Every dog, er…doc has his day!

We last read about the CC chronicles of Dr J Nithiananthan in CCN 15 and CCN 23. Well, the first week of August 2001 proved to be the pinnacle of his chess career. The 42 year old medical doctor / classical pianist celebrated Singapore’s 36^th year of independence by unleashing the greatest giant-killing spree ever witnessed in Singaporean OTB chess history. Previously, perhaps the next closest feat was unheralded Tan Poh Heng’s one point victory margin a River Valley Allegro Tournament way back in the early 90’s where he outgunned a slew of ELO 2000+ rated players inclusive of IM Tan Lian Ann. Dr Nithiananthan uncharacteristically sought to complicate positions and in constantly sacrificing material for the initiative, his strategy paid off handsomely.

First up was the National Day Rapid Chess Tournament. The good doc had polished off his first 3 opponents only to find himself up against Vietnamese Coach Nguyen Tan Tung. Misplaying the Closed Sicilian with Black, the doctor found himself left with very little time on the clock but still managed to reach this decent position with seconds left.

We join Dr Nithia wielding Black in a Closed Sicilian in a desperate position with seconds left on the clock and he unleashed...

[Objectively, stronger is 23...Nc4!? 24.Qd3 Qc8! is better but Dr Nithia did not see this in during this frantic struggle]

[25.Qe2! Rh5+ 26.Kg4 f5+ 27.Kf4± Qd5 28.h4 and Black's attack has fizzled out...]

[28...Rf5! turns the tables on White 29.Qd8+ (29.Qc3 Rxf3 30.Qxf3 h5+ and the Queen hangs...) 29...Kg7-+ 30.Qd3 Qxf3+ 31.Qxf3 h5+ 32.Kh3 Rxf3 33.Kg2 Rf5-+]

29.Rf4 Qe2+ drawing 1/2-1/2

Luck? Well, one might say he took his chances well.

Nithia went on to defeat his next two opponents before he was paired against IM Domingo Ramos of the Philippines. Two weeks prior to this encounter, Ramos had beaten Dr Nithia in a National Interclubs Team Match with relative ease after tricking him into a offbeat Taimanov Sicilian . Having gotten outmatched positionally, this time round, Nithia decided to play in Shirov mode instead.

Very committal and provocative [4...d6 5.Qf3 is the so-called "Monkey's Bum" line which has been used by GMs Nunn and Judit Polgar.]

[6...d6 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.e5 dxe5 (8...Nd5 9.Nf4 Nxf4 10.Bxf4± Dreev-Hessler, NY Open 1991) 9.Nxe5 0-0 10.0-0 Nfd7 11.Nd3 Na6 12.a3 bxa3 13.Rxa3 Nc7 14.c3 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.Ng3 Qxd1 18.Rxd1 Be6 19.f4 Bxb3 20.Rxb3 Bg7 21.Rd6 Dreev,A-Malisauskas,V/Debrecen 1992/EU-chT/½-½ (44); 6...d5 7.exd5 cxd5 8.Bd2 a5 9.a3 bxa3 10.Rxa3±]

[7.c3 bxc3 8.Nxc3 d6 9.Qf3 e6 10.Nge2 Ne7 11.Bg5 Nd7 12.0-0 0-0 White missed a chance to increase his initiative with 13.Qf4 (13.Rfd1 Nb6 ½-½ Marosi,C-Lakos,N/HUN-chT2 1994/TD (13)) 13...e5 (13...Nb6 14.Qh4 Re8 15.Qf4) 14.Qh4 Re8 15.Rad1± White's pieces are very well placed.]

Here, Black is already stepping up the pace to force White into making tough decisions by threatening the d pawn. Dr Nithia decided to sacrifice a pawn to complete development so... [9...c5!? 10.c3 cxd4 11.cxd4 (11.Nxd4 Nc6 12.Nge2 e6 13.0-0 Nge7) 11...Nc6 12.d5 (12.e5 Nh6„) 12...Ne5 unclear]

For his loss of material, White has two bishops and is miles ahead in development.

[Suicidal is 14...Qxb2 15.Be3 Qg7 16.Ba7 Na6 17.Qd3 Nc7 18.Bb6 Ne6 (18...Nb5 19.Rd1+-) 19.Qa6 f5 20.Qc8+ Kf7 21.Qxd7+-]

forcing the opening of more lines for the bishops as well as dislodging the Black queen.

[16...Qxe4 17.Bh6 Kd8! 18.Qb3 Kc7 19.Rb1 d5 20.f3 Qh4 21.Be3 Nfd7 with good attacking chances for White; 16...Qd6 17.Qe2! controlling a6 and threatening e4-e5 17...Nxe4 18.Bh6±]

Stranding the king in the centre. Ramos thought for quite a while and decided to bite the bullet with

[17...Qxc3? is no good 18.Qb1 Qe5 19.Qb7+-; 17...Qxe4?? 18.Qb3 Na6 19.Qb7+-;

However, IM Hsu Li Yang found 17...Na6! 18.Bg7 (18.Be3 0-0; 18...Rg8 19.Bxf6 exf6 20.Qd2 Ke7 21.Rd1 Nc5 22.f4 Qe6 and Black is doing fine]

[ 18...f6!? 19.Qc1 f5 20.f3 Qxc3 21.fxe4 Qxc1 22.Rxc1 fxe4+- 23.Rc4 d5 24.Rxc6! Nxc6 25.Bxc6+ Kd8 26.Bxd5 Kd7 27.Bxe4 Rc8 28.Kf2±]

White is surely better here with the Black pieces undeveloped. However, he must prevent the Black pawns from advancing.

[Better is 22.Bg5!? Re8 23.Ra5±] 22...d5 23.Re3 Nd7±

[23...Re8 24.Rb3±; 23...c5]

forcing Black to use his trump-card, the central pawn mass [24.Rc3 Rc8 25.Bb5 Ne5 26.Bf4±]

[25.Rc3! Rc8 26.Ba6 Rc7 27.Bb5 Nb8 +=]

[25...Rb8! 26.Ra6 (26.Ra7 Ke6 27.Ra6 Kd6 and Black's pawns are ready to rock and roll...) 26...Rb6 27.Ra7= (27.Rxb6 Nxb6= Now White has to be extremely careful not to get overrun by the pawn mass) ]

[26...Rc8 27.Kf2]

A very natural developing move which unfortunately fails tactically. [Surprisingly, the only way to hang on is 27...Rc8!? 28.Ba3+ Ke6 29.Kf2 (29.Bb5 Nb8 30.Rb6 e4) 29...f4 +=]

[29...Kd8 30.Bd6 Rb1+ 31.Kf2+-]

And so, Nithia tied for 1^st with 3 other players in the tourney. Our hero went on to participate in the 224 player strong Queenstown Open. This time round, after winning 3 out of 3 games, he had to face Vietnamese GM Tu Hoang Thong. Outrated by 400 ELO points, Nithia confidently pushed his e4 pawn and the game went…

A sideline played to avoid the Dilworth variation which is pretty tough to defend in a rapid game. Normally, Dr Nithia goes for the main lines in his White openings. [9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Bc2 Nxf2 12.Rxf2 f6 13.exf6 Qxf6 is the Dilworth Variation which Black, for the price of losing the minor exchange, gets to enjoy the open e and f files for his rooks.]

[9...Be7 10.c3 transposes to a Main Line Open variation]

Interesting new move. The Vietnamese GM attempts to delay Be7 in order to put pressure on the e5 pawn. [10...Be7 11.Nbd2 Rd8 12.Bc2 Nxd2 13.Bxd2 Bg4 14.Re1 d4 15.Be4 0-0 16.h3 Bh5 17.Bf4 d3 18.Re3 Qe6 19.Rxd3 Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Bxf3 21.Qxf3 Qxe5 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 23.Re3 Qd6 24.Qe4+ Kg8 25.Qxe7 Qxe7 26.Rxe7 Rd2 27.b4 Rc2 28.Rxc7 Rd8 29.Re1 g6 30.Rc6 Rxa2 31.Rf6 Rd7 32.Rf3 Ra3 33.h4 Rc7 34.Ree3 Kg7 35.Rd3 a5 36.bxa5 Rxa5 37.Rg3 Ra1+ 38.Kh2 Ra4 ½-½ Nisipeanu,L-Cozianu,C/Bucharest 1994/EXT 98 (38)]

[13.Qb1! Be7 14.h3 Bh5 15.Bf5 Ne6 16.Qd3 with the threat of a2-a4 is quite difficult to meet]

[17.h3 Bh5 18.Bh2 d4! 19.Bf5 (19.g4 d3) 19...dxc3 20.bxc3 b4! 21.Re3 bxc3 22.Rxc3 Ncd4 =+]

[23.Nd6!? cxd6 (23...Na5 24.Nf5 Rfe8 25.Nd4 Qd5 26.Qg4‚) 24.exd6 Qd7 25.dxe7 Nxe7 26.Rad1 Qf5 27.Qb7 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 Qe6]

Here, Dr Nithia realised that he has been outplayed positionally and retreating with 25.Nf2 would get him slowly but surely positionally suffocated. Therefore, he decided to sacrifice a pawn with

[25...gxf6 26.Qg6+=]

[30...c5 31.Be7 Rc8 32.Re6 Qb7 33.Bf6+- with a deadly attack]

[31...Rd2 32.Rg3 Rxa2 33.Qxf5 Nh8 34.Qg4 Rf7 35.Re6 Qd5 36.Bf6 is asking for it]

[35...Rd3! IM Hsu Li Yang-It is mandatory to keep the Queen off the dangerous g-file 36.Qf2 Qd5]

[With a few minutes left on the clock, Nithia decided to keep the pressure on Tu and did not want to stop for a snack with 36.Rxa6!? Nd6 37.Rd1]

[An amusing sequence would result after 37...c5 38.Qd3! Qxa2 39.Qe2 Qb3 40.c4 Rf8 41.Re8 Rxe8 42.Qxe8 Qxc4 43.Qf8=]

[38.Qh4 intending Be5 and Qf6 looks very dangerous]

[38...Qxa2 39.Re8 Rxe8 40.Qxe8 g5=]

vacating the f6 square for an eventual Queen sortie [39.Qg3 Qf1+ 40.Kh2 Kh7 41.Rxc7 Qe2=]

[41.Rf6!! now the threat of Qe7 is unstoppable 41...Qc4 (41...Rg8 42.Qe7+-) 42.Kh2 Rg8 (42...c5 43.Qe7+-) 43.Qe7 Rg7 44.Rxa6+-]

[41...c5 42.Bxc5 Qd5=]

[even 42...Qe4 would not save Tu after the simple 43.Qxe4 fxe4 44.Bc5+-]

And the doctor was congratulated by the masses that had followed this intense battle. This spurred Nithia to smash the SCF President FM Alphonsus Chia’s Caro Kann in Round 6 before Singapore’s latest IM Chan Peng Kong offered him a draw in the final round in a Modern Benoni which was still within theory. "The way you are playing, I’d better not mess around", IM Chan was reported to have uttered while offering the draw. So in signing the peace treaty, Dr J Nithiananthan tied with 7 others for top honours this time.

Since then, the doc has been nicknamed the "Caliph" in the local chess fraternity for his giant-killing feats. Also, PowerChess (which GM Tu is coaching for) is said to have offered him a coaching contract…

Hail "El Caliph"!