Myanmar juniors while the girls team play a young team skylift. 
Penang Senior team faced the MYAMAS team 
Penang senior team cracking their heads (from left, Khai boon, Tze Han, Heng Meng and Eu Hong) 
Penang U16B line up against oversea's team : (from right) : Evan, Gavin, Elgin and Wei Kang, while team captain Thung Yong Chen keeps an eye. 
Myanmar juniors 
Penang U16G team fill in the strongest line up to take as many point as possible. Astro team took overall champion in an easiest manner : All games were drawn. While Penang Senior team manage to beat MYAMAS 3-1 with PCC Khai Boon create another upset by beating Kyi Thein, 2409 while Eu Hong won his game against M. Foudzi, father of 3rd board Johan Iskandar. Chuah Heng Meng came back to win after escaping from a losing game after Johan Iskandar made a mistake. Zaw Win took a point from Penang team. In U16 category, Selangor Generasi-8 is the overall champion. They beat Chessnutz 2.5 with 3 draws and 1 win. Penang U16B team takes the second placing after beating Myanmar Juniors 2.5-1.5 And the very lucky U16G with only 1 point in the last round manage to overtake MSSK girls which were beaten flat by Chung Ling Junior B and thus take the "Best girl" prizes. While waiting for prize giving ceremony : 
The boys never tired playing chess! 
The beautiful girls from penang prefer a more relaxing way 
The senior team analyse one game to another! From left(only those who look at camera) : Tan Hong Ghee, IM Jimmy Liew, Chuah Heng Meng, Lim Poay Sim(in green, that's me), Tan Khai Boon, Anthony Liong and Khor Bean Hwa. Prize giving ceremony begins at 5.15pm, with the VIP seated in the front. With the spirit of Merdeka, Mr. Hamid invite Ismail Ahmad to lead all people present in the room to a loud "MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!!". Then, Dato Arthur Tan, Dato Sieh and Dato Roy Singhgam presented their speech. Though not long, it's a meaningful one for all chess players. 
The room is full of players and spectators 
The VIPs in the front(from right) : Dato Sieh Kok Chi, Dato Tan Chin Nam and Dato Roy Singhgam. We are honoured to have them in closing ceremony 
Dato Tan presenting the closing ceremony speech. 
Then it's Dato Sieh's turn. His speech has a lot of actions :) To summarised the prizes obtained by Penang team : -- Open category, Penang Senior Team with 20/32 finished third(overall) and took "BEST STATE" team. -- Penang Juniors with 23.5/32 finished 2nd(both overall and "STATE" team) -- finishing 5th is Chung Ling Junior B with 18/32 -- Chung Ling Junior A obtain 17½/32 is the "BEST SCHOOL" team -- PFS Chess Club is 8th with 16½ points -- the lucky Penang Girls win the "BEST GIRLS" with 15 points. So, 6 out of 8 teams win prizes! Not bad at all! 
Penang Senior team is the Best State team! With them is Dato Sieh 
Dato Roy Singhgam present prize money to Penang U16B team who finished overall second placing. And did you see the little boy? He is Elgin Lee and at 11, he has already represent U16 team, an acheivement that's difficult to have in Penang. 
And the most beautiful team goes to... Penang U16G!! Err.. sorry. It's "Best Lady" team In addition, 3 of Penang Contigent wins best boards : In Open category, Tan Yik Ping of Chung Ling Senior take the board prize for first board with 7/8 while Tan Eu Hong of Penang Senior team take board prize for 5th board with 5.5/6 In U16 category, Chong Boon Wue of PFS Chess Club win 2nd board board prize with 7.5/8 
Tan Yik Ping from Chung Ling Senior team take first board board prize!!! Let's see a game from him : Tan Yik Ping, 1574 vs Rizal Ahmad Kamal, 2022 at Round 7 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. Nxd5 Nxd5 6. Qxd5(more often played is 6. cxd5 to gain space, this move is less study but is OK to play) Nc6 7. e4 d6 8. Be3?!(More normal is 8. Nf3) Be6 (I think black should have play 8... Qa5+ 9. Bd2 Qa6 with the idea of 10... Be6 and 11...Ne5 to gain tempo) 9. Qd2 Be7 10. Bd3?!(better is 10. Nf3, now black put his pieces on active square) Ne5 11. b3 Bf6 12. Rc1 Qc7?! (12... 0-0, with the idea of launching attack on queen side with ... a5-a4 or even 12... a5 is more to modern benoni style) 13. Ne2 h6 14. O-O g5?(black's 13 and 14 moves indicate that he is launching on King side attack but this is a wrong plan) 15. f3(Knight manuever Ne2-Nc3-Nd5 would take advantage of the holes created by Black himself) O-O-O 16. Nc3 a6?(most probably to prevent Nb5, but it's weakening the King's sheild) 17. Be2(17. Nd5! for example 17... Bxd5 18. cxd5 Nxd3 19. Qxd3 Qa5 20. a4 and White's attack on Queen side is very much faster than Black's attack on King side. Yik Ping idea to preserve the Bishop is not so bad either) Nc6?? 18. Nd5!! Bxd5 19. cxd5 Nd4 20. Bd3(Yik Ping still wish to keep his bishop, but here white can take advantage of the pin on c5 by 20. b4! if 20... Nxe2+ 21. Qxe2 and ...b6 cannot be play because a6 pawn is en prise or else the c5 pawn is lost) Kb8 21. f4?!(strange decision to attack the centre when White queen side attack is so strong there, better is 21. b4!) Qe7? (21... gxf4 to open up the position for Black to strive for some attack is black best chance, even though White's position still stand better) 22. b4! gxf4 23. Bxf4 Ka8 24. bxc5 dxc5 25. Qa5 Nc6??(this move weakens the King's sheild further, it is better to defence b7 with 25...Rd7) 26. dxc6(definitely!) Rxd3 27. cxb7+(Winning is 27. Rb1!! when 27... bxc6 is met by mate in 3 while 27... Bd4+ 28. Kh1 Bc3 29. Qb6 threatening 30 cxb7+ and mate will cause black dearly and mate wouldn't be far away) Qxb7 28. Rb1(Now Black has a bit of chance to fight for draw but...) Bc3?(overlooking a tactics) 29. Qxc3 Rxc3 30. Rxb7 Kxb7 31. Be5 Re3 32. Bxh8 Rxe4 33. Rxf7+ (White is a piece up, the rest is a matter of technique) Kc6 34. Rf6+ Kb5 35. Rxh6 Re2 36. a4+ Kxa4 37. Rxa6+ Kb5 38. Ra8 c4 39. Rc8 Kb4 40. h3 Re3 41. Kf2 1-0 
Ibrahim Abu Bakar, Deputy President of MCF present 5th board board prize to Tan Eu Hong 
Chong Boon Wue of PFS Chess Club score 93.8% (7.5/8) and take 2nd board board prize 
Overall Champion for Merdeka Chess Championship, Astro team posing with VIPs Finally, the Merdeka Team Chess Championship ended successfully for Penang team but there are dots of ugly/unsporting scenes during the tournament, for instant, there is a player who claim his opponent of touching a piece when his opponent did not do that. (Under the "touch move" rules a player must move or capture the piece he/she touch) while there is a player who claims his opponent went to washroom to get advice from his coach, then another go missing when losing the game is unavoidable, etc. These little dirty tricks/unsporting manner is quite common and I remember these happened during my time --10 years ago. Yeap, I'm that old... For this, I urge the parents and coaches to correct them and guide them to the correct path. In Penang, Penang Chess Association(PCA) holds Saturday Chess Session not only to improve ones chess skill but at the same time, PCA also provide lesson on "Chess Etiquette" and practice it! (Example of Chess etiquette are such as shake hands before the game begin, never do things that distract other player, etc.)I believe this help a lot to builds good habit and positive attitude on the individual as a whole, not only on chess. However, Penang teams trip does not end here - We got to go back to Penang! So, as soon as the prizing giving ceremony ends(at 6pm), we immediately rush to the bus to go back to Penang. 
Everyone on the bus, beside very sweet smile from Cheng Nee that caught your eye, can you find a foreigner on the bus? Yeap, NM Marcus Chan(sitting next to NM Ng Tze Han) following us back to Penang. Who knows, maybe he will play for Penang next year! 
everybody is tired yet the young ones still fooling around The trip back to Penang is smooth but a bit late -- reaching Penang at 1am! And unfortunately for us, the sky starts raining! Nevertheless, everyones reached home safely -- A very tiring trip for all but a memorable one. |
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