GilaChess Blog

Viewed 221 times by 110 viewers

This is round 1 on board 8

Viewed 202 times by 101 viewers

Here’s the first game to finish in Round 1 of the Malaysian Women Masters 2010 preliminary round.

[Date "2010.02.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nur Najiha"]
[Black "Nur Nabila"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2010.02.26"]
[SourceDate "2010.02.26"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. d5
Nc5 9. Nd2 a5 10. b3 Ne8 11. Ba3 Na6 12. Rc1 f5 13. Bf3 f4 14. Bg4 Qh4 15. Bxc8
Rxc8 16. Nf3 Qh6 17. Na4 b6 18. Nc3 g5 19. Ne1 Nf6 20. Nd3 g4 21. b4 axb4 22.
Nxb4 Nxb4 23. Bxb4 f3 0-1

Related link: Malaysian Women Masters 2010 blog

Viewed 201 times by 100 viewers

In last weekend’s First Saturday I wanted badly to play against Shamsuddin Sabri aka Firey Rook because I thought he would be easy to beat. After this game I have to think twice . Behind the nice guy demeanor lies a fierce attacking player!

[Event "First Saturday Classical Chess 2010"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.02.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shamsuddin Sabri, Morra Gambit"]
[Black "Low Jun Keat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[Annotator "Sabri,Shamsuddin"]
[PlyCount "35"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4

The start of the Smith Morra gambit.

cxd4 3. c3 dxc3

Black accepts the gambit. Perfectly playable but he must know the correct lines to play against this gambit. If not the consequences will be severe as is apparent in this game.

4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bc4 Bg4 ??

Too hasty. Bg4 just screams for the following tactic.

7. Bxf7+

7. .. Kxf7 8. Ng5+ Ke8

And White regains the piece with interest.

9. Qxg4 Nf6 10. Qe6 Nd4 ?

Perhaps 10. … Qc8 was better.

11. Qf7+ Kd7 12. O-O h6

13. Rd1

White is goes for the attack giving up the attacking Knight for an attacking Rook. No wonder this guy calls himself Firey Rook !!

13. .. hxg5 14. Rxd4  Qb6 15. Be3 Qxb2

16. Rxd6+

and the Rook fearlessly lights itself on fire and kamikazes Black’s last defences.

Kxd6 17. Rd1+ Kc7 18. Qc4+

(Black resigns seeing that Kb8 is hopeless because of bank rank mate)

1-0

With this result, the Firey Rook captures third prize for the First Saturday classical Feb 2010.

Viewed 765 times by 345 viewers

I’ve lost to Jax Tham countless times so getting a winning a position against him in the Excel Chess First Saturday in the first round got me all excited. My first win against Jax?

Jax got into a losing position fast after making some dubious pawn sacrifices to complicate things in the opening. To my credit, I handled the opening calmly even though my King was exposed and gradually realised my advantage in the middle game. However I felt like a patzer because later, I missed a mate in four, and then couldn’t win the favourable middlegame with good material advantage. What a waste! It’s times like these I feel like quitting chess altogether

I’m White. Black just played 22. .. Nf6??

White can mate in 4.

Can you see the mate which I couldn’t ?

Here’s the complete game(try not to laugh):

[Event "Excel First Saturday (Feb2010)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.02.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Andrew Ooi"]
[Black "Jax Tham"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2074"]
[BlackElo "1834"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2010.02.07"]
[SourceDate "2010.02.07"]

1. e4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. f4 e5 5. fxe5 d6 6. exd6 Bxd6 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. Be2 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Qh4+ 10. g3 Bxg3+ 11. hxg3 Qxg3+ 12. Kf1 Nd4 13. Bg2 Qd3+ 14. Kg1 O-O-O 15. Qf1 Qg3 16. d3 Nf6 17. Qf4 Qxd3 18. Bh3+ Ne6 19. Nd5 Qxh3 20. Rxh3 Nxf4 21. Bxf4 Nxe4 22. Re1 Nf6 23. Bg5 Rde8 24. Ne7+ Kd7 25. Rd3+ Kc7 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Kf2 h5 28. Nd5+ Kc6 29. Rxe8 Rxe8 30. Nxf6 Re5 31. Rd5 Re6 32. Nxh5 b5 33. b3 $2 bxc4 34. bxc4 Re4 35. Rd2 Rxc4 36. Ke3 Kb5 37. Nf4 a5 38. Nd5 Rh4 39. Nc3+ Kc4 40. Ne4 Kb4 41. Rc2 c4 42. Nd6 Rh3+ 43. Kf4 c3 44. Ne4 Rd3 45. Nf2 Rd2 46. Rxd2 cxd2 47. Ke3 Ka3 48. Kxd2 Kxa2 49. Kc2 a4 50. Nd3 f5 51. Nf4 1/2-1/2

Viewed 587 times by 259 viewers

Again another game from the 2nd DATCC Weekender taken from Round 2. In the first round, Sahir Sarifdin just beat higher rated Nor Ilhamuddin.

Sahir faces off against Abdul Aziz’s super solid Caro Kann and goes for the endgame early by trading off Queens in the opening. Aziz had pressure on the h-file which lasted until towards the end of the game. Black eventually won a pawn which was decisive.

Viewed 686 times by 256 viewers

This game got me interested in watching the Botvinnik & Moscow variation of the Slav which has been lying around gathering dust in my video album. I thought this variation was so wild and complicated, I won’t see it played in a local match.

Interesting game where Aziz rendered Wai Cheong’s rook immobile with his bishop and h-pawn. Wai Cheong had to sac his Bishop just to free the rook.

Viewed 574 times by 232 viewers

Here’s a game between schoolboys Yat Guo Jie and Justin Ong.

White got too carried away with the attack and sacrificed a piece without any tangible returns.

Temporarily retreating the Bishop to 13. Bf4 would have kept the game level and White chances alive.

Viewed 533 times by 220 viewers

This game occured in Round 3 on board 4 where Kamaluddin Yusof met Perakian Fong Yit Ho.

The game is a Bishop’s opening where the game was level for a long time. Turning point might be White’s move 24. g3 which lost the exchange (24. h5 was the computer recommended move – keeping White initiative alive).

Viewed 529 times by 222 viewers

My most notable win last year was against Nor Ilhamuddin last year after I “unfairly” booked up on a specific line in the Mokdern. It felt like cheating then because more than half the game was played based on memorisation of the video I just watched.

Ilham is playing for Eon Bank this time around and like me is also playing board one. With a “rematch” tonight I was sure Ilham would want sweet revenge for the previous defeat. The difference was now I am White and there’s no way to play the Mokdern

Instead, I played a Vienna line which I also lost to Ilham some years back. I repeated the variation again because I had gone thru that game right after my loss with the chess engines and found some improvements. After that I used that line a lot in online games so I was very familiar with it. I was lucky the same line was played and Ilham made some inacuracies. I quickly gained an advantage in the opening which carried forward to the middle game.

However being a patzer, I knew my luck wouldn’t hold as there were still heavy pieces such as the Queen and two rooks. I offered a draw from what I thought was a position of strength – just before I doubled rooks (19. Re2) against black’s backward pawn. Of course, the draw offer was refused

Ilham knew as well as I that I most likely will not survive the complications of the middlegame.

Here is the complete game

Read the rest of this entry →

Viewed 3205 times by 894 viewers

Here’s a recent training game between our young hopeful Yeoh Li Tian vs China’s WFM Ding Yixin.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.11.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Yeoh Li Tian"]
[Black "WFM Ding Yixin  "]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[BlackElo "2317"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2009.11.01"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.01"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. O-O
Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Be7 11. Nc3 Qa5 12. Qb3 Qb4 13. Qxb4 Bxb4 14. Rac1 O-O
15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. g4 Bg6 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Nd5
21. Bd4 Nf4 22. Bf1 h5 23. f3 a6 24. Kf2 Rc8 25. Rd2 Rc7 26. a3 Rd7 27. Kg3 Nd5
28. Bf2 Kf8 29. c4 Nb6 30. Rxd7 Nxd7 31. Bd4 Ke7 32. Kf2 hxg4 33. hxg4 Kd8 34.
Ke3 Ke7 35. Bc3 Bc2 36. f4 Bd1 37. Bh3 Nb6 38. Kd3 Kd7 39. Ba5 Na4 40. Bb4 Bf3
41. f5 Nb2+ 42. Ke3 Bd1 43. Kd2 Ba4 44. Bf1 Bc6 45. f6 g6 46. Kc2 Na4 47. Bd3
b6 48. Bxg6 Ke8 49. Bh7 Bf3 50. g5 a5 51. Bd6 Nc5 52. Kb2 Be2 53. Kc3 Kd8 54.
Kd4 Ke8 55. Be7 1-0

Viewed 9080 times by 1378 viewers

The first game to draw in the Malaysian Masters!

Lim Yee Weng drew with Edward Lee in their first game of the 4th Quarter Finals of the Malaysian Masters 2009 at Wilayah Kompleks today.

The second round is starting earlier than usual at 2.00 pm.

[Event "Malaysian Masters 4th Q-Final"]

[Site "Wilayah Kompleks"]

[Date "????.??.??"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Lim Yee Weng"]

[Black "Edward Lee"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[PlyCount "73"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. g3 b5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. f4 d5 7. Qe2 d4 8. Nd1 Nf6 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. O-O Be7 11. Nf2 Qb6 12. Bd2 Nd7 13. Rfc1 O-O 14. e5 Rac8 15. Ne4 c4 16. Be1 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Bxc5 18. Ng5 Be7 19. Ne4 Nb4 20. Nf6+ gxf6 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Bxb4 Rfe8 23. Bxb7 Qxb7 24. Bd6 Qd5 25. Be5 Bxe5 26. fxe5 Rc5 27. Re1 Rec8 28. Qg4+ Kf8 29. Qf4 cxd3 30. cxd3 Rc2 31. Re4 Rxb2 32. Rf1 Rc7 33. Qf6 Ke8 34. Qh8+ Kd7 35. Qb8 f5 36. exf6 Rcc2 37. Qa7+ *

Viewed 4372 times by 1231 viewers

This is another game that stretched till very late yesterday and it’s ELO rated 2200+ Fadi Firman Shah versus a stronger 2400+ Nguyen Van Huy. Watch how Farid outplays the Vietnamese in this marathon endgame.

(If you think clicking forward and replaying the game is tiring you should try keying in the game )

[Event "Kuala Lumpur Open Chess Championship 200"]
[Site "Shah's Village Hotel, Petaling"]
[Date "2009.09.04"]
[Round "2.10"]
[White "Van Huy, Nguyen"]
[Black "Farid, Firman Syah"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2414"]
[BlackElo "2207"]
[PlyCount "238"]
[EventDate "2009.09.04"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Bb3 Qa5 12. Kb1 Rfc8 13. g4 Rab8 14. Bh6 Bxh6 15. Qxh6 Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qxc3 17. Qd2 Qxd2 18. Rxd2 b5 19. g5 Nh5 20. Rf1 Nf4 21.
Ne2 Ne6 22. f4 Nc6 23. Ng3 Nc5 24. f5 Ne5 25. f6 Kf8 26. fxe7+ Kxe7 27. Rdf2 Be6 28. Bd5 h6 29. gxh6 Rh8 30. Bxe6 fxe6 31. h4 Rxh6 32. Rf4 Rh7 33. Rg1 Rf7 34. Rxf7+ Nxf7 35. Kc1 Ne5 36. Rf1 a5 37. Kd2 Nc4+ 38. Ke2 b4 39. Rc1 Na4 40.
Kd3 Nab2+ 41. Ke2 Na4 42. Ra1 Nc3+ 43. Kf3 Kf6 44. Ne2 Nd2+ 45. Ke3 Ndxe4 46. Nxc3 Nxc3 47. a3 Nd5+ 48. Ke4 Ne7 49. axb4 axb4 50. Rb1 Nf5 51. Rxb4 Nxh4 52. c4 Nf5 53. Rb8 g5 54. Rf8+ Ke7 55. Rg8 Kf6 56. Rf8+ Ke7 57. Rg8 Kf6 58. Rf8+ Kg7 59. Rd8 g4 60. Rc8 g3 61. Kf3 Kf6 62. Rg8 Ke7 63. Rb8 Kd7 64. Kg2 Ne3+ 65. Kxg3 Nxc4 66. Kf4 Kc6 67. Ke4 d5+ 68. Kd4 Kd6 69. Rh8 Ne5 70. Ke3 Nc6 71. Rh6 Ke5 72. Rh5+ Kf6 73. Rh6+ Kf5 74. Rh5+ Kg6 75. Rh8 e5 76. Rf8 Ne7 77. Kf3 Kg5 78. Ke2 Ng6 79. Rf7 Nf4+ 80. Ke3 Nh5 81. Rf8 Nf6 82. Kd3 Kf5 83. Ke3 Ke6 84. Kd3 Nd7 85. Re8+ Kd6 86. Rd8 Ke7 87. Rh8 Nc5+ 88. Kc3 Kf6 89. Rc8 Ne6 90. Rh8 Kf5 91. Re8 Nf4 92. Rf8+ Ke4 93. Kd2 Kf3 94. Ra8 e4 95. Rf8 e3+ 96. Ke1 Ke4 97. Rf7 d4 98. Re7+ Kd3 99. Rg7 Nd5 100. Rg8 Nc3 101. Rd8 Ne4 102. Re8 Nd2 103. Re7 Nf3+ 104. Kd1 Ng1 105. Ke1 Nh3 106. Rf7 Ng5 107. Rf8 Ne6 108. Re8 Nf4 109. Rg8 Nd5 110. Re8 Nf4 111. Ra8 Ke4 112. Re8+ Kf3 113. Rf8 d3 114. Kd1 Kg3 115. Rf7 Nh3 116. Rg7+ Kf3 117. Rf7+ Kg2 118. Rd7 Kf1 119. Rxd3 Nf2+

0-1

Viewed 2822 times by 832 viewers

At first when I saw the scoresheet I thought it was a quick “grandmaster” draw however I saw a 0-1 at the end of the scoresheet:-

Occured during Round 7 of DATMO 2009.

Viewed 4365 times by 1259 viewers