Monday, March 30, 2009

I was quite shock when I opened http://sifumycatur.blogspot.com/ only to discover that one of the most chess attentive who is a visual handicapped player, Fazimi Tajul had passed away. I pray that his soul will rest in peace and he will be blessed in the hereafter.
Well, to all of us, who "still survive", life goes on, and we still need to work hard to enhance our achievement in chess. The next target for the OKU is the coming PARA GAMES 2009 in Kuala Lumpur from the 12th up to 20th of August, just before the commencement of Ramadhan.
I may not be able to present a few games of Fazimi Tajul here, as right now I do not have access to my database. However, I shall update this page by giving up some games and perhaps simple analysis and comments on his games.
My Allah bless us all .. Amin

UPDATE: Below is a game of Allahyarham Fazimi Tajul against one of my UIA students
[Event "Merdeka Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1997.??.??"]
[Round "9.19"]
[White "Aryati Tajuddin UIA POLGARS"]
[Black "Fazimi Tajul SBM"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11 French Classical"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3? dxe4 5. Ne5 Bd6 6. Bf4 O-O 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
Qd2 f6 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. a3 fxe5 11. dxe5 Be7 12. g3 c6 13. Be2 Bf5 14. c3 Nd7
15. O-O Qc7 16. e6 Ne5 17. Qe3 Bd6 18. b3 Bxe6 19. Bxe5 Bxe5 20. Rac1 Qf7 21.
f3 Bc7 22. Kg2 exf3+ 23. Rxf3 Qd7 24. Kg1 Bg4 25. Rxf8+ Rxf8 26. Bxg4 Qxg4 27.
Kg2 Bb6

28. Qd3 Rf2+ 29. Kh1 Qh3 0-1



Monday, March 16, 2009

BOBBY FISCHER REVISITED!!

The late Bobby Fischer had a very great influenced on me as 2 out of 3 of my earliest chess books (I had bought and read passionately) were My 60
Memorable Games and Bobby Fischer's 101 Outrageous moves. (The other one is My Chess Career - J.R.Capablanca). I had learned that Fischer's approach is rather crude and straightforward, yet contains a lot of beauties.

I have in my stock 2 of the most recent books about Fischer

1. Bobby Fischer Rediscovered- by Andrew Soltis. This excellence work to relook into Fischer's 100 games and yet the author found that there are many beauties

2. Bobby Fischer From Genius To Legend - Gufeld. This book not only speaks about Fischers games but contains some stories and nice pictures too

My price:
Bobby Fischer Rediscovered- by Andrew Soltis : RM 90.00
NOTE: SOLD TO WAN ISMAIL WAN YUSOFF OF KELANTAN ON THE 4TH APRIL 2009









Bobby Fischer From
Genius To Legend - Gufeld : RM 70.00

Note: Sold to Kaushal Khandar












I think those were a very reasonable price, considering that I had sold My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer at RM 150.00!! to a China's IM during last KL open. The reason was so simple.. it is a classic and out of print book in the whole world.











However, for those who still wish to have Fischer's original work, I still have another copy in my stock. But I have to put it a litlle bit higher, that is RM 200.00!!


(Note: Sold to Kaushal Khandar)








Considering that, it is very hard to get it nowadays (If you do get it, I strongly expect it will be higher than RM200)



(See for examples:
1) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BOBBY-FISCHER-MY-60-MEMORABLE-CHESS-GAMES-STRATEGY-RARE_W0QQitemZ120331352022QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item120331352022&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

2)http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fischer-Bobby-My-60-Memorable-Games-1969_W0QQitemZ110359122818QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item110359122818&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177











Below is one of Fischer's victories against David Bernstein

[Event "Nethanya"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1968.??.??"]

[Round "?"]
[White "Bernstein, David"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert J"]
[Result "0-1"]

[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "1968.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. f4 b6 7. Nf3 Bb7 8. O-O Qd7
9. Be3 f5 10. Qd2 Nf6 11. Kh1 O-O-O 12. Rae1 Kb8 13. Bg1 fxe4 14. dxe4 Ba6 15.
Ng5 Bxf1 16. Bxf1 Rhe8 17. Bb5 e5 18. fxe5 Rxe5 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Nf7 Rde8 21.
Nxe5 Rxe5 22. Qf4 b5 23. a3 b4 24. axb4 cxb4 25. Bd4 Rf5
! (D) 0-1













And the influence of Fischer's game had given me an idea in an important meeting against an IM

[Event "Arab Malaysian Labour Day"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1997.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "IM Giam Choo Kwee"]
[Black "Rizal A Kamal"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]

[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "1997.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 b6 5. d3 Bb7 6. Be3 g6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. O-O
Qd7 9. h3 f5 10. exf5 gxf5 11. Nh4 Nf6 12. Nd5 O-O-O 13. c3 e6 14. Nxf6 Bxf6
15. Qh5 Bxh4 16. Qxh4 Ne5! 17. Bg5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qc6+ 19. f3 Rd7 20. Bf6 Ng6 21.
Qg5 Rg8 22. Rae1 d5 23. h4 Rf7 24. h5













24...Qe8! 25. hxg6 Rxg6 26. Qxf5 Rfxf6 27. Qe5 Qg8 28. g4 Rf5 29. Qg3 Kd7 30. Re5 Rxe5 31. Qxe5 Rg5 32. Qh2 h5 33. Rh1 Kc6 34. Re1 hxg4 35. f4 Rg7 36. c4 Rh7 37. Rxe6+ Qxe6 38. Qxh7 Qe2+ 39. Kg1 Qe3+ 40. Kg2 Qf3+ 41. Kg1 g3 42. cxd5+ Kb5 43. Qd7+ Kb4 44. Qh3 Qf2+ 45. Kh1 Qxf4 46. Kg2 Qf2+ 47. Kh1 Qf3+ 48. Kg1 Qxd3 49. Qg4+ c4 50. Qg5 Kc5 51. Qe7+ Kxd5 52. Qxa7 Qe3+ 53. Kg2 Qf2+ 54. Kh1 0-1

So... please buy Fischer's book(s) from me


Saturday, March 14, 2009

CHESS BOOKS! (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) Revisited










THE GREAT EVANS GAMBIT DEBATE
A very consise yet efficient reference for Evans Gambit lovers (as black and white)

My Price: Only 40.00!!



The Evans Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 is no doubt, one of the most entertaining and romantic way to start a game. I used to be one of the Evans Gambit enthusiasts some time ago and I have to confess that, handling the Evans Gambit and making your opponent confused is very synonym. However, sometimes you yourself become confused or just feeling suffocated in order to justify the pawn (or pawns) you had just given up.

The EVANS GAMBIT & 2 KNIGHTS DEFENCE is the reference to complete your preparation as not everybody would answer with 3...Bc5 which would be totally a different story

As usual, I present here, one of my most memorable games (without annotation) employing the Evans Gambit beating a very strong player of Terengganu.


[Event "Arab Malaysian Labour Day"]
[Date "1997"]
[White "Rizal A Kamal"]
[Black "Nor Azmi Mohd Nor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51 Evans Gambit accepted"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Be7 6. d4 exd4 7. Qb3 Na5 8.
Bxf7+ Kf8 9. Qd5 c6 10. Qf5 Nf6 11. e5 Kxf7 12. O-O d6 13. e6+ Ke8 14. Ng5 Qc7
15. cxd4 g6 16. Qc2 d5 17. f4 Nc4 18. f5 gxf5 19. Qxf5 Nd6 20. Qh3 h5 21. Bf4
Qb6 22. Be5 Nde4 23. Qf5 Nxg5 24. Qxg5 Rg8 25. Qh6 Qb2 26. Nd2 Bxe6 27. Bxf6
Bxf6 28. Qxf6 Kd7 29. Rab1 Qxd2 30. Rxb7+ Kc8 31. Qxe6+ Kxb7 32. Rb1+ Kc7 33.
Qe7+ Kc8 34. Qb7+ Kd8 35. Qxa8+ Ke7 36. Qxg8 Qxd4+ 37. Kh1 Qc4 38. Qg6 Qa6 39.
h3 Qxa2 40. Re1+ Kd7 41. Qf7+ 1-0



Thursday, March 05, 2009

One of the approaches in building an opening repertoire is to have a specific setup which is playable against various (if not all) defence systems. I could not help myself from thinking about Julian Hodgson who employs 1.d4 2.Bg5 exclusively against anyone to the extend that the late Edouard Gufeld regarded the system as Hodgson's nuclear weapon in one of CHESS Pergamon.

IM Gary Lane had produced this book which is very ideal for those who are one of the following categories:-
1. One who wish to have a formidable system but too lazy to study opening theories.
2. One who is too busy to have ample time to study opening theories.
3. One who only prefers other to enter his scope of opening repertoire and do not wish to see any "other things" in the openings.

Here Gary Lane recommended the London system. Indeed, London system can be used agaisnt almost anything such as King Indian, Gruenfeld, Nimzo / Queen Indian, Queen Gambit or Slav etc. One of notable local chess players, NM Kamal Ariffin Wahiduddin had used this book to its maximum and had notched many important points adopting this approach. Other players who is adopting the London as part of their systems are Fairin Zakaria, Hairul Hamid (http://hairulovchessmaniacs.blogspot.com/).

Here is an example how he had crushed his opponent using the underated London System. His opponent could only resisted up to 21 moves:
[Event "MAKSWIP, Risda Ampang"]
[Date 2007.]
[Round "3"]
[Table1. Board 1"]
[White "NM Kamal Arifin DBKL A"]
[Black "Lee Boon Why UM A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02" London System]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Be7 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qf3 c5 9. c3 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. Qh3 g6 12. Nf3 c4 13. Bc2 Qb6 14. Rb1 f6 15.
Bh6 Rf7 16. Qg3 f5 17. h4 Bf8 18. h5 Bxh6 19. hxg6 hxg6 20. Rxh6 Nf8 21.
Ng5 1-0



Business speaking, my price is RM 79.00. Comparing to the local bookstore, you will find at the Kinokuniya that this book is available at RM88.28 (see http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/bookseaohb.cgi?ISBN=0713487127&AREA=05&LANG=E)

Don't hesitate to get this book, if you are one of the above criteria player.

NOTE: THIS BOOK HAS BEEN SOLD TO SHAMSUDIN MAT ISA