GilaChess Blog

I read somewhere that Tal used to watch TV programs on chess. They were for beginners so it’s suprising that a strong GM like Tal would learn anything from such programs.

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I want a 2nd hand phone just to do mobile blogging.

Very simple requirements really.

1. Device must be pocketable
2. Easy to type text on
3. Has good camera
4. Have 3G or EDGE internet connection

Currently thinking of either the Nokia E61i or Sony Experia X1.

Both have Qwerty keyboards which is more convenient compared to using number keypads on a phone.

The Nokia E61i is kind of old but like most Nokia phones has a high 2nd value compared to other brands. Current market price for a 2nd hand Nokia E61i is RM 400. It is quite fat and looks bulky but I’m not concerned as I’m not using it as a phone.

The second option is the Sony XPeria X1 which came out in 2008, It was one of the best looking phones at that time and also costly at RM 2000+.

This phone fetches around RM 800 second hand.

It’s twice the cost of the Nokia and is still relatively expensive for 2nd hand gadget. However the Nokia cannot run Pocket Fritz 4 while the Sony can (as the X1 runs on Windows Mobile OS).

The cameras on these 2 phones are nothing to shout about but they are above average quality and should be good enough for pictures on a blog. Still cannot decide one over the other. I love Nokia phones for their build quality and reliabillty but then I can’t have Pocket Fritz 4 on the Nokia. It could run Chess Genius but that’s not as good as PF4.

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Crosstable results

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Results here.

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After 5 rounds this is the standings

Pictures from Round 6

Battle of the bloggers. Yatzchess vs FireyRook

Result: DRAW

Round 6 pairings

Lunch – RSC Chicken Rice

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Arrived late at RSC because they closed off the roads. I didn’t expect that. Parked at Wilayah and walked over.

Round 3

At least I won my opponent using White.

Nabil is the current leader now.

Round 4

I lost to FirstGM son, Mark Siew and lost without any effort.

Current standings for the Open Section

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Read all about it here.

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This is the current standings after Round 2 of the KL Grand Prix – 2nd leg held at Royal Selangor Club.

Rank after Round 2

Pariing for Round 3

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After my disappointing loss in first round I really regret wasting my time playing in this tournament. Although there is only 22 players in the Open section, more than half the field is stronger than me and I would be lucky to finish with a 50% score.

My second round opponent opened with 1. g4 – the Grob!!

I hate to face such crazy and unorthodox openings so I tried to steer the game out of my opponent’s book by avoiding non-committal centre moves like d5 or e5. I played 1.. g6 instead and was happy to see my opponent start to think after the third move. The win wasn’t quick and took 40+ moves and almost my full 45 minutes on my clock to checkmate my opponent.

Needless to say it’s tiring and I am sorry to sound like a broken record, but I have to say I still regret playing in this tournament Hmmm.. perhaps I can learn something from all the games I’ve played. But then who am I kidding. This is just a rapid tourney and there’s no carbon copy to keep as we have to submit our original scoresheets. And I have a bad memory.)

Strong players in discussion. Sahir Sarifudin (left)and Nik Ahmad Farouqi (right) while Abdul Haq (middle) looks on.

Good idea to use of the projector to show the pairings but perhaps bigger text would make it easier to read from far
(Hint: on the Mozilla browser press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘+’ keys for bigger text)

Encik Azhar seems to be squinting his eyes to see the names.

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My first round opponent was Jax Tham who abandoned his First Saturday tournament due to poor turnout to join the KL GP 2nd leg. Lucky me

I took White against Jax and the game was a Pirc.

[Event "KL Grand Prix second Leg"]
[Site "RSC, KL"]
[Date "2010.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ooi"]
[Black "Jax Tham"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2010.03.06"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.06"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be3 O-O 6. Qd2 Re8 7. Bc4 c6 8. Bh6
b5 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. Bb3 b4 11. Ne2 Nxe4 12. Qxb4 Qb6 13. Qc4 d5 14. Qd3 a5 15.
a4 Ba6 16. Qe3 Qb4+ 17. Nd2 Nxd2 18. Qxd2 Nd7 19. O-O-O Qxd2+ 20. Rxd2 e5 21.
dxe5 Bxe2 22. Rxe2 Rxe5 23. Rxe5 Nxe5 24. h3 Re8 25. Re1 g5 26. Kd2 f5 27. Kc3
Kf6

The game reached the following position.

White had just played 28. Kd4  which turn out to be a mistake.

28. …Nf3+ 29. gxf3 Rxe1 30. Kc5 Rh1 31. Kxc6 Rxh3 32. Bxd5 Ke5 33. c4
Rh6+ 34. Kb5 Rd6 35. Bb7 Rd2 36. b3 Rd3 37. b4 axb4 38. Kxb4 Kd6 39. a5 Kc7 40.
a6 Rd2 41. Bd5 Kb6 42. Be6 Rb2+ 43. Kc3 Rxf2 44. Bd5 Kxa6 45. Kd4 g4 0-1

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I’m at the KL Grand Prix right now because I heard that the playing field was weak and only 22 players was taking part in the Open section. So I went thinking that a top 10 position would be realistic.

As usual that logic is flawed as last minute entries changed the field to a very strong one.

As I look around I see strong players like Kaushal Khandar, Abdul Haq, Roslina Marmono, Low Jun Keat, Low Jun Jian, Nabila, Nabi, Nur Najiha, Roshan, Jax Tham, Sahir Sarifdin, and Mark Siew.

There are at least 3 bloggers in the room including me. The other two are Yat Guo Jie and Shamsuddin Sabri (Firey Rook)

The first leg of this Grand Prix was won by Yeoh Li Tian with a perfect 6/6. Li Tian is not playing in this leg.

For the Under 12 section the siblings that took the first and second position the previous legs, Subramaniam and Nithyalakshmi.

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Hou Yifan from the 1st World Mind Games, Beijing. She just celebrated her 16th birthday 2 weeks ago.
Picture from www.chessasia.net

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The first original chess video I bought was one of the Roman Lab’s series. It was pretty practical too as the opening he covered was the Grand Prix variation of the Sicilian which I’ve used till today. His videos are pretty old fashioned compared to the Frtiz Trainer formats of today. However there is quality behind those boring sounding videos. Over the years however, some lines have been refuted mainly by computer engines and inevitable those videos loses some value.

Interestingly, GM Roman Dzindzichashvili challenged Rybka in 2008 and drew the match at 4-4 (2 wins 4 draws and 2 losses). Of course Rybka was handicapped playing Black in all 8 games and with one pawn less.

It’s good to see Roman embrace computer analysis and updated some of his older opening videos with the help of Rybka. Some new videos like the one above are the result.

Of course I’m particularly interested in the above video talking about “staggering new novelties for White in the Grand Prix Attack”.

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Take note that the  Cheras Challengers new venue is:

Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane,

Jalan Cochrane,

55100 KL

Apart from working with the MSSKL during their KL Chess Festival, the move is also to cater for outstation and a few foreign players – the Sports Centre has hostels .

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