Showing posts with label chess game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chess game. Show all posts

Saturday, August 5, 2023

UTM Staf Chess Tournament 2023 - Report 2 v2

 

 PART 2

This tournament had five rounds to play. Two rounds to go.

I took the long break of waiting for all games to finish by talking to my old friends. Dr. Sheikh Nasir who already retired. He was there to help the operation of the tournament. Kudos to him! We appreciate that.


In game 4, I anticipated a more challenging opponent since now there were less than one third of the participants have full points. My advantage was to play as a white color. 

My opponent is a good player. But, he lacked experience and a good coach.

Game 4
White: Dr. Zulfakar Bin Aspar, FKE
Black: Dr. Muhammad Arif, FKT
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cd4
4. Nd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
6. Bg5 e6 good
7. Qd2 Be7
8. f3 0-0
9. Bc4 Nc6
10. 0-0-0 Nd4? (Why do you want to eliminate your good defender?)
11. Qd4 b5
12. Bb3 h6? Critical Error. Don't weaken your fortress unnecessarily.
13. Be3 Bb7
14. h4! Qc7
15. g4 Nh7? Another critical error
16. g5! e5 (Weaken the  e6 and f7 squares)
17. Qd2 Qd8
18. Rdg1! (Usually white attack via g or h file only with Rhg1. But black made many critical errors with h6 and Nh7. So white has the time.)  
                d5? Weaken the d5  and f7 squares.
19. Nd5 Bd5
20. Bd5 hg5?? (it is madness to open the lines for white to attack!?)
21. hg5 Bg5
22. Bg5 Ng5?
23. Qh2! resign

This game is a very good example what will happen when the player violate many defending principles.

4-0
The only honorable action to do was to resign! This game took about 28 minutes to finish. Each player had 25 minutes. It was a good game. This guy has the potential to improve further.

The last game was a huge challenge emotionally. I rarely entered the last round with the full points. I anticipated to meet a very tough opponent. There were only 4 players with full points of 4/4.


The most difficult part to prepare for each round was to avoid going to the toilet during play. So, before each round, I went to the toilet. Then, I prepared myself while waiting for the pairing to come out. Another difficulty I faced in this tournament was no recording paper was made available to any player who want to make the movement records. Since the tournament is less than 30 minutes, writing the movements were not compulsory. Alas, players should still be provided with the score sheets! Therefore, I have difficulty to recall the 100% movements for this game.

Game 5
White: Dr. Daniel Joe Dailin (FKT)
Black: Dr. Zulfakar Bin Aspar, FKE

1. e3          e5

2. Nh3       d5 (Occupy the center is still vital despite weird opening from White!)

3. Qh5?     Bd6 (+0.78?) (I reasoned if Nc6, the knight will be attacked with Bb5.)
4. Ng5?!    (weird move. He thought I am a novice. But it took a careful consideration what to reply)
                  g6! (+1.94 for Black!)
5. Qh4       Be7! (The knight is totally pinned. No escape! During analysis, I saw the computer suggested e4 which is weird over the board!? 6. g3 Nc6  7. f4 Be7 finally!  8. Bh3  h6  9. Bc8  Rc8  10. c4 Nb4  11. 0-0  Bf6 cd5 +2.24 for Black! Study this line if you want to become a robot!)
6. Qa4+?   Bd7 (Now, White resistance is futile! Fortunately, I will not assimilate him!)
7. Qb3      Bg5 (I ignored the threat to capture the pawn at b7)
8. Qb7      (better is Qd5!)
                 Bc6!
9. Qb3      Nd7
10. Nc3    Rb8
11. Nb5?   (There are other safer ways to escape such as 11. Qa3 Be7 12. Qa6 d4 13. Nd1 is a better try to escape)
                 a6 (+7.25 for Black, An obvious attack!)
12. Qa3    ab5
13. Bb5    (which is unnecessary)
                 Rb5 (+11.30 for Black, 99.99% wins for Black)
14. Qa7    Rb8 (Safety first)
15. d4?     Be7 (I wanted to trap the Queen without realizing there was a better way! I only realized this after made this move. Think! I should take the time to think especially when I was ahead of time!)
16. 0-0     Ra8
17. Qa8    Qa8
18. de5     Ne5
19. b4      Bb4
20. Rb1    Bc5
21. f4       Nc4
22. Rb3    Qa7
23. Re1    Ne7
24. Kf2    0-0
25. g3      Re8
26. a3      Nf5
(I was not sure what was White's next move. But, the game continue with...)
27. __?_   Nce3
28. Be3    Ne3
29. R1e3  Be3+
30. Kf1    Bg1
31. ___    Qf2++
 
You can use your imagination to fill in the gaps. But, the final position is shown in the figure below.
 
5-0

I won quite early, less than 10 minutes. There were still many games in progress. So I took the time to talk to old friends, took pictures and waiting for the teams results.

I finished the game quite early by top board games standard. PM. Dr. Tan Tian Swee and PM. Dr. Mohd Haizal were still playing. PM. Dr. Mohd Ridzuan Ahmad was also finished while looking at both of them playing.


As their game went on, more people were gathering around their table. Their result will affect many team results. They were watching nervously. Mr. Razib bin Karno was wearing the green cap. He hid his nervousness by playing a small game.

Although Dr. Tan lost his game, he contributed 4 points. Dr. Jamaluddin bin Zakaria lost in round 1. But, he managed to win the rest of the games. So, he managed to contribute 4 points also. Post analysis shown that he was too nervous when he lost the first game! Dr. Mohd Ridzuan performance was a bit roller coaster. Fortunately he managed to contribute 3 points. Our FKE team total points is 16 out of 20. The second place got 14.5 points. I would like to congratulate Dr. Hazar Sukareksi who got 2 points which was good enough as our faculty back up player.


Faculty of Electrical Engineering teams with PM. Dr. Sheikh Nasir. We took the picture before the closing ceremony.


The Gold medal individual men category was won by me from FKE.

 


Dr. Tan won the bronze:


The Gold medal men team category was won by FKE.

 


The Silver medal individual women category was won by FKE. Dr. Hau Yuan Wen managed to get silver medal.


The Gold medal women team category was also won by FKE.

CONGRATULATION TO EVERY WINNERS!!

 

Sunday, July 30, 2023

UTM Staf Chess Tournament 2023 - Report 1

Since the report for the tournament cannot be waited, I decided to release the report in two parts. I have difficulty to recall all my games yesterday. - Dr. Zulfakar

After a long dormant from any chess tournament, I decided to play for the tournament above representing my Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia on 28-7-2023. I wasn't sure to play since I'm still busy marking final exam papers. But, it is better to take a break and refresh myself.

The tournament was conducted at Dewan Astana, Kolej Tunku Canselor or KTC in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The hall is large enough for 250 people depending on what activity to be done. There were also spare space surrounding the tables of the players.


On the right side:

During break or in between games, people simply rest near the walls.


At the center:

There were three columns of men tables and three columns of women tables!

On the left side:

Guess whose face was that!?

 

The tournament started at 8:30am. I played a young staf. I didn't have any pressure in the game except hungry. Fortunately, I brought a flask of hot nescafe and two pieces of nabati biscuit. I ate one of them. There was no seeding. My first round board was at table 22.

The nabati biscuit is not too sweet yet it is good to temporarily fill your stomach! (free advertising for a month!). I knew because I won the 1st game eating it! :)

UTM STAF Chess Tournament, 28-7-2023, 8.30am
 

Total, there were 84 participants from men of UTM.  

Game 1
White: Mr. Muhmmad Fairuz Bin Fuad (SPACE)
Black: Dr. Zulfakar Bin Aspar (FKE)

0-1

Uninteresting to be remembered! Or was it because I was hungry!?

After finished and won the 1st round game, I met the manager of FKE team, Dr. Rashidah but she wasn't around. I was given a form to fill, a bread and a bottle of  mineral water. Both were helpful to fill my old stomach. When you are above 50s, a breakfast is very important. 
 
With an almost full of stomach, the 2nd round started with the aggressive moves:

Game 2
White: Dr. Zulfakar Bin Aspar (FKE)
Black: En. Mohamad Saddam (PUTM)
1. e4  e5
2. f4  ef4
3. Nf3 g5
4. Bc4 d6
5. d4  f6? (What is the best move? Why?)


It is a big NO in King's Gambit opening.
What are you going to do?
6. Ng5!! fg5
7. Qh5+ Kd7
8. Qf7+? (Alternative and safer method to win was BxN, RxB 9. Qf7+ wins the rook. But, I wanted a faster method to win!) 
8. ___   Ne7
(Now how to prevent the King escape and transfer my Queen to the Queen's side?)
9. Qe6+  Ke8
10. Qf7+  Kd7
               11. Be6+ Kc6 escape?! 
Not so fast! But, how to transfer the Queen to the Queen side to continuously attack?
I wasn't sure until I saw the Black's weakness.

12. d5! Kc5?
13. Qf6! (Threatening the hanging Rook at h8.) Rg8
14. Qc3+  Kb6
15. Qb3+  Ka6
16. Nc3  c5?
17. Find the checkmate!?

2-0


The 3rd round pairing was as above. By now, there were only 80 male players left. Round 3 was more stable with a slower pace game. But my opponent made many mistakes. Can you spot them? I always reminded myself to play more cautiously.

Game 3
White: Mohd Khairy Bin Kamarudin (FSSH)
Black: Dr. Zulfakar Bin Aspar (FKE)

1. d4 Nf6
2. Nc3 d5 (prevent e4)
3. Nf3 c5
4. dc5 (It is rare for White to accept a gambit.) 
           Nc6 (calmly develop while preventing b4.)
5. Bf4  Bg4 (the pawn is still available at e2, but why am I pinning the knight? See the next two moves!)
6. Nb5?? (What is the best move? Why?)

                 Qa5+! (Computer agrees I am winning now at +3.38 evaluation! Why?)
7. Nc3? (Blunder a piece) Bf3!
8. ef3 d4
9. Bg5? dc3
10. Bf6 ef6
11. Rb1 Bc5 (return of investment, ROI, the profit is a knight! At the same time, ignore the unimportant pawn at b2.)
12. Qe2+?? (What is the best move for White? What Black should move when White made mistake with check by moving Qe2+, Why?)
 
(Blunder. Another big mistake, why? It is a bad attack when you can simply be attacked from the opponent's respond)
               Kf8! (Retreat without castling while attacking! The threat is Re8.)
13. Qd3?? (The Queen should run far away!) Re8+
14. Kd1 (If Be2, Nd4 wins the bishop) Rd8
15. Kc1 (What is the best move? Why?)
               cb2+! (This time ignore the Queen. Instead, Tora, tora, tora!)
16. Rb2 Qe1+
17. Qd1 Rd1++

3-0
 
While waiting for others to finish their games, I took the opportunity to take pictures with friends.
 
Report 2 is coming soon!