1 Day Trip

My New Year holidays was just over and during 1 of the 10 days, I visited Penang Island with my family. It was during the 5th day of Chinese New Year.

The Penang Bridge was still crowded even a lot of people had already started working and the time was noon.

We spent most of our time before 4pm shopping around and next we went to take our meals at hawker centre. We were too full and the meal become our dinner instead...
Look at the food I took...
Char Kuih Teow
Ais Kacang and a lot more...

Finally, we went to visit a recreation park, namely, Taman Perbandaran (formerly known as Taman Belia or Youth Park)
Once we parked our car, trees and plants can be seen along the way into the park.



Parents and kids alike having fun...


A model Penang Hill and the cable car.
Some notes on it...

My life always cannot lack of chess... :P
The Gaint Chess Set in the park
I know I will spoil the scene, but I insisted to become the model of the picture... hehehe...

Next to the gaint chess set is a skating area.

No one was doing skating except a few kids playing around...

Finally, a view of bamboo before leaving...

We were on our way back when it started to rain...

Interesting but tiring trip...

Cheers!!
Eu Hong

GM Evgeny Alekseev wins Aeroflot Open 2007

The Aeroflot 2007 was concluded successfully with the Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev finishing clear first! Some of our Malaysian might had chance to see GM Evgeny Alekseev in action in Malaysia back in 2004 and 2005 in GACC World Intervarsity Chess Championship, University of Malaya. I was playing in the tournament but sadly did not have chance to be paired with him...

A few pictures from the official website.


Finally, the picture of the winner of Aeroflot Open 2007, GM Evgeny Alekseev


Cheers!!
Eu Hong

Half time @ Morelia-Linares 2007

Standing after 7 rounds

Half time at the Morelia-Linares tournament saw the oldest player, Anand and the youngest player, Carlsen joint-lead with 4.5/7 while the former FIDE Champion, Topalov with only 3/7. Last year however Topalov made a successful come back after scoring terribly at the first half of the event and finally finishing second when the event was completed at Linares, Spain...

FiRsT dAy @ WoRk

It has been 10 days ago since last time I came to work. Hehe. Today is my first day at work after the long new year break... It is time to work hard after "resting" for so long...

Cheers!!
Eu Hong

满汉全席

一年一度的除夕夜刚过，吾家历年来皆以围炉方式庆祝团圆。今年却有违常例的来个满汉全席， 真是大快人心！！用餐前吾更一时新血来朝，拿起摄影机拍下了一些满汉全席之“芳影”。。。





以上都是团圆饭之一。。。

不觉夜已深，现时已是大年初一二时临晨还是到此停笔吧。。。
祝大家新年快乐!!万事如意!!

陈有鸿上

Happy Chinese New Year!!

There were some to do items before Chinese New Year on my earlier post. Since it is now 47minutes into the first day of the new year and I am still awake. Here are some conclusion.

1) Chess Tactics Server
- 10,000 tries, 1700 rating, 81% success rate
ALMOST DONE. Here are the lastest profile details
9838 tries, 1630 rating, 80.1% success.

2) Analysis of tournament games
- To analyze all my recent tournaments games and try to publish some over here
Gone thru all MCC games but have not the time to check with Fritz yet.

3) Speed up on the reading of Zurich 1953
DONE with more than 50% thru the book. Estimated another 1 month to go thru

4) Do more work out as normally, CNY == weight gaining season, so better lose some before gaining more... :P
Lost 4kgs since January 2007

5) Complete as much tasks on hand as possible before I go on long holidays which I am still considering whether to on leave or not...
DONE

6) Finally, return all borrowed stuff or things I'd owe people before CNY as tradition said...
DONE

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Cheers!!
Eu Hong

Sensation at Group A1 Aeroflot Open 2007

Round 1 & 2 of Aeroflot Open saw the 13 years old Chinese girl, Hou YiFan scored 2 wins against her more experienced opponent, GM Vitiugov, Nikita from Russia with rating 2604 seeded 35th and GM Sutovsky, Emil from Israel with rating 2629 seeded 24th. She will be paired against GM Jakovenko, Dmitry from Russia with 2691 rating and the 3rd seed on round 3.

Progress:
Round 1
WGM Hou, Yifan (2509)(CHN) - GM Vitiugov, Nikita (2604)(RUS) 1-0
Round 2
WGM Hou, Yifan (2509)(CHN) - GM Sutovsky, Emil (2629)(ISR) 1-0
Round 3
GM Jakovenko, Dmitry (2691)(RUS) - WGM Hou, Yifan (2509)(CHN)

More details is available at the official website here.

MBA Application in Process

Just found out that my application is with USM and is in process. Hopefully it will be successful...

Revised To Do List before Chinese New Year

1) Chess Tactics Server
- 10,000 tries, 1700 rating, 81% success rate
Ok for tries, bad for rating and success rate

2) Analysis of tournament games
- To analyze all my recent tournaments games and try to publish some over here
Gone thru all MCC games but have not the time to check with Fritz yet

3) Speed up on the reading of Zurich 1953
more than 50% thru the book. Estimated another 1 month to go thru

4) Do more work out as normally, CNY == weight gaining season, so better lose some before gaining more... :P
- lost 4kgs since January 2007

5) Complete as much tasks on hand as possible before I go on long holidays which I am still considering whether to on leave or not...
Solved most of my tasks except those larger projects

6) Finally, return all borrowed stuff or things I'd owe people before CNY as tradition said...
DONE

Cheers!!
Tan Eu Hong

National Rating on Jan 2007

The latest update on the Malaysia's national rating list shows that my current national rating is 1680 and is currently ranked #160 in the country. You can check yours here.

Thus I am not able to enter the new tournament organised by Stonmaster. Pity...

More on STONMASTER AMATEUR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2007

STONMASTER AMATEUR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2007
FOR NATIONAL RATING PLAYERS 1600 AND BELOW

Organized by Stonemaster Event Management Enterprise (S.E.M.E.)

This is a 7 legs tournament to be held this year throughout Malaysia.
This is also a national rating tournament.

Date : 1st April 2007 (Sunday)
Venue : 1st leg - The Chess Network, Kuala Lumpur.
Time Control : 25 minutes per player
Tie-Break : (1) Solkoff; (2) S/B; (3) Cumulative; (4) P/E (where applicable) ;
Entry Fee : RM 20 (adult) / RM 18 (stonemaster.biz member)/
RM15 (under 12)/RM 10 (ACS member)

PRIZES
Champion RM 250 + Certificate
2nd RM 150 + Certificate
3rd RM 100 + Certificate
4th RM 80 + Certificate
5th RM 70 + Certificate
6th RM 60 + Certificate
7th RM 50 + Certificate
8th RM 50 + Certificate
9th RM 50 + Certificate
10th RM 50 + Certificate
Top 2 Best Under 12 (boy) Consolation Prizes + Certificate
Top 2 Best Under 12 (girl) Consolation Prizes + Certificate
Top 2 Best Under 10 (boy) Consolation Prizes + Certificate
Top 2 Best Under 10 (girl) Consolation Prizes + Certificate
Top 2 Best Under 8 (boy) Consolation Prizes + Certificate
Top 2 Best Under 8 (girl) Consolation Prizes + Certificate

Registration 8.00 a.m. – 9.00 a.m.
Round 1 9.30 a.m. – 10.20 a.m.
Round 2 10.30 a.m. – 11.20 a.m
Round 3 11.30 a.m – 12.20 pm
Lunch Break 12.20 pm – 2.00 pm
Round 4 2.00 p.m. – 2.50 p.m.
Round 5 3.00 p.m – 3.50 p.m.
Round 6 4.00 p.m – 4.50 p.m.
Round 7 5.00 p.m. – 5.50 p.m.
Closing Ceremony 6.00 p.m.

For any enquiry regarding registration or eligibility to play in this tournament, please email your Name, D.O.B. and Contact no. to seme_event@yahoo.com or call (sms only for register, inquiry via sms will not be entertained) to Fadli (017-2388920). Please register before 31 March 2007. Places are limited. (Depending on the number of participants, the tournament will be conducted in six or seven rounds.)

ENTRY FORM
Name :
Address :
School :
Date of Birth /Age : /
E-mail :
Telephone :
Fax :

For more details, please visit Stonmaster Website.

STONMASTER AMATEUR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP (SEVEN LEGS)

1. Adakah anda hendak berhenti bermain catur kerana tidak boleh
mendapat 10 tempat teratas dalam kejohanan catur?

2. Adakah kadang-kadang anda merasa menyampah atau tidak puas hati
kerana apabila mengambil bahagian di dalam sebarang kejohanan catur,
anda sentiasa dibayangi oleh pemain FIDE dan pemain yang mempuyai
national rating yang sangat tinggi,menyebabkan anda terlepas peluang
memenangi kejohanan catur tersebut.

3. Adakah anda terfikir mengapa kebanyakkan penganjur catur tidak
banyak membuat satu kejohanan catur yang hanya bagi mereka yang
terdiri dari golongan pemain taraf kategori B.

4. Adakah anda merasa bahawa kebanyak hadiah yang yang ditawarkan
kepada pemain catur kategori B adalah seceput sahaja.

5. Adakah anda salah seorang pemain yang merasakan juga StonMaster
Unrated Torunament juga boleh dihadiri oleh pemain unrated yang
begitu handal sekali.

6. Adakah anda perasan bahawa terdapat kurang kejohanan catur
kategori B di Malaysia.

7. Tahukan anda bahawa 80% pemain Malaysia di menghadapi masalah
untuk mencabar pemain-pemain yang bertaraf kategori A di kejohanan
catur kategori terbuka.

JAWAPANNYA IALAH STONMASTER AMATEUR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 (SEVEN
LEGS).

Khas untuk National Rating 1600 dan Ke Bawah.Borang permohonan boleh
diambil pada 17 & 18 hb. ini di The Chess Network, Kuala
Lumpur,semasa kejohanan catur PCMM Terbuka diadakan.

Hubungi: seme_event@yahoo.com

Valentine

Valentine is just 2 days away. Various plan of celebration had been heard of, while some had booked some elegance diner place, some even planned to not celebrate in order to avoid the crowd. Well for me, its going to be just another night at home for some work out and chess as usual...

Cheers!!
Eu Hong

MCC 06, Round 2

Anthony Liong Ing Kiat - Tan Eu Hong (2043) [B33]
Round 2, AMBank Malaysian Chess Challenge, 21.08.2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.a4 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.f4?! exf4=/+ Black now seize the initiative
10.Bxf4 d5! 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Bxd5! Black is better as White is having difficulty developing his kingside [12...Qxd5 13.Qxd5 Bxd5 14.0-0-0=] 13.Qe2+ Qe7 14.Qxe7+ Bxe7 15.0-0-0 Rd8 16.Nc4 0-0 17.Ne3 Be4! [According to Anthony, he was expecting following moves 17...Be6 18.Bc4 Bxc4 19.Nxc4=]

18.Bd3 [18.Bc4 Bc5 19.Rhe1 Rxd1+ 20.Kxd1 Rd8+-/+] 18...Bxd3 19.Rxd3 Rxd3 20.cxd3 Rd8

21.Rd1 Bc5? [I'd played too fast here. 21...Rd4!-/+ wins a pawn and Black is winning due to material advantage and the isolated d pawn] 22.Nc2 Kf8 23.h3 Ke7 24.Be3 Bxe3+ 25.Nxe3 g6?! Black is playing too fast and 25...g6 is commital. [25...Nd4 intending 26...Nb3+ and 27...Nc5 winning a pawn] 26.Kd2 Rd4 27.b3 b5?! inconsistent as when Black first played 22...Kf8 the intended plan was to move the king forward to the centre or the kingside. Now that going to the centre is not beneficial, 27...f5 intending Kf6, Kg5, Kh4/f4 and Kg3 continuing the earlier intended plan is better. On preparating the king maneuver, Black can first play Ne5 to lock down White's pieces eg.27...f5 28.Ke2 b5 29.ab ab 30.Nc2 Rd8 31.Ke3 Kf6 =+ 28.axb5 axb5 29.Nc2 Rd5 30.Re1+ Kd6 31.Re4 f5 32.Re8 f4 33.Rf8 Ke5 34.Re8+ Kf5 35.Rc8 Ne7?+/= Leads to passive play and end up with a blunder later. 36.Rc7 Ke6 37.Ke2 Rg5 38.Kf2 Rd5 39.Nb4 Rd4?? Blundering a piece!

40.Rxe7+! Kd6 41.Re4 Kc5 42.Na6+ Kd5 43.Nc7+ I resigned the game here since I will either lose the rook after 43...Kc6 or lose both rook and knight after 43...Kc5 44.Ne6+ 1-0

Replay the game here


Until then,
Tan Eu Hong

Far off track...

Going near to the end but going far from on track. 9 more days before CNY, 758 tries before 10,000 tries @ Chess Tactics Server but rating stays at 1621 with 80.1% success. It seems like moving my tactics rating over 1700 and 81% success is almost impossible now... It is still possible on paper provided that I manage to score >95% of the 758 tries on time and successful...

Latest profile details

Bad days

Sick since 7 Feb. My boss told me I should take medical leave yesterday and so I was half day off work. Still not 100% recovered but hopefully I will be well before new year. 9 more days before Chinese New Year!!

May the force be with me!
Eu Hong

World Champion Vladimir Kramnik Married

News from Chessbase.com

On December 31, 2006, world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and French journalist Marie-Laure Germon wed in a civil ceremony. On Sunday, February 4th, the religious rites were conducted in the Orthodox Church of St-Alexandre-Nevsky in Paris. It was a private ceremony with family and good friends. No journalists. But we have pictures.

Wish them live happily ever after.

So Young, Yet So Strong

Illya Nyzhnyk wins Group B in Moscow Open
Group B was won by Illya Nyzhnyk, who scored 8.5/9 points with a 2633 performance. The point is that this Ukrainian player, nominally rated 2217, is just ten years old! I can only get such performance in my dreams...
The kid in action

Elite Tournaments in February

According to The Week In Chess website @ http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html, there are 2 strong tournaments coming this month. Hobby players like me can take my own sweet time looking at games by those GMs again...

Linares/Morelia 2007
In addition the line up for the Morelia / Linares tournament (again in Mexico and Spain) has been announced. The Morelia half takes place 16th-25th February 2007 and Linares 2nd-11th March 2007.
The field is: Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Leko, Peter Svidler, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Morozevich.


6th Aeroflot Festival
The 6th Aeroflot Festival takes place in Moscow. Day of arrival February 13th, day of departure February 23rd. 2007 In the previous 5 festivals 137 players achieved a FIDE norm. This is this year again possible.

The venue of the festival is the Delta Hotel of the Ismailova Center in Moscow, about 20 minutes from the center of Moscow by Metro.

There are 4 Swiss Tournaments: Tournament A1 for players with a rating over 2549 Tournament A2 for players with a rating over 2399, but lower than 2550 Tournament B for players with a rating over 2199, but lower than 2400 Tournament C for players with a rating lower than 2200 and without a rating. The organising committee allows some players to play in a tournament higher than the rating of the player indicates.

The total prize fund is $ 200.000.

Contacts: aeroflotchess@gmail.com tel/fax: +7 (495) 291-8578 or tel.: +7 (495) 290-6084

All details on regarding entry fee, visa, schedule, prizes are published on the website of the festival: http://www.aeroflotchess.com/

MCC06, Round 1

Last year during the Malaysia Chess Festival (end of August, 06) MCC (Malaysian Chess Challenge) was organised alongside with the Malaysian Open 06 at Cititel Hotel, Midvalley Megamall. Both events were FIDE rated but MCC was only for players rated below 2200. Yet I did poorly for the tournament scoring only 6/11 where I started the first 7 rounds with a blunder each round!

White to Move and Win!

This position was reached after Black played 22... Nf7??. However during the game, I did not notice the winning continuation and played 23Qe3. Though White finally won the game but not without some help from Black.

Replay the game here


Until then,
Tan Eu Hong

2 photos from USM Open 2007 (Team)

I should had brought my own camera to tournaments to take photos but even then, I cannot take photo of myself playing... Here are 2 photos of our team, Mind Chess Enterprise (Tutors) taken from GilaChess website @ http://www.gilachess.com

Day 1, Round 2, Mind Chess Enterprise(Tutors) vs Intel A

From top left, Tan Khai Boon (orange shirt), Anthony Liong, Loo Swee Leong, and me. Standing with white shirt is Ong Thian Loon of Vendetta. The match ended with 3.5-0.5 to our favor as Khai Boon was unable to convert his extra pawns in time trouble and conceded a draw to NM Ng Tze Han.

Day 2, Prize Giving Ceremony, we got 2nd and some of our team members went missing.

Cheers!!

Eu Hong

To Do List before CNY

Less than 2 weeks before CNY but before that, there are things I need to accomplish...

1) Chess Tactics Server
- 10,000 tries, 1700 rating, 81% success rate

2) Analysis of tournament games
- To analyze all my recent tournaments games and try to publish some over here

3) Speed up on the reading of Zurich 1953

4) Do more work out as normally, CNY == weight gaining season, so better lose some before gaining more... :P

5) Complete as much tasks on hand as possible before I go on long holidays which I am still considering whether to on leave or not...

6) Finally, return all borrowed stuff or things I'd owe people before CNY as tradition said...

Cheers!!
Eu Hong

New Library Item

Several reasons and excuses had prevented me from visiting the Borders @ Queensbay Mall and I finally went there yesterday.

I went straight to look for chess books and saw more than 10 titles sitting on the rack and 1 of them being "THE ART OF SACRIFICE IN CHESS by Rudolf Spielmann" which I grabbed instantly.

The book is on list of recommended out of print list by IM Jeremy Silman on his website (http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews/list_recommend_op_bks.html) as on his site he give following comment:

THE ART OF SACRIFICE IN CHESS by Rudolf Spielmann (David McKay Company, Inc.,
198 pages). I picked up a lovely hardcover edition for $10.00, and used
paperbacks are far less. A very nice book.

That cost me RM43.90 for a new and recommended book which is not bad at all. Thus, another new item to my books library and another book on my book_to_read queue...

Cheers!!
Eu Hong

Tournament Calendar

Dec 06 and Jan 07 had been a busy chess playing period for me with 4 tournaments in a row and my results are good except for 1 event.

Most people is busy on Feb 07 as there are holidays on line with CNY as the major event so no chess tournament for me.

A quick view at the Chess Calendar at PCA Official website http://www.pca.bayanbaru.com and some other sites shows several events that are worth playing:
1) 18 Mar 07 CLHS Open**
2) 25 Mar 07 PFS Open**
3) 1 Apr 07 PCGHS Open**
4) 14-15 Apr 07 MMU Melaka Open (from my previous post)
5) Jun 07 National Closed Chess Championship**
** subject to confirmation

Event 1 to 4 serve as practice tournament before National Closed take place in Jun. Since the national closed will be hold in Penang, I will try all my best to qualify and play. One seldom got the chance to play in a national championship near home.

Several things before National Closed,
1) Finish what I am reading namely the Zurich 1953 book.
2) Go through and study the opening lines I had been playing for White and Black.
3) Work out physically.
4) Finally, day dreaming!! Yes, every chess players dream of getting a title one day! I am just another guy next door, so dreaming is part of my "routine"... hehehe...

May the force be with me,
Eu Hong

Cheating as they say...

Numerous site had been reporting on cheating during a chess game. A summary of the latest development that was published by chessbase.com @ http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3644 yesterday saw comments from websites or press releases of such events.

Chess was originally a pure game of mind which actually benefits the players on various area including studies, career and lifestyle if the players can apply the technique on chess to those areas. Yet, the cheating events had more or less affected its reputation amongst the public.

For average hobby players like me, a beautiful tactics or strategies in the game from the pros is what we dream of instead of the "tactics or strategies" among the pros that we want to see, since the more chaos they created, the lesser good games we get to appreciate...

Back on Track @ CTS

Friday is a "long" awaited day of the week for many working people like myself since we are having days off soon...


As usual, its time to review something I had done for the week, especially, chess.


I had been busy with application to further study and hence, I had only did very little on chess. No progress on book reading and analysis of my games but some good progress @ CTS (Chess Tactics Server).

I had managed to recover some lost ground on both rating and success rate after last week's blackout performance and hence end up with rating @ 1634(+37) and success @ 80.3%(+0.1%). Current tries are 8609 and are only 1391 tries from the 10000 tries, 1700 rating and 81% success rate goal. Not far in terms of tries, moderate progress in terms of rating (I had stuck at 16++ for almost 3000 tries) and very far in terms of success rate as gaining 0.7% better success rate is a big step!!

May the force be with me,

Eu Hong

CNY around the corner

Today, 2nd of Feb 07, means less than 16 days before chinese new year and counting down...