Pestaño: Kimkim holds blindfold simul

By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño

Chessmoso

Thursday, August 28, 2014

IM Kimkim Yap, our brightest hope to be the next Cebuano GM, will conduct an eight-board blindfold simul exhibition against selected intermediate level players at the Cebu Chess school located at the second floor of Central Books bldg. along P. del Rosario St.

Per my recollection, this is the first time a simul will be held here. This will be on Sept. 7 at 3 p.m. A blindfold exhibition is a form of chess played by a master, who cannot see or touch the pieces, against a number of players.

This will be preceded at 2 pm by a clock simul by GM John Paul Gomez covering 40 boards. Gomez will also give a lecture at 1 pm.

Class A players are not allowed to participate.

Winners will earn P1,000 with free six-months training and an “I beat a Master” trophy. Players who can hold a draw will win P500 and “I played a Grandmaster” trophy.

The last player to finish will take home “The toughest challenger trophy.”

Registration is P300 for members and P450 for non-members. However, if you apply as a new member, registration is free.

For P900, you can become a member for one year. Why chess? Years of research has proven that the game can improve the IQ of children. Also, a child’s overall academic performance will significantly improve. Chess also gives them self-confidence essential to their success in everyday life.

A member will enjoy discounts in training, free use of a computer and library plus ID and t-shirt.

GM Gomez was a member of the Philippine team in the last Olympiad in Norway and is rated No. 4 in the country.

The fifth qualifying round for Kiddies (14-Under) will be held tomorrow and Sunday.

Format is seven rounds Swiss with a time control of 1 hour per player plus 10-second increments. Four rounds will be played tomorrow starting at 10 a.m. and three rounds on Sunday.

The champion will get P1,000 plus trophy while the second to the fourth placers will receive, P500, P300 and P200, respectively. The top ladies player will get P200.

Registration is P100 for members and P150 for non-members.

The top 2 placers will advance to the grand finals .

The third qualifying tournament for Juniors is on Sept. 13 to 14 and has the same format and prizes as the kiddies. The only difference is that the Juniors division is for 21 years old and below. The early qualifiers for the Juniors are Jethro Esplanada, Vincent Balena, Spencer de Guzman and Felix Shaun Balbona.

In the Kiddies division, the qualifiers so far are Jeremy Pepito, James Andrew Balbona, Chris Aldritz Pondoyo, Duane Borgonia, Edel Vosotros, John Lester Belano, Adrian Basilgo, Marphine Faith Mangubat and Jeena Vince Balbona.

The champion in the grand finals of each division will get the P5,000, while the runner-up will get P3,000. There will prizes up to the 16th placer.

Strongest. Six of the world’s top nine chess Grandmasters will be playing in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, making it the strongest tournament in the history of the game. It started last Wednesday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, the chess capital of America.

World champion Magnus Carlsen (2877), winner of the 2013 Sinquefield Cup, will return to defend his title against an elite field.

Levon Aronian(2805), 31, is ranked as world No. 2. Fabiano Caruana (2801) is an American-born Italian Grandmaster and the youngest participant at 22. Hikaru Nakamura (2787) is the world’s No. 5 player and three-time United States Chess Champion.

Veselin Topalov (2722) is currently the world’s No. 8 best player. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. (2768) is rated no.9.

The champion will get $100,000 out of the total $315,000 prize fund.

Rex Sinquefield is the foremost benefactor of chess in the USA and the world.

(boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com.)

Pestaño: Butch, please release Wesley So

By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño

Chessmoso

Thursday, August 21, 2014

I CAN'T understand the reasons. The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) has nothing to gain but ridicule and scorn from the Philippine chess community if it does not release Wesley So to the USCF.

In Tromso, Norway, where the Chess Olympiad was just held, Wesley accompanied by Paul Troung and Susan Polgar, his manager and trainer respectively, said a meeting--more like a confrontation--with NCFP Butch Pichay Jr. did not lead to any amicable settlement.

Pichay allegedly said that releasing So would jeopardize the government funding to the chess body, which is provided by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). Pichay repeated several times that releasing Wesley means the NCFP will lose around $500,000 from the PSC each year.

Wesley was “in total shock and physically shaken as he was not expecting this bullying session in front of others in the Olympiad VIP Lounge.”

Under Fide rules, a player may transfer to a new federation immediately provided the old federation does not object. Otherwise, the transfer becomes complicated, including payment of fees and sitting out as long as two years. In that period, a player is prohibited from participating in any competition. Since Wesley has a 2700 plus Elo, the transfer fee amounts to 50,000 Euros or around P3 million pesos. So hoped to avoid all the complications by getting a simple release from the NCFP.

Ritchie Garcia ,the Chairman of the PSC, reacted strongly against the claim by Pichay.

He said the government sports agency will not withhold financial assistance to the NCFP if it allowed GM Wesley So to transfer to the United States Chess Federation (USCF).

“Personally, I wish him well in his dream to become a world chess champion because I know, no matter what happens, he will always be a Filipino,” said Garcia in an interview with the Journal Group of Publications.

“There’s no truth to reports that the PSC is telling the NCFP to prevent Wesley So from transferring to the USCF by refusing to sign an agreement releasing him. As a government sports agency, we all know we cannot meddle in the affairs of the NCFP or any other national sports association.

That will already be government intervention in sports,” said Garcia.

The situation has become viral and the comments online by netizens are vicious and nasty against Pichay. It seems that Pichay has been caught with his hands on the cookie jar.

Wesley is not exactly blameless though .He could have played in the Olympiad but he did not--a big disappointment.

Robinson. The 1st Robinson tournament for kiddies 14 and under and 21 and under was held last weekend in Fuente organized by couple Eduard and Therese dela Torre of Cebu Chess Masters. More than 100 kiddies participated and here are the top six placers in each category. The format was 7 rounds Swiss with a time control of 25 minutes plus 5 seconds increment.

Top 14- Under-1. James Andrew Balbona (6.5 ), 2. Adrian Basilgo (6), 3. James Paraon Jr. (6), 4. Jermey Pepito (5.5), 5. Chris Pondoyo (5.5), 6. Laila Nadera (5).

Top 21)Under 1. Yves Fiel (6), 2. Vincent Balena (6), 3.Allan Pason (5.5), 4. C.

Podoyo (5) 5.) Felix Shaun Balbona (5) 6.) Marc Balbona (5).

BBRC. Cepca is now in the process of sponsoring a chess tournament for men and women to put some sunshine in the lives of inmates of BBRC. Cash prizes will be given to the winners.

It will use the active format and the number of rounds will depend on the total participants.

This tournament is again sponsored by our energetic vice-president Engr. Marvyne Guardiana of VMA Power.

(boypestano@gmail.com)

Pestaño: Alien abductee is reelected president

By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño

Chessmoso

Friday, August 15, 2014

THE largest Olympiad with 174 countries playing is now on its final stage in Tromso Norway. An important side event to the tournament is the elections of Fide officials.

The format is four players per team and 11-round Swiss. The winning teams will receive the International Hamilton-Russell Cup and the International Vera Menchik Cup. The winning teams with the best composite score will receive the Nona Gaprindashvili International Trophy.

Every member of the winning team (players, reserves and captain) will receive gold, silver and bronze medals.

The players will also compete for individual board prizes: gold, silver and bronze medals.

After the penultimate round(10) China is the solo leader in the Men`s section with 17 points on 7 wins and 3 draws. Hungary is also solo second place with 16 followed by 8 countries with 15 points namely France, Ukraine, Russia, USA, Uzbekistan, India, Azerbaijan and Poland.

The Philippines is tied with 19 other countries from 38th to 56th places with 12 points. This will be our worst showing ever if we lose in the last round against Canada, which has three GMs and two IMs with an average elo of 2554 against ours at 2490.

As everybody knows, we were hit by a double whammy with the non-appearance of Wesley, So who transferred federation to the USA, and Oliver Barbosa, who suffered visa problems.

The Philippines is represented by GM Catalino Sadorra, GM John Paul Gomez, GM Eugene Torre, FM Paolo Bersamina and GM Jayson Gonzales.

In the women’s section, which is participated by 138 female participants, Russia is just slightly ahead (18) over China and Ukraine, both with 17. Russia would have won the tournament outright but it lost to Ukraine in the 10th round.

The RP women’s team is not doing any better than the men’s team as it is tied with 15 others from 42nd -56th places with 11 points.

The players are WIM Cheradee Chardine Camacho, WFM Janelle Mae Frayna, Jan Jodilyn Fronda, WIM Catherine Perena and Christy Lamiel Bernales.

Before the elections, observers say that it will be close fight between former world champion Garry Kasparov and Kirsan as Kasparov has been campaigning for over a year now and has visited almost all countries. He also prides himself of a formidable line-
up, all with sterling reputations.

However, Chessmoso thinks otherwise. A good number of federations are satisfied with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s performance.

And I was right. Ilyumzhinov won the election with 110 to 61 votes, a landslide.

Kasparov said the procedure was rigged.

“This has been an unfair fight from the very start. The incumbents have shamelessly used every trick they can, including simply erasing federations,” from the voting register. Four votes were annulled.

Sheikh Sultan (UAE) was reelected the Asian Continental President after a crushing 38-12 win over Prospero Pichay of the Philippines.

Ilyumzhinov, 52, says he was abducted by aliens, who communicated telepathically in 1997 and returned to Earth after a trip to a distant star in a giant spaceship. Being an amateur astronomer myself, his claim proves the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Robinson’s Mall will sponsor its first Active tournament with a time control of 20 minutes plus 10 seconds increment in a 7-round Swiss format starting tomorrow.

On Aug. 16 the 14-year-old and Under tournament will get underway. There will be another tournament on Sunday for the 21-Under. Cash prizes will be awarded to the Top 10 placers.

Registration will be P200 and 250 respectively with an early registration discount of P50 if paid one day before the tournament.. Participants who will play in both tournaments will pay only P300.

Tournament starts at exactly 10:30 a.m. (boypestano@gmail.com)