A busy August for chess

By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

This has been an extraordinary month with a lot of tournaments in the local, national and international scene, highlighted by the return of the great Gary Kasparov to the game. All along, I always had the belief that Gary will, from time to time, play again although this was an exhibition match.

The event was held in Zurich the other day, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Credit Suisse and featured his long time rival Anatoly Karpov, Victor Korchnoi and the No.1 women’s player Judit Polgar.

Kasparov and Karpov tied for first in the match.

In the local scene, the Cebu leg of the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship was held at the SM Entertainment Plaza early this week. The winners were Eric Abanco in the Juniors Division and 11-year-old Jerich Cajeras in the Kiddies.

On the national scene, the biggest tournament of the year, the 3rd Prospero Pichay Sr. Memorial Open with a total prize money of P300,000, was held last Aug. 12-14 at Cantillan, Surigao del Sur.

The surprise winner was NM Ernesto Fernandez of Pagadian, as our GMs opted not to play in this Fide sanctioned tournament for “fear” their Elo ratings will go down. What a shame!

Here are the final standings: 1st, Ernesto Fernandez (P100T); 2nd, IM Ronald Dableo (P60T); and 3rd–8th (P10T each), IMs Manny Senador, Darwin Laylo, Barlo Nadera and Richard Bitoon, NM John Paul Gomez and Cebuano Anthony Makiniano.
Voltaire Sevillano shared 9th to 12th and won P5,000, while Carlos Moreno and Eden Diano won P3,000 each for finishing in the top 20.

International activities for this month were a handful. The China vs. Russia Summit was held in Ergun, Mongolia last Aug. 10-20, China won 51.5-48.5. Russia won the Men’s title, while China won the Women’s crown.

The annual Chess Classic Mainz also took place in Germany last Aug.15-20. Viswanathan Anand was the rapid match winner, while Levon Aronian won in the Fischer Chess 960. Rustam Kasimdzhanov won the Ordix Open, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was second on tiebreak but won the combined Chess 960 and Ordix Open. Natalia Zhukova won the Ladies Division in the Ordix Open, while Lajos Portisch was the best performer in the seniors division.

The 81st French Championship, Abu Dhabi International chess festival, The Montreal Empresa International A and B, Rubenstein Memorial, Staunton Memorial and the British Open were also played this month.

POKER. I will feature news about this current rage in Cebu as I know a lot of friends who are into to this game, either online or against real people. The most popular version is Texas Holdem and you can watch it being played several times a week on cable.

According to Nicnic Climaco, who introduced me to Pokerstars.com and partypoker.com, two of the more popular websites (there are more than 10 now), which you can download from the Internet. You can bet with either play money or real dollars for as low as $0.02 or you can play in hundreds or even thousands.

Games are played 24 hours a day and there are as many as 50,000 people playing at the same time.

I understand that Texas Holdem is now being played in several spots in Cebu, among them Baseline, Country Club, Kalye 80s along Sepulveda St., Tisoy’s Sportsbar along Fortuna St. in Mandaue, Sandtrap in Banilad, Rajah Park Hotel in Fuente, and Badgers, two blocks north of Country Mall.

Steve Henning sent me an e-mail describing Badgers as ‘the place” to play poker in Cebu. It also has pool tables, several TVs, ample space and excellent food. I will be visiting and observing these places soon, together with Nicnic .

CEPCA.The Club’s monthly tournament will be held at Bibo’s chess club this Sunday at 1 p.m. Format will be five rounds thematic as follows: 1st round: e3, 2nd: e4-e5 King‘s pawn, 3rd: c3 Sarragosa,4th: d4-d5 Queen’s pawn and 5th: d3 Miesses.