Rib ticklers and tournaments galore

By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso

HERE are some nice ones from the website chess.cool to make your day.

Alekhine dies and approaches the Heaven’s gates, but is denied admittance because they don’t allow chess masters inside. He was just about to leave but looks through the gates and sees Efim Bogolyubov inside, and tries to object. “Hey, I thought you said you didn’t allow chess masters in there.” St. Peter replies “Oh, he’s not a chess
master, he just thinks he is.”

A man calls the FIDE office and asks, “I want to become FIDE president!

“Are you crazy?”

“No...Any other conditions?”

During the recent Karpov-Korchnoi world chess championship in Baguio the game was adjourned. In the lobby of the hotel several chess enthusiasts could be heard bragging, “I could beat Karpov with no problem”. “Oh yeah, I could beat both of them at the same time.” “That’s nothing, I could beat both of them blindfolded!”


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Finally, the hotel manager had had enough and threw them all out of the
hotel.

But why?” a bystander asked.

“Because,” the manager replied “I hate chess nuts boasting by an open foyer.”

Capablanca was waiting in a train station in New York one day, with his coffee, newspaper and chess set, when a man approached him. Gesturing at the chess set, he asked if Capablanca cared for a game. Always delighted to play, Capablanca immediately set up the board, then removed his queen from the board, to even up the game.

Annoyed, the man blurted out, “Why did you do that? You don’t know me, I might beat you!” Unruffled, Capablanca replied, “Sir, if you could beat me, I would know you.”
NEW CYCLE. World Cup 2007 will start this Sunday at Khanty-Mansiyk, Russia with Darwin Laylo as the sole Philippine representative. He will join 128 others in the
knockout format who have qualified for the new two-year championship cycle from various elimination tournaments throughout this year.

Darwin is already assured of $6000 even if he loses in the first round. The champion will snare $120,000 and the right to play Veselin Topalov in an eight-game match next year. The winner will face the victor of the Kramnik- Anand match (to be played in 2008) in 2009 for undisputed World Champion.

BOY WONDER. The second PGMA Cup started yesterday at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Parañaque with three Cebuanos participating— Kimkim Yap, Voltaire Sevillano and Eden Diano. However, the limelight will focus on wonder boy 14-year-old Wesley So, the world’s strongest player in his age group with ELO 2531. So needs only one
more GM result, just like fellow International Masters Ronald Dableo and Jayson Gonzales, to become the country’s eighth grandmaster.

Eugene Torre and his fellow GMs Joey Antonio, Mark Paragua, Bong Villamayor and Nelson Mariano are also competing for the top prize of $6,000 out of a total purse of $40,000. Zhang Pengxiang, the winner of the Sixth Asia Chess Championship in Mandaue City in September and last year’s winner, has been tagged the favorite.

After the PGMA Cup will be the $30,000 Prospero Pichay Jr. Cup International Championship slated Dec. 1 to 7 at the Bayview Hotel in Manila. GM norms are also at stake here and I would not be surprised if we have three more GMs before the year ends.

Cepca news. The November monthly competition will be this Sunday at Deep Blue Café in SM City starting at 1 p.m.

The following trustees were elected during our elections last month-Jongjong Melendez, Maggi Dionson, Joe Atillo, Nato Casia, Marylou Pagarigan, Fabio Abucejo, Ben Dimaano, Tony Cabibil and myself.

You must all be present this Sunday as we will elect among ourselves the officers for the year 2008-10.