NOTES FROM NATIONAL CLOSED-DAY 3

Arrived at the hall at exactly 9am. Najib is currently briefing all players which i guess about the usual stuff, off the hand phone, keep quiet, toilet...hmm about toilet today Najib suggested that maybe toilet inside the hall could be reserved for ladies and kids and guys could use the outside toilets. S. Balendran informed that toilets outside do not have a running water. Najib, being Najib, flashed that megawatt smile and said “I reserved my comments” that brought laughter to the floor!

Round 5
On top two board, Loo Swee Leong and LZR continued their winning streaks by beating Li Tian and Eng Chiam respectively.

Board 3 NM Edward Lee beat IM Jimmy Liew in an interesting French game.

On my game, got into terribly awful position against Dollah, later Dollah blundered and i managed to equal the game, offered him a draw which he refused. Later he blundered in a tricky position (see below)



1. ..... Ra1?
2. Re6 winning a bishop. He resigned.

But what is the outcome should he played the correct move 1. ...e3!...I think with the best play it should still be a draw though black is the who got the advantage. Below is what my Fritz suggest as a best play for both side
1....e3
2.Ke1 Bd5
3.Rh6 Ra7
4.Rh4 Kg5
5.Ra4 Rh7
6.Bf3 Bb3
7.Rb4 with equal position.

Round 6
The big news is ofcourse when LZR beat LSL to solely lead the field by one point gap. Now it is interesting to see whether LZR will continued his winning streak or will he collapse during the last few rounds ala Nat Closed 2009? Only LZR can answer this question.

The small news is i drew with crown prince of chess. :)

Cameo appearance
NM Kamal Ariffin, IM Giam, IM Situru, Ian Udani, Ismail Ahmad, Hairulov etc.

Trivia.
Q:Named undefeated player(s) in the Open section?
A:LZR (6 wins), Edward Lee (4 wins, 2 draws) and Khair (1 win and 5 (!) draws)