Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pestaño: Kimkim holds blindfold simul

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.)

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