I'm not going to give many evaluative comments; any patzer with Fritz/Rybka/Shredder/whatever can do that. In fact, I'm not going to use an engine to annotate.
B1
Mas,Hafizulhelmi (2422) - Adams,Michael (2728) [C28]
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nc3 Na5 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 c6 7.a3 Nxc4 8.dxc4 d6 9.Qd3 Be6 10.Nge2 Be7
So it's more or less theory up to this point:
11.b3
Well, Mas' strongpoint never really was opening theory. This move cautiously, but unnecessarily overprotects c4 and makes queenside castling unfeasible. I think White could make a more productive move than this.
11...g5 12.Bg3 Qa5
13.f3
Not necessary either. Now there are points to attack on both flanks.
13...0-0-0
Reasonable. Black's pawn on c6 is not as bad as white's on f3; and it's obvious (at least with hindsight) that white's king will have to go to the kingside. (See next move)
14.0-0 Kb8 15.Rfb1 h5 16.Bf2
Improving the worst placed piece, and also prophylaxis against a consecutive h4-h3, since white has the option of replaying h4 with h3 himself.
Nd7 17.a4
White had to choose between the a- and b-pawn. I'm not too sure about the advance with the a-pawn: white wants to play a5-a6, since attacking with the b-pawn seems slow, as b5 can be met by c5 if necessary. But on the other hand, if this happened, d5 would be weak, d6 backward and the dark squared bishop would need to find something to do. Black would then have to rely heavily on his kingside attack.
17...Rc8 18.b4
a loss of 1 tempo!
18...Qd8 19.a5 g4
White is in trouble. The reason why f3 turns out to be weaker than c6 is apparent:if the f-pawn goes (and it probably will), white is saddled with the weak e4 pawn. The same can't be said about the c6 pawn. Black also may play f5, though it is unlikely to be necessary. Looking at the attack, black is also faster. White's pawn on f3 is already challenged, and it is very likely to be taken off. Then there are moves like Qg8 followed by f6 or f5, attacking the c4 pawn. The white queen will be overloaded by the defence of white's pawns. White on the other hand, is way too slow.
½-½
I'd presume Black offered the draw as he made the last move. Some Malaysians told me or their peers that Mas should have played on[Alright, I'm lying about the ambiguity; it was just Raymond Siew]. Like the rest who are of sound mind, I think otherwise. Come on, Michael Adams has 300 points on Mas. You don't play to win against a 2700 in a position where you are in deep shit. Don't forget the team has no real reserve players. Is it really a wise idea to "squeeze"(I don't think there is any jargon in chess to describe "pressing for a win when you stand worse") a position for a meaningless extra half point at the cost of your energy which will be needed for the next 10 rounds? Don't forget that the most likely outcome is a loss for white.
I'm sorry, I have nothing personal against you. But when people say incredibly stupid things and pass them off as words of wisdom, I feel an obligation to tell them how wrong they are.
B2
McShane,Luke J (2657) - Mok,Tze-Meng (2416) [A01]
1.b3
Well, it's only reasonable for one to assume that this was white's preparation. What a crude way to prevent the Modern!
1...e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.e3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7
I don't really like this move. It kind of looks like the way a beginner would place his bishop. I would have preferred adopting a KIA setup, with 4...g6 instead, having played d6.
5.Bg2 0-0 6.c4 Nc6
I don't know. Why not 6...c6? Now the position is starting to take the character of a reversed Closed Sicilian, but with the bishop badly placed on e7; Black has no Ne7 and a kingside pawn storm would be tantamount to suicide, as he white would own the a1-h8 diagonal then.
7.Nc3 d5
Well, it's hard to suggest a better move. 7...Be6 would be met by 8.Nd5 and black is slightly tangled up.
8.Nxd5 Nxd5 9.cxd5 Nb4 10.Qb1 Nxd5 11.Nf3
White was threatening 11...Nb4
11...f6 12.0-0 c5
It's hard to suggest a better move. The strategy to set up a Maroczy Bind fails instantly to the thematic break on the next move fails to...
13.d4
but white would have played this move anyway. After
13...exd4 14.exd4 Be6
Black manages to maintain some fight for the center, so perhaps 12...c5 was necessary
15.Qe4 Qb6 16.Rae1 Bf7 17.Nh4 Rfe8 18.Nf5
It's common principle that a knight on f5 is a strong attacker.
18...Bf8 19.Qg4 g6
preventing 20.Nh6
20.dxc5 Qxc5 21.Rc1 Qa5 22.Qh4!
A piece sacrifice which nets 3 pawns, and of course a possibly mating attack. I can't see an immediate win for white here though.
22...gxf5
I don't think black could reject the knight. His king is under heavy pressure, and his f6 pawn is loose.
23.Bxd5 Bxd5 24.Qxf6 Re6 25.Qh8+ Kf7 26.Qxh7+ Ke8 27.Qxf5 Rd8 28.Qh5+ Ke7 29.Qh7+
29...Kd6??
What?! 29...Ke8 leaves the king stuck in the centre, but there is no immediate (or obvious, at least) win for white. The text is complete suicide, and it doesn't get the king anywhere (except to the other half of the board). I have no idea what possessed Mok to make this move.
30.Ba3+ Ke5 31.f4+ 1-0
B3
Tan,Khai Boon (2160) - Howell,David W L (2616) [D85]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Ba3!?
It's not exactly a main line move. But it's good to see that Khai Boon made an effort to prepare something.
7...0-0 8.Rc1 b6 9.Nf3 c5 10.Bc4 Nc6 11.Bd5 Qc7 12.0-0 e6
Perhaps the point of Bd5: to provoke e6. But was it really worth 2 tempi?
13.Bc4 Bb7 14.Qe2 Rfd8 15.d5
Maybe it was: e6 is weak now. But unfortunately, the dark squared bishop is now badly placed on a3, biting on granite.
Na5 16.dxe6 Nxc4 17.Qxc4 fxe6 18.Ng5
Maintaining the tension first. The e6 pawn isn't going anywhere. But perhaps, with hindsight, white should have just taken immediately with 18.Qxe6+
18...Re8 19.f4 h6 20.Nxe6 Qf7
The point. Now the knight is pinned.
21.f5 Bc8 22.Bb2
The d4 pawn, having advanced, has left its compatriot isolated on c3 and in need of defence. But c3 remains to be a weakness, while seriously hampering the bishop. In view of this, I think it would have been better for white to jettison the pawn and play Rcd1 or Rce1 immediately.
22...Bxe6 23.fxe6 Qxe6 24.Qxe6+ Rxe6 25.Rcd1 Rxe4 26.Rd7 Rf8 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8 28.Kf2
How unfortunate! The need to play this move first takes away white's opportunity to restore material balance and any hope of saving the game.
Re7 29.Rd6 Kf7 30.h3 h5 31.g4 hxg4 32.hxg4 Be5 33.Rd8 Ke6 34.Rg8 Rh7 35.Re8+ Kd6 36.Kg1 Rh4 0-1
Jones,Gawain C B (2576) - Long,Peter (2302) [B11]
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.d4 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7?!
The theoretical move here is 5...Ne4. But Peter wants to play a French structure without the problem child light-squared bishop. Looks like a sound, practical, albeit passive choice to me.
6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 e6 8.Bf4 a6 9.Be2 c5 10.dxc5 Nc6 11.Qg3 Nxc5 12.0-0 Nd4 13.Bd1 h5
The condition of the black position are highlighted by this move: It's solid enough to warrant this move, but at the same time passive enough that this is probably black's only "plan". He basically gains some space on the kingside, perhaps with the intention to fix the structure with h4 if it becomes feasible.
14.b4 Nf5 15.Qf3 Nd4 16.Qe3 Nf5 17.Qd2 Nd7 18.Nxd5?
Very dubious. White can't get enough for his piece.
18...exd5 19.Qxd5 Ne7?
Why? This only succeeds in shutting in the bishop. 19...Bxb4 was probably better, intending to castle if white doesn't do anything immediate.
20.Qxb7 Ng6 21.Qe4 Nxf4 22.Qxf4
Now the position is opened, with black's king stuck in the center. He is never going to be able to castle, since white always has e6 to open the f-file. Black will suffer.
Rb8 23.c3 Nb6 24.Bb3 Qc7 25.a4 g5
Suicide. But it's impossible to suggest a move that doesn't lose; white is going to infiltrate anyway, and black is only speeding up the process.
26.Qf5 Qd7 27.e6 fxe6 28.Qe5
Oops.
1-0
