Pinoys in the ASEAN Masters

ANother Weekended Extra Edition form Mr. Manny Benitez:

Extra!!! The Chess Plaza Weekender
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City
Weekday Edition

HALFWAY THRU ASEAN MASTERS
Pinoys in 1-2-3 race for Group B honors

By Marlon Bernardino

THREE Filipinos with Grandmaster Mark Paragua at the helm were in a tight race for honors in the seventh round of the inaugural Asean Masters Circuit on Tuesday in the Indonesian city of Tarakan in East Kalimantan (Borneo).

Paragua, International Master Jayson Gonzales and Fide Master Rolando Nolte hurdled their sixth-round assignments on Monday to lead the 12-player pack in Group B (GM category).

Playing Black, GM Paragua (2521) outclassed untitled Indonesian player Sugeng Prayitno (2312), while Gonzales and Nolte gave their rivals, IM Salor Sitanggang of Indonesia and NM Oliver Barbosa of the Philippines, a sound drubbing.

The still-unbeaten Filipino grandmaster tightened his grip on the lead with 5.5 points from five wins and one draw, followed by Gonzales and Nolte in a dead heat with 4.5 apiece. Gonzales, however, was leading Nolte on tiebreak.

In Group A (GM category), Singaporean GM Zhang Zhong seemed certain of the first prize with 5 points, 1.5 points ahead of his closest rivals, after beating with White Mas. Hafizulhelmi of Malaysia in the sixth round.

Trailing behind him with 3.5 each were GM-elect Wesley So, IM Tirto and GM Susanto Mgaranto of Indonesia, and GM Eugenio Torre,
in that order on tiebreak as published in a tournament bulletin.

Torre caught up with the runners-up after beating FM Tirta Chandra Purnama of Indonesia in the sixth round on Monday.

Wesley, the Philippines’ No. 2 player with 2525, captured the second slot solo after winning his delayed first-round game against NM Hamed Nouri on Sunday.

However, the 14-year-old schoolboy slid back to join the other runners-up in a tie for second to fifth places after halving the point with lower-rated IM Tirto (2413) in their sixth -round duel on Monday.

NM Hamed Nouri, still smarting from his loss to So on Sunday, agreed to a truce with his compatriot, cell-dwelling IM Barlo Nadera. Nouri was in a tie for sixth to eighth places with IM Hafizulhelmi and Indonesian IM Nathaniel Situru with 3.0 points each.

In Group C (WIM category), WNM Christy Bernales suffered her second straight loss, this time to FM Nugyen Thi May Hung of Vietnam, to slide down to a tie for third to sixth places with four others. They had 3.5 points apiece.

Bernales (1933) was in second place when she lost her delayed first-round game against her compatriot, WIM Beverly Mendoza (2099).

Christy’s loss followed her stunning victory over GM Edhi Handoko of Indonesia in the fourth round on Friday.

Mendoza was in solo seventh after drawing with WFM Jeslin Tay Le-jin of Singapore in the sixth round.

Leading Group C entering the seventh round with 5.5 points was Indonesian IM Irwanto Sadikin, followed by his GM Handoko with 4.5.

Hazards of the trade

In the rush to beat self-imposed deadlines, mistakes were made in yesterday’s extra edition, spotted by eagle-eyed Regin Raymnund Dais who, despite having been excused from helping out on a Monday afternoon, sent us the corrections nevertheless. Here they are:

In the boxed “Flash” bulletin, the score of Wesley So should have been 3.0 and that of Zhang Zhong 4.0 after the delayed first-round games were played.

One big mistake that I myself spotted two weeks too late: the date should be 2008, NOT 2007. I really was caught napping there. Sorry for such bloopers.

On course for norms

IM Jayson Gonzales and FM Rolando Nolte need two points each from the last three rounds to get a nine-game GM norm, according to contributor John Manahan, a statistician..

He says that Nolte needed only a point on the next three rounds to claim a nine-game IM norm while NM Hamed Nouri needs two points from his next three games for the same nine-game IM norm.

“Go for it guys!” Manahan wrote The Weekender in an email.

Ten Filipinos led by IM So and GMs Paragua and Torre, are competing in the Tarakan circuit, which is set to end on Sunday, January 20.

Tournament official Kristianus Liem has been the source of the results and games from the Indonesian city of Tarakan in East Kalimantan.

CORUS SUPER TOURNAMENT IN WIJK AAN ZEE
Carlsen, Aronian lead in main event
TWO young global superstars, 17-year-old Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen, and Armenia’s Levon Aronian, 25, held on to their joint lead in the 14-player field of the main event as all games in the third round ended in draws Monday.

Carlsen defeated two-time world junior champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the first round and Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljano in the second, and then battled Michael Adams of England to a draw in the third.

Aronian upset former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the first and former world title candidate Boris Gelfand of Israel in the second before drawing his third game with Peter Leko of Hungary.

Aronian has posted the highest performance rating so far of 3029, as against Carlsen’s 2999.

In third place with 2.0 points from one win and two draws was Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, conqueror of reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand of India..

Here is how Carlsen took the measure of Eljanov:

M. Carlsen (2733) – P. Eljanov (2692)
Rd 2, Corus A, Wijk aan Zee NED (2) 2008
Gruenfeld Defense (D91)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.Bh4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Qa4+ Qd7 9.Qxc4 b6 10.e3 Ba6 11.Qb3 Bxf1 12.Kxf1 0–0 13.Ke2 c5 14.dxc5 Na6 15.Rhd1 Qb7 16.c6 Qxc6 17.Bxe7 Rfe8 Of course not 17...Bxc3?? because of 18.Rac1 Rfc8 19.Rxc3! 18.Ba3 Qxc3 19.Qxc3 Bxc3 20.Rac1 Bb4 21.Bb2 Bf8 22.Nd4 Nc5 23.g4 Re4 24.Kf3 Rae8 25.h3 f6 26.Ba3 Kf7 27.Rc2 Na6 Fritz suggests 27...R4e7!? 28.Bxf8 White now has the edge Kxf8 29.Rc6 Kg7 30.Nb5 R4e7 31.Rdd6 Nc5 32.Nc7 Better was 32.Rxf6 Nd7 33.g5 Ne5+ 34.Ke2 Nxc6 35.Rxc6 Re5! Rf8 33.h4 Rff7 34.Nd5 Rd7 35.Rxd7 Nxd7 36.Kg3 Nc5 37.f3 h6 38.Nf4 g5 38...Kh7 could help White, e.g., 39.h5 g5 40.Nd5! 39.Nh5+ Kg6 40.f4 gxf4+ 41.exf4 Kh7 42.f5 42.Nxf6+ is clearly inferior, Fritz notes, citing 42...Rxf6 43.Rc7+ Kg8 44.Rxa7 Rf7 45.Ra8+ Kg7! Kg8 43.Kf3 43.Rc8+ was stronger Nd7 44.Ke4 Kf8 Best was 44...Nc5+! 45.Kd5 Nd7 46.Rc8+ Nf8 47.Rd8!, and White surges on 45.Rc8+ Ke7 46.Kd5 b5 47.Rh8 Nb6+ 48.Kc6 Nc4 49.Ra8 Ne5+ 50.Kc5 Nd7+ 50...Nxg4 would benefit White: 51.Nf4 Kd7 52.Rxa7+ Ke8 53.Ra8+ Kd7 54.Nd5! 51.Kxb5 Kd6 52.Rxa7 Rf8 53.Kb4 Nc5 53...Rb8+ 54.Kc3! also gives White the point 54.Kc4! 1–0