Penang Team In Sibu

Me, Tze Han(NTH), Tan Khai Boon(TKB) n Loo Swee Leong(LSL) represented Penang for tis team event. Well , u can view the full results at www.hairulovchessmaniacs.blogspot.com or www.syedchess.blogspot.com , here i oni write the stories, no point having the same things as them.

We travelled by car to LCCT and park there for 3 days. Parkinng fees RM134, wow.. first time i pay so much,.. for parking fees .. LOL, nvr pay more than rm7 for parking in my life!! Reach Sibu on 24th Dec at around 8:30 pm. Well , here is foo chow town , so sommeting like kedah 'feeling' , just like Malaysia, Cars plate number started with 'Q', unlike penang wif 'P'.

We stayed at Li Hua Hotel. It was an ok hotel. LSL n NTH same room, me n TKB. Then on day 1 , a bad news came tat we can meet each other from rnd 1 to rnd 5, oh.. damn.. nvm , life goes on.

Ok , lets start wif the tournament intereting things.

Round 1
All our Penang players won. So is Selangor. But KL sufferd a defeat , Lim Zhuo Ren lost to Abdul Haq in a rook ending when he tries too hard to win. But credit to Abdul Haq for his understanding in tat position.. . He is known for his rook ending in fact. I think Zhuo Ren tried on the wrong guy. Soli ya, Zhuo Ren., My 2 cents :)) . Other seeded players all won.

Round 2
All of us won oso , but Selangor drop half point when kamaluddin meet Ong Thian Loon from Kedah. Nice game from both players. So we are leading half point, far from comfort zone.

Round 3
This is the first test. NZH won quite convincingly. TKB beating Tan Ken wei (KL)with his usual positional play , but Ken Wei oso played well. But I know TKB gona win tis. He is very comfortable wif position like tis. Then i saw LSL losing against Ismail Ahmad, I am playing tun Sri Lanang (Selangor) , looks like tis is like first Penang- Selangor game. 2hours later , NTH odi won, TKB won, LSL lost and I am defending a very difficult position. Then Tun positionally blundered so I can breath. Postion odi opened up.But i got into time trouble by tat time. More time needed for calculation. He is playing faster. wish he did not positionally blundered. I can defend beter. Haha.. In the end I lost the game.. in abour 60 moves. Last to finish. So now Selangor in the driving seat odi.

Round 4
NTH drew wif Nik Ahmad, in a inferior postion. Ismail Ahmad beat Abdullah Che Hassan in a brilliant game n leading the tournament wif 4 points. Huh, sole leader. Nice job , Ismail. TKB - Tun sri lanang .. another Selangor -- Penang battle, i was hoping TKB can revenge for me, then he get into trouble against Tun. Luckily Tun offered a draw. TKB gladly accepted. LSL beat Sirajuddin n I drew wif Mohd Nasir. Kamaluddin Yusof won against David Chin. Fairin(Selangor) oso won. Wow. looks like Selangor players stil unbeaten. Oni Abdullah lost. We r in deep trouble. Trailing 1.5points.

Rnd 5
The turning point of tis event not oni for Penang, but other states as well i think. NTH playing Ismail ahmad, Me -- Abdul Haq, LSL-- Nik ahmad, Fairin -- TKB, Important rnd. , After 20mins. i went to see positon, NTH odi in some trouble, TKB just played hihs 7th move n Fairin thinking, LSL quite equal, Me oso quite equal. kamaluddin -- Tun drew early , save energy for next day, Both wif 4points , unbeaten after 5 rnds. About about 40mns later, wnet to see again, NTH odi down 2pawns n hpe for some h -file attack. Fairin stil on 7th move , LOL. LSL. manage to swindle half piece from nik ahmad, Nik thinking deep now. Me n Abdul haq odi all forced into a drawish line. 20mins later, Abdullah odi won his game, Me drew. wow.. Selangor relly can extend his lead i think. Later i saw LSL won. TKB 2 pawns down , omg. NTH 3 pawns down. I did the calculation, tis 2 boards i expect MAX 0.5/2, and we will be even further behind. Finally, NTH won , u can refer to the blunder in hairulov's blog, TKB ESCAPED again.. Huh.. wat a relief.. drew.. against Fairin. This leaves us 0.5 points behind Selangor, stil neck to neck, If NTH or TKB lose, we wil be 1.5 points behind.. wow.. wat a round, NTH's win oso let him play Fairin, if not we wont have player against him. Oni LSL is 4points if NTH lost. So after 5 rounds , We were behind Selangor wif 0.5 points oni. Stil in tact.

Rnd 6
Now i see team event is 2 horse race odi. Selanngor-- Penang, tis round Fairin offer draw to NTH in a slightly beter posiiton. NTH relly got luck odi tis tournament, coming back from defeat the previos rnd, TKB beat Kamaluddin Yusof in a convincing way.. HUh.. after NTH wins, everything looks like very smooth, LSL oso won abang reduan , first to sit up from the table. Wat a relly convincing win. I had a beter positon against Ahmad Afiq but drew again!!, I did not win since rnd 2. Haiz.. lousy player ini macam .. LOL . So i oni 3.5points, All my other teammates 5points. walao.. wat happened? Even I win my last round oso canot get prize.. I am not in tis situation for some time already. LOL. So after rnd 6, we were leading half point. Tounament leaders are all my teammates n Abdullah Che Hassan( All 5points) Looks like one of them gona be champion if Tze han dun lose.

Rnd 7
Tis is the critical rnd. Normally Penang players do well in final rnds , but loooking at the pairing.. hmmmmmm... i see danger.. NTH - Abdullah, TKB -- Ismail ahmad, LSL-- Leong Mun wan, Me-- Mazlan ( Sabah) , After the opening.. I saw Tze han drawish, TKB up a pawn but under some attack, LSL drawish, me is a bit advantage but inferior posiiton, Kamaluddin, fairin, Tun sri Lanang, all having some upperhand. Hmmm... tis is anybody's game. I think i got to win, mine was suppost to be the easiest to ease off my teammates pressure. Then 30mins later , I saw LSL wining, NTH drawish, TKB stil defending, me is presurring hard my opponent. Selangor side, Tan Ken Wei 2 pawns up against Kamaluddin, Tun Sri Lanang one pawn up, Fairin equal
the position. Wow.. tis gona be close... Then LSL won, I won.. , we 2 2.5 points up !! wif Selangor all playing.. After tat i saw Kamaluddin lost.. , tat means we r 2.5 points up wif Selangor 3 boards to go. We very very good chance to win odi. We oni need 1point from TKB n NTH to secure it. 30mins later I saw Tun Sri Lanang losing against Ong Thian Loon.. Wow.. OK .. titel in bag odi.. NTH drew wif abdullah, We odi won it even TKB lose, n all selangor players win.. Now actually i am hoping selangor can get some points. I know them oso.. from so many tounaments. But. looks like luck not on their side, Tun sri lanang lost, Fairin struggling for draw. TKB won .. Fairin's game last to finish.. he lost .. a queen ending. So Penang.. top 2 for sure, NTH praying hard for third .. LOL i odi lost interest in this tourney.. LOL.

Organizers
The organizers relly plan tis touney so well. food allowance n accomadation given. Syabas Persatuan Catur Lanang, n Lim Kian Hwa, n not forgetting all helpers.. Last but not least International Arbiter , En. Hamid for geting the event done... peacefully. Oh.. ya.. the sponsors oso.. Lupa pulak.. . Hehe.. N they even arrange taxi for us.. Applause... to sarawak ... relly..

Our Sponsors
Majlis Sukan Negeri n Mr Lee Ewe Ghee , many thx to u.. W/o u , we wont be in Sibu.. 10 q very very much.. n we did not disappoint, Winning the top 3 places n the team event. Oni i play a bit below expextations.. in fact i played all right, just the results not there.. agreed by my teammates oso.. LUCKLIY .. LOL. Photoes I wl post later. at night..