Saturday, November 14, 2009

Round 1 and Round 2 pairings, 1st DATCC Individual 2009

Here are the rounds one and two pairings of the 1st DATCC Individual 2009 on the 14th November 2009.

Table 1. Round 1 pairings


Table 2. Round 2 Pairings.

For those interested in playing in 2nd DATCC Chess League 2009 which is currently being played on Tuesday nights, in the months of November and December 2009 and you still do not have a team, then, please contact En. Abdul Hamid Majid, h/p: 019-3158098 or email: aham@pc.jaring.my.

1st DATCC Individual 2009 Kicks Off

Today, the 1st DATCC Individual 2009 has kicked off smoothly with the first round of play at 2.00 pm on Saturday, 14th  November 2009.

Even Dato' Tan Chin Nam dropped by at the start and asked participants if there are any more improvements needed to the Chess Centre to make it more comfortable for players to come and play.

Here are some pictures of the first day of play.


Picture 1. Haslindah Ruslan (right).


Picture 2. Mark Siew(in red) vs Hisham Ismail (right).


Picture 3. Mat Zaki Yeop (right, far table) vs
Ilhamuddin(left).


Picture 4. Board 1 - Kamaluddin Yusof (in blue) and Board 2 - NM Edward Lee (green).

Two rounds have been played on Saturday and another two more rounds on Sunday, 15th November 2009 for the First DATCC Individual 2009 (FIDE-rated).

And a chess lecture on the Sicilian Dragon by IM Lim Yee Weng will be held during lunch hour today, 15th November 2009. Come over to the chess centre and listen to an interesting lecture on a chess opening, the Sicilian Dragon. It is located on the 4th Floor Car Park, Wilayah Kompleks, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur.

Friday, November 13, 2009

2nd DATCC Team Pairings Released

Here are the latest team pairings for the 2nd DATCC Chess League 2009 which has been received by email from En. Abdul Hamid Majid, the chief arbiter for this event. The event is currently running during the months of November and December 2009 and played on Tuesday nights beginning at about 7.00 pm evenings.

Round 1

No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 1 Pricewaterhouse - Nusa Mahkota 10
2 2 Tan & Tan - Team AU 9
3 3 Storm Warriers - Caviga 8
4 4 EON Bank Berhad - 17 Chess Club 7
5 5 X - Factor - DATCC 6

Round 2
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 10 Nusa Mahkota - DATCC 6
2 7 17 Chess Club - X - Factor 5
3 8 Caviga - EON Bank Berhad 4
4 9 Team AU - Storm Warriers 3
5 1 Pricewaterhouse - Tan & Tan 2

Round 3
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 2 Tan & Tan - Nusa Mahkota 10
2 3 Storm Warriers - Pricewaterhouse 1
3 4 EON Bank Berhad - Team AU 9
4 5 X - Factor - Caviga 8
5 6 DATCC - 17 Chess Club 7

Round 4
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 10 Nusa Mahkota - 17 Chess Club 7
2 8 Caviga - DATCC 6
3 9 Team AU - X - Factor 5
4 1 Pricewaterhouse - EON Bank Berhad 4
5 2 Tan & Tan - Storm Warriers 3

Round 5
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 3 Storm Warriers - Nusa Mahkota 10
2 4 EON Bank Berhad - Tan & Tan 2
3 5 X - Factor - Pricewaterhouse 1
4 6 DATCC - Team AU 9
5 7 17 Chess Club - Caviga 8

Round 6
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 10 Nusa Mahkota - Caviga 8
2 9 Team AU - 17 Chess Club 7
3 1 Pricewaterhouse - DATCC 6
4 2 Tan & Tan - X - Factor 5
5 3 Storm Warriers - EON Bank Berhad 4

Round 7
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 4 EON Bank Berhad - Nusa Mahkota 10
2 5 X - Factor - Storm Warriers 3
3 6 DATCC - Tan & Tan 2
4 7 17 Chess Club - Pricewaterhouse 1
5 8 Caviga - Team AU 9

Round 8
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 10 Nusa Mahkota - Team AU 9
2 1 Pricewaterhouse 1 - 3 Caviga 8
3 2 Tan & Tan ½ - 3½ 17 Chess Club 7
4 3 Storm Warriers 3 - 1 DATCC 6
5 4 EON Bank Berhad 1 - 3 X - Factor 5

Round 9
No. SNo. Team Res. Team SNo.
1 5 X - Factor - Nusa Mahkota 10
2 6 DATCC - EON Bank Berhad 4
3 7 17 Chess Club - Storm Warriers 3
4 8 Caviga - Tan & Tan 2
5 9 Team AU - Pricewaterhouse 1

(source: aham@pc.jaring.my)

The Malaysian Masters Semi Finals :newly crowned IM Lim Yee Weng & FM Nicholas Chan

The Malaysian Masters Semi Finals Knock Out Match between newly crowned IM Lim Yee Weng & FM Nicholas Chan will be played over 2 days as follows:


Friday, 27 Nov 2009 (Hari Raya Aidil Adha)
Game 1 0930 hours
Game 2 1500 hours

Saturday, 28 Nov 2009
Game 3 0930 hours
Game 4 1500 hours


Picture 1. IM Lim Wee Yeng (left).



Picture 2. FM Nicholas Chan (left)
In the event there is a tied (2-2) result, then the playoff rapid match will be held on Sunday, 29 Nov.
All games will be held in Dato' Arthur Tan Chess Center in Wilayah Kompleks. All are welcome to watch.

For Muslims, the 27th November 2009 is Hari Raya Aidil Adha and most would only be available after doing their filial duties to family and religion. However, for those who can and are free and available, the chess organisers are encouraging you to come to watch the Semi-Finals of the Malaysian Masters 2009 at the Wilayah Kompleks, Kuala Lumpur.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

End Game - Clearance



Black's extra pawn confers obtrusive advantage, and if allowed to play 1....d5, he wins comfortably. White's natural try is 1.Ke4, but after 1....Kf8  2. Kd4 Ke7 (2.....f5 is also good)  3. Kd5 f5, he loses both e-pawn and the game. White must strike immediately to derive benefit from his aggressively placed King. The solution? He can dump his e-pawn to push Black's King out of the picture. Therefore, 1. e7 Kf7   2. e8/Q+  Kxe8. Now White must tread carefully, as 3. Kxf6? Kd7   4. Kf5 Kc6  5. Ke4  let's Black's King reach the critical outside square, 5....Kc5. The right way is 3. Ke6! f5  4. Kxf5 Kd7  5. Ke4 Kc6 6. Kd4, and White recovers just in time.

1. e7          Kf7
2. e8/Q+   Kxe8
3. Ke6       f5
4. Kxf5     Kd7
5. Ke4      Kc6
6. Kd4
         Draw


(source: Pandolfini's ENDGAME Course)
   

Commonwealth Open Championship, Commonwealth Age-Group Championships & Challengers Tournaments





1. Organisation

The Festival is organised by Singapore Chess Federation under the auspices of the Commonwealth Chess

Association, Asian Chess Federation and Singapore Sports Council in collaboration with Asean Chess

Academy and Teck Ghee Community Club.

2. Schedule

9th December : Arrival of Players

9th December : Technical Meeting – 2000 hour (players not present shall not be paired for Round 1)

10th December : Round 1 – 0900 hour; Round 2 – 1600 hour

11th December : Round 3 – 0900 hour; Round 4 – 1600 hour

12th December : Round 5 – 0900 hour; Round 6 – 1600 hour

13th December : Round 7 – 0900 hour; Round 8 – 1600 hour

14th December : Round 9 – 0900 hour; Closing Ceremony – 1500 hour

15th December : Departure of Players

Note: For foreign players staying at the Official Hotel, the bus will depart at 1900 hour for the Technical

Meeting. Only for the 1st round, transportation will be provided from Hotel Bencoolen to the Playing

Venue – the bus will depart at 0800 hour sharp.

3. Time Control and Format

Swiss System; FIDE-rated and titled; Rate of play will be 90 minutes for the whole game with 30 seconds

increment for every move starting from the first move. Zero-Start shall be applied.

4. Prize Fund : US$14,500

4.1 Commonwealth Championship (US$10,500):

Only players from Commonwealth nations are eligible for this Event.

1st $2500; 2nd $1500; 3rd $1000; 4th $800; 5th $600; 6th $500; 7th $400; 8th $300; 9th to 15th $200 each;

Best Women $1,000; $500

4.2 Commonwealth Age-Group Championships (US$3,000): Categories (as on 1.1.2009) Under-20,

Under-16 & Under-12

1st $400; 2nd $300; 3rd $200; Best Girl $100

4.3 Challengers Group (US$1,000): For players rated below 2200

1st $300; 2nd \$200; 3rd $100; 4th to 6th $50 each; 7th to 16th $25 each

5. Entry Fees to be payable by 1st November 2009; thereafter penalty of US$ 30 is imposed.

5.1 Entry Fee for Commonwealth Open: (FIDE Rating 2200 and above)

GM, WGM, IM Rating 2500+, WIM Rating 2300+ : Free (but a deposit of US$ 50 is required)

Above 2399 - US$50; 2350 to 2399 - US$75; 2300 to 2349 - US$100; 2250 to 2299 – US$125; Below

2250 - US$150

Note: Juniors U-20 as on 1.1.2009 and Veterans above 60 as on 1.1.2009 will have a 25% discount.

Note: Each Commonwealth member-nation may nominate one player under the rating of 2200 for the

Commonwealth Open.

5.2 Entry for Commonwealth Age-Group Championships: US$75

5.3 Entry Fee for Challengers Group: (FIDE Rating below 2200)

Juniors U-20 as on 1.1.2009 and Veterans above 60 as on 1.1.2009 – US$40; Others - US$50

6. The Official Hotel is Hotel Bencoolen

20 GMs above 2500 on first-come-first-serve basis - free room on twin-sharing basis and breakfast

Each Commonwealth member-nation may nominate one player for the Commonwealth Open and who

shall receive twin-share room and breakfast. Others – Single US$72; Twin US$42 per person; Triple

US$36 per person – room and breakfast.

7. Playing Venue (and also for Technical Meeting)

Teck Ghee Community Club, 861 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10.

8. Entry Fees to be transferred, free of bank charges, to the Singapore Chess Federation:

Bank: DBS Bank Bank Address: Shenton Way, Singapore

Account Number: 001 – 043184 – 6 Swift Code: DBSSSGSG

Address of Singapore Chess Federation: 51 Bishan Street 13 #02-01A, SIGC, Singapore 579799

(source: http://marcusyeoh.blogspot.com/)

Team AU Takes Last Remaining Slot

The 2nd DATCC Team Chess League 2009 produced more surprises with the last edition Champions, SMS Gold opted out of this time for reasons known to them.


One possible reason is the unavailablity of top ranked players like FM Nicholas Chan who is having his examinations and IM-elect Mok Tze Meng who maybe likely to play in a tournament in Singapore. Abel Yap is furthering his studies in UK and Lim Zhuo Ren is sitting for his SPM examinations.

With TOP 4 teams in the last edition opted out, including GOLDIS, 786 TEAM and SPAWN 2009, this edition may be a little weaker in terms of top boards but overall strength is better than the last with tailenders MBS, PCWW,the team with most chess titles that include WNMs, WCM, and WFM also opting out.

The overall commitment also should be better with lesser walkovers as both MBS and PCWW not playing.

The new teams Storm Warriors and X-factor played well to win the first round and Caviaga will be favourites for the title after their impressive win over strong title contender Price Waterhouse.

The last team to enter this edition, Team AU, with players Gregory LAU, KAUshal, Fairin, Jax Tham, Najib and Irman is expected to play their first game next Tuesday and so is NMCC.

Captain of NMCC, the ever smiling Hairul Ab Hamid, is kind enough to have their first game against Team AU postponed to a later date.

Last Tuesday's team results are as follows:-

Storm Warriors 3, DATCC 1


Tan & Tan 1/2, 17 Chess Club 3 1/2


EON 1, X-factor 3


Price Waterhouse 1, Caviaga 3



(source: http://datcchess.blogspot.com)