New Zonal champion
The column today was written with the invaluable assistance of Peter Long, International Arbiter, FIDE Trainer, 1986 Malaysian Champion, chess columnist for
The Malay Mail Online, and friend. By the way, he also graduated AB in Philosophy from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1983. It was through his kindness that we got to interview FM Yeoh. *** Zone 3.3 Chess Championship (Southeast Asia + Japan + Mongolia) Tagaytay City, Philippines Feb. 25-March 5, 2017
Final Top Standings
1- 2 FM Yeoh Li Tian MAS 2449, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son VIE 2629, 7.0/9
3-4 IM Oliver Dimakiling PHI 2405, FM Liu Xiangyi SGP 2443, 6.0/9
5-7 GM Susanto Megaranto INA 2527, IM Nguyen Van Huy VIE 2413, IM Haridas Pascua PHI 2440, 5.5/9
8-17 IM Paulo Bersamina PHI 2409, FM Pitra Andyka INA 2390, FM Azarya Jodi Setyaki INA 2336, GM Nguyen Huymh Minh Huy VIE 2433, GM Rogelio Barcenilla PHI 2455, FM Nguyen Anh Khoi VIE 2459, GM Darwin Laylo PHI 2445, GM John Paul Gomez PHI 2481, GM Julio Catalino Sadorra PHI 2596, IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming SGP 2457, 5.0/9 Total Number of Participants: 36 Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds added after every move starting the first move.
The 19-year-old Malaysian GM Yeoh Li Tian won the Asian Zone 3.3 Championship on tie-breaks after tying for first with the Vietnamese favorite GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son. With this victory, he automatically becomes an International Master.
Becomes the first Malaysian ever to qualify for the World Cup, booking himself a ticket to Tbilisi, Georgia in September later this year.
Also becomes the first Malaysian ever to get an International Grandmaster norm. Usually, three norms are enough for the full Grandmaster title.
After his victory FM Yeoh graciously agreed to answer some questions:
Interview with FM Yeoh Li Tian:
Question: Who is your chess coach/ teacher?
Answer: My father had been teaching me chess since young and I would say that my result today should mainly be credited to him. Currently, I am studying chess on my own but may occasionally get some help from others.
Q: What were your previous chess successes?
A: This zonal event was actually my first win in such a grand international event. On my recent chess achievement, I won the Australasian Master IM Event during last December. Besides, I am the national champion of my country for the past two years.
Q: What are your other sports/ hobbies?
A: I am not really into sports, but I do some sports such as jogging occasionally, like once per week during normal days. I do some math problems and programming as hobby and I think they are really mind-challenging, which is what I love!
Q: How did you train for the zonal?
A: Frankly speaking, I didn’t prepare specifically for the zonal event as I didn’t expect much. I just did some general training such as improving my middlegame and get more used to some new opening lines.
Q: Anybody he would like to thank for his success here in the Philippines?
A: I would like to thank my family members for all their supports as well as the supports from the chess community. I would also like to specially thank Dato Tan for providing help in my chess development. Last but not least, the Malaysian Chess Federation who sponsored me fully in the zonal event.
Q: Which one is your favorite game from the zonal?
A: I would pick my round 5 game against Antonio. The line and position is actually my newly prepared opening and it really feels good to win against a GM with it! The game went smooth as I maintained my slight advantage steadily until he starts to play passively yet inaccurately, and I grabbed the chance to obtain a winning position. *** Yeoh, Li Tian (2449) — Antonio, Rogelio Jr. (2465) [B31] Zone 3.3 ch 2017 Tagaytay City (5.1), 01.03.2017 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 GM Joey plays this line himself with both colors.
4...dxc6
OK, a bit of theory. According to IM Richard Palliser from “The Bb5 Sicilian,” the text is roughly three times as popular as the alternative recapture 4...bxc6; however taking with the b-pawn is not necessarily bad. After 5.0–0 Bg7 6.Re1 Nh6 (6...d6? 7.e5!) 7.c3 0–0 “Black will regroup with ...f6 and ...Nf7 after which he is fairly solid and will hope to later exploit the bishop pair.” So if you play the Rossolimo with 4.Bxc6 you have to be prepared against both recaptures. 5.d3
Palliser notes here that White used to prefer 5.h3 but this is nowadays discouraged, for Black can play 5...e5! 6.d3 (6.Nxe5? Qd4) 6...f6 7.c3 Nh6 8.0–0 Nf7 9.Be3 Black now has three choices:
He can play the solid 9...Bd6 10.d4 cxd4 11.cxd4 0–0 12.Nc3 Qe7 13.Re1 Kg7 14.Qc2 Be6 15.Rad1 Rfd8 16.a3 Bc4 17.d5 Rdc8 18.dxc6 Rxc6 19.Nd2 Be6 20.Qd3 b6 21.Nd5 Qb7 22.Nb1 Rac8 23.Nbc3 Svidler,P-Vyzmanavin,A Russian Championship, Elista 1995 1/2 36;
He can also go for Kramnik’s promising 9...g5!? 10.Ne1 (10.d4 cxd4 11.cxd4 g4 is unclear) 10...Be6 11.Nd2 h5 with an attack. Shirov,A-Kramnik,V Novgorod 1994 0–1 40;
Or even 9...f5!? 10.exf5 Bxf5 11.Qb3 Qb6! which was already quite promising for Black in Bauer,C (2480)-Mchedlishvili,M (2441) European Team Championship, Batumi 1999 1/2 53. 5...Bg7 6.h3
The famous theorist and coach GM Dorian Rogozenko assesses this position as follows: “White usually castles later in this variation. One of the reasons for that is the following: Black has an attractive plan with f7–f6, Ng8–h6–f7, Bf8–d6, then g6–g5 with good attacking chances. That´s why White should play more flexible: first d3, Be3 and only then to decide if castle or not. In some variations is possible even to castle long, and then after h3–h4 to create an attack on the kingside.” 6...e5
Six years ago, Antonio had a nice win with White in the Tagaytay 2011 Zonal. 6...Nf6 7.Nc3 Nd7 8.Be3 e5 9.Qd2 Qe7 10.Bh6 f6 11.Bxg7 Qxg7 12.Qe3 b6 13.Nd2 Nf8 14.f4 Qh6 15.0–0 exf4 16.Qxf4 Qxf4 17.Rxf4 Nd7 18.a4 Ke7 19.a5 b5 20.Re1 Ne5 21.Ref1 Rf8 22.Nb3 c4 23.Nc5 cxd3 24.cxd3 b4 25.N3a4 Rd8? 26.Rxf6 Bf5 27.R1xf5! gxf5 28.Re6+ Kf7 29.Rxe5 fxe4 30.Rxe4 Rd6 31.Rxb4 1–0 (31) Antonio,R (2589)-Pascua,H (2323) Tagaytay City 2011. 7.0–0
Well, apparently Yeoh Li Tian does not agree with Rogozenko. 7...Qe7 8.Nc3 Nh6
I am not sure if the text move is the most efficient deployment of forces. Usually 7...Qe7 is associated with the knight maneuver 8...Nf6 followed by ...Nf6–d7. 9.Be3 f6 <D> White’s next move has a hidden threat which GM Joey does not appreciate. 10.a3! 0–0
Better to take his knight out of the vulnerable h6 position with 10...Nf7.
11.b4! cxb4 12.axb4 Qxb4 13.Na4 Qe7 14.Qd2
Hitting at Nh6. White can actually win the exchange now with 14.Bc5 but 14... Qc7 15.Bxf8 Bxf8 16.c4 Be6 Black’s minor pieces become very active. 14...Nf7 15.Nb6 Rb8 16.Nxc8 Rfxc8 17.Rxa7 Ra8 18.Rfa1 Rxa7 19.Rxa7 Rc7
Material is even but White is obviously better. Yeoh Li Tian keeps pushing hard.
20.Qa5
The threat is 21.Ra8+ Bf8 22.Bc5.
20... Bf8 21. Ra8 Qd7 22. d4 b5 23.dxe5 fxe5 24.Qc3 Rc8
The pawn cannot be saved: 24...Qe6? 25.Bc5 Rc8 26.Rxc8 Qxc8 27.Bxf8 Kxf8 28.Nxe5 White is clearly better.
25. Rxc8 Qxc8 26. Nxe5 Nxe5 27.Qxe5 Bg7 28.Qd6 Bf8 29.Qe5 Bg7 30.Qd6 Bf8 31.Qd3 Qe6 32.Qb3 Qxb3 33.cxb3 Kf7 34.Kf1
The ending is winning for White and the Malaysian FM’s technique finishes off the game efficiently.
34...Ke6 35.Ke2 c5 36.Kd3 h5 37.g3 Be7 38.f4 Bf8 39.Bd2 Be7 40.Be3 Bf8 41.Bd2 Be7 42.Bc3 Bf8 43.Ke3 Bh6 44.g4 hxg4 45.hxg4 Bf8 46.f5+ gxf5 47.exf5+ Kd5 48.g5 c4 49.b4 1–0
A well-played game by the new Zone 3.3 Champion.
What happened to the Filipinos in the tournament? We sent our entire Olympiad team sans Eugene Torre (GM Julio Catalino Sadorra, GM John Paul Gomez, GM Rogelio Barcenilla, IM Paulo Bersamina) to the Zonal and all four were bunched up in a tie for 8th- 17th places. Does that mean that without el Eugenio to prop up the team ( and he is already 65 years old) our country has nothing?
We will discuss this on Thursday. BOBBY ANG is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies. bobby@cpamd.net