Fide rated tournament among Cebuanos

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.
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