May activities

By Frank Pestaño

THE Mandaue Active Open Tournament last May 3-5 was the centerpiece of this month’s chess activities in attendance and prize money. There were 95 participants. The nine-round Swiss System clash was held at the Mandaue City Health Center backed by the Mandaue City Government to celebrate the City’s fiesta.

Merben Roque was the winner after taking the solo lead with a score of 7.5 points. I believe this young man has the potential to compete with the best in the Philippines. He reminds me of Cebuano Richard Bitoon, who is now playing successfully in Manila.

Trailing with seven points each were NM Elwin Retanal, Anthony Makiniano, Jimson Bitoon, Francisco Abugho and Allan Salientes. Completing the top 10 with 6.5 points each were Joel Pacuribot, Eden Diano, Ramsy Pedroza, and Richard Natividad.

Special prizes were given to the highest scorer of Class B: Jimson Bitoon, Class C: Carlito Flores, kiddies: Yves Fiel and women’s: Sofia Balite.

The Vic Maambong Inter-High School Chess Team Tournament, on the other hand, is still ongoing. The format is three chessers per team and divided to schools in Lapu-Lapu/Cordova, Mandaue and Consolacion areas.

Seventeen schools participated in this unique tournament. The finalists were St. Joseph High School in the Lapu-Lapu/Cordova division, Cabancalan National High School in Mandaue and Jugan National High School in the Consolacion division. The finals will be played later.

Meantime, the winner of this month’s Rose Pharmacy Class B tournament at SM City-Cebu last May 5-6 was Edwel Alesna, and finishing second and third, respectively, were Rosendo Yamyamin and Cepca’s Dante Arguelles.

Bogie Lim’s Rose Pharmacy chess tournaments are played on a monthly basis clustered into the Class A and Class B categories. The Class A players have a rating (National Chess Federation of the Philippines) above 1,950.

Last May 8-9, the Oaminal Invitational Executives Tournament was held at the Colonade Chess Center along Colon St. Ariel Potot, current Lapu-Lapu Chess Club president, dominated the 16-man field made up mostly of members of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association.

Israel Gantiongo, meanwhile, bagged the Transco Inter-District Chessfest (formerly National Power Corp.) held last May 18-19. Lloyd Fellidoa, Raul Torregoza, Nick del Monte, Luis dela Rosa and Jun Jorolan were second to sixth. These winners will represent the region in the national finals to be held later this year. District 3, on the other hand, won the team category.

These tournaments were overseen by National Master (NM) Lincoln Yap backed by arbiter Marvin Ruelan.

OPENING TIPS: Here are some opening tips by noted author, Bruce Pandolfini: Play for the center, guard it, occupy it, influence it.

Develop your pieces quickly, preferably toward the center (especially Knights, which often are “grim on the rim”).

Develop purposely, and not just for development’s sake.

Don’t waste time or moves. Try to develop a new piece on each turn. Don’t
move a piece twice in the opening without a good reason.

Develop minor pieces early. Kingside pieces should usually be developed sooner than queenside ones, and knights before bishops.

After castling, don’t move the pawns in front of your king without a specific reason. Choose a plan and stay with it. Change it only if you should or must.

CHESS TRIVIA: Answer the following question and you will receive a tournament-size chess set from Gerry Tomakin of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (Cepca). Claim your prize at the Big Apple Convenience Store along Mabolo St. beside Kahayag Restaurant Café.

Who is he? He had the lamest excuse in history for losing a world championship match. After losing to Lasker, he blamed his loss on the influence of sea air. The match began at Dusseldorf, 100 miles from the coast. In 1918 he won a chess match in which the prize was a kilogram of butter.

The winner of last week’s trivia was Anthony Guinto of T. Padilla.