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Friday, April 23, 1999 Chess Meeting of the titans? By Quah Seng Sun GARY Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, the two highest rated players in the world, may pit their wits against one another in a US$3mil (RM11.4mil) match this October. If the match is played, the winner stands to receive two-thirds of the prize fund. According to a report published in Inside Chess magazine this week, Kasparov is willing to play this match, but Viswanathan has yet to confirm participation. The match, to be organised by Canadian entrepreneur Serge Grimaux, has the full backing of well-known chess mentors like Bessel Kok (chairman of the now defunct Grandmasters Association) and grandmaster Fridrik Olaksson (former president of the World Chess Federation). Kasparov has also agreed to put his title at stake, meaning that if Viswanathan wins the match, the Indian grandmaster can call himself a world champion! Last year, Viswanathan had refused to play a match with Vladimir Kramnik. The winner was supposed to earn the right to play Kasparov for big bucks. Alexei Shirov then took his place and won, but later, Kasparov called off his match with Shirov, saying there were no funds for it. A glorious fest HERE are some tournament results. The highlight of the four-day Klang Parade Chess Fest was the Klang Parade open tournament held on April 11. At the end of the six-round event, which attracted 118 participants, only one player, Rizal Kamal, scored the maximum six points to bag the first prize of RM250 and a trophy. Close on Rizal's heels were Fikrul Saifuddin, Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin, Ismail Ahmad, Nanda Kumar, Julian Navaratnam, Tay Boon Siang and Lim Tse Pin who scored five points each. The 10th prize went to Marcus Chan who scored 4 1/2 points. The best girl player was Samantha Lee who obtained four points. The best under-16, under-14 and under-12 players were Nanda Kumar, Muhammad Aizuddin and Wong Zi Chuang respectively. A day earlier, the Klang Parade blitz tournament was played. It was an 11-round contest which attracted 98 players. Honours were split between Fikrul Saifuddin and Julian Navaratnam who scored 10 points each. However, Fikrul was declared the champion on a better tie-break. Ng Ee Vern was third with nine points and Mohd Saprin Sabri was fourth with 8 1/2 points. Three players - Hairul Hamid, Nanda Kumar and Lim Khay Soon - took the next three prizes with eight points each, while another three players - Lim Yee Weng, Joseph Toh and Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin - scored 7 1/2 points to win the remaining prizes. Roslina Marmono, who obtained a creditable seven points, was the best girl player. On April 3, the Klang Parade Chess Fest was primarily a junior affair featuring the under-12 and under-16 events. The under-20 tournament was held the following day. In the under-20 event, Mohd Haizul Jamaluddin staved off a strong challenge from Stewart Chan and Lim Beng Poh to take the top prize with 5 1/2 points. Both his challengers finished with five points each. Also scoring five points was Muhammad Aizuddin who won the best under-16 prize, while Lee Su Ann again featured as the best under-16 girl player. Wong Zi Chuang was the best under-12 player and Nurul Atiqah was the best under-12 girl player. The under-12 event was won by Ooi Ching Chung with a clean score of six points from as many games. Fariz Shafruddin, Muhanad Johan Iskandar and Joshua Tan tied for the second to fourth prizes with five points each, while on 4 1/2 points was Hazuin Husain. Siti Zulaika Foudri took the prize for best girl player. The under-16 event also saw a clean score by the winner, Deon Moh, who won all his six games. Far behind him were Marcus Chan, Eugene Khoo, Matthew Low and Ahmad Abid, who each won a prize with 4 1/2 points. Lee Su Ann was the best girl player with 4 1/2 points. The Klang Parade Chess Fest, held in Klang over two weekends, was a joint effort between the Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade. Meanwhile, the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) has been kept busy with a number of events. Late last month, CAS held its 13th Royal Selangor junior open tournament for the under-10, under-14 and under-18 categories. Each of these events was held as a seven-round Swiss at the Sunway College in Petaling Jaya. The winner of the under-18 event was Ng Ee Vern who scored 5 1/2 points. Also sharing the same points as Ng was Law Zhe Kang who was given only the second prize. In third place was Nanda Kumar with five points, followed by Effazuwan Mohd Farid with 4 1/2 points. Rounding up the winners were Thaw Chee Yin and Marcus Chan who scored four points each. In the under-14 section, Wong Zi Chuang was the big winner with 6 1/2 points. In a long tie for the second to seventh prizes were Chan Tze Wei, Gerald Soh, Ragu Ram, Tan Kiat Tat, Effawira Mohd Farid and Hafiz Shafruddin who obtained five points each. Nicholas Chan, Siti Zulaikha and Fariz Shafruddin scored 4 1/2 points each. The top under-10 prize went to Ooi Ching Chung who scored six points. Second was Eric Ng Kheng Gee with 5 1/2 points, while Effaliana Mohd Farid, Chan Tze Chen and Loke Zhi Kin were in joint third to fifth places with five points each. Mo Kim Hung was sixth with 4 1/2 points, and Abel Yap Jin Wei and Tan Kian Hui scored four points each. CAS had also been experimenting with a chess circuit of its own, and the first such tournament, held on March 29, was won by Ng Ee Vern with 5 1/2 points. Second was Ismail Ahmad with five points, and third was Julian Navaratnam also with five points. Finally, both K. Premnath and Cheah Eu Gene scored 4 1/2 points each. The best under-16 prizes were given to Marcus Chan, Effawira Mohd Farid and Ahmad Abid, while the best under-12 prizes went to Siti Zulaikha, Ahmad Fariz Shafruddin and Lim Ven Gee. Also in March, the first of three Rapid Chess tournaments was played at the Kelab Shell Lutong in Miri. The one-day event, which attracted 44 players, was played over seven rounds. The tournament was won by Junby Layoen of Brunei who earned RM200, while Leong Voon Choon, another player from Brunei, took the second prize of RM150. Third was Junaidi Gusni from Miri. The next two Rapid Chess tournaments in Miri will be played in May and July. Come August, the Miri Chess Club will be organising its Merdeka chess tournament. Four-day event THE Malaysian Chess Federation and Endah Parade are jointly organising a four-day chess fest which will be held over two weekends in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur. All games will be played in the concourse on the ground floor of Endah Parade. Cash prizes totalling RM3,250, hampers, trophies and other prizes in kind will be given out. On May 15, the organisers will hold the Endah Parade blitz tournament which is an 11-round event. The registration of players will begin at 1pm, and the tournament will run from 2pm to 6.30pm. There will be five cash prizes with the champion receiving RM200 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10. On the next day, the six-round Endah Parade junior (under-20) open tournament will start at 9am. The winner will receive RM150 and a trophy, first runner-up RM100 and second runner-up RM80. There are seven other main cash prizes, with special prizes for the best girl, under-12, under-14 and under-16 players. Entry fee is also RM10. On May 22, the Endah Parade under-12 and under-16 tournaments will begin at 9am. There are six cash prizes for each age group, inclusive of one for the best girl player. The winners of the two categories will each receive RM150 and a trophy. Entry fee is RM10. The last event will be the Endah Parade open tournament on May 23. The winner will receive RM250 and a trophy. The second prize is RM200 and a medal, the third prize RM150 and a medal, the four and fifth prizes are RM100 each, and the sixth to 10th prizes are worth RM50 each. In addition, RM50 prizes await the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players. The entry fee for this final event is RM15 except for those under 12 who need to pay only RM10. Only a maximum of 100 players will be accepted for each event. For registration or more information, call Zac, Yvonne or Soo Kee ( 03-583-0100; fax: 03-583-0300). Up Next THE sixth leg of the Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be held this Sunday at Kolej Damansara Utama in Jalan Anson, Penang. There will be six rounds with a total cash prize of RM1,500. Entry fees are RM10 for members of the Penang Chess Association, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants. The closing date for the Penang leg is today but the organisers may receive last-minute entries subject to availability of space and the payment of a late penalty of RM10. For details, call Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596, office hours) or Khor Bean Hwa ( 04-658 1662, evening). In Petaling Jaya, the Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organise the 13th Royal Selangor junior open tournament for the under-12, under-16 and under-20 age groups tomorrow and on Sunday at Sunway College. On May 9, CAS will organise the seventh leg of the BPM national allegro chess circuit also at Sunway College. For details call Jackie Wong at 03-703 8237 or Lim Tse Pin at 03-733 0927. In Kuala Terengganu, three days have been allotted for the 21st Terengganu closed championship at the Dewan Jabatan Laut Wilayah Timur. The senior category of this tournament will be held from April 29 to May 1, while the novice category will be played on April 30 and May 1. There are also the women's and under-12 categories which are scheduled for May 1. According to the Terengganu Chess Association, there will be 10 cash prizes for the senior category; the champion will receive RM250, and the winners of the other categories will get trophies. Entry fees are RM10 for the senior category, RM3 for the novice and women's categories, and RM2 for the under-12 category. For registration, call Jefri at 010-984-3648. Quah Seng Sun's chess articles are archived at (http://www.mol.com.my/qss) or (http://come.to/my.internet.page). Readers can write to him at: Chess Section 2 Star Publications (M) Bhd 15 Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling 10200 Penang Fax: 04-262 3433 E-mail: ssquah@schach.pc.my