Strange but true

By Frank "Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

IN 1918, the famous chess player Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein (1882-1962), a Hungarian grandmaster, was arrested in Odessa by the Cheka, the Soviet secret police, and scheduled for execution. As he was about to be executed by firing squad, the commanding officer asked to see the list of the prisoners’ names, and seeing Bernstein’s name, demanded whether he was the grandmaster of the same name. When Bernstein said yes, the officer challenged him to a chess match and told him he would be freed if he won.

And win he did easily and thus his freedom. He then fled on a British ship and settled in Paris.

During World War II, the US Navy enlisted world champion chess player Reuben Fine to calculate – on the basis of positional probability – where enemy submarines would most likely surface. When Fine was asked of the results, he replied modestly, “It was successful.”

George Koltanowski, an American international master, played an exhibition that has never been duplicated ever since. He played 34 boards simultaneously…while blindfolded and won 24 games and didn’t lose a single game. This happened in Edinburgh in 1937.

Robert Fischer has an IQ of about 180 and became a grandmaster at the age of 15. Such was his memory that that he was able to memorize more than five minutes of dialog in a language which he had never spoken.

In September 1940, former Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin was playing chess with his wife when Russian troops burst in to arrest him. As he was being dragged away he called out to his wife “You win, I resign.” He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and was once wanted as a terrorist with a $50,000 bounty on his head by the British in 1946 because of his fight for a Zionist homeland.

St. Charles Borromeo, who was Archbishop of Milan and canonized in 1610, was such a chess addict that he was once censured for playing and studying chess. “What would you do if you were busy playing and the world came to an end?” he was asked one day. “Continue playing,” he simply replied.

CHESS OLYMPIAD. As I have suspected, all is not well with our Men’s team in the Olympiad. Eugene Torre has claimed that Joey Antonio wants to play white in most of his games, which Joey has denied.

Now we are way behind in the standings despite demolishing Singapore in the 12th round, 3.5-0.5. The main culprit is the disappointing performance of Emmanuel Senador, who has not scored a single point in six games. His performance rating is an incredibly low at 1747, more like a club player than an Olympian.

The other players are doing relatively well. Torre, Antonio, Paragua, Gonzales and Laylo have performance ratings of 2559, 2634, 2553, 2555 and 2422, respectively.

Ukraine is a sure winner in the Men’s section with 34.5 points after 12 rounds followed by Russia and Armenia with 31 point each. The RP team has 27. There are two rounds left but it will be uphill from now on.

China is again reasserting its supremacy in the Women’s section with 27 pts followed by the Polgar-led USA and Georgia with 24 points. Our Women’s team has 17 points, with Joy Lomibao scoring only one point in her last four games.

LADY CHESS PLAYERS CHALLENGE CEPCA. In view of the successful Cepca vs. Cebu Selection match, lady varsity chess players from various schools banded themselves together and issued a challenge to the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association for a chess match as part of their training and also for fun.

As Cepca president Jun Olis said to the other club members, “How can we refuse?” The match is tentatively scheduled on Nov. 14 at the Family Park in Talamban.

DIONSON IS OCTOBER CHAMPION. Maggi Dionson won the October edition of the Cepca tournament last Sunday. First runner-up was Joe Atillo while third placer was Jojo Muralla.

As part of the club’s program, 17-year-old Therese Gonzales of the University of San Jose-Recoletos and child prodigies 11-year-old Jessa Marie Balbona and her nine-year-old brother Marq Gabriel were invited to participate in the tournament.