GM Hunt for Bitoon

IM Richard Bitoon is doing well on his 3rd and final GM norm at the 4th President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup International Chess Championship Sunday night at the Duty Free Fiestamall in Paranaque City.

As of round five, Bitoon carries 4 points and is the only IM in the top 4 placers. He is accompanied on second spot by GM's Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam and Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia. On top spot is GM Wong Meng Kong of Singapore with 4.5 points.

We wish IM Bitoon a steady, GM-caliber performance to finally get that GM title!

Swimsuits at ShopWiki

I know Summer 2009 has just passed and I never went anywhere near water that can be called a beach but I somehow dreamed of walking along the shores with shells shining in the sun. Add to this daydream of mine women running towards the shoreline wearing nicely fit swimsuits.

Ahh! Those were my college days when we were free and crazy. Times when life was easy and all we ever cared about was our next group swimming date, either on a friends' private pool or a beach hidden away from the commercialized thinking of business oriented people.

Have you thought of going out on the beach with your family? Friends and would be friends? If you do and your female friends want to go too, make sure they bring the best fitting and best looking swimsuit they can ever find without going thru the hassles of going to the malls.

At ShopWiki, they offer you the best online shopping experience and more!

So we are now in search for a women's swimsuit and let's be honest to say we don't know what to look for in a swimsuit because we don't wear them, we the male species just don't want to wear them but we want to buy them and give to our female friends and beloved.

We search for Women's Swimsuits and we get the informational site on what to look for when buying one swimsuit.

Buying a swimsuit is peanuts but one has to know some of the great things written at ShopWiki about swimsuits and below are some of them.

Before buying, decide on what you want. That's the first thing to do and it's a lot easier to decide if you know if the one using the swimsuit will go to the beach for tanning purposes or just a pool workout. We also have to consider the print patterns when choosing a suit. Print patterns are connected very well with the body types. These are worth knowing and I am asking you all my dear readers to make sure you visit Women's Swimsuits section of ShopWiki for a lot more.

And since it's springtime, ShopWiki has Women's Spring Style Guide and we ought to tell our female friends about this. From technicolor, graphic, brooming lot, shorts story and the shapes of things, everything have been laid out for would-be buyers to look into.

Oh, I'll have to go now before I get into more details out of amazement and awe because of ShopWiki's wonders.

Happy shopping!

Where is Wesley?

Checking on Rusticbull's blog, I learned about GM Wesley So's second defeat and a first round draw. I saw his photos from his "Fresno Simul" and was really glad to see him on a demonstration board probably discussing something to chess enthusiasts much older than him. I wish Wesley can do this in our country more in the future as well.

Wesley's first two rounds maybe disappointing but we all know that he will come back from these unexpected game results. Good luck to you GM Wesley So!

Self Study in Chess

Chess is part of this schoolyear's PE curriculum in our school, thanks to the progressive and non-traditional approach of our Headmaster. I have had the chance to teach the basics of the game to interested students who were given four choices of sports for this term: basketball, swimming, table tennis and chess and chose the last one. We got seven for this term in my PE Chess class out of 108 students but interestingly, at least five non-registered chess students come to me on a daily basis to hand-in their chess worksheets.

These five middle years program students have asked me if they can do these worksheets even if they're not enrolled in the class for two reasons: a) they want to be part of the chess teams for the coming Manila International Schools Athletic Association or MISAA and b) they want to get a headstart on the subject once they enroll by second or third term.

MISAA is an association of small international schools which is on it's first season and chess tournament and swimming events will be sponsored by Mahatma Gandhi International School. Yours truly will be the commisioner for the chess tournament come January 2010.

Going back to these five self-study chess students of varying levels and skills, there is one thing I noticed from them, they are self-disciplined when working with their tasks unsupervised. As always, it's these self-motivated individuals that actually progress towards the mastery of the game.

I have always asked everyone who comes to me for chess lessons to work on the book "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" first which I find so helpful whether one has zero knowledge of the game or is in need of a review of the game basics.

Here is the list of the books and websites I give to my students on a self-study chess program:

1. Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (BFTC)
2. Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess (CIGTC)
3. Chess for Dummies (CFC)
4. Compilation of NM Dan Heisman Articles from Chesscafe.com (CDHA)
5. Chessercizes 1 and 2 by Bruce Pandolfini (CBP)
6. Laszlo Polgar's 5334 Chess Problems Book (The Brick)

I usually ask them to start with Mate in 1 from The Brick while working on BFTC chapters then move on to Mate in 2 and CIGTC. All this time, I tell them make sure they get enough dose of 30 minute or more chess games on a weekly basis if daily games are not possible.

I have always reminded them about performing well in school and at the same time working on their chess skills. Borrowing from Bobby Ang, he told us in my interview with him years ago:

"Chess is suppose to make you a better person."

Beginner's Questions

Hey there!

My chesslife nowadays can be summed up in a week work of chess teaching. First, I facilitate and teach the members of MGIS Chess Club (after school activity) which meet every Tuesday. In there, I have 4 grade 3 students who on the registration day for the club told me that they know how to play chess and are good at it and 3 middle years program students who now knows the secret for learning chess: "The more you know, the more you do not know".

And on Fridays, I teach chess to seven middle years program students who chose chess as their PE classes for this term. These are made up of six grade 6 students, a nonth and a tenth grader. Their personalities really border on the "pilosopos" and deep thinkers (non-academic matters for that) which makes me thank God all the more. Indeed, there is hope when we see the younger generation think issues on a global stage and somehow relate them to how it affects their lives on the local scene. Thanks also to IBO, the governing body for all accredited international schools in the whole universe.

I have two other chess students I teach privately on a twice a week basis and on weekends, I play with my neighbor who asks me all the time if he can borrow an openings book or a strategy book on chess. I have never lend him any yet because I told him he should start with mate in 1, 2 and 3 puzzles before he read up on either of the topics he wants. He insist so I resist!

Anyways, my ASA and chess classes have given me so much joy in sharing and teaching the game to them. Most of them are really novice players and here are some of the questions I got from them which I believe is worth noting to further improve my chess teaching and their chess learning:

1. Question from a grade 6 student during a practice match after discussing special moves, castling:

"Sir, why would'nt my opponent allow me to castle my Queen? I have not moved my Queen or my Rook yet?"

My reply:

"Sorry I forgot to emphasize that castling is a King and Rook special move not for Queens."

2. Question from a grade 3 student after I've lectured on the numerical strenghts of each piece. I used the PESO as my unit of measurement:

"Sir, why are we betting and using money in this game, isn't it gambling?"

My reply:

"Oh, I wish next time we all listen carefully to what teacher is saying so we don't mistakenly think we are betting and using money when we study and play chess...and no, we are not betting and using money here"

3. Grade 5 student complaining about the "very easy" mate in one puzzle book I have given him to work on for 35 minutes.

Student: "Sir, can't you give me a much harder task to work on?"

Me: "Work on the first page then if it's peanuts, I'll give you the next module in that series..."

Moments later, the boy is on the 3rd puzzle of the first page...

Student: "Sir, I need help... can't find the mating move!?"

Me: "Ok, see to it the pieces are correctly placed on the squares, same with the diagram from which you are trying to solve. Remember of the reason for these exercises is meant to hone your board visualization skills. So let's try to do just that, let's use our eyes for now and by then the answers will be as clear as daylight"

These are some of the insight-gaining moments I have had for the past month. Teaching these beginner level students may really be considered as a pain but it also pushes me to consider all the right moves that I make in planning prior to meeting them. As a teacher, one can never really assume that our students have the correct idea of what we are teaching.

On my first year of my teaching, I once was asked what's the greatest benefit I get from teaching and I remember saying this after a moment of thought:

"These young minds teach more than I teach them, they teach me about openness, about courage and about honesty. We may think they know less, but the know more. They know not how to feign naivity, ignorance and innocence. These young minds know that only in honesty and courage to admit we do not know that we start to learn by heart".