The Weekender Extra Edition

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Extra!!! The Chess Plaza Weekender
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City
Vol. II No. 39a

NAT’L CHAMPIONSHIP PRELIM
Father of 3 tops NCR regional elimination

By Marlon Bernardino

A FATHER of three in his early 30s who had not played in major tournaments for years topped the three-day National Capital Region elimination series for the 2008 National Championship at the Kaban ng Hiyas, Mandaluyong City Hall complex, on Sunday.

Unheralded Las Piñas barangay player Christopher Dejayco swept through the seven-round Swiss event undefeated to be the first among 12 NCR players to qualify for the National Championship semifinals to be held at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City on June 22-27.

“I did not know that I still had it in me,” the unassuming operator of a gym and an Internet chess café said when interviewed by this reporter soon after he drew with second runner-up Edmundo Gatus in the seventh and final round.

Dejayco’s NCR participation was sponsored by sportsman Dennis Custodio and the Almanza Chess Club of Las Piñas City.

Dejayco, who originally came from Tacloban City and used to be the mainstay of the University of Perpetual Help in Las Piñas, had grabbed the solo lead in the penultimate sixth with a crucial win against former co-leader Christian Arroyo of Cagayan de Oro City.

Dejayco finished with 6.5 points, followed by Noel de la Cruz, Gatus, Allan Macala, Raymond Salcedo, Esmael Abas, and Christopher Castellano.

Joining them as qualifiers for the National Championship semifinals were five players with 5.0 points each, who edged out 17 others with a similar score on tiebreak.

The lucky five were Eduardo Macabulos, Alcon John Datu, Arroyo, Carlo Magno Rosaupan and Albert Rivera.

Under the rules drawn up by the NCFP, the top five from each of the 11 other regional elimination tournaments will also be entered in the Mall of Asia semifinals in June.

In turn, the top 12 semifinalists will face 12 seeded players from among the country’s titled players (grandmasters, international masters, Fide masters, and national masters) in the National Championship Grand Finals to be held from June 30 to July 14 in Tagaytay City.

The results of the Grand Finals will form the basis for selecting the men’s and women’s teams to represent the Philippines in the 38th World Olympiad to be held in Dresden, Germany in November.

The NCR elimination drew 154 players, many of them students including the various age-group champions and runners-up when the first round was played last Friday. By the time the last round was played on Sunday, only 128 were left to fight it out, 28 winless participants having dropped out.

With Willie Abalos as tournament director, International Arbiter Elias Lao Jr. served as chief arbiter. Assisting him were Fide Arbiters Patrick Lee and Ilann Perez.

The three-day Swiss tournament was held on the third floor of the Kaban ng Hiyas Bldg., Mandaluyong City Hall complex on the Boni Avenue rotunda.

My thanks to Patrick Lee and Ilann Perez of the NCFP.

PINOY FUN IN THE EMIRATES
Ex-TIP star tops 2nd FCPL Rapid Open

A FORMER varsity star of the Technological Institute of the Philippines won the 2nd Filipino Chess Players’ League Rapid Open Championship held on February 29 and March 7 at the Reef Mall in Deira, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Gilbert Taopa claimed the championship trophy by garnering 6.0 points from seven rounds, half a point clear of first runner-up Arnel Matildo.

In third place was Ismael Nihuzzar, an overseas worker from India, who won on tiebreak over Jobannie Tabada, Paul Dargan of England and Florencio Superales, in that order, at 5.0 points each.

Superales upset FM Antonio Molina Sr.

Two other foreigners who took part in the tournament, which attracted 36 players in all, were Ali Sibt and Zameer Khan.

Sibt had 4.0 points at the tail-end on a tiebreak of four players who had 4.5 each. The other three were FM Antonio Molina Sr, Reyjoy Bartolay and Marcelo Payoket. All three are Filipinos.

Khan was with three other Filipinos who had 4.0 each. They were Fernando Asuncion, Francis Aldeguer and Alexius Valerio, in that order. Khan ranked third in this batch with Asuncion having the highest tiebreak points of the four.

Ernesto Yap headed the next batch of five players with 3.5 each. The four others were Rogelio Taopa, Robert Songalia, Ja-Ard Gapus, and Pucholo Yape.

PARTICIPANTS in the 2nd FCPL Rapid Chess Championship pose for souvenir photo after the games last Friday at the Reef Mall in Dubai.
Front row, from left: Florencio Superales, Marcelo Payuket, Pochol Yape, Francis Aldeguer, Joey Tiberio, and Alexus Valero. Back row, from left: Ismael Nihuzzar, Arnel Matildo, Gilbert Taopa, Rolly Arlante, Reyjoy Bartolay, Jobannie Tabada, Marz Marcial, and Danny Ambeng.

They were followed by Hermie Cagatin, Ben Peñaranda, Emmanuel Marbella, and Josefino Tiberio at 3.5 each; Danny Baltazar and Rey Meez at 2.0 each; and Boyet Delgado, Dave Ravara, Abdullah Tato, and Ruben Jimenez at 1.0 each.

Antonio Marbella, a beginner, remained scoreless at the bottom.

It was a closely fought contest as indicated by the batches of players having identical scores.

Joey Tiberio served as tournament director, with Marz Marcial as chief arbiter assisted by Willie Laceste.

Time control was 30 minutes per game per player with a five-second increment per move.—Emman Marbella