Thursday, September 20, 2012

Pestaño: Tournaments are the soul of any sport

Chessmoso
Thursday, September 20, 2012

THE essence of any sport is the constant exposure to matches or tournaments. This is perhaps the reason chess is the most popular sport in this planet.
It is estimated that there are more than 1,500 international open tournaments a year worldwide, which means that these are Fide-rated. The number of non-Fide-rated tournaments is perhaps 20-30 times as much.
The most popular format is the Swiss style as the winners can be determined in as little as 11 rounds even if hundreds are competing. Other formats are round-robin or the increasingly popular knockout format.
Right now, there are several tournaments locally, on the regional level and the ultra-major ones that are scheduled this month.
The Goodwill Gallery Open is scheduled on Sept. 22-23 at 1 p.m. on J Centre Mall in Mandaue and is open to ladies 20 yrs and below and to kiddies up to age 16. Format is 7 rounds Swiss and time control of 25 minutes per player. Registration is P150 with free snacks.
Another tournament is the PICPA Open Team Tournament set on Sept. 29 and 30 in the same time and venue as above and is either a round robin or 7 rounds Swiss. Time control is 30 minutes per player.
Since this is organized by the Philippines Institute of Certified Public Accountants, each team of 4 players must have at least 1 PICPA member. Another requirement is that a team must have a lady player who will play in board 4 and the lady player can be the Picpa member.
Another requirement is that the team can only have 1 class A or titled player so the contest will be competitive. Registration is P1,500. The champion will win P10,000, plus trophy.
Another tournament tentatively scheduled this month is the Cepca vs. Ladies Varsity Selection at Deep Blue in SM on 12 boards. This is a unique exhibition match that seldom happens and a test for the senior members of Cepca against the ladies as young as their grandchildren. The last time this happened was in the early 90’s against the top lady players of Cebu.
Richard Bitoon was chosen as the top athlete of 2012 in Cebu because he earned his third and final norm in this international tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the DYTM Raja Nazrin International Open Championship. He is again playing this year, on Sept. 17-23, at the Olympics Sports Hotel in that city.
Oliver Barbosa, the top Pinoy performer in the just concluded Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, is the defending champion and will be joined, aside from Richard, by Pinoy GMs Joey Antonio, Mark Paragua and Darwin Laylo.
Other top players in this now-popular tourney are GMs Sergei Tiviakov of the Netherlands, Thomas Luther of Germany, Wong Meng Kong of Singapore, Tahir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan, Deepan Chakkravarthy of India and Cao Sang, Bui Vinh and Nguyen Ang Dung of Vietnam.
The sixth Women’s Grand Prix is now on-going in Ankara, Turkey from Sept. 15-29. This is the last of the 2011–2012 series of elite events organized by Fide and Global Chess to determine the challenger to the World Champion, Hou Yifan of China in 2013.
Sao Paulo and Bilbao will again host the Grand Slam Chess Masters Final, on Sept. 24-29 in the Brazilian capital and the second half in Bilbao, Spain from Oct. 8-13.
This is the most prestigious and strongest individual tournament in the Fide calendar and five of the world`s top players are competing: world champion Vishy Anand (2780), world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (2843), No. 2 Levon Aronian (2816), No. 7 Sergey Karjakin (2778) and No. 8 Fabiano Caruana (2773). Joining them will be the host nominee, Paco Vallejo (2697).
(boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)

Friday, September 7, 2012

Pestaño: A fantastic and unexpected performance

Chessmoso
Friday, September 7, 2012

OUR performance (men) in the Olympiad now being held in Turkey is just short of being described as incredible and fantastic.
Originally seeded 35th in the starting list, we are now tied at second place with five other teams, behind Russia after eight rounds.
The men had a dramatic win over 10th seed Bulgaria who has Veselin Topalov at board 1.
We also equalized with 4th seed Hungary as Eugene Torre defeated Ferenc Berkes. Torre also had a win against Nigel Short as we beat England, 3-1, in the 8th round.
Wesley So, Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua all have performance ratings breaching 2700.Wow na wow!
NVFORCEN-The Naval Forces Central Command in Lapulapu City held a team chess tournament last weekend.
There were four teams in a single knockout battle held at their clubhouse.
The teams are:Gray(OPCON AFLOAT)-Board 1:  SN1   De Guzman; 2:  PO3  Perez 3: SN1 Dalisay & PO3 Comaingkong; Yellow (HSG) 1:  PO3   Labastida 2:  CDR Navarro 3:  PO2 Carreon & LTJG Santos.
The other teams are: Blue (OPCON BASE)Board 1:  PO3 Namoc; 2:  PO1  Defuntorum; 3: PO2  Fulminar; Red (HNBRR) 1: PO2 Nala; 2:  PO1 Rado 3:  PO2 Tupaz.
The results are: Round 1:  Yellow vs. Blue (2-1); Red vs. Gray (0-3); Round 2:  Gray vs. Yellow (2-1); Blue vs. Red (3-0).
Final standing: Champion: Gray followed by Yellow , Blue and Red.
The tournament Committee was composed of Chairman- LCDR Escalona and members: LTJG Canoneo and ENS Ebarley
It is a tradition in the Navy that only the rank and family name are mentioned.
Milo Chess. Our chessplayer/aspiring chess columnist KC Morala sent in this report:
“The USC Warriors sweep up clean all four categories of the Little Milo Olympics Chess Tournament held in USC South Campus last Sept. 1-2, 2012.
Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano, Felix Shaun Balbona, John Francis Balbona, Glexan Derotas and Jeffu Dorog of USC chess team claim the team champion trophy at 27 out of 28 points in the Secondary Boys Category. 
KC Morala, won her game with Marvie Abucay. Another point was won by Sharon Pacres. Crushing the rest of their opponents, USC was first past the post in the said category, with UC coming in second to them.
A mind-blowing no-loss record was set by the petite young Carolinian boys, Andrew Balbona, Jeremy Pepito, Kirk Morala, Gyles Derotas and Vladimir Robillos, as they brave the Elementary Boys Category. Labangon Elementary school led by the Paraon brothers had their team nab second place. City Central Elementary School came in third.
USC chess team, consisting of Glysen Derotas, Jeremy Bajo and Cherry Mae Caballes, won the Elementary Girls Category.
The Warriors, having been the victors of every category, have earned the right to represent Visayas in the upcoming National Milo Little Olympics to be held in Marikina.
Milo Scrabble: The scrabble event has blossomed to 63 teams in secondary and 43 teams in the elementary division.
USJ- R, champion in both events for the last 3 years lost its grip as UV prepared well and beat them in both divisions.
Now UVwill represent Visayas in the Nationals to be hosted by Marikina, NM in chess Roger Abella is the tournament manager of scrabble for 17 years.
Pason-Sevillano Two of the hottest child prodigies in Cebu will clash in a 4 game match this Sunday at Deep Blue in SM starting 1 p.m.
Kyle Sevillano,14, recently scored an incredible nine straight wins in the Shell tournament in Davao, while Allan Pason,15, is the Guinness champion over more than 43,000 participants. The match is co-sponsored by Bogie Lim of the Cebu Chess Federation and Cepca.
Meanwhile, Cepca will also hold their September monthly tournament in the same venue and the same time.
(boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)