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.

KELATE CLOSED IS HEATING UP..

There are already 68 Kelantan chess players registered for this event, making it more prestigious than last year's event. For the full list of registered players, please visit PCNK's blog here. Naserov already looked into the water and predict the winners in his blog here.

Apart from that, there is news about Kelantan female players at last year's National Junior Championship. The blog Biro Catur Wanita MCF commented on the involvement of 5 Kelantan junior female players playing in the event (picture above). Remember my post about their rating drop? Well, apparently, this was the event where they did drop a lot of rating points. You can read the post here.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

I missed a strong continuation today, chose a weak reply and nearly lost the game.

Black to move from the diagram. The game was balanced until Black decided to go on the offensive and obtained a menacing pawn march. But, I failed to see a strong continuation, where White will be in a really deep trouble. Instead, I took the a-pawn with my a8 rook, and the game was drawn a little later.

What did I missed?

GILOCATUR'S RESPONSE TO KELANTAN RATING REVIEW

This is his review for us to ponder upon. You can read the original post here.

For all the four Kelantan juniors (2 boys and 2 girls) who experienced national ratings drop ONLY played in ONE nationally-rated chess tournament which is the NJCC for the 2011 JAN MCF ratings. So, it is very important for them to make good and enough preparation for such tournament. Otherwise, their national ratings will be affected significantly. GiLoCatur hopes they will participate in many more rated events to have more consistent ratings.

Even for that ONE rated event, their performance is not that very bad as GiLoCatur sees it. Let's see below.

Seeded 54th with Oct 2010 ratings of 1285, Nik Muhd Haziq won both his games against unrated opponents in the 2nd and 5th round respectively. Even he managed to win against one higher-rated opponent in the 6th round. In order for him to improve his ratings, he should had won his last two 1300-rated opponents which ratings gap is relatively small. By the way, she (sic) dropped 31 rating points from 1285 to 1254.

For Muhd Faiz Zakaria, he just lost two out of five lower-rated opponents. For sure, his 7th round opponent had participated in many more chess tournaments than him. GiLoCatur strongly believes that Faiz can challenge both 1300-rated and 1400-rated players if he can participate at least three to five tournaments in a month or if he can spar once a week against stronger players. Maybe PCNK can set the sparring activities for Kelantan juniors like him?

Fatih lost only to two lower-rated opponents - Latifah Syamimi and Zainoor Ikmal Maisarah. Syamimi is a strong player actually and if not mistaken was once MSSM KL player. She is the elder sister of Kaiyisah. While Maisarah, eventhough just 8-years-old, has participated in several international chess tournaments like ASEAN and World Youth. In fact, she won against Nur Farihah Aminuddin, a strong player and among the latest top 20 most improved ratings in the sixth round. So, her performance is not that bad GiLoCatur thinks. She just lost 27 points for her national rating points.

As for Norazlisa Ramli who had MCF rating of 1323 in October 2010 losing one game to unrated opponent and another to Zainoor Maisarah, She had lost 62 points in a single rated tourney, to 1261.

The above is only humble opinion and analytical observation of GiLoCatur. GiLoCatur really hopes that all the Kelantan young players are given the chance and opportunity to play many more rated chess tournaments to shine and show their real talents. GiLoCatur also hopes that they will take the opportunity to participate in the coming Kelantan Closed event since it will be a nationally-rated tourney.

RATING REVIEW 2011

The January MCF rating has been published. There are several Kelantan players who were active and they either gained points or lost them.

IM Mas gathered 5 points to still head the pack at 2275.

Nik Ahmad Farouqi lost a point and now stand at 1914, the same rating as the inactive Abdul Haq.

Nik Ahmad Nazri, who is now at 1789, gained 9 points to go above Syed Azizi.

Another active player, Ariez, was down 2 points from previous rating. He is now at 1605.

Izuddin Ahayat gain 10 points from the previous 1579 to overtake Rosmizal

However, nobody can deny that Norazlin Juarih (BadBishop) is the most progressive player in the period of October to January to gain 70 points to become 1561 from his previous 1491.

There is also a new entrant: Mohd Izani Mohd Tarizi starting at 1283.

Nevertheless, our junior players lost so many points, in particular:

Fatih Nor Sahariah lost 67 points from 1410 to stand at 1383.

Norazlisa lost 62 points from 1323 to 1261.

Nik Muhd Haziq lost 52 points from 1306, and

Muhd Faiz Zakaria lost 58 points from 1314 to stand at 1256.

I don't want to speculate, but there must be something wrong with our junior players. The lost of more than 50 rating points in the period of three months is not acceptable. We must address the problems quickly if we do not want to be too far behind of other states where the junior players are challenging the senior players regularly in big tournaments. I think it must be either the attitude of the players themselves who are not very keen to make self improvement, or the training methods which can not get their full potentials out. It is useless to point fingers at anybody in particular, but we must solve this problem together so that Kelantan will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

GOMO KELATE GOMO!

KELANTAN CLOSED

PCNK's first event for 2011 will be a closed tournament for the state's born players. The tournament details are as follows:

Date: 4 - 5 February 2011

Venue: SMK Pahi hall, Kuala Krai

Overall prizes amount to RM3000 will be handed out to more than 30 winners divided into 6 categories. The tournament will be nationally rated event.

Further inquiries, please contact Nik Mohd Azrihan at 019-9866428

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (KPI)

Everybody now talks about KPI. It is a measurable target for each and every individuals in an institution; in accordance to their respective position. The KPI for a manager, for example, is different from an office boy and your KPI is different from mine. Even my KPI in chess is different from my KPI in my work. It is used to assess the success of our targets in every field.

Enough about the jargon. I just want to share my targets this year in my chess life. In chess, the indicator is obviously the rating. I have both FIDE rating and MCF rating, and I intend to increase both of them. Hopefully this year, I can achieve 2100 FIDE rating and 1700 MCF rating. In terms of coaching, I intend to have at least 3 students from my district (Tumpat) representing Kelantan in MSSM, insha Allah.

MY GAMES AT CHESS.COM

Currently, I am a regular player at Chess.com. This is mainly because of its simple interface which is easy to use, and the opponents are really challenging. There are 4 categories of play - the blitz (anything from 3 minutes to 15 minutes), the standard (more than 15 minutes), the bullet (below 3 minutes) and the online chess, which is often mentioned as the correspondence chess. As for the end of this year, my ratings for each categories are:

MSSM GAME ANALYSIS : TAY YI WEN vs SITI NUR AFIQAH

White: Tay Yi Wen (Sarawak)
Black: Siti Nur Afiqah (Kelantan)
Event: MSSM Perlis 2010

1. d4 d6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 g6 4. g3 Bg7


Siti Nur Afiqah played the Pirc and won in the previous round against Pahang, so it is understandable she tried it again in this round. Likewise, her opponent did not choose the best defense by playing the g3 setup.

5. Bg2 b6


Afiqah wanted to put her Bishop at the long diagonal, but this is not the correct way to do it. It is not recommended to succumb oneself to open attacks, especially when the opponent's Bishop is pointing straight at our Rook! Luckily, her opponent did not find the best move, or else Afiqah would be in a big trouble. Here, Afiqah should continue with castling and only after that play c6, Qc7, b6 and Bb7.

6. Ng5

Better is 6.Ne5 when the best black can do is push 6... d5 or lose a pawn. 6... dxe5 is messy when 7.dxe5 leaves Black an exchange and a pawn down. 7... Qxd1+, 8.Nxd1 Ng4, 9.Bxa8 c6, 10.f4

6... c6 7. d5 Bb7 8. dxc6 Bxc6 9. Nge4 O-O 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. Bxc6 Nxc6

White should have not made wholesale simplifications which made life easier for Black. There is no weakness in Black's fortress; her Bishop is still guarding the fort whereas White's Bishop had been exchanged with its counterpart.

12. O-O Bg7 13. e4 Rc8 14. a3 f5

A good move, opening up an attacking line towards White's King.

15. Re1 Qd7 16. Rb1 Rf7 17. Be3 Ne5 18. Bd4 fxe4


By hook or by crook, White has to part ways with her Bishop with absolutely no chance to exchange Black's g7 Bishop with its demise.

19. Rxe4 Nf3+ 20. Kg2 Nxd4 21.h4?


A mistake. White should take the Knight and accept the material deficit. 21.Rxd4 Bxd4, 22.Qxd4

21...Ne6 22. Qg4 Nc5

Now all Black has to do is exchanging off all the pieces.

23. Qxd7 Nxd7 24. Nd5 e5 25. f4

Another mistake, but it is understandable when White is on the verge of resigning.

25...Rxc2+ 26. Kh3 Nf6 27. Nxf6+ Bxf6 28. fxe5 Bxe5 29. b4 Rc3 30. Rg4 Rxa3 31. h5 Kg7 32. Rg1 Rf5 33. hxg6 hxg634. Kg2 Ra2+ 35. Kh1??


The final mistake. Black mates in three.

35...Rh5+ 36. Rh4 Rxh4+ 37. gxh4 Rh2# 0-1

Final position

Laila Husna vs Hoh Tjin Li (Penang)

MSSM GAME ANALYSIS: LAILA HUSNA vs HOH TJIN LI


White: Laila Husna (Kelantan)
Black: Hoh Tjin Li (Penang)
Event: MSSM 2010 at Kangar, Perlis
Date: 7 June 2010

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e3

A wise move to sidestep the main line.

4... d6 5. Bd3 O-O 6. h3 Nbd7 7. Nf3 b6

The Bishop is seeking a greener pasture after the blockade at h3.

8. O-O Nh5 9. Be4!

Taking advantage of the absence of Bishop from the diagonal.

9... Rb8 10. b3?

Not quite in line with the previous move. A Queen move to a4 to insert pressure on a7 is the better option.

Analysis diagram after 10.Qa4

10... Bb7 11. Bxb7 Rxb7 12. Bb2 e6 13. Rb1 f5 14. Qd2 g5 15. e4

Attacking g5. White is not afraid of the push g4 when she can reply with Ng5 aiming for the weakness at e6.

15... h6 16. d5

A slight mistake. This move enables Black to recover from the weakness at e6. Better is 16.exf5 followed by 17.Nh2 to guard against the g4 push. Black must also consider two of her hanging pieces at h5 and b7.

16... e5 17. Qd3 g4 18. Nh2 Nf4 19. Qd1 gxh3 20. g3 Qg5 21. Bc1 Qg6 22. Kh1 fxe4 23. Qg4

A good move which forced the Queen exchanges, thus leaving the pawns at e4 and h3 susceptible to attacks.

23... Qxg4 24. Nxg4 Nh5 25. Nxe4 Nc5 26. Re1

26.Nxc5 loses immediately to 26... Nxh3+

26... Rbb8 27. Nxc5 bxc5 28. Re2 Kh7 29. Kh2 Nf6 30. Kxh3 Nxg4 31. Kxg4 Kg6 32. Be3 Rf5 33. Rh1 h5+ 34. Kh3 Rh8 35. Kg2 Bh6 36. Bxh6 Rxh6 37. Re4 Kg5 38. Reh4 Rf8 39. g4 Rfh8 40. gxh5 Rxh5 1/2-1/2

Final position

The final position is playable for white. After exchanging all the major pieces, white's King should be the more active. But with correct defense, black can hold its water. The game might continues

41.Rxh5+ Rxh5, 42.Rxh5+ Kxh5, 43.Kf3 Kg5, 44.Ke4 Kf6, 45.f4 exf4, 46.Kxf4 Kg6, 47.Kg4 Kf6, 48.Kh5 Kf5


which should be a draw. However, if black wants to be adventerous with 48...Ke5, 49.Kg5 will spell trouble because black needs at least 10 moves to white's 9 to promote the pawn. A sample line might run

49... Kd4, 50.Kf5 Kc3, 51.Ke6 Kb2, 52.Kd7 Kxa2, 53.Kxc7 Kxb3, 54.Kxd6

a) Now if black continues with the pawn advance, he will get the Queen. But after white gets the chance to exchange it, the extra pawn will become another Queen and checkmates black.

54... a5, 55.Kxc5 a4, 56.d6 a3, 57.d7 a2, 58.d8=Q a1=Q


b) If black chooses to take the c-pawn first, he will not get a chance to promote the pawn

54... Kxc4, 55.Kc6 a5, 56.d6 a4, 57.d7 a3, 58.d8=Q a2, 59. Qg8+

IM MAS AND NAF AT PENANG OPEN

Two Kelantanese are flying the state flag at the Penang Open held from 8 - 12 December 2010. IM Mas Hafizulhelmi, ranked third in the event, started well with 2 wins out of 2 games by defeating Limono Handjojo (1845) and NM Tan Khai Boon (2126). Tomorrow he will face Ian Udani, a Pinoy who won lots of tournament in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Nik Ahmad Farouqi (picture above) also started well with a win and a draw. Tomorrow he will face a tough test against IM Ranola Yves, also from the Philippine. We hope that both of them will 'bring back the medals' along with our blessings.

The tournament results can be achieved at chess-result.com

KELATE CHESS NETWORK NEW SITE

My brother created a new Kelate chess community site, where members can interact with each other, posting news, pictures and also chat. I mentioned in my previous post about the demise of Kelate Chess network created by Nasero at ning.com, and I am glad that my brother has taken the initiative to revive the network, albeit using other address. Even though the address is quite long, you can bookmark it at your browser for easier access. I sure hope that all Kelantan players gather here, and I will try my best to advertise this website to all members.

You can access the network here.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE 'RED KNIGHTS' GONE?

I was under the radar for quite some time, watching the national chess development, especially the Kelantan players. Sadly, the Kelantan's players achievement, or the state chess news were few and far between. There was no Kelantan players representing the country in the recent Asian games, and there was no Kelantan players also winning tournaments around the country during my 'hibernation'. One notable news, however, only of that Mas Hafizulhelmi, who was recovering from dengue.


Equally disappointing was the demise of the Kelate Chess Network, a site supposedly to gather the Kelantan players, due to inactivity. This leads to a question, where have all the players gone? Aren't they internet savvy enough? Apparently not, because the network, created by Nasero, has less than 10 members to date. However, I surely like to think that the 'marketing' of the network was poor, announced only in this blog and Bad Bishop's. It was alarming that many of the chess bloggers or netizens are from other states, and Kelantan players, mainly consisting of MSSM players, were reduced to becoming Facebook users only.

The Persatuan Catur Negeri Kelantan is also in a sorry state. Apart from organising the Kelantan Closed last May, the PCNK is largely ineffective in terms of organising tournaments or receiving memberships and sponsorships. For a chess association, or any association for that matter, to operate fully, they must have support from many members, as well as sponsors, and PCNK right now has none of both.

Therefore, I would like to 'beg' all the state players, please register yourself to be in PCNK. The advantage of being in an association need not to be mentioned, for there are many. Let us all put our efforts together to make Kelantan a heaven for chess activities and networking, and the first step we must take is to make the state association a successful one.