Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
JUST like in other sports there has been no shortage of dramas in chess in 2009. To help remember the year that was, we have compiled a list of major international events ranging from Corus in January to the World Cup in December. Local and National events will be reviewed in my next column.
The first major event of the year is always Corus or Wijk Aan Zee as it is popularly known among the chess players. The youngest person to become grandmaster, Sergey Karjakin, surprisingly won the Group A event. The other winners were Fabiano Caruana in Group B and Wesley So in Group C.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
However, Sergey’s most memorable moment came later this year when he married WGM Kateryna Dolzhikova on July 24 and decided to become a Russian citizen.
The Fide Grand Prix 2008–2009 was a series of six chess tournaments, which formed part of the qualification for the World Chess Championship 2011.
Five of the six tournaments have been played. Levon Aronian has already scored sufficient points to win the Grand Prix with Teimour Radjabov at second.
There were three major events in February--Linares,Aeroflot and the Topalov vs Kamsky match which Topalov easily won.
Alexander Grischuk won Linares by virtue of a superior tiebreak score over Vassily Ivanchuk, with Anand and Carlsen close behind.
Aeroflot, where Wesley So also played, was marred by a scandal when Shakhriyar Mamedyarov accused one of his opponents of computer-assisted cheating. Etienne Bacrot won the tournament.
Lev Aronian snared the Amber Rapid and blindfold event in March, performing equally well at both disciplines to take the overall prize.
Hikaru Nakamura won the US championship in May. The MTel Masters in Sofia was likewise won by Alexei Shirov over top favorite Magnus Carlsen and hometown hero Veselin Topalov.
Carlsen came out on top in Leon and it was revealed that the young sensation has been training under Garry Kasparov.
In Dortmund in July ,Vladimir Kramnik triumphed for a staggering ninth time.
Next up was the Biel tournament, where young Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France took first prize.
In August Aronian again prevailed over a tough field which included Vishy Anand in the World Rapid Championship.
In the same month a Russian-born chess maverick, Vladislav Tkachiev, fell asleep on the board after reportedly turning up drunk at a grandmasters’s tournament in India.
August was also the month that the International Olympic Committee refused the inclusion of chess in the 2016 Olympic games.
The month also featured a rematch between the two former chess giants, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. Kasparov easily won, 6-2.
Pearl Spring in China revealed the new Carlsen and his rating went over 2800. In fact, he is now rated no.1 in the World.
The strongest tournament of the year and one of the strongest of all time, the Tal Memorial in Moscow, also revealed that former World champion Vladimir Kramnik is still a force to reckon with. In the world blitz championship after the tournament, Carlsen again grabbed the headlines.
November also saw Anand crushing Karpov in a rapid match.
The last month of the year featured the strongest and most prestigious tournament in a quarter of a century in England, the London Chess Classic which was a resounding success. Carlsen won the event to finish the year as the new world #1.
Next up was the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiyk, Russia which was won by Boris Gelfand of Israel over Rusland Ponomariov of Ukrainne. He therefore qualified for the candidates event in the next World Championship Cycle.
The World Cup also discovered a new talent in Wesley So, who defeated Gata Kamsky and Vassily Ivanchuk and was dubbed the “gold nugget ”of the tournament.
(boypestano@chess.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Jinky Young, Bobby Fischer’s daughter
Thursday, December 17, 2009
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Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
ONE point five million Euros. How much is that worth?
Approximately P100 million. This is what Jinky Young is expected to get as her rightful inheritance from her father, chess legend Bobby Fischer, not counting the gold holdings deposited at the Landsbanki Islands .
Add to that the expected royalties from the forthcoming movie “Bobby Fischer Goes to War” and you have quite a sizeable fortune. The movie is directed by John McDonald and stars Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
There are three other claimants to this fortune—Alexander and Nikolas Targ—children of his late sister, Joan Fischer Targ and Miyoko Watai, his alleged wife.
Early this month, Jinky took a leave from school to visit her father’s tomb in Iceland with her mother, Marilyn Young. They were accompanied by Eugene Torre, Bobby’s best friend and Jinky’s lawyer Samuel Estimo. After Iceland, all four went to London for the filming of a documentary by BBC-HBO on the life of Fischer.
The last time mother and child saw Fischer was in September 2005 in Reykjavik, when the chess legend had a three-week rendezvous with them.
Bobby died on Jan. 17 ,2007.
Marilyn recalls, “There was not a day that Bobby didn’t call us, sometimes three to four times, except when I was in school. He would always ask for Jinky, who would say, ‘I love you, Daddy.’”
Torre acted as Bobby’s second during his return match with Boris Spassky in 1992 in Yugoslavia. It was then under sanction by the United Nations and the USA for the civil war in Bosnia Herzegovina .The US Government pursued him until he was jailed in Japan in 2005.
Iceland granted him a special citizenship and he was transferred there much later.
Eugene introduced Marilyn to Bobby and Jinky was born in May 2001 in Baguio City.
Samuel Estimo and a lady Icelandic lawyer accompanied Jinky last Dec. 2 to a Reykjavik hospital where her blood samples were taken for DNA testing. It turned out that it was the same hospital where Fischer died.
Estimo and Thordur Bogason of the law firm who will handle the claim, are optimistic about Jinky’s chances of getting her due from the estate of her father.
“The Magistrate of Iceland will uphold Jinky’s claim, which means that she will get two-thirds of Fischer’s estate,” said Bogason.
“That is on the assumption that Ms. Miyoko Watai’s supposed marriage to Bobby Fischer will be affirmed by the Icelandic Supreme Court. Otherwise, Jinky will collect the whole of Bobby’s estate,” concluded Estimo.
In an e-mail to me dated a few days ago, Estimo said ,“In a decision dated Dec. 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iceland thumbed down the marriage of Japanese Miyoko Watai to Bobby for failure to submit the original copy of their alleged marriage contract after several directives to submit the same.”
Per Icelandic law, the presence of a child cancels also all claims of the Targ brothers, who are mere collateral relatives.
Watai is a Japanese women’s chess champion and the general secretary of the Japanese Chess Association. She is also a Woman International Master. She has been a friend of Bobby since 1973.
Joan Fischer Targ is a celebrity in her own right and is a pioneer in computer education and has a prominent family, who are all achievers.
Young Joan started it all when she bought a chess set from a candy store and gave it to her younger brother Bobby on fifth birthday.
Husband Russell Targ is an author and a physicist, and a pioneer in the earliest development of the laser.
Their late daughter, Elisabeth, was a psychiatrist and is best known for her research on the healing powers of prayer.
Brother Alexander is a prominent Palo Alto anesthesiologist.
So it seems, that the Targ family are well-off.
(boypestano@chess.com, www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
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Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
ONE point five million Euros. How much is that worth?
Approximately P100 million. This is what Jinky Young is expected to get as her rightful inheritance from her father, chess legend Bobby Fischer, not counting the gold holdings deposited at the Landsbanki Islands .
Add to that the expected royalties from the forthcoming movie “Bobby Fischer Goes to War” and you have quite a sizeable fortune. The movie is directed by John McDonald and stars Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
There are three other claimants to this fortune—Alexander and Nikolas Targ—children of his late sister, Joan Fischer Targ and Miyoko Watai, his alleged wife.
Early this month, Jinky took a leave from school to visit her father’s tomb in Iceland with her mother, Marilyn Young. They were accompanied by Eugene Torre, Bobby’s best friend and Jinky’s lawyer Samuel Estimo. After Iceland, all four went to London for the filming of a documentary by BBC-HBO on the life of Fischer.
The last time mother and child saw Fischer was in September 2005 in Reykjavik, when the chess legend had a three-week rendezvous with them.
Bobby died on Jan. 17 ,2007.
Marilyn recalls, “There was not a day that Bobby didn’t call us, sometimes three to four times, except when I was in school. He would always ask for Jinky, who would say, ‘I love you, Daddy.’”
Torre acted as Bobby’s second during his return match with Boris Spassky in 1992 in Yugoslavia. It was then under sanction by the United Nations and the USA for the civil war in Bosnia Herzegovina .The US Government pursued him until he was jailed in Japan in 2005.
Iceland granted him a special citizenship and he was transferred there much later.
Eugene introduced Marilyn to Bobby and Jinky was born in May 2001 in Baguio City.
Samuel Estimo and a lady Icelandic lawyer accompanied Jinky last Dec. 2 to a Reykjavik hospital where her blood samples were taken for DNA testing. It turned out that it was the same hospital where Fischer died.
Estimo and Thordur Bogason of the law firm who will handle the claim, are optimistic about Jinky’s chances of getting her due from the estate of her father.
“The Magistrate of Iceland will uphold Jinky’s claim, which means that she will get two-thirds of Fischer’s estate,” said Bogason.
“That is on the assumption that Ms. Miyoko Watai’s supposed marriage to Bobby Fischer will be affirmed by the Icelandic Supreme Court. Otherwise, Jinky will collect the whole of Bobby’s estate,” concluded Estimo.
In an e-mail to me dated a few days ago, Estimo said ,“In a decision dated Dec. 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iceland thumbed down the marriage of Japanese Miyoko Watai to Bobby for failure to submit the original copy of their alleged marriage contract after several directives to submit the same.”
Per Icelandic law, the presence of a child cancels also all claims of the Targ brothers, who are mere collateral relatives.
Watai is a Japanese women’s chess champion and the general secretary of the Japanese Chess Association. She is also a Woman International Master. She has been a friend of Bobby since 1973.
Joan Fischer Targ is a celebrity in her own right and is a pioneer in computer education and has a prominent family, who are all achievers.
Young Joan started it all when she bought a chess set from a candy store and gave it to her younger brother Bobby on fifth birthday.
Husband Russell Targ is an author and a physicist, and a pioneer in the earliest development of the laser.
Their late daughter, Elisabeth, was a psychiatrist and is best known for her research on the healing powers of prayer.
Brother Alexander is a prominent Palo Alto anesthesiologist.
So it seems, that the Targ family are well-off.
(boypestano@chess.com, www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Jinky Young, Bobby Fischer’s daughter
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Print Email Comment Subscribe
Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
ONE point five million Euros. How much is that worth?
Approximately P100 million. This is what Jinky Young is expected to get as her rightful inheritance from her father, chess legend Bobby Fischer, not counting the gold holdings deposited at the Landsbanki Islands .
Add to that the expected royalties from the forthcoming movie “Bobby Fischer Goes to War” and you have quite a sizeable fortune. The movie is directed by John McDonald and stars Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
There are three other claimants to this fortune—Alexander and Nikolas Targ—children of his late sister, Joan Fischer Targ and Miyoko Watai, his alleged wife.
Early this month, Jinky took a leave from school to visit her father’s tomb in Iceland with her mother, Marilyn Young. They were accompanied by Eugene Torre, Bobby’s best friend and Jinky’s lawyer Samuel Estimo. After Iceland, all four went to London for the filming of a documentary by BBC-HBO on the life of Fischer.
The last time mother and child saw Fischer was in September 2005 in Reykjavik, when the chess legend had a three-week rendezvous with them.
Bobby died on Jan. 17 ,2007.
Marilyn recalls, “There was not a day that Bobby didn’t call us, sometimes three to four times, except when I was in school. He would always ask for Jinky, who would say, ‘I love you, Daddy.’”
Torre acted as Bobby’s second during his return match with Boris Spassky in 1992 in Yugoslavia. It was then under sanction by the United Nations and the USA for the civil war in Bosnia Herzegovina .The US Government pursued him until he was jailed in Japan in 2005.
Iceland granted him a special citizenship and he was transferred there much later.
Eugene introduced Marilyn to Bobby and Jinky was born in May 2001 in Baguio City.
Samuel Estimo and a lady Icelandic lawyer accompanied Jinky last Dec. 2 to a Reykjavik hospital where her blood samples were taken for DNA testing. It turned out that it was the same hospital where Fischer died.
Estimo and Thordur Bogason of the law firm who will handle the claim, are optimistic about Jinky’s chances of getting her due from the estate of her father.
“The Magistrate of Iceland will uphold Jinky’s claim, which means that she will get two-thirds of Fischer’s estate,” said Bogason.
“That is on the assumption that Ms. Miyoko Watai’s supposed marriage to Bobby Fischer will be affirmed by the Icelandic Supreme Court. Otherwise, Jinky will collect the whole of Bobby’s estate,” concluded Estimo.
In an e-mail to me dated a few days ago, Estimo said ,“In a decision dated Dec. 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iceland thumbed down the marriage of Japanese Miyoko Watai to Bobby for failure to submit the original copy of their alleged marriage contract after several directives to submit the same.”
Per Icelandic law, the presence of a child cancels also all claims of the Targ brothers, who are mere collateral relatives.
Watai is a Japanese women’s chess champion and the general secretary of the Japanese Chess Association. She is also a Woman International Master. She has been a friend of Bobby since 1973.
Joan Fischer Targ is a celebrity in her own right and is a pioneer in computer education and has a prominent family, who are all achievers.
Young Joan started it all when she bought a chess set from a candy store and gave it to her younger brother Bobby on fifth birthday.
Husband Russell Targ is an author and a physicist, and a pioneer in the earliest development of the laser.
Their late daughter, Elisabeth, was a psychiatrist and is best known for her research on the healing powers of prayer.
Brother Alexander is a prominent Palo Alto anesthesiologist.
So it seems, that the Targ family are well-off.
(boypestano@chess.com, www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Print Email Comment Subscribe
Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
ONE point five million Euros. How much is that worth?
Approximately P100 million. This is what Jinky Young is expected to get as her rightful inheritance from her father, chess legend Bobby Fischer, not counting the gold holdings deposited at the Landsbanki Islands .
Add to that the expected royalties from the forthcoming movie “Bobby Fischer Goes to War” and you have quite a sizeable fortune. The movie is directed by John McDonald and stars Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
There are three other claimants to this fortune—Alexander and Nikolas Targ—children of his late sister, Joan Fischer Targ and Miyoko Watai, his alleged wife.
Early this month, Jinky took a leave from school to visit her father’s tomb in Iceland with her mother, Marilyn Young. They were accompanied by Eugene Torre, Bobby’s best friend and Jinky’s lawyer Samuel Estimo. After Iceland, all four went to London for the filming of a documentary by BBC-HBO on the life of Fischer.
The last time mother and child saw Fischer was in September 2005 in Reykjavik, when the chess legend had a three-week rendezvous with them.
Bobby died on Jan. 17 ,2007.
Marilyn recalls, “There was not a day that Bobby didn’t call us, sometimes three to four times, except when I was in school. He would always ask for Jinky, who would say, ‘I love you, Daddy.’”
Torre acted as Bobby’s second during his return match with Boris Spassky in 1992 in Yugoslavia. It was then under sanction by the United Nations and the USA for the civil war in Bosnia Herzegovina .The US Government pursued him until he was jailed in Japan in 2005.
Iceland granted him a special citizenship and he was transferred there much later.
Eugene introduced Marilyn to Bobby and Jinky was born in May 2001 in Baguio City.
Samuel Estimo and a lady Icelandic lawyer accompanied Jinky last Dec. 2 to a Reykjavik hospital where her blood samples were taken for DNA testing. It turned out that it was the same hospital where Fischer died.
Estimo and Thordur Bogason of the law firm who will handle the claim, are optimistic about Jinky’s chances of getting her due from the estate of her father.
“The Magistrate of Iceland will uphold Jinky’s claim, which means that she will get two-thirds of Fischer’s estate,” said Bogason.
“That is on the assumption that Ms. Miyoko Watai’s supposed marriage to Bobby Fischer will be affirmed by the Icelandic Supreme Court. Otherwise, Jinky will collect the whole of Bobby’s estate,” concluded Estimo.
In an e-mail to me dated a few days ago, Estimo said ,“In a decision dated Dec. 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iceland thumbed down the marriage of Japanese Miyoko Watai to Bobby for failure to submit the original copy of their alleged marriage contract after several directives to submit the same.”
Per Icelandic law, the presence of a child cancels also all claims of the Targ brothers, who are mere collateral relatives.
Watai is a Japanese women’s chess champion and the general secretary of the Japanese Chess Association. She is also a Woman International Master. She has been a friend of Bobby since 1973.
Joan Fischer Targ is a celebrity in her own right and is a pioneer in computer education and has a prominent family, who are all achievers.
Young Joan started it all when she bought a chess set from a candy store and gave it to her younger brother Bobby on fifth birthday.
Husband Russell Targ is an author and a physicist, and a pioneer in the earliest development of the laser.
Their late daughter, Elisabeth, was a psychiatrist and is best known for her research on the healing powers of prayer.
Brother Alexander is a prominent Palo Alto anesthesiologist.
So it seems, that the Targ family are well-off.
(boypestano@chess.com, www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wesley So to return to Corus
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso
THE 72nd Corus chess tournament, an elite event in the Fide calendar, will be held in Wijk Aan Zee, a North Sea resort in the Netherlands from Jan. 15 to 31. The winner of the contest in Group A will qualify for the Grand Slam Bilbao Final 2010.
It was known as the Hoogovens tournament from 1938 until 1999 after which, the Dutch steel and aluminum producer Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
There are three sections—A, B and C. Wesley has been invited to play in Group B. To be invited to Corus is like to be invited to the White House.
The Group A participants (all GMs) are Viswanathan Anand of India, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Peter Leko of Hungary, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Hikaru Nakamura of USA, Alexei Shirov of Spain, Sergey Karjakin of Russia (winner of Corus A last year), Leinier Dominguez Perez of Cuba, Nigel Short of England, Sergey Tiviakov of Netherlands, Fabiano Caruana of Italy (winner of Corus B last year), and Loek van Wely and Jan Smeets of the Netherlands.
Participants in Group B (all GMs) are Ni Hua of China, Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany; Emil Sutovsky of Israel, Pentala Harikrishna of India, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania, So of the Philippines (winner of Corus C last year), Varuzhan Akobian of the USA, David Howell of England, Parimarjan Negi of India, Tomi Nyback of Finland, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, and Erwin l’Ami, Dimitri Reinderman and Anish Giri of the Netherlands.
Wesley is coming off an exceptional performance in the 2009 World Cup where he reached as far as the 4th round. He gained 15 points and his live rating is now 2655.
Incidentally, the finalists in the World Cup are Boris Gelfand of Israel and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine who are still playing.
Another big tournament now on-going is the London Chess Classic, billed as the strongest and most prestigious in England in 25 years.
Kramnik, who recently won one of the strongest tournament of all time, the brutally-strong Category 21Tal Memorial, is competing.
Carlsen is another exceptional player who won the “Pearl Spring” competition in China this year. Making up the “awesome foursome” from overseas are Hua, who has won three National Chinese Championship and Nakamura, who is twice an American champion.
The four British players completing the cast are Short, Michael Adams, Howell and Luke Mcshane.
Sofia Rules, meaning no draws unless approved by the arbiter, will apply with three points for a win.
To be held with the London Classic is the women’s invitational and one of the players is WIM Arianne Caoili, formerly of the Philippines but now residing in Australia.
Coming up is a Christmas treat for our local players, the Serging Osmeña Memorial tournament.
In the Open section, there will be an elimination round on Dec. 19 at the Guadalupe Sports Complex to select the top 16 players.
The next day will feature a knockout contest among the 16. Time control is 25 minutes per player.
The champion will get P10,000 and the second placer, P5,000. All the qualifiers will receive cash prizes.
There will also be the women’s and kiddies’ sections on Dec. 20. Cash prize will also be awarded.
For details, you can get in touch with Marvin Ruelan at 09164232335.
Just recently, the Labogon Chess tournament was held at the Labogon Barangay Hall. Tournament director was Leonardo Alidani and Ruelan was the arbiter.
The champion in the Open section was IM Kim Steven Yap. Tied from second to fourth were Boy Abugho, Carlos Moreno III and Joel Pacuribot. The fifth and sixth placers were Eden Diano and Nelman Lagutin.
In the kiddies’ division, the first placer was Raymond Abellana. He was followed by Kyle Sevillano, Daniel Minoza. Harold Pones and Felix Shaun Balbona.
(boypestano@chess.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com.)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 11, 2009.
Print Email Comment Subscribe
Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso
THE 72nd Corus chess tournament, an elite event in the Fide calendar, will be held in Wijk Aan Zee, a North Sea resort in the Netherlands from Jan. 15 to 31. The winner of the contest in Group A will qualify for the Grand Slam Bilbao Final 2010.
It was known as the Hoogovens tournament from 1938 until 1999 after which, the Dutch steel and aluminum producer Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
There are three sections—A, B and C. Wesley has been invited to play in Group B. To be invited to Corus is like to be invited to the White House.
The Group A participants (all GMs) are Viswanathan Anand of India, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Peter Leko of Hungary, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Hikaru Nakamura of USA, Alexei Shirov of Spain, Sergey Karjakin of Russia (winner of Corus A last year), Leinier Dominguez Perez of Cuba, Nigel Short of England, Sergey Tiviakov of Netherlands, Fabiano Caruana of Italy (winner of Corus B last year), and Loek van Wely and Jan Smeets of the Netherlands.
Participants in Group B (all GMs) are Ni Hua of China, Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany; Emil Sutovsky of Israel, Pentala Harikrishna of India, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania, So of the Philippines (winner of Corus C last year), Varuzhan Akobian of the USA, David Howell of England, Parimarjan Negi of India, Tomi Nyback of Finland, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, and Erwin l’Ami, Dimitri Reinderman and Anish Giri of the Netherlands.
Wesley is coming off an exceptional performance in the 2009 World Cup where he reached as far as the 4th round. He gained 15 points and his live rating is now 2655.
Incidentally, the finalists in the World Cup are Boris Gelfand of Israel and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine who are still playing.
Another big tournament now on-going is the London Chess Classic, billed as the strongest and most prestigious in England in 25 years.
Kramnik, who recently won one of the strongest tournament of all time, the brutally-strong Category 21Tal Memorial, is competing.
Carlsen is another exceptional player who won the “Pearl Spring” competition in China this year. Making up the “awesome foursome” from overseas are Hua, who has won three National Chinese Championship and Nakamura, who is twice an American champion.
The four British players completing the cast are Short, Michael Adams, Howell and Luke Mcshane.
Sofia Rules, meaning no draws unless approved by the arbiter, will apply with three points for a win.
To be held with the London Classic is the women’s invitational and one of the players is WIM Arianne Caoili, formerly of the Philippines but now residing in Australia.
Coming up is a Christmas treat for our local players, the Serging Osmeña Memorial tournament.
In the Open section, there will be an elimination round on Dec. 19 at the Guadalupe Sports Complex to select the top 16 players.
The next day will feature a knockout contest among the 16. Time control is 25 minutes per player.
The champion will get P10,000 and the second placer, P5,000. All the qualifiers will receive cash prizes.
There will also be the women’s and kiddies’ sections on Dec. 20. Cash prize will also be awarded.
For details, you can get in touch with Marvin Ruelan at 09164232335.
Just recently, the Labogon Chess tournament was held at the Labogon Barangay Hall. Tournament director was Leonardo Alidani and Ruelan was the arbiter.
The champion in the Open section was IM Kim Steven Yap. Tied from second to fourth were Boy Abugho, Carlos Moreno III and Joel Pacuribot. The fifth and sixth placers were Eden Diano and Nelman Lagutin.
In the kiddies’ division, the first placer was Raymond Abellana. He was followed by Kyle Sevillano, Daniel Minoza. Harold Pones and Felix Shaun Balbona.
(boypestano@chess.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com.)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 11, 2009.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Wesley So exits the World Cup
Thursday, December 3, 2009
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Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso
THE ride is over. After a fairytale come true celebrated throughout the country, Wesley So, only 16, lost in the fourth round of the World Cup to a seasoned veteran, Vladimir Malakhov of Russia, who won all three of their tiebreak matches. Earlier they split their regular games.
Still Wesley accomplished what no Filipino has done before and he can hold his head high when he goes home to a warm welcome.
He was the “gold nugget” of the tournament and the darling of chess fans throughout the world.
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
Unlike Joey Antonio and Darwin Laylo, Wesley traversed a rocky road to the World Cup. He had two chances. He failed in the first and barely made it in the second.
The event was the last round of the Intercontinental Asian Championships in Subic. Wesley was playing white versus another child prodigy, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.
Each was on a must-win situation and at stake was a slot to the World Cup. Wesley lost and according to a friend, was so heartbroken that he wept after the game.
GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India finished with five wins and six draws. GM Zhou Weiqi finished second, while Yu Yangyi finished in a tie with Yu Shaoteng, Le Quang Liem, Antonio Jr., Hou Yifan and Shou Jianchao. They all made it to the World Cup.
Wesley finished 22nd.
Wesley was very discouraged. He was rated second in this tournament and everybody expected him to qualify. But there was still a chance. Coming up was the Asean Zonals where two slots were at stake. So was disconsolate and informed his fans that he will be taking a rest from chess and will not play in the Zonals.
In the last hour, GM So decided to join the tournament. There was a lot of pressure from the Philippine chess community and he also wanted to redeem himself.
Laylo was a revelation in the Zonals with seven wins and two draws. Wesley barely made it with 6.5 points. He needed a win and a draw in his last two games.
In one of my earlier articles, I wrote that Wesley will be playing in the World Juniors in Argentina. However, his mother Eleanor wanted him to concentrate on his studies and skip the tournament where he was the top favorite.
He is a 4th year high school student in St.Francis of Assisi in Cavite.
Whenever chess players congregate and talk about Wesley, the topic of going to school or to be a professional player comes up. My belief is that he should finish high school first and study at the International Correspondence School (ICS) later.
You will be surprised to know that a lot of companies have respect for their graduates and their standard is even higher than most schools.
Wesley earned $25,000 in the World Cup and this is just the start. He will be a multi-millionaire before he reaches 21.
In an interview in Russia, Wesley said he needs a trainer now.
“I feel like I should have an assistant now. Another problem is that chess is not that famous in the Philippines. We don’t get any financial support from the government.”
“The government does not give money for tournaments, coaches, nothing,” said So. “Our National Federation pays for our tickets. That’s it. You realize at one moment that to reach some professional level you need private sponsors. I would be happy with some $20,000 to $30,000 a year.”
Any takers? Gentlemen and ladies in government?
How about our Taipans? Do you know that 15 percent of our population are chess players? Wesley can sell more products by endorsing them than any other celebrity.
The exuberance and excitement of chess players of his wins over Ivanchuk and Kamsky is more than that that of Pacquaio’s wins over Cotto, Hatton and dela Hoya.
As they say, So is young but already so good and so brilliant.
(boypestano@chess.com, www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 4, 2009.
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Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso
THE ride is over. After a fairytale come true celebrated throughout the country, Wesley So, only 16, lost in the fourth round of the World Cup to a seasoned veteran, Vladimir Malakhov of Russia, who won all three of their tiebreak matches. Earlier they split their regular games.
Still Wesley accomplished what no Filipino has done before and he can hold his head high when he goes home to a warm welcome.
He was the “gold nugget” of the tournament and the darling of chess fans throughout the world.
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Unlike Joey Antonio and Darwin Laylo, Wesley traversed a rocky road to the World Cup. He had two chances. He failed in the first and barely made it in the second.
The event was the last round of the Intercontinental Asian Championships in Subic. Wesley was playing white versus another child prodigy, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.
Each was on a must-win situation and at stake was a slot to the World Cup. Wesley lost and according to a friend, was so heartbroken that he wept after the game.
GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India finished with five wins and six draws. GM Zhou Weiqi finished second, while Yu Yangyi finished in a tie with Yu Shaoteng, Le Quang Liem, Antonio Jr., Hou Yifan and Shou Jianchao. They all made it to the World Cup.
Wesley finished 22nd.
Wesley was very discouraged. He was rated second in this tournament and everybody expected him to qualify. But there was still a chance. Coming up was the Asean Zonals where two slots were at stake. So was disconsolate and informed his fans that he will be taking a rest from chess and will not play in the Zonals.
In the last hour, GM So decided to join the tournament. There was a lot of pressure from the Philippine chess community and he also wanted to redeem himself.
Laylo was a revelation in the Zonals with seven wins and two draws. Wesley barely made it with 6.5 points. He needed a win and a draw in his last two games.
In one of my earlier articles, I wrote that Wesley will be playing in the World Juniors in Argentina. However, his mother Eleanor wanted him to concentrate on his studies and skip the tournament where he was the top favorite.
He is a 4th year high school student in St.Francis of Assisi in Cavite.
Whenever chess players congregate and talk about Wesley, the topic of going to school or to be a professional player comes up. My belief is that he should finish high school first and study at the International Correspondence School (ICS) later.
You will be surprised to know that a lot of companies have respect for their graduates and their standard is even higher than most schools.
Wesley earned $25,000 in the World Cup and this is just the start. He will be a multi-millionaire before he reaches 21.
In an interview in Russia, Wesley said he needs a trainer now.
“I feel like I should have an assistant now. Another problem is that chess is not that famous in the Philippines. We don’t get any financial support from the government.”
“The government does not give money for tournaments, coaches, nothing,” said So. “Our National Federation pays for our tickets. That’s it. You realize at one moment that to reach some professional level you need private sponsors. I would be happy with some $20,000 to $30,000 a year.”
Any takers? Gentlemen and ladies in government?
How about our Taipans? Do you know that 15 percent of our population are chess players? Wesley can sell more products by endorsing them than any other celebrity.
The exuberance and excitement of chess players of his wins over Ivanchuk and Kamsky is more than that that of Pacquaio’s wins over Cotto, Hatton and dela Hoya.
As they say, So is young but already so good and so brilliant.
(boypestano@chess.com, www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 4, 2009.
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