2012 LAST event - INSOFAR Scholarship Tournament (NR) @Shah Alam.

REVIEW:
The cHEss pIRATE had a good event - finishing with 3.5points(70%). Along the way, defeating 2 higher rated players (1264 and 1330 respectively against his 1157 NR), 1 lower rated player(NR 1100) and drawing with the top seed(NR 1516) in the First Round. Going into the Final Round, for the FIRST TIME ever, The cHEss pIRATE was playing on the First Board but lost to the eventual winner(NR 1500) who was at least thrice his age. As always, he played the rapid event as if he was playing the blitz game and was so focused on checkmating his opponent that he did not see a checkmate coming his way by 1 move earlier...I must make it a point to "force" him to write down his moves to slow him down.

Eldest sister Amira Fathina, waking up from her year-end "hibernation" (as per the norm for Boarding Schoolers) and after a long lay-off from chess to concentrate on debates for 6-7months i.e. Since representing TKC in the MSSNS-Seremban Zone 1 had a "decent" comeback with 2.5points(50%). Her "rustiness" showed as she had to make heavy work of defeating her opponents and even had to concede half a point due to a stale-mate. Hope she could put up a decent performance if chosen to represent the College again as this time, (I Supposed) they(TKC) will be playing in the MSSNS Nilai zone/district.

By her standards, hAnA had a bad event. Though ending with 3points(60%), hAnA seeded 5th lost to 2 lower rated players(NR 1223 & 1157), the 8th seed.......AND another one of which was very, very devastating to her I.e. Losing to her Younger brother aka The cHEss pIRATE - this was despite being elated to read that she'd been paired to face Faiz in the Second Round and being "too confident" and on the verge of being assured of victory and 1point. I hope this loss teaches her the lesson to NOT Underestimate anybody in chess.

Blog Report, HERE


UPDATE 3:

Results:-
3.5 points - The cHEss pIRATE
(Best NR Under 1500 - RM60 + 1 RM50 Insofar Voucher
& Scholarship Prize @5units per month x 100months for Best U-7)

3.0 points - hAnA ( 7th,Under 1600 NR - Prize: 2 RM50 Insofar Vouchers )
2.5 points - Amira Fathina ( 8th,Under 1600 NR - Prize: 2 RM50 Insofar Vouchers)

The sisters got two RM50 Insofar Vouchers each whilst the cHEss pIRATE got cash prize of RM60, 1 RM50 Insofar Voucher and RM5 scholarship(Balance 5units for the next 99months).

UPDATE 2:

1st Round started at 10.45am. Only 5 Rounds played instead of the advertised 7rounds.

For the FIRST TIME ever, Faiz is Playing on the FIRST Board going into the 5th Round and final round with 3 1/2points. His opponent i.e. Mohd Syazwan(NR 1500) is at least thrice his age and with a perfect score of 4points from 4rounds.

UPDATE 1:
After much persuasion, Amira Fathina (who last played a chess game around 6-7months ago in Seremban) is playing in the Insofar event - RM50 Entrance Fees Sponsorship, courtesy of The cHEss pIRATE.


>>>>>>>

The last chess competition organised in Malaysia for 2012 will be the INSOFAR Scholarship Tournament(NR) in Shah Alam. It will be in Rapid format and conducted over 7rounds of 25minutes Time Control per player.
Details HERE

Both, hAnA and The cHEss pIRATE will be participating as they'll be utilising the vouchers won during the Shah Alam Age Group event held during fasting month in July. INSOFAR Shah Alam Age Group Report HERE.
They were registered via sms sent yesterday at 11.15am & sent to 012-3415030(Raja Aiza). In addition, an irregular player will be taking part as well...we shall know tomorrow.

5th NATIONAL JUNIORS 2012, Summary

The 5th NJCC concludes today.

It was the first time that the kids are participating in the NJCC event.
hAnA played true to ratings I.e. Losing against higher rated players and winning against lower rated ones.
Having played in the 4th Penang International Heritage City Challenger tournament last week I'd expected a slightly better performance than this from hAnA. I guess it's back to the drawing board then. Her theoretical aspects needs to be addressed since competition alone is not giving the expected outcome. On this matter, she concurs with me - there needs to be a balance between competitions and the theoretical aspects of chess.

As for the cHEss pIRATE, what can I say? He finished last in the field of 56 with only 1point. The 1point however was earned in Round 6 against a player rated at 1330. Thus, maintaining his record of at least an upset per tournament. He also received the token recognition of being the Youngest Participant in the Boys category (the Youngest Girl is 7years old. So, I guess Amir Faiz IS the Youngest Player in the 5th NJCC).

My own analysis of the NJCC is that for Boys...exposure aside, a Malaysian rating of at least 1400-1500 is required to put up a "credible" challenge and finish 'mid-field". Otherwise, one will just be making-up the numbers and end-up as a "Point-Giver".

In the Girls event, a Malaysian Rating of 1300-1400 should be sufficient to put up a credible mid-table/field challenge.

Najib Wahab stated in his blog The Chess Connections that the 5th NJCC 2012 has the lowest turnout ever (BOYS: 2012@56 v 2011@54boys / GIRLS: 2012@19 v. 2011@22players). Since the kids are basically starting from Ground-Zero in the NJCC, hopefully they can only move up with each participation. Looking forward to next year's NJCC...my only wish is for the event to be advertised...MUCH, MUCH Earlier instead of at the last minute.

1st BLITZ event, Participated & Watched

TODAY, was another historical day for the AMfa family. We or, rather the kids participated in their FIRST ever chess blitz event whilst I enjoyed myself watching the blitz. The event was held after the 5th NJCC 2012 prize-giving ceremony and started after 3pm.

Among the rules peculiar to Blitz chess:-
(1) 5 minutes per player
(2) Make One(1) Illegal Move - Player Lose IF, opponent claims.
(3) Fallen Chess Piece(s) - Player Lose IF, he presses the timer before placing back the fallen piece properly.
(4) Need NOT say "check".

Tip: DON'T wear long-sleeved Shirt or Jacket/Sweater to avoid piece(s) falling.

At the end, I believe the kids enjoyed themselves in their first ever chess blitz participation.

( Family Warfare. To the Victors - "Bragging Rights". The cHEss pIRATE and his cousins Ayeesha, Aqil & Arif. Picture, Courtesy of Chess-Malaysia fb)

hAnA finishes at 19th out of 34players with 4 1/2points, making her the 2nd Best female player. She played fairly well against stronger opponents and "almost" got 2 of them into time difficulty...one of which is in the picture below.

( hAna playing against a more "seasoned" player. Picture, Chess-Malaysia fb )

The cHEss pIRATE on the other hand secured 2points, placing him 33rd in the field but not before losing 2 games due to an illegal move and another 2 more games due to a fallen chess piece. In the 1st Round, he had an opportunity to claim a victory when the opponent chess piece had fallen but being new to blitz rules he failed to claim the win. Having said that, seeing him play reminds me of the NAG 2012 where many times he can cause person(s) with heart defficiencies to beat faster. For example, in his match against Wong Zi Yue...he literally won the game by "1 SECOND". Zi Yue would have check-mated hi when the pawn is promoted in the next move....UNfortunately for him BUT Fortunately for the cHEss pIRATE, Zi Yue's time expired just before the promotion. Even the arbiter i.e. Nik Faroqi said "....Sayangnya, just 1 second!"

My initial assesment of chess blitz is that it favours fast thinkers and impulse players like kids. Many a times I'd observed that adults tend to "overthink". There was also "entertainment" especially amongst the boys when they started poking fun at each other to dustract their opponents. Amongst phrases heard "...what, you lost to a little girl?", "...your nose is droping..." and many more which I do not want to write. An enjoyable 1st blitz for me.

5th National Juniors Chess Championship 2012 (5th NJCC 2012)

5th NJCC 2012 Tournament Status HERE(Boys) & HERE(Girls)

UPDATE 9: 25/12/2012 (0105hours$
Blog Reports:- The Chess Connections


DAY 5
-----

( Look at where The cHEss pIRATE's "hand" is )


Final Round @Round 9
B08: hAnA v. Pavithra Thanabalan (NR 1224, ranked 19th). WON in what was supposed to be a drawn game.

( hAnA playing against Pavithra on the last Day )




B28. Faiz v. Mohd Harith Fahmi (NR 1219, ranked 51st ). lost.

( Faiz playing against the higher-ranked Mohd Harith in the last round of NJCC2012 )


DAY 4
-----

(Pictures: Courtesy of Najib Wahab's Chess-Malaysia facebook)




Round 8:
B09. hAnA v. Sangethavaty Thanasegaran (NR 1291, ranked 14th)lost.

B28. Faiz v. Aqil (NR 1323, ranked 46th). lost

Round 7:

B07. W. hAnA v. Ho Chen Ee (NR 1451, ranked 12th). lost

B27: W. Faiz v. Chang Wei Jin (Unrated, ranked 55th). Lost

DAY 3
-----
Day 3, blog reports HERE & HERE2.

Round 6:
B09: W. hAnA v. Noor Zainoor Ikmal Munir (NR 1272, ranked 15th). WON, finally she got her first point(NOT including Bye point obtained in Round 3) against an opponent rated just 8points ahead of her i.e. 1272 against hAnA's 1264. However, she had to make heavy work of it. I believe her 7-year old opponent will be somebody to keep an eye out for in the coming years.

B25: B. Faiz v. Kughan Ravindran (NR 1552, ranked 30th). lost in 45moves in just under 45minutes. Time Remaining, Faiz@1:33 & opponent@1:30.

Round 5:
B08: B. hAnA v. Noor Zainoor Ikmal (FIDE 1639, ranked 6th). Lost in 77moves after choosing to support 2 pawns down the board instead of moving king to support single pawn promotion.

B25: W. Faiz v. Mohd Radzuan (NR 1317, ranked 47th). lost in 33moves. Time Remaining, Faiz@1:33 & Opponent@1:23.

DAY 2
-----
Day 2, blog reports HERE & HERE2.

Round 4:

( hAna playing against Nur Sabrina )

B07. B. hAnA v. Nur Sabrina Asman (NR 1485, ranked 10th). lost.

B23. B. Faiz v. Low Chee Pang (NR 1424, ranked 39th). lost.

Round 3:
hAnA got a BYE

B28. W. cHEss pIRATE v. Thanabalan Kabilan (NR 1330, ranked 45th). The Pirate WON against a player rated 173 points higher than him despite the initial early loss of QUEEN. As per recent 4th Penang Heritage City International - Challenger Section, he seemed to average per tournament, an upset against a higher rated player.

( The cHEss pIRATE lost his Queen earlier in this game but still managed to upset a player rated 173 points higher than his NR of 1157 ).

DAY 1
-----
Day 1 Blog Reports, HERE & HERE2

Round 2:
B09: W. hAnA v. Tan Wei Ting(NR 1399, ranked 13th).

( Ha! Ha! The 5year-old cHEss pIRATE is "caught" thinking. Perhaps, he might be saying - "...what a position, I got myself into!?". Picture, courtesy of Chess-Malaysia fb )

B27: B. Faiz v. Low Hong Ben(NR 1390, ranked 41st). lost in 40moves. Time remaining, Faiz@1:27 & Low@1:32.

Round 1:
B07: B. hAnA v. Nur Faqihah Aminuddin(FIDE 1635, ranked 7th). Lost, position deteriorated when she didn't see the king-rook check trap coming in 2moves. Then miscalculated a 2-pawn exchange which resulted in her losing her last remaining good piece I.e. Bishop.

B23: W. Faiz v. Loh Zu Hao(NR 1660, ranked 26th). lost


>>>>>>>
The 5th NJCC 2012 Begins today at the DATCC-KL.
After attending the efficiently run FIDE-rated 4th Penang Heritage City International event last week in which the entrance fee for the kids were RM200each(as they were NOT PCA members & also not FIDE-rated, it's back to Malaysian chess reality I.e. Games starting late and another unkept promise of publishing the players' list despite stating it on the form...BTW, the entrance fee for this event is RM100 each due to the kids not being fide-rated.

In a seldom occurring event the girls and boys are playing against each other and not in an open competition as per the norm. hAnA, with a National Rating of 1264 starts the tournament ranked 17th out of 20 participating girls listed. hAnA's brother I.e. the cHEss pIRATE with a NR of 1157 is ranked second last in the field I.e. 55th out of 56 players. I think he would have been ranked last if not for the fact that player no.56 is unrated. Should be good exposure for both of them.

5th NJCC 2012, Forms Submitted & Fees Paid

The 5th National Juniors Chess Championship(5th NJCC 2012) will be held from 18-22 December at DATCC-KL. It is open to only Malaysians, aged 20years and below I.e. Those born in 1992 or, earlier.
Right till early December the dates were not announced yet and considering that it's a "National" event, albeit a junior one I find it rather perplexing that such an event is only fixed at the 11th hour.

Had enrolled the kids to participate in the 5th NJCC 2012 and had submitted the forms and made the payment personally to Najib Wahab(who was on the way to Sg.Petani and was making a pit-stop in Penang) since participants are supposed to submit direct to any one of the named persons stated in the NJCC 2012 form as no registration via telephone or SMS are accepted.

On Page 2 of the NJCC form, it also states that the players list will be out on 16th December. Unfortunately, as at the time of this blogpost I.e. 10.17am on 17 December and after checking the following sites I.e. http://malaysianchessfederation.blogspot.com/ & http://njcc2012.blogspot.com/ , NO such list exists. I suppose I'd referred to the wrong sites. Well......emmmm......

Should be good exposure for hAnA and the cHEss pIRATE. Come 2013, Will be more selective as to which events to enter them in subject to budget considerations.

2012 4th Penang Heritage City International ENDS today!

The 4th Penang Heritage City International Chess Competition ends today.
hAnA got the Bronze medal for finishing 3rd in the Girls U-10 category.
All results HERE

OFFICIAL Results:-
OPEN Category
CHALLENGER Section

Being the first International FIDE-rated event I'd attended and the kids participated in I find that the event was efficiently run despite hesitating to participate initially due to the high costs and highest ever entrance fees that needs to be forked out. Read HERE.

From the onset, the organiser was quick to respond to email queries...normally within 24hours (unlike the organiser of the recent RSC Juniors who have yet to reply to my 2 email queries after weeks). Games ran on time (unlike most Rapid events be it NR event or unrated events). Apart from the top board playing their game on stage and the game being webcasted live, another interesting observation is the availability of players' signages with their name, country flag and current FIDE rating. Kudos to the organisers especially Mr.Tan.


It was a learning experience for both hAnA and the cHEss pIRATE participating in their first ever FIDE-rated Classical tournament with an international field. hAnA played against 3 Singaporeans and 1 Indonesian boy registered for the U-8 category whilst the cHEss pIRATE dueled with 3 Singaporeans. hAnA played true to ratings I.e. Winning against lower rated players and losing to higher rated ones. Similarly,the cHEss pIRATE won against a lower rated player and lost to higher rated ones albeit one when he caused an upset in Round 6 against a player rated more than 150points ahead of him.

A positive development I'd observed is that hAnA is starting not only to analyse her own game and re-writing her moves on another record sheet but is also writing comments
as to what she'd learnt from each game. As for the cHEss pIRATE...well I don't know what he's thinking or learned from 4th Penang Heritage City event, hope he'd picked up some pointers.

FIDE-rated 4th PENANG HERITAGE CITY 2012, Begins

OVERALL REPORT:

It was a learning experience for both hAnA and the cHEss pIRATE participating in their first ever FIDE-rated Classical tournament with an international field. hAnA played against 3 Singaporeans and 1 Indonesian boy registered for the U-8 category whilst the cHEss pIRATE dueled with 3 Singaporeans.

UPDATE 6 @ 15/12/2012 (0952hrs)

DAY 5:
Going into the final day, the players status prior to start of the final round, HERE
Round 9
B41: B. hAnA v. Ang Jing Xuan (MAS - 1373, ranked 52nd ). lost.
B53: B. Faiz v. Loh Xiong Yi (MAS - 1167, ranked 89th). lost in just under 35minutes. Time remaining 1hour 31minutes.

DAY 4:
Latest Tournament UPDATE, HERE

Round 8
B48: W. hAnA v. Lim Kai Xian (MAS - 1222, ranked 84th). WON, checkmate in 46moves.
Time Remaining 1hour 29mins. Based on NR, expected victory.
B50: W. Faiz v. Eunice Hng (MAS - 1236, ranked 80th). lost in under 30minutes. Time remaining 1hour 34minutes. Based on NR, expected lost.

Round 7
B43. B. hAnA v. Nurul Aina (MAS - 1548, ranked 37th). lost
B46. B. Faiz v. Lee Jun En Shaun (SIN - 1365, ranked 56th). lost


DAY 3:
Story of the day for me is cHEss pIRATE's defeat of his 6th round opponent who is Malaysian-rated 153points ahead of him I.e. 1310 as opposed to Faiz's 1157. Good 16th Wedding Anniversary present for me.

Another identical score day for both I.e. 2wins & 4losses.
Round 6(pm)
B38: W. hAnA v.Yeow Hui Elizabeth Maria (SIN - 1371, ranked 53rd). lost against the 20year old Singaporean in 31moves. Position deteriorated after hAnA's Queen was pinned by black's rook.
B51: W.cHEss pIRATE v. Eng Jia Qian (MAS - 1310, ranked 66th). WON, checkmate in 59moves against an opponent twice his age i.e. the 10year old, ranked 66th.

Round 5(am)
B49: B. Faiz v. Nicholas Tan (SIN - 1274). lost, Resigned on 43rd move after opponent's Queen promotion. Knight was 'self-trapped' after taking pawn. Also had an upset stomach.
B50: B. hAnA v. Lim Eng Hann (MAS - 1139). WON, opponent nearly defaulted game but turned up on the 52nd minute to play.


UPDATE 4 @ 12/12/2012 (1050 hrs):

DAY 2:
Story of the day is the 2nd defeat of GM Richard Bitoon.
There are 13players in the U-8 Boys Category and 8 players in the Girls U-10 Category.

Played 4: hAnA - WON 1 & lost 3. cHEss pIRATE - WON 1 & lost 3. Identical scores again.

Round 4 (pm)
B40: W. hAnA v. Yu Zhengwen (SIN - 1415). lost
B55: W. Faiz v. Ryan Teoh (MAS - 1075). WON


Round 3 (am)
B49: B. Faiz v. Royce Tan Jun Yi (SIN - 1293, ranked72nd). lost in 34moves in around 1hour. Time remaining was Faiz@1:33 & Royce@1:03.
B50: B. hAnA v. Tan Jia Jin (MAS - 1155). WON, checkmate in 52moves after opponent was given 2 warnings for illegal moves. She should have won earlier.

DAY 1:
The story of Day 1 MUST BE be the defeat of Filipino GM Bitoon Richard(2437) the 3rd ranked player to Malaysian Tan Khai Boon (2139),ranked 30th which was played on the 3rd board with the GM playing Black.

It was a good game to watch as both had to move 'fast' due to time constraints. At one time TKB had asked for a draw when he was faced with time limitations even though he was in a more superior positional and tactical position but GM turned it down. I guess he must have wished that he had accepted the draw.
Another report, HERE

Played 2, lost 2 - Identical Scores for both hAnA & the cHEss pIRATE.
Round 2 (pm)
B41: W. Faiz v. Miss Su Wen Xin (MAS, NR 1334). lost, c'mate in 23moves after forgoing strong tactical & positional advantage and 'strange' castling choice.
B54: W. hAnA v. Master Kemas Ade Krisna Suri(INA, UR). lost in 3x moves in a game completed in just under 30minutes.

Round 1(am)
B08: B. v. Jonathan Kow(Fide1716 - SIN, ranked 8th). lost in 35moves.
B16: B. v. Dinesh (Fide1640 - MAS, ranked 16th). lost

The 4th Penang Heritage City International Chess Open 2012 officially begins with the opening move by the KOMTAR Assemblyman...he must have been working very hard coz he wished everybody - "...a very good Monday" whereas its already Tuesday.

The pairings for the Challenger section are as follows:- Challenger PAIRINGS 2012

hAnA, playing in her second Fide rated event and fourth classical game competition is playing Black on Board 8 against Singaporean Jonathan Kow (1716).
Also starting his first ever FIDE-rated event with the black piece is the cHEss pIRATE who is playing against Fourth Former Dinesh from KL(1640).