Grandmaster, 2 in 1

Hi there!

Whew! After intentionally unblogging myself over the weekend to make sure my post about Wesley capturing his 3rd and final GM norm on the 9th and last round of Pichay Cup would float around the net for awhile, I feel refreshed and ready to blog about chess, specifically, Philippine Chess, but not exclusively!

Well, everyone in the room that time were happy and you know it's Christmas time! Hahahahah! For us chess fans, players and freaks, I believe we have always wanted Wesley to nail that final GM norm. And he do he did it! Making Filipinos all around the world proud again of the brown race, the Malay race!

Yahoo!

Some announcements:

Then Imus Sports Council and Imus Municipal Tourism Council is organizing the 1st Maes-Maes National Invitational Championship on December 14-16 at the Imus Pilot Elementary School in Cavite (my first volunteer teaching job).

What is Maes-Maes? Simply put, it is an ingenious Filipino version sport of the beach volleyball. There is one major consideration guys... IT SHOULD BE PLAYED ON DRIED RICE FIELDS!

A total of 20 participants from Ilocos, Pangasinan, Bicol, Visayas, Mindanao and the Province of Cavite have signed up for this historical event.

The champion of the three day tournament will win Php 15,000.00.

For details, call 046-4721447 and 0918-9139697. Call now or miss the chance to be part of this big event.

Of course, our very own, Mayor Manny Maliksi is in full support of this tournament. As you all know, (Mayor) Manny, since his vice-mayor days, has always aspired and actually worked and sponsored sports development in Imus Cavite. He has sought out the formation of major sports organization and one of which is the Imus Chess Association. Thank you so much!

Still Cavite, The Cavite Chess Federation, headed by Mr. Johner Egenias, will be holding a Chess Festival on December 15 to 16 at the FRC (Puregold) Mall. Lined up are:


1. (Saturday, Morning) Simultaneous Event
2. (Saturday, Afternoon)Kiddies Tournament
3. 2050 and Under Chess Tournament (Sunday)

A lot of questions are hanging in my head about these activities. The prizes? the arbitration? The NCFP sanctioning and other stuffs. One major issue I heard about this though is the "sudden" replacement of one of it's officers. What happened? Also, who says one is a top Junior when one has not fought against a Cavite resident playing board one in one of the major collegiate leagues in the land?

Good luck to Cavite Chess Federation! This is a good start... I really wish this one adheres to it's goals and objectives (though I have not received any copy of the fed's official Constitution).

And on to our post title.

We have produced 2 grandmaster in 1 year!

We have the 7th GM in the name of Darwin Laylo, who I have had a long chat during the Pichay Cup. I reminded him about the dinner we had together with IM Ronald Dableo and Philippine's premier chess journalist, Mr. Bobby Ang on the eve of their NCFP suspension. He was humble enough to say that he has moved on about it and he's happy he is now a fully titled Grandmaster. It's a dream come true, he said!

And yes, we have our very own, the 5th youngest Grandmaster in the world, Wesley So. A resident of Bacoor Cavite. I had a long chat too with his dad, Mr. William So who told me a lot of stories behind Wesley's chess studies. One of which, he told me, is that Wesley has not watched television in the last 6 years!


This proves my theory about television and the total development of a human!Having a background in Occupational Therapy and further studies in Special Education, I have always believed that television use must be monitored specially during the developmental years. That would mean from 1 month old to 21 years old. Pediatricians book would say developmental years are from 18 below.

Tough? Wait till you handle children whose life is moved by video games like Dota, Counter Strike and Audition.

Anyways, I asked Mang William if I can do a one on one interview with GM Wesley that fateful afternoon, when he captured the title, and his answer was the same the first time I asked him during the 2nd GMA Cup. "Anytime", you visit us there he said.

Till then!