Maznie playing at board 1 in MSSK last year

PREPARATION

The chess training for my students is stopped for while, giving them time to concentrate on their PKBS 1. We have been training since January, and I hope that one of these players will become state players in this year's MSSM - Elanie, Maznie, Syikin, Fadhillah, Afiqah, Aisyah, Isnan, Atikah, Asilah and the only boy Faizi.

GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR EXAM!

TWO RED KNIGHTS

The Kelantan Closed 2012 had successfully ended. Nik Ahmad Farouqi had defended his title brilliantly, which include a win against our IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and of course, against Yours Truly. Our game was the highlight of Round 6, where most of the games had already finished.

Kelantan Closed 2012
Date: 28.01.2012
Round 6

White: Nik Ahmad Farouqi
Black: Yours Truly

1.e4 d6

I took 5 minutes to register this move, merely because I wanted to surprise Nik Ahmad Farouqi (NAF). It was not prepared specially for him, just that I nearly lost many of my games in this 45-minutes-to-the-finish tournament that I chose The Pirc to test his attacking ability.

2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6

Not a true Pirc with a Kingside Bishop fianchetto, where NAF would probably storm my castled position with his foot soldiers like many of his wins in this tournament.

4.h3 Nbd7 5.Nf3 e5 6.Be2 Be7 7.O-O O-O

Both sides had castled. The centre was still fluid as White did not state his intention of either to close the position or to open it up, yet.

8.Be3 Qc7 9.Re1 Rd8 10.Bf1 Nf8 11.a3 Ng6 12.Qc1 Nh5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.g3

White stopped Black from infiltrating with a Knight at f4 square.

14... Be6 15.Rd1 f6 16.Rxd8+ Rxd8 17.Qe1 b6 18.Rd1

It was clear that White's intention was to simplify the game by exchanging the heavy pieces. Therefore, I tried to find something to play with the minor pieces after the imminent exchanges.

18... Bf8 19.Rd2 Ne7 20.Qd1 Rxd2 21.Bxd2 g6 22.Kh2 Nc8 23.Be3 Nd6

My plan was easy. Exchange as many pieces as I could, starting with the Bishops. This Knight jump was to exchange a pair of Bishops at c4 square.

24.Nd2 Nf7 25.Bc4 Qd7 26.Bxe6 Qxe6 27.Qe2 Bh6 28.Nc4 Bxe3 29.Nxe3 Ng5

After swapping all the Bishops, Black started the attack with his Queen and Knights. However, this plan was short lived as the King position was dreadful where White managed to tame the attacking Queen.

30.Qc4 Ng7 31.Kg2 Kf7 32.h4 Qxc4 33.Nxc4 N5e6 34.Nd6+ Kf8 35.Nc8 Ke8

NAF told me after the game that he did not want to calculate the consequence of taking a pawn at a7 where his marauding Knight might be trapped.

36.Nd6+ Kd7 37.Nc4 Nd4 38.Ne3 Nge6

Black Knights started to take centre positions to influence the game.

39.Na2 h5 40.Nc1 Nc5 41.f3 Kd6 42.Kf2 b5 43.c3 Nde6

44.g4 Nf4 45.gxh5 Nxh5 46.b4 Na4 47.c4 a6 48.Nb3 Nf4 49.c5+ Ke6 50.Na5 Kd7 51.Ng4 Nh5 52.f4

NAF started to play aggressively after seeing that I had not much time left. True enough, this move forced me to pause and think even though I was already in severe time trouble.

52... exf4 53.e5 fxe5 54.Nxe5+ Ke6 55.Nxg6 Kd5 56.Ne7+ Kd4 57.Naxc6+ Ke4 1-0

The game actually went on for some more moves before my flag was up.

Final top 10 standing (Open Category):

1		Nik Ahmad Farouqi	MAS	2069	7.5	42.5	39.75	35.5
2		IM Mas Hafizulhelmi	MAS	2388	7.0	41.0	34.00	31.0
3		Nik Mohd Nazri	MAS	1835	6.0	43.0	28.50	27.0
4		Yours Truly	MAS	2068	6.0	37.5	25.00	26.0
5		Muhd Al Firdaus Md Nazir	MAS	1505	5.5	39.0	24.75	24.5
6		Mohd Ezmi Mahmood	MAS	1805	5.5	28.0	19.50	22.0
7		Wan Mohamad Amirul	MAS	1435	5.0	38.5	24.00	23.5
8		Mohd Amin Mohd Noor	MAS	1835	5.0	38.0	17.50	29.0
9		Azudin Abdullah	MAS	1466	5.0	35.0	18.00	23.0
10		Norazlin Juarih	MAS	1521	5.0	34.5	17.00	22.0

You can read the full results at PCNK website or chessresults.com

JANUARY 2012 RATING REVIEW

The newest MCF rating is here. There are so many changes for Kelantan players, so I just like to review them briefly. You can see your rating at the right hand corner of my blog. Overall, there are ups and downs. There are also so many new players, many of them juniors, entered this January.

However, one obvious mistake from this January list is that not all the players have the abbreviation for Kelantan 'KLT' beside their names. All of the juniors are given the KLT, but most of the adults are not. There are senior players playing for Kelantan recently voice this out, and I would like to help them getting this 'title' also. I am the highest player who have this 'KLT' title, and it is perplexing that even our IM does not have it beside his name. Not to mention the PCNK secretary himself, Mr. Nik Ahmad Farouqi, who also is not given the recognition. So, in order to correct this mistake, I implore all the Kelantan players to be registered with the PCNK so that I, as the one who is responsible for the database, can update the list and send it to the MCF.

Another mistake is that there are still double entries. I found that Mohd Ezmi Mahmood, rated 1706 is the same person with Muhd Ezmi Mahmood (1549). One more person is Muhd Muhaimin Muhd Tarizi (1293) who is the same person with Mohd Muhaimin Mohd Tarizi (1221). You can also inform me of the duplication when you come across one of them.

1746

At last, one of my last year's resolution was actually achieved. I reviewed them in my previous post before the January rating comes out, so I thought that I failed to achieve all of them. Therefore, I had to adjust my resolution for this year, especially pertaining the MCF rating:

I want to achieve 2100 FIDE rating.
I want to attain 1800 MCF rating.
I want at least 3 students from Tumpat representing Kelantan.

I will review the rating changes for Kelantan players in my next post. If you are that anxious, you can see your rating here.

WHAT IS THE BEST PLAN?

I'm sharing with you here an ongoing game against an online opponent in chess.com. We can see that Black just endured a 'wait and see' policy by placing his pieces on the first three rows of his kingdom. How can I (playing White) continue from this diagram?

TERTUTUP KELATE 2012

Akhirnyo ado pulok petandinge kat Kelate nih. Meme hok kito tunggu2 doh ni Tertutup Kelate. Mace hok kito janji doh, petandinge ni jadi acaro tahune doh. Tahniah PCNK atah usoho murni nih. Jadi, jange tunggu lamo2, daftar selaluh! Segalo maklumak hok perlu kawe letok bowoh ni:

Formak: 9 pusinge Swih
Maso: 45 menek soghe
Tepak: Blok A, UiTM Mache, Kelate
Haghi: 27 & 28 Januari (Jumaat & Sabtu)
Yure: ikok ketegori

Tebukok Jate nga Tino samo2 RM30 (tapi kalu jadi ahli PCNK RM20 jah)
Bowoh 18 nga bowoh 12 RM20 (tapi kalu jadi ahli PCNK RM10 jah)

Pah lagu mano nok jadi ahli? Sene jah, isi bore, baya RM5. Tapi keno tengok la syarak2 duluh:

1. Beranok di Kelate, IC 03, 28 nga 29.
2. Dok Kelate, belaja atau kijo (sekure2nyo 2 tahun)
3. Penoh wokel Kelate
4. Ayoh atau mok ada IC 03, 28 nga 29 (ghasonyo oghe tuo takdok IC 28 nga 29 nih)
5. Alamak Kelate dale IC.

Pah lagu mano nok tahu ketegori? Selaing dari tengok umor dale IC dan jengok dale seluar, syarak2 khas untuk budok2 ado jugok. Mano2 budok jate hok rating MCF lebeh dari 1599 keno maing ketegori Tebukok Jate. Mano2 budok tino hok rating MCF lebeh dari 1299 pulok keno maing ketegori Tebukok Tino.

Maklumak lanjot gi la jengok blog PCNK.

CONFIRMED! It is a Scam

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I put the above ad in my blog for nearly 3 weeks. The purpose was just to test whether it is a scam or not. I wanted to experience it myself because it sounded just too good to be true when you just have to complete a survey and earn some money. I also implore my friends in Facebook to join it, because I want to beat the minimum requirement of drawing the money in the fastest time possible. Today, I reached the minimum sum of USD1000 required for the payment. I pushed the payment button and, as predicted, nothing actually happened, apart from 'The (payment) application was created. Please, wait....'

Sorry for my friends who were involved in this scam because of me. I was duped myself before start googling for 'survey faq scam' and found many websites on this matter.

http://earnic.com/2011/12/survey-faq-com-scam/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111209144355AAWXRbK

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/workathomejobs/a/paidsurveys.htm

KELANTAN PLAYERS IN FIDE RATING 2012

I'm very pleased to see that the 1st Kelantan FIDE Rated Round Robin tournament had produced several more FIDE rated players from Kelantan. Below are the lists taken from PCNK website:

Kelantan players in Top 100 Malaysia

1. IM Mas Hafizulhelmi - 2388

2. Md Nor Azahari - 2120

3. Mohd Irman Ibrahim - 2104

4. Abdul Haq Mohamed - 2100

5. Nik Ahmad Farouqi - 2069

6. Mohd Azizul Mat Daud - 2068

7. Abdullah Che Hassan - 2065

8. Nasrul Humaimi Mahmood - 1917

9. Syed Azizi Abd Rahman - 1876

Other active Kelantan FIDE Rated players

Baharuddin Hamzah - 1862
Wan Mahadzir Wan Sulaiman - 1848
Marzuki Yaacob - 1842
Nik Mohd Nazri Nik Hassan - 1835
Mohd Amin Mohd Noor - 1835
Mohamad Ezmi Mahmood - 1805
Muhd Ariez Azman - 1750
Norazlin Juarih - 1521

Inactive Kelantan FIDE Rated players

Ahmad Maliki - 2254
Mohd Musa Al-Ashaari - 2005
Mohd Bukhari Yahya - 1837
Izuddin Ahayat - 1742

However, there are several others who maybe are overlooked by PCNK:

Muhd Aizuddin Che Hassan - 2155
Muhd Suhaib Mohd Azmi - 2030
Ahmad Nurdin Mohd Azmi - 2012
Wong Yinn Long - 1696

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

I was rummaging the store where I put the boxes containing my chess books and materials, and I found this game which is played way back in 2003. I was very obsessed with attacking style then, and the game versus a well-known GM from the U.S.A. was no exception. In the end, my knight sacrifice was not sound, and my position was blown away efficiently. The only good thing was I got to take away the board I was playing on and I asked him to sign on it.

The board with GM Yaseer's autograph

KPI REVIEW

At the start of this year, I stated the KPI for my chess life. In my own words from the original post,

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.

Sadly, all the targets will not be achieved by the end of this year, which is just around the corner. In terms of FIDE rating, insha Allah, I will see an increase of 3 points to 2068 from previous 2065. This is accumulated from the only FIDE rated tournament I entered this year - 1st Kelantan FIDE Rated Round Robin Tournament. Meanwhile, instead of increasing to 1700, my MCF rating dropped to 1665. Losses in at least 2 National rated events helped in this matter. My final resolution also was not materialised, as I only had 2 students from Tumpat representing Kelantan in MSSM.

I think, for next year, I will stick to these KPIs.

MSSM CHESS 2012

Information taken from the MSSM calendar for 2012, Terengganu will hold next year's MSSM chess, scheduled from 5 - 9 June. Hopefully, I will have some quality time to prepare and train my students for the event.

You can view the calendar here.

NIK AHMAD FAROUQI IN SARAWAK OPEN

Nik Ahmad Farouqi is the sole representative for PCNK in Sarawak Open which will be held from 12 - 16 December 2011. The field consists of 94 players, some of them from outside the country, with an Indian IM as the first seed. NAF is the 8th seed and so far he had already collected 2 points from his two games. You can view his progress by clicking his name at the start of this post.

GOMO, NIK AHMAD FAROUQI, GOMO!

HAQ IS THE CHAMPION!

Abdul Haq

Abdul Haq becomes the first champion for the inaugural Kelantan FIDE Rated Round Robin Chess Tournament even though there are three more games to be played. With the victory against Baharuddin and 9.5 points, he leapfrogs Nik Ahmad Farouqi who becomes second with 9 points. Third place belongs to Mohd Azizul after a painful defeat in his last game against Nasrul Humaimi and finishes with 8 points. He will not be caught by Syed Azizi even if the latter won his two remaining games against Ariez and Wan Mahadzir this Saturday.

PREVIEW - 1st KELANTAN FIDE RATED

This Saturday, the remaining games will be played to complete the tournament. Two games in particular will determine the top three. The games are between Abdul Haq vs Baharuddin and Yours Truly vs Nasrul Humaimi.

versus

Haq, 2nd in the current standing with 8.5 points, has to win against the gritty, 'roti-canai' eating Baharuddin to win the tournament. Playing white, Haq would probably start with 1.e4, his favourite move. Meanwhile, Baharuddin will be unpredictable because he has not played with black except against Nik (who started with 1.Nf3) and Ezmi (Grob, obviously). A loss will give the title to Nik Farouqi and a possibility for Yours Truly to leapfrog him to second place. A draw, however, is subject to the other game's result.

versus

On the other hand, Yours Truly, 3rd in the current standing, has to win against Nasrul for a chance to finish second. A win is unlikely to make him the champion because he had already lost against the tournament leader, Nik Farouqi, who finishes with 9 points. However, Nasrul will not give Yours Truly an easy ride since he was the best performer for Kelantan in the recently concluded Asian Amateur, ahead of Abdul Haq in particular. So far, Yours Truly has played all the standard opening moves 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.Nf3. It is interesting what will be played this Saturday, so stay tuned for updates.

Current standing

1st FIDE RATED CONTINUES..

The inaugural tournament will continue tomorrow with 4 more games to be played. The players are:

9 a.m.

Ariez vs Nik Nazri
Wan Mahadzir vs Yours Truly


2 p.m.

Ariez vs Yours Truly
Nik Nazri vs Wan Mahadzir



Current standings