GM Barbosa's Olympiad Deadline

Joey Villar's continuing coverage of the Philippine chess has given us much information about the status of the players in our country. This time, it is GM Oliver Barbosa given until Thursday of this week to decide whether  he will join the Philippine team for the Tromso Olympiad or not.


Here is Joey's article: Barbosa given until Thursday to decide joining Phl team in Chess Olympiad.

Although lately I've been reading Joey's write-ups on his blog, I still am a big follower of Bobby Ang's Chess Piece column at the Business World and I've yet to read about this.


National Chess Federation of the Philippines' officials must be having tremendous time right now due to the fact that most Pinoy GM's are following the lead of Wesley So in moving to the US of A.

Corruption of the soul and corruption of the mind leads to corruption in the society.

Good luck to Philippine Chess and to all the Filipino chess players who have represented the country before and were taken for granted by NCFP.

Sayang ang mga talent. Tsk! Tsk!

2013 Philippine National Juniors Chess Championships

Congratulations to NM Jerad Docena and WNM Jan Jodilyn Fronda for winning this year's edition of Philippine National Juniors Championship for boys and girls divisions respectively.

NM Docena bested twelve other players with a score of 6.5 points in 9 rounds while WNM Fronda scored 6 points in a field of 11 players in 7 rounds.

Check out 2013 National Juniors Championship Boys Division and Girls Division for an overview of all the players results.

And if you would want your kids to learn chess and play like these age groupers who seem to play like the pros but don't know where to start, you can direct them to http://chesscademy.com/login. Learning chess via online videos, nothing new, nothing spectacular but very effective --and its Free.

RIP Rudolfo Tan-Cardoso

Asia's first-ever International Chess Master Rudolfu Tan-Cardoso died of a heart attack at the age of 75 last August 21, 2013 at 3:10 P.M.. 

A chess player, enemy over the board, teacher and father/lolo figure in the Philippine chess community, he is best known for beating Robert "Bobby" Fischer in this game in 1957.  The year before this, he won the Philippine National Junior Championship.

He played for the flag in four Chess Olympiads with the following board assignments and results:

• 1956, Board 4 in the 12th Chess Olympiad in Moscow (11 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeats)
• 1958, Board 1 in the 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich (10 wins, 5 draws, 4 defeats)
• 1972, Board 2 in the 20th Chess Olympiad in Skopje (10 wins, 3 draws, 4 defeats)
• 1974, Board 2 in the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice (9 wins, 4 draws, 6 defeats)  

He won the silver medal at the 1956 Olympiad with a winning percentage of .765.

I met Mang Rudy a couple of times in tournaments and chess workshops while I "chaperoning" for my brother-in-law in these events while he would simply look around and check out talents. 

Thanks for all the contribution you have given to Philippine chess. They will not be forgotten. You students will always remember you.

Farewell IM Rudolfo Tan-Cardoso! 

 

Summer Enrichment Program: Ultimate Frisbee

Here's another post for a summer enrichment clinic for your kids, Ultimate Clinic with Coach Peng:

TBS Dodgeball Open

Here is an interesting event and I guess this is RP's first, The Builders' School Dodgeball Open:

TBS Dodgeball Open Greetings!

We are writing to invite you and your students to The Builders' School Dodgeball Open to be held on Saturday March 16, 2013 from from 8:00 am to 11:30 am at the Meralco Sports Center Covered Tennis Courts.

There will be a short clinic from 8:00 am to 9:00 am.  Officials from the Philippine Dodgeball Association will teach the participants on how to play the game and they will then be distributed into teams for the friendly games that will follow. Participants must be 7-13 years old. You may bring up to 14 participants and the entry fee for each is PHP 100.00.

This Dodgeball Open is an activity in preparation for the Philippine Dodgeball Association Little League season which is slated for July this year.  We want to encourage your school to join this league.

Kindly email us your response or you may also call our office at 972.5974 on or before Friday, March 8, 2013.  We hope to see you there!

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

Victor A. VillanuevaSchool DirectorThe Builders' School

Come and join in the fun!

Breaking the 2700 Barrier

Congratulations to GM Wesley So for placing second in the Reykjavik Open with a rating performance of 2753. This is the first time for any Filipino to reach and breach the 2700 rating.  Another feather in the cap, another milestone reached that gives Philippine chess the needed shot in the arm.

Now go and finish that Webster University education.  Finish it so that you will truly become a model for the Filipino youth!

From Winning to Whining

Remember our post "Complete Games: NCAA Chess Tournament 2012"? In it I shared the link where you can get a copy of the games courtesy of Bobby Ang.  In his article he said the following:

"College of St. Benilde-La Salle Greenhills was the favorite, but it failed badly and finished in 6th place. The La Salle aministration should seriously consider shaking up the team -- how can it be that they forfeited 15 games?

I was reminded of this post when I stumbled upon the blogs of NM Erwin Carag. Man that was a lot! Erwin was the coach of CSB-LSGH Junior Chess team when they won a championship. But a year after they won the NCAA crown, he left LSGH and rumor has it, t'was a bitter (and loud shouting match) parting.

Sad indeed!

The last time I saw and talked to Erwin was in 2010 at the 1st National Press Club Chess Tournament. Dubbed as "Massacre in November", I was fortunate enough to have played with fellow NPC members. When asked about the LSGH incident, he was man enough not to badmouth the institution that he helped to win a title.

Whatever happened to Erwin? I'm sure he still coaches players and teams and helping them achieve success in the field laden with 64 squares. I don't really know where he is now specifically.

But I'm sure the call of Bobby Ang to look into the line-up and probably the group behind each varsity team called alumni is a wake-up call. How can you forfeit 15 games on the NCAA level?

This is serious!

And for sure chess parents will only be happy to bring their precious chess children into the Green compound with scholarship and a supportive environment aimed at a truly wholistic education.

Instead of forfeiting games, why not work as a team including parents and alumni, with the players and coaches and get back to winning?

This ain't easy and this will take time. But its all worth it. I hope they get back to winning.

Shake it up or forget winning.

Failed in FIBA: Smart Gilas 2

Smart Gilas 2 lost its last two games when it mattered most. The final score in the game against Iran was 77-60 which was played yesterday, September 21. If we won the game against the Iranians, we would have played for the gold against the Japanese. And today we played for the bronze and we lost against Qatar with the score 79-63.

Remember our post comparing the internationally known basketball coach Rajko Toroman and PBA coach Chot Reyes?

We now have the answers to our questions.

Here are my thoughts coach, you can use these as your fair enough excuses for the 4th place finish in the Qualifier for 2013 FIBA Asia Championship:

• Poor officiating. The technical foul given by the Lebanese Referee. Remember the technical foul meted on Chot Reyes some years ago? I don't know if you remember that but I definitely do. It was a costly mistake from the basketball guru back then and it definitely made matters worse for his team this time. Try to watcht the video below and listen to what the Dean of Philippine Sports journalism has to say coaching in the international basketball.

• Not enough time. Smart Gilas 2 was formed in less than six months. Same old, same old! I don't know if we are all afflicted with amnesia as a nation or we're plain stupid. Doing the same things all over again but expecting different results. if this is not amnesia then I'm sure this is short-sightedness. 
• Mismatched basketball skills. I truly believe that PBA is not NBA and that we should not do a "Dream Team" approach. This Dream Team  problem is basically rooted on two things: mismatched basketball skills and not enough time. When I say mismatched skills, I mean our professional basketball players aren't good enough to play in the FIBA system which follows amateur rules. Unless the Philippines can send 12 players with an average height of 6'8" whose skills are those of Danny Siegle during his MVP-like years and with a basketball system ala-Ron Jacobs or Rajko Toroman, forget it. We don't stand a chance against Iran, China and Korea's basketball program. Check the stats of the game and you won't believe what you will see in the Turn over section.
• Coaching. We can send all the coaches PBA for our national team together and we will still fail. The reason is simple: FIBA system is not PBA. Don't go out and telling the Filipinos that we've got a chance or that the drive and pass is is answer to our dream of ever winning the gold in FIBA. C'mon guys, you know very well it's not.
• Injury. Injuries happen  because of accidents or because of poor conditioning exercises prior to the tournament. I've heard stories that Rajko Toroman was a fucked-up coach in terms of preparation: system play, drills and more drills. Players hated him for this but in the end, the team he handled was far better on court. They were quicker and they played good basketball IQ. You can have an off-night offensively but never an off-night defensively. 
Am I rooting for Toroman? Not necessarily. We don't know each other and I only know him through the media. Am I against Reyes? Definitely no but history have shown that he was never successful in international basketball.

And please don't go into the commitment-sacrifice-respect talk for these players. They are paid to play for the country and the best thing they can ever do is to give us the gold. We rally behind you and guys come up with poor defensive rotations, poor basketball sense and worst of all, you hide behind these talks of commitment etc.

Not that talk please.

MVP trusts the coaching staff of Smart Gilas 2 and he has poured out his support in SG2. Is there a basketball program installed in our country? There was I know some years ago but then when it failed to bag the gold, we shifted back to the proven and tested to fail system: PBA players.

Sad part for Philippine basketball is that football is slowly inching its way up in the awareness level of the Filipinos. Sooner or later, basketball will just be another sports in the Philippines. It will no longer be the centerpiece of UAAP and NCAA.

I don't want a 4th place finish, I want the gold.

Bad trip talo na naman tayo!!!  

Chot Reyes and Rajko Toroman

After the first game loss against China-B in the FIBA Asia Cup 2012, Smart Gilas 2 won three straight games convincingly. Going in to the Quarterfinals of the qualifying tournament for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, our Philippine Basketball team carries a 3-1 win-loss score and will be playing against Chinese-Taipei who carries a 2-2 score.  

I have never liked the fact that Coach Chot Reyes is at the helm of the Philippine Basketball and never believed in the idea that professional basketball players from my country can win our nation  major international basketball tournaments. Never.

Will they go all the way and win the championship? I don't think so. Will they place second or third and qualify for FIBA Championship? Slim chances.

China, Lebanon, Iran and Japan have been dominating the Asian basketball scene and we have to admit our country's band-aid approach to basketball program can never, ever match the programs of these countries.

Manny V. Pangilinan has proven that he can and he will definitely support the program but I feel that Rajko Toroman is the right man for the coaching job.

Compare the systems Reyes and Toroman has put up and implemented for Smart Gilas 1 and 2 and you can see the difference. Toroman was given three years to form and work as team with amateur, collegiate players plus Douthit. Reyes got all the professional players from PBA, a Fil-Am recruit and Douthit.

Which coach will bring back the glory of for Philippine basketball in international scene? Which team and system will prove effective for the international basketball?

I don't care about talks regarding commitment, hard-work and heart to win. All these are measured through game results.

We will see.