Timely article

Hi there again!

There is a thread in the NCFP forum which asks the question "College Degrees of our Chess PLayers?" which I think is starting to get hot as the discussion on focusing on chess solely or on studies...

The article below, taken from The Weekender,I guess ends all those discussion. Read through it to find out.

Wesley’s sparkler in Dubai Open

EVER alert in his search for gems on the Net, journalist Ignacio “Iggy” Dee has found another sparkling game won by the country’s foremost child prodigy, IM Wesley So, at the Dubai Open in April last year when he was only 12½ years old.

• Wesley So (2254) - Fouad El Taher (2468)
Round 4, Board 9, Dubai Open, April 26, 2006
Vienna Game {C26)

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Nc3 d6 5.f4 Ng4 6.f5 h5 7.Nh3 Ne3 7...c6 8.Qf3 would have equalized 8.Bxe3 Bxe3 White cannot castle K-side 9.Qf3 Bc5 9...Bh6! was an interesting alternative 10.Qg3± Rg8? 10...Rf8 was better, but White would still get the edge 11.Rf1 11.Ng5 leads to a great advantage, e.g., 11…Rf8 12.Nh7 Rg8 13.Bxf7+ Kxf7 14.Qg6+ Ke7 15.Nd5+ c6? 12.Bxf7+!

After 12.Bxf7+!

A decisive sacrifice that shatters Black’s defenses.

12...Kxf7 13.Qg6+ Kf8 14.f6 gxf6 15.Rxf6+ Qxf6 16.Qxf6+ Ke8 17.Ng5 Rf8 18.Qg6+ Kd8 19.Na4 Bf2+ 20.Kd2 Ke7 20...Bg4 won’t change anything anymore—21.Qg7 Nd7 22.h3! 21.Qg7+ Ke8 22.Nh7! 1–0

Dee says this miniature sparkler was chosen “Game of the Day” by chessgames.com.

Now 13, Wesley who is competing in the Philippine International Open at Subic Freeport plans to take part in the Dubai Open again when it gets under way on April 21 in the UAE, his mother, Leny, has told the Weekender.

Both open tournaments will give Wesley a chance to achieve GM results. He already has his first GM norm, earned at the tough 2006 Bad Wiessee tournament in Bavaria, Germany, where he finished seventh, the only non-GM to be among the top 10.

It was also in Bad Wiessee that Wesley played a game chosen for its creativity by the Russian chess website, “e3 e5.”

Wesley who will turn 14 in October has a good chance of becoming a grandmaster at 13. The youngest GM today is India’s Parimarjan Negi, who earned his GM spurs at the age of 13 years, four months and 22 days last year.

The youngest ever to win the coveted title is Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, who did it at the age of 12 years and seven months in 2002.

Besides Negi, two others made it when they were 13—Magnus Carlsen of Norway (plus four months and 27 days) in 2004 and Bu Xiangzhi of China (plus 10 months and 13 days) in 1999.

Wesley, who plans to study business management, will be enrolling in first year high school at the St. Francis of Assisi College System in Bacoor, Cavite, according to his mom.

It is understandable that his parents, William and Leny, do not wish to disrupt Wesley’s studies for the sake of chess, given that he is also doing very well in school.

Most world champions have been able to combine chess with their profession and even excelling in both the academe and in this challenging game of kings.
Emanuel Lasker, a German Jew, was a highly respected philosopher-mathematician.
Dutch icon Max Euwe had a doctorate in mathematics and taught the subject in a university in Netherlands while at the same time doing and administering statistical research for the Dutch government.

Mikhail Botvinnik, the only champion to have won back the crown twice (from Vassily Smyslov in 1958 and from Mikhail Tal in 1961), was an electrical engineer who was responsible for setting up the grid in the Caucasus mountains of his native Russia.

More recently, Garry Kasparov finished his university studies in languages and is an established author in English. He is now actively engaged in Russian politics.

On the other hand, there are quite a number of world champions who devoted their life exclusively to the game—Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Anatoly Karpov, Alexander Alekhine, Jose Raul Capablanca and Wilhelm Steinitz, to mention some of them.

Apparently, it all depends on the individual and such circumstances as the socioeconomic and political conditions obtaining in his homeland.

Unfortunately in the Philippines professional players cannot live by chess alone, not like golf, boxing, basketball and, lately, billiards. Perhaps the NCFP can help chess players in this regard by organizing commercial leagues in the major cities nationwide.

In time, however, if the peso strengthens further and if the national economy becomes firmly entrenched in the global economy, Filipino players need not be dependent on their wits and wagers alone and be called, rather derisively as they are now, “hustlers.”

...

The next article deals with the exploits of Asia's first ever International Master, Rodolfo Tan Cardoso. I met him in one of the NCFP-Executive Chess Circle-CAAP (now ACAP) seminars last August 2006. I got the chance to ask him some questions and personally and he was very much willing to help out thechess scene in our country. It was also during this time that he spoke of our Philippine Team's performance in Turin, where he told me that there is so many things to improve on. With the current happenings in Philippine Open, I guess it's timely we go back to basics and concentrate on winning for our country.

And now, here is one of the articles I found in The Weekender:

Down memory lane with Cardoso

DURING the opening ceremony of the Pichay Chess Caravan at the QMC Plaza on Easter Sunday, IM Rodolfo Tan Cardoso brought his audience back with him down memory lane to 1956 when he became one of only four Filipino players ever to play in an international event, the 12th Olympiad in Moscow.

The three others were Florencio Campomanes, now 80 and recovering from critical injuries he suffered in a car crash two months ago, the late Glicerio Badilles and Carlos Benitez, now in San Francisco.

These four intrepid Pinoy stalwarts braved the Cold War, then at its height, and risked possible diplomatic ire from the US-led Western powers and their Filipino allies by going to Moscow with the help of the Lopez-owned Manila Chronicle.

Fortunately, the Philippine team, playing without any reserves, made history by topping Group C, with Cardoso himself winning the silver medal on board four, next only to the great Soviet GM David Bronstein, who a few years earlier had challenged Mikhail Bronstein for the world crown.

Two years later, in the 1958 Interzonal at Portoroz, he defeated Bronstein himself.

Indeed, 1956 is a watershed in the history of Philippine chess. It was in that year that Cardoso, a 19-year-old college student from Alaminos, Pangasinan, where he was born on Dec. 25, 1937, won the national junior crown.

In 1957, he became Asia’s first international master by winning the Asian Zonal and the first and only Filipino ever to beat the American genius, Bobby Fischer, in a game one on one. This was in the third round of the Pepsi Cola-sponsored match in New York, which Fischer won, 6-2.

Here is the first game he won in an international event, in the second round of the Moscow Olympiad:

T. Venkatraman (IND) vs Rodolfo Tan Cardoso (PHI)
Irregular Defense (A40)
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.e4 Bb4 5.Qc2 Nf6 6.Bd3 Nc6 If 6...c5 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 7.Nf3 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.e5 Nd7 10.0–0 Nf8 11.Ne2 a6 12.a3 Be7 13.Be3 f6 13...Ne6 14.Nf4 gives White the edge 14.Rac1 g6 15.Rfd1 Better was 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Nf4 Qd6, with White way ahead Ne6 16.Bh6 Best was 16.Nf4 Nxf4 17.Bxf4 f5, with overwhelming advantage Kf7 17.Nh4 Missing 17.Nf4! Nxf4 18.Bxf4 Rg8! 18.Nf3 Bf8 Not because of 18...Rh8 19.Nf4 Nxf4 20.Bxf4 and White surges ahead 19.Be3 Bg7 20.Nf4 Nxf4 21.Bxf4 Re8 22.Re1 Qd7 23.h3 Re6 24.h4 Kg8 25.h5 fxe5 26.dxe5 Rf8 27.Bg3 Bh6 Not 27...gxh5 because of 28.Bxh7+ Kh8 29.Bf5! 28.Rcd1 Best was 28.Ra1 Rxf3!

After 28…Rxf3!

The start of a brilliant counterattack.

29.gxf3 Nd4 30.Qb1 Nxf3+ 31.Kg2 Nxe1+ 32.Rxe1 Qf7 33.hxg6 hxg6 34.Qc2 c5 35.Kg1 Bf4 36.Qe2?? 36.Bf1 was the saving move c4! The winning stroke 37.Bc2 Rxe5 38.Qd1 Bxg3 38...Rg5! might be quicker 39.fxg3 Rxe1+ 40.Qxe1 d4 41.Bd1 Bc6 42.Qe5 Qe8 43.Qxe8+ Bxe8! If 44.Bf3 Kg7! 0–1

As the most junior player, Rudy Cardoso played on board four, with Benitez on board three.

Asing Badilles played on board one in a strategy that made him a sort of sacrificial lamb. Campo himself was on board two.

Here is Carling’s fine win with Black in the eighth round:

Carlos Benitez (PHI) vs P. Tumurbator (MGL)
Ruy Lopez, Chigorin Defense (C99)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bb7 14.Nf1 Rac8 15.Re2 d5 16.Nxe5 Nxe4 16...dxe4 17.Bg5 leads to equality 17.f3! Nf6 18.Bg5 Rfe8 If 18...Nc6 19.Nxc6 Bxc6 20.Qd3! 19.Bf5 Rcd8 20.Rc1 Qd6 21.Ng3 21.Qe1 Nc4 would have given White a clear edge g6 22.Bb1 Nd7 Equalizing 23.Bf4 Nxe5 Best was 23...Qf6!, e.g., 24.Qd2 Nc6! 24.Bxe5 Gaining a distinct advantage Qd7 25.Bc7 25.Rc7! was stronger, e.g., 25…Qe6 26.Qd2! Nc6 26.Bxd8 Rxd8 27.Rc3 b4 28.Rce3 Bf6 Restoring the balance 29.Rd2 Bg5 30.Nf1 Bxe3+ 31.Nxe3 Qe7 32.Ng4 Re8 33.f4 f6 34.Kh2 h5 Missing the equalizer, 34...Kg7! 35.Bxg6 hxg4 36.Bxe8 Qxe8 37.Qxg4+ Kf7??

After 37…Kf7??

A blunder in a bad position. Best was 37...Kf8.

38.Qh5+! Kf8 39.Qh6+ Kg8 40.Rd3 Qb8 40...Qe4 offered the last chance for counterplay, e.g., 41.Rg3+ Kf7 41.Qxf6! This leads to mate: 41…Qxf4+ 42.Qxf4 Ne5 43.Rg3+ Ng4+ 44.Rxg4+ Kh7 45.Qf7+ Kh6 46.Qg6#! 1–0