ROMANCING THE GACC

GACC is the trademark for Tuanku Bahiyyah College, UM (or the 2nd Residential College). It started as a team event, before changing its status in 1999 (GACC IV). 'A' stands for 'ASEAN' but it was widen to stand for 'ASIAN' in GACC III, before standing for nothing when the playing field was widen again to invite universities worldwide in 2002. I was lucky enough to have played in 6 GACCs because I was summoned to play for IIUM even before I entered the main campus in 1998. Here are the GACCs where I did play, and a game taken from each GACC just for romance's sake.

GACC II
Points: 2.5/5

Playing 1st board for IIUM 'B'

Venue: UM Main library

Winners: University of Gunadarma, Indonesia

I was chosen to captain IIUM team B. I played at the first board and was lucky to be paired with IM Bobby Kurniawan (picture right with IIUM girls), the eventual first board winner.

Yours Truly (IIUM B) - IM Bobby Kurniawan (ITB) [B78]

GACC II (1), 10.11.1997

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Ne5 11.Bb3 Rc8 12.h4 h5 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1 b5 15.a3 Nc4 16.Bxc4 bxc4 17.Nde2 Qb8 18.Nf4 Re8 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.g4 Qb6 21.b4 cxb3 22.Nfd5 bxc2+ 23.Kxc2 Bxc3 24.Nxb6 Bxd2+ 25.Kxd2 axb6 26.gxh5 Rxh5 27.Rb1 b5 28.Kd3 Ra8 29.Rb3 d5 0-1

GACC III
Points: 4/6

5th board for IIUM

Venue: Engineering Faculty

Winners: University of Khorassan, Iran

Still a team event, GACC, however, was 'upgraded' to Asian level while I was 'upgraded' to be in the IIUM team (I forgot whether there was IIUM 'B'). The game below is the first time I played Saifuddeen from UNITELE in the GACC, ending with a threat of checkmate which cost him a whole rook. Eliza Hanim (picture left with her sister, Eliza Hanum), Saifuddeen's teammate, said that he was a beginner. Yeah, right.

Saifuddeen (UNITELE A) - Yours Truly (IIUM) [D05]

GACC III (5), 28.10.1998

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 d5 4.Bd3 Bd6 5.Nbd2 Qe7 6.e4 e5 7.dxe5 Bxe5 8.Nxe5 Qxe5 9.Nf3 Qh5 10.e5 Ne4 11.Bf4 Bg4 12.Qe2 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Nc5 14.0-0-0 Ne6 15.Bg3 c6 16.Qe3 Nd7 17.Be2 Ndc5 18.f4 Qf5 19.Bd3 Nxd3+ 20.Rxd3 h5 21.f3 h4 22.Be1 Qxf4 23.Qxf4 Nxf4 24.Re3 Kd7 25.Rg1 Ke6 26.c3 g5 27.Kc2 Kf5 28.Bd2 Rae8 29.Ree1 Re6 30.Bxf4 Kxf4 31.Rg4+ Kf5 32.Kd3 Rhe8 33.Kd4 f6 34.Reg1 Rxe5 35.b4 b6 36.h3 Re2 37.R1g2 R8e5 38.a4 Rxg2 39.Rxg2 Kf4 40.Rg1 Kxf3 41.Rf1+ Ke2 0-1

GACC IV
Points: 3.5/9

Individual event

Venue: Engineering Faculty

Winners: Mongolian State Pedagogical University, Mongolia

The Mongolian team came and conquered with a couple of GMs and a WIM (Battsetseg Thuvshintugs - picture right). I managed to get a picture taken with her at the residential hostel after watching her creaming everybody with her chess prowess that night. The game below is the second time I played Saifuddeen in the GACC.

Yours Truly (IIUM) - Saifuddeen (UNITELE B) [C44]

GACC IV (3), 25.10.1999

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 d6 5.0-0 Ne5 6.c3 Nxc4 7.Qa4+ c6 8.Qxc4 dxc3 9.Nxc3 Be6 10.Qe2 Nf6 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Nd5 Qc8 13.Bg5 cxd5 14.Rac1 Qd7 15.exd5 Be7 16.dxe6 Qxe6 17.Qxe6 fxe6 18.Rc7 Rb8 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Nd4 Kf7 21.Nb5 d5 22.Rdc1 Rhd8 23.Nxa7 Ke8 24.Nc8 Bf8 25.a3 Rd7 26.Rxd7 Kxd7 27.Nb6+ Kd8 28.Re1 e5 29.Nxd5 Bg7 30.Rd1 Ke8 31.Nb6 Rd8 32.Rxd8+ Kxd8 33.Kf1 Kc7 34.Nc4 f5 35.f3 e4 36.b3 b5 37.Ne3 exf3 38.gxf3 Bb2 39.a4 bxa4 40.bxa4 f4 41.Nc4 Bc3 42.Ke2 Bf6 43.Kd3 Kc6 44.Nd2 Bd8 45.Kc4 h5 46.Nb3 h4 47.h3 1-0

GACC V
Points: 5/9

Individual event

Venue: Perdana Siswa

Winners: University of Gunadarma, Indonesia

My best GACC. In the first round, Almario Marlon (picture left), an individual player from Rizal Technological University, Philippines, came late from a flight. Jet-lagged, Marlon was beaten by me in a single Bishop ending. Not to be deterred, he went on to clinch 9th placing with 7/9. He said that whenever we meet again, he wanted to see me with a title. However, here I am now, with a lowly FIDE rating compared to him, a US master. Hope that we do not meet again, Marlon :)

Almario Marlon (RTU) - Yours Truly (IIUM) [A05]

GACC V (1), 14.10.2000

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.0-0 e6 5.d3 d5 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.e4 c5 8.e5 Nfd7 9.Re1 Nc6 10.Nf1 h6 11.Qe2 Qc7 12.h4 0-0-0 13.Bf4 Kb8 14.Ne3 Nd4 15.Nxd4 cxd4 16.Ng4 g5 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.Bc1 Rh7 19.Qd1 Rdh8 20.Bd2 Qd8 21.f3 Qf8 22.Kf2 Qg7 23.Qe2 Ka8 24.Rac1 Qg6 25.Rh1 Rxh1 26.Bxh1 f5 27.exf6 Nxf6 28.Nxf6 Qxf6 29.Re1 Bc8 30.Bg2 Bd6 31.c3 Rh2 32.Rh1 Qh6 33.Rxh2 Qxh2 34.g4 Bg3+ 35.Kf1 Qh6 36.c4 Bb7 37.cxd5 Bxd5 38.f4 gxf4 39.Bxd5+ exd5 40.Qe8+ Kb7 41.Qd7+ Ka6 42.Qxd5 Qh3+ 43.Ke2 Qxg4+ 44.Qf3 Qe6+ 45.Kd1 Qxa2 46.Qc6 Qb3+ 47.Ke2 Qf7 48.Kd1 Qb3+ 49.Ke2 Qf7 50.Kf1 Qf5 51.Kg2 Qg4 52.Qf3 Qxf3+ 53.Kxf3 Kb5 54.Ke4 a5 55.Kxd4 f3 56.Ke3 Bf4+ 0-1

GACC VII
Points: 5/9

Individual event

Venue: Perdana Siswa

Winners: Islamic Azad University

The first GACC opened to world universities. I lost the first game by default because of an exam. I actually came to the tournament venue, and managed to see that I was out of time just several minutes earlier. Nevertheless, I was able to equal my performance in GACC V. En route, I crushed Ian Lee of MMU A, the former 1st board winner in GACC III.

Yours Truly - Ian Lee Wen Chun (MMU A) [B92]

GACC VII (5), 14.10.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f4 Qc7 9.Be3 Nbd7 10.f5 Bc4 11.a4 Be7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Kh1 Kh8 14.a5 Rfc8 15.Bxc4 Qxc4 16.Ra4 Qc6 17.Rf3 b5 18.axb6 Nxb6 19.Bxb6 Qxb6 20.Rd3 Qb7 21.Nd5 Nxd5 22.Rxd5 h6 23.c3 Kg8 24.Rb4 Qa7 25.Qe2 Rab8 26.Rxb8 Qxb8 27.Qxa6 Rc7 28.Rb5 Qe8 29.Na5 Rc5 30.Rxc5 dxc5 31.Nc4 Qd7 32.Qa8+ Kh7 33.Qd5 Qa4 34.g3 Qa1+ 35.Kg2 Qe1 36.Qd3 f6 37.Ne3 Bd6 38.Nd5 c4 39.Qxc4 Qd2+ 40.Kh3 Qg5 41.Qe2 1-0

GACC IX
Points = 4/9

Individual event

Venue: Tunku Cansellor Main Hall, UM

Winners: Nan Kai University A

My last GACC and I was woeful. Two draws with two Japanese students in the last two rounds sums my performance up. Nonetheless, there was still a game to remember. A draw with a WIM was the highlight of my GACC that year.

Yours Truly - WIM Anzel Laubscher (URSA) [A08]

GACC IX (3), 03.11.2004

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 dxe4 7.dxe4 e5 8.h3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Qc7 11.c3 h6 12.Qc2 Be6 13.Nf1 Rfd8 14.Ne3 b5 15.Nh4 Rac8 16.Nhf5 Bf8 17.g4 Ne7 18.Bf1 a6 19.Ng2 Ng6 20.g5 hxg5 21.Bxg5 Ne7 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Nge3 Nxf5 24.exf5 Bd5 25.Bg2 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Bh6 27.Rad1 Qc6+ 28.f3 Bxe3 29.Rxe3 Rxd1 30.Qxd1 Kf8 31.Re4 Ke7 32.Qc2 c4 33.h4 Qd5 34.Re2 Rg8+ 35.Kf2 Qc5+ 36.Re3 Rg2+ 37.Kxg2 Qxe3 38.Qf2 Qf4 39.Qc5+ Ke8 40.Qc8+ Ke7 41.Qc5+ ½-½

KELANTAN NATIONAL RATED PLAYERS

It is so heart-warming to see that there are actually many Kelantan chess players who have National rating (see the right hand side of my blog). However, many of them are included only because I read about them in blog posts, or I was told to include them by their friends. Even the rating list provided by the MCF does not mention the players' state, making it harder for me to track down Kelantan players. As the PCNK committe who is responsible for players database, I have taken a step in compiling the names of all the Kelantan chess players, whether they have a rating or not, for easier reference in future tournaments or events. I created, with the help of my brother who is also a Kelantan chess player, a weblog where they can register their names. Now, I know that this will not result in listing all the players who can claim to be Kelantanese (born in Kelantan, or any requirements as per stated in PCNK blog), mainly because most of them are not Internet-savvy, but it is the first step of completing the database. Nevertheless, the weblog is still short of visitors, or registrants, and I do not see any improvement in the near future. As for now, I welcome any effort you, my fellow readers, can think of for completing this task.

As for My Chess Life, it is the place where I post anything involving my chess activities, hence the title of the blog, and I will use English in conveying my message mainly because there are other blogs such as the PCNK, BadBishop, Naserov or Barbat which are already using the Kelantanese dialects. Don't be put off by reading the posts in English, because I am not only targeting my audience to be from Kelantan only, for that matter, but I am posting for everybody interested in reading it, be it from outside of Kelantan, or worldwide. I want them to also know about our chess activities, as a form of publicity.

Please, help me and I thank you in advance.

MONEY CASH FULUS..

I maybe am a little incensed right now, hence the title of this post, but I think that my anger is justified. The cutback of sponsored quota for state representatives in the upcoming National Closed is demoting Malaysian chess to an all time low. Now I began to think that holding a two-day tournament in order to choose only ONE state representative is a waste of time and energy. I don't want to start on the permissibility of playing chess with the involvement of money in Islam as I had already wrote about it in my earlier post, but I found it difficult to distance Malaysian chess from the word Money, or Cash, or Fulus. Yes, the involvement of money, be it as the prizes or as the maintenance fees, is a must, but surely there are other means to support this need. Where is the federation when we need them the most? What is the privilege of being in a federation if it cannot help those under it?

Now I don't want to put a blame on one side of the argument, and I don't want to post questions without the answers. But bear in mind that these answers are solely my opinions, as everybody is entitled to one:

1. Chess federations, actively do your job. You are expected to take care of your members, not oppress them.

2. Chess players, play your part! Dismiss your desire to play for money, and put the stake of representing the states (or the country, for that matter) in front of anything.

3. Send best players to represent the country. Maybe in 3 or 4 years Malaysian chess will climb up the ranking and open the sponsors' eyes. (Note that I don't want to discuss the selection criteria, as long as the reps are the best that the country can offer)

FAROUQI IS OUR NEW CHAMPION!

It was all down to the wire. They needed the play off match to determine who will become the winner. Both Farouqi and Syed Azizi are worthy champions. Kelantan will be very proud to have you as our representatives in the coming National Closed.

Full results taken from chess-results.com here.

KC2011 - DAY ONE

There are 97 participants for the Open category, vying to be the state representatives in this year's National Closed. The format is 7 rounds Swiss, with the time control of 30 minutes and 30 seconds increments for each move per player.

Speaking of time, one of the junior players played a very interesting ending against me in Round 3. He did not use his time wisely, taking less than a minute for each of his moves. By the time the game was over, he had 35 minutes to my 2 minutes. Here is the position with Black to move:

Speculatively, I moved the pawn to e3. I knew it was not the best move, yet my time management was so off that I had to try something for a win. Now, instead of chasing the pawn with Kd3, he blundered by putting his King to d4, thinking that he supposedly had to cover his Knight at d5. If he had thought more deeply, he would have known that the Knight at d5 was immune because of the hanging Bishop at b7. Nevertheless, being who he is (I saw him played fast many times), he succumbed to the crushing blow of e2!, leaving no chance of him getting the queening pawn.

Here is some pictures from the first day:

All the results and pairings are uploaded at chess-results.com

REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS FOR KELANTAN CLOSED

Please check your name and your rating in Kelantan Chess Network here.

One noticeable presence is Abdullah Che Hassan. According to the rules and regulations, the participants must be in either of these conditions (and prove it with documentations):

1) born in Kelantan

2) one of the parents was born in Kelantan

3) live / work / study in Kelantan

So, Abdullah, whose father is a Kelantanese, IS ELIGIBLE to play for Kelantan.

I also received news that Muhammad bin Arshad (Yes, THAT Muhammad bin Arshad) had asked to play in this Kelantan Closed, because of that second condition. This sparks a debate what if he is ever selected, and if Terengganu also comes calling? Thus, we had a meeting between the organising committees and we conclude that he IS ELIGIBLE to play for Kelantan also.

A condition is added to both players though - that they will not play for other state this year. If the added condition is breached, they will not be permitted to play in Kelantan Closed ever again.