More links for Chess News from years ago

Hi!

Today, I received two more emails from Mr. John Manahan and he sent me a link which deals with the coverage of The BANG's (Bobby Ang) and Mr. Manny Benitez of the World Youth Championships.

Click here for Mr. Manny Benitez coverage!!!

For The BANG's coverage, please send me a note here so I can send you a copy of the file. It is in JPEG format and I still don't know how to post it here. If you know how, please let me know. Also, I was given a PGN format copy of the games.

Click on the link!

Hi guys!

It's amazing! After slowing down (for the nth time) from posting for my Philippine Chess blog, for today I am posting my third entry and it feels good because it really means that chess is very much alive in the Philippines!

Mr. John Manahan sent me a link and said:

"Here's a link to Chess News Years Ago Kiko. Hope you enjoy this one! Very Informative!"

and so I am sharing it to you all! Hope you like it too!

Click here for a very nice informative old webpage!!!

NCFP Tourneys

Registration for the Bicol Chess Championship is still on going for the Camarines Norte Leg of the 2007 Region V Chess Champinoship to be held March 31-April 2 at the Provincial Capitol, Daet City, Camarines Norte. PLease contact Project Director Willie Abalos at 0929-48711453 or Carmelita Abanes at 0920-4328200. The 7-round Swiss System tournament, organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Surigao de Sur representative and now a senatorial candidate, Prospero Pichay Jr. and Secretary General-Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino, kicked off at the Albay Provincial Capitol Building March 17-19 followed by the Camarines Sur Leg at the LCC Shopping Mall in Naga City March 24-26.

Also, the Iligan/NCFP Open Chess Championship registration is still on going which will be held March 30-April 3 at Lanao Ching Hua School Gymnasium, Palao, Iligan City. A joint project of the NCFP and the Iligan City Government, this tournament offers a total cash prize of 220,000 pesos with the champino receiving 75,000 pesos. Please Contact Iligan City Sports Director Freddie Siao at (063) 2237763, 09209620500 or Willie abalos at 0920-4871453 or the NCFP office at 536-8507 or email NCFPSecretariat@yahoo.com.

Updates on Pichay Chess Caravan: 3 residents of Las Pinas Citywon the Bloomfield Academy leg last March 26 held at the covered court of the said school. This event was joined in by 100 players Las Pinas City and its nearby towns. The Top 3 which includes 4th, 5th and 6th are Jason Visca, Marc Anthony Trinidad and Gary Baltar are the ones who qualified for the Grand Finals of the Chess Caravan. Prizes and certificates were awarded by Coordinator/teacher Ferdie Reyes to Jodie Fonda (top lady) Hector Calma (Top Las Pinas), Giovanni Mejia (Top Kiddie) and Ferdinand Reyes Jr. (Top Bloomfield)

Philippine Chess is alive

At least for those who make it as such...

Today, I got a letter from Mr. Manny Benitez (Editor and Publisher of The Weekender) and there, he gave me a copy of The Chess Plaza Weekender! Wow! Great articles both for the chess scene in the Philippines and around the world. Of course, The BANG's article is there too. From there, I have taken the following news articles:

Nouri grabs Palawan plum

NATIONAL Master Hamed Nouri, the surprise giant killer in last November’s First GMA Cup, pulled off another surprise when he topped the Palawan Open last Thursday in Puerto Princesa.

It was the first major local tournament and biggest-ever paycheck—P50,000—won by the 27-year-old, prematurely balding player from Escalante, Negros Occidental.

NM Nouri—he says he had earned his Fide master title outright in the Asian 3.3 Zonal Championship in Phu Quoc, Vietnam last January, but this has yet to be confirmed by the World Chess Federation—finished the nine-round Palawan Open with 6.0 points..

Nouri was a half point clear of five others that included two veteran campaigners, IMs Richard Bitoon, whom he held to a draw in the final round, and Barlo Nadera, whom he bested in the fourth round.

In a tie for second to sixth places with 5.5 each were IM Bitoon, NM Rolando Andrador, IM Nadera, NM Emmanuel Senador and Butch Villavieja, in that order.

Non-master Nelson Villanueva, who finished second to GM Eugene Torre in the La Union Open earlier this month, and NM Raniel Galang followed with 5.0 each.

“I’m very happy with my result since it is my first big win,” said Nouri, whose participation in the Palawan Open was made possible by former Commission on Higher Education chairman Brother Rolando Dizon of La Salle and Escalante Mayor Santiago Barcelona.

Nouri revealed that he decided to draw his sixth-round game with Andador after seeing IMs Bitoon and Nadera, both of whom are from Cebu, agree to a draw.

In the final round, he also sued Bitoon for a peaceful settlement, secure in the knowledge that he had won the tournament’s top prize of P50,000.

In the GMA Cup, he figured in a minor incident when Russian GM Vladimir Belov raised the suspicion that Nouri was getting help from a computer simply because he was wearing a cap in the tournament hall at the Duty Free Shop in Parañaque City.

He was asked to take off his baseball cap, and he meekly complied, showing a balding pate. Nothing was found in the cap and Belov withdrew his charges, but not before getting hold of all the scoresheets of the games that Nouri had won.

At the Asian Zonal in Vietnam, Nouri demonstrated that his wins at the GMA Cup were no fluke by beating Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai, a former zonal champion and drawing with GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson. He finished seventh, just behind IM Wesley So.

—Redemptor Anda and Ignacio Dee

NON-MASTERS OPEN AT ATENEO

Areque of Bacolod wins Leviste Cup

BACOLOD bet Jerry Areque took all his non-master rivals by surprise as he swept through the nine-round Dr. Jose P. Leviste Sr. Cup Championship undefeated to romp off with the top purse of P9,000 plus trophy.

The active chess open for non-masters rated 2050 and below was hosted last weekend by the Ateneo de Manila University chess teams from all three levels (elementary, secondary and collegiate) to honor the memory of an alumnus who was an outstanding sportsman.

Areque garnered 8.5 points from eight wins and one draw, topped by a convincing win in 36 moves of a King’s Indian duel with Michael Linde.

But the day belonged to another youngster, Ervil Villa, who pulled off a major upset over tournament favorite Jan Emmanuel Garcia in 62 moves of a Reti Opening to finish in a tie for second to fifth places.

With his final-round win, Garcia garnered 7.5 points, the same score as those of Jayson Salubre, Clement Valledor and Nazario Ubanan. The four split the second, third, fourth and fifth prizes totaling P13,000.

Salubre drew with Franz Barreto after 28 moves of a King’s Pawn Game, Valdez trounced Ryan Dungca in 48 moves of a Caro-Kann, while Ubanan crushed Jonathan Reniva in 29 moves of a King’s Indian Attack.

Category winners were Haridas Pascua (top under 18), Jan Emmanuel Garcia (top under 12), Maria Essa Theresa Cortes (top under 10), Mikee Suede (top lady player), Gabriel Layugan (top Ateneo player), Marion Jyel Cordova (top Ateneo high school player) and Carlitos Encarnacion III (top Ateneo grade school player).

Ateneo chess head coach IM Idelfonso Datu organized the event with the backing of sportsman Jose Leviste Jr., lead booster of the Ateneo chess teams, and Pidiong Cruz, general manager of the Ateneo Grade School Cafeteria, in close cooperation with Malabon Oil and Soap Co.

International Arbiter Elias Lau served as chief arbiter with the assistance of Chiara Lim, assistant coach for the university’s women’s team.

Also pitching in were all members of the Ateneo chess coaching staff. Ms. Lim emceed the closing ceremony.

Quezon City Councilor Ariel Inton, Mirant president Leviste Jr., NCFP chairman and QC Rep. Matt Defensor, and university athletics director Jose A. Capistrano Jr. were the guest speakers.

Mikee Defensor, 11, daughter of senatorial candidate Mike Defensor, also gave a short talk.

All the games were played at the Ateneo Grade School Cafeteria.

Dr. Leviste graduated from the Ateneo High School in 1933 and earned his Associate in Arts in 1935.

- National Master Marlon Bernardino

Pinoy players fail to make it to HK title series final

NOT one of the four Filipino players who entered the preliminaries made it to the Hong Kong Championship final.

It was the first time for Olympiad veteran Edwin Borigas, a consistent finalist over the past decade, not to qualify for the premier chess event in the former British colony, now a special administrative region of China.

Borigas, an engineer with a multinational construction company, missed the boat by just half a point, having scored only 5.0 to land the 10th berth. Only nine were needed for the 12-player final phase of the championship, which will be the basis for selecting members of the national team bound for the 38th Olympiad next year.

Three top players, all former HK champions, were seeded directly to the final. They were Brian Dew, teenaged WGM Anya Corke and C.Y. Chong. Corke and Chong are, like Borigas, Olympiad veterans.

Besides Borigas, three Filipino expatriates competed in the qualifying tournament. They were Vic Valencia, an architect, Nat Pinero and Art Dumalaog, a musician.

Most of the nine qualifiers are junior players. Three of them—Tsang Hon Ki, Bryan Le, and Marco Yu—scored 7.0 each to tie for first to second places.

Marco’s brother Melvin tied for the fourth and fifth places with David Chong. They had 6.5 each.

The Yu brothers were members of the Hong Kong team, along with Borigas and an English expatriate, that participated in the 14th Asian Cities Championship hosted by Tagaytay City in 2004.

Tagaytay won the Dubai Cup that year, the first time that a Philippine team topped the Asian Cities, since 1978 when it was launched by the Hong Kong Chess Federation under the sponsorship of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank.

The first Asian Cities title went to Singapore.

Tagaytay took the silver in Tehran earlier this month when it finished second to Pavlodar of Kazakhstan.

QMC Chess Plaza Club to hold active tourney on Saturday

PROSPECTIVE members of the newly registered Quezon Memorial Chess Plaza Club will hold their inaugural tournament and meeting on Saturday, May 24, tournament director and board member Alfredo V. Chay announced Friday.

Registration is free. Trophies and medals await the winners of the “chess for fun” event.

Thirty-three players have signified their intention to join the club. Among the better-known ones are the Cua sisters, Sherily and Shercila, NM Mirabeau Maga, Dennis San Juan, Macapagal Paguital, Bobby Ang, Ricardo C. Copones, Rodolfo A. Pates, MJ Turqueza, Marc Christian Nazario, Camille Buduan and Elmer Yanzon Jr.

The katuwaan tournament on Saturday will be a mixed and open one, regardless of gender, age, title and rating.

The club was formed in line with plans to make the QMC Chess Plaza the center of chess activities not only in Quezon City but also in the entire National Capital Region popularly known as Metro Manila.

One of its objectives is to make the plaza a recreational center for families. Another is to help in the drive against drug abuse by teaching out-of-school youths and street urchins the rudiments of the game as a healthful pastime that helps develop discipline and build character.

Others who have indicated their desire to join the country’s newest club are Bernard Estaras, Larry C. Brillantes, Jason Llarenas, Ariel Pastrana, Winson Perez, Raymund A, Salcedo, Eduardo S. Ubaldo Jr., Glenjoy C. Porcalla, Rolando B. Budels, Roger I. Clarin, Virgilio P. Miranda, Romeo S. Caminong, Mervince Yanzon, R. S. “Totong” Endrane, Efren Palmares, Freddie Maransan, Jack Dasmariñas, Ricardo C. Yambao, Jose Aguilar, Edimar Eje, Lito D. Dioneda, Oscar S. Gonzales and Noel Tordecilla.

15th ASIAN CITIES CHAMPIONSHIP
IMs outshine GMs in Tehran

IF not for the extraordinary performance on the lower boards of IMs Wesley So, 13, and Olive Dimakiling, 26, defending title-holder Tagaytay would have come back empty-handed from the 15th Asian Cities Championship in Tehran.

This is because the performance on the upper boards of GMs Mark Paragua, 22, and Joey Antonio, 42, left much to be desired.

This is especially so in the case of board one player Paragua, who contributed only 4.5 points to the team’s total from two wins, three losses and four draws, or a performance rating of 45 per cent.

GM Antonio’s performance was decidedly above average considering that he finished ninth overall while GM Paragua ended up in 36th place.

Antonio, whose rating is expected to rise next month and make him the No. 1 player again in the country, had 6.5 points from five wins, one loss and three draws for a 72.2 per cent performance rating. He could have done better, however, if he had fully recovered from his sinusitis.

On the other hand, So and Dimakiling each had 7.5 points from seven wins, one draw and one loss for an 83.3 per cent performance, with Wesley winning on tiebreak over his fellow IM.

Both were originally in a tie with the gold medalist, Kazakh GM Petr Kostenko, who had lost to So in the fourth round.

On board three, So got the gold for his performance based on percentage and a second one on performance rating. Dimakiling on board four received the gold based on percentage and the silver on performance rating.

Of course, all four—Paragua, Antonio, So and Dimakiling—received silver medals for their team’s second-place finish.

Here is the analyzed version of Wesley’s outstanding fourth-round win with Black over GM Kostenko of champion team Pavlodar, arising from a Sicilian Pelikan/Svshnikov:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Nxe7 Nxe7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.c4 Bb7 13.Bd3 13.cxb5 Bxe4 14.bxa6 d5 would lead to equality Rg8 14.Rg1 14.cxb5 would also offer equal chances, e.g., …f5 15.bxa6 Bxe4 16.Qa4+ Kf8 17.Bxe4 fxe4 18.Qxe4 f5 bxc4 15.Nxc4 d5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Qa4+ 17.Ne3 Qd4 18.Qb3 would have restored the balance Kf8! 18.0–0–0 Not 18.Bxh7 because of ...Rg4 19.b3 f5 20.Bxf5 Nxf5 21.Qb4+ Kg7!, and Black would have overwhelming advantage Rxg2 19.Bxh7 19.Rxg2! was best, e.g., …Qxg2 20.Nd6! Rxg1 Black is now way ahead 20.Rxg1 Rc8 21.b3 Qd4 22.Qb4??

After 22.Qb4??

The final mistake, not that it matters anymore, says Fritz. Best but not enough to alter the outcome was 22.Rg3 f5 23.Qb4 Qa1+ 24.Kd2 Rd8+ 25.Nd6.

22…Qa1+! 23.Kc2 Qxg1 24.Qxb7 Qxf2+ 25.Kb1 Rd8 26.Bc2 Nd5 27.h4 Qe1+ 28.Kb2 Qc3+ 29.Kb1 Nb4 29...e4 was more decisive, e.g., 30.Bxe4 Nb6 31.Bc2 Nxc4 32.bxc4 Qe1+ 33.Kb2 Qe5+ 30.Qg2 Nxc2 Fritz suggests 30...e4, e.g., 31.Qe2 Nxc2 32.Qxc2 Qe1+ 31.Qxc2 Qxc2+ 32.Kxc2 e4 33.Ne3 Ke7 0–1

One of Dimakiling’s best efforts was his win with White in a Queen’s Pawn encounter in the first round against Sabir Majid Ares of Iraq’s Sulimania team, as follows:

1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.Bg3 Bg7 5.e3 Nf6 6.c4 c6 7.Nc3 Bf5 On 7...Qb6 8.Qd2 8.Qb3 Qb6 9.Bxb8 Qxb3 9...Rxb8 10.Qxb6 axb6 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 cxd5 13.Ne2 was playable 10.axb3 Rxb8 11.Rxa7 e6 12.Nf3 Bc2 If 12...g4 13.Nd2 13.Nd2 Better was13.b4 Nd7 0–0 14.Be2 Rfe8 15.0–0 e5 16.dxe5 Rxe5 17.Nf3 Re7 18.Nd4 White is now very much ahead Bg6 19.Nxc6!

After 19.Nxc6!
Forking both rooks. The knight is imnmune because of the pin on b7.

19...bxc6 20.Rxe7 Rxb3 21.cxd5 cxd5 22.Bf3 Rxb2 23.Nxd5 Better than 23.Bxd5 Rc2 24.Rc7 Rxc3 25.Bxf7+ Bxf7 26.Rxc3 Be6 Kf8 24.Ra7 The clincher. 1–0

RIGHT from the start, the country’s highest-rated grandmaster showed he was not prepared to play even against lower-rated and titled masters on the top boards in the Dubai Cup Asian Cities Championship in Tehran early this month.

While the rest of the four-man squad won their initial assignments against a weak Iranian team, Sulimania, which eventually finished in 10th place, 23-year-old GM Mark Paragua (2573) could not make any headway against IM Aziz Ahmad, 25, rated 2346.

Here is their Sicilian duel:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 h6 9.Be3 Be7 10.f4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 0–0 12.Qb6 Qe8 13.Be2 Nd7 14.Qd4 b5 15.g4 Bb7 16.h4 Nc5 17.g5 e5 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.Qxe5 Nxe4 20.Bd4 Bxg5+ 21.hxg5 Qxe5 22.Bxe5 Rfe8 23.Bf3 Rxe5 24.Bxe4 Bxe4 25.Nxe4 Rxe4 26.gxh6 g6 27.Rd7 Rf4 28.h7+ Kh8 29.Rd2 Rf6 30.a4 bxa4 31.Rd4 a3 32.bxa3 g5 33.c4 Kg7 34.c5 Rh6 35.Rxh6 Kxh6 36.h8Q+ Rxh8 37.Rd6+ Kh5 38.Rxa6 Re8 39.c6 g4 40.Kd2 g3 41.Kd3 Kg4 42.Ra4+ Kh3 43.Re4 Rxe4 44.Kxe4 g2

With both players about to queen their pawns, a draw was agreed. ½–½

Paragua, whose rating (2617) was that of a super GM in last year’s Olympiad, was again held to a draw in the second round, this time by an Iranian Fide master, Mehrdad Ardeshi, rated 2421, of the Rahahan team, in a Semi-Slav, Meran game:

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.e3 e6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0–0 0–0 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nxe4 10.Bxe4 h6 11.Bc2 e5 12.Qd3 f5 13.c5 Bc7 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Qb3+ Kh8 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.Re1 Qf6 18.f4 Bd4+ ½–½

GM Paragua finally scored a win in the third round, this time with Black against yet another Iranian player, untitled and low-rated M. Sadatnajafi (2190), top-board player of Tidewater, which ended up No. 6. Here is their King’s Indian duel:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Bg5 0–0 5.Qd2 d6 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 Bg4 8.e4 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Na6 10.Bg2 Nc7 11.0–0 Nh5 12.Rfe1 Qd7 13.f4 f6 14.Bh4² Bh6 15.Bg3 e5 16.dxe6 Nxe6 17.Bh3 17.Nd5 should be considered f5 Equalizing 18.Nd5 Nd4 19.Kg2 Nf6 20.exf5 20.f3 may be tried Nxd5 21.cxd5 gxf5 22.Kf1 Qb5+ 23.Kg2 Qc4 24.Kh1 Qxd5+ 25.Bg2 Qf7 26.Qa5 Kh8 27.Red1 Bg7 Black is way ahead 28.Rd2 b6 29.Qa6 Rae8 30.h3 Bf6 31.Rad1 h5 32.a4 h4 33.Bh2 d5 34.b4 Rd8 34...c4 35.Rxd4 Bxd4 36.Qb5 is also good for Black 35.a5 Qc7 36.Bg1 Rd6 37.axb6 axb6 38.Qa2 Rfd8 39.Rc1 c4 40.Rcd1 c3 41.Rd3 R6d7 Fritz suggests 41...c2, e.g., 42.Rc1 Qc4 43.Qxc4 dxc4 42.Rc1 Ne6 42...Qc4 seems even better, e.g., 43.Qxc4 dxc4 44.Rdxc3, and Black surges on 43.Rxd5? Rxd5 44.Bxd5 Nxf4 45.Bf3 Nd3 46.Bh2 Nxc1 47.Qc2 Qd7 48.Qxc1 Qd2! 0–1

After 48…Qd2!

Paragua’s worst loss was with Black in a Sicilian duel to a lower-rated Syrian IM, Imad Hakki (2428), of Damescaus, in the seventh round, as follows:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.f4 Nc5 Equalizing 9.0–0 Be7 9...Nfxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 would have kept the balance 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Nxb3 12.axb3 Bc5 13.Be3 Nd5 14.Bf2 Nxc3 15.bxc3 0–0 16.Qh5 Bd7 17.Bh4 Be7 17...Qc7! looks okay 18.Bf6 Seizing the lead h6 19.Rf3 Kh7 20.Raf1 Best was 20.Bxg7! Kxg7 21.Rg3+ Kh7 22.Rf1! Bxf6± 21.Rxf6 Be8 21...Rc8 could have reduced White’s lead, e.g., 22.Rxf7 Rxf7 23.Qxf7 Rxc3 24.Qf4 22.R1f3! Qa5 22...gxf6?? leads to self-mate 23.Rh3 Kg8 24.Qxh6 Qxd4+ 25.cxd4 fxe5 26.Rg3#! 23.Rh3 Qa1+ 24.Rf1 Qb2 25.Qf3 Bc6 25...Bb5 26.Qe4+ Kg8 27.Re1 could minimize White’s lead 26.Qd3+ Kg8 27.Rg3 Qa3 28.Qe3 Kh7 29.Rf6!
29.Rf6! Qa1+??

After 29…Qa1??
A pathetic sight, indeed!

30.Kf2 Rg8 31.Rh3! 1–0

JUDGING by his performance on board two in the Asian Cities Championship in Tehran, I think GM Joey Antonio has not yet really overcome his health concerns, which have somehow affected his games since the second half of last year.

I am sure he was properly motivated to help bring back home the Dubai Cup that Tagaytay as host city captured in 2004, thanks mainly to his efforts on board one then.

That he was not in tiptop condition in Iran is clearly shown by his results: five wins, one loss and three draws. Ordinarily, he could not be forced into a draw when facing a much weaker player.

The first indication that all was not well with the country’s finest tactician came as early as the second round when, in a better position during the transition from the middle game to the endgame of a Queen’s Pawn opening, Joey failed to stop his Iranian rival, FM Mohsen Sharbaf (2383) of Rahahan, from forcing a draw by repetition.

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bf4 Bf5 5.e3 e6 6.Ne5 Qa5 7.g4 Bg6 8.f3 Bb4 8...Ba3 9.Qc1 would have equalized 9.Qd2 Nfd7 10.Nd3 Na6 11.Nxb4 Nxb4 12.Rc1 0–0 12...0–0–0 seems more logical, says Fritz 13.Bd6 c5 14.Bxf8 Rxf8 15.a3 Nc6 16.Ne2 Qb6 17.b3 e5 18.dxe5 Ndxe5 19.Bg2 Not 19.Qxd5 because of ...Rd8 20.Qxd8+ Nxd8, with Black way ahead d4 20.0–0 Rd8 21.e4 21.Nf4 may be tried d3 Equalizing 22.Nf4 Nd4 23.cxd3 Nxb3 24.Qe3 Nxc1 25.Rxc1 Nd7 26.Nd5 Qb2 27.f4 f6 27...Qxa3 won't work because of 28.f5 28.e5 fxe5 29.f5 Bf7 30.Qg5 Nf8 31.Qxd8 Qxc1+ 32.Bf1 h5 33.g5 Bxd5 34.Qxd5+ Kh8 35.Qd8 Kg8 36.Qd5+ Kh8 37.Qd8 Kg8 38.Qd5+ ½–½

Joey’s finest win with White was in the third round against Iranian FM Morteza Darban (2401) of Rahahan in a Sicilian Richter-Rauzer duel, as follows:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Qf3 Qb6 10.0–0–0 Be7 11.e5 dxe5 12.Nb3 Rd8 12...a5 13.a3 would have equalized 13.Bxf6 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Bxe7 Kxe7 15.Qxe4 f6 offers equal chances Bxf6 Equalizing 14.Ne4 Be7 15.Nd6+ Bxd6 16.Rxd6 Ke7 17.Rhd1 f6 17...Bc8! should not be overlooked, e.g., 18.c4 Rxd6 19.Rxd6 Re8 18.Qg3 g6 19.Qh4 h5 20.Qg3 Rhg8 21.Qd3 Bc8 22.Nc5 Qc7 Not 22...Qxc5 because of 23.Rdxd8! 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 Keeping the balance 24.Qxg6 Rxd1+ 25.Kxd1 Qd6+ 26.Nd3 Ba6 27.Kc1 Bxd3 28.Qxd3 Qb4 29.Qe3 a5 30.g3 Kf7 31.a3 Qb5 32.b3 Kg7 32...Qd5 33.f3, with equal chances 33.Kb2 Qd5 34.h4 e4 35.a4 Kg6 36.c3 c5 37.Kc2 Kg7 38.Qd2 Qf5 39.Kb2 Kg6 40.Qe3 Qd5 41.Kc2 Qf5 42.Kb2 Qe5 43.Qd2 Qf5 44.Kc1 Qe5 45.Kd1 Qf5 46.Qc2 Qf3+ 47.Qe2 Qxc3 48.Qxe4+ Kf7 49.Qh7+ Kf8 50.Qc2 Qd4+ 51.Qd2 Qd5 52.Kc2 Qf5+ 53.Kc3 Qd5 54.Kc2 Qf5+ 55.Kc1 e5 55...Kg7 might be a viable alternative 56.Qd6+ Gaining a clear advantage Kf7 57.Qxc5 Qf3 58.Qe3 Qd5 59.Kc2 e4 60.Kc3 Kg6 61.Qd4 Qf5 62.b4 axb4+ 63.Kxb4 Qe6 64.a5 Kf5??

After 64…Kf5??

The losing moment. 64...Qe7+ was better but it wouldn’t alter the outcome.
65.Qc4 Qe8 66.Qb5+! 1–0

Forcing the exchange of queens after which the outside passed pawn wins the race.

And here is Joey’s win with Black, in the seventh round against Indian player E.P. irmal (2203) of the Calicut team, in a sharp clash arising from a Caro-Kann Exchange/Panov-Botvinnik Attack: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Qc7 6.Bg5 Nf6 7.Qb3 e6 8.Nd2 Bd6 9.Ngf3 Nh5 10.0–0–0 10.0–0! deserves consideration, says Fritz h6 11.Be3 Bd7 12.Kb1 Nf4 13.Bf1 Na5 Not 13...a5 because of 14.h4! 14.Qc2 b5 15.Ne5 Bxe5 16.dxe5 Ng6 17.f4 Nc4 18.Nxc4 bxc4 19.Qf2 Rc8 20.g4 0–0 On 20...Rb8 21.Bg2 21.Bd4 f6 22.exf6 Qxf4 23.Qc2 23.Qxf4 should be examined more closely, e.g., ...Nxf4 24.fxg7 e5! 24.Qxg6 Rxf6 25.Qc2?? 25.Qh5 offers the best chance, e.g., ...Bxg4 26.Qxe5 Bxd1 27.Qxd5+ Kh7 28.Bxc4! Bxg4! Black now has a huge advantage 26.Qg2 26.Bxe5 Qxe5 27.Bh3 Bxh3 28.Ka1 favors Black Bf3 26...Bxd1 is more decisive, e.g., 27.Bxc4 dxc4 28.Rg1, and Black is way ahead 27.Qh3 Rcf8 28.Bc5 Bxd1 29.Bxf8 29.Bxc4 gives the only chance for some counterplay, e.g., ...Qxc4 30.Rxd1 Bg4! 0–1 After 29…Bg4!

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That, my friends, are some of the gems I found in The Weekender. For a complete compy of The Weekender, please check out my previous post to see the link I have provided.

Have a good day!

Upcoming events

The 2007 Echiverri-Pichay National Rapid Chess Team Championship is set on April 21-22 2007. The avarage rating for the team should be 2100 and below. Please contact Caloocan City Sports Head Mr. Dindo Simpao as 2888811 local 2241 or 09178266725.

Also, The Pichay Chess Caravan is in the province of Cavite in three successive days. This started last March 27 and will end tomorrow, March 29. Dr. Jenny Mayor, NCFP's Director for Countrywide Chess Development says this is one of the steps the NCFP has made to ensure a long term program for grassroots development in the country. The caravan's first stop was the Baranggay Aniban of Bacoor Cavite and today, wednesday, the town of Dasmarinas Cavite. To end this 3-day chess chess fiesta, the town of GMA or General Mariano Alvarez will be the final stop.

Included in the program are chess tournaments, clinic and a simul.

Lastly, the Subic International Open that will happen from April 10-20, 2007 has attracted a lot of GM inquiries. China will be sending 10 players with 7 GM's and 3 untitled players. US GM John Elvhest might join the event. Indonesian GM's Adianto, Megaranto and Handoko are joining. Also from Indonesia, were going to see action from WFM Sukandar and the untitled Das.

For the registration, please call the NCFP office at 536-8507 or email them at NCFPsecretariat@yahoo.com.

Bettah' late than nevah!

Hi guys!

From our forum (NCFP), lunetagirl posted last March 21 the following:

Albay Leg (March 17 - 19, 2007)

Champion Ricardo Martin
2nd NM Onofre Espiritu Jr.
3rd NM Carlo Lorena
4th James Quebedo
5th Marvid Zuniega
6th Rogelio Echano
7th Renante Aureada
8th Emil Valeza
9th Tino Laurio
10th Epifanio Bueno Jr.
Top Junior Joeven Polsotin
Top Senior Antonio Cordial
Top Lady Jazzel Orobia
Top Kiddie Daniel Mascarinas

Thank you so much lunetagirl!

The Urdaneta Chess Club recently organized the Urdaneta Non-Masters last March 24, 2007, saturday. Results to come in later. Watch out for it!

Urdaneta Non-Master Active Chess Tournament

Hi there!

Up north of the Philippines, the registration for Non-Master Active Chess Tournament will be until Friday, March 23, 2007. The said event is sponsored and organized by the Urdaneta Chess Club and this is open to all non-master and beginners of the City residents and other nearby towns. This event is supported by the City Government of Urdaneta. Top prize for the event is PhP 5,000, PhP 3,500 for the second placer and PhP 1,500 for the 3rd placer. Players landing on 4th-12th place will each receive PhP 400.

Interested parties may contact 0918-4253841.

Watch out for updates on this.

Till then!

Chess Columns and Publications

Hi!

Recently, there's not much chess news in our country published in the major dailies like Philippine Star (PS) and Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI). If there is, they're some announcements regarding tournaments here and there.

The networking-game-fixing issue has died down and the one year ban on chess players went off the air. Lunatically, there's not much to write positively about. The BANG's Chess Piece is there, comes out twice a week for Business World but sadly, it takes forever for the site to load up. The weekly column Let's Play Chess of NM Edgar de Castro for PS mostly deals with foreign chess news.

Yes, I have never read any write up from that column about Philippine Chess Scene. 3 years ago, I was a part-time Senior Instructor at Philippine Women's University (The World's First University for Women!) and I once read, during my break, a chess article from a newspaper written by Manny Benitez in the University Library. To be honest, I don't recall exactly whether the paper was Manila Today or Manila Standard. Add to the fact that I got to read the column only once because the following week, I tried to read another article from the same column and I didn't find it.

And so, we go back to the fact that I am having a hardtime looking out and fishing out news for Philippine Chess nowadays. Even the NCFP Chess Caravan is not given a coverage by NCFP. NCFP Forum has one thread for this but it does not say a thing, not even the schedule for the next stop. The NCFP site is a bit inactive compared to other chess sites.

Yesterday, I discovered a new chess publication and it's called The Weekender. It's more of a gazette for Quezon Memorial Circle Chess CLub. The thing is, IT IS NOT FOR SALE. I discovered the online version thru a forum. It is authored by Manny Benitez himself.

Here is the link for Manny Benitez section of the forum Butuang Global: Let's talk Chess.

That's it for now.

Philippine International Open 2007

Hi!

Two simultaneous NCFP chess tournament is up right after the Holy Week of 2007. Philippine International Open and Philippine Chess Challenge will be hosted at Subic, Olongapo City.

For further details and registration forms, Visit NCFP here.

The newly-formed Binan Chess Club is calling all interested residents of Binan, Laguna and it's nearby town to contact ROOKDENS of NCFP Forum at 0927-7235118.

Rookdens posted:

"FIRST TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE TENTATIVELY SET ON APRIL 14-15. INTER BARANGGAY CHESS TEAM TOURNAMENT"

Way down south of Tagalog Region of the Philippines, The Bicol Open was successfully staged last weekend, March 17, 2007. No reports and write-ups seen on the net and the daily newspaper though except for NCFP Director Willie Abalos in his Tabloid, Police Files. Update on this to follow.

BICOL OPEN 2007

Hi!

After a long silence, more of a thinking mode for my next move, I finally went back to my writing mood.

We have the The BICOL OPEN 2007 which is again, good news for Philippine Chess.

We also have NCFP Chess Caravan but ironically, nobody seems to care to cover the event. What I heard is that it goes around Metro Manila every saturday. even I have not received any news. NCFP People? CJAP?

Lastly, there's this article about Marc Paragua going overseas.

You know what?

I am a Special Education Teacher Specialist and I'd go overseas sooner as I can when the chance comes knocking on my door. I'd say "Go Mark! you and the family you are starting to build deserves a more stable financial income" Plus of course a better career as a Professional Chess Player, not to mention the issues hounding chess in our nation.

Nothing really new about these news!

Cavite School of St. Mark

My High School Alma Mater has an announcement to all my fellow Alumni:

We have scheduled the 20th Anniversary Grand Alumni homecoming this December 2007. We are calling all alumni to update their profiles so we may be able to communicate with you. Please visit the alumni section for details.

So everyone out there to happens to know someone from the "Winged Lion" compound, please be advised to check out this link...The Winged Lions!!!

Summer time!

Hi again!

Summer is here and what better way to spend those days to keep those minds and body fit? Plus of course to avoid the "got-nothing-to-do" attitude? Summer Lessons!

When I was in grade school and secondary school, the family tradition is to go to the province during the Holy week and then our parents go back to Manila while us, their kids are left to spend the rest of April playing with our cousins who live there. Come May, it's my cousins turn to spend 2 weeks in our house in Sta. Ana Manila. I guess it makes perfect sense because it is the time when my cousins would buy their school pencils, papers and of course shoes.

My fondest memories of these summer breaks are those fishing (Laguna de Bay which by now is a big fish pond) fruit-bearing tree-climbing (aratiles, manggoes, sampaloc or tamarind, sinigwelas), playing catch, basketball, dama (chinese checkers), chess and other things we can do on a day time. At night time we play a lot of scare-me stories and hide and seek. These were the things that pretty much occupied my senses.

Back to present! We now have all the necessary means (speed of travel and communication) to simply while away an almost two month vacation. Video games, Internet, Malls and of course summer lessons.

Chess Lesson Schedule provided by WNM Mila Emperado:

Enrollment for the Checkmate summer chess clinics sponsored by MILO is now on going at the Metropolitan Chess Club (MCC) headquarter located at the Upper 2F of St. Francis Square (SFS) behind SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

The chess clinics will officially start on Mar. 26-31 and will be conducted at the following venues and time slots, namely: San Beda College-Alabang- 8am-12nn; SFS- 2-6pm; Chowking-Anonas, Quezon City- 2-6pm; Jollibee-Harrison Plaza, Manila- 8am-12nn; Manila Central University, Kalookan City - 8am-12nn and Walter Mart- Makati City opposite Don Bosco- 2-6pm.

Each series consists of seven sessions and will be conducted daily. Classes in SFS are offered daily, MWF, TTHS or Sat-Sun sessions.

The early weekly offerings are scheduled on Mar. 12-17 and Mar. 19-24 and would be held at McDonald-Binondo Branch opposite Binondo church from 8am-12nn; Chowking-Anonas 2-6pm and at SFS 2-6pm.

Interested parties may also register at the venue site of their choice at least before the clinic starts. For other details, call the organizing MCC at 826-8560, 0916-852-1069 and 0916-6608-712.

Start them young!

Announcement!

"St. Mary’s Academy of Pasay is celebrating its 85th year Anniversary. Various activities are lined up. Students, parents, alumni and friends are invited to take part in this milestone…For more details regarding its year-long activities, you may call 551-46-63 and visit its website: www.sma-pc.edu.ph"

RP-Tagaytay at 2nd

Hi!

The RP-Tagaytay Team composed of GM's Mark Paragua and Joey Antonio, IM's Wesley So and Oliver Dimakiling placed 2nd at the recently held Asian Intercities Dubai Cup. We fell four points short behind the tournament champion Pavlodar but we earned the bragging rights of being the only team to beat PAVLODAR in this event.

For individual awards, IM's Wesley So and Oliver "Dimax" Dimakiling each received Gold Medals for Board's 3 and 4 raking in 7.5 points each out of possible 9 points. GM Antonio received Silver Medal for Board 2.

More on this Asian Intercities Dubai Cup!

On another event, Asia's first ever Grandmaster. Eugene Torre, won for the first time the La Union Open by besting the tournament's revelation, untitled Nelson Villanueva, 1.5 - 0.5.

More on this La Union Open

Also, I'd like to post SCU_grad's announcement at the NCFP Forum:

The Xavier chess team would like to invite all readers of this board to an 18 hour advanced chess clinic to be held at Xavier School starting Apr 9th. All participants should have some tournament experience and both students and adults are welcome. Probably mostly students will attend because it's vacation for them and adults have to work! We're pegging costs at P1500 per head and will run on the mornings of Monday Wednesday and Friday. Instructors are NM Erwin Carag and IA Rolly Yutuc, two excellent chess teachers. We expect to run about two or three hours for about two to three weeks.

Please send me a private message if this is something you or someone you know might be interested in joining. Thanks!

Updates for La Union Open

As posted by micrab of NCFP Forum:

Castellano shocks IM Bitoon

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – Christopher Castellano pulled off a stunning win over International Master Richard Bitoon to march into the quarterfinal round of the La Union Open Chess Championship yesterday at the Diego Silang Hall of the Provincial Capitol here.

The former UP standout proved too sharp as he beat Bitoon, 1.5-.5 in the event organized by chess executive director Samuel Estimo and regional coordinator Joseph Dumuk.

Sharing the limelight with Castellano was Rizal Technological University (RTU) standout Nelson Villanueva, who trounced Ferdinand Leysa by the same score.

Also advancing into the Round of 8 of the tournament sponsored by La Union Gov. Victor Ortega and San Fernando City Mayor Mary Jane Ortega were Grandmaster Eugene Torre, IM Ronald Bancod, FM Fernie Donguines, NMs Mirabeau Maga and Rolando Nolte and La Union top player Belsar Valencia.

Torre beat Rhobel Legaspi (1.5-0.5), Bancod defeated Horizon Villanueva (1.5-0.5), Donguines nipped NM Rolando Andador (1.5-0.5), Maga waylaid NM Nicomedes Alisangco (1.5-0.5), Nolte edged former champion NM Emmanuel Senador (4.5-3.5), and Valencia blanked NM Terence Gonzales (2-0).

In the quarters, Torre is pitted against Nolte, Maga vs Donguines, Castellano vs Valencia and Villanueva opposite Bancod.

Meanwhile, the blitz side event sponsored by Chicago-based and former Olympian NM Julian "Bato" Lobigas Jr. and Fianchetto Realty Corporation vice-president GM Eugene Torre starts today.

The champion in the R650,000 event will receive R100,000.

* courtesy of TEMPO News

2nd Kapitana Cup

From GM Big J of NCFP Forum:

"The 2nd. Edition of The Chairman Purificacion D.A. Gonzales Chess Tournament dubbed as The Kapitana Cup reels off on March 18, 2007 at the Comembo Sports Complex. Everyone's invited......

Tower 28 Pawnpushers Guild (T-28PG) in cooperation with the National Association of Philippine Chess Arbiters (NAPCA) presents The 2nd. Chairman Purificacion D.A. Gonzales Chess Tournament (a.k.a. The 2nd. Kapitana Cup)
This seven (7) round Swiss System event which will be held on March 18, 2007 Sunday at the Comembo Sports Complex, Kamagong St., Comembo, Makati City from 8:00 am up to 8:00 pm is open to all non-masters, ladies and kids rated 2000 and below.
Each player will be given 30 mins. to finish the game.
Cash and special prizes will be given away to the top players.
Registration fee is P100.00 (50% discount for elementary and high school students who will present their school ID. NO ID NO DISCOUNT)

For registration and more information, please contact Mr. Joseph Estallo 09207948591/8826288"

Let's support this and join the games!

Of Games and PGNs

Hi there!

La Union Open...

Asian Intercities...

Linares 2007...

Capelle la la grand Open...

Philippine Open 2004...

1st GMA Cup 2006...

Well yes, the first 3 tournaments are on going with favorable news for the Filipinos in the Asian Intercities. But that's beside the point. The reason for this post is simple, I discovered a good chess database software... And I am trying to learn how to us it now.

I was given a zip file of Philippine Open 2004 and the 1st GMA Cup early this year and until now, I haven't open it nor used it for my chess study. The reason? I don't know how to use it nor the PGN format.

And I am sharing this link hoping that I'd be able to help out people like me in the cyberspace and chess world. Check it here!!!

Chess activities here and there

Hi!

First, I'd like to inform our readers that the post I made entitled "News from years ago" was a simple compilation sent to me by the RP-Chess Group creator and I was not the one who wrote them. I simply shared it with you guys. Ok? Let the credits go to where it is due.

Second, all the favors I've asked from chess people from 2 weeks ago have been granted now. Sir John of SCU_grad of NCFP forum furnished me a copy of the 3rd Xavier Interscholastic Chess Invitational which we will be seeing here today. The IMPORTANT (at least for me!) pictures I took from the Xavier event were all erased acidentally by my younger brother Jaime Antonio. Ouchh! I lost the photo where I was able to put together the coaches from all the participating schools, the organizers and International Arbiters Yutuc and Bautista. Hay naku!

Also, The BANG sent me a copy of an article regarding the game-fixing in Philippine Chess.

So I guess our post for today will be loaded. Let's digest them one by one!

PSBA-SCC Tournament:

Good evening sir! The tournament last February 25, 2007 at Riverbanks Center Foodcourt Area was successful. 95 players competed against each other for 7 Rounds under the Swiss System, organized by Student Chess Club - PSBA QC and supervised by Milagros Emperado of Metropolitan Chess Club.

We are very glad to send you some of our pictures during the tournament. Mr. Jose Aquino Jr. emerged as the champion. However, we cannot send you other official results because it was lost after the awarding.

Thanks again sir for allowing us to advertise in your web site. May your mission to promote chess in the Philippines continue to stay stronger. More power to you and to all chess enthusiasts!

Felinor G. Pascua Jr.
President (2004-2007) - SCC-PSBA QC

Pictures from the event...















Don't you just love to see photos from a chess tournament? It gives one a refreshing feeling in times of issues which only ruin the sports.

We now go to the document which The BANG sent us...


As I said from my previous post, it's Fire Prevention Month in March but Philippine Chess is on fire now!

And now we have the Final result of the 3rd Xavier Interscholastic Chess Invitational:

Standings
Place Name Score
1-2 Mejia, Giovanni 5.5
Mejia, Cherry Ann 5.5
3-6 So Kua, Timothy 4.5
Laude, Edward 4.5
Lumacad, Jerome 4.5
Javier, Neil 4.5
7-10 Fulcher, Lawrean 4
Hernandez, James 4
Panganiban, Enrique 4
McDonough, Kennedy 4
11 Tan, Jasper 3.5
12-19 Cheng, Clint Matthew 3
Koh, Kevin 3
Djemal, Tal 3
Uy, Randolph Richard 3
Edano, Benedict 3
Go, Paul 3
Iyengar, Trisha 3
Pe, Justin 3
20 Broch, Paul David 2.5
21-28 Shin, Bahdah 2
Catindig, Pearl 2
Nomoto, Kiyohiro 2
Elsaputra, Kevin 2
Melwani, Lynlyn 2
Sy, Tyler 2
Christensen, Shawn Patrick 2
Haw, Martey 2
29 Melwani, Joshua 1.5
30-31 Mills, Christopher 1
Sandevi, Atlas 1
32 Gouthamaan, Manimaran 0.5

Club Standings
Place Name Score

1 LICS-A 19.5
2 LICS-B 17
3 XAVIER 12.5
4 MAKATI HOPE 10.5
5-6 ISM-A 10
GANDHI-A 10
7 ISM-B 9.5
8 GANDHI-B 4
9 INDEPENDENT 2

I'm still trying to learn how to post such tables. Sorry about the format!

La Immaculada placed 1st and 2nd for the Grade School Division! For my MGIS A, tied with ISM A. Good enough for first timers! For my MGIS-B, it placed at 8th, second to last!

This only means that improvement is the way to go for my kids!

Whew! This one's a load! Till next post!

And then there was the resignation!

I was never near my computer the past 4 days except for occasional email checks and chika texts. That's the reason why PCC cooled off for awhile. Although my blog did so for awhile, the issues we have regarding Philippine Chess is getting much more interesting... or should I say, getting hotter as we welcome the Month of March, fire prevention month! Ironically, recent happenings go against Fire Prevention Month as the resignation of FORMER BENGUET Governor Raul Molintas as co-chairperson of the internal affairs committee of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) to protest the manner with which the alleged game-fixing controversy was resolved. This further fuels the issue!

As I read in amazement (imagine NCFP hugging the sports news in that manner?) I asked myself this "How come these things are let loose? uncontrolled?" Is it a communication break down? or simply an intentional attack on the players from who knows who?

The funny thing is (yes! I've learned to laugh at the way we Filipinos deal with difficulties and failures, yes I am one of them!) these news does not stay within our shores. It echoes throughout the entire Universe, thanks (no thanks to issues like these though) to cyberspace!

I want to cry! I want to laugh! But above all, I want to play chess!

Anyways, here are the links from the two major dailies in the Philippines that brought the recent cry (-able), shame inducing stories regarding Philippine Chess...

Chess exec protests ban on players, resigns post!

Official questions report, quits!

The results of the PSBA Student Chess Club Tournament is with me and am just awaiting for some details before I post it here. Also, The 3rd Xavier Interscholastic Chess Invitational was sent to me courtesy of Mr. John Sy! Watch out for it!

Till our next post!

News from years ago

Hi guys!

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I was invited by the Group Owner/Creator of RP-Chess Online Group. From his invitation, he said "let's promote Philippine Chess together..." And the rest they say, is history, or a history in the making.

I didn't receive any much mails from this group until this week. And when the group started sending files about Philippine Chess, (games, news, facts, stats and all the infos) to someone suffering from Severe Chess Addiction Syndrome (SCAS), secondary to this thing called chess bug and of course THE BANG! (one of the prime suspects which causes this severe condition) I said to myself "why don't I publish these precious infos at PCC?

One of the mostly sent themes dealt with Philippine Chess of long ago. The names of GM Rosendo Balinas, Eugene Torre, Florencio Campomanes come up. Even the article that dealt with the PFC-NCFP vicious floor fight was there on my email. NCAA Philippine Chess Champinonship was also included.

So here now are some of the articles about Philippine Chess from years ago...

I'll start with our National hero, Dr. Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal's love affair with the Royal Game:


http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter18.htm

x---
Tomas Arejola says that "such was his punctuality and his enthusiasm
for study that he would abandon any ceremony, no matter how important
it might be, if the hour he had previously arranged had arrived, and
go home to his books. A certain hour of the day he played chess (at
which he was a master.) But even though the moment of most intense
interest had come, such as being able to checkmate the king or queen,
if the clock marked the time his schedule said he should do something
else, he would get up and leave, and no pressure from his friends
could persuade him to change his mind." (13)
---x

http://www.joserizal.ph/tr01.html

x---

Rizal's First Trip Abroad

3 May 1882
Rizal left Philippines for the first time Spain. He boarded the
Salvadora using a passport of Jose Mercado, which was procured for
him by his uncle Antonio Rivera, father of Leonor Rivera. He was
accompanied to the quay where the Salvadora was moored by his uncle
Antonio, Vicente Gella, and Mateo Evangelista.

4 May 1882
He got seasick on board the boat.

5 May1882
He conversed with the passengers of the ship; he was still feeling
sea-sick.

6 May 1882
He played chess with the passengers on board.
---x


About GM Rosendo Balinas Jr. :

Chess Grandmaster Balinas Dies
Grandmaster Rosendo Balinas, jr. (Sept. 10, 1941 -- Sept. 24, 1998)

Grandmaster Rosendo ("Bali" and "Junior" to his fans and loved ones)
Balinas died at 10:45 a.m. Philippine time at his residence in
Antipolo city, Philippines. He had liver cancer.

A six time Philippine open chess champion and considered Asia's best
chess player during the '60's, Grandmaster Balinas (a lawyer by
profession) first gained international prominence by winning
international tournaments in Singapore and Hong Kong.

He tied for 1st with Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric in the 1968
Philippine open. Prior to that, on September 1967, Balinas, then a
national master, was the only Filipino player to play GM Bobby Fischer
to a draw in their individual match, in the "Beat Bobby Fischer
Series" in Manila, Philippines.

Balinas' uncompromising opposition to the unethical practices of
Florencio Campomanes, then the Philippine chess federation and FIDE
Asian representative, kept him out of local and international
competition. In 1995, Balinas, then an international master, was
allowed to play at the intercession of the Executive Assistant to the
Philippine President de Vega, and returned with vengeance during the
1975 Marlboro Chess Classic International Tournament.

Balinas' electrifying win against the world championship candidates
and Danish champion GM Bent Larsen, beating his pet "Larsen opening"
in a blitz finish when Larsen resigned under threat of forced mate,
was one of the most memorable chess scenes in Philippine chess as
players and spectators applauded both competitors at the end. IM
Balinas also defeated Russian champion GM Lev Polugaevski in a classic
ending and Czechoslovakian champion GM Lubomir Kavalek in route to a
5/6th place finish, 1/2 point short of the GM norm. In this same
tournament, the Philippine chess star and Asia's first Grandmaster
Eugene Torre placed 9th/10th place.

Rosendo Balinas, Jr.'s chess pinnacle occurred during the 1976 Moscow
Central Chess Club International Tournament, Odessa, USSR, opposing
Russian chess stars world candidate qualifiers GM David Bronstein, GM
Korchnoi (who pulled out at the last minute), absolute Russian
champion GM Vladimir Savon, Moscow chess champion GM Lutikov and young
stars Tukmakov, Lerner, Lev Alburt, Ignatiev and other foreign GM's
Espig, Tringov, Plachetka, and Tarjan. IM Balinas shocked the chess
world by winning the tournament and going undefeated against all his
Russian opponents.

During this period, IM Rosendo Balinas, Sr. was only the 2nd foreigner
in 35 years to win an international chess tournament in Russia, the
"land of grandmasters". The only other foreigner who won in Russia was
former world champion Jose Raoul Capablanca. For his feat, IM Balinas
was awarded the Grandmaster title outright.

GM Balinas' continuing feud with the more powerful now former FIDE
president Campomanes forced his semi-retirement from chess
competition. Without support from government or private patrons,
Balinas established the Philippine Grandmaster school of chess. Among
his former students are the 3rd Philippine Grandmaster Rogelio
Antonio, Jr., international master Rick de Guzman and a host of
masters. The most recent is the youngest Philippine master (10 years
old) Oliver Barbosa.

Grandmaster Rosendo Balinas, Jr. was the Philippine's national
treasure and unsung hero by his fans and faithful, an uncompromising
lawyer who stood up for the ideals of fairness, and who promoted chess
excellence and pride of the Filipino people, till his dying days.

Prior Report: Subject: Grandmaster Balinas is dying of cancer --
former Philippine and Asian chess champion considered the Philippine
national treasure and unsung hero for his contribution to the
Philippines, and Philippine chess, Grandmaster Balinas is in his last
dying days. Indeed chess was and continues to be his passion, even
during his waning years.

Being ill during the last few years did not keep Grandmaster Balinas
from playing chess -- especially in the US, winning a number of
tournaments.

His distinction and legacy as a six time Philippine Open chess
champion, top Asian player during the '60s and the 2nd foreigner to
win a chess tournament in Russia (after Capablanca) is probably
overshadowed by his uncompromising stand (for close to 30 years)
against Campomanes and his cohort (and still with FIDE) Casto Abundo
for their abuse of position first with the Philippine Chess Federation
and then with FIDE.

Grandmaster Balinas obtained his GM title despite Campomanes' efforts
to keep him out of international tournaments. Ironically it was
Polugaevski, Bronstein and the Russian Chess Federation who
recommended strongly his Grandmaster title be award.

This was after Balinas' tournament win in the Moscow Chess Club
International Tournament in Odessa, Russia, going undefeated against
the Russian players.

And about GM Bobby Fischer:

CHESS PIECE
by Bobby Ang
19 March 1999

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – PART 1

Many people do not realize it, but chess history was made in the
Philippines when Bobby Fischer resurfaced from his hibernation in
Hungary to give several exclusive interviews on Philippine soil.
Twice in January 1999 and once in February he allowed GM Eugene Torre
and Pablo Mercado to interview him during the latter's 30-minute slot
in Bombo Radyo Baguio. And last March 10, 1999, in a nationwide live
broadcast on DZSR (Sports Radio, 918 on the AM dial), Messrs. Romy
Kintanar, Eugene Torre and myself interviewed him for a full two
hours from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.

Why the Philippines? And why the sudden publicity? Didn't Fischer use
to charge US $10,000 for a 10-minute interview? Before we answer
those questions let us go down memory lane first for a short history
lesson. Most of our readers have heard of his name, but have no
inkling of just what a legend he is.

Bobby Fischer was born on March 9, 1943, and started making a name
for himself in 1957 when he won in turn the USA Junior Championship,
the American Open and then the USA Championship, which was also the
zonal tournament. Just a year later Fischer was to play in the
Portoroz interzonal, qualify for a place in the Candidates'
tournament (to determine the challenger for the World Champion) and
become at the age of 14 the world's youngest grandmaster.

This was a period of great chess activity for him. He didn't do too
well in South American tournaments, but in the 1959 Candidates he was
equal 5th-6th, in the Zurich tournament of the same year equal 3rd-
4th. 1961 saw him make a level score in the abandoned match with
Reshevsky, and win second prize at Bled. Then in 1962 came his
victory in the Stockholm Interzonal, with a 2.5 point lead over his
nearest rivals. The chess world awaited with bated breath for him to
gather his weapons and assault the chess olympus, but he was only 4th
in the Curacao Candidates, losing his individual matches not only to
Petrosian, Keres and Geller who came in front of him, but also to
Kortchnoi. Obviously this result was a great surprise for Fischer.
Whereas others after such a body blow normally suffer from a period
of creative depression, Bobby reacted differently by cutting down
sharply on his tournament appearances. No, it was not that he
abandoned chess, he studied it very hard, and when he did play he
scored good results. Thus he won every USA championship he took part
in (in the 1963 edition he won first place with a score of 11 wins, 0
draws, and 0 losses. This prompted Hans Kmoch, the arbiter, to
congratulate the second-placer Larry Evans for winning the USA
championship, and Bobby Fischer for winning the exhibition!), and
made excellent scores on top board in the 1962 and 1966 Olympiads. He
shared second place at Havana 1965 and let only Spassky come ahead of
him at Santa Monica 1966. Then he won at Monte Carlo and Skopje in
1967, and it looked like he was running away with the Sousse 1967
interzonal (7 draws, 3 draws, 0 losses) when a scheduling dispute
arose and he withdrew from the competition.

Then, once again, there came a long lay-off from top class chess
until 1970 revealed to the chess world a slightly different Fischer –
more steady, more mature and certainly even stronger than before. His
first places in past years were achieved by high scoring against the
bottom half of the table. His rivals were unable to match him in his
exceptionally keen desire to win each and every game. The new
Fischer, however, showed that he can make a plus score against his
fellow super grandmasters. A plus score in the USSR vs Rest of the
World Match in Belgrade, a run-away victory in the super tournament
in Rovinj/Zagreb both served to whet the public's appetite as to how
he will do in the Palma de Mallorca interzonal later in the same year.

This time, he did not disappoint. He grabbed the lead in the
interzonal and scored a mind-boggling 7 straight victories over elite-
class competition in the last 7 rounds to win it 3.5 pts away from
the closest pursuer. This was the start of his drive to the world
championship – six victories vs. no draws and no losses in his
candidates' match vs GM Mark Taimanov, six victories vs. no draws and
no losses in his next candidates match vs. GM Bent Larsen, and he
closed out the win streak with a victory over Tigran Petrosian in the
first game of the candidates' finals on his way to a 6.5-2.5 triumph.
A total of 20 straight wins! Incredible!

Just how unbelievable this feat was can be illustrated by the remarks
of former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik in an interview on Soviet
television just before the match with Larsen started (remember, Bobby
won this 6-0). In response to a question as to who will win, he
replied that "It is hard to say how their match will end, but it is
clear that such an easy victory as in Vancouver (against Taimanov)
will not be given to Fischer. I think Larsen has unpleasant surprises
in store for him, all the more since having dealt with Taimanov thus
(a 6-0 victory), Fischer will want to do just the same to Larsen and
this is impossible." (!!!!) Heh heh heh – famous last words.

The world championship was held the next year, 1972, in Reykjavik,
Iceland against Boris Spassky. After losing the first game and
forfeiting the second to go down 0-2, Fischer revved up his engines
and came up with several jewels to also win pulling way, finally
becoming the world champion on August 31, 1972 with a score of 13.5-
8.5.

His fairy-tale ride to the highest position in world chess triggered
a chess boom of unprecedented proportions in the US and all over the
world. More than ever you can go to any street corner and see 7-yr
old kids cutting out chess positions from the local newspaper getting
ready to take on the "Russians" at their favorite game. Chess clubs
mushroomed in every city and municipality, chess magazines were
started in every state, movie stars wanted their pictures taken while
playing chess, yes, this was definitely the golden age of chess.

You can therefore imagine the universal disappointment while Bobby
decided to forfeit his FIDE world championship title as a result of a
rules dispute. For his match with Anatoly Karpov he requested for an
unlimited match, with the victor's share of the purse going to the
first to win 10 games, draws not counting. Also, the world champion
will retain his title in the event of a 9-9 draw. The FIDE found the
last provision unacceptable, and Fischer did not defend his title. He
dropped out of public view, and no more was to be heard from him
until 1992.

We will continue with this short history in the next installment on
March 23, 1999. For now, we present two of his games when he was in
top form: game 7 of his candidates' finals against Petrosian, and
game 5 of his world championship classic with Spassky.

--------x
End of Part 1.

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – PART 2

We come to the "wilderness years" of Bobby Fischer's life, the 20-
year period between 1972 and 1992 where he dropped out of the public
eye and lived the life of a recluse (resurfacing just so briefly in
1975 to resign his FIDE world championship title over a rules dispute
with the International Chess Federation). What did he do then?

He has produced a pamphlet describing how he was once arrested and
tortured by the police in Pasadena, California. Also rumors that he
lived with an older woman, that he rode around on a bicycle with a
chess-set clipped to the handle-bars. Also talk of his long-standing
connection with the so-called "Worldwide Church of God."

What is not common knowledge was that Fischer was a frequent visitor
to the Philippines. First time was in 1973 when he was an official
guest of President Marcos to formally open the first Philippine
International Tournament – one of the strongest tournaments for that
year (Larsen won). He stayed on for a few weeks after that for some
rest and recreation, and made quite a few friends.

After that Bobby would visit every once in a while, always incognito
and, since GM Eugene Torre was the best-known Filipino chess player
here, they came into frequent contact. It was during this period when
the two chessplayers developed strong bonds of friendship.

Now we come to a critical year in this story: 1992.

On July 23, 1992 the president of the Jugoskandic Bank, Jezdimir
Vasiljevic, issued a statement from Belgrade announcing a world
championship match between Fischer and Spassky.

Many newspapers refused to give the story any prominence, assuming it
was just another Fischer comeback hoax; there had been several in the
intervening twenty years. However, as the days passed it became more
and more clear that the announcement was indeed genuine.

Then the teams started arriving in Yugoslavia: Spassky had IM
Alexander Nikitin, GM Yuri Balashov and GM Borislav Ivkov as his
assistants. Fischer had two Filipinos: GM Eugene Torre and NM Eric
Gloria.

Now, they had their first big problem: The US Treasury Department
faxed Bobby Fischer an order not to play in the match, because it
would be in violation of UN-sanctions against the Milosevic-
controlled Yugoslavian government. There were a few strange things
about the order:

First, there were a lot of people involved in the match: Europeans,
Russians, Asians and Americans, and nobody else was warned not to
participate: only Fischer. While this match was going on the American
GM Yasser Seirawan even publicized in his magazine and book that he
went there and played in a Yugoslavian team tournament!

Before GM Lothar Schmid (Germany) decided to travel to Yugoslavia in
order to act as an arbiter in this 1992 Fischer-Spassky match he
asked the German Foreign Ministry in Bonn and was told that the match
was NOT subject to the U.N. sanctions.

As to sporting events, what is prohibited under the US Executive
Order is (underscoring mine) "any transaction in the United States or
by a United States person related to participation in sporting events
in the United States by persons or groups representing the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)." Clearly this does
not apply to Bobby.

So why is he being prosecuted? Well, according to them the provision
he violated was: "The performance by any United States person of any
contract, including a financing contract, in support of an
industrial, commercial, public utility, or governmental project in
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro);"
Fascinating! For the Federal Grand Jury the Fischer-Spassky match
1992 was no sporting event but a "commercial project" with Robert
James Fischer "exporting services" to Yugoslavia (Department of the
Treasury, Aug 21 1992).
Anyway, in full view of the world press Fischer took out the Treasury
Cease-and-Desist Order, spat on it, and continued with the match as
if nothing happened. What followed was a Federal Indictment by a US
Grand Jury and then came a warrant for his arrest, stranding him out
of the United States from that time on.

Bobby Fischer won the 1992 match against Spassky by a score of 10-5,
with 15 no-bearing draws. We will conclude this write-up on the
exclusive Bobby Fischer interviews on Friday, 26 March 1999.

As to what games to present today, we note that Fischer in his
Philippine interview acknowledges that the first game of the 1992
match was the one which gave him the most satisfaction, but that the
jury of Chess Informant did not award it the "Best Game Prize for the
second half of 1992", preferring to give it to the "fixed" Karpov-
Shirov game. You be the judge as to which one is better ..

End of Part 2
-----x

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – PART 3

Bobby Fischer's prize for winning his 1992 match with Boris Spassky
was US $3.35 million. He was not to be given the opportunity to enjoy
the fruits of his labor, though, since a warrant for his arrest
awaited him in the US due to his so-called "violation of UN
sanctions" (explained in part 2 of this series), so he made his way
to Hungary, where he is to live the life of a refugee up to this very
day.

In the Baguio City interview which he gave in January Bobby took the
opportunity to clear up a few points.

Rumor has it that a few months after this match the main sponsor, the
Jugoskandic Bank, went belly-up, and the owner, Mr. Jezdimir
Vasiljevic was forced to flee, showing up in Israel with a suitcase
full of money and Bobby's passport in his pocket.

Another rumor was that Fischer was never paid, and even another was
that Fischer WAS paid, but deposited the money in the Jugoskandic,
and therefore when it closed down all his money was lost.

Facts are: (1) Jugoskandic Bank closed, (2) Mr. Vasiljevic left
Yugoslavia (3) Bobby's passport was never lost and is still with its
rightful owner, and (4) there was no problem with the prize fund. All
winnings were paid, and Fischer deposited his share in the Union Bank
of Switzerland, where it is still intact. This revelation was made to
rebuff stories which later circulated that he is broke, and that he
can no longer pay his bills. More about this later.

Now for the raison d'etre of the Bobby Fischer interviews. He claims
that the "world jewry" (you know, Jews the world over) have conspired
to give him a hard time, and even now are trying to destroy
everything he ever had, everything he ever valued. This writer is not
so convinced of the "world jewry" part, but of one thing he is sure:
it is truly truly tragic that the greatest genius who has ever played
the game of chess is still alive, but he has been banished from the
US, the land of his birth, the country to which he has brought great
honor, and a lot of his enemies are taking advantage of his exile to
exploit his name and mystique to make money for themselves, and there
is nothing Fischer can do but watch helplessly, and turn to his
friends in the Philippines to at least broadcast and let the public
know what is being done to him.

Bobby Fischer himself reveals in the Philippine interviews just what
his complaints are:

1. The Fischer Clock. The traditional chess timing device consists of
two conventional clocks, coupled by a button mechanism which allows
at most one of the clocks to run at a time. A player, having moved on
the chess board, presses the button over his clock, which stops his
clock from running and starts the opponent's. Sometimes, during a
game, a player is so absorbed in the complexities of the position
that he loses track of time, and finds out he has to complete say 20
moves in the space of one minute. This is commonly called the "panic
time" situation.

Bobby Fischer wanted to eliminate the time scrambles, and so
conceptualized, designed and patented an electronic chess clock which
has a provision to add bonus time for each completed move. For
example, the organizers of a tournament can specify that all games
will be for a time control 100 minutes, but with increment of 30
seconds per move, meaning that a player NEVER has less than 30
seconds to complete a move. This clock was first used in the 1992
Fischer-Spassky match, and has since caught on that even the world
championships and the olympiads now almost exclusively use it.

Yes, you guessed it, Fischer was never paid for his invention.

2. Bobby Fischer's books. Bobby has written two books: the first one
was done early in his career, a best-seller beginners' books
entitled "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess", and the second one is "My 60
Memorable Games" , without a doubt the highest grossing chess book in
history. The instructional book was reissued as a CD in the 90s, and
his sixty memorable games went through several reruns, but for some
reason no permissions were ever asked, and no royalties were ever
paid.

Even worse, last 1996 Batsford Books reissued "My 60 Memorable Games"
and for some reason saw fit to "uglify" (Bobby's exact words) it.
They changed the descriptive notation to algebraic (which in itself
is not too bad), they changed the analysis to ADD errors (including
an illegal move), they changed the english to ADD grammatical errors,
the pages and the table of contents don't match, the original errors
were NOT corrected, etc. etc. Chess historian Edward Winter pointed
out in CHESS Monthly (January 1997 issue) around 570 (!) alterations –
Bobby Fischer contests this, he had checked the books himself and
documented more than a thousand (!!).

3. "Searching for Bobby Fischer". Fred Waitzkin wanted to write a
book about his son, Josh, a chess prodigy who never quite managed to
live up to his earlier promise: as of this writing he is not yet even
a grandmaster. Readers will recall that Josh made his bid for the
World Junior Championship in 1994 but was wiped off the board by our
very own Nelson Mariano (game is given below). So that leads us to
his problem: who would want to buy a book about the chess career of
Josh Waitzkin? Answer: put Bobby Fischer's name on the cover! This
they did without his permission or any royalty of any kind.

The book was later on even made into a movie with the same title, and
incorporated film clips of Fischer and a simul exhibition he gave.
This writer is not qualified to opine whether the movie became a hit
because of the use of Bobby's name, but can relate that the only
reason he watched the movie was due to curiosity as to Bobby
Fischer's role in it. Later on, due to a howl of protest by Fischer,
the movie's title was changed to "Innocent Moves", but that is beside
the point – the money had already been made.

4. Bobby Fischer's personal belongs auctioned off! This was the last
straw which convinced him to finally come out in the open and
publicize the injustices which have been perpetrated against his
person.

In 1992, before Bobby left for Yugoslavia to play his match against
Spassky he entrusted all of his personal belongings with a storage
company in Pasadena. While the match was going on a warrant was
issued for his arrest (as explained in part 2 of this series),
preventing him from returning to the US, and so he had to entrust
payment of the storage fees to a trusted friend. In late 1998, this
friend for one reason or another stopped paying the rent, and in
order to collect on the rental arrears amounting to US $480 dollars
(!!!), the storage company saw fit to lien auction off all of his
personal stuff and memorabilia worth millions of dollars to settle
his accounts. No attempt was made to contact Fischer.

End of Part 3
----x

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – CONCLUSION

For a long time after his 1972 world championship match with Boris
Spassky our hero Bobby Fischer was to move from apartment to
apartment to escape the glare of media. To increase his mobility
Bobby decided to entrust most of his personal belongings with one of
the leading storage companies in Pasadena. He would then drop by once
in a while just to spend a quiet afternoon going over his
collections. He valued them so much that he even bought a lot of
safes with combination locks, all with timers.

Right after his second world championship match with Boris Spassky in
1992 the federal indictment and warrant for his arrest meant that he
could not return to the United States (this was recounted in an
earlier installment of this series), so he had to make arrangements
for his personal belongings.

Aside from the above-mentioned belongings in Pasadena, Fischer also
had some stuff in storage in New York, two Post Office boxes in
Pasadena and some property in Florida where he had to pay taxes on
every year. All these things come to a little less than US $4,000 a
year, so he contacted one of his friends, a certain Bob Ellsworth,
sent him US $5,000 a year to take care of all this plus giving him
something like a thousand dollars for his trouble. For many years
this was a satisfactory arrangement, but sometime last 1998 Mr.
Ellsworth just stopped paying, and that was when the trouble started.

Claiming that Bobby owed them US $480.00 (yes, that is right, four
hundred eighty dollars), the Storage Company confiscated all of his
memorabilia and sold them off in a lien auction.

Completely shocked, Fischer desperately tried to recover his
belongings, but it was already too late: they were already sold off.
This was a big blow to him, and in the Philippine interviews he makes
the following points:

1. He worked very hard for this memorabilia for years. He was in and
out of those file cabinets and safes thousand and thousands of times.
He had kept this stuff through thick and thin for decades. There were
twenty lean years where Bobby hardly made any money, and it was a
hardship just to pay the storage. So how is he going to give it up
after the match in 1992 when he made 3.5 million dollars?

2. Rumor has it that the reason Bobby Fischer didn't pay his storage
bill in Pasadena is because he's broke. That it is a tragedy that all
his stuff was confiscated and auctioned off, but he couldn't pay his
storage bill, and he's ashamed to admit it. And that's why he lost
everything. They say he was never paid his prize fund in his match in
Yugoslavia, or that he was paid but then he reinvested all the money
in the Jugoskandic Bank and he lost it all when the bank collapsed.
These stories were refuted by Bobby in the interviews when he
detailed his financial status:

Three and a half million dollars in the Union Bank of Switzerland,
Zurich, give or take a couple of hundred thousand dollars dollars
either way. The last time he spoke his account manager, she said it
was three and a half million dollars. Of course a lot of it's tied up
in stocks and bonds, gold, metal, platinum, etc... but there is also
a lot of freestanding cash in the equivalent of a money market. At
the time his memorabilia was being confiscated over nonpayment of
$480, he had about nine hundred thousand dollars in the money market,
available within twenty four hours. To quote: "I could be paying the
storage for a thousand years and not even miss it. This is a ripoff.
This is a mega-robbery of what I've spent a lifetime accumulating."

3. Just the safe alone was worth more than the $480 that he allegedly
owed, and the storage company knew that. Originally all of his
belongings was in an ordinary storage bin. Bobby wanted it to be the
best room, so he decided to pay a little more and requested that they
move them to a higher floor with real rooms of solid walls and solid
doors. This was immediately done, but they lifted the safes with some
kind of hydraulic jack, and when they got it into the new room they
just dumped it right off the jack without slowly lowering it down.
This, of course, damaged one of the safes, and the door jammed. In
his own words: "OK, so I didn't have use of the safe. I couldn't open
and close the safe, you know, I couldn't get in. So then my lawyer
negotiated with them, eight months a year. So finally, they get them
to pay the damage so I can have somebody repair it, and for the
damage just to my safe they paid me three thousand dollars."

By this time the reader is probably curious as to what were some of
the things contained in the safes. Well, there is a very long list,
but here are some of the items which Bobby enumerated:

1. "My stuff from Marcos, my letters from President Nixon, books
dedicated to me by President Nixon, former President Nixon when he
dedicated the books, but he was President Nixon when he wrote to me.
All kinds of stuff, photo albums, statues, the works!"

2. "one scrap of paper in there is worth more than that. You got
thousands of pages with my signature all over the place, my writing
all over the place."

3. "They stole silver dollars. I had a bag of silver dollars. I don't
know how many, about fifty, a hundred silver dollars. Just a bag of
silver dollars is worth more than they claimed I owed."

4. "I have hundreds of chess books. I had all my stuff regarding this
Karpov - Kasparov prearranged match. A big big file I'd been working
on."

5. "I had thousands and thousands of Mexican comic books. OK, I love
Mexican comic books cause they're real earthy. These are not for kids
like American comic books. I had thousands of these comics on
everything. These Mexican comics, they're not like kiddie comics.
They cover everything... getting pregant, abortion, you know, corrupt
police, you know the whole thing.. Anyway, I had the first hundred
edition, the first hundred numbers of a famous Mexican comic
called 'Denuncia' I was in Mexico six months, I couldn't get em. I
was going to all these used comic book stores, looking through all
this filthy old garbage trying to find it. Everybody took em though.
They were collectors' items. Finally, I met this very very famous
football player... and he had a connection with the editorial up
there at Denuncia and I got the first, almost complete set of the
first one hundred comics. Just these Denuncia comics they stole were
worth a fortune."

6. "I had Japanese picture posters, beautiful posters from, like,
movies back in the 60s. I used to go to this Japanese movie theater
down in L.A. They closed up.. I was, like, their best customer. This
guy gave me about forty, fifty of their beautiful posters. They're
worth a damn fortune too.. rare. You know, that was the golden era of
Japanese movies back there in the 60s."

7. "When I played in Argentina, I played Tigran Petrosian a
candidates match and beat him to qualify to play Spassky in Iceland
the next year, you know. After I played I gave an exhibition tour
down there, a simul exhibition tour. I don't remember exactly how
many I played. I have to check the record, twenty five, thirty simul
exhibitions. And before every simultaneous exhibition it was
announced that all the players had to give me their copy of the
score. So I had a complete record. They didn't give me the carbon
copy, I insisted on the original copy. I've got hundreds and
hundreds... I don't know, maybe about between six hundred and a
thousand scores. None of these games have ever been published
anywhere. And I, only I had the original scores. What the hell are
they worth, thousands, millions of dollars.

"I'll tell you something else. I don't like to brag, but those were
great great simultaneous games. I was in great form. And they played
the openings badly down there, cause you know, they're pretty far
from Europe, nowadays of course it doesn't matter. Everybody can get
any literature super fast. But then they didn't get the latest
theoretical journals and books on chess. So they didn't know the
openings well at all. But if you didn't smash them down in the
openings, watch out, cause later on they got stronger and stronger.
So.. I knew this. I learned this real fast. So I made a real attempt
to make sure I completely got an overwhelming game before they got
into the middlegame, so I could be sure to win. These games were so
instructive."

When Fischer was asked what he was going to do about recovering his
belongings, his answer was sad ... nothing, they are all gone now.
The only thing he CAN do is to publicize all of this, so that the
world may know how badly he is being treated -- how the country to
which he has brought great honor had exiled him to a foreign land. In
1998 Bobby's mother and sister died separately, and he could not even
go home to the US to visit them in their deathbed. Now even his
personal belongings are gone. It is indeed a tragedy what his enemies
and opportunists are doing to him, and an even greater tragedy that
the American people are allowing this to happen.

We wind up this series by presenting the famous game Robert Byrne vs
Bobby Fischer from the 1963 USA Championship (which Fischer won with
a score of 11 wins, no draws, no losses). Romy Kintanar during the
Metro Manila part of the interview quizzed Bobby about this game, and
I have incorporated the comments in the annotations.

End of Part 4 (Conclusion).

---x

PCC: "I have read these articles from Inside Philippine Chess by Bobby Ang"

And the vicious floor fight during the FIDE General assembly...

Chess Olympiad, day thirteen:
Philippines Chess Federation:
Vicious Floor Fight in FIDE General Assembly

ISTANBUL, November 9: Chess Politics took center stage today as the
FIDE General Assembly met. Almost as soon as proceedings came to
order, Steve Doyle, a FIDE Vice-President from the USA, demanded that
the established Philippines Chess Federation be seated and allowed to
vote.

This stemmed from an action taken by the FIDE Executive Council at a
meeting in Tehran in August in which the established Philippines Chess
Federation was summarily kicked out of FIDE and replaced by a newly
formed entity named the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

This action, which was taken without consulting the General Assembly
of FIDE, was obviously illegal and followed a long pattern of
violations of FIDE rules and statutes which has persisted ever since
Kisan Ilyumzhinov became president of FIDE.

Rogues Gallery
Rogues Gallery: From Left: Mikko Markkula standing, Steve Doyle, Kurt
Jungwirth, Emreham Halici, Noureddine Tabbane, Florencio Campomanes,
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Georgios Makropoulos, Emmanuel Omuku, David
Jarrett, unknown, Boris Kutin, and Lakhdar Mazouz.

As a result, as soon as substantive proceedings began, Steven Doyle, a
FIDE vice-president, protested that the only party entitled to vote
was the representative of the so-called "old" Philippines Chess
Federation.

Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, who was presiding over the
meeting in the absence of President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, objected that
Doyle's remarks were out of order, that the agenda must be followed
and that this matter must be taken up at the appropriate time and
place. Doyle replied that the time and place was now, because it was
essential that the representative of the Philippines Chess Federation
be seated and allowed to vote.

Doyle further stated that unless the Philippines delegate was seated,
then he was walking out, as he would not participate in an illegal
meeting.

An acrimonious debate followed during which many prominent FIDE
personalities spoke in support of the position of Steve Doyle. Doyle
then made a motion which was seconded by Israel Gelfer that the
decision of the FIDE Executive Board in Tehran was null and void and
that the established Philippines Chess Federation had never been removed.

Objecting to this was FIDE General Secretary Noureddine Tabbane of
Tunisia, who repeatedly said that it was "impossible" that the old
Philippines Chess Federation be recognized because only the new
Philippines Chess Federation has been recognized by the Olympic
Committee of the Philippines.

More acrimonious debate followed, with Makropoulos and Doyle both
speak loudly and often.

There were many other speakers, with Campomanes giving an emotional
speech about how it greatly pained him to have to turn against an
organization which he had founded in 1956.

Finally, a vote was taken. The first vote was about 24 to zero in
favor of the Doyle resolution. Campomanes objected on the grounds that
many people did not understand what they were voting for. A second
vote was taken and this time by a show of hands the vote was about 24
to 6, so the Doyle resolution passed.

After that, David Jarrett, FIDE Treasurer, read a report on the status
of various countries. Jarrett reported on countries which had been
suspended for non-payment of dues. Jarrett reported that Papua New
Guinea had paid their back dues and had been readmitted, while Nigeria
and Surinam were temporarily suspended for non-payment of dues.
Mauritius had paid most of its debt, Afghanistan and Guyana were
temporarily excluded for non-payment of debt. Tajikistan was excluded
for non-payment of debt.

Then, the roll was called.

Almost immediately following was one of the top items on the agenda,
which was to replace the old Philippines Chess Federation with the new
Philippines Chess Federation. Doyle, Morton Sand of Norway and
Kelleher of the USA objected that this matter should be postponed
until tomorrow. However, Makropoulos insisted that the matter go
forward today.

Another vote by a show of hands was taken in which it was
overwhelmingly decided to continue with the matter today.

There followed another acrimonious debate. First, the representative
of the old Philippines Chess Federation, who was Efren G. Manuel, gave
an impassioned speech in which he emphasized that no charges had ever
been brought against the old Philippines Chess Federation and no
notice or opportunity for a hearing before FIDE had been provided to
the old Philippines Chess Federation.

He emphasized that the old Philippines Chess Federation had been a
member in good standing of FIDE for 43 years, that the new Philippines
Chess Federation had been formed as a legal entity on August 16, 2000,
and that on August 27, 2000, only 11 days later, it had been
recognized by FIDE. No notice of this action was given to the old
Philippines Chess Federation and still no minutes of that meeting are
available.

Five minutes had been allowed for this speech, but Makropoulos allowed
it to go on to eight minutes.

After that, Toti Abundo spoke in favor of the new Philippines Chess
Federation. The points he emphasized were that ever since Campomanes
retired from the old Philippines Chess Federation, there has been no
activity in the Philippines and not a single grandmaster tournament
has taken place since 1992. The last international event to take place
in the Philippines was the 1992 Olympiad in Manila, and that had been
organized by Florencio Campomanes.

After that, there were many speeches on both sides of the issue. Those
supporting the old Philippines Chess Federation, which included
Norway, the USA, Holland, Portugal, Guernsey and several other major
European countries, emphasized the legal issues, such as the fact that
the old Philippines Chess Federation had not been given notice or the
opportunity for a hearing.

The most effective speaker in behalf of the new Philippines Chess
Federation was Ignatius Leong of Singapore, who recounted an incident
where two of the strongest grandmasters in South East Asia, both of
whom were Filipinos, had arrived for a zonal tournament, only to hear
from the old Philippines Chess Federation that they were to be denied
entry.

There was a similar speech by Al Hitmi of Qatar that he had been faced
with the same situation of deciding whether to admit Philippine
players who had been essentially banned by their own country. The
players in question were obviously Torre and possibly Antonio.

Eugenio Torre, the first Filipino grandmaster, was the initial driving
force behind the formation of the new Philippines Chess Federation.

Finally, a vote was taken. The new Philippines Chess Federation won by
a vote of 56 to 16, with 25 abstentions.

Voting for the old Philippines Chess Federation were British Virgin
Islands, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Ethiopia, Germany,
Guernsey, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland, Tunisia, USA and Vietnam.

After that vote was taken, the meeting was adjourned because the
scheduled ending time of 1:00 PM had long since passed.

It was overlooked that when the roll had been called, the Philippines
was not asked for its vote.

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The NCAA Philippine chess Championships...

NCAA Philippines Chess Championship
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) chess
tournament is held every first semester of the Philippines academic
year. The eight members schools send in a four-member team in both the
Seniors and Juniors Division.

The structure is a Swiss-style tournament. In the end of the
tournament, the schools with the two top scores would figure in a
Finals match.

NCAA Chess Champions
A.Y. Juniors Seniors
1978-79 La Salle Green Hills Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1979-80 La Salle Green Hills Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1980-81 La Salle Green Hills Mapúa Institute of Technology
1981-82 Trinity College of Quezon City Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1982-83 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1983-84 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Mapúa Institute of Technology
1984-85 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1985-86 Mapúa Institute of Technology Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1986-87 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1987-88 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1988-89 Mapúa Institute of Technology San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1989-90 San Beda College San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1990-91 San Beda College San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1991-92 San Beda College Mapúa Institute of Technology
1992-93 San Sebastian College - Recoletos San Beda College
1993-94 San Sebastian College - Recoletos Mapúa Institute of Technology
1994-95 San Sebastian College - Recoletos Mapúa Institute of Technology
1995-96 San Sebastian College - Recoletos Mapúa Institute of Technology
1996-97 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1997-98 San Beda College San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1998-99 San Sebastian College - Recoletos San Sebastian College -
Recoletos
1999-2000 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College -
Recoletos
2000-01 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College - Recoletos
2001-02 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College - Recoletos
2002-03 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Mapúa Institute of Technology
2003-04 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Colegio de San Juan de Letran
2004-05 San Sebastian College - Recoletos San Sebastian College -
Recoletos
2005-06 San Sebastian College - Recoletos De La Salle-College of
Saint Benilde
2006-07 Philippine Christian University Philippine Christian University

Number of Championships by School
School Jrs Srs All
Mapua 6 11 17
San Sebastian 7 10 17
Letran 7 5 12
San Beda 4 1 5
La Salle* 3 0 3
PCU 1 1 2
Trinity* 1 0 1
St. Benilde 0 1 1

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Chess Clubs in the Philippines...

Chess Clubs Worldwide :: Philippines

Club: Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental Chess Association
City, Country: Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
Address: OKK, Divisioria
Contact: GrandRoly, e-mail rolyt@... Tel.# 063 8822
728686 063 888572572
Meeting Times: Everyday Monday.-Sunday 8:00 to 12:00 PM
Comments: Play blitz or normal game, chat and have fun !


Club: Tagbilaran City Chess Club {TCC}
City, Country: Tagbilaran City, Philippines
Address: c.pg avenue tagb. city, torralba marketing
Contact: N/A
Meeting Times: friday 3:00 pm
Comments: locking of young players


Club: The Astorian team
City, Country: Manila, Philippines
Address: Mapua Institute Of Technology
Contact: www.Snake@...
Meeting Times: every Saturday
Comments:


Club: METRO DAVAO UNIFIED CHESS ASSOCIATION
City, Country: DAVAO CITY, Philippines
Address: LANDCO COMPANY , BAJADA DAVAO CITY PHILIPPINES
Contact: JIDANOV@...
Meeting Times: 3:00 PM-8:00 PM
Comments: TO DEVELOPE YOUNG PLAYER IN OUR CITY


Club: Mt. Matutum Chess Club and School of Chess
City, Country: Gen. Santos City, Philippines
Address: National Highway, besides St. Blaise Pharmacy, Gen.
Santos City
Contact: 083-5522777, 083-5539730 choi@...
Meeting Times: Everyday 1600H-200H
Comments: to develop mentally. intellectually, psychologically
strong chess players


Club: Laoahg City Chess Club
City, Country: Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Address: Ilocos Norte National High School
Contact: andy_jam2@...
Meeting Times: monday 7 pm
Comments: great


Club: SOUTHERN CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
City, Country: MUNTINLUPA, Philippines
Address: Sampaguita Bldg., Brgy. San Vicente, San Pedro, Laguna
Contact: jamh67@...
Meeting Times: weekly
Comments: monthly tournaments


Club: tabing ilog chess club
City, Country: sta.maria, Philippines
Address: #54 R. Mercado st. Sta. Maria, Bulacan
Contact: 044 641 2023
Meeting Times: every saturdays and sundays whole day
Comments: rapid and long games beginners to strong players
accomodated


Club: OTON SATURDAY CLUB
City, Country: Iloilo Province, Philippines
Address: Brgy. Trapiche, Oton, Iloilo
Contact: boyespejo@... (033) 320-4938
Meeting Times: Saturdays only
Comments: A group of professionals and businessmen dedicated to
clean, honest chess


Club: cebu chessmen club
City, Country: cebu city, Philippines
Address: calderon compound ,banawa, cebu city, 6000 philippines
Contact: solarlight9@...
Meeting Times: every thursday, from 2 am till all games end
Comments: amateur semi-professional players have fun time thru
chess play at dunkin donut


Club: cebu executive and professional chess association
City, Country: cebu, Philippines
Address: fruits and foods restaurant, Queens road, cebu city
Contact: 2317656, www.cepca.on the web.com
Meeting Times: every tuesday
Comments: for professionals and executives only.


Club: colonade chess club
City, Country: cebu, Philippines
Address: colonade mall, 2nd floor,colon st., cebu city
Contact: 2537530,lito pielago or joeboy
Meeting Times: 1;00 pm to 9;00 pm everyday
Comments: 20 tables with chess clocks.14 pesos per hour.chess
club is airconditioned.


Club: GM Balinas Memorial Chess Club
City, Country: General Santos City, Philippines
Address: PIT Compound North Laurel Avenue
Contact: 639208185956, gmbmcc@..., http://www.pydi.org/gmbmcc
Meeting Times: Daily except Saturday
Comments: Please get in touch for club activities and programs
with Mr. Charles Ongayo


Club: ACSAT Antipolo City Chess Club
City, Country: Antipolo City, Philippines
Address: 2nd Floor Hillside Plaza Brangay Mayamot, Lower
Antipolo City
Contact: Tel # 250-51-14, rudylac2001@...
Meeting Times: Saturday
Comments: Develop and Train young chess enthusiast


Club: Laoahg City Chess Club
City, Country: Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Address: Ilocos Norte National High School
Contact: andy_jam2@...
Meeting Times:
Comments:

Club: Dasmariñas Chess Club
City, Country: Dasmariñas, Philippines
Address: Sports Center, Municipal hall, Dasmariñas
Contact: dasma@..., rooking
Meeting Times: everyday
Comments: promotes chess in our locality for international
competition


Club: Talisay City Chess Society
City, Country: Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Philippines
Address: Capt. Sabi St., Talisay City, Negros Occidental,
Philippines
Contact: +639107858196 - nm_andador@...
Meeting Times: daily
Comments: Every Day Blitz

Club: g4 Chess Club
City, Country: Olongapo City, Philippines
Address: 28 A 14th. street,East Tapinac
Contact: gapochessclub@...
Meeting Times: every weekend
Comments: scholastic


Club: Tactics101 Chess Club
City, Country: Zamboanga City, Philippines
Address: Sta. Barbara St.
Contact: Mr. Zulfikar Sali ( zulsali@... ) and Sr.
Master Lito Chua
Meeting Times: All the time...
Comments: Where Challengers become Champions!


Club: MANTICAO CHESS CLUB
City, Country: Poblacion, Manticao, Misamis Oriental, Philippines
Address: Manticao Misamis Oriental
Contact: arch01best@...
Meeting Times: 9:00 in the Morning
Comments: To develop young Chess players:Mentally,Intellectually
and psychologically


Club: TOBOSO CHESS CLUB
City, Country: TOBOSO, Philippines
Address: SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER
Contact: vintonlucenio@... / cel # 0915-575-3045
Meeting Times: SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS
Comments: To develop critical thinking among the young members &
the older ones.


Club: Tabaco City Chess Circle
City, Country: Tabaco, Philippines
Address: Llorente Street,Tabaco City
Contact: 09106683091
Meeting Times: Everyday in the afternoon
Comments:

Club: Almanza Chess Club
City, Country: Las Piñas City, Philippines
Address: CRM Friendly St., FIRST BF HOMES SUBD., ALMANZA DOS,
LAS PIÑAS CITY
Contact: 02-801-81-22; 02-805-56-79; gpfaustino@...
Meeting Times: Every Friday , Saturday & Sunday
Comments: To develop potential players & Promote camaraderie and
friendship w/ one another


Club: Bago City Chess Association
City, Country: Bago City, Philippines
Address: Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Sports Center , General Luna
St., Bago City
Contact: mgjalandoon@...; rayhofilena@... -- look
for Mr. Ray Hofilena
Meeting Times: daily, 2:00 to 6:00pm
Comments: scholastic, training


Club: Eight Squared Knights
City, Country: San Pablo City, Philippines
Address: YMCA, San Pablo City
Contact: philjet@...
Meeting Times: 9:00am - 11:00a m saturdays
Comments: chess tutorials for elementary and secondary levels

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Here's the Group's address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RP-Chess. Register and join now!