9th Penang Heritage City Open
Red Rock Hotel, Penang, Malaysia
Dec. 4-9, 2017
Final Top Standings
1-2. IM K Rathnakaran IND 2307, GM Karen H Grigoryan ARM 2571, 8.0/9
3-4. FM Novendra Priasmoro INA 2423, IM Yeoh Li Tian MAS 2480, 7.0/9
5-8. IM Oliver Dimakiling PHI 2425, FM Dang Hoang Son VIE 2340, GM Alexei Barsov UZB 2416, GM RR Laxman IND 2413, 6.5/9
9-23. GM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2504, IM Hamed Nouri PHI 2355, FM Pitra Andyka INA 2297, FM Arjun Erigaisi IND 2359, IM Lioe Dede INA 2328, GM Gerhard Schebler GER 2415, Daniel Hermawan Lumban Tobin INA 1899, IM Roy Prantik IND 2366, John Marvin Miciano PHI 2224, IM Haridas Pascua PHI 2424, IM Ronny Gunawan INA 2281, FM Yoseph Theolifus Taher INA 2368, GM Cerdas Barus INA 2320, Ma Lin CHN 2152, CM Mittal Aditya IND 2288, 6.0/9
Total of 134 Participants
Time Control: 90 minutes for entire game with 30 seconds added after every move starting move 1.
IM Kantholi Rathnakaran (born 1981) created a stir by winning the 9th Penang Heritage City International Chess Open over 7 Grandmasters and 17 other International Masters. He was the 26th seed but remained undefeated throughout the tournament and coupled that with wins over GMs Gerhard Schebler and Karen Grigoryan and IMs Yeoh Li Tian (the Zonal Champion), Ronny Gunawan and Pitra Andyka and came through with a deserved victory.
The Philippines’ IM Oliver Dimakiling finished in 5th place with 5 wins, 3 draws and a single loss to Indonesia’s IM Ronny Gunawan.
The big story for us though is the National Master John Marvin Miciano, the Philippines’ reigning National Junior Champion, got his FIDE Master title as well as an International Master norm. He still needs two other IM norms to qualify for the full title. It is also a requirement that his FIDE rating touch the 2400 plateau but theoretically and mathematically if he does achieve two more IM norms his rating would have climbed up to that level.
John Marvin Miciano is 17 years old, a senior high school student of Far Eastern University Diliman and hails from Davao City.
He defeated IM Haridas Pascua in round 2. You will recall that in the last Philippine National Championship John Miciano was brilliantly taking down Haridas when he slipped up at the end and fell into inevitable mate. Here is that game.
Miciano, John Marvin (2212) — Pascua, Haridas (2427) [B70]
PHI-Ch 2017 Makati (3.4), 07.09.2017
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.g3 Bg7 7.Bg2 0–0 8.0–0 Nc6 9.Nde2 Rb8 10.a4 a6 11.h3 b5 12.axb5 axb5 13.Nd5 Nd7 14.c3 e6 15.Ne3 Qc7 16.Nd4 Nxd4 17.cxd4 Bb7 18.Qb3 e5 19.d5 Nc5 20.Qc2 b4 21.Bd2 b3 22.Qb1 Qd7 23.Rc1 f5 24.Bb4 Nxe4 25.Bxe4 fxe4 26.Qxe4 Bh6 27.Rc3 Bxe3 28.Rxe3 Rf6 29.Rxb3 Qxh3 30.Be1 Rf4 31.Rxb7! Rxe4 32.Rxb8+ Kg7 33.Ra7+ Kf6 34.Bd2 Kf5 35.Rf7+ Kg4 36.Rb3
Miciano was short of time or else he would no doubt have found the coup de grace 36.Rb4! with the point that 36…Rxb4 allows White to mate with 37.f3+ Kxg3 38.Be1# but no harm done yet for after the text White is still winning.
36…Rf4 37.Bxf4?
[37.f3+!]
37…exf4 38.Rxf4+ Kg5 39.Rb6 Qd7 40.b4 Qe7 41.Kh2 Qe5 42.Rb8 Qxd5 43.b5 Qc5 44.b6 Qa5 45.Rf7 Kg4 46.b7 Qh5+ 47.Kg1??
After 47.Kg2 John is still winning.
47…Kh3! 0–1
Against all the rules of getting-what-you-deserve, White is going to be mated.
Through the kindness of his coach GM Jayson Gonzales I am presenting this game from the Penang Open to our readers. FM Miciano was graceful enough to write-in some comments to the game.
Miciano, John Marvin (2224) — Pascua, Haridas (2424) [B40]
9th Penang Heritage City Open Penang (2) [Miciano]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6!?
A surprise. From my database it seems that Haridas only plays 2…Nc6 or 2…d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 as Black in the Sicilian.
3.g3!?
My idea was to hold the move d2–d4 in reserve as I guessed that he must have prepared for my King’s Indian Attack formation. 3.d3 is what I normally play and I believe that is the best setup against the Taimanov.
3…Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Nc3!?
Still not inclined to play d3. I am hoping to grab the psychological advantage in the opening.
5…d5 6.exd5 exd5 7.d4 Bg4 8.0–0 cxd4
[8…Nxd4 is answered by 9.Bg5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Re1+ Kf8 12.h3 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 g6 16.c4 and I think white should have more than enough compensation]
9.Nb5?!
This bad move is unexploited. 9.Re1+ should be better as …Bc5 is not available.
9…Be7?!
I think because he is uncomfortable with his position he didn’t see 9…Bc5. This should be better holding his dear pawn 10.Bf4 Rc8 11.a3 a6 12.b4 axb5 13.bxc5 and this should be equal.
10.Nbxd4 0–0 11.h3?!
Weakening move that isn’t necessary. 11.c3 or 11.Re1 are obvious enough.
11…Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Qc8
[12…Nxd4 13.Qxd4 Qc8 is just answered by 14.Bf4 Qxh3 15.Rae1 after which the pawn snatch is more like time wasted]
13.Nxc6!?
This of course should not be bad, but I should have created a granite pawn structure against my light squared bishop 13.Kg2 Nxd4 14.Qxd4 Qxc2 15.Be3 should be ok.
13…bxc6 14.Kg2 Rb8 15.b3
Of course this move is obvious.
15…Rd8 16.Bb2 Ne8
He wants to remove one of my bishops.
17.Re1 Bf6 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Qd4 Qc7?!
I was expecting 19…c5 20.Qd3 after which he will not have problems on my break c4 later on.
20.b4!
Fixing the pawns.
20…a5 21.a3 Qb6
He bails out into a draw, but I still am fighting for a win.
22.Qxb6 Rxb6 23.c3 Kf8 24.Kf1 c5!?
This move actually does not give away the draw but it makes the defense difficult.
25.bxc5 Rb5 <D>
POSITION AFTER 25…RB5
26.c4!
Creating a passed pawn.
26…dxc4
[26…Rxc5 isn’t possible because of the pin on the d-file 27.cxd5 Nxd5 28.Re5 f6 29.Rh5 and a pawn goes loose]
27.c6 Rc5 28.Rac1 g6 29.Re3 Rd4 30.Ke1
And now my opponent blunders with…
30…Nd5?
[30…Ng8 as he pointed out after the game is a dead draw 31.Rb1 c3 32.Rc1 c2 33.Re2 Rdc4 34.Be4 Ne7 35.Rcxc2 Rxc2 36.Bxc2 Nxc6=]
31.Re5 Rd3 32.Rxd5 Rcxd5 33.Bxd5 Rxd5 34.Rxc4 Rd8 35.c7 Rc8 36.Kd2 Ke7 37.Ke3 Kd6 38.Kd4 1–0
John’s passion for the game and huge desire to continuously work on and improve his level of play gives hope for Philippine chess to produce another Grandmaster in the next two years if not in the year 2018. His participation in the latest international events is supported by NCFP, PSC and Far Eastern University. FEU might be the only institution of higher learning which actively supports its chess team and players to compete in international competition. Given the results being shown by their players we can all see how crucial this is.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
