Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Chess Open 2015 Round 7

I have now reached 50% in my personal Indonesian championship :-) Four out of my seven opponents so far have been Indonesians. Luckily this time I played an adult. I got the better of the opening, sacrificed the exchange for a pawn and the two bishops then another pawn, and another, reaching an assessment of 7.7 at one stage. Then one blunder after another led to a queen ending where I was just one pawn up. Finally my opponent gifted me a mate in three. Phew.

Meanwhile on the Junior front, David Liu is going on a drawing spree, getting two draws today, although the first one was due to triple repetition in a superior position. The intention was to repeat twice. Moral of the story. Don't play with your food! Despite missing this half point his performance is nearly 1900

Jacob Chan is on 3/7 performing at nearly 1500. Not bad for his first International open!

That's all for today folks, stay tuned :-)

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Chess Open 2015 Round 6

Toilet Police

After a pleasant evening at a superb Japanese restaurant and a few glasses of wine and good company I slept very well for the first time since arriving in Malaysia. Is wine the secret? Could well be. This morning I was feeling fresh and ready for my game. My first surprise was my opponent. Seeing the name Michael Owen I expected a jaded old white chess tourist like myself, instead I got a motivated young Indonesian kid.

I was quite satisfied with my opening and after a few glasses of water needed to visit the bathroom. On my way out a pretty young lady with a sheet and pen in her hand asked me where I was going. I told her and she asked my name and board number, and noted my exit. As the round went on she seemed a bit overworked because not only are there hundreds of people playing, all leaving the hall for different reasons but with the nationalities represented, occasionally language was also an issue.

Needless to say some players expressed more than a little irritation at being interrogated especially as the time control approached.

I am not sure what this is supposed to achieve and everything (almost) is worth trying once but I hope the organisers shelve this rather absurd idea forthwith.

Round 6

I was quite happy with the opening, especially since Michael consumed oodles of time to get a bad position but on move 14 I thought better of the intended and natural Qf2 and swapped queens noticing that I get at least a pawn back. However it was not so simple and accurate calculation was required which I was too lazy to do.

I did in fact see 22.Rd6, sacrificing the exchange for all his Queenside and central pawns but figured anything won at this stage. A miscalculation later I was a pawn down in a bad rook ending. I was proud of my technique in at least holding the draw until I checked it with Stockfish. Turns out I played it quite poorly. Oh well, at least he did as well.

Now for a quick snack and then the last double round for this tournament.
Toodles :-)

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Chess Open Round 5

Anton Smirnov is in the equal lead with 4.5/5 and Moulthun Ly is not far behind on 4/5. The rest of us Aussies are not fairing quite so well. My second game today was a bit of a disaster. The hippo is a dangerous defense and best played when one is in top form. This was obviously not the case today. I had reservations about castling before I did it but could not find any other active moves so did it anyway. I was surprised when Stockfish endorsed my choice but definitely didn't like my next move  14...f5?? instead Nc6 is almost equal. I did consider it but didn't appreciate that after 15.Ng4 Nd4 16.Nh6+ Kh8 the naked black king is apparently quite happy. Black is a pawn down but the central d pawn is enough compensation for my Silicone friend.

Oh well, at least I learnt something today :-) Would you be brave enough to play that position? I'll have to put it under the microscope before deciding.

Luckily there was some compensation for this incredibly weak game in the form of another meal at
Din Tai Fung. The kitchen staff all wear surgical masks and the kitchen is surrounded by glass so one can see how everything is made. I had walked past it previously and always wanted to check it out and the last two days that dream has come true. Another experience crossed off my bucket list. If you are a foodie I suggest you put it on yours. To that end I have supplied the link. Bon App.

Our group changed a little from yesterday,including Thai administrator and player Sahapol Nakvanich, whose birthday it is. Happy birthday!

Well tomorrow is a rest day. Lets see what culinary delights await us.

Toodles!

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Chess Open 2015 Round 4

This morning I faced an underrated junior at 9am who came at me with the accelerated Dragon. This coupled with little sleep can be a dangerous combination. Not wanting to have a theoretic battle, primarily because I didn't even know how to enter one, I tried 3.h4.

The rest of the game I just tried to play simple moves and avoid calculation. It worked a treat.

Now some lunch and if possible a little nap before the afternoon round.
Toodles :-)

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open 2015 Round 3

No excuses today, just a fight with many mistakes by both sides. My opponent went wrong first by capturing on d2 with the Queen. If instead 10.Nd2 I cannot move my e pawn (it loses a pawn) so white would have time to play e4,f4 Nf3 and rooks behind. I am not sure where black can find counterplay.

Black was better and I was carrying out my plan unhindered when I suddenly had a brain meltdown with 23...b5 forgetting that the d3 knight defended the rook on f2. Luckily I spotted my mistake immediately and continued as if nothing had happened.

We then got into a messy tactical melee with a swinging evaluation until I played the final blunder 44....Qa3. Instead I should play Qd4 and the position is about equal. This would have given me the opportunity to blunder later. Or maybe..... Spilt milk.

I was feeling a bit annoyed about my play after the game but that soon evaporated when we went to the best Chinese dumpling restaurant ever. Good food, good company, all good.

Now to try and survive another double round day starting at 9am. 

Dato ArthurTan Malaysian Open 2015 round 2.

I feel like having a bit of a whinge today. There are many rules in Chess, some make sense, others don't always and still others change over time. Disturbing your opponent is not allowed but the specifics are not comprehensive. Talking is forbidden as is kicking under the table but more subtle forms of gamesmanship are often overlooked.

One such method is overpowering body odor. There is one Russian Grandmaster, who according to a colleague has no sense of smell, who deliberately cultivates his skunk like odor by not showering for the duration of a tournament (at least). I have played him before and had to stand a long way from the board to be able to breathe and had to hold my breath when approaching the board to play my moves.

Another method is constantly clearing your throat. It may be argued that in some cases it is an involuntary tick but that is a bit like being shot accidentally. Not much consolation. Rocking the table by shaking your leg is also in the top ten.

The type of behaviour I find particularly annoying is constantly snorting your own snot. Everybody gets sniffles occasionally but that's why tissues were invented. The 1994 Candidates match between Gata Kamsky and Nigel Short is remembered for a particularly unpleasant incident. Gata had caught a cold and was sniffling, spluttering and hacking at the board. Nigel suggested that he might like to drink some water. Interestingly THIS is illegal (speaking to your opponent) whereas Gata's behaviour is not. Later Rustam Kamsky, Gata's father, apparently verbally assaulted Nigel including threatening to kill him.

My opponent today was a constant snorter and while I don't think it was deliberate it was definitely very annoying. The arbiter was unable to help as snorting is not included as disturbing behaviour. As you can see white got a considerable advantage in the opening but the worse my opponents position got the more he snorted. I did play some incredibly weak moves and was even worse at one stage and had to scramble a draw with very little time left. An unpleasant day at the office

On the bright side, he was unrated to I don't lose any rating points. Yay :-)

Without further ado, here is the game. My last idiotic mistake was the greedy 48.Rg6 instead of the intended 48.Ra6 first.

At least tomorrows game starts at 3pm.
Pairings and full results will appear here
Toodles :-) 

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open round 1.

Dato Arthur Tan Chin Nam

My first trip to play chess in Malaysia was in 1983 (I think) and that was the first time I met Dato Tan, who was already the main sponsor of Malaysian chess and quite a strong player. He took us out for dinner many times at one of his shopping malls and played blitz regularly with anyone who cared to play. He was also not the youngest man even back then. We Australians just knew him as "the Datuk".

Now he is in his 90's and in a wheelchair but still sharp, playing the occasional game and remembering all the players from the past. A few years ago I remember seeing him arrive at the Cititel hotel and since I had not seen him for decades I did not impose myself and walked past until I heard a loud "Wohl" from behind. He remembered me from all those years ago and we had a nice chat.

He still drops in to watch the games and to plan future tournaments.

So the tournament started this morning with a bit of excitement. The chief organiser, Mr Hamid, had decided not to be too authoritarian and therefore there was no "zero forfeit" rule applied, meaning if you are not at the board when the round starts you lose. Many players took advantage of this and meandered in late. A forfeit in the first round is a disaster for the player receiving the gift because then there is no norm possibility anymore.

He regretted his leniency and berated the assembled audience after some time had gone by and even the players on board 1 were missing. I suspect he will apply "Zero tolerance" next time.

Round 1

My game was quite easy as my young opponent didn't know my obscure opening choice. This variation is best played when the draw is not made the night before and the opponent cannot prepare. Otherwise it is quite dangerous. Quiet positional play does not work.

Anyway folks, hope you enjoyed that, now its time for the second round.
                                         Wish me luck :-)