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After 2 gruelling days, Kuala Lumpur managed to retain their gold medal in the recent MAKSAK Chess tournament. MAKSWIP (KL) team fielded Shamsudin Mat Isa, NM Kamalarifin Wahiduddin, myself - Rizal Ahmad Kamal, Muhammad Rizal Jusah, Mohd Zambri Mohd Shariff and Hairul Abdul Hamid (Hairulov).
My personal achievement was not as good as in the 2 previous years. In fact I had suffered my first defeat since my last defeat in 2008 at MAKSAK Penang in the hand of Hisamullah Harun (TGANU). The lucky winner (and not really lucky, but actually a very good player- refering to his overall personal score) was Chow Ming Jack of Johor.
[Event "MAKSAK, Ipoh"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chow Ming Jack JHR"]
[Black "Rizal A Kamal KL"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2000"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2009.12.24"]
[SourceDate "2011.02.07"]
1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Be3
cxd4 9. cxd4 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nc3 Qd6
(11...Qa5 is more active)
12. Nb5 Qb8 13. h3 Bh5 14. Rc1 Rd8 15.Qa4 Nd5 16. Nc3 a6 17. Ne5 Nxe5
(17... Bxe2 18. Nxc6 bxc6 19. Rxe2 Nxc3 20.bxc3 (20. Rxc3 Qb5 21. Qc2) 20... Qb5 21. Qc2 Rab8 22. c4 Qa5)
18. dxe5 Qxe5 19. Bd4 Qg5
(19... Nxc3 20. Bxc3
(20. Bxe5 Nxa4 21. Bxh5)
(20. Bxh5 Qxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Nxa4)
20... Qg5)
20. Bxh5 Qxh5 21. Re5!
The beginning of the turning point
21...Qg6?
(21...Nxc3! Not only a good move, it is the only move. 22. Rxh5 ( if 22. bxc3 Qg6 23. Re3 Qg5 24. Rb1 b5 25. Qc2 Qd5) (If 22. Bxc3Qg6 23. Rce1 Bf6 24. R5e3 Bxc3 25. Rg3 Bxe1 26. Rxg6 hxg6)
22... Nxa4-+)
22.Nxd5 Rxd5 (22... exd5?? 23. Rxe7 Qg5 24. Rcc7 +-)
23. Rxd5 exd5 24. Qd7! The table had suddenly turned. In a state of confusion (which one to be defended first) I played the horrible 25...Bg5?? simply forgoting about 25. Rc8+ the back rank mate! Consequently I suffered the back rank fever during the rest of the tournament.
After the game, back in the hotel room, NM Kamalarifin helped me to post morterm this defeat with the only move 24...Qe6. Now best is 25.Qxe6 when white has the endgame advantage where black could only play for a draw. Alternative, the capture 25.Qxb7? simply leads to a winning game for black.
1-0
THE MOST UNEXPECTED VICTORY was when KL (Shamsudin Mat Isa, NM Kamalarifin, myself and Zambri Shariff) whitewashed SELANGOR (Dr Law Zhe Kang, Dr Aimi Nazri, Mohd Hafez Hilmi Harun and Azmi Othman). I had correctly predicted Selangor's line up. Shamsudin had personally confident playing Law Zhe Kang as they used to be in the same side when they weree in UKM some time ago. Therfore, Shamsudin must have known, if not all, most of Law Zhe Kang's playing attitude. While NM Kamalarifin had been preparing to play Aimi Nazri's favourite Slav variation with black tried to hold onto a pawn (in Kamalarifin's word: something Slav simmilar to noteboom) and Zambri, knowing that it would be Syed or Azmi Othman (I had expected Azmi Othman) plays Sicilian against 1.e4 just limiting his preparation by playing the GP attack. As to my own preparation, I just had the feeling that, Hafez Hilmi will be preparing against my beloved Poison Pawn variation. I did not bring with me any reference on the Poison pawn line which is extremly sharp. Thus I decided just to ignore and avoid it and simply went on to sleep early! Later on I was told by Shamsudin that my opponent had made a thorough prepation against me in the poison pawn variation until 2.00 am!
[Event "MAKSAK, Ipoh"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.??.??"]
[Round "1" Winners Pool]
[White "Mohd Hafez Hilmi Harun SNGOR"]
[Black "ARizal A Kamal WPKL"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B99" Sicilian Najdorf main line]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7!
Sidestepping Hafez Hilmi deep preparation in the Poison Pawn variation. Over the board I decided to simply following my 'preparation' - to avoid the poison pawn in order not to risk losing my Queen unnecessarily.
8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. Bd3 b5 11. Rhe1 Bb7 12. Qg3
up to this point, my opponent played rather fast, pretending that, he was still following his preparation.
12...O-O-O
Mr Abdul Latif who attended this MAKSAK series as the KL's coach told me afterward that, somebody had commenting that, 'Rizal had castled Queenside !" outside the tournament hall. In actual, the moved had been played by GM Robert James Fischer in the historic encounter against Spassky 1972 in Reykjavic Iceland. In this line however, black gives up a pawn and according to GM John Nunn, white has the advantage. Nevertheless, Spassky only managed to draw the said game. The reason I played the same move is just because, I had not made any research on how to improve Fischer's play. Therefore sticking to what had been precedent to be good should not lose on the spot! (at least).
13. e5!?
Is this a new prepared move or just a sign of wanting so badly to crush me?
(7...Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 {Poison Pawn variation which was very famous during Fischer's prime time around 60's and 70's.}
( The famous Fischer's game against Spassky was the following: 9. Nb3 Qa3 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Be2 h5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Kh1 Bd7 14. Nb1 Qb4 15. Qe3 d5? (15... Ne7!{Karpov's improvement}) 16. exd5 Ne7 17. c4 Nf5 18. Qd3 h4 19. Bg4 Nd6 20. N1d2 f5 21. a3 Qb6 22. c5 Qb5 23. Qc3 fxg4 24. a4 {White traps black Queen} h3 25.axb5 hxg2+ 26. Kxg2 Rh3 27. Qf6 Nf5 28. c6 Bc8 29. dxe6 fxe6 30. Rfe1 Be7 31.Rxe6 {1-0 Spassky,B-Fischer,R/Reykjavik Wch 1972})
Simply 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14.Qxg7 wins a pawn when black had some play on the Queenside. For example 14...Rdf8 15. Qg3 b4 16. Na4 Rhg8 17. Qf2 Nd7 18. Kb1 Kb8 19. c3 Nc5 20. Bc2 bxc3 21. Nxc3 Bf6 22. g3 h5 23. e5 dxe5 24. fxe5 Bh8 25. Nf3 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Ng5 Bxe5 28. Qxf7 Rd7 29. Qxh5 Bxc3 30. bxc3 Qb6+ 31. Kc1 Qa5 32. Qh8+ Ka7 33.a4 Nd3+ 34. Bxd3 Rxd3 35. Kc2 Rd5 36. Re4 Rd8 37. Qg7 Qf5 38. Kb3 Qd5+ 39. Ka3 Qd2 40. Rb4 Qc1+ 41. Rb2 Qa1+ 42. Ra2 Qc1+ 43. Rb2 Qa1+ 1/2-1/2 (Spassky-Fischer (15) WCh Reykjavic Iceland
Nevertheless, John Nunn stated that it is not enough in his book " The Complete Najdorf 6.Bg5".
Therefore, probably, black has to play 12...h6 or 12..b4 instead of 12..0-0-0
13...dxe5 14. fxe5 Nxe5!
{"Beautiful"[Hafez Hilmi]} After the game my opponent praised this capture.
15. Bxb5 Bd6!
"Hafez must be not expecting this!"[Zambri]}. Simply ignoring the bait. In fact on my side, Zambri, Kamalarifin and Hairul praised this move as the key point. Just remembering one of another great local chess player, Mohd Saprin Sabri (who used to be a member of KL team in 1998 up to 2000: Chess is unlike draught (dam aji) when you have to eat (capture) whenever you can eat)
16. Qh3 Neg4 17. Re2 Bf4+!
(17... axb5 18. Ndxb5 Bf4+ 19. Kb1Rxd1+ 20. Nxd1 Qd7 21. Ndc3 Bxg5 also winning)
18. Kb1
(More tricky is 18. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 19. Red2!?
(If 19. Kb1 Rxd4! Originally I thought that black must avoid this pitfall 19... Rxd4! 20. Ne2! Rxd2!! that's the point 21. Rxd2 (21. Nxf4 Rxd1+22. Kxd1 Nf2+ 23. Ke2 Nxh3 24. Nxh3 axb5 wins almost everything) Qf1+! )
19... Nf2! which wins material)
18... Bxg5 19. Ba4 Bf4 20. Bb3 Be5 21. Red2 Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23.Rxd4 Ne5 24. a3 Rd8 25. Rb4 Qd6 26. Qe3 Nc6 27. Rc4 Kb8 {Diagram # The rest were played in blitz mode} 0-1
(C) Copyright to Rizal Ahmad Kamal 2011
