Second Day Of The MSSD Chess Competition...

Okay, I went back to SMK SSAAS today for the second day of the MSSD Petaling Perdana Chess Competition.
Oh, and remember when I said in my last post that there were supposed to be three rounds that I had to play today?
Well, this morning, the arbiter announced in the hall that U-18 Boys had to play four rounds, not three! My reaction was like: "Oh my gosh! FOUR rounds?!"

Anyway, I won three out of the four rounds today.
Let's start with my fifth round, shall we? ( I already explained about my first four rounds in my previous post... ).
My opponent ( I forgot his name... ) was White and I was Black. He played 1. d4, and I countered with 1. ...c6. After that, the opening proceeded normally, until he blundered his Bishop. And the best part is that when I took his Bishop, it came with check, so it was technically just a completely free giveaway!
After he lost his Bishop, he blundered his Rook instead! He didn't realise that his pawn was pinned to his Rook by my Bishop. He moved the pawn, and I was free to capture the Rook.
He got checkmated a while later...

My sixth game is with a guy named Kenny Brian, I think. He had the Black pieces and I had the White pieces.
I played 1. e4, and he countered with 1. e5. I was really happy when the game continued with 2. Nf3 Nc6. This allowed me to play my favourite White opening: The Scotch Game. So I played it, with the move 3. d4.
He accepted the central exchange. Then I started developing very rapidly, first my Bishop came out, then my Knight, and then my other Bishop. All of the pieces were completely dominating the center of the board.
Apparently, my opponent realised that my light-squared Bishop was wreaking havoc on his Kingside. So he stormed it with his Queenside pawns. Of course, this only made the situation worse for him - The Bishop actually became more powerful, moving closer towards the center and targeting both the Queenside and Kingside now.
I already had four pieces developed and my opponent only wasted time trying to storm my Bishop with pawns. I realised the time was ripe for an attack. So I checked his uncastled King with my Queen. He had too few defenders to parry my attack, so he got checkmated right in the opening...

My seventh game was the one that I lost today.
I was Black and my opponent was White. He started with 1 .e4, and I countered with 1. e5. It transposed to the Petrov Defense with 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4. But somehow, after a series of complicated central exchanges, I realised that he was up a Knight, due to the fact that my Knight was pinned to my King by his Rook, resulting in the Knight's capture later on.
A lot of simplifying ensued, until the game finally reached the Endgame stage. Of course, he had the material advantage - he was up a Knight anyway! So my Queenside pawn chain slowly deteriorated, and in the end, I was forced to exchange off my remaining Rook for his passed h pawn. I tried to opt for stalemate, but my opponent was very cautious, and I resigned just before he was about to checkmate my King.

And now, on to my eighth and final game of the day.
I was White this time, and my opponent was Black. I played 1. e4, of course, and he countered it with 1. e6 - The French Defense, a solid opening system for Black.
I continued with my development aggressively, controlling a huge portion of the center. My opponent, on the other hand, wanted to exchange off all his pieces for some reason...
In the end, I did decide to exchange off all the pieces, but not before I came up with a combination that resulted with me being a pawn up in material. Later, my Knight forked both his Rooks, and he was forced to lose one of them, resulting in a horrible endgame for him. After I forced him to exchange off his last Rook, it was smooth sailing for me from then on. I managed to promote two of my passed pawns to Rook and Queen, and he got checkmated soon after...

Well, overall, I actually got 10th place in the whole competition. Hazwan got 3rd, Ashman got 4th, and Hari got 5th.
Plus, our team ( U-18 boys ) managed to get 2nd place in the "Best Team" category!

Finally, congrats to all our school Chess players, including the U-18 Girls, U-15 Boys, and U-15 Girls! You guys made SMK Bukit Jelutong proud this year! Well done!

Okay, I guess that's it for now.

May the Force be with you...