By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
AFTER fighting draws in the first two games, Anand went to town with magnificent victories in the third, fifth and sixth games to lead 4.5-1.5 and crown himself virtual 2008 world chess champion. Unless Kramnik pulls out a rabbit or two in the succeeding games, this is probably the most one-sided championship ever in the history of the game reminiscent of the Fischer vs. Spassky match in 1972.
It will be recalled that Spassky played his best chess after trailing Fischer but can Kramnik do the same? He is performing at a rating of 2590 while Anand is going berserk with a 2960 performance.
Here is the rundown so far: Game 1 draw, 32 moves, Exchanged Slav; Game 2, draw 32 moves, Nimzo Indian Saemisch; Game 3, Anand wins with black, 41 moves, Queen’s Gambit Meran; Game 4, draw, 29 moves Queen’s Gambit Decline; Game 5, Anand wins again with black, 35 moves Queen’s Gambit Meran; Game 6, Anand wins with white, 47 moves, Nimzo Indian 4. Qc2.
The World championship is played in Bonn, Germany from Oct.14 to Nov.2 and is Best of 12 games. Prize pot is 1.5 million Euros to be split equally between the players. It means that the Indian needs only two points in the next six games to be crowned World Champion for the moment, and with the way he is playing, it is like duck thrown to water.
It will not be for long though as he has yet to meet the winner of the Veselin Topalov vs. Gata Kamsky match next year, under the rules promulgated by Fide (Read my previous article in my blog, “Understanding the messy world championship.”)
It seems that Anand is better prepared as he has introduced several novelties in the games. This is most surprising as according to experts, the Russian has a better
team of seconds, led by Peter Leko.
Wake up Kramnik! It is sad to watch but the Russian is a proud man and I’m sure he will go down fighting
The World Youth championship is currently on-going in Vung Tau, Vietnam and the Philippines has sent a big delegation.
After four rounds, we have mixed results. Patrick de leon Haince and Kyle Ochoa snared three and two points, respectively, in the 8-Under; Paulo Bersamina has two points in the 10-Under; Angelo Vince Medina has three points in the 12-Under,better than Jerad Docena’s 2 and John Ray Batucan’s 1.5.
Jan Emmanuel Garcia and Prince Mark Aquino have three and one point, respectively, in the 14-Under. John Alcon Datu and Haridas Pascua scored 2.5 and 2 in the 16-Under and Carl Victor Ochoa snared 2.5 in the 18-Under.
For the Girls, Revita Samantha Glo managed only a single point in the 10 Under; Rowelyn Acedo has two in the 12-Under; while Chardine Cheradee Camacho, Jan Jodylin Fronda and Cherry Ann Mejia managed three, 2.5 and two, respectively, in the 14-Under.
Christy Lamiel Bernales has the best performance with 3.5 and Jedara Docena scored 2.5 in the 16-Under.
More than 800 players from 70 federations are playing in this Fide event.
The Shell Grand Finals will be held next month from Nov 8 to 9 at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong and the Cebuano representatives are Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano, 9 years old of SWU, and Venancio Loyola of USJR, 19.
Kyle is champion of the Shell Youth Active Chess Championship (2008) SM City, Cebu; Six-time champion of Cepca Kiddies Monthly Tournaments in 2007 and 2008;1st runnerup, Manila Age Group Tournament for 8-Under category. He is a nephew of IM Econg Sevillano.
Loyola is first runnerup of Junior Division, Shell Active Chess Championship (2008), SM Iloilo City; first runnerup, Junior Division, Shell Active Chess Championship (2006); Champion, Kiddies Division, Shell Active Chess Championship (2003); Milo Gold medalist (2005).
Friday, October 24, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
World chess championships
By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
THE World chess championship between Viswanathan Anand,39 and Vladimir Kramnik ,33, started last Tuesday in Bonn ,Germany and will conclude on Nov. 2 excluding tiebreaks. The prize of 1.5 million Euros will be split equally between the players.
Two games have been played thus far, both draws. Although, a pawn down Anand had an effortless first game with black in an Exchange Slav and surprised Kramnik with 1.d4 in his first white game. Anand was pressing for a win but accepted the
draw offer after being in time trouble.
The match is best of 12 games under Classical time controls. Time per player is two hours, with 1 hour added after move 40, 15 minutes added after move 60, and 30 seconds increment per move starting from move 61.
It will be a battle of technique, concentration, imagination, nerves determination, attitude, and above all else, preparation.
If the score is equal , up to three rounds of tiebreaks will be played. The first round will be four rapid games. Time control for these games is 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the score is still equal after the four rapid games, two blitz games will be played (5 minutes plus 10 seconds per move).
If the score is still equal after the two blitz games, a single Armageddon game will be played (6 minutes for white, 5 minutes for black, without any increments and black declared champion in case of a draw).
In their head-to-head matches, Anand is ahead, 19-13, with 82 games ending in draws. They have played 65 games in rapid and blitz with Anand winning 15 and losing 7. An interesting point is that Kramnik has never won a game against Anand in Classical time controls with black.
Kramnik performs better in matches as opposed to tournament play and has won all of his one-on-one championship matches against Garry Kasparov in 2000, Peter Leko in 2004 and Veselin Topalov in their unification match in Elista 2006.
Kasparov thinks that Kramnik is the slight favorite.
Anand performs better in tournament play as opposed to matches and is superb in rapid and blitz matches in case of tiebreaks. He was Fide champion in 2000-2002 and unified champion in Mexico in 2007.
In a match at this level, seconds are critical in match preparation and Kramnik seems to have the advantage. He has Sergei Rublevsky,Laurent Fressinet and most important Peter Leko.
Anand has Peter Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radoslav Wojtaszek and Surya Shekhar Ganguly. There are talks that he has received some inputs from Boy Wonder Magnus Carlsen.
Kramnik: “I am very happy to have Peter (Leko) in my team. It is difficult to find any better candidate. First of all he has match experience, secondly he is a very strong chess player—I can really feel immediately the difference—and also we have very good personal relations, apart from the fact that we played a match, and a pretty dramatic one, but it never spoiled our relations.”
Anand: “(Peter Leko) was working with me for my match against Karpov, but it has been like ten years since we last worked together. For me it is normal—Peter had an interesting offer and he considered it.”
Kramnik on the effect of the live video broadcast by Foidos on his concentration: “I will try to comb my hair a little better for the games.” Anand: “I don’t think that Maria Sharapova should be too worried about competition from us.”
TALISAY. Allerie Somosot was the October winner with Yves Fiel, Rex Baylosis and Ryan Villacorta as runners up. Kiddies winner was Roy Jason Ortueste.
Chessmoso
THE World chess championship between Viswanathan Anand,39 and Vladimir Kramnik ,33, started last Tuesday in Bonn ,Germany and will conclude on Nov. 2 excluding tiebreaks. The prize of 1.5 million Euros will be split equally between the players.
Two games have been played thus far, both draws. Although, a pawn down Anand had an effortless first game with black in an Exchange Slav and surprised Kramnik with 1.d4 in his first white game. Anand was pressing for a win but accepted the
draw offer after being in time trouble.
The match is best of 12 games under Classical time controls. Time per player is two hours, with 1 hour added after move 40, 15 minutes added after move 60, and 30 seconds increment per move starting from move 61.
It will be a battle of technique, concentration, imagination, nerves determination, attitude, and above all else, preparation.
If the score is equal , up to three rounds of tiebreaks will be played. The first round will be four rapid games. Time control for these games is 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the score is still equal after the four rapid games, two blitz games will be played (5 minutes plus 10 seconds per move).
If the score is still equal after the two blitz games, a single Armageddon game will be played (6 minutes for white, 5 minutes for black, without any increments and black declared champion in case of a draw).
In their head-to-head matches, Anand is ahead, 19-13, with 82 games ending in draws. They have played 65 games in rapid and blitz with Anand winning 15 and losing 7. An interesting point is that Kramnik has never won a game against Anand in Classical time controls with black.
Kramnik performs better in matches as opposed to tournament play and has won all of his one-on-one championship matches against Garry Kasparov in 2000, Peter Leko in 2004 and Veselin Topalov in their unification match in Elista 2006.
Kasparov thinks that Kramnik is the slight favorite.
Anand performs better in tournament play as opposed to matches and is superb in rapid and blitz matches in case of tiebreaks. He was Fide champion in 2000-2002 and unified champion in Mexico in 2007.
In a match at this level, seconds are critical in match preparation and Kramnik seems to have the advantage. He has Sergei Rublevsky,Laurent Fressinet and most important Peter Leko.
Anand has Peter Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radoslav Wojtaszek and Surya Shekhar Ganguly. There are talks that he has received some inputs from Boy Wonder Magnus Carlsen.
Kramnik: “I am very happy to have Peter (Leko) in my team. It is difficult to find any better candidate. First of all he has match experience, secondly he is a very strong chess player—I can really feel immediately the difference—and also we have very good personal relations, apart from the fact that we played a match, and a pretty dramatic one, but it never spoiled our relations.”
Anand: “(Peter Leko) was working with me for my match against Karpov, but it has been like ten years since we last worked together. For me it is normal—Peter had an interesting offer and he considered it.”
Kramnik on the effect of the live video broadcast by Foidos on his concentration: “I will try to comb my hair a little better for the games.” Anand: “I don’t think that Maria Sharapova should be too worried about competition from us.”
TALISAY. Allerie Somosot was the October winner with Yves Fiel, Rex Baylosis and Ryan Villacorta as runners up. Kiddies winner was Roy Jason Ortueste.
More signs of a chess addict
By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
SEVERAL months ago I wrote an article about signs of being addicted to chess. Engr. Ed Beronio of Cavite, who regularly read this column, sent me additional information on this subject. Here are his notes on this matter.
During sex, you and your partner use blitz time controls. You deleted Windows from your from your PC to have space for your chess data bases.
You ask new acquaintances if they know how to play chess. You ask all chess players, “What is your rating?”
You kick out your teddy bear in exchange of your chess pieces. You own more chess clocks than watches.
You keep a chess set in your office or in your back pack. You think the Olympics take place every two years.
You pay more attention to a chess game in a movie than the story. When asked about that movie you say the white square was not on the right corner of the board.
You walk to the chess section of any bookstore. You call your girlfriend a “novelty.”
You drop everything if you hear someone say “Hi Bobby” behind your back. You have checkered underwear with a sign “It’s your move” on the front.
You end your e-mails with “P.S. It’s your move 1.e4,” hoping to start a game. You explain that you live one block up or one block down or like a knight or bishop move.
You own more books about chess than any other subject. You read all this and did not laugh.
TOP PLAYERS. The World chess federation has recently released its last quarter ratings for this year. Veselin Topalov has taken the No. 1 position due to his excellent performance in the Bilbao tournament last month .
1.) Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 2791), 2.) Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2787) 3.) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2786) 4.) Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2786) 5.) Viswanatan Anand (India, 2783), 6.) Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2772) 7.) Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2757) 8.) Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2751) 9.) Peter Leko (Hungary, 2747), 10.) Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia, 2737).
Here are the top Women players 1.) Judit Polgar (Hungary, 2711) 2.) Koneru Humpy (India, 2618) 3.) Hou Yifan (China, 2578), 4.) Xie Jun (China, 2574), 5.) Pia Cramling (Sweden, 2550), 6.) Antoanetta Stefafanova (Bulgaria, 2548), 7.) Marie Sebag (France, 2533) 8.) Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, 2525) 9.) Xue Zhao (China, 2518), 10.) Elina Danielian (Armenia, 2513).
The top Juniors (20-Under) and their rating and ages are: 1.) Magnus Carlsen (2786, 18) 2.) Sergey Karjakin Ukraine (2730, 18) 3.) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, 2716, 18) 4.) Wang Hao (China, 2696, 19) 5.) Fabiano Caruana (Italy, 2640, 16), 6.) Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan, 2631, 20), 7.) Yuri Kuzubov (Ukraine, 2622, 18), 8.) Li Chao (China, 2622, 19) 9.) Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia, 2616, 18) 10.) Jianchao Zhou (China, 2612, 20).
Wesley So of the Philippines, who will be 15 this month is rated No.11 with a rating of 2610 and is the world’s youngest super GM.
The top girls (20-Under ) and their ages are: 1.) Hou Yifan (China, 2578, 14), 2.) Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia, 2508, 18) 3.) Katyrena Lahno (Ukraine, 2488, 19), 4.) Harika Dronavalli (India, 2461, 17) 5.) Shen Yang China (2450, 19), 6.) Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2436, 16), 7.) Elena Tairova (Russia, 2422, 17), 8.) Wenjun Ju (China, 2395, 17) 9.) Tan Zhongyi China (2395, 17), 10.) Kruttika Nadig (India, 2387, 20).
Hou Yifan, who was the runnerup in the World Women Championship behind Alexandra Kosteniuk, is the world’s youngest GM.
MIND GAMES. Filipino GM Mark Paragua (2526) settled for a fourth-place finish in the just concluded chess section of the First World Mind Sport Games-Individual Blitz Chess Championship in Beijing, China.
More than 3,000 competitors are playing in the World Mind Games in Beijing for the next two weeks featuring chess, Go, checkers, bridge and xiangqi or Chinese chess.
Chessmoso
SEVERAL months ago I wrote an article about signs of being addicted to chess. Engr. Ed Beronio of Cavite, who regularly read this column, sent me additional information on this subject. Here are his notes on this matter.
During sex, you and your partner use blitz time controls. You deleted Windows from your from your PC to have space for your chess data bases.
You ask new acquaintances if they know how to play chess. You ask all chess players, “What is your rating?”
You kick out your teddy bear in exchange of your chess pieces. You own more chess clocks than watches.
You keep a chess set in your office or in your back pack. You think the Olympics take place every two years.
You pay more attention to a chess game in a movie than the story. When asked about that movie you say the white square was not on the right corner of the board.
You walk to the chess section of any bookstore. You call your girlfriend a “novelty.”
You drop everything if you hear someone say “Hi Bobby” behind your back. You have checkered underwear with a sign “It’s your move” on the front.
You end your e-mails with “P.S. It’s your move 1.e4,” hoping to start a game. You explain that you live one block up or one block down or like a knight or bishop move.
You own more books about chess than any other subject. You read all this and did not laugh.
TOP PLAYERS. The World chess federation has recently released its last quarter ratings for this year. Veselin Topalov has taken the No. 1 position due to his excellent performance in the Bilbao tournament last month .
1.) Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 2791), 2.) Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2787) 3.) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2786) 4.) Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2786) 5.) Viswanatan Anand (India, 2783), 6.) Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2772) 7.) Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2757) 8.) Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2751) 9.) Peter Leko (Hungary, 2747), 10.) Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia, 2737).
Here are the top Women players 1.) Judit Polgar (Hungary, 2711) 2.) Koneru Humpy (India, 2618) 3.) Hou Yifan (China, 2578), 4.) Xie Jun (China, 2574), 5.) Pia Cramling (Sweden, 2550), 6.) Antoanetta Stefafanova (Bulgaria, 2548), 7.) Marie Sebag (France, 2533) 8.) Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, 2525) 9.) Xue Zhao (China, 2518), 10.) Elina Danielian (Armenia, 2513).
The top Juniors (20-Under) and their rating and ages are: 1.) Magnus Carlsen (2786, 18) 2.) Sergey Karjakin Ukraine (2730, 18) 3.) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, 2716, 18) 4.) Wang Hao (China, 2696, 19) 5.) Fabiano Caruana (Italy, 2640, 16), 6.) Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan, 2631, 20), 7.) Yuri Kuzubov (Ukraine, 2622, 18), 8.) Li Chao (China, 2622, 19) 9.) Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia, 2616, 18) 10.) Jianchao Zhou (China, 2612, 20).
Wesley So of the Philippines, who will be 15 this month is rated No.11 with a rating of 2610 and is the world’s youngest super GM.
The top girls (20-Under ) and their ages are: 1.) Hou Yifan (China, 2578, 14), 2.) Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia, 2508, 18) 3.) Katyrena Lahno (Ukraine, 2488, 19), 4.) Harika Dronavalli (India, 2461, 17) 5.) Shen Yang China (2450, 19), 6.) Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2436, 16), 7.) Elena Tairova (Russia, 2422, 17), 8.) Wenjun Ju (China, 2395, 17) 9.) Tan Zhongyi China (2395, 17), 10.) Kruttika Nadig (India, 2387, 20).
Hou Yifan, who was the runnerup in the World Women Championship behind Alexandra Kosteniuk, is the world’s youngest GM.
MIND GAMES. Filipino GM Mark Paragua (2526) settled for a fourth-place finish in the just concluded chess section of the First World Mind Sport Games-Individual Blitz Chess Championship in Beijing, China.
More than 3,000 competitors are playing in the World Mind Games in Beijing for the next two weeks featuring chess, Go, checkers, bridge and xiangqi or Chinese chess.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Three big events in October
By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
THERE are three big events this month. The World Youth Championships will be held in Vung Tau, Vietnam from Oct. 20 to 30 and the Philippines has sent a big delegation.
The stars of tomorrow are Rowelyn Acedo for Girls 12-Under; Jan Jodilyn Fronda, Cherry Ann Mejia, Chardine Cheradee Camacho for 14-Under and Christy Lamiel Bernales, Jedara Docena.
The boys squad is composed of Kyle Ochoa for 8-Under, Haince Patrick De Leon for 12-Under, John Ray Batucan, Prince Mark Aquino, Jan Emmanuel for 14-Under, Alcon John Datu and Haridas Pascua for 16-Under, Karl Ochoa and Richilieu Salcedo for 18-Under.
Notable absentee is Wesley So who will be 15 this month.
We have no entries in the 8, 10 and 18 girls division and also in 10-Under boys division. For the first time ever, our players will be attired with a set of polo shirts, necktie and jacket for proper representation in this event, courtesy of NCFP President Butch Pichay
More than 800 children and juniors from 70 federations have already registered to participate.
BRAIN POWER. The First World Mind Games featuring chess, bridge, checkers, Go and Xiang QI (Chinese chess) with more than 3,000 players will be held today in Beijing, China until Oct. 18.
There are an estimated 1.3 billion people around the world who play these games, which are represented by 500 national sports federations.
Our chess teams are Men: GM Mark Paragua, IMs Rolando Nolte, Julio Catalino Sadorra and Chito Garma and NM Leonardo Carlos; Women: Sherily Cua, Christine Rose Mariano, Kimberly Jane Cunanan, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Rida Jane Young.
CHAMPIONSHIPS. The World Championship match where Viswanathan Anand will defend his title against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany will take place Oct. 14 to Nov. 2. Prize money is 1.5 million Euros. Main sponsor is Evonik Industries AG.
Acclaimed as the Fastest Brain in the world, Viswanathan Anand is rated as one of the biggest natural talents ever in the history of chess. He has won the prestigious Corus event five times (1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006) and the Linares Super Tournament 3 times (1998, 2007 and 2008).
He became the Undisputed Champion in Mexico in September 2007, ending many years of schism in the chess world.
Kramnik‘s games are already legendary. He is always searching for creative and new solutions. In many games he sees things that no computer can calculate and no grandmaster can discover.
He was World Chess Champion in 2000 to 2007 and is undefeated in three World Championship matches. He has won all major tournaments in the chess calendar.
TALISAY. King James Torres, 17 years old, wins with six points over 68 players to emerge champion of the Talisay Open, September Edition, last weekend at the Talisay South Central Square. Other six pointers with lower tiebreaks were Joselito Loquez (first runnerup), Alberto Aabo (second runnerup) and Jomar Gallardo (third runnerup)
Previous monthly champions were : Carlo Maraat (May); Cephas Seguisabal (June); Keres Bucao (July) and Dennis Navales (August). Monthly champions will compete in the Grand Finals on January Sinulog 2009 for the over-all championship.
In the Kiddies Category, Deniel Corpus won with 4.5 points, John Francis Balbona was first runnerup, Sherwin Amad was second runnerup and Jeremy Pepito was third.
Major sponsors were Rural Bank of Carmen, Atty. Richard Abangan, Sr., Engr. Bombi Aznar, and Pepsi Cola. Tournament Director is Manny Manzanares and Chief Arbiter was Bob Tojong.
The next tournament is scheduled on Oct. 11 to
Chessmoso
THERE are three big events this month. The World Youth Championships will be held in Vung Tau, Vietnam from Oct. 20 to 30 and the Philippines has sent a big delegation.
The stars of tomorrow are Rowelyn Acedo for Girls 12-Under; Jan Jodilyn Fronda, Cherry Ann Mejia, Chardine Cheradee Camacho for 14-Under and Christy Lamiel Bernales, Jedara Docena.
The boys squad is composed of Kyle Ochoa for 8-Under, Haince Patrick De Leon for 12-Under, John Ray Batucan, Prince Mark Aquino, Jan Emmanuel for 14-Under, Alcon John Datu and Haridas Pascua for 16-Under, Karl Ochoa and Richilieu Salcedo for 18-Under.
Notable absentee is Wesley So who will be 15 this month.
We have no entries in the 8, 10 and 18 girls division and also in 10-Under boys division. For the first time ever, our players will be attired with a set of polo shirts, necktie and jacket for proper representation in this event, courtesy of NCFP President Butch Pichay
More than 800 children and juniors from 70 federations have already registered to participate.
BRAIN POWER. The First World Mind Games featuring chess, bridge, checkers, Go and Xiang QI (Chinese chess) with more than 3,000 players will be held today in Beijing, China until Oct. 18.
There are an estimated 1.3 billion people around the world who play these games, which are represented by 500 national sports federations.
Our chess teams are Men: GM Mark Paragua, IMs Rolando Nolte, Julio Catalino Sadorra and Chito Garma and NM Leonardo Carlos; Women: Sherily Cua, Christine Rose Mariano, Kimberly Jane Cunanan, Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Rida Jane Young.
CHAMPIONSHIPS. The World Championship match where Viswanathan Anand will defend his title against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany will take place Oct. 14 to Nov. 2. Prize money is 1.5 million Euros. Main sponsor is Evonik Industries AG.
Acclaimed as the Fastest Brain in the world, Viswanathan Anand is rated as one of the biggest natural talents ever in the history of chess. He has won the prestigious Corus event five times (1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006) and the Linares Super Tournament 3 times (1998, 2007 and 2008).
He became the Undisputed Champion in Mexico in September 2007, ending many years of schism in the chess world.
Kramnik‘s games are already legendary. He is always searching for creative and new solutions. In many games he sees things that no computer can calculate and no grandmaster can discover.
He was World Chess Champion in 2000 to 2007 and is undefeated in three World Championship matches. He has won all major tournaments in the chess calendar.
TALISAY. King James Torres, 17 years old, wins with six points over 68 players to emerge champion of the Talisay Open, September Edition, last weekend at the Talisay South Central Square. Other six pointers with lower tiebreaks were Joselito Loquez (first runnerup), Alberto Aabo (second runnerup) and Jomar Gallardo (third runnerup)
Previous monthly champions were : Carlo Maraat (May); Cephas Seguisabal (June); Keres Bucao (July) and Dennis Navales (August). Monthly champions will compete in the Grand Finals on January Sinulog 2009 for the over-all championship.
In the Kiddies Category, Deniel Corpus won with 4.5 points, John Francis Balbona was first runnerup, Sherwin Amad was second runnerup and Jeremy Pepito was third.
Major sponsors were Rural Bank of Carmen, Atty. Richard Abangan, Sr., Engr. Bombi Aznar, and Pepsi Cola. Tournament Director is Manny Manzanares and Chief Arbiter was Bob Tojong.
The next tournament is scheduled on Oct. 11 to
Friday, September 26, 2008
Topalov is new No. 1 in chess
By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño
Chessmoso
WHEN the official Fide ratings will be released on Oct. 1, a lot of changes will take place. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria will take the No. 1 position and previous topnotcher, world champion Viswanathan Anand of India, will be relegated to fifth place.
The Chess Grand Slam Final has just concluded in Bilbao, Spain, and was a six-player double-round robin event, the strongest in the history of the game ( a category 22 tournament).
The prize fund for the event was 400,000 Euros, with the winner receiving 150,000 Euros, the second place 70,000 Euros, etc. and the 6th placer getting 30,000 Euros. The prize is unprecedented and only the World Championships have exceeded the amount.
The scoring is also unusual with three points for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for losing the game. A draw is only possible with the consent of the arbiter.
The big surprise of the contest was that Anand, who was favored to win, instead finished a shocking last place .
Here are the final scores: Topalov (2777) 17 points; Magnus Carlsen of Norway (2787) 13; Levon Aronian of Armenia (2751) 13; Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (2781) 12; Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan (2744) 10; and Anand (2798) 8.
Live ratings for the World Top 6 players now are 1.) Topalov, 2.) Alexander Morozevich of Russia (2787), 3.) Carlsen, 4.) Ivanchuk, 5.) Anand 6.) Vladimir Kramnik of Russia (2772).
WESLEY AND EUGENE. I was expecting Wesley So to sneak into the World top 100 this October but he did not perform as expected in the just- concluded PGMA Cup which was won by the resurrected Eugene Torre.
Instead, Wesley had a performance rating of 2460 to lose 14 Elo and ends this quarter with an estimated rating of 2615, while Eugene gained a massive 28 to close at 2560.
It is interesting to note that Eugene and Wesley will face off on Feb. 10 next year with an unprecedented pot money of P1,000,000 and the winner pocketing P600,000.
The 14-year-old So and the 56-year-old Torre will play a total of 12 games starting at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. Two games each will then be played in Davao and Iloilo, and if the match is tied, the players will return to QC. A knockout game will be played if the duel ends in a tie.
The two GMs had split their three previous games and this match will be Fide rated. Sponsor is QC Rep. Matias Defensor.
KOSTENIUK. The Women’s World Championship 2008 has just concluded in Nalchik, a city in the Caucasus region of Southern Russia and the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic. Sixty-four players were eligible to play in the knockout event, which has a prize fund of $450,000 with the champion winning $60,000 and the runnerup $30,000. Due to the Russia-Georgia conflict the Georgian players and a few others decided not to participate.
Aleksandra Kosteniuk 24, defeated Hou Yifan, 14, 2.5-1.5 , in the final by winning the first game and drawing the rest of the next three games easily to become the 2008 World Women Champion. She succeeds Xu Yuhua who went out in the second round. In recent years China has dominated the event and Kosteniuk is the first Russian women’s champion since Elisabeth Bykova (champion 1958-1962).
She is considered one of the most beautiful players today and her motto is “beauty and intelligence can go together.”
Alexandra learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She is married to Swiss-born Diego Garces, who is of Colombian descent, and 25 years her elder.
Hou Yifan of China is the toast of the chess world and by reaching the finals of the championship has also made her the youngest Super GM replacing our Wesley So.
Chessmoso
WHEN the official Fide ratings will be released on Oct. 1, a lot of changes will take place. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria will take the No. 1 position and previous topnotcher, world champion Viswanathan Anand of India, will be relegated to fifth place.
The Chess Grand Slam Final has just concluded in Bilbao, Spain, and was a six-player double-round robin event, the strongest in the history of the game ( a category 22 tournament).
The prize fund for the event was 400,000 Euros, with the winner receiving 150,000 Euros, the second place 70,000 Euros, etc. and the 6th placer getting 30,000 Euros. The prize is unprecedented and only the World Championships have exceeded the amount.
The scoring is also unusual with three points for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for losing the game. A draw is only possible with the consent of the arbiter.
The big surprise of the contest was that Anand, who was favored to win, instead finished a shocking last place .
Here are the final scores: Topalov (2777) 17 points; Magnus Carlsen of Norway (2787) 13; Levon Aronian of Armenia (2751) 13; Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (2781) 12; Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan (2744) 10; and Anand (2798) 8.
Live ratings for the World Top 6 players now are 1.) Topalov, 2.) Alexander Morozevich of Russia (2787), 3.) Carlsen, 4.) Ivanchuk, 5.) Anand 6.) Vladimir Kramnik of Russia (2772).
WESLEY AND EUGENE. I was expecting Wesley So to sneak into the World top 100 this October but he did not perform as expected in the just- concluded PGMA Cup which was won by the resurrected Eugene Torre.
Instead, Wesley had a performance rating of 2460 to lose 14 Elo and ends this quarter with an estimated rating of 2615, while Eugene gained a massive 28 to close at 2560.
It is interesting to note that Eugene and Wesley will face off on Feb. 10 next year with an unprecedented pot money of P1,000,000 and the winner pocketing P600,000.
The 14-year-old So and the 56-year-old Torre will play a total of 12 games starting at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. Two games each will then be played in Davao and Iloilo, and if the match is tied, the players will return to QC. A knockout game will be played if the duel ends in a tie.
The two GMs had split their three previous games and this match will be Fide rated. Sponsor is QC Rep. Matias Defensor.
KOSTENIUK. The Women’s World Championship 2008 has just concluded in Nalchik, a city in the Caucasus region of Southern Russia and the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic. Sixty-four players were eligible to play in the knockout event, which has a prize fund of $450,000 with the champion winning $60,000 and the runnerup $30,000. Due to the Russia-Georgia conflict the Georgian players and a few others decided not to participate.
Aleksandra Kosteniuk 24, defeated Hou Yifan, 14, 2.5-1.5 , in the final by winning the first game and drawing the rest of the next three games easily to become the 2008 World Women Champion. She succeeds Xu Yuhua who went out in the second round. In recent years China has dominated the event and Kosteniuk is the first Russian women’s champion since Elisabeth Bykova (champion 1958-1962).
She is considered one of the most beautiful players today and her motto is “beauty and intelligence can go together.”
Alexandra learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She is married to Swiss-born Diego Garces, who is of Colombian descent, and 25 years her elder.
Hou Yifan of China is the toast of the chess world and by reaching the finals of the championship has also made her the youngest Super GM replacing our Wesley So.
Little known stories about Mikhail Tal
By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
TAL (Nov. 9 1936 to June 28 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He was often called “Misha” (a diminutive for Mikhail) and also “The magician from Riga” for his daring combinational style.
Many authorities consider him to have been the greatest attacking player of all time.
Tal’s heyday was when he beat Bobby Fischer, 4-0, during the candidates matches in Yugoslavia in 1959.
He was awarded a GM title without having been an IM first. The other one I know of was our Rosendo Balinas, who was the second foreigner, after Capablanca, to win a major tournament in Russia.
In the 1966 Havana Olympiad, Tal was hit in the head with a bottle and beaten up because he was flirting with someone’s wife. He was taken to the hospital and missed five rounds.
Tal suffered from bad health, and had to be hospitalized frequently throughout his career, mainly for kidney problems.
Eventually one of his diseased kidneys was removed. Tal was a chain smoker and a heavy drinker. He was also briefly addicted to morphine.
Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially of kidney failure. But his friend and fellow Soviet grandmaster Genna Sosonko reported that “in reality, all his organs had stopped functioning.”
Whenever Tal would be in the hospital, he kept on escaping and can be found in the local chess club playing all day long.
Tal loved the game in itself and considered that “Chess, first of all, is Art.” He was capable of playing numerous blitz games against unknown or relatively weak players purely for the joy of play.
Tal was the briefest world champion reigning for 1 year and 5 days. The longest reign is held by Emanuel Lasker for 26 years and 337 days.
He was born with only three oversized fingers on his right hand but that did not stop him from playing the piano—Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Rachmaninov were his favorite composers. Musicians and painters, not chess players, were his closest friends.
Before Tal went to school, he was already able to multiply three-figure digits in his head and was allowed to skip two years in a row.
He was completely oblivious to material things. When he became champion he was given the best Soviet car at that time ,a Volga, but he never even considered to get a driving license and gave the car to his brother.
When he was asked if he was a morphine addict, he replied “Oh no, I am a Chigorin addict.” Chigorin was a famous Russian grandmaster.
In 1974 in a tournament in Poland, he was playing Adamski with both players in time trouble. Adamski’s flag fell but Tal lost a piece and resigned. At that moment Tal’s wife said “Black has not yet made 40 moves.” The arbiter intervened and awarded the win to Tal, who went on to win the tournament.
While strolling in Moscow, he was approached by a young girl if she could talk to him for a moment. He was so embarrassed because the lady proposed to have a child with him.
He once invited fellow GM Anthony Saidy and wife Engelika to a nightclub. They ordered one liter of vodka and Saidy had an ounce, Engelika another ounce and Tal the rest.
He purposely played moves that created the maximum complications for both sides. He once said, “One doesn’t have to play well. One only needs to play better than his opponent.”
He was so intimidating during his peak that he made seasoned grandmaster opponents shudder with fear.
Many thanks to Edmund Beronio for sending me his collection of chess information. He is an industrial engineer and works as the plant manager of a carrageenan factory in Cavite. His favorite players are of course, Tal and Fischer.
Chessmoso
TAL (Nov. 9 1936 to June 28 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He was often called “Misha” (a diminutive for Mikhail) and also “The magician from Riga” for his daring combinational style.
Many authorities consider him to have been the greatest attacking player of all time.
Tal’s heyday was when he beat Bobby Fischer, 4-0, during the candidates matches in Yugoslavia in 1959.
He was awarded a GM title without having been an IM first. The other one I know of was our Rosendo Balinas, who was the second foreigner, after Capablanca, to win a major tournament in Russia.
In the 1966 Havana Olympiad, Tal was hit in the head with a bottle and beaten up because he was flirting with someone’s wife. He was taken to the hospital and missed five rounds.
Tal suffered from bad health, and had to be hospitalized frequently throughout his career, mainly for kidney problems.
Eventually one of his diseased kidneys was removed. Tal was a chain smoker and a heavy drinker. He was also briefly addicted to morphine.
Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially of kidney failure. But his friend and fellow Soviet grandmaster Genna Sosonko reported that “in reality, all his organs had stopped functioning.”
Whenever Tal would be in the hospital, he kept on escaping and can be found in the local chess club playing all day long.
Tal loved the game in itself and considered that “Chess, first of all, is Art.” He was capable of playing numerous blitz games against unknown or relatively weak players purely for the joy of play.
Tal was the briefest world champion reigning for 1 year and 5 days. The longest reign is held by Emanuel Lasker for 26 years and 337 days.
He was born with only three oversized fingers on his right hand but that did not stop him from playing the piano—Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Rachmaninov were his favorite composers. Musicians and painters, not chess players, were his closest friends.
Before Tal went to school, he was already able to multiply three-figure digits in his head and was allowed to skip two years in a row.
He was completely oblivious to material things. When he became champion he was given the best Soviet car at that time ,a Volga, but he never even considered to get a driving license and gave the car to his brother.
When he was asked if he was a morphine addict, he replied “Oh no, I am a Chigorin addict.” Chigorin was a famous Russian grandmaster.
In 1974 in a tournament in Poland, he was playing Adamski with both players in time trouble. Adamski’s flag fell but Tal lost a piece and resigned. At that moment Tal’s wife said “Black has not yet made 40 moves.” The arbiter intervened and awarded the win to Tal, who went on to win the tournament.
While strolling in Moscow, he was approached by a young girl if she could talk to him for a moment. He was so embarrassed because the lady proposed to have a child with him.
He once invited fellow GM Anthony Saidy and wife Engelika to a nightclub. They ordered one liter of vodka and Saidy had an ounce, Engelika another ounce and Tal the rest.
He purposely played moves that created the maximum complications for both sides. He once said, “One doesn’t have to play well. One only needs to play better than his opponent.”
He was so intimidating during his peak that he made seasoned grandmaster opponents shudder with fear.
Many thanks to Edmund Beronio for sending me his collection of chess information. He is an industrial engineer and works as the plant manager of a carrageenan factory in Cavite. His favorite players are of course, Tal and Fischer.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Meet Eugene Torre, Asia's first Grandmaster?
By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
THE third PGMA Cup is now on going at the Duty-Free Fiesta Mall in Parañaque up to Sept. 13 with a format of 9 rounds Swiss. At stake is $40,000 with the champion pocketing the lion’s share of $6,000 and the runners up getting $5,000 and $4,000.
Playing are 22 GMs, 12 IMs, 1 WGM, 3 FMs and 1 WIM, totaling 72 players including 33 foreigners.
The tournament has been a revelation of sorts, more like the resurrection of the one of the most revered players of the planet. Eugene Torre has made a strong statement (he is not in the Olympiad team to Germany) with five straight wins and a draw in the sixth round to lead the field. I don’t recall Eugene playing this well at the start for more than two decades.
In 1974, then 22, he became Asia’s first Grandmaster (more on this later) by winning the silver medal in Board 1 in the World Chess Olympiad held in Nice, France behind future world champion, Anatoly Karpov. The team captain and also Philippines Chess Federation President at that time was Bombi Aznar.
The high point of his career came in the early 1980s when he was ranked world No.17 and successfully went on to qualify to be a candidate for the world championship after tying for first with Lajos Portisch during the 1982 Toluca Interzonal.
He was a celebrity in the 80s due to his daily one hour TV program “Chess Today”, and was once voted one of the 10 sexiest men in the Philippines.
He starred opposite now Batangas Governor Vilma Santos in a film produced by Sampaguita Pictures titled “Basta’t Isipin Mo, Mahal Kita” and was allegedly linked to her romantically by media.
He is not the only sportsman though to be featured in a movie. Others have been Mona Sulaiman , Rolando Navarette, Lydia de Vega , Anthony Villanueva, Onyok Velasco and a few others.
He was a TOYM awardee in 1974 and is the only sportsman elevated by the Philippine Sportswriters Association to the Hall of Fame.
Eugene has been honored and is accepted all over the world as Asia’s first GM. In a region comprising more than a third of the world’s population, this is really unique and a tremendous accomplishment.
However, I came across an article that claims that the first Asian GM was Russian Alexander Zaitsev (June 15,1935 to Oct. 31, 1971), who became GM in 1967 well ahead of Eugene. His finest achievement was a share of first place at the 1968/69 USSR Chess Championship of Alma Ata. He was born and raised in Vladivostok, Russia.
Where is Vladivostok? From what I have read thus far, it is considered to be a part of Asia and is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from the Russo-Chinese border and North Korea in the Far East. Japan is about 100 miles away.
Can somebody correct me please.
Hou Yifan. Don‘t look now but Wesley So has unofficialy lost his claim to fame as the youngest GM in the world. That status now belongs to the Chinese sensation Hou Yifan born Feb. 27, 1994 and 141 days younger than Wesley. And, she is a girl!
Just this month , Fide referred to her as a “GM-elect”, indicating that her Atatürk norm (2nd) had been confirmed. This means that Hou Yifan has qualified for the title of GM last month (3rd norm) in the World Juniors, where she finished tied at third, at the age of 14, making her one of the youngest GMs in history and the youngest female.
She is now in the semifinals of the 2008 Women’s World Championship playing against India’s Koneru Humpy. The other pairing is between Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia against Pia Cramling of Sweden. Whatever happens it will be East vs. West in the finals.
Chessmoso
THE third PGMA Cup is now on going at the Duty-Free Fiesta Mall in Parañaque up to Sept. 13 with a format of 9 rounds Swiss. At stake is $40,000 with the champion pocketing the lion’s share of $6,000 and the runners up getting $5,000 and $4,000.
Playing are 22 GMs, 12 IMs, 1 WGM, 3 FMs and 1 WIM, totaling 72 players including 33 foreigners.
The tournament has been a revelation of sorts, more like the resurrection of the one of the most revered players of the planet. Eugene Torre has made a strong statement (he is not in the Olympiad team to Germany) with five straight wins and a draw in the sixth round to lead the field. I don’t recall Eugene playing this well at the start for more than two decades.
In 1974, then 22, he became Asia’s first Grandmaster (more on this later) by winning the silver medal in Board 1 in the World Chess Olympiad held in Nice, France behind future world champion, Anatoly Karpov. The team captain and also Philippines Chess Federation President at that time was Bombi Aznar.
The high point of his career came in the early 1980s when he was ranked world No.17 and successfully went on to qualify to be a candidate for the world championship after tying for first with Lajos Portisch during the 1982 Toluca Interzonal.
He was a celebrity in the 80s due to his daily one hour TV program “Chess Today”, and was once voted one of the 10 sexiest men in the Philippines.
He starred opposite now Batangas Governor Vilma Santos in a film produced by Sampaguita Pictures titled “Basta’t Isipin Mo, Mahal Kita” and was allegedly linked to her romantically by media.
He is not the only sportsman though to be featured in a movie. Others have been Mona Sulaiman , Rolando Navarette, Lydia de Vega , Anthony Villanueva, Onyok Velasco and a few others.
He was a TOYM awardee in 1974 and is the only sportsman elevated by the Philippine Sportswriters Association to the Hall of Fame.
Eugene has been honored and is accepted all over the world as Asia’s first GM. In a region comprising more than a third of the world’s population, this is really unique and a tremendous accomplishment.
However, I came across an article that claims that the first Asian GM was Russian Alexander Zaitsev (June 15,1935 to Oct. 31, 1971), who became GM in 1967 well ahead of Eugene. His finest achievement was a share of first place at the 1968/69 USSR Chess Championship of Alma Ata. He was born and raised in Vladivostok, Russia.
Where is Vladivostok? From what I have read thus far, it is considered to be a part of Asia and is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from the Russo-Chinese border and North Korea in the Far East. Japan is about 100 miles away.
Can somebody correct me please.
Hou Yifan. Don‘t look now but Wesley So has unofficialy lost his claim to fame as the youngest GM in the world. That status now belongs to the Chinese sensation Hou Yifan born Feb. 27, 1994 and 141 days younger than Wesley. And, she is a girl!
Just this month , Fide referred to her as a “GM-elect”, indicating that her Atatürk norm (2nd) had been confirmed. This means that Hou Yifan has qualified for the title of GM last month (3rd norm) in the World Juniors, where she finished tied at third, at the age of 14, making her one of the youngest GMs in history and the youngest female.
She is now in the semifinals of the 2008 Women’s World Championship playing against India’s Koneru Humpy. The other pairing is between Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia against Pia Cramling of Sweden. Whatever happens it will be East vs. West in the finals.
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