AN EVENING IN PETALING STREET...

SONG
Yesterday I went to Petaling Street to watch Malaysian Master. Braving KL's traffic jam, hazardous haze ( in which newspaper say only below 200...is it?) and Petaling Street Taikor, I arrived at Swiss Inn at about 6.30pm and somehow Mohamad Rafi's 1967 hit Hindustani song...An evening in Paris...keep on playing in my head. Hence, title above.

Well, many Hindustani faces manning the stalls ofcourse further added to the beauty of the song!

AT THE HALL
Saw many familiar faces, apart from player's Mama and Papa, there Sumant in his aviation shirt...Greg can be seen busy writing something at the corner....Zuraihah busy typing something in her laptop...Haslindah is also here and few others

3 games have finished when i entered the hall. Bumped into Chuin Hong in which he smiled and shaking his head..."I played badly in this tournament" he said.

Of interest is in top two players, Aaron vs Mas, Aaron won in 20 moves, it is a beautiful game in which Aaron sacrifice his queen to force a massive winning of materials...beautiful!

Someone can be seen replaying this game from his memory...zap! zap! zap!...and only pause (Diagram moment) before asking many spectators what is white next move (a queen sacrifice...queen take rook!).

More spectators gather to see the massacre (aren't we all vampires love blood!). Someone asked for the replay of the game in which he again obligingly show it all zap! zap! zap! and again pause at Diagram Moment...more smiles and shaking of heads from spectators when the Queen Sacrifice Act is being played.

Ofcourse above happened when Mas is not aroundlah...if he is around i guess we are too polite to publicly show his game in which he lost beyond recognized...Can you recall games in which solid, positional and Capablanca-like Mas lost in 20 moves?...i can't

Other decisive result of the round is between bottom two players, Chuin Hong vs Jimmy in which Chuin Hong won decisively (and uniquely too)...in final position both Jimmy's rook and bishop still glued in its original square!

OTHERS
1. Mas is kind enough to show his two games from KL Masters to Chuin Hong (and in which i also tumpang sekaki to watch it)  in which he made a blunder in winning position against GM Tiviakov (game draw) and GM Luther (Mas lost). According to Mas GM Luther profusely apologized to Mas after the game for winning in a game in which its all Mas. 

Watching Mas replaying his games...accurate with analysis and flowery comments (Chess is beautiful! etc)...i have the feeling Mas have spend many hours studying the games...far cry from when amateur (read:me!) replaying the game, full of errors and uncertainty.

2. Aaron's performance (Ok, maybe still too early to say this) reminds me of young Kasparov at Banja Luka 1978...almost unknown, the youngest, yet he emerged as most impressive player.

3. 3 players coming all the way from faraway land...Yee Weng (Singapore), Aaron Teh (China) and Lim Zhuo Ren (UK)

4. Jimmy has a tournament he rather forget...but still at least as at now he already obtained a point (and will not do the Wong Meng Kong!)

5. Who will win this tournament? too close to call but i have a feeling it will be Mas (again).

I left the tournament hall at about 7.30pm.

Outside, again, many Hindustani faces greeted me.

Deko...Deko...Deko...Deko...Deko....An Evening in Petaling Street.....