SELECTED GAME FROM MSSK PAHI

The dust has finally settled at SMK Pahi, Kuala Krai and 36 players from 368 hopeful competitors have been selected to be the representatives for the Kelantan state team in MSSM which will be held next month at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan main hall, Pengkalan Chepa. I was selected as one of the pairing arbiters and am relishing the opportunity to perform the same task in the national chess event. 

The pairing arbiters

The state selection, which was held from 23 to 26 July, produced some interesting games. I saw a Chinese boy checkmated his opponent in the Rook + Bishop vs Rook situation, which was really a hard task to do. Nevertheless, I want to share a game where one of my students from Tumpat district failed to capitalized on his material advantage and drew the game instead. 

Danial (playing Black) moved his King to c5

Zull Heikal (KKR) vs Wan Md Danial (TPT)

From this position, as you can see in the picture above, Danial moved his King to c5. The game continued 2.Ke4 Kb5 3.Ke5 Bg4 4.Kf6 Bh5 5.f5 and Danial had a hard time defending his position afterwards.

However, he should have moved his King to d5 covering key squares and pushing the opponent's King further down the board. 

1... Kd5 2.Kf3 Bf5 3.Ke3 Bg4 

This move covers f3 so Heikal would have to make way for Danial's King to enter the key square e4 and take the Kingside pawns. As to rub salt into the wound, Heikal went on to represent Kelantan via the play offs while Danial was left painfully outside the top 10 by getting the 11th placing.

In the under 12 Boys play off, another of my student, Zal Hasani Aqil had a winning position but failed to find the correct move and lost. 

Zal Hasani Aqil (playing Black) gave check at d3

 

Md Hanif (TMH) vs Zal Hasani Aqil (TPT)

From this position, Aqil gave check at d3 and went on to lose the game. Instead, he should have found 1... Qh1+ which was winning if he really trained his eyes and looked at the board really closely. He too handed over the baton to his opponent when a win would have ensured him into the Kelantan team instead of that opponent. 

 

As a coach, you would be really upset watching your students lose this way but the experience was priceless if your students could really take something from that. 

QUIZ TIME

What is Black's best move from this diagram?

INFERIORITY COMPLEX

The above position is a game between me and an online opponent. White's position is a nightmare with inferior pawn positions - two doubled pawns, 4 pawn islands and on top of that, a pawn less than Black. However, Black's last move 20... c6 was a mistake. He failed to see White's dangerous threat. I'll let you work out White's 21st move.

The champion, Nik Ahmad Nazri withstands the last hurdle from BadBishop

NIK NAZRI IS USM CHESSMASTER

Nik Ahmad Nazri justifies his top ranking by winning the USM Chessmaster held today. He creamed all his opponents to finish the tournament with 6 points. The absence of many establish names from this event, is the perfect opportunity for Nik Ahmad Nazri to shine. A strong player himself, the teacher from Gua Musang just has to brush aside challenges from Muhd Bakri Jusoh and BadBishop to become the champion.

The hall

Yours Truly's brother, Mohd Hafidz (right), was among the winners

Muhd Bakri Jusoh won his last game against Laila Husna

Yours Truly, who only managed to visit the last round, came across this game between the eventual runner-up and Kelantan brightest female talent.

Black had just moved his pawn to h6, in order to facilitate his Rook to avoid a backrank mate. However, White failed to capitalise on this mistake by moving his Bishop to c7 to initiate a fork. It proved to be an error after Black managed to force the parting of White's Bishop, thus weakening his castled position. The game continued: 1.Bc7 Rd1+, 2.Kh2 Bd6+, 3.Bxd6 Qxd6+, 4.g3 and the castled position was weakened.

Better, in my opinion, was moving the Knight to h4 in view of giving a check at g6. Sample variation: 1.Nh4 Rd1+, 2.Kh2 Bxf2, 3.Ng6+ with a better prospect for a draw.


The final results can be read at chessresults.com

After 25... Nxd4!

A CORRESPONDENCE BLUNDER??

After a long fight, White cracks. However, it is perplexed as how White made the move 25.Rd2? which I saw it as a blunder. It is supposed to be a blunderless game, a correspondence game, but we are human after all. Sometimes, the first move we already ruled out, is the one we played on the board. There are games where I was trapped like this, and I regretted it afterwards.