Rallying Around

Written By SS Quah


Road blocks or not, true chess players will find a way to their own slugfest.



IT was almost a match without an ending. When Mas Hafizulhelmi and Muhammad Tariq Amru decided to bring forward their games from the Malaysian Masters knock-out tournament to last Friday and Saturday, they did not anticipate that they would be playing chess amidst chaos on the Kuala Lumpur roads.

Friday itself went by very smoothly. At nine o’clock in the morning, the players sat down at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Centre (DATCC) at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur to play their first two games. As expected, Tariq was unable to prevent his more experienced opponent from taking both games. So, Friday ended with Mas Hafizul holding a 2-0 score and needing just another half-a-point to advance to the semi-finals.

Seal it with a handkshake: Mas Hafizulhelmi (left) and Muhammad Tariq Amru at the end of the second game.

The match was scheduled to resume on Saturday morning, also at nine in the morning. However, Saturday was also the day of the Big Demonstration by parties in support or opposing the Internal Security Act.

Chess players would know that the Wilayah Complex is just a stone’s throw from the Sogo shopping mall and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, one of the rallying points of the demonstration. At nine o’clock that Saturday morning, crowds were already milling in the streets.
But to the credit of both Mas Hafizul and Tariq, they turned up at the DATCC to continue their match. Given the situation, it would have been totally excusable if either or both of them had failed to appear but like true chess players, they coolly put the disturbance aside to continue with their match.

Continuing from where they had left off the previous day, Mas Hafizul scored his third victory in as many games. And later, to cap a very surreal day in Kuala Lumpur, Tariq actually received his loser’s cheque of RM500 from the winner of the match. When was the last time that anyone remembered a winner presenting the prize to the loser?

Anyway, the second of the four first-round matches in the Malaysian Masters is set for this weekend at the DATCC. Tomorrow and on Sunday, Mok Tze Meng and Ooi Chern Ee will be contesting this second match. The match will be quite even and the games will be closely followed by people in the local chess fraternity.

Who will win? Very difficult to predict. Both are very experienced players and we can expect a real slugfest. Who knows, it may even be resolved through a play-off if the score remains tied after the regulation four games.

Incidentally, Mok and Ooi are team mates in the SMS Gold team that are playing in the on-going weekly DATCC chess league. Last week, SMS Gold went head-to-head with their closest rivals, the Gold IS team, in a crunch encounter which ended in a drawn 2-2 score.
At this point of writing, SMS Gold held a slim one-point lead over Gold IS after last week’s matches. The latest round was played only two days ago. With only three more rounds to go, it is hard to say whether SMS Gold already have the title in their pockets or the tournament is still wide open.

Earlier, SMS Gold had a healthy lead in this event but they allowed Gold IS to chip away at their lead until only one point separated the two teams. The next three rounds will be crucial to their fortunes.

Meanwhile, here are the three games by Mas Hafizul and Tariq last week.

Mas Hafizulhelmi – Muhammad Tariq Amru, Game One 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6.h3 e6 7. g4 Nge7 8. Be3 Nd4 9. Bg2 b5 10. Qd2 b4 11. Nd1 Qb6 12. O-O Rb8 13.Nh2 f5 14. c3 bxc3 15. bxc3 Ndc6 16. Rc1 Bd7 17. Nf2 O-O 18. Nh1 Qa5 19. Ng3 Qa3 20. Rc2 Kh8 21. gxf5 exf5 22. h4 Rb5 23. h5 Rfb8 24. hxg6 hxg6 25. exf5 Bxf5 gxf5 26. Nf3 Rb2 27. Ng5 Qxa2 28.Rfc1 Rxc2 29. Rxc2 Rb1+ 30. Kh2 Qb3 31. Bf2 Be8 32. Bf3 a5 33. Nh5 Bxh5 34. Bxh5 26. Nxf5 gxf5 27. Qe1 Rb2 28. Bc1 1-0.

Muhammad Tariq Amru – Mas Hafizulhelmi, Game Two 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. a4 O-O 9. f4 Nc6 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Nb3 Qc7 12. a5 Rac8 13. Bf3 Nb4 14. Qe2 e5 15. Rfd1 Rfe8 16. Bb6 Qb8 17. f5 d5 18. Rd2 d4 19.Nd1 Bb5 20. Qf2 Nd7 21. c3 Nd3 22. Qg3 Nxb6 23. axb6 Nc5 24. Na5 Nd7 25. Nb3 Bc4 26. Nc1 Nxb6 27. Kh1 Bf6 28. Nd3 dxc3 29. Nxc3 Rcd8 30. Rad1 Bb3 31. Nb4 Bxd1 32. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33. Bxd1 Qd6 34. Nbd5 Nxd5 35. Nxd5 Rc8 36. h3Rc1 0-1 .

Mas Hafizulhelmi – Muhammad Tariq Amru, Game Three 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nb6 6. d3 Be7 7. a3 Nc6 8. Nf3 Be6 9. O-O f6 10. b4 a5 11. b5 Nd4 12. Nd2 Bd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. e3 Ne6 15. Qb3 c6 16. Qc4 Qd7 17. Bb2 O-O 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. Bh3 Rfb8 20. Ra2 Kh8 21.d4 exd4 22. Bxd4 c5 23. Ba1 Qc6 24. Ne4 Nec7 25. Rc1 Nb6 26. Qc2 c4 27. Nd2 Ra6 28.Nxc4 Nxc4 29. Qxc4 Qxc4 30. Rxc4 Nb5 31. a4 Nd6 32. Rc7 Bf8 33. Bd4 h6 34. Bf1 Rb1 35. Kg2 Ra8 36. Bd3 Rbb8 37. h4 Rc8 38. Rac2 Rxc7 39. Rxc7 1-0.

source: All In The Planning blog of SS Quah, 7th August 2009