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Malaysia got knocked out of the Men's Rapid Team section. Malaysia lost 1.5-2.5 to heavyweights Philippines and also lost to Vietnam with the same score too. The Malaysian was just unlucky to be paired with the 2 most strongest team there in the first round. Still 1.5 points is a good effort against these chess giants.

Taken from Chess-Malaysia newsgroup regular posts (spotted by Jimmy Liew)
Sometime i fill,sorry not fill anything when a .. Feel or Fill??? if u english cant make it,u talk so much at here... Note: This is just a sample. Most of the discussion there is in better English :)

Fadli Zakaria offers these cash incentives to chess SEA GAMES players for 2005, 2007 and 2009 SEA GAMES. Gold medal for individual -RM1,000 Gold medal for team -RM1,500

This is just a partial result (thanks to Ching Kim Lye for obtaining it). Sea Games Men's Individual Rapid 2005 Final 28/11/2005 FM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 1.5-0.5 GM Susanto Megaranto Semi-Finals 28/11/2005 IM Jason Goh Koon Jong 1-1 (0.5-1.5) GM Susanto Megaranto FM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 1.5-0.5 GM Eugenio Torre Quarter-Finals 27/11/2005 GM Wu Shaobin 0-2 FM Ngyuen Ngoc Troung Son IM Jason Goh Koon Jong 1.5-0.5 IM Wynn Zaw Htun GM Susanto Megaranto 1.5-0.5 GM Joey Antonio GM Eugenio Torre 1.5-0.5 FM Le Quang Liem 1st Round 27/11/2005 incomplete GM Wu Shaobin 1.5-0.5 IM Mas Hafizulhilmi IM Jason Goh Koon Jong 3-1 (1-1) IM Danny Juswanto GM Joey Antonio 1.5-0.5 Ak Hirawan Mohd Omar GM Susanto Megaranto - FM Nicholas Chan (scores not available yet but Nicholas lost) FM Le Quang Liem vs ?? FM Ngyuen Ngoc Troung Son vs ?? IM Wynn Zaw Htun vs ?? GM Eugenio Torre bye

This is the probable list of the Fide-rated players at the Penang international open chess championship 2005 (7-11 Dec 2005) GM Mark Paragua (PHI) 2596 GM Drazen Sermek (SLO) 2526 GM Bakre Tejas (IND) 2484 GM Bong Villamayor (PHI) 2451 IM Stefan Loeffler (GER) 2440 WGM Tania Sachdev (IND) 2379 IM Chandrashekhar Gokhale (IND) 2377 IM Jimmy Liew (MAS) 2320 Tan Chin Hoe (SIN) 2272 Jonathan Chuah (MAS) 2210 Kannapon Srivatchirawat (THA) 2206 Mohd Fairin Zakaria (MAS) 2190 Fadli Zakaria (MAS) 2185 Kamaluddin Yusof (MAS) 2180 Tan Hong Ghee (MAS) 2140 S. Balendran (MAS) 1975 The list is certainly impressive with super GM Mark Paragua taking part.

So has anybody bought the all new Fritz 9 yet? From some of the feedback from blogs and forum, some buyers say that the 'new' features are just fluff and only visual eye candy. Some people has reported the pirated edition has hit the market here in Malaysia. That was fast... Full Edition USD 50.42 (DVD edition) Viva Media edition (Non-DVD edition) will not include 3 hours Garry Kasparov media presentation Cheaper by about $USD 10

There is the Johor open down South and then there is the CAS tourney Klang Valley (Central region).With the latest Penang Juniors open (up North), this makes it a 3 way clash of chess events in Malaysia on December 4, 2005. Penang tourney is for Juniors. Details:- THE third and final leg of a junior chess circuit organised by EZ Chess Enterprise will be held on Dec 4 at the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel in Penang. The tournament is divided into five categories

under eight,

under 10,

under 12,

under 14

under 16. Entry fees are from RM10 to RM20 per person. Tournament co-ordinator Eoh Thean Keat said the first two legs were held earlier this year with about 150 people participating each time. For details and registration, contact Eoh at 016-4540070.

I know that this is a bit of a touchy issue at Chess-Malaysia newsgroup recently but I've decided to post it anyway. Any monetory incentive for chess is good even with the racial limitation this particular scheme proposes:- From Mr Fadli Zakaria representing Epolychess Enterprise:-

On behalf of Epolychess Enterprise,we gladly to announce starting next year january2006 to end january 2009(3 years),incentive scheme will be given to all qualified malaysian MALAY chess players. 1. Champion National closed tournament for men category (with a title of NM)-RM500.Champion National closed tournament for women (with a title NWM)-RM300 2. Any title achieve from title to title(minimum title to claim incentive is FM or WIM).If obtain title from non title to title FM (will get RM500).From FM to IM(will get Rm500),from non title to IM (will get RM1000),from non title to GM(RM1500),from IM to GM (RM500).For current FM (FM Anas & FM Johan),because they already achieved FM title,they only have to reach FIDE RATING 2250 to get special incentive RM350,if they still able to reach FIDE RATING 2300 in the FIDE RATING LIST within the 3 years epolychess incentive scheme period,they still will get RM400(refer item no. 2).For current WFM(WFM Siti zulaikha,she will get RM400 if she able to get title WIM and also will get RM300 if she obtain FIDE RATING 2250 & above. For women,from non title/WFM to WIM is RM400,WIM to WGM is RM400,non title to WGM is RM800. 3.AND!!!any Malaysian MALAY Chess players(men & women) obtain 2300 & above & recorded in the FIDE RATING LIST, you will get RM400.for women,will get another RM400 if obtain 2250 & above & recorded in the FIDE RATING LIST. Please email/write official letter to epolychess enterprise (epolychess_eca@yahoo.com) within 1 month to claim your incentive.thank you. "MAJULAH SUKAN CATUR MELAYU DI MALAYSIA"

My Thoughts ... I am Chinese and Mr Fadli did help me when my PC blew up by generously sponsoring a new PC (heavily discounted). I thank him a lot for that. He is not a racist in my books. GilaChess.com is partly powered by EpolyChess in a sense as I'm still using that PC till today.

I haven't posted in GilaChess.com for over a month. The last article I posted was one of my rare wins against Chan Tze Chen in the Chevrolet Open 2005. The reason is because the firewall at my office completely blocks GilaChess.com. That's very unfortunate as I can visit any other websites. That's why you see me posting more blog entries here instead of GilaChess.com. Anyway the Johor tournament announcement was made using handphone (man that's going to be expensive!). Also, please forgive me for not posting many other submissions from faithful GilaChess readers. There are many pictures from tournament and recent tournament results still pending. I'll have to do it once I can find time to go the cyber cafe.

 
 There will be a tournament organised by 
 The Johor Sports Council (Majlis Sukan Negeri Johor)
    
 Date       : 4 Dec 2005
    
 Start time : 8.30 pagi
   
 Place      : Main Entrance,Stadium Larkin, Johor Bahru
    
 Fees       : RM10.00 / person
    
 Tournament : Individual Open
    
Closing Date: 2 Dec 2005 (Friday)
    
 Prizes     : 1st(Rm250) 2nd(Rm150) 3rd(Rm100)
              4th(Rm60)  5th(Rm50)  6th(Rm40) 
              7th(Rm30)  8th(Rm20)
    
 Contact : En. Akbar Shah b. Jalal 
 Tel     : 07-2247044/0123977267)

Incidentally, you can see from the previous post this event will clash with the CAS (Chess Association of Selangor) event on the same day. I suppose it's not a problem since one is in Kuala Lumpur and the other is way south in Johor Baru.

CAS last event of the year

Date   : 4th Dec (Sunday)
Venue  : Wilayah Complex. 
Rounds : 6 rounds 
Time   : 10 am (Rd 1)

Category 1 :National Rating of at least 1400 points and 
            unrated Adult 
Category 2 :unrated Under-18 players and those with 
            National rating less than 1400.

Limited places - The COMBINE available places for Category 1 and 2 = 120 To join this event, please include 1. your Name and 2. Category Email to chessmate@cas.com.kg or Click Entry Fees: Category 1 Entry Fee: RM 15 (CAS Members) and RM 25 (Others); Category 2 Entry Fee: RM 10 (CAS Members) and RM 20 (Others). All pre-register names must make the payment by 9.30am on that day. RM 5 late penalty will be charged. There is 10 prizes for each category

The electricity at my home is terrible. There are spikes and surges. Even with a surge protector there are still mishaps. The latest casualty was my Video card which blew up. One good thing that came out of it is I replaced it with an older card and it happened to be a better video card. What has this got to do with chess? I got to play Chessmaster 10 for the first time on my PC. I had the CDs since last year but never got to run it properly as the game always hangs at the opening screen. Looks like it worked with my old replacement video card. Sorry for appearing backward but I feel the 3D chess pieces was beautiful !! :) Especially the interactive 3D pieces. Certainly brings life to Josh Waitzin tutorial / commentary games.

Holmes, who coaches at East Chapel Hill High, said he wants the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board to begin paying chess coaches at schools. He also wants local districts to follow in the lead of the Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools, which are spending close to $100,000 this year to teach students chess. "It says something that the school system values chess enough that they give this wad of money to give instruction," Holmes said. "[Chess] is a great tool for helping people develop concentration skills. It's abstract thinking -- thinking about what's coming."

more from The Sun Herald Wish we had such a program here in Malaysia. :(

From Australian IT article.

Ranked 30th in the world and living in Greece with his wife and two children, Short accuses the World Chess Federation (FIDE) of mismanaging the game and failing to attract sponsors. "Next year people will be playing chess on their mobile phones, but FIDE is just not up to the job," he says.

Interesting prediction by the former world no. 3. I keep get beaten by Chess Genius on my 3 year old Nokia 7650 handphone. Mobile phone chess is pretty strong. Anyway have not tried playing online vs a human opponent yet on a mobile phone or PDA. It would certainly be an interesting experience. Especially using a stylus to tap the moves out on the PDA screen. I believe it is faster than on the PC using a mouse.

Computer Chess - Assisstive Tools

My first serious exposure with computer chess was back in 1987. The chess program was called Colossus and it ran on a Spectrum 8-bit computer connected to the TV. It had no mouse. It had no hard disk. I ran the program for a cassette tape!. Moves were entered via keyboard (eg: "e2-e4"). I'd rate Colossus at ELO 1600-1700. Initially I lost all my games against Colossus.

That really fired me up to improve and try to beat it. After about a month I got to beat Colossus half the time. The real benefit for me was that I had a challenging opponent to play against anytime of the day. Also, Colossus taught me the practical use of opening gambits. I found it frustrating playing against a gambit played by Colossus as black - The Marshall Gambit of the Centre Counter.

 1. e4 d5 2. Nf6 c4 3. exd5 c6?! 4. dxc6 Nxc6 
 

and Black has good compensation for the sacrificed pawn. As a teenager back then, it made a deep impression on me. I thought:- Giving a pawn early in the opening just to develope and bring up pieces a move or two earlier. Wow what a concept!

Against today's computer programs like Fritz, Shredder, Chessmaster, I can forget about scoring a decent win at any levels or at any time control. It's no longer human vs computers. Computer has long surpassed the average human GM in terms of chess strength. It's no fun playing against Fritz to get trounced 100% of the time.

Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.
Albert Einstein

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that computers have a place in chess, not as a good sparring partner but more as an assistant to learning chess.

For example, I found immediate benefits using a PDA for chess. The mobility gave me freedom to view games from mini-databases I saved into the PDA. A good example was my game vs Chan Tze Chen. With a cheap RM100 (about USD 27) Palm PDA I could refresh my memory on a killer anti-French variation I used against my opponent just a few minutes before the game. (Thanks to Ching Kim Lye for emailling me the variation a few months before)

It won't end there as I will use the PDA to make preparations for the coming Royal Selangor Club tournament next week (27th Nov 2005). I do not have much time with work commitments (lame excuse I know) to make any serious preparations so most of it will take place in the time I can steal from my commute to work on the PDA. That's about 30 mins everyday.

The programs I am using is Pocket CT-Art for solving chess tactical puzzles and Pocket Fritz 2 as a sparring partner.

"Lack of sponsors cripples Humpy: Coach

Vijayawada: Koneru Humpy, fourth in the world women ranking and first woman Grandmaster in juniors (below 20 years) is suffering from lack of sponsors after the Bank of Baroda (BOB) severed its links with her in March. ">Lack of sponsors cripples Humpy: Coach .:. NewKerala - India's Top Online Newspaper: "Lack of sponsors cripples Humpy: Coach Vijayawada: Koneru Humpy, fourth in the world women ranking and first woman Grandmaster in juniors (below 20 years) is suffering from lack of sponsors after the Bank of Baroda (BOB) severed its links with her in March. "

More from New Kerala.com It's sad to see even world class players like Koneru has problems with sponsorship. Probably one of the reasons she didn't appear to be happy while playing in the Malaysian Open 2005 last September.

One of the many Chess websites that I maintain, The Chess Network (TCN) was down for almost a week because of server upgrades. The database has been upgraded from MySQL 3.23 to the newer (and supposedly better) MySQL 4.1. It took a bit of work on my part to figure out how to migrate all the old data to work with the new database but I've finally done it. If you don't yet know, TCN is the Malaysian Chess Federatiion (MCF) official website. MCF was busy the past few months with the organisation of the 2nd Malaysian Open (won by Wang Hao) and the World Championship Zonal 3.3 for this region (jointly won by GM Utut Adianto and GM Mark Paragua) Now the next step is to upgrade my own personal website - GilaChess. It's in desperate need of a new and overdue makeover,

New Straits Times - Malaysia News Online

Malek will soon venture into a new area - food. He would open an eatery, an alfresco dining outlet with big screen television and tables with chess and checker boards.

Source :New Straits Times - Malaysia News Online

Sofia News Agency (a Hungarian website) posted these allegations about Veselin Topalov the winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship in San Luis Argentina. Source: Sofia News Agency An unnamed participant in the World Chess Championship in San Luis, Argentina, has accused Chess King Bulgarian Vesselin Topalov of using unallowed measures to win the title, index.hu reported. According to the article published on the site the allegations remained secret because of "games behind the curtain." Such allegations, however, are common for the chess world. It is not clear who has raised the allegations against the Chess King, but this man claims that during several games aide Ivan Cheparinov and manager Silvio Danailov have helped Topalov. The site reports that after each move of Topalov, Cheparinov has used computer analysis of the game and has then secretly signaled the chess king for the next move. Peter Leko has also voiced his suspicions that Topalov has used unfair advantage by sitting on the same place during the entire championship. FIDE however, has not undertaken any measures due to lack of evidence.

date: Nov. 14-17 Coaches

GM Ian Rogers

IM Mas

FM Lim Yee Weng

FM Wong Zi Jing

Jax Tham

Julian Navaratnam

Ismail Ahmad

Gregory Lau Venue: The Chess Network, KL The good news (or bad?) is that response was so good even without broadcasting in GilaChess.com, the chess camp is already full. Next year, the top national age group winners will have free entries to the Second National Chess Camp 2006.

"It's hard to explain why women are not as good at chess. Maybe because men and women have different ways of thinking. Men are more logical, as is necessary in chess. A man allows himself to carry out more moves, and a woman is more sunk in thought. She wants to guarantee the move, to take less of a chance."

China's 19 year old Zhau Xue in an interview source : Israel News At the moment Zhau Xue is ranked no. 16 in the Women World FIDE rating list.

source : The Hindu

NEW DELHI: In the absence of defending champion P. Hari Krishna, it appears highly unlikely that the boys' title will return to India from the World junior championship, beginning at Istanbul's Golden Age Hotel on Wednesday. Eesha Karavade, the surprise bronze medallist in the girls' section last year, along with Kruttika Nadig, Tania Sachdev, N. Raghavi and donor-entrant D. Harika, seeded six; carry India's medal hopes in the 13-round competition.

..more

Taken from ShanghaiDaily.com

China eyes first Chess World title 2005-11-09 China's national team yesterday sought to expand its narrow lead over heavily favored Russia in search of its first world chess championship. The two teams have been battling for the top spot since the tournament began November 1, with the Chinese men's team on Monday poking ahead by a half point. Heading into a matchup yesterday with the third-place US team, China had 16 points. Russia has 15.5 points. The tournament is expected to come to a dramatic close tomorrow, when the two leaders will clash in a battle that will most likely clinch the championship. The Soviet Union has dominated the sport, and since its demise the former Soviet republics have continued to lead the field. An upset victory by China would give it its first championship ever. The team championships are being held in the desert city of Beersheba, which has the highest number of chess grand masters per capita in the world, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Nine teams are competing in the event: China also sent a women's team, which is in last place. Also participating are Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Armenia, Georgia and the United States. The Associated Press

Source: Chennai Online News

Anand upset by unfancied Swiss opponent Bastia (France), Nov 6: Unfancied Swiss Grandmaster Vadim Milov shocked five-time champion Viswanathan Anand in the tie-breaker to clinch the Corsica Masters chess title here. A strong favourite for the title, Anand had won this knockout rapid chess event five times in a row from 2000 to 2004. In the final, Milov won the first game before Anand drew parity by winning the next to take the match into tie-breaker. The tie-breaker saw Milov get the better of the Indian GM in the two games and clinch the title 3-1. The Swiss Grandmaster, rated way below the Indian ace, was richer by 20,000 euros while Anand pocketed 12,000 euros for his second place finish.

CHESS TOURNAMENT BY CORRESPONDENCE FRANCE -MALAYSIA Beginning of the tournament envisaged on January 15, 2006. Registration due before December 15, 2005 For France Benoit Galliou President of the ECAM For Malaysia François Bardouil Local organizer TOURNAMENT BY TEAMS Team tournament of players (four from France and four from Malaysia) - each French player will play against each player from this Malaysia team for one game - each player will play four games at the same time - the timing is 10 moves/30 days Each team will be ranked by points to determine the winning country for this set. The winner of the tournament will be the country that wins the most sets. CHESS TOURNAMENT BY CORRESPONDENCE FRANCE -MALAYSIA Beginning of the tournament envisaged on January 15, 2006 Registration due before December 15, 2005 For France Benoit Galliou President of the ECAM For Malaysia François Bardouil Local organizer TOURNAMENT BY TEAMS Team tournament of players (four from France and four from Malaysia) - each French player will play against each player from this Malaysia team for one game - each player will play four games at the same time - the timing is 10 moves/30 days Each team will be ranked by points to determine the winning country for this set. The winner of the tournament will be the country that wins the most sets. RULES OF THE TOURNAMENT The standard rules of the correspondence chess will apply. The use of computer chess software is not allowed during the games. TOURNAMENT OPEN TO ALL IN FRANCE AND IN MALAYSIA In Malaysia, you can register for free by mail with the local organizer François The standard rules of the correspondence chess will apply. The use of computer chess software is not allowed during the games. TOURNAMENT OPEN TO ALL IN FRANCE AND IN MALAYSIA In Malaysia, you can register for free by mail with the local organizer François

It's rare to see Kamaluddin finish anything less than top 3 in most local tourneys. Today was an exception at the Segamat Open, Johor. The Chevrolet 2005 champ only manage to finish only at position 16.

Segamat Open 2005 winners



1 Anas Nazreen

2 Abdullah Che Hassan

3 Salman Mistam

4 Marzuki Yaacob

5 Herman Rahman

6 Baharuddin Hamzah

7 Norullah Omar

8 Tun Sri Lanang

9 Leong Mun Wan

10 Md Syafid Kelana



Full results and pics will be posted officially on GilaChess.com when ( if ??) when I receive it from the organiser.

Players taking part:Leong Mun Wan, Kamaluddin Yusof, Anas Nazreen Bakri, Tun Sri Lanang, Abdullah Che Hassan etc. Thanks to a GilaChess member SMS.

Happy Deevali wishes to all my Hindu chess friends.