April's First Saturday Report

Jax was crowned champion for April's First Saturday tournament. Runner up goes to Cheras challenger 2010 champion Nor Azman, while 3rd prize goes to Balachandran. You will be seeing him more often next time. 4th place goes to myself. 5th place was won by up and coming chess player, Tin Jun Hao.

Report:

I was again confident in getting top 3 as not many strong player will be playing there. Of all the local players, I never thought Cheras challenger champion, Nor Azman will be participating in this tournament. After hearing of his arrival, my confidence suddenly started to disappear. At around 10.00am the tournament officially began. Some strong player was seen such as Jax Tham, Tin Jun Hao & Tham Chee Leong. 1st, 2nd round finished much more earlier than expected. Jax, Nor Azman and me shared the same number of points. After having  lunch, I was paired against Tin Jun Hao while Jax meet Nor Azman. I won my game against him as he was not familiar with the opening that had played. The rest of the game ended quite quick too. After that, board 1 was receiving attention by many players. Jax was down a piece but had a very strong attack against Nor Azman. Here was the position.

(Jax playing white)
Nor Azman finally lost in the end. So, Jax and me lead after round 3 with a perfect scored of 3/3. The next day, I was paired against Jax. Nor Azman was playing against Balachandran. Nor Azman won an easy game. Tin Jun hao won against Edmund Ng. My game against Jax lasted quite long.

(Jax playing black)
My position was losing but Jax had to play accurately as a misstep will be quite disastrous. I lost on time, but my position was lost anyway. Jax was closer to becoming champion. Jax was paired against Tham Chee Leong in the next round. While Tin Jun Hao won Laxmi easily. Tham Chee Leong lost to Jax after falling into Jax opening trap. Unfortunately, I met Nor Azman. We got into a knight pawn ending. Equal material but didn't play my ending well and lost. The last round finally came, I just need a win to get 3rd prize as my tie break was the highest. But Tham Chee Leong gave a good fight and ended up draw. Jax won his game against Edmund Ng. Tin Jun Hao managed a draw against Nor Azman after a pawn, bishop ending. The position was dead equal but Nor Azman rejected many draw offers. After about more than 20 moves, he accepted the draw.

Here is the final results

Ranking after round 6 of FSCC4
No.  PNo.  Name                       Score WP    SB     PS
-----------------------------------------------------------
  1.  1 JAX THAM                    6.0  21.0  21.00  21.0
  2.  2 NORAZMAN ISMAIL             4.5  22.5  14.75  16.5
  3.  6 BALACHANDRAN                4.0  18.0   7.50  12.0
  4.  3 YAT GUO JIE                 3.5  21.0   8.75  15.5
      4 TIN JUN HAO                 3.5  20.0   8.25  11.5
      5 THAM CHEE LEONG             3.5  19.0   6.75  13.5
  7.  7 DANIEL SIEW                 2.0  21.0   3.00   9.0
     12 EDMUND NG                   2.0  17.0   6.50   6.0
     10 KEE JIAN LONG               2.0  15.5   2.25   8.0
      8 LAXMI SUBRAMANIAM           2.0  14.5   2.50   4.0
11. 11  JON LUIS KOE                1.0  13.0   2.25   6.0
12.  9  CHOONG ZHEN HAO             0.0  13.5   1.00   0.0 

Ranking and Games after round 6 of FSCC4
No.  PNo. 
 Name              R1    R2    R3    R4    R5    R6  Score
-------------------------------------------------------------- -----
  1.    1  JAX THAM          6w1   4b1   2w1   3b1   5w1   7b1   6.0
  2.    2  NORAZMAN ISMAIL   7b1   5w1   1b0   6w1   3w1   4b½   4.5
  3.    6  BALACHANDRAN      1b0   9w1  10b1   2b0   7w1  12b1   4.0
  4.    3  YAT GUO JIE       8w1  11b1   4w1   1w0   2b0   5b½   3.5
        4  TIN JUN HAO       9b1   1w0   3b0  12w1   8b1   2w½   3.5
        5  THAM CHEE LEONG   0w1   2b0  11w1   7b1   1b0   3w½   3.5
  7.    7  DANIEL SIEW       2w0   8b1   9w1   5w0   6b0   1w0   2.0
       12  EDMUND NG          r0    r0   8w1   4b0  10b1   6w0   2.0
       10  KEE JIAN LONG     5b0    r1   6w0  11b1  12w0   8b0   2.0
        8  LAXMI SUBRAMANIAM 3b0   7w0  12b0   9b1   4w0  10w1   2.0
11.    11  JON LUIS KOE       r1   3w0   5b0  10w0    r0    r0   1.0
12.     9  CHOONG ZHEN HAO   4w0   6b0
   7b0   8w0    r0    r0   0.0