The NCAA Chess Tournament opens this Saturday and there would be 9 Universities/Colleges playing in the double round-robin team tournament.
Good luck to all!
MERALCO Chess Club has been very active in promoting the game the past few weeks and they are now sponsoring a fund raising simul exhibition event for the Philippine PARA Team.
For those interested, please visit MERALCO Chess Club blog for details.
fabph76. Insights maybe but not answers.
Wika Para sa Lahat
Magandang araw! Magandang hapon! Magandang gabi! If you understood any of the words or phrases I used, chances are that you know they come...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Important Notice
GM Rogelio Barcenilla: please send me an email as soon as possible. I would need to forward an important email coming from a certain Bryan Aguirre of ChessCube.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Back Home
I'm back home without any pasalubongs but so happy and contented that I don't even intend to go out my family's sight for the next 4 weeks.
Please visit my Pinoy Sa Morocco blog for my detailed post about going back home.
For our friends from MERALCO Chess Club, here is my email: philippinechess@gmail.com.
I have not posted here for more than a week and this will continue for another few more weeks. Settling back again is something I'm adjusting to (Heck! It's one and the same!).
NCAA Chess Tournament is right around the corner and it's exciting to know that we've got new chess coaches for 2 universities and we'll see how their teams fare this season.
Good luck and congratulations to Philippine Chess!
Until then!
Please visit my Pinoy Sa Morocco blog for my detailed post about going back home.
For our friends from MERALCO Chess Club, here is my email: philippinechess@gmail.com.
I have not posted here for more than a week and this will continue for another few more weeks. Settling back again is something I'm adjusting to (Heck! It's one and the same!).
NCAA Chess Tournament is right around the corner and it's exciting to know that we've got new chess coaches for 2 universities and we'll see how their teams fare this season.
Good luck and congratulations to Philippine Chess!
Until then!
Home Sweet Home
Touchdown Sunday, 3:10 PM July 5, 2009 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport where my wife and kids had been waiting for almost an hour. Went out of the airport around 400 PM and didn't mind anybody else except my family.
My original July 18 flight was rebooked and this is the main reason why I didn't have any "pasalubongs" as I have planned to do my buying at the MEDINA of FEZ a week before July 18.
There is no place like home!
The loving arms of my kids, the sweet nothings I have with my wife and the constant sad news seen and heard on TV about the Philippine affairs is an assurance that I am where my heart is!
My Morocco experience was, is and will always be a blessing from my God and I will forever be grateful for that!
I met friends, learned a lot from a very different culture and it's people. Found out that sincerity and honesty is a word so foreign among the locals of the country where I stayed for 6 months. A certain "Kuya" even told me that the "word of honor" is non-existent among the locals and I better lower my expectations or I'll be living my borrowed life in Morocco in mysery.
There are good and there are bad experiences I've had and this makes my Morocco adventures perfect. Thanks to all who have joined me in this wonderful 6 month old blog about my adventures in Morocco.
Goodbye and please feel free to find any helpful read here if ever you are planning to visit Morocco. You can even send me an email if you want to find out something about Morocco. I'd gladly help.
Gotta go now and in a week I'll be back to my former day job!
Now that's the best deal I've had!
Home sweet home!
My original July 18 flight was rebooked and this is the main reason why I didn't have any "pasalubongs" as I have planned to do my buying at the MEDINA of FEZ a week before July 18.
There is no place like home!
The loving arms of my kids, the sweet nothings I have with my wife and the constant sad news seen and heard on TV about the Philippine affairs is an assurance that I am where my heart is!
My Morocco experience was, is and will always be a blessing from my God and I will forever be grateful for that!
I met friends, learned a lot from a very different culture and it's people. Found out that sincerity and honesty is a word so foreign among the locals of the country where I stayed for 6 months. A certain "Kuya" even told me that the "word of honor" is non-existent among the locals and I better lower my expectations or I'll be living my borrowed life in Morocco in mysery.
There are good and there are bad experiences I've had and this makes my Morocco adventures perfect. Thanks to all who have joined me in this wonderful 6 month old blog about my adventures in Morocco.
Goodbye and please feel free to find any helpful read here if ever you are planning to visit Morocco. You can even send me an email if you want to find out something about Morocco. I'd gladly help.
Gotta go now and in a week I'll be back to my former day job!
Now that's the best deal I've had!
Home sweet home!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Drawn game?
What is the best continuation here for black? Is this position a draw? Can we say this is the endgame? Or we are still in the middle game? With the presence of both queens, many for sure would say the game still is in the middle phase.
But it gives the feeling that the game is already in the final phase. This is an adjourned game of mine from FICS. My opponent just went off after my white move of Ne3. I still had 7 minutes and 30 seconds and him 33 seconds.
Since last night, I have had 3 drawish endgames but I went on to press for a win which cost me all of those three games. From the position below, I feel it would be better to draw this one. My opponent, just like the three previous ones has higher rating points than mine. But still, with my Q+N+B against his Q+B+B, I have a slight advantage right?
Oh well!
But it gives the feeling that the game is already in the final phase. This is an adjourned game of mine from FICS. My opponent just went off after my white move of Ne3. I still had 7 minutes and 30 seconds and him 33 seconds.
Since last night, I have had 3 drawish endgames but I went on to press for a win which cost me all of those three games. From the position below, I feel it would be better to draw this one. My opponent, just like the three previous ones has higher rating points than mine. But still, with my Q+N+B against his Q+B+B, I have a slight advantage right?
Oh well!
After 42. Ne3Wednesday, July 1, 2009
A Toast to Endings
When something ends, you can't help but feel nostalgic about certain striking moments that you are sure to remember forever. For instance, getting off that jet for the first time in the Mohammad V International Airport and meeting Abdel Hak for the first time. I remember what he said, which I did not understand at the time, "fait froid" meaning "It's cold" in French. I remember how the jet lag felt like, and how for three whole days, I had no sense of time and had no other sensations than hunger. And then the first ever complete sentence that I was able to memorize "Tu belle comment une poubelle." (You are as beautiful as a trash can). I went through a whole lot of firsts here in Morocco, half of the list will keep me up until late tomorrow afternoon. And it feels so surreal that now I'm leaving, what I'm doing are the lasts. My last dinner at the table, my last night in my bed, my last venture into the cellar, my last hug, my last kiss, my last photo, my last day, my last glance...
It's weird that I'm even toasting to this ending. It's been a part of me for so long that I would feel cripple without it (believe it or not). I would be leaving behind friends and family, and a country that is so much a part of me now. Leaving is hard. Saying goodbye is hard. Toasting to endings is hard.
I guess I should change my title. A Toast to Beginnings. Only, it doesn't feel much like it yet. It feels like an end. Like everything that has been with me for the past two years and six months will all dissolve into a misty dream. Misty, but still there. Still existing. Always remembered.
I fucking hate goodbyes.
It's weird that I'm even toasting to this ending. It's been a part of me for so long that I would feel cripple without it (believe it or not). I would be leaving behind friends and family, and a country that is so much a part of me now. Leaving is hard. Saying goodbye is hard. Toasting to endings is hard.
I guess I should change my title. A Toast to Beginnings. Only, it doesn't feel much like it yet. It feels like an end. Like everything that has been with me for the past two years and six months will all dissolve into a misty dream. Misty, but still there. Still existing. Always remembered.
I fucking hate goodbyes.
Where am I?
For the last 4 weeks here, I have had nothing much to think about and prepare but my luggage and my papers. Let's see what I have accomplished so far and how I did it. No thanks to the backwards system of the land and the people here:
1. I had to clear my bank account and I had to go back to the bank 3 times before everything was fixed.
2. I had to rebook my flight and I had to go to the agency 5 times and wait for a day only to be told that I won't get it. The agent said my flight rescheduling, for the first time was for free. The following day, I was told I had to pay 900.00 MADS (Dirhams), then I of course had to use my complaining voice, then she tried to call the other airline offices. Then my original flight was cancelled so I had no choice but to give in to the 300.00 MADS fee for my request. Still I didn't get my confirmation and e ticket and had to wait after a week.
3. Then my dough. I had to travel 50 kilometers to get what I needed.
Oh well, even my boss told me something like "this is Morocco Francis, Morocco!" It didn't sound like a compliment about her own country though.
1. I had to clear my bank account and I had to go back to the bank 3 times before everything was fixed.
2. I had to rebook my flight and I had to go to the agency 5 times and wait for a day only to be told that I won't get it. The agent said my flight rescheduling, for the first time was for free. The following day, I was told I had to pay 900.00 MADS (Dirhams), then I of course had to use my complaining voice, then she tried to call the other airline offices. Then my original flight was cancelled so I had no choice but to give in to the 300.00 MADS fee for my request. Still I didn't get my confirmation and e ticket and had to wait after a week.
3. Then my dough. I had to travel 50 kilometers to get what I needed.
Oh well, even my boss told me something like "this is Morocco Francis, Morocco!" It didn't sound like a compliment about her own country though.
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