A day to remember ? or a day to forget ?

3rd May 2009
Sunday

May Day National Chess Championship 2009

ZM Ben continues his impressive national tournament run with a 3rd place credit to his name this competition.

He started out as the favourite to attain 2nd place for this tournament. Comments by observers said that they've not seen the Zonal Master playing so well in a very long time, one of them states that : "he (Benny) kept standing up and walking all over the place, it's really amusing just seeing him play". However the joy of this tournament success is shrouded in another two controversial issue...

The first one happens on the first day, when ZM Benny was allegically accused of cheating ! Ben "Karpov" said that : " When I returned from my analysis I heard one of the supporter said IN FRONT OF ME 'ooh I know already - he cheat'. "I am naturally shocked over such accusation, who's she to say I cheat, and of course everyone knows me, what kind of substance I'm made up of, do I need to cheat to win a game ? NO ! absolutely NOT ! I'm not a cheater and that's final" the National Master defended. Later he went to clarify with the officials, who is more understanding to his explanation.

The second issue happens on the last game, ZM Ben Karpov stormed to a successful 5th consecutive victory just hours ago (before the last game). He would now face the other 5 pointer, Filipino Star Bong Branzuela, it is a game which would be a decisive one, whoever wins would clinch the championship position !

Ben knew the importance of this game and consulted the officials, he sent out 5 request.
The first : The game be held in a seperate room
The second : The air-con be switched-off and the fan be used instead
The third : Clear out all the spectators, leaving only an arbitar behind
The fourth : Provide a coffee machine and some refreshment in the room for them
The last : In case of a tie let the fate of the title be decided by 6 rounds of blitz, the first player to win 4 of the blitz game would win.

The official respected his decision and gave in to his first, third and last request. Ben 'Karpov' was not happy that his 2nd and 4th request have not been accepted, therefore he pressed the officials for his proposal to be accepted, 3 minutes before the game started his proposal was still not accepted and Ben decide to forfeit his title by refusing to play his last game with Bong Branzuela by storming out of the playing hall (a little like what former World Champion Bobby Fischer had done with his World Champion title against Anatoly Karpov some 34 years ago...)

If Ben had played the game he would have a huge chance of clinching championship position, but nevertheless it was an impressive performance from the National Master - Winning 3rd place in a 6-game tournament just by playing 5 games !)