A fide rated tournament among Cebuano players has never happened before and is as rare the Cebu Flowerpecker.
If you are familiar with birds, the Cebu Flowerpecker (Dicaeum quadricolor) was presumed extinct since 1906 but it was rediscovered by a birdwatcher in 1992 in the forests of barangay Tabunan – part of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape – in Cebu City, and has been spotted only a handful of times since. It is considered one of the rarest bird in the world.
We had fide rated tournaments before like the zonals in the CICC in Mandaue in 2007 and the Cepa-Cifya sponsored Cebu Grandmasters tournament in 1992 but these included mostly foreigners.
The Cebu City Masters Tournament has 2 stages-eliminations and finals.
The eliminations was held at the OPASCOR bldg rooftop last Jun 20. There were 36 participants and the qualifiers were Eden Diano,Richard Natividad ,Rogelio Enriquez and Rommel Ganzon.
The four will join the six FIDE rated players ; International Master Enrico 'Econg' Sevillano, a native of Tuburan, with 2510 ( a grandmaster-strength rating)(Econg has already 1 GM norm to his credit); International Master Steven Kim Yap - 2399; National Master Eric Gloria, a FIDE trainer now based in Singapore with 2336; Voltaire Sevillano, younger brother of Econg who is untitled but has a high FIDE rating of 2334; Anthony Makinano, a FIDE Master's(FM) title to his name with a rating of 2320; and National Master Merben Roque - 2294.
The ten players will play a single round robin with at least 3 hours per game and 2 games per day for 5 straight days . It should be noted that in a round robin tournament, in order for the tournament to be FIDE rated, the minimum FIDE requirement is 10 players with 6 players FIDE rated and four unrated.
The games are now on-going at Deep Blue in SM City.
This tournament is organized by the Cebu Chess federation and sponsored by the Cebu City government.
Rare pilgrimage- Cepca president, Manny Manzanares, is on a rare journey on a motorbike to celebrate his 62nd birthday and by honoring Jose Rizal 150th birth anniversary and to play chess at Rizal Park in luneta.
He started in Talisay,to Cebu City then on a ferry to Ormoc City. From Ormoc to Tacloban then across the San Juanico Bridge to Catbalogan City.
He then went to Calbayog,and Allen in Samar, rode a ferry to Matnog and then on to Sorsogon City.
He then proceeded to Legaspi then Naga and the Bicol region to Pamplona,Camarines Norte,on to Quezon province to San Pablo then Calamba, Laguna the birthplace of Rizal. From there ,he proceeded to Luneta to play chess!
Attaboy Manny!
Oriental Poker Clubs' 1 Million Guaranteed Poker Derby in Parkmall was a huge success! Entries with buyins of P25,000 included 44 players from professionals to poker enthusiasts. The list also consisted of international players from United States such as Steve Hennings, Robert Browning and Shaun.
Korean players were Park Yaehbon, Bobo, Brian, Frank, Noma and Arnold Kwon. Also a Japanese national Shin Siguira . locals to mention a few are : Paeng Escano, Wacky Salud, former cepca president Ben Dimaano, Mike Lacson, JR Vasquez and of course the 1st placer Dodo Soco. Tournament started at 5:30pm and ended at 12:35am, roughly 7 hours duration.
Here are the final table: 1st Dodo Soco P450,000 ;2nd Noma P250,000 ;3rd Arnold Kwon P175,000 ;4th Arnold Gonzaludo P125,000 ;5th Adrian Jaime P33,000 ;6th Wilfredo "Snake" Simmons P33,000 ;7th Presley Chiong P1,800 Bonus Bet;8th Park Yaehbon P1,800 Bonus Bet;9th Mike Lacson P1,800 Bonus Bet;10th Gel Bolingo P1,800 Bonus Bet.
boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Two eccentrics and a chess game
THE eccentric Fide president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited an old friend and fellow eccentric—Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi--in Tripoli last June 11 and 12 , to play chess and boost his morale.
Ilyumzhinov has a seven-year close relationship with Gaddafi, who in 2004 sponsored the Fide World Chess Championship in Libya.
Win US $500 cash in Sun.Star’s music video contest
Kirsan once claimed to have been abducted by aliens and taken aboard their spaceship.
Gaddafi is struggling to hang on to power in the war torn in Libya, and the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity.
Ilyumzhinov said he had found Gaddafi “quite healthy and adequate.” He also said the Libyan leader told him that he was ready for immediate talks with Nato and the Benghazi representatives but had no intention to step down or leave the country.
“I am neither premier nor president nor king,” Interfax quoted Gaddafi as saying during the meeting. “I do not hold any post in Libya and therefore I have no position that I should give up.”
Gaddafi, referred to simply as “the Leader,” indeed has no official position in the Libyan government. However, he has wielded near-supreme power for 42 years in the North African nation.
The visit of the Fide president Ilyumzhinov to Gaddafi has caused such a storm of protest that Fide has released a press release to tone down the controversy.
“I was asked to visit Libya this weekend and I was satisfied that chess could play such a critical role in this time of crisis. I had serious meetings regarding the objectives I had set and I am proud that FIDE could contribute to the peace process in the region and the world. It is therefore unfortunate that some people are trying to use this trip to wrongfully politicize the situation in Fide and I am asking everybody to show complete solidarity for the peace efforts in Libya.”
BOY WONDER. Wesley So finished in a 3-way tie for first place in the 19th Annual Sigeman Chess Championship in Malmo, Sweden with Anish Giri of the Netherlands and
Hans Tikkanen of Sweden. He had 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss for 3 points.
It was a hi-low performance by Wesley as he defeated the highest-ranked player, Alexei Shirov and lost to the lowest rated player, Tikkanen.
Wesley will be playing in a big tournament in India, the inaugural AAI Grandmasters Chess Tournament, which will start on June 21.
The center of attraction is World Women champion Hou Yifan and a tough test for her as it is a category 17 with World Junior No.1 Fabiano Caruana of Italy, Czech Republic No. 2 Viktor Laznicka, India No. 2 Krishnan Sasikiran and the reigning Indian National Champion Parimarjan Negi aside from So.
The tournament will offer a total prize money of $24,500. The winner takes $8,000, while the runner-up will receive $6,000. The purse for the next four finishers will be $4,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,500.
New GM. Julio Catalino Sadorra of Cavite is now officially a grandmaster.
“I can’t reduce my success to a formula, but it comes down to hard work and faith,” said Sadorra, a sophomore majoring in applied mathematics at the University of Texas-Dallas, USA.
The 25-year-old Sadorra achieved his third and final GM norm in the UT Dallas Grandmaster Invitational when he beat Grandmaster Alexander Shabalov in Round 10 last March.
Oriental Poker Club. The P1 million guaranteed pot starts tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Parkmall in Mandaue with the champion taking home P500,000. Buy-in is P25,000. For details contact Mona at 09158533836.
(boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on June 17, 2011.
Ilyumzhinov has a seven-year close relationship with Gaddafi, who in 2004 sponsored the Fide World Chess Championship in Libya.
Win US $500 cash in Sun.Star’s music video contest
Kirsan once claimed to have been abducted by aliens and taken aboard their spaceship.
Gaddafi is struggling to hang on to power in the war torn in Libya, and the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity.
Ilyumzhinov said he had found Gaddafi “quite healthy and adequate.” He also said the Libyan leader told him that he was ready for immediate talks with Nato and the Benghazi representatives but had no intention to step down or leave the country.
“I am neither premier nor president nor king,” Interfax quoted Gaddafi as saying during the meeting. “I do not hold any post in Libya and therefore I have no position that I should give up.”
Gaddafi, referred to simply as “the Leader,” indeed has no official position in the Libyan government. However, he has wielded near-supreme power for 42 years in the North African nation.
The visit of the Fide president Ilyumzhinov to Gaddafi has caused such a storm of protest that Fide has released a press release to tone down the controversy.
“I was asked to visit Libya this weekend and I was satisfied that chess could play such a critical role in this time of crisis. I had serious meetings regarding the objectives I had set and I am proud that FIDE could contribute to the peace process in the region and the world. It is therefore unfortunate that some people are trying to use this trip to wrongfully politicize the situation in Fide and I am asking everybody to show complete solidarity for the peace efforts in Libya.”
BOY WONDER. Wesley So finished in a 3-way tie for first place in the 19th Annual Sigeman Chess Championship in Malmo, Sweden with Anish Giri of the Netherlands and
Hans Tikkanen of Sweden. He had 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss for 3 points.
It was a hi-low performance by Wesley as he defeated the highest-ranked player, Alexei Shirov and lost to the lowest rated player, Tikkanen.
Wesley will be playing in a big tournament in India, the inaugural AAI Grandmasters Chess Tournament, which will start on June 21.
The center of attraction is World Women champion Hou Yifan and a tough test for her as it is a category 17 with World Junior No.1 Fabiano Caruana of Italy, Czech Republic No. 2 Viktor Laznicka, India No. 2 Krishnan Sasikiran and the reigning Indian National Champion Parimarjan Negi aside from So.
The tournament will offer a total prize money of $24,500. The winner takes $8,000, while the runner-up will receive $6,000. The purse for the next four finishers will be $4,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,500.
New GM. Julio Catalino Sadorra of Cavite is now officially a grandmaster.
“I can’t reduce my success to a formula, but it comes down to hard work and faith,” said Sadorra, a sophomore majoring in applied mathematics at the University of Texas-Dallas, USA.
The 25-year-old Sadorra achieved his third and final GM norm in the UT Dallas Grandmaster Invitational when he beat Grandmaster Alexander Shabalov in Round 10 last March.
Oriental Poker Club. The P1 million guaranteed pot starts tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Parkmall in Mandaue with the champion taking home P500,000. Buy-in is P25,000. For details contact Mona at 09158533836.
(boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on June 17, 2011.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Poker: gambling or sport?
Of all the forms of gambling, poker is one of the most complex and sophisticated, and because there is the ability to win even with a bad hand, there is much more skill involved.
It is a game that, over a long period of time, will always reward the more skilled player.
That is why there are professional poker players who depend on the game as a livelihood just like chess.
And so, even if you can't accept poker as a sport, it has to be accepted as a legitimate form of competition in which talent overrides luck.
Texas hold 'em is the most popular poker card game in Cebu and across North America and Europe, as well as online. It is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and the player's own two hole cards to make a poker hand,
Because each player starts with only two cards and the remaining cards are shared, it is an excellent game for strategic analysis.
Metro Card in Mandaue recently had the Sharpe Classic P500,000 guaranteed tournament with a buyin of P5,500.
Here are the winners (in pesos): 1st: Anthony Song 147,500 2nd: Gerry Campo 85,000 3rd: Jett Latonio 60,000 4th: John Ruiz 50,000 5th: Joey Agustin 42,500 6th: John Ong 32,500 7th: Anthony Feliciano 22,500 8th: Ray Martin 17,500 9th: Jed Neri 12,500 10th: Taino Tenney 10,000 11th: Sonny Ugalde 10,000 12th: Rafael Escano 10,000.
The All In Poker Sports Club, located at Cebu’s Waterfront Hotel & Casino, is holding its Anniversary Series of Poker this month from June 20-27, 2011. The packed schedule will include a PHP 1 million guaranteed prize pool Main Event, which has been accredited by the Asian Poker Tour (APT) and is sure to attract the Philippines’ best poker players.
Players sitting down at the tables for the PHP 5500 buy-in Main Event of the All In Anniversary Series of Poker can be confident that the event will be run to according to the same protocol that has made the APT such a trusted tournament series.
“We’ve had a great partnership with the All In Poker Sports Club previously with the launch of our APT Asian Series Cebu tournament and are very happy to continue our association with the professional team there,” said Jeff Mann, CEO of the Asia Poker Tour.
Also The new Oriental Poker Sports Club in Parkmall ,Mandaue has also a P1,000,000 tournament this month with a buyin of P25,000 limited to 40 players. 1st prize is an amazing P500,000.
Plus they have freerolls (no buyin) that keep them coming.
Also remember that it is a special night for ladies tomorrow at Parkmall as they pay only P200 , convertible to cash game chips while gentlemen pay P500. Guaranteed pot is P15,000.
Also try your luck at Diamond Club beside the Grand Convention Center as they have affordable buyins and the lady dealers are a sight to behold and even prettier lady players.
Sigeman.The 19th Sigeman Chess Tournament is set to take place today up to the 13th in Malmö, Sweden.
The format is 6-player round robin and features Alexei Shirov (ESP 2709) and the world's top juniors namely Anish Giri (NED 2687) and our Wesley So( PHI 2667).
Completing the 6 man event are Sweden`s top players : Jonny Hector 2585, Hans Tikkanen 2560 and Nils Grandelius 2541
MICA.The "Mactan Island Chess Association" or "MICA" is organizing a tournament on June 17 1pm to be held in the park under the new bridge titled Singkwenta na Chess Tournament .
The occasion is the 50th Charter Day of Lapulapu City and has 3 sections: A,B and Kiddies.
Sponsor is councillor Harry Radaza and MICA. Prizes are cash and medals.
The president of MICA is Galileo Roma Jr who is a good poker player.
boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com
It is a game that, over a long period of time, will always reward the more skilled player.
That is why there are professional poker players who depend on the game as a livelihood just like chess.
And so, even if you can't accept poker as a sport, it has to be accepted as a legitimate form of competition in which talent overrides luck.
Texas hold 'em is the most popular poker card game in Cebu and across North America and Europe, as well as online. It is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and the player's own two hole cards to make a poker hand,
Because each player starts with only two cards and the remaining cards are shared, it is an excellent game for strategic analysis.
Metro Card in Mandaue recently had the Sharpe Classic P500,000 guaranteed tournament with a buyin of P5,500.
Here are the winners (in pesos): 1st: Anthony Song 147,500 2nd: Gerry Campo 85,000 3rd: Jett Latonio 60,000 4th: John Ruiz 50,000 5th: Joey Agustin 42,500 6th: John Ong 32,500 7th: Anthony Feliciano 22,500 8th: Ray Martin 17,500 9th: Jed Neri 12,500 10th: Taino Tenney 10,000 11th: Sonny Ugalde 10,000 12th: Rafael Escano 10,000.
The All In Poker Sports Club, located at Cebu’s Waterfront Hotel & Casino, is holding its Anniversary Series of Poker this month from June 20-27, 2011. The packed schedule will include a PHP 1 million guaranteed prize pool Main Event, which has been accredited by the Asian Poker Tour (APT) and is sure to attract the Philippines’ best poker players.
Players sitting down at the tables for the PHP 5500 buy-in Main Event of the All In Anniversary Series of Poker can be confident that the event will be run to according to the same protocol that has made the APT such a trusted tournament series.
“We’ve had a great partnership with the All In Poker Sports Club previously with the launch of our APT Asian Series Cebu tournament and are very happy to continue our association with the professional team there,” said Jeff Mann, CEO of the Asia Poker Tour.
Also The new Oriental Poker Sports Club in Parkmall ,Mandaue has also a P1,000,000 tournament this month with a buyin of P25,000 limited to 40 players. 1st prize is an amazing P500,000.
Plus they have freerolls (no buyin) that keep them coming.
Also remember that it is a special night for ladies tomorrow at Parkmall as they pay only P200 , convertible to cash game chips while gentlemen pay P500. Guaranteed pot is P15,000.
Also try your luck at Diamond Club beside the Grand Convention Center as they have affordable buyins and the lady dealers are a sight to behold and even prettier lady players.
Sigeman.The 19th Sigeman Chess Tournament is set to take place today up to the 13th in Malmö, Sweden.
The format is 6-player round robin and features Alexei Shirov (ESP 2709) and the world's top juniors namely Anish Giri (NED 2687) and our Wesley So( PHI 2667).
Completing the 6 man event are Sweden`s top players : Jonny Hector 2585, Hans Tikkanen 2560 and Nils Grandelius 2541
MICA.The "Mactan Island Chess Association" or "MICA" is organizing a tournament on June 17 1pm to be held in the park under the new bridge titled Singkwenta na Chess Tournament .
The occasion is the 50th Charter Day of Lapulapu City and has 3 sections: A,B and Kiddies.
Sponsor is councillor Harry Radaza and MICA. Prizes are cash and medals.
The president of MICA is Galileo Roma Jr who is a good poker player.
boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com
Gelfand wins Candidates matches
There are a lot of information in this article so I will be as brief as possible.
The biggest news is that Gelfand wins the right to challenge Anand in 2012!
To review, Levon Aronian(2808) of Armenia and Veselin Topalov (2775) of Bulgaria (2775),the big favorites, were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Alexander Grischuk (2747 Russia) and Gata Kamsky(2732 USA).
In the other matches, Vladimir Kramnik (Russia 2785) and Boris Gelfand (Israel 2733) prevailed over Teimour Radjabov (2744) and Shakriyar Mamedyarov (2772) both of Azerbaijan.
In the semis, Gelfand downed Kamsky while Grischuk clobbered Kramnik.
In the finals Gelfand won the last of six games with a novelty in a Gruenfeld and became the oldest man at the age of 42 to compete in the World Chess Championship.
In the Asean Zonals in Tagaytay , GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia edged GM Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr. of the Philippines in the ninth and final round to finish seven points and emerged over-all champion.
Mark Paragua, on the other hand nipped IM Goh Weiming of Singapore to score 6.5 points and finish in a tie for 2nd to 4th place with top seed GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore, and IM Richard Bitoon of Cebu, but won via tiebreak points for the last final berth in the World Cup in Russia.
Earlier in Subic, India showed why they are a world power in chess by dominating the Asian Youth Chess Championship winning 10 gold medals out of a possible 12! The other two gold medals were taken by Philippines and Iran in the Men Under 16 and Under 12 respectively.
India completely ruled the Girls section by winning Gold in all 6 girls age groups.
WSOP The biggest spectacle in poker, the 42nd World series known as the “Woodstock for Poker”, started last Wednesday in Las Vegas up to the main event in July 7 that is expected to attract more than 70,000 players from 115 countries.
The event features 58 distinct tournaments in all variations of poker and totals more than $180 million in prizes. This is more than the total prize money for one year in chess worldwide.
Buyin ranges from $500 to $50,000. In addition cash games are held on a 24 hour basis throughout the period.
Every year, PokerListings releases its list of Best Bets for the World Series of Poker. . "Frankly, our predictions have been less than accurate," writes a spokesperson. "That’s why this year we’re taking the shotgun approach, aiming at groups in hopes of scoring a few hits." So PokerListings decided to go with – chess players! "If there is a group of people more prepared for success at the 2011 World Series of Poker than chess players, PokerListings hasn’t found it."
"Historically, chess players have proven the transition to poker to be a profitable one".1995 WSOP Main Event champ and two-time finalist Dan Harrington is among those who played chess before he turned to poker, as is 2008 November Niner Ylon Schwartz, IM Almira Skripchenko and Dinara Khaziyeva and child chess prodigy Jeff Sarwer.
Oriental Poker Club Poker is a phenomenon also in Cebu.
Making waves in the local scene is the newest club in town,the Oriental Poker Sports Club,located in Parkmall in Mandaue.
They have a unique Ladies nights on June 4 and 11 with a 15k guaranteed .Ladies buyin is only P200 that is converted into cash game chips. Gentlemen pay P500.
The Club also has 10k Freerolls ( no buyin) on June 6, 8 and 9. 50% of the prizes are cash game chips.
All tournaments start at 5pm.
Sometime in June, they will have a P1 million guaranteed tourney limited to 40 players with a buyin of 25k. Champion wins P500k and 2nd and 3rd takes home P300k and P200k respectively.Wow!
boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com
The biggest news is that Gelfand wins the right to challenge Anand in 2012!
To review, Levon Aronian(2808) of Armenia and Veselin Topalov (2775) of Bulgaria (2775),the big favorites, were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Alexander Grischuk (2747 Russia) and Gata Kamsky(2732 USA).
In the other matches, Vladimir Kramnik (Russia 2785) and Boris Gelfand (Israel 2733) prevailed over Teimour Radjabov (2744) and Shakriyar Mamedyarov (2772) both of Azerbaijan.
In the semis, Gelfand downed Kamsky while Grischuk clobbered Kramnik.
In the finals Gelfand won the last of six games with a novelty in a Gruenfeld and became the oldest man at the age of 42 to compete in the World Chess Championship.
In the Asean Zonals in Tagaytay , GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia edged GM Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr. of the Philippines in the ninth and final round to finish seven points and emerged over-all champion.
Mark Paragua, on the other hand nipped IM Goh Weiming of Singapore to score 6.5 points and finish in a tie for 2nd to 4th place with top seed GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore, and IM Richard Bitoon of Cebu, but won via tiebreak points for the last final berth in the World Cup in Russia.
Earlier in Subic, India showed why they are a world power in chess by dominating the Asian Youth Chess Championship winning 10 gold medals out of a possible 12! The other two gold medals were taken by Philippines and Iran in the Men Under 16 and Under 12 respectively.
India completely ruled the Girls section by winning Gold in all 6 girls age groups.
WSOP The biggest spectacle in poker, the 42nd World series known as the “Woodstock for Poker”, started last Wednesday in Las Vegas up to the main event in July 7 that is expected to attract more than 70,000 players from 115 countries.
The event features 58 distinct tournaments in all variations of poker and totals more than $180 million in prizes. This is more than the total prize money for one year in chess worldwide.
Buyin ranges from $500 to $50,000. In addition cash games are held on a 24 hour basis throughout the period.
Every year, PokerListings releases its list of Best Bets for the World Series of Poker. . "Frankly, our predictions have been less than accurate," writes a spokesperson. "That’s why this year we’re taking the shotgun approach, aiming at groups in hopes of scoring a few hits." So PokerListings decided to go with – chess players! "If there is a group of people more prepared for success at the 2011 World Series of Poker than chess players, PokerListings hasn’t found it."
"Historically, chess players have proven the transition to poker to be a profitable one".1995 WSOP Main Event champ and two-time finalist Dan Harrington is among those who played chess before he turned to poker, as is 2008 November Niner Ylon Schwartz, IM Almira Skripchenko and Dinara Khaziyeva and child chess prodigy Jeff Sarwer.
Oriental Poker Club Poker is a phenomenon also in Cebu.
Making waves in the local scene is the newest club in town,the Oriental Poker Sports Club,located in Parkmall in Mandaue.
They have a unique Ladies nights on June 4 and 11 with a 15k guaranteed .Ladies buyin is only P200 that is converted into cash game chips. Gentlemen pay P500.
The Club also has 10k Freerolls ( no buyin) on June 6, 8 and 9. 50% of the prizes are cash game chips.
All tournaments start at 5pm.
Sometime in June, they will have a P1 million guaranteed tourney limited to 40 players with a buyin of 25k. Champion wins P500k and 2nd and 3rd takes home P300k and P200k respectively.Wow!
boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com
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