KaSUGI

Kelantan has sent 2 state teams to the recently concluded KaSUGI Chess Team Championship. Kelantan A fared better than Kelantan B when they managed to become the third best Malaysian team after securing the tenth place in the final standing. Only Penang A and Penang B were above Kelantan in the state standing.

Interestingly, Ismail Ahmad, my former coach, played for Kelantan A. He was stationed in Kelantan for three months, and that makes him eligible to play for Kelantan. Both Ismail and Farouqi were the points winner for the team when they finished with 6 points. Other team members were Ezmi and Bukhari. 

Whereas team B comprised of Khairul Nizam, Alfirdaus, Izuddin Ahayat and the evergreen Harun Bustaman a.k.a. Abe Mei. 

Below are the personal performances of Kelantan players.

Kelantan A

10. KELANTAN A (RtgAvg:1876, Captain: Farouqi / TB1: 19.5 / TB2: 11) Bo. Name Rtg FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts.  Games RtgAvg 1 Nik Ahmad Farouqi  2087 MAS 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 6 8 1773 2 Ismail Ahmad   2007 MAS 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 6 8 1805 3 Mohd Ezmi  Mahmood 1805 MAS 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 ½ 3.5 8 1785 4 Mohd Bukhari Yahya  1606 MAS 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 4 8 1691

Kelantan B

46. KELANTAN B (RtgAvg:1635, Captain: Bustaman Harun / TB1: 14 / TB2: 6) Bo. Name Rtg FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts.  Games RtgAvg 1 Md Khairul Nizam Johariy  1667 MAS 0 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 5.5 8 1602 2 Muhd Alfirdaus Md Nazir  1587 MAS 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 4 8 1542 3 Ahayat Izuddin  1742 MAS 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 8 1577 4 Harun Bustaman  1545 MAS 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 2.5 8 1544

However, there was another team from Kelantan which is C'STA UiTM Kelantan. It consisted of players playing for UiTM Machang, Kelantan under their coach, BadBishop.


C'STA UiTM Kelantan

51. C'STA UiTM KLTN (RtgAvg:1358, Captain: Norazlin / TB1: 13 / TB2: 5)
Bo.	Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pts.	Games	RtgAvg
1	Ahmad Arif Abdul Rahim	1469	MAS	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	6	8	1543
2	Ahmad Da'i Md HJa'afar	1400	MAS	0	0	0	0	½	0	1	0	1.5	8	1587
3	Muhd Afiq Aiman	1041	MAS	0	½	0	1	½	0	1	0	3	8	1572
4	Juarih Norazlin	1521	MAS	0	0	0	½	0	½	1	½	2.5	8	1622

Congratulations to all teams for making Kelantan proud!

Kelantan A

Kelantan B

Discussing...

UNSUCCESSFUL OUTING

Venue: CAC Hall, IIUM
Date: 16th November 2008
Format: 8 rounds Swiss
Time control: 20 mins

Utterly disgusted. Two walkovers, two nearly wins, one fighting draw, and three lame losses were not what I'm looking for in my return to IIUM. I'm not going to blame it on the time control, which was slashed from 25 mins to 20 mins only, but for my incapability of competing among the best. Two losses against Fairin and Saprin were not even close to my real capabilities. That and the loss against Mohan Raj which was due to underestimation and succumbed to mate with his one and only hopeful attack, were uncharacteristic of me. However, I can take heart from the fact that I nearly beaten one of my coaches, Mr. Rizal Ahmad Kamal, before accepting his hand for a draw in game 5. The other one, Sargeant Ismail Ahmad, went all the way to the podium for second placing after drawing his last game against the eventual champion Ian Udani.

Here are the top 10 for the Open Category

1. Ian Udani (7.0 points)
2. Ismail Ahmad (7.0)
3. NM Zarul Shazwan (7.0)
4. Mohd Saprin Sabri (6.5)
5. Rizal Ahmad Kamal (6.5)
6. Nor Ilhamuddin (6.5)
7. NM Mohd Kamal Abdullah (6.0)
8. Nik Ahmad Farouqi (6.0)
9. Mohd Khair Wahiduddin (6.0)
10. Muhd Syakir Shazmeer (6.0)
45. Yours Truly (4.5)

Full results can be found here.

Below are pictures from the event.

Waiting for the opponent, who never came, in round 1

146 participants in the lovely CAC Hall

Ian Udani pondering upon his moves (the first board game shown at the screen)

Battling draw against former coach, Rizal AK

MY FIRST COACH

In my previous post, I told you about how I started to play this game, at the age of 15. However, my chess adventures really started with a coach when I was at IIUM Matriculation Centre (now called Centre for Foundation Studies). He is Mr. Ismail Ahmad (already mentioned about him in one of my post). Mr. Hairulov took the liberty to interview him during his Hari Raya open house recently. Thank you very much. Here is some facts about my first coach (taken from Hairulov's blog) :

1. Although not yet a Grandmaster (GM), Ismail must be proud to achieve the Grandfather (GF) title ! He has two GF norms already (two lovely grandson!) and only need one more "norm" to confirm the title.

2. He won the World Police Chess Champion in Barcelona in 2003. One incident happen before the prize giving ceremony when the organiser refuse at first to award Ismail the prize because there's a dispute about Ismail nationality. Some players claim that Ismail is a Philipines or Indonesian (two strong chess countries) illegally play for Malaysia which is not so strong country (generally known). They ask for Ismail Identity Card ( I.C) to prove his nationality which is ridiculous because Ismail's passport should be good enough to prove it. Eventually after some clarification, they award the prize to Ismail anyway.

3. Ismail said that he is a chess maniac, sometimes he will read chess book in a restroom (when nature calls!) which is quite a common habit among chess fanatics.

4. In one case, while waiting for his wife meeting the doctor in the clinic...Ismail wait outside in his car and play chess online!

5. He won US Army Open (open for uniform organisation - police,army,etc..) in 2004 for both category (classical and blitz!).

6. He is lately sponsored by his sister in law who own a motorcycle shop - JEFFOLEA in Sungai Petani, Kedah. The company sponsor his tournament expenses such as his tournament fee, accommodation, notebook, transport, t-shirt and jacket.

7. Beside doing some private chess coaching, Ismail is appointed as JEFFOFLEA chess coach.


Below are some of his chess achievements :-

• 1990 - Allegro Kedah - Champion
• 1991 - PAMERAN BUKU ANTARABANGSA - Champion
• 1992 - Malay Open - Runners up
• 5 times Selangor Champion.
• 1999 - Malay Master Champion (I was the co-organiser when I was the president of IIUM Chess Club)
• 2001 - National Closed runners up
• 3 times MERDEKA OPEN Champion
• 2003 - UNIVERSITY of CYBERJAYA Open Champion
• 3 times PDRM sportsman nominees
• 5 times MAKSAK best board winner
• 2 times MAKSAK sporstman nominees
• 2003 - WORLD POLICE CHESS CHAMPION - Barcelona, Spain
• 2003 - Bronze Medalist - SEA Games - Vietnam
• 2003 - Terengganu Open - runners up
• 2003 - MERDEKA Team Champion
• 2004 - PINGAT B.P.P. SEMPENA KEPUTERAAN YG DI PERTUAN AGONG
• 2004 - US Army Open (Classical)
• 2004 - US Army Open ( Blitz)
• 2006 - UIA Open - Runners up
• 2006 - ROYAL SELANGOR CLUB OPEN -runners up
• 2007 - FIDE Rating MCF InvitationTournament - Champion
• 2007 - MERDEKA Team (STANDARD) - Champion
• 2007 - GERAK KHAS Open (MELAKA) -Runners up
• 2008 - KLUANG(JOHOR) Open - Champion
• 2008 - BANDARAYA JOHOR Open - runners Up
• 2008 - TOP 3 National Closed
• 2008 - Malaysian Best Team (MERDEKA Rapid)
• 2008 - best Board (MERDEKA rapid)
• 2008 - Kuala Langat Open Champion

One of my game against him while he was still my coach (I have one more recent encounter with him at Royal Selangor Open, but unfortunately it is still on the scoresheet in my home at Gua Musang. I will post it next time).

Ismail Ahmad - Yours Truly
IIUM Convo Simul, 22.11.1997
Veresov Opening

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.f3 h6 5.Bh4 c6 6.e4 g5 7.Bf2 Bg7 8.e5 Nh7 9.Bd3 e6 10.Qd2 a6 11.a4 Nhf8 12.Nge2 c5 13.dxc5 Nxe5 14.0-0 Bd7 15.Ng3 h5 16.Rfe1 h4 17.Nge2 h3 18.Ng3 hxg2 19.Kxg2 Rxh2+ 20.Kf1 Nxf3 21.Qe2 Nxe1 22.Rxe1 Bxc3 23.bxc3 Bxa4 24.Nf5 Nd7 25.Ng7+ Kf8 26.Nxe6+ fxe6 27.Qxe6 Qf6 28.Qxf6+ Nxf6 29.Kg1 Rh6 30.Bd4 Re8 31.Rf1 Kf7 32.c4 Bc6 33.cxd5 Bxd5 34.c4 Rh1+ 35.Kf2 Rxf1+ 36.Bxf1 Bc6 37.Bd3 a5 0-1