Chess

Age group event put off

By Quah Seng Sun

THE national age-group championship, due to be played this weekend, has been postponed to next month, according to Malaysian Chess Federation secretary Hamid Majid.

Hamid, who had just returned from Iran where he accompanied Malaysia's top player, Mas Hafizulhelmi, to the Asian junior championship, apologised for the postponement. He said there was insufficient time to organise the national age-group event effectively.

The new dates for this event will be announced later.

Bayview League starts on Sunday

The eighth Penang Bayview Chess League kicks off at 10am this Sunday at the City Bayview Hotel's Revolving Restaurant. This year's league sees a record of 30 teams participating in the 12-week event which is played every Sunday until mid-August.

Because of the large number of entries, the Penang Chess Association has divided the teams into the Premier, First and Second Divisions.

Entry fees are RM150 per team. There will be cash prizes for the top teams in each of the three divisions.

Meanwhile, State Executive Councillor Dr Toh Kin Woon has been re-elected president of the Penang Chess Association for a two-year term. Wong Mun Hoe was re-elected vice-president, Ooi Kiem Boo as secretary and Goh Yoon Wah as treasurer.

The new assistant secretary is Chan Kim Beng, while Chuah Soon Pheng, Eoh Hook Kim, Khor Bean Hwa, Dr Lim Boon Liang, Quah Seng Sun and Tan Hock Lye have been elected as committee members.

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will hold the fifth stage of their nine-leg chess grand prix at Taman Dr Seenivasagam in Ipoh this Sunday.

Six rounds are scheduled for the one-day event, and the time control will be 25 minutes per player for each game. This event is open to all chess enthusiasts in the state.

The overall grand prix standings will be based on the best five tournament performances of each player and the top 24 players at the end of the series will qualify for the Perak state championship in September. The interim grand prix standings will also be used for selecting Perak players to national events like the Merdeka team championship.

Those interested in playing this weekend must register at the playing venue by 8.15am on Sunday. For details, contact W.K. Wong ( 05-366-1692).

Playing sessions in Johor

The Johor Chess Association meets weekly at Level One of the Leisure Mall in Taman Pelangi, Johor Baru. Tournaments and coaching sessions are available for beginners.

Anyone interested can contact Soh Zee Wee ( 07-354-5418 after 8pm) or just turn up at the Chess Corner from 3pm to 5pm every Saturday.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

I find the Internet to be the perfect medium for chess. Not only can I play online chess with someone across the globe, but I can also visit the official tournament websites to find out more about international chess events.

One event, though, has eluded me lately. I would have thought that an event as significant as the Kramnik-Shirov match now taking place in Cazorla, Spain, would be worthy of a web page.

But, no! The unpredictable Luis Rentero, who formed the World Chess Council with Gary Kasparov, had decided that there would be no official coverage of the match on the Internet! According to a report from Spain, this has made the mayor of Cazorla rather unhappy since the town is not getting the worldwide publicity it wanted.

But it is not a total loss. The Spanish newspapers are following the match quite closely and there are sites such as http://www.elpais.es (the online edition of the Spanish newspaper, El Pais) or http://visitweb.com/wcc which give the results and game scores. Pretty good, if you happen to speak or read the Spanish language.

So where does this leave us, who know no Spanish? Luckily, there are two rather dependable websites to visit: firstly, Mark Crowther's This Week In Chess at http://www.chesscenter.com/twic and secondly, the Chess Planet site at http://www.chessweb.com. These two web addresses provide reasonable coverage of the match.

Meanwhile, back in Cazorla, their local hero Alexei Shirov is leading pre-match favourite Vladimir Kramnik by a 3 1/2-2 1/2 score after six games in the 10-game match.

Last week, I gave the first game of the match which was drawn by the players after 25 moves. The second and third games of the match were also drawn. Then, in the fourth game, Shirov drew the first blood when he beat Kramnik. After that, both players settled down to draw their fifth and sixth games.

Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik, Game 2

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Qh5 f5 11. Rb1 b6 12. Re1 c6 13. Bg5 Qc7 14. c4 Be8 15. Qh3 dxc4 16. Bxc4+ Bf7 17. Be6 Bxe6 18. Rxe6 Rae8 19. Qb3 Rxe6 20. Qxe6+ Rf7 21. Qe8+ Rf8 22. Qe6+ Rf7 23. Qe8+ Rf8 1/2-1/2

Vladimir Kramnik - Alexei Shirov, Game 3

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 c5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+ Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14. Kxf1 cxd4 15. cxd4 e5 16. d5 Nc4 17. Qd3 Nxe3+ 18. Qxe3 Qh4 19. h3 Bh6 20. Qd3 Rf8+ 21. Kg1 Qf2+ 22. Kh1 Qe3 23. Qxe3 Bxe3 24. Rd1 Rf2 25. Ng1 Kf7 26. Rd3 Bb6 27. Rf3+ Ke7 28. Rxf2 Bxf2 29. Nf3 Kd6 30. g3 Bxg3 31. Kg2 Bf4 32. Kf2 Kc5 33. Ke2 b5 34. Kd3 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik, Game 4

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Qh5 O-O 11. Qxd5 Bc6 12. Qh5 g6 13. Qh3 Ng5 14. Bxg5 Qxg5 15. Nc3 Rfe8 16. d5 Bxd5 17. f4 Qd8 18. Nxd5 Bc5+ 19. Kh1 Qxd5 20. Rac1 Be3 21. Bc4 Qf5 22. Qxf5 gxf5 23. Rcd1 Rad8 24. g3 Bd4 25. b3 Bf6 26. Bb5 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Rd8 28. Rc1 Rd5 29. a4 Bd8 30. Rc8 Kg7 31. Rb8 Bb6 32. Rxb7 Rd1+ 33. Kg2 Rd2+ 34. Kh3 Bg1 35. g4 Bxh2 36. gxf5 h5 37. Kh4 Bxf4 38. Kxh5 Kf6 39. Bc4 Kxf5 40. Rxf7+ Ke4 41. Rxa7 Be5 42. Bf1 Rf2 43. Bh3 Rf8 44. Be6 Rf1 45. Rd7 Rh1+ 46. Kg6 Rg1+ 47. Kf7 Rg7+ 48. Ke8 Rxd7 49. Kxd7 Bc3 50. Kc6 Ke5 51. Bg8 Be1 52. Kb6!! Bf2+ 53. Ka6 Kd6 54. a5 Kc7 55. b4 Kc6 56. b5+ Kc5 57. b6 Kb4 58. b7 Bg3 59. Kb6 Bf2+ 60. Kc6 Ba7 61. a6 Ka5 62. Bc4 Bb8 63. Bf1 1-0

Vladimir Kramnik - Alexei Shirov, Game 5

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be6 14. Rc1 Bxa2 15. Qa4 Bb3 16. Qb4 b6 17. Bg5 f6 18. Bh4 Qd6 19. Qxd6 exd6 20. d5 f5 21. exf5 gxf5 22. Ng3 Bb2 23. Nxf5 Bc4 24. Ne7+ Kh8 25. Bxc4 Rf4 26. Bg5 Rxc4 27. Rce1 Rc2 28. Nf5 Nc4 29. Re6 Rf8 30. Nxd6 Nxd6 31. Rxd6 Re8 32. Rd1 Ree2 33. Kh1 Rxg2 34. Rd8+ Kg7 35. Bf4 Bf6 36. Ra8 Bg5 37. Be5+ Bf6 38. Bf4 Bg5 39. Rxa7+ Kg6 40. Ra8 Kf7 41. Ra7+ Kg6 42. Bb8 h5 43. Rb7 Be3 44. Re7 Bc5 45. Re6+ Kg5 46. Re4 Kf5 47. Bf4 Rge2 48. Rxe2 Rxe2 49. Bg3 Re8 50. Kg2 Rd8 51. Kh3 Rd7 52. d6 h4 53. Rd5+ Ke6 54. Re5+ Kf6 55. Kxh4 Rh7+ 56. Rh5 Rxh5+ 57. Kxh5 b5 58. d7 Ke7 59. Be5 Kxd7 60. Bb2 Ke6 61. Kg6 Bd6 62. h4 b4 63. h5 Bf4 64. h6 Bxh6 65. Kxh6 Kf5 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik, Game 6

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Nxe5 d5 7. Bxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 O-O 9. c3 Re8 10. cxd4 Bxd4 11. O-O Rxe5 12. d3 c6 13. Nf4 b6 14. Qc2 Rc5 15. Qe2 Ba6 16. Be3 Qd6 17. Rac1 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 Be5 1/2-1/2