Book Matters

Hey there!

Public service first:

THE ROBINSONS CHILDREN'S LIBRARY, INC. ,
LOPEZ MEMORIAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY
AND
ORTIGAS FOUNDATION LIBRARY INC.

will be holding the
"BOOK MATTERS"
Two - month long festival of focusing on Value of Books and Reading

Launch of the Event will be held on
May 9, 2008
at the 3F Jumpstreet Robinsons Galleria
from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Activities include Meet and Greet Authors and Illustrators, Chamber and Tandem Storytelling, Mascot Appearances, Fun and Games, Book Fair and a whole lot more!

See you there!

For workshop inquiries and registration, please contact any of the following:

Lopez Memorial Museum & Library - 6359545, 6312417
Ortigas Foundation & Library - 6311231 to 38, 7063834
Robinsons Children's Library - 6836100 loc 198, 3952112

My Rabat-Casablanca Days

After my Weekend Train Trip with Alice, Val and Tiff, I spent a solitary night in Rabat without the lights. A good Sunday night's rest means my laptop is off, no electricity in the flat and my phone is on a dead battery mode.

I woke up Rabat-Monday morning around 630 and went straight to take a bath and clean up. The heater wasn't working so I did a "kachupoy bath method". It simply means my usual 30 minute bath becomes a 5 minute ritual. Damn! The water is cold!

After this I had breakfast from the TGI Friday's dinner leftover. I had three slices of chicken wrapped with something and it tasted good, heavy and healthy. Cleaned up the room and fixed my one-week-travel-anywhere 3-bag-system. This 3-bag system I call works well for an Internet dependent traveler like me. My duffel/duffle bag (thanks Alicia!) contains all my clothes, the other is my laptop bag which of course contains my computer and all the peripherals needed for my mobile Internet services The third one? Oh it's an excess! LOL!

Then paid my dues to the owner of the flat by cleaning up the place. And here comes the ugly face of my stupid relationship with directions and instructions. My flat owner told me the thrash bags go in the first door from the entrance door. I opened the first door but someone said something in Darija (Moroccan Arabic) so I closed it immediately. Then went on to open the next door twice which was a flat. The second time I did this, the owner came out and never let go of me until I gave him the room number where I stay. O shit!

Of course I had to express "Hey I'm sorry to do this but I don't care about you or your place" in a universal language: hand on my left chest and saying "par-doh(n)".

With my laptop bag hanging on my neck, I went out of the building not knowing where to go. All I know was I needed to charge my laptop and phone while I get my dose of caffeine-filled glass and "milawi" with "kiri". Kiri is a dairy product more popularly known as cheese and milawi is like a Pinoy hotcake but thinner and has a squared shape.

I saw an avenue and got the urge to walk into it. From where I stood I saw the vastness of Atlantic Ocean and this gave me the "feelings of country home". I thought I'd walk towards it but was detoured by coffee shops.

Sip here, sip there, pay then give a tip off I went to the sea!



How I love the serenity the waves bring! I went as close as I could to the shoreline and just like someone surprising a long lost friend, there was a big wave that splashed on the rock I was standing on. Whew thanks for the bonjour and ciao my dear friends!

After the greetings and high fives, I decided to go back to the flat, got my bags and took a cab. As I stepped out of the apartment, I just had to make sure I read the notes Val gave me. It was the most important paper I had that day which said "Francis, these are the things you need to say to the taxi driver to reach Kuya S's".

Then the fix: Waahhhhh! Val forgot the important name of the place: "HAY RIYAD" and so the driver was lost, I mean I was lost.

The rescue: If all else fail, ask Alice to call back and let her do the talking! Thanks dudette!

Arrived at Kuya S's place around 9 in the morning. Noemie was there and so was Kelay. Finally found a place to have my batteries charged and powered.

Lunch was served and sightings of Pinoy food on the table. Wowow! The aroma and the texture, Pinoy food to the max! Enjoy in the joys of eating!

Thanks! thanks! thanks!

Kuya S arrived and first thing I told him was I needed a relaxing Thai massage. So off we went to the parlor. An hour and a half of pure deep tissue massage coupled with cartilage-stretching, bone-breaking maneuvers sent me to R-E-M land! Don't try it at home!

Night time was Pinoy socialization called videoke night! Yahoo! I got to, err, got to scream to my heart's content and listener's dismay! My standard Each Day with You, Be My Lady, YMCA and Crazy Little Thing Called Love just won't fail me. Of course this happens after I've downed a couple of bottle of vodka's. LOL!

Then the snoring came and gone!

I woke up at 530 in the morning and went Skype with my loving wife and kids. Had coffee with Ate Len too during this time. Oh! Ate was just sweet and well, very ate! Stories of the kingdom, years away from the Philippines and life ahead.

Then around 9 I asked Ate if it was a great time to go to the Medina and I got a surprise from Ate "I'll go with you!"

First stop: Hassan Tower. This monumental incomplete mosque is a must for travelers. Check out my photos and the photos from the links.







After the photo shoot, we hopped into a cab and went straight to Medina and did some shopping of fruits and more fruits!

Then back to Hay Riyad.

Another Pinoy lunch and Pinoy merienda. Online moments then my trip to Marjane Hay Riyad. Marjane is a shopping mall and this is near the auto route where my ride will come from. At 6 PM Ms. Karen showed up and off we drove to Casablanca. An hour away. By the way, I saw two burly guys speaking in Filipino so I called out "Kabayan!" Gladly they replied back. Interestingly, I got the feeling that I was talking to a fellow Pinoy who would rather not talk to me. Oh! Some men you just can't reach and there are those who refuses to be reached! Well, what can I do? I left in a huff!

Casablanca now.

Arrived and met some Pinoys:



Then snoring.

Woke up and it's Casablanca morning. It's a city morning and JR Cenis and I went the fish port first thing and bought a 58 Dirhams worth of fish. I was surprised at how much 58 Dirhams can buy. I wanted to bring out my PhP 2,500.00 small time point and shoot digital camera to take photos of the fish port scenario. A lively, smelly and wonderful place to take pictures of but I dared not as I might offend this sleep-deprived fishermen who only wants to empty their fish baskets and go home for a nice sleep. I found it annoying though that these merchants' initial reactions, when they see and hear us ask for the prices of their goods, were to raise the prices up in the sky. We were laughing each time they'd do that to us.

JR is 7 months better than me when it comes French and Arabic speaking so he does the haggling all the time.

After the errand, we went to the coffee shop and had a good croissant with choc'late in it. My ole' did the finishing kick to my sleepiness and tummy tremors. Then we did another round of photo shoots:



Then we went to a place they call "Little Paris" but Alice said the name and I forgot it. More photos:



It must be lovely to be there at night but I was told these pigeons also have time offs for work, LOL!

I flew with them:



JR fed them too:



I like this one:



If you plan to visit this Little Paris, it's is a few blocks away from the fish port and you won't miss it with people and pigeons crowding the park.

We then went back home by hopping again in a cab.

Clean up time, lunch time ala Pinoy! Fried fish, tomato and vinegar with "siling Labuyo!" Yohoo! Pinoy food! Pinoy food!

Leo arrived and off we go again. Next stop is the seaside!



I wasn't surprised at all to see the beach crowded on a weekday, in the middle of the day. Life here in Morocco is simple and easy. Football happy nation is Morocco:



At least I saw 4 made up beach football field in the beach for 11 a side matches. That is big!!!

Well, I didn't need to consult the chieftain about my decision to go beach walking:



Been wanting to join the waves since Monday in Rabat! I am featuring in the next few photos reAdi, ma' all-terrain rubby!







Along the way, reAdi, me and the rest of the crew saw a big black cat abandoned by one of the football guys:



Good thing reAdi wanted to race:



Well so far so good but I realized it's 214 AM now. This post has taken much longer wot write than I expected. I started writing at 7PM last night!

After the water works, JR and I went to Hassan II Mosque, the biggest Mosque outside of Mecca.

Our version of our captured moments of the enormous structure before us:

















So far so good is my travel week here in Morocco! I have to sleep now, I'll be going out again today with JR!


By the way, here are my gracious hosts here in Casablanca:




Readers from Morocco, specially, Pinoys in Morocco, do you know them?

Travel time means seeing news things and learning lots about the place you go to! Bye and thanks for reading!

Do chime in the comment section if you want to add info's about the places I go to.

Chess in Casablanca

In 4 hours, I'll be in Casablanca where Morocco Chess Federation's office is housed. Add to that, I'll be meeting this "Mang Bert" who is known in Pinoy community here in Morocco as "the man" when it comes to chess.

We will see him by tomorrow.

GK is for Gate Krash

Hey there!

Garry Kasparov does it again! Party crashing in Sochi Russia, chess' longest reigning champ essayed a good trap on Mr. Pakhomov, the city mayor with Kremlin's support.

Mess with the Zohan but not with the master!

RP National Juniors 2009

We have 4 players tied on first spot with a score of 6 points after eight rounds. They are NM Haridas Pascua, Jerich Cajeras, MJ Turqueza and Paolo James Florendo. I find and I miss the names of the usual names on top like Karl Viktor Ochoa and Jem Garcia.

Surprisingly, age groupers are playing well against the juniors like Vince Angelo Medina who is at number seven ahead of Alcon John Datu and Sheider Nebato. Vince, from Aniban, Bacoor Cavite will be an incoming first year high school student. He might play in the UAAP this year if he was takn in by FEU.

With Palarong Pambansa 2009 and National Juniors taking place simultaneously, it doesn't take geek to know why missing in action is this year's theme of the age group and juniors.

Or you might know another reason for this?

Weekend Train Trip

Good day to all!

As most of you know, I am on a travel mode since Saturday and I've spent my weekend with friends mostly trying to figure out the best way to spend and while away my time sitting (and all the sitting position a man can think of) in a train.

Just to give an idea what I've done this weekend.

Saturday, April 25

900AM-1200NN

Review and homework studies with my ward. Again, consistency in being inconsistent with his consistencies the main theme of my ward. Not much of a thing to elaborate on.

1200NN- 130 NN

Oh I love the thought of Hammam! So when I learned about my ward's intention of going to Hammam, I said I'll go to Hammam too. You all know what it is right? If not, then click on this: Science of Hammam.

130NN-430NN

I visited and prayed in the Catholic Church of Meknes. After saying my thanks and gratitude, whispers of adoration and praises, I went the coffee shop right in front of the church and behind Hotel Malta.

I had two nice croissant with beef-tasting fillings and a glass of ole'. Ole' is what you call a drink with milk and coffee here in Morocco. I spent my hours waiting for Val chatting with Tristan (my bro-in-law). We tried to play chess at FICS but we just couldn't figure out the how's of playing against each other.

430-515PM

Val arrived and offline I went.

I told her I know a Pizzeria where we can have our early dinner before torturing ourselves to a ten hour train trip to Marrakesh from Meknes. Cheese burger and humor is a nice thing to share upon. Plus Val's star complex helps fill in dead air.

530PM-100 AM Sunday April 26

Hmmmm!

First, we had our 1st class train couch! It's the premier or we don't travel at all. If you're here in Morocco and plan to use the train, it's better if you spend a little more and purchase a first class ticket than board on a 2nd class too much populated couches.

I watched A Lot Like Love movie during this time after an endless chatting with Val. The movie is on my favorite list and my wife knows this kilig I get when I watch and think about it. The movie OST is just great!

A nice Moroccan lady named Hagar went in our couch to study but she made the wrong choice. Instead of focusing and concentrating on her books, Val and I, the ever social and talkative Filipino creatures we were, conversed with her. She was good in English, Spanish and French.

There was another guy in the cabin who could not speak English at all but chimed in and laughed with was, with the help of Hagar's translation and wittiness. We exchanged travel stories and "I am lost" moments as a foreigner in a strange land. Each of us had these moments and we were one in saying that traveling makes one smarter and more open to other cultures.

It was a long trip... In fact before Hagar came, we had mad a fool of ourselves by dancing, singing and yes, walking back and forth the train.

100AM, Marrakech Finally!

We arrived at Marrakech Station, the final destination. We waited for Alice and her fiance' Tiff for 20 minutes. I thought they'll be there waiting for us with placards: "losers!" much like the scene in A Lot Like Love. Well, turns out they were busy with something!

We rode the petit taxi (city taxi) and went straight to the few remaining establishments operating during this time. Whether I liked it or not, I had no choice but eat at KFC Marrakesh. Good times with my company except for the stupid taxi driver who thought he was part of the gang and went inside with us and lined up to order at the counter. Our local guy, Tiff, did some ass-kicking without actually kicking and the driver went back to his rightful lowly place, behind the wheels while we were eating. And he still didn't get it right because he came back and took some fries without our permission, my permission. Oh well, the difference between is a big space called self-respect. Enough of him!

200-400 AM

Well, after photo opps on one of the many available lighted squares in Marrakech, we walked more and Val, our resident dance-addict, led us to the first club she found. 150 Dirhams was an expensive amount to break one's eardrums, suffocate in smoke filled room and get tipsy with sky-high prices of my favorite drink, TEQUILA.

400 AM

Off we went out and with ringing in my ears, I had to ask Val and Alice if there were indeed birds nearby chirping. Thank God there were and my ears are perfectly safe but momentarily impaired. We all walked back to our apartment. The rest of the time we watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Of course we stole some sleep time and Alice just had to wake me up for Tiff's morning farewell as he had to earn a living as a Zip Lines Monitor. I promise I'll try it before my break in July.

1000 AM

Off we went to the Old City of Medina. Medina of Marrakech is a World Heritage Site. This is my second time to be here and the square and the people that populate it just never ceases to amaze me. Snake charmers, old time musicians playing with their native Moroccan instruments are big time goodies for me.

Before I forget. I had a bad experience with a beggar on our way to the train station to buy our 100NN train tickets. He asked for money and we simply ignored him. He gestured to my bottle of water and I gestured no. That's when the time he tried to take it away from my hands, thus catching the strap of Alice' camera which was on my neck.

Fuck! It didn't look good and Val was quick to say "Shuma!" which meant shame on you! A local guy on his motor bike stopped and looked like he'll give me help but then he didn't need to. The beggar didn't bug us anymore.

Back to Medina moments.

Because of the incident, I didn't feel like smiling and walking around. Although the company is really great and all the possible camera captures I could have, I chose not to take any as my would be subjects for sure will pester me for loose Dirhams. Not that I am being skimpy but I thought "forget about them. They are so abusive with alms-giving.

Anyways, the three of us contented ourselves with photos of our own. Hahahah!

A few more walks and window shopping, off we went for lunch. By the way, I found a shop that sells Moroccan swords which I plan to buy for friends in the Philippines. We had a nice lunch in one of the tile-infested restaurants in the Medina. I love the architecture of that building.

1200 NN

We're back in our apartment and packed our bags. We were hoping to be in the train station 30 minutes early because we really want to upgrade our tickets to first class seats. Remember, go first class or go home. With a time travel of more than 7 hours, you would thank Heavens for the extra money you have for a comfortable travel.

Caution: MOROCCANS ALONG THE RAILWAYS!

Someone threw a stone on the train and it hit the windows where our cabin was. Fuck! Alice got broken glasses all over her. Val was sitting next to the door and I was in the middle while Alice was on the last row, the farthest. She got all the impact and it was a wake up call. You just can't be too relaxed when traveling.

We helped out and made sure Alice was A-Okay! We transferred cabins and savored the dead-air. Val insisted we talk to the train officer when go down. We asked to have a written report about the incident but the security chief said we have to come back because he needs talk to the train travel chief.

600PM

We went straight to the hospital for medical flush-out procedures of the glasses. Good news, no serious medical concerns!


700 PM

Dinner at Friday's! Great food, great time!

830 PM

In the apartment now!

Locked the door, closed the window and slept!

Photos from my weekend trip to follow! It was a tiring weekend but definitely fun filled!

GM Kosteniuk Win Against Berlin

Saw this clip and I thought I'd share it with you guys at GM Kosteniuk vs GM Almasi.

You might like to register for free at Daily Motion, Tube Chess and Chess Movies. They have the answers to your questions, your source for your needs and your clip for your fave' flick!

By the way, I'd be travelling most of my time next week and I intend to visit the office of the Morocco Chess Federation in Casablanca. I wish to find someone who speaks English there or else I'm dead.

Till then!

Coelho and Me

I met him in 2002, thanks to a fling who's mantra was:

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve your dream”

Now the fling is gone (a month in 2002 thanks much!) but he, he stayed on with me until now. His name? Paulo Coelho.

My indoctrination came thru his work The Alchemist and since then, I've never been the same. It was a super-to-the-max book read for me that I have re-read the book 5 times now since then. Of course you'd have to know the aftermath of this.

Coelho became my choice of gift to friends, used some of the lines I thought described my feelings on my email signature, asked my mom to read it too which proved to be financially good for me. I didn't have to buy my own Coelho book, I just had to wait for my mom to finish hers.

Let's see, I have read most of his writings available in the Philippines:

• The Alchemist
  
• The Pilgrimage
• The Valkyries
• Veronica Decides to Die
• The Fifth Mountain
• By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
• The Manual of the Warrior of Light
• Eleven Minutes
• The Devil and Ms. Prym

You see, I have not read all of his books but I intend to do so and I believe as of this writing, the universe has begun to move and conspire and help me achieve that goal. Hahahaha!

Now comes another realization.

I am here in Morocco.

Santiago, our shepherd and the hero in the story Alchemist, went to Tangiers, Morocco. Forty five minutes away from Spain by boat. I never thought I'd be spending time in a place where Paulo used as one of his settings.

Shepherds, sand dunes, lamps, night time, oasis, flocks etc. These were some of the words you can find in the story and all of these are here in Morocco.

I'll have a free week starting tonight and I've got a big-petty-stupid problem: I want to go and see the Sahara. A place where the oasis can be found, sand dunes abound and warriors reside. I was told that I'd have to travel for 8 hours to reach the place from Meknes.

I wish by tomorrow I will know if my "Little U.N." will go with me to Sahara and if we do, I'd be thinking about Coelho's thoughts about the sands:

"So his heart was quiet for an entire afternoon. That night, the boy slept deeply, and, when he awoke, his heart began to tell him things that came from the Soul of the World. It said that all people who are happy have God within them. And that happiness could be found in a grain of sand from the desert, as the alchemist had said. Because a grain of sand is a moment of creation, and the universe has taken millions of years to create it. "Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him," his heart said. "We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them---the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out indeed, to be threatening place."

Maybe I'd be bringing back a bottle of sand, a sack or a pocket of it. Whatever, I just wish to have on my hands a proof of God's moment of creation.

Oh! can't wait to see the Sahara, can't wait to get my eyes on a new Paulo Coelho book.

Well, for now I've got to link these Free Paulo Coelho Books Online.

Just Don't

Hey there!

Beware of a chess-playing man named Aleksey Valentikhin! If you play against him, just make sure there aren't any windows in the playing hall or you are playing chess on the ground floor.

Have yourself tied and protected before you announce checkmate or else out the window you go!

Palarong Pambansa 2009 here for your updates!

In Capiz, big time chess is scheduled on May 9-10 dubbed as “Duso…Oras na.” An individual mixed masters chess active tournament sponsored by Gov. Victor A. Tanco and the provincial government of Capiz, in cooperation with Sen. Mar Roxas and organized by the Capiz Chess Association (CCA), Inc.

Don't you think it's time all the clubs and associations get the NCFP recognition?

One line says:

"The only chess group here affiliated with the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP)."

Same Chessboard

Guys have you seen TCG's latest blog post , The Chess Player? Outright mental! I have the same chessboard which was given by my former operations manager. She bought it from Morocco, imagine that?

Do you remember my video post Pixar Shorts: Gerry's Game? It's another mental stuff!

For those who missed that post, here it is:



We have chess news from National PRISAA Games here.

And it's nice to know that Filipinos have been coaching chess in other countries years ahead of Cuba. You guys can hire more Filipino chess coaches and see the difference. Try it!

Memories of Home

I was searching YouTube videos of Dr. Spencer Reid playing chess from my favorite TV series Criminal Minds for my Philippine Chess Chronicles blog when I stumbled lots of feel-good clips from the same show.

I was brought back in time when Barbs and I would have sleepless nights doing a marathon of the newest criminal minds she bought from the market. Sigh! I miss my life in the Philippines!

But thanks to YouTube, I was grooving on my chair as I watch and enjoy the music videos:







Plus my favorite character, Dr. Reid:



And the usual reactions of the dumbs:




Oh man! The statement "Because he knows everybody see you as a kid and he wants to make sure people respect you..." "I was a 12 year old child prodigy in a Las Vegas public high school, you kick like a 9 year old girl"



"What kind of a doctor are you?"

RP 2009 Age Group Chess Champions

From Malibay Chess Club's blog, we now have the list of Philippine's Age Group Champions 2009. If you compare the results from 2008 Philippine Age Group Champions, one will find a more or less new names in the field of champions.

Dennis Gutierrez Jr. wins 8 and under. The son of former Adamson University Falcons NM Dennis Guitierrez, will hopefully have the discipline to further his chess playing skills under his dad's mentoring. You've got the genes boy, now train hard!

In last year's Shell Active Chess, I had a little talk with the Dennis the NM and he has got to be one of the mild mannered and soft spoken Pinoy chess player I've ever met.

Some names I expected but didn't see on the 1st place plate:

• MJ Turqueza
  
• John Emmanuel Garcia
• John Ray Batucan
• Kylle Ochoa
• Marc Christian Nazario
• Chardine Cheradee Camacho
• Jodilyn Fronda
• Christine Bernales

Paulo Bersamina of Pasay City, if my memory serves me right, has for won his category 3 times. Wow!

Congratulations to all the players who participated in this uear's edition of the National Age Group!

Up next, the National Juniors!

RP's Region VI Top Player

We now have the Philippine's Top Player for Region VI in the name of Villavieja!

GMANews.TV provides the story here.

Lately GMANews 'been active in the chess scene. Like the NCFP Age Group which they've update us regularly like this one.

Do you remember our post about NCFP's choice for this year's Age Group and Junior Championship?

Well, so far the logical explanation (and economical) for this is Region VI' Qualifying tournament. Bringing the three tourneys in one location is logistically sound.

Congatulations to Butch!

Memory and Chess

It's been awhile since I last had the time to browse my chess email which on the average, receives 80 emails daily from my chess subscriptions. These "spams" are good and bad depending on the time available for me to browse them.

Some of the messages I look forward to are the ones from Chessville and FIDE Newsletters.

Anyone here believes in the strong connection between chess and memory? The better able you are holding on to information in chess, the higher your chess rating climbs up.

No wonder, innocent bystanders of chess has this undeniable belief about chess and the players of the game: "Chess is for the geeks!"

It's true and but it's not a complete truth. Just like any human endeavor, there is the unwritten law about skill acquisition. One has to study and practice playing chess like it's your second nature.

A good memory is not enough if not seasoned by the years of tournament plays and daily disciplined correct chess study.

One major element now in chess training is technology. Here is where Chessville's article comes in, Chess Memory: How To Get It?

Bill's works are amazing and you'd have to credit the guy for that! Download Bill Jordan's Chess Training softwares now.

Hunt for Pinoy Chess Videos

I have discovered Picassa 3 and it's beautiful features late, already here in Morocco. In fact, it was only two days ago when I created my first ever video thru Picassa 3 and uploaded it for my Pinoy sa Moroccco Blog (PSM).

Here in PCC, I haven't had the chance to create a movie with all the chess photos in my collection but I will definitely do some in 2 weeks time. Probably while riding a Camel at Sahara, ideas will pop out of my heat-induced hallucinations.

But for now, I'd like to send my thanks to Catolos of ChessHeroes Blog for his good Pinoy Chess videos! Frost! (raising my glass filled with orange juice mixed with coca cola).

GM Wesley So's money savings strategy:



And Asia's first GM, Eugene Torre on stage. The choice of song showed us much of the generation gap between the old school and the now school. While watching the video, I thought eugene had too much to drink. Oh well! It was his party!

Sinatra, Jones and Monroe are a bunch of musical heads that gives me skin bumps each time I listen to them. Of course we have Groban, Buble' and Bautista of our times. These guys would definitely be in my iphone in a week or two.



And here is a good photo-video presentation of GM Eugene Torre's won game against GM Mikhail Tal. The music, the lyrics and the subject of the presentation makes one proud being a Filipino.



You guys are icons of a great nation, the Philippines! Thanks to you!

Days To Go

It's official, 90 more days 'till I set my foot on Philippine soil!

I wrote quite a long note today on my private journal and in it I counted the days I've been away and the days I'd have to count 'till I'm home again. It's been 83 days since January 28, the last day I saw my wife and kids without the aid of Skype. I've reached mid of my journey... another half and off I go home!

Chess Wiz: Maths 'a Peanuts

Courier Press run a story about a10-year-old prodigy that would remind our readers about Doogie Howser M.D. except that our boy is also a chess champ.

But here is something from Arun Jambulapati folks:

"Arun probably could become a major chess player, but we want him to have a broader world. It is a bigger world than chess alone."

It's Half and Full: It is .5

2 days ago (hoping here I got it right) I got an email about the reasons why NCFP made a serious blunder in staging the 2009 Philippine National Age Group and Juniors Chess Championship in Aklan, Province.

Points made:

"The concentration of strong players e nasa metro manila or NCR, tapos metro manila schools have been recruiting strong provincial players in the past 8 or 10 years. so bakit mo papahirapan yung mga nandito na na magagaling na bumalik uli para sa Nat'l Age Group at Juniors? Holiday economics? "

"Sa hirap ng buhay ngayon, pangit na desisyon yan ng NCFP. Kami nga yung parents auxiliary lang ang nagbigay ng malaking pera ke NAME HERE kaya nakasali doon."

"Updates ni NAME HERE: sa 12-under lang daw at sa 16-under maraming kasali, sila NAME HERE ay 34 players sa AGE under at sa 16-under ay parang ganoon din...Sa ibang Age Group daw, yung iba 8 boards lang, ibig sabihin, 16 players lang. Would you call that a National Championship?"

Our guy has his points and I can say he swayed his pen to the right music.

Then came a fellow blogger's post seeing the situation in a different light. Cream of the crop he say's are the participants in this year's tournament. Penned it mightily and he may also be right.

Now here's my stance:

I was really surprised and saddened to find out months ago about the venue for this year's edition of the tourney. First and foremost, my two chess players from Imus, Cavite aren't there now because of financial restraints.

It was costly enough for parents to have their kids play everyday for 1 week or 2 weeks last year at the Mandaluyong Hiyas ng Lahi Center. The rising cost of jeepney fare and meals are the culprit here.

Now for Aklan edition?

NCFP added the Air fare and housing fees to the equation which made it even harder for the parents to solve.

If you are a titled or known age-grouper/junior player, funds will definitely come in and off you go to Aklan and push those pawns.

But if you are someone who woke up one day and realized you'd like to burden yourself out of boredom by playing chess this summer, and want to find out where you'll be placing on the standings after the last round (whether you'll end up in the bottom rear or butt rear) funds will be harder to find.

And you should consider yourself to be lucky if dad or mom do not give out a loud "dear are you ok?" or something to that effect question when you ask for money to go to South and participate in the tournament.

But wait! NCFP President Pichay Jr is for grassroots chess development right? Bringing the games to the provinces can be seen as grassroots too. But moving away from the center of the universe where players abound is anti-grassroots.

Hmmm! It's a case of looking at the glass with water reaching the midpart. Not full but not empty. Others call it half full while others call it half empty. My dad used to tell us about Mang Pinong, the man with the polio living beside our house. Papa said he had longer left leg then on another day he'd tell us the man had shorter right leg.

Oh man!

But my friends, this year's age group tournament had lesser participants than last year, it is a fact. Cream of the crop? It is debatable!

Lessons learned?

You tell me because until now I am lost about Mang Pinong's legs.

Volubilis Trip

Hi there!

Yesterday was something special! It was my wife's birthday and I celebrated her birthday here in Morocco by going to Volubilis.

What is Volubilis?

Here are some links that will provide you all the scholarly answers:

1. Looklex' Morocco Volubilis
2. Wikipedia Volubilis
   
3. UNESCO Site: Volubilis
4. History of Volubilis
   

As for me, I'll try to provide you with images. I thought I did some good photography yesterday, really!



That's all for now!

Shuffle for 2009

Mike Co, the founding president of UP Manila's one and only chess club informed us of the new set of officers for the club:

Dear UP Royal Chess Club Members

I would like to introduce our organization’s new set of officers for this coming school year 2009-2010.

Please welcome:

• President: Jesse Dion (UPCM 2011)
• Vice president Internal: Lee Yarcia (UPCM 2012)
• Vice President External: Michael Mo (UPCM 2012)
• Secretary: Carmela Bragais (UPCM 2012)
• Treasurer : Karla Tamayo (UPCN 2nd year)
• Training Master: Joshua Bersamina (CAS 4th year)
• College Representatives
• CM: Richelle Duque
• CN: Karla Tamayo
• CP: Julius Ramierz
• CAS: Joshua Bersamina

Congratulations to the new set of officers! May you continue to build and improve our University's only chess club.

God Bless!

Michael Co
President 2008-2009
UP Royal Chess Club

Congratulations!

Grassroots Chess News

Hey there!

I was out the whole day yesterday and never had the chance to go online. But here are the two links provided by the big boys for chess news from the Philippines.

Journal Online's Age Group and Region VI Chess News while GMANews.TV Chess News.

I wish I could be there in Aklan to do live blogging ala-TCG but I just can't. And if ever I'll do so, I would of course have to ask NCFP to provide me my hotel and travel allowance.

Heck! A tournament blog will definitely give NCFP the necessary exposure our players need. Or if you guys can't, send it to one of the Pinoy Chess Blogs you can find here in PCC.

Well! Gotta go post my Volubilis Trip from yesterday at Pinoy Sa Morocco!

Asian Cities Championship 2009

Quietly! This never came in my google chess alerts nor in any of the major chess sites I read.

With a boom!

Learned about this only today, 4 days late.

Let's look at the Team Starting Rank

1. Tehran
2. Baghdad
3. Furn El Chebak A
4. Bangalore
5. Sanaa
6. Aleppo
7. Amman
8. Sharjah
9. Damascus
10. Abu Dhabi

Wait! Already on the first half and I still have not seen the Asian country that has P and H as it's first two letters. Le' me continue to the second half:

1. Beirut
2. Bandar Emam
3. Kathmandu
4. Chia
5. Sulaimaniyah
6. Dubai
7. Furn El Chibak B

Hoping still... Last three:

1. Al Quds
2. Hazieh
3. Gaza

Safi! (end!)

Am too lazy to include the country names each city-teams but mostly the participating teams are from the Middle East.

No team from the Republic of the Philippines?

No funds, not in the Agenda for 2009 (no voters there!?) or maybe I guess this makes sense, maybe there isn't much competition there.

Organizing Federation is Lebanon Chess and the Chief Arbiter is IA Casto Abundo, our very own!

Chess Players Birthdays

You've thought much about openings, endings and tactics. You've brutally defended your belief that this counter attack is more solid than the other. You have played a million games and have played against millions of players.

Have you ever asked yourself this:

"Which month of the year has the most number of chess grandmasters been born on?"

I needed an answer. I asked google, google replied: Mark Week's Chess Players Have Birthdays, Chess Players Prefer To Be Born On February, and Some Chess Players Fib About Their Birthdays.

In Philippine Chess, which month do we have the most number of birthday celebration for our 11 grandmasters? International Masters? FIDE Masters? Now the mess (in statistics) begins if we think about our National Masters.

I was about to do another search for birthday database when I thought of clicking Mark's latest post, Chessing with the Stars. Still has something to do with birthdays but on a deeper level, more feminine they say. Astrology and Horoscope!

Truth behind my post today:

"Happy Birthday to you Claire Dandan-Buenaventura"

US Diplomacy

With USA's warm up move towards Cuba, Barack Obama's government I guess is for real. But my question behind this move is "Would you warm up to your long-time neighbor if you weren't going thru the worst recession you've had in years?"

A Filipino like me knows how extravagant and show-offy these Americans can be. I just hope they, as a Nation, get their acts together and try to help out their government in bringing their economy back to life.Blogger: Pinoy sa Morocco - Create Post

Anyways, I always visit two of Uncle Sam's great online works whenever I need to check on something. These are CIA World Factbook and US Department of State.

You want to find out about Morocco? Then click on the next word: MOROCCO. Trying to find out more infos about my home country? Then all you need to do is visit this: Philippines.

As always, they write their views about another country, from their own point of view!

Different Tastes In Chess

Others like the classic and who wouldn't? While others hate the variants and contemporary to death, others find time to promote these offshoots often bordering on modern thinking and away from boring usualities.

Unless you've been living under a rock since 2006, I'm sure you've heard the now famous TV Series, Heroes created by Tim Kring. TV series can be so big that a lot of stuffs can be produced out of it: web comics, books, movies and other forms of media outputs! You name it, you'll have it!

Heard about Heroes Chess? Created and developed due to the success of the TV series! Find out more about the Genesis of this variant here: The Birth of Heroes Chess.

One more here.

Wanna try it? Or you might want to explore and be radical about Chess Variants?

Either way, there will always be someone up against someone's ideas and creations. Chess will always be a war between ideas!

Chess in popular TV shows? Hmmm!

Hybrid Ball Game

2 weeks ago I chanced upon a group of men in one of the vacant lots here in the Centerville of Ifrane. Quickly I walked towards them and made that Pinoy style Uzisero stance. They liked my presence and I felt it was legit for me to be Uzisero for two reasons: 1st, I was a foreigner and I didn't know what they were doing and 2nd, I had my camera with me to ahhhm, take photos of their Le' ball?

This ball game they were playing is totally new to my eyes and mindedness.

What do they play with?

Heck! They play with metallic balls that weighs heavier than my laptop. They also have one lighter and smaller RED ball that acts like a marker on the floor.

How do they play with those balls? Pun intended!

You are Pinoy and for sure you have played "tatshing?" Have you? Or maybe "jolens?"

Well, one player who holds the RED ball throws it on the floor.

Then other will throw their balls on the floor, with the intention of placing their ball nearest to the RED ball. They take turns until everyone does.

Tactics and strategies. All games must have these or it's not a game at all.

Players can hit their opponents balls (ouch!) on the floor and usually, the player who has his ball nearest (winning) on the RED ball, gets to be the BEAT THE MAN in that round.

It's a mix of bowling and "tatshing" skills. Enough of words, it's time to use images in photos!
























As you can see, it requirs good form when throwing the ball and I'm telling you, it's a serious game played by serious players! I tried it and I thought I would be good at it if I play daily for a month.

I was told the game is played in India and France. So what is the name of the game? Anyone?