Look around. Musical is the in things now. We have Tun Mahathir the musical, Magika the musical and even the politician are now playing the musical chair at all time fanatism. So it is only natural if i join in this latest craze and imagine the last round encounter Malaysia vs Bahrain in musical format.
Stage 1
Before the game
In one corner we have Malaysian team, all pumped up, singing "The eye of tiger"- Survivor
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger
Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive
chorus
Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive
Equally, in another corner, Bahraini team, also exciting and full of spirit, singing Queen's famous song - We will rock you.
You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you
Stage 2
During the game
All quiet, the only sound is the 'click' of the clock being pushed and the scratched of moves being made.
Suddenly there is a music coming from Mas' handphone. Ouch!
The stage went wild. Bahraini players sing the modified Abba's song- Thank you for the music!
So I say
Thank you for the music, your phone is ringing
Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty
What would life be?
Without a song or a dance what are we?
So I say thank you for the music
For giving it to me
Mas, looking sad and dejected, solemly sing another Abba's song- The winner takes it all.
The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
That’s his destiny...
Mok Tze Meng, fully focused on his game make a winning move Queen to f6. His opponent, shaking his head, resigned! giving Malaysia the slim victory but still a victory nevertheless. Malaysia manage to again finished in top 100 in the world!
Mok, relief, then sing the serene What a wonderful world by Louis Amstrong
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Stage 3
After the game
All the players, standing hand in hand, sang a modified Sealed with a kiss by...by...some oldie singer
Though we gotta say goodbye for the Olympiad
Baby, I promise you this
I'll send you all my move
Every day in a letter
Sealed with a kiss...
I don't wanna say goodbye for the Olympiad
Knowing the move we'll miss
So let us make a pledge
To meet in Tromso
And seal it with a kiss
and the curtain falls...
Monday, October 4, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
WORST EVER OLYMPIADS ?
Well, with one more round to go, it looks like men Olympiad Team is heading towards its worst outing.
Historical Before-Last-Round-Position
Now we are at 106 spot out of 149 teams. Lets compare with previous olympiads (position taken with one more round to go).
Song
To sum up this olympic in a song...
Historical Before-Last-Round-Position
Now we are at 106 spot out of 149 teams. Lets compare with previous olympiads (position taken with one more round to go).
- 1986 Dubai, 38 out of 108 teams
- 1988 Thessaloniki 56 out of 107 teams
- 1990 Novi Sad 84 out of 108 teams
- 1992 Manila 75 out of 102 teams
- 1994 Moscow 87 out of 124 teams
- 1996 Yerevan 57 out of 114 teams
- 1998 Elista 78 out of 110 teams
- 2000 Istanbul 80 out of 126 teams
- 2002 Bled 82 out of 135 teams
- 2004 Calvia 88 out of 129 teams
- 2006 Turin 55 out of 138 teams
- 2008 Dresden 101 out of 146 teams
Song
To sum up this olympic in a song...
- Men Team - between a sad "Leaving on a jet plane" John Denver or hopefully a positive " I will survive" Gloria Gaynor.
- Women Team - Inspiring "One moment in time" Whitney Houston
- Alia - Definitely "Hero" Mariah Carey
- Hamid Majid - Never give up " It ain't over till its over" Kravitz or is it a miss victory "Didn't we almost have it all" Whitney Houston?
- Chess bloggers - " The Party's over" Nat King Cole
- Dato' Tan - "Thank you for the music" ABBA
Monday, September 27, 2010
TALE OF THE TAPE- MALAYSIA VS SAN MARINO
First, let’s measure/ compare in size
Country Size
Malaysia 329,845 km2
San Marino 61 km2
Population
Malaysia 28,000,000
San Marino 30,000
Maybe the figure above is too one sided, to make it simple, in term of size 14 San Marinos equal to our one Perlis. For population, 8 San Marinos equal to our one Perlis.
Too make it even simpler, all they have is the population of Maybank’s staff.
OK forgive me. Maybe above comparison is not accurate, our Singapore neighbour might disagree if we want to measure strength with size or population. So let’s measure in pure chess power
Fide’s world rank
Malaysia 77
San Marino 128
Olympiad seeding
Malaysia 86
San Marino 118
Fide’s number of active players
Malaysia 163
San Marino 1
Fide’s number of inactive players
Malaysia 269
San Marino 7
Guess from above, there is no need for me to go for the overkill and compare the numbers of titled players each country possessed (though from the list of their players I suspect San Marino got more CMs compared to Malaysian two CMs)
Third, let’s measure in chess duels history
In Moscow 1994 we met San Marino and we won 4-0
In Elista 1998 we met San Marino and won 4-0 again
We always met San Marino when Olympiad is played in Russia but the big question here is whether we can always achieve the 4-0 result.
The only advantage San Marino has against us is they have 5 playing players while so far we only have 4 playing players.
Country Size
Malaysia 329,845 km2
San Marino 61 km2
Population
Malaysia 28,000,000
San Marino 30,000
Maybe the figure above is too one sided, to make it simple, in term of size 14 San Marinos equal to our one Perlis. For population, 8 San Marinos equal to our one Perlis.
Too make it even simpler, all they have is the population of Maybank’s staff.
OK forgive me. Maybe above comparison is not accurate, our Singapore neighbour might disagree if we want to measure strength with size or population. So let’s measure in pure chess power
Fide’s world rank
Malaysia 77
San Marino 128
Olympiad seeding
Malaysia 86
San Marino 118
Fide’s number of active players
Malaysia 163
San Marino 1
Fide’s number of inactive players
Malaysia 269
San Marino 7
Guess from above, there is no need for me to go for the overkill and compare the numbers of titled players each country possessed (though from the list of their players I suspect San Marino got more CMs compared to Malaysian two CMs)
Third, let’s measure in chess duels history
In Moscow 1994 we met San Marino and we won 4-0
In Elista 1998 we met San Marino and won 4-0 again
We always met San Marino when Olympiad is played in Russia but the big question here is whether we can always achieve the 4-0 result.
The only advantage San Marino has against us is they have 5 playing players while so far we only have 4 playing players.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
MALAYSIAN CHESS OLYMPIADS TRIVIA
Since everybody is now in Olympiad fever, I have decided to wake up from my blog retirement/hibernation and join in this circus and write about Malaysian chess Olympic.
Introduction
Malaysia has participate in 19 Olympiads since 1972 (Skopje). We did not participate in 1976 Haifa Olympiad and ofcourse being a regular Olympian, we have a fair share of interesting trivia. Some of it...
First draw: Chan Mun Fye on 20th September 1972 when he drew with Hasan Hasibul (Hong Kong) in Skopje. On the next day, he scored a ....
First win:Chan Mun Fye on 21st September 1972 when he won against Manuel Duroa (Portugal)
Most Outing: Mok Tze Meng, 8 Olympiads (From 1990 Mok took part in all Olympiads except for year 1994, 1998 and 2002)
Most Games: Jimmy Liew, 84 games from 7 Olympiads (Well, Mok Tze Meng, minus Kalmykia, has played a total of 74 games. Looks like this record is going to be broken soon!)
Best individual result: Ng Ek Teong, 1986 Dubai, scored 6 out of 7, Elo performance of 2510, undefeated and duly won best board prize (2nd reserve)
Best individual Elo performance: Mas Hafizul, 2000 Istanbul, Elo performance of 2527, scored 9.5 from 14 games. He played all games and lost only once!
Best games: Jimmy Liew wins against Yrjola Jouni (Dubai)
Most memorable game: Mas wins against Korchnoi.
Best placing: Dubai 1986, finished 42 out of 108 teams
Best upset: We beat Canada team in Turin 2006
Malaysia 2330 3½ : ½ 2468 Canada CAN
IM Hafizulhelmi 2412 1 - 0 2510 GM Charbonneau
FM Mok Tze Meng 2361 ½ - ½ 2531 GM Bluvshtein
FM Lim Yee Weng 2330 1 - 0 2466 IM Zugic
Chuah Jin Hai 2216 1 - 0 2364 IM Livshits
Worst placing:Moscow 1994, 96 out of 125 teams. 4 years later (Elista 1998) we 'equaled' this record by finishing 96 out of 147 teams. This makes me worry, we never played well in Russia... (Anon pointed out that in Dresden 2008, we also finished at 96, thanks anon)
We have also on 5 occasions, fielded players that eventually never move a pawn
Introduction
Malaysia has participate in 19 Olympiads since 1972 (Skopje). We did not participate in 1976 Haifa Olympiad and ofcourse being a regular Olympian, we have a fair share of interesting trivia. Some of it...
First draw: Chan Mun Fye on 20th September 1972 when he drew with Hasan Hasibul (Hong Kong) in Skopje. On the next day, he scored a ....
First win:Chan Mun Fye on 21st September 1972 when he won against Manuel Duroa (Portugal)
Most Outing: Mok Tze Meng, 8 Olympiads (From 1990 Mok took part in all Olympiads except for year 1994, 1998 and 2002)
Most Games: Jimmy Liew, 84 games from 7 Olympiads (Well, Mok Tze Meng, minus Kalmykia, has played a total of 74 games. Looks like this record is going to be broken soon!)
Best individual result: Ng Ek Teong, 1986 Dubai, scored 6 out of 7, Elo performance of 2510, undefeated and duly won best board prize (2nd reserve)
Best individual Elo performance: Mas Hafizul, 2000 Istanbul, Elo performance of 2527, scored 9.5 from 14 games. He played all games and lost only once!
Best games: Jimmy Liew wins against Yrjola Jouni (Dubai)
Most memorable game: Mas wins against Korchnoi.
Best placing: Dubai 1986, finished 42 out of 108 teams
Best upset: We beat Canada team in Turin 2006
Malaysia 2330 3½ : ½ 2468 Canada CAN
IM Hafizulhelmi 2412 1 - 0 2510 GM Charbonneau
FM Mok Tze Meng 2361 ½ - ½ 2531 GM Bluvshtein
FM Lim Yee Weng 2330 1 - 0 2466 IM Zugic
Chuah Jin Hai 2216 1 - 0 2364 IM Livshits
Worst placing:Moscow 1994, 96 out of 125 teams. 4 years later (Elista 1998) we 'equaled' this record by finishing 96 out of 147 teams. This makes me worry, we never played well in Russia... (Anon pointed out that in Dresden 2008, we also finished at 96, thanks anon)
We have also on 5 occasions, fielded players that eventually never move a pawn
- Laurence How (1978)
- Fang Ewe Churh (1980)
- Anwar Zainal (1982)
- Chew Soon Keong (1984)
- Hamid Majid (1998)
2010...?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
GO HAMID GO!
A few years back, a fellow Malaysian chess player by the name of MasHafizulhelmi is all out to get that elusive ‘G’ title, Grand Master. We all supported this quest.
Now we have another Malaysian chess player, arbiter, organizer and so on by the name of Hamid Majid is all out to get that even more elusive and exclusive ‘G’ title, General Secretary of Fide that is! We will again supported this quest.
A week ago, shortly after we were being badly whitewashed by GM ZR, we had the opportunity to talk to Hamid Majid about his candidacy, he mentioned:
• Karpov has contacted him and offered him the Sec Gen seat. Hamid did not immediately say yes but instead seek the opinions/blessings of MCF, Dato Tan etc before accepting Karpov’s offer.
• Hamid expressed confident of winning. (You will Hamid especially now the octopus predict a Malaysian win again Singapore-source DATCC Blog)
• Hamid explained that Team Karpov have the backing of several big Multi National Corporations (MNCs) to develop chess programmes/activities. (Hope some of the activities will be at Malaysia)
• He count on support from every Malaysian to ensure the winning (We will support you Hamid, in every little way we can)
I could not say I know Hamid well even though I started to know him way back to early 90’s. All I could say (throughout 20 years observation) he is man of many characters (depend on the environments and audience)
He could be very funny, cracking jokes after jokes.
He could also be very strict, he once gave a future Woman World Champion and her opponent zero for agreeing a draw without making a single move. Early this year I saw Hamid tearing a scoresheet of two players who agreed a short draw.
He could also be a good listener. In my earlier posting I ‘criticized’ Hamid’s decision in one of local blitz event. Shortly after that he called me and said he read my posting …( and that time I was like, ok, I was about to get thrashing from International Arbiter, help!) and asked me to explain what’s going on during the game, I duly explained bla, bla, bla he just nodded his head and occasionally asked me to clarified further. And that’s it! No I-am-right-you-are wrong attitude, no pulling his weight, no nothing! Just a simple nodded and desire to know about my ‘version’of the event.
Most of the time, he is easy going and open minded type of guy.
No, I will not gain anything personally should Hamid win (and he will win, no doubt about that) but Malaysian chess in general will surely benefits out of his win.
This posting is not about 'bodek' Hamid (bodek!? ok maybe a bit) but more on supporting another fellow Malaysian chess citizen in his time of needs.
Go Hamid Go!
Now we have another Malaysian chess player, arbiter, organizer and so on by the name of Hamid Majid is all out to get that even more elusive and exclusive ‘G’ title, General Secretary of Fide that is! We will again supported this quest.
A week ago, shortly after we were being badly whitewashed by GM ZR, we had the opportunity to talk to Hamid Majid about his candidacy, he mentioned:
• Karpov has contacted him and offered him the Sec Gen seat. Hamid did not immediately say yes but instead seek the opinions/blessings of MCF, Dato Tan etc before accepting Karpov’s offer.
• Hamid expressed confident of winning. (You will Hamid especially now the octopus predict a Malaysian win again Singapore-source DATCC Blog)
• Hamid explained that Team Karpov have the backing of several big Multi National Corporations (MNCs) to develop chess programmes/activities. (Hope some of the activities will be at Malaysia)
• He count on support from every Malaysian to ensure the winning (We will support you Hamid, in every little way we can)
I could not say I know Hamid well even though I started to know him way back to early 90’s. All I could say (throughout 20 years observation) he is man of many characters (depend on the environments and audience)
He could be very funny, cracking jokes after jokes.
He could also be very strict, he once gave a future Woman World Champion and her opponent zero for agreeing a draw without making a single move. Early this year I saw Hamid tearing a scoresheet of two players who agreed a short draw.
He could also be a good listener. In my earlier posting I ‘criticized’ Hamid’s decision in one of local blitz event. Shortly after that he called me and said he read my posting …( and that time I was like, ok, I was about to get thrashing from International Arbiter, help!) and asked me to explain what’s going on during the game, I duly explained bla, bla, bla he just nodded his head and occasionally asked me to clarified further. And that’s it! No I-am-right-you-are wrong attitude, no pulling his weight, no nothing! Just a simple nodded and desire to know about my ‘version’of the event.
Most of the time, he is easy going and open minded type of guy.
No, I will not gain anything personally should Hamid win (and he will win, no doubt about that) but Malaysian chess in general will surely benefits out of his win.
This posting is not about 'bodek' Hamid (bodek!? ok maybe a bit) but more on supporting another fellow Malaysian chess citizen in his time of needs.
Go Hamid Go!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
SIMULTANEOUS GAME AGAINST GM ZIAUR RAHMAN
Preparation
After I discovered that GM Ziaur played nearly all openings against e4. (he even once played 1...b6 and get away with it) I stop studying chess and continued reading Wayne Rooney:My story so far.
Before
Arrive at DATCC at about 7.40 pm. There are usual face all around, Siraj, Hamid, Samsudin Sabri, Aziz, Saprin, Farouqi and ofcourse GM Rahman together with his wife and son. Haq and Roslina are also here, busy playing chess with GM's son. Razali Ng6 came about five minute late due to office meeting that he attended earlier on.
Table order
We lost 0-5
Last but not least, thanks to Siraj for the invitation, GM Rahman for kind analysis after the game, to my team mate plus Mr Razali ofcourse.
After I discovered that GM Ziaur played nearly all openings against e4. (he even once played 1...b6 and get away with it) I stop studying chess and continued reading Wayne Rooney:My story so far.
Before
Arrive at DATCC at about 7.40 pm. There are usual face all around, Siraj, Hamid, Samsudin Sabri, Aziz, Saprin, Farouqi and ofcourse GM Rahman together with his wife and son. Haq and Roslina are also here, busy playing chess with GM's son. Razali Ng6 came about five minute late due to office meeting that he attended earlier on.
Table order
- Ilham
- Samsudin
- Saprin
- Aziz
- Farouqi
The Game
W: Nor Ilhamuddin
B:GM Ziaur Rahman
1. e4 g6
Modern Defence. I expect Sicilian 2...e6, Nc6 or perhaps French. 2 things that immediately cross my mind is Mok Tze Meng (white) once beat GM Rahman in this defence and Andrew (black) once thrashed me in this setup.
2. d4 Bg7
3.Nc3 c6
4.f4 Qb6
5.Nf3 d5
A sharp line in which black sacrifice a pawn for active play.
6.ed5
6. e5 is better (GM Rahman said after the game)
6. ... Bg4
7.Be2 Nf6
8.0-0 cd5
9.Ne5 Be2
10.Qe2
Sacrificing a pawn that black could be taken with a check. Anyway, the d4 pawn is taboo 10. ...Qd4 11. Be3 Qb4 12. Nb5 with lots of initiative for white.
10. ... 0-0
11.Qd3 Nc6
12.Nc6 Qc6
13.f5 Rac8
14.fg6 hg6
15.Bg5 Rfe8
16.Rae1 Qd7
17.Re2 Nh7
18.Bf4 a6
19.Be5 Nf6
20.Ref2
Here Aqie whispered that the team rely on me to deliver the point.
20. ... b5
21.a3 Rc4
22.Nd1 Rf8
23.Re2 Nh5
24.Bg7 Ng7
25.Ne3 Rc6
Around here it is one to one match for us and GM duly take a seat in front of me.
26.Rf4 Nh5
27.Rh4 Nf6
28.c3 Re6
29.Nf5?
Mamak trick. Hoping for 29. ... gf5? 30.Qf5! with force mate in 14. The 'reverse gear' 29.Nf1 is necessary here. I am now got about 30 seconds left.
29. ... Re2
30.Nh6 Kg7
31.Qe2 Rh8
32.Qe3 Qf6
33.Qd2 Ne4
34.Qe3 Qf6 ??
35.g3 ??
Returning the favour. 35.Rf4! is winning for white which i saw only when i have already touch my g pawn.
35. ... Ng5
36.Kg2 Rh6
37.Rh6 Kh6
38. h4
I no longer recording the move. The game entered a queen ending with a plus pawn for black. I tried to open up the game (and hoping for perpetual check) but to no avail. later i lost on time in a losing position though black still needs to play very carefully to avoid the perpetual check.
After
We lost 0-5
Last but not least, thanks to Siraj for the invitation, GM Rahman for kind analysis after the game, to my team mate plus Mr Razali ofcourse.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
NIGEL DAVIES ANALYSE JIMMY LIEW'S WIN!
Nigel Davies, surprisingly said in Chesscafe.com article ( http://www.chesscafe.com/text/davies24.pdf )that
But still after all that "confessions" at the end of his article, he recommend reader to read his Veresov book (The Veresov by Nigel Davies, Everyman 2004)
- he write his books for money
- "none of my books are a labour of love"
- he can't stop writing because of his mortgage obligation. (sounds familiar here ;-))
- constraint he faced due to page limitation agreement with publishers, etc
He conclude that article by analysing Jimmy Liew's win against Torre in 1986 by stating "...a nice win by the Veresov by some one who didn't read my book (it hadn't been published). Jimmy Liew uses a homemade treatment of the opening, going his own way on move five. Later, he shuffles and unleashes a fierce attack"
Davies must be very down then when he wrote the article. Who didn't when one of the comments for his Guenfeld book is "Nigel Davies: Please! Stop writing opening books!..." Anyway he is brave enough to reveal all this.
Anyway, here is that game and kindly go to the original article to enjoy Davies' annotation.
I especially likes Jimmy's 23rd move f5!! sacrificing the whole knight. My engine initially condemn that move but after the continuation 24.f6! (which engine could not find), the machine agreed that white is better. A victory of intuition against calculation!
But still after all that "confessions" at the end of his article, he recommend reader to read his Veresov book (The Veresov by Nigel Davies, Everyman 2004)
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