Blog GilaChess

Arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia at 5.30pm (Malaysian time). Will be here for 12 days. This is my first going to a different country other than Singapore. Anyway it's for work purpose. I feel I made a blunder by not taking the chance to come here earlier when the Jappfa Cup was on. Now that I'm here that event is over and I am missing the National Closed back in Malaysia. Double blunder !!!

Picture above is in round 2 between veteran Woo Beng Keong and top seed Fairin Zakaria Have to apologise again as I couldn't blog live this time from my mobile phone because I couldn't get connected to the blog site. (I am posting this from a cyber cafe). I slept late at 4am because I promised to burn the GilaChess CD collection for some players. Prepared 10 CDs but only sold about 2 CDs. My fault for not preparing the CDs earlier. That also meant I couldn't have my favourite porridge in the morning. I started the first round by beating Norazman - top 4 player in the Selangor Closed!! It was a fluke as Norazman just blundered in a winning position. It's the best win I had over a strong player in years. I just couldn't believe how Norazman just willingly let me open up the position which ended in him losing his Queen even though he was in a totally winning position a few moments before. However, after that memorable game. I just lost all my games and only managed to salvage 2 points from the last 2 games. I thought I'll do better with the 10 seconds increment but I was 'spent' after the games. Finished 3 points out of 6 (50% score). Siti Zulaikha took time off her SPM studies to participate and win the event with 5.5 points out of 6. There has been different winners for different events this past few weeks. Anas was champion for Selangor Open (time control 90min + 30 sec). Fariz was the winner of the Selangor Closed (25min) and now Siti wins the CAS 2nd Quarter Allegro (25min + 10 sec). Goes to show that different players are stronger at different time control. Anyway you can find the full results at GilaChess website. Picture from first round.

Excited and can wait for tomorrow's allegro. I will blog live from the tournament venue as I am taking part in it too. Not prepared at all (as usual).

Last Sunday was a big disappointment in addition to the humiliatiion of playing in the 'women section' of the Selangor Closed.On top of that the supplement's I took didn't seem to do anything for my chess. I only obtained 3 points from 7 rounds. But I guess it's unfair of me to think that popping a few supplement pills a day will add points to my tournament results. Silly me.
However, there was a good side effect. I have been waking up pretty early in the morning. Usually I just hit the snooze button repeatedly when the alarm rings. The last few mornings,I've woke up BEFORE the alarm rang. I am notoriously late for work but lately I've consistently reached 30 minutes before everyone else! I guess I have to put in some "chess training" in addition to taking the supplements if I really want to see some improvements in my results.

This is a record for me. I played 5 girls in a row at the Selangor Closed. Round 3,4,5,6 and 7 were all girls. Apparently one of the girls whom I lost to told my opponent (above picture) that I was prone to time trouble. Here I am in time trouble again -she took her friend's advice and played fast but luckily I managed to checkmate her before my flag fell. All this was played at Sunway College (Monash University) canteen. Since this palce was not air conditioned it's usually a little hot so I prepared this time with sleeveless. (ouch - my armpit hair is showing)

Apologies again. At round 6 my handphone battery ran out so I couldn't post the results here. Now it is 7:26pm and the final results are : Last round (that I can remember): Fariz vs Marcus (Marcus won!) Premnath vs Norazmi (Premnath won!) 4 players with 6 points: Fariz, Marcus, Premnath, Abdullah Che Hassan. Fariz was declared winner on tie-break. Selangor Open Champion Anas couldn't find his form. He finished at 10 placing. The surprising thing is most of the non-winners from Selangor Open ended up as winners at the Selangor Closed. The most likely reason is the 25 minute time control (no increment). As for me I played 5 girls in a row!! That is a record. Goes to show that female chess is also fast catching up. As an example, Alia - Anas's sister will be the youngest female rated in this country at age 13 (correct me if I'm wrong) !! My own result is an appalling 3 points out of 7. (no comments or excuse for this)

After the 5th round Fariz is in the lead winning Cheah Eu Gene. Closest is Masrin Erowan with 4.5 points.

Sorry for the late reporting. There is a surprising number of strong players taking part in the Selangor Closed currently underway in Sunway College. Among them are Anas (winner of the Selangor Open - as if you didn't know that already), Marcus Chan, Abdullah Che Hassan, Nik Farouqi, Masrin Erowan,Foo Chee Kin, Johan Iskandar Foudzi and many more my more names my brain can't recall at the momoent. Oh yeah, the person who beat me in the first round- Cheah Eu Gene. Now that's strong player!! My bet is that he will finish top 5. But it's not going to be easy... As for me, I've lost my first 2 games on time. Hard to readjust to the 25 minute time control after playing 90min + 30 secs (increment) in the Selangor Open ( excuses, excuses). Anyway, Lynette Wong saved me from getting all zeros by allowing me to sac Bishop (Greek gift) for an eventual mate. My target of 50% is still achievble .. I hope. Will report more details later. From where I sit Anas is still sitting on Board 1. Take a look at the pic (round 3)

Selangor Closed. As usual I am late.As you can see from the small thumbnail picture on the right somewhere, I am having chicken porridge. Safest bet because my poor stomach hasn't felt so good this past few days. Besides I read somewhere Korchnoi took porridge too on advice of the doctor to increase his 'constitution'. If it's good enough for Korchnoi then it's good for GilaChess. Anyway I may be late and may not take part but rest assured I will cover the Selangor Closed as best I can. Check out this page often see updates. Hint:-Press or Control-R to refresh from your browser

Sorry for not posting anything after round 7 of the Selangor Open 2005. Why? Simple reason that I suffered 4 defeats in the tournament and just felt destroyed. But as most of you gilachess people already know (if not then you are not a chess fan), Anas emerged champ without much difficulty. (http://www.gilachess.com for more info). My own score was disastrous at 3.5 points only (+2 =3 -4). But I only have myself to blame for not preparing and not getting a fresh supply of "Brain Supplements" (more on that in my later blogs). I had 3 winning positions and failed to convert them all. At least it highlighted areas in which I was weak in. Much work to do if I want to get a respectable result (more than 50%) in big tournaments like this. Anyway, looking back it was a good experience. I have fully recovered mentally and ego wise too. Will be preparing for the coming Selangor Closed this coming Sunday. This time, I will be stronger and will continue to report the result here ("live") no matter what my own result.

After round 7, Anas is still unbeaten with a perfect 7 points. He now plays LAW ZHE KHANG in the 8th round.Anas appears to be winning at the moment. He is 1.5 points ahead of his nearest rivals. There are 5 persons with 5.5 points.Stay tuned for more ...

After the loss to Fariz, I lost to Chan Tze Chen. Played a boring opening but obtained some amall advantage going into the middlegame. Going into the endgame I still kept my initiative. Offered a draw since my opponent had only one minute and I had 22 minutes!! He refused. I was so annoyed we played on till 70 + moves and even repeated a position for at least 4 times. Didn't know how to claim a draw as the arbiter said I have to be sure the position must be the same 3 times with the same person to move. Kicking myself for not insisting it was a 3-fold repetition. Lost the endgame when I tried to be flashy and sac my Bishop to try and promote one of my pawns. Of course it bombed and my opponent could stop both my passed pawn with both his King and Bishop. I understand Aaron Nimzowitch jumped up a table once scattering the chess pieces everywhere while shouting "Why must I lose to this idiot !! ". I really felt like doing that after the game. (Then I'll really live up to my nickname :) Felt destroyed for half an hour. Now I am ok. Perhaps I'll print out my opponents face and throw darts at it in my bedroom. He he just joking. Ok enough about me. 2.5 points after 7 rounds is just disgraceful. Tomorrow will be the last 8 and 9th round. Anas is having a fine run wint 7 wins (100%). It looks like nobody can touch him. Even one loss in the last 2 rounds will not stop him from winning tomorrow. The fight will be for the 2nd place onwards. As for me I'll try to get a total 4 points (additional 1.5 points). Wish me luck...

After round 6, Anas is unbeaten with a perfect 6 points. He defeated last year's 3rd place winner, Marcus Chan. There seems to be no stopping him. Top seed Leong Mun Wan lost to relatively unknown and unrated Steven Retalik so there is few strong players now that has a chance of slowing Anas. As for me, I wasted an attacking position against Fariz and lost. Now I only have 2.5 points out of 6. Round 7 pairing is out. Top board is WFM Shireen Lomibao vs Anas Nazreen.