CHESS PIECE

45th Selangor Open Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia April 27-May 1, 2018 Final Top Standings

1- 3. IM Marcos Llaneza Vega ESP 2422, IM Haridas Pascua PHI 2441, IM Oliver Dimakiling PHI 2412, 7.0/9

4-10. Merben Roque PHI 2318, GM Alexander Fominyh RUS 2391, Ian Udani PHI 2234, FM John Marvin Miciano PHI 2260, IM Emmanuel Senador PHI 2323, Chan Kim Yew MAS 2148, Lye Lik Zang MAS 2183, 6.5/911

11- 15. FM Pitra Andyka INA 2213, GM Bong Villamayor SGP 2427, Efren Bagamasbad PHI 2120, FM Alekhine Nouri PHI 1883, Sabri Mohd Saprin MAS 2032, 6.0/9 Total of 87 participants Time Control: Players receive 90 minutes for the first 40 moves then 30 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to their clocks after every move starting move 1.

The Spanish IM Marcos Llaneza Vega (ELO 2422, born March 16, 1987) won the just concluded 45th Selangor Open Chess Tournament in Malaysia. He actually figured in a tie for first with Filipino International Masters Haridas Pascua and Oliver Dimakiling but was awarded the trophy based on the better tie-break scores.

John Marvin Miciano capped off his Southeast Asian campaign by tying for fourth just half a point behind the three winners. The tournament finished too late to be included in the FIDE rating list for May but anyway the past month’s campaign has seen his rating jump by 171 (!) points and he is now rated 2431, no. 11 in the Philippines behind GMs Ino Sadorra 2546, Oliver Barbosa 2545, Mark Paragua 2512, Joseph Sanchez 2471, John Paul Gomez 2461, Eugene Torre 2460, Rogelio Antonio, Jr. 2452, Rogelio Barcenilla 2452, Richard Bitoon 2450 and IM Haridas Pascua 2441. John Marvin won his first three games, had two losses and a draw in the next three rounds and finished with another 3 wins. The following is his best game. He has annotated it for us through the kindness of his coach GM Jayson Gonzales.

FM Pitra Andyka is a strong player from Indonesia. Back in 2012 in the Brunei Campomanes Memorial he scored 3/ 3 against Filipino masters and tied for first.

Andyka scored 4.5/5 in the opening rounds and took the early lead in Selangor. However, he slowed down after losing to Oliver Dimakiling in round 6. By the time of this game (i.e., last round) he could still tie for first if he beat Miciano, but his opponent had a different idea.

Andyka, Pitra (2213) — Miciano, John Marvin (2260) [B09] 45th Selangor Open Chess Kuala Lumpur (9), 01.05.2018 [Marvin,John] One of my best games.

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 I was expecting 4.Nf3 4...Bg7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Bd3

During my pre-game preparation I noted that he has not had much experience in the Pirc. 6...Nbd7 7.e5 Ne8 8.Qe2 c5 9.d5?!

I have already encountered this move twice in “heavy” tournaments.