Yeoh Li Tian in Rilton Cup, 2018/19

This picture from the Rilton Cup website

UPDATE (13 Jan 2019): This is an updated post. When I first wrote this post, it was on the eve of my holidays overseas. Rushing between packing and keeping track of Yeoh Li Tian's final-round game in the Rilton Cup, I had hurriedly tried to prepare a post with all his games from that tournament. No time to include any comments. So this is the first real opportunity for me to say something.

First, I would want to congratulate Li Tian for a fine performance in Sweden. Gaining a second grandmaster norm was the feat in itself but finishing undefeated was the icing on the cake. Of course, getting the second norm was Li Tian's original intention anyway. And he achieved this in fine style.

Undefeated against the six grandmasters that he was paired with, and a matter of slaying the lesser players that he met. Very solid play against the grandmasters and giving them no chance at all of piercing his defensive armour. Not very exciting chess in my opinion but the results served his purpose well, and that was very important

This brings me to the second point. Li Tian's chess has matured so much in the last 14 months or so, ever since he sat down against Visvanathan Anand in the first round of the Chess World Cup in October 2017. Though he lost one game and drew the other against the former world champion, I had surmised then that he would have learnt valuable lessons from this encounter. (Update #2: I was mistaken. Sloppy writing from me, trying to rely on my defective memory. As pointed out by Andrew Ooi on facebook, Li Tian did NOT lose both games to Anand. Our player lost the first game but drew the second one. That draw was a very valuable result and it surely boosted his confidence.)

Maybe not so much in chess strategy or tactics, but the encounter taught him new insights, how to change his approach to chess, and his approach to himself as a player. In the process, we have seen his international rating cross the critical 2500 Elo points barrier. And 2500 would be the bare minimum rating that the World Chess Federation requires for anyone to become a new Grandmaster even if the player gets his three norms. That rating level, by the way, is the highest any Malaysian chess player has ever attained.

Li Tian became a Fide Master in 2015 and an International Master in 2017. With already two Grandmaster norms under his belt, I am quite confident that a third one can be attained this year if he can strike a successful balance between playing chess and excelling in his studies at Imperial College, London. Three such norms would be enough for him to be proclaimed as Malaysia's first grandmaster. We shall wait...

It is a pity, though, that Dato' Tan Chin Nam could not be around to see his second GM norm. He would have been pleased. Very pleased.

Position after 42.Nf6+

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Black "Ganaus, Hannes (AUT)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.Be2 O-O 8.O-O Nc6 9.Re1 Bf5 10.Be3 Rc8 11.c5 Ne4 12.Qb3 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 a5 14.a3 a4 15.Bb5 Ra8 16.Bf4 f6 17.b3 axb3 18.Qxb3 g5 19.Bg3 Rf7 20.Qb2 h5 21.h4 g4 22.Nd2 Bh6 23.Nb3 Be4 24.Qc3 Kh7 25.Nd2 Bf5 26.Bd3 Qd7 27.Nf1 Bxd3 28.Qxd3+ f5 29.Rab1 Bg7 30.Be5 Bxe5 31.dxe5 e6 32.Ng3 Qe7 33.Nxh5 Qxh4 34.Nf4 Qe7 35.g3 Rh8 36.Kg2 Kg7 37.Rh1 Rxh1 38.Rxh1 Kg8 39.Rh6 Nd8 40.Nh5 Qxc5 41.Qd2 f4 42.Nf6+ 1-0

Position after 32...Re2

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[Round "2.20"]
[White "Schekachikhin, Maksim (RUS)"]
[Black "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A77"]
[WhiteElo "2368"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Nd2 Bg7 8.e4 O-O 9.Be2 Re8 10.O-O Nbd7 11.a4 a6 12.Ra3 Rb8 13.a5 Ne5 14.Qc2 g5 15.Nd1 Ng6 16.Ne3 Nf4 17.Bd1 h5 18.f3 Nd7 19.Nf5 Bd4+ 20.Kh1 Ne5 21.g3 Nh3 22.Kg2 g4 23.Nxd4 cxd4 24.f4 Ng6 25.Qd3 Bd7 26.Ba4 Rc8 27.Nc4 Rxc4 28.Qxc4 Rxe4 29.Bxd7 Qxd7 30.Kh1 Qe8 31.Bd2 h4 32.Qd3 Re2 33.Qxd4 Rxh2+ 34.Kxh2 Qe2+ 35.Rf2 Nxf2 36.Re3 Qf1 37.Re8+ Kh7 38.Re1 Qh3+ 39.Kg1 hxg3 0-1

Position after 41.Kd3

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Black "Lagarde, Maxime (FRA)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2508"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Be3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nf6 8.Nxf5 Qxf5 9.Bd3 Qd5 10.O-O O-O-O 11.Be2 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 13.Bxd1 Nd5 14.Bc1 e6 15.Nd2 Be7 16.Nb3 Rd8 17.Be2 e5 18.Bd2 f5 19.f3 Nb6 20.Rd1 a5 21.Kf1 a4 22.Na1 Kc7 23.Nc2 g6 24.Ke1 Bc5 25.Be3 Rxd1+ 26.Kxd1 Kd6 27.b4 axb3 28.axb3 Nd5 29.Bxc5+ Kxc5 30.Kd2 Kd6 31.Ne3 Na5 32.Nc4+ Nxc4+ 33.Bxc4 Nf6 34.Kd3 g5 35.b4 h5 36.Bf7 h4 37.h3 Nd5 38.Bxd5 Kxd5 39.c4+ Kd6 40.Ke3 Kc6 41.Kd3 1/2-1/2

Position after 18.Nb5

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Black "Donchenko, Alexander (GER)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2508"]
[BlackElo "2604"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.O-O g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.d4 O-O 7.d5 Na6 8.Nc3 Nc5 9.Nd4 e5 10.Nb3 d6 11.Nxc5 dxc5 12.a4 a5 13.b3 Ne8 14.Bb2 Nd6 15.Qd2 f5 16.f4 exf4 17.gxf4 Qh4 18.Nb5 Bxb2 19.Qxb2 Rf7 20.Nxd6 cxd6 21.Rf3 Re8 22.e3 Bc8 23.Raf1 Rg7 24.Qc3 Kf7 25.Rg3 Reg8 26.Rff3 Qf6 27.Qxf6+ Kxf6 28.Rf2 Bd7 29.Bf1 g5 30.Rfg2 h5 31.h4 gxf4 32.Rxg7 Rxg7 33.Rxg7 Kxg7 34.exf4 Be8 1/2-1/2

Position after 44.Qf6

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2018.12.31"]
[Round "5.15"]
[White "Rohith, Krishna S. (IND)"]
[Black "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A88"]
[WhiteElo "2399"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 c6 8.Qc2 Na6 9.a3 Qe8 10.e4 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.b4 Nc7 13.c5 f4 14.gxf4 Nh5 15.Ne2 exf4 16.Bb2 g5 17.Bxg7 Nxg7 18.Nxg5 Qh5 19.Nf3 Bg4 20.Kh1 Rae8 21.Neg1 Re6 22.h3 Rg6 23.Nh2 Bc8 24.f3 Qg5 25.Ng4 h5 26.Nh2 Nge6 27.Qf2 Kh8 28.Ne2 Rfg8 29.Rg1 Qf6 30.Rad1 Rg3 31.Bf1 Qh4 32.Nxg3 fxg3 33.Qb2+ Rg7 34.Qe5 Nf4 35.Rd2 Nce6 36.Qb8 Rg8 37.Qe5+ Kh7 38.Qf5+ Kh6 39.Rd6 Rg6 40.Qe5 Kh7 41.Qf5 Kg7 42.Qe5+ Kf7 43.Qf5+ Ke7 44.Rd2 Qf6 (Psychologically putting the question to White: to exchange Queens or not. I believe the best option is to exchange off the Queens with 45. Qxf6+ because after 45.Bc4, Black simply retreats his Queen to the g7 square  and adds tremendous pressure on White's position along this file.) 45.Bc4 Qg7 46.Ng4 Rg5 47.Ne3 Ke8 48.Rgd1 Rxf5 49.exf5 Qc3 50.Bd3 Ng5 51.Rc2 Qd4 52.Ng2 Nxd3 53.Re2+ Kf7 54.Ne1 Nf2+ 0-1

Position after 35...Rxd1+

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2019.01.02"]
[Round "6.6"]
[White "Karthikeyan, Murali (IND)"]
[Black "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2591"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 c6 5.b3 Bg7 6.Bb2 O-O 7.O-O a5 8.Nc3 Na6 9.d4 Ne4 10.e3 Bf5 11.Nh4 Nxc3 12.Bxc3 Be6 13.Qe2 Nc7 14.a4 b6 15.Rac1 Qd7 16.Nf3 Rfd8 17.e4 Bg4 18.Rfd1 Rac8 19.Qe1 dxe4 20.Qxe4 Bxf3 21.Qxf3 Ne6 22.d5 cxd5 23.Rxd5 Qc7 24.Bd2 Nd4 25.Qd3 e6 26.Bf4 Qa7 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Rd1 Qe7 29.h4 h6 30.Kf1 g5 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.Be3 Bf6 33.Be4 Qb4 34.Bxd4 Rxd4 35.Qf3 Rxd1+ 1/2-1/2

Position after 27...Qa6

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2019.01.03"]
[Round "7.6"]
[White "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Black "Santos Latasa, Jaime (ESP)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2508"]
[BlackElo "2584"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 cxd4 7.cxd4 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Bd7 9.Nc3 Bc6 10.O-O O-O 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.b3 Qa5 14.Ne4 Rfd8 15.Bb2 Rac8 16.Qc2 Ba3 17.Bc3 Bb4 18.Bb2 Ba3 19.Bc3 Bb4 20.Bb2 Nxe4 21.Bxe4 Nf6 22.Bf3 c5 23.Rac1 Qa6 24.Be2 Qb7 25.Bf3 Qa6 26.Be2 Qb7 27.Bf3 Qa6 1/2-1/2

Position after 30.bxa5

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2019.01.04"]
[Round "8.9"]
[White "Moroni, Luca Jr (ITA)"]
[Black "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2564"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.O-O Bd6 9.g3 O-O 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.c5 Be7 12.b4 b6 13.Bd2 Qc8 14.f4 a5 15.a3 axb4 16.axb4 Qb7 17.Qc2 b5 18.g4 Rfb8 19.g5 Ne8 20.h4 Nf8 21.Kg2 f5 22.Rh1 Rxa1 23.Rxa1 Nc7 24.Ra5 Ra8 25.Qa2 Rxa5 26.Qxa5 Nd7 27.Nd1 Bd8 28.Nf2 Qa8 29.Nd3 Qxa5 30.bxa5 Kf7 31.Nb4 Nb8 32.Nd3 Nd7 33.Nb4 Nb8 34.Kf1 Nca6 35.Nd3 Nd7 36.Ke1 Bc7 37.Kd1 Ke7 38.Kc2 Kf7 39.Kb3 Bd8 40.Bc3 Bc7 41.Nb4 Ndb8 42.Nd3 Nd7 43.Bd2 Ke7 44.Be1 Kf7 45.Bc3 Ke7 46.Bd2 Kf7 47.Be1 Ndb8 48.Bd2 Nd7 49.Bc3 Ndb8 50.Ne1 Bd8 51.Nc2 Ke7 52.Na3 Nc7 53.Bd2 Kf7 54.Nc2 Nca6 1/2-1/2

Position after 32.Rxd5

[Event "Rilton Cup 2018-19"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2019.01.05"]
[Round "9.11"]
[White "Yeoh, Li Tian (MAS)"]
[Black "Santos Ruiz, Miguel (ESP)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2508"]
[BlackElo "2523"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 Nc6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Bd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Nc3 e6 12.O-O a6 13.Bxc6 Qxc6 14.Re1 Bb4 15.Qg4 Kf8 16.Bg5 Bxc3 17.bxc3 Nd5 18.Rac1 b5 19.a4 h6 20.Bd2 Kg8 21.h4 h5 22.Qe2 Rc8 23.axb5 axb5 24.Rb1 Nxc3 25.Bxc3 Qxc3 26.d5 exd5 27.Qxb5 Qc6 28.Qxc6 Rxc6 29.Re5 g6 30.Rb8+ Kg7 31.Rxh8 Kxh8 32.Rxd5 1/2-1/2