September is for fun and games

Thursday, September 24, 2009
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Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso

JUST as Octoberfest is a tradition for eating and drinking, in the world of chess, September is for having fun in and for playing.

We have several events this month, ranging from kiddies tournaments in the local level, the PGMA Cup in the national scene and big tournaments internationally. These are the women’s team championship, the Bilbao Masters and viola—the return match between Kasparov and Karpov!

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Also on-going is the 3rd edition of the Spice Cup 2009, where Wesley So is participating.

Aboitizland also supported a contest among three elementary schools—Gabi, Lagtang and Mabolo—totaling 30 players, complete with lunch including lechon.

The winner was Justine Borinaga of Gabi with a perfect score of five points. He was followed by Miah Dianne Villanova, Chanelie Tabuga and Adrian Omamba, all of Lagtang Elementary School.

The venue was the newly constructed complex of Persimmon in Mabolo that is expected to change the landscape where I live.

Andoni Aboitiz himself was there to boost the morale of the kids.

Last weekend, the Laray Fiesta contest was held for kiddies. The champion was Markeno Czar Manzanares. He was followed by John Theodore Entera, Jemario Gabiana, Fashene Ivy Labajo and Jeffu Dorog.

On Sept. 26 and 27, there will be another kiddies tournament at Barangay San Roque starting at 9 a.m. Format is 7 rounds Swiss and the registration fee is P25.

Register by text to 09157206457.

The 2nd Women’s World Team Chess Championship took place in Yinzhou, China, from Sept. 2 to 11. Ten teams participated and the champion was China with Russia as first runner-up and Ukraine as third.

There was some controversy in the last round between China and Vietnam which ended in a draw, 2-2. This enabled China to become champion. Vietnam had a big advantage in Board 1 and a winning advantage in Board 4 when the draws were agreed. Nagsabot?

The Bilbao Cup is a tournament of champions featuring the winners of different events— Alexander Grischuk of Linares, Sergey Karjakin of Corus, Alexei Shirov of Sofia and Levon Aronian of Nanjing.

Aronian was the runaway winner with 13 points on four wins, one draw and a loss. Second was Grischuk with eight. The scoring system was three points for a win and one for a draw.

One of the greatest rivalries in the history of chess has just re-started as Garry Kasparov,46, took on Anatoly Karpov, 58, in the Spanish city of Valencia from Sept. 21-25.

The re-match took place 25 years after the two legends first met for the world title—a match which dragged on for five months and totaled 48 games before it was called off by then Fide President Florencio Campomanes for health reasons.

The new match will have 12 games—four rapid and eight blitz.

Kasparov looked sharp and took a 2-0 lead after Day 1 even as Karpov came back to take Game 3. Karpov lost on time in game 4.

Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre started the defense his title when the fourth PGMA international chess championship opened yesterday in Parañaque City.

Other Filipino players to watch for are GMs Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., Mark Paragua, Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor, Jayson Gonzales, John Paul Gomez, Darwin Laylo and GM-elect Ronald Dableo.

Wesley So is now in a tournament in Texas at Texas Tech University, the 3rd Spice Cup, that will test him if he is indeed the new face in chess. His performance after 4 rounds is three draws and a loss—which is not so good.

The contest is a category 16 double round robin among the “rising stars”: Wesley (Age 15 Elo 2644), Dmitry Andreikin of Russia (18, 2659), Yuri Kuzubov of Ukraine (19, 2636), Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan (21, 2626) and Jon Ludwig Hammer of Norway (19, 2585).