Pestaño: Comparing earnings in poker and chess

 Friday, July 10, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

IN recent years, a steady stream of chess masters have taken up poker as a way to earn additional income. Chess players who have been successful to name a few are Jeff Sarwer, Ylon Scwartz, Dan Harrington, Almira Skripchenko, Dinara Khaziveva, James Obst, Alexander Grischuk and my topic last week Walter Browne.

There are many more. In fact, poker Listings has cited chess players as the most successful group in poker. Locally, examples are Cepca members Ben Dimaano, Ruel Hortelano and Nicnic Climako and Renante dela Cerna (also a national scrabble champion), Galileo Roma, IM Kimkim Yap and chessmoso.

The biggest tournaments ,both in attendance and prize money, is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) currently on-going. It started during the last week of May and will end in the second week of July every year. This year is the 46th edition and consists of 67 events with buy-ins ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. Prizes depend upon the number of entrants, which ranges from about 2,000 to 8,773 for the main event (record in 2006).

The winner of the WSOP Main Event is considered as the world champion of poker. It started the other day and will last for four days.

If close to 7,000 people enter like they did last year, the top winner could earn an $8 million prize and a gold bracelet that tournament organizers value at $500,000.

The 2006 Main Event, won by Jamie Gold, was the largest single poker tournament by prize pool and by entrant numbers in history; Gold pocketed $12 million for his victory.

However, the all-time leader is currently Antonio Esfandiari, who has not won a Main Event. He collected a record-breaking first prize of $18.3 million in July 2012 when he won The Big One for One Drop, a charitable WSOP event with a $1 million buy-in. The players in second and third place in the all-time earnings list, Daniel Colman and Daniel Negreanu, have also yet to win a Main Event in Las Vegas, although Negreanu won the inaugural WSOP Asia Pacific Main Event in 2013. They finished in the top two places in the 2014 Big One for One Drop event, winning $15.3 million and $8.3 million respectively.

Online poker is also big money. The top five lifetime winners are Phil Ivey ($19,242,000), Patrik Antonius ($11,315,000), Phil Galfond ($10,035,000), Di Dang ($7,411,000) and Daniel Cates ($7,299,000).

A single win in poker alone is much more than the combined total earnings of the top 10 chess players in the world. There is also a large gap between the two players who have participated in the World Chess Championship match (Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand), and everyone else. The total estimated prizewinnings of the world’s top 10 chess players has increased from $5,360,000 in 2012 to $7,510,000 in 2013. There are no figures available for 2014.

Carlsen won an estimated $2,200,000 and Anand $1,500,000. The rest of the top 10 are Fabiano Caruana ($640,000), Vladimir Kramnik ($600,000), Levon Aronian ($500,000), Sergey Karjakin ( $450,000), Hikaru Nakamura ($440,000), Boris Gelfand ($415,000), Veselin Topalov ($390,000) and Peter Svidler ($315,000). Wesley So also won the biggest prize of $100,000 in a Swiss event in Las Vegas last year.

However there is a catch here. The entry fees of poker are up to 10 times that of chess (take note of the $1million buy-in in the Big One for One Drop !) .In fact, the buy-ins plus re-buys and sometimes add-ons determine the prizes in poker, unlike in chess where the big prizes are paid for by sponsors.

Also top chess players are usually given appearance fees and refund of expenses for big tournaments but not in poker.

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

Pestaño: Walter Browne: chess and poker legend

Friday, July 03, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

WALTER Browne may not be a household name, but he is a rock star and a legend in the world of chess and poker. He died in his sleep a few days ago and passed away as the reigning US senior champion.

Walter was not only one of the most dominant players in the 70s and 80s when my interest in chess was at its highest, but was also a professional poker player.

As most of my friends know, my time is equally divided between chess and poker.

He was the most dominant US player after the Bobby Fischer era, having won his first national championship in 1974 and five more by 1983. For five decades, Browne managed to balance twin careers in chess and poker. Sometimes, he even played poker and chess in the same weekend.

Only Fischer and Sammy Reshevsky have won more American titles. Browne also captured the US Junior Championship in 1971. He won most of the prestigious Swiss events, including two US Opens, seven American Opens, and three World Opens. He won more Swiss tournaments than any other American player. He also won Wijk aan Zee in 1974 and 1980.

Browne was also a true poker professional. He supported himself, aside from chess, by playing cash-games poker across the country. His tournament résumé is also impressive. According to the Card Player database, “He has earned more than $280,000 on the tournament circuit, with six WSOP cashes and four WSOP final tables — including a second-place finish in the 2007 $2,500 Horse event for $131,445.”

Famous instructor and historian Bruce Pandolfini says, “Walter was a truly remarkable chess player and a great game player in general. He could play any game well. Scrabble, backgammon, poker, you name it. I remember the first time I ever saw him, he was just starting to make his mark on the New York chess scene. I didn’t know who he was, but here was this 14-year-old phenom destroying a local 2400 player at speed chess with such assuredness and composure, I wondered who the heck is that kid. I soon found out. Walter certainly put his permanent stamp on the history of the game we all love. What a talent.”

Yasser Seirawan also rememembers Walter, “I was playing in the group among top grandmasters in Wijk aan Zee, including Walter. I was often with him; we’d take walks together, we’d be talking about the tournament. We were quite close. Going into the last round I said, ‘Well, you got a big game tomorrow, Walter, you’re white with Viktor Korchnoi!’ Walter turned it immediately and said, ‘No! He’s the one who’s got a big game!’ Korchnoi was the No. 2 in the world at the time, behind Anatoly Karpov. It was this kind of combativeness that I’ll always remember.”

Norway Chess. Don’t look now but world champion Magnus Carlsen just had the worst result in his career last week. He lost to Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana and countryman Jon Ludwig Hammer, who is more than 200 Elo points behind him. As a result he lost a massive 23 rating points. Topalov was the winner and went home with $75,000.

Cepca. As part of our chess development program, we donated five chess sets to the Tejero Elementary School last Wednesday.

Present were the school principal Michael Cabase and assistant principal Neri Calago. Also present were the chess coaches of the school--Rufa Buendia and Tita Riego--and close to a 100 students.

After a short program, members Jun Olis, Ruel Hortelano, Therese dela Torre and president Jerry Maratas played simul chess with 20 students. There was one winner, Blessy Anne Hortelano, and all the players were given cash prizes.

Also present was IM Kimkim Yap.

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

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 03, 2015.

Pestaño: Cepca is now 25 years old

 Friday, June 26, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

THE Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (Cepca) was founded by Chessmoso in the third week of June 1990 with the following original members as co-founders-Art Ynclino (deceased), Sonny Sollano (deceased), Gerry Tomakin (deceased), Danny Pestano (deceased), Bombi Aznar (deceased), Loy Minoza (deceased), Alex Tolentino and Nicnic Climaco.

By September, we were already more than 50 members so we decided to incorporate with the following additional incorporators--Rene Tolo, Elson Ogario, Serge Borres and then Guadalupe Barangay captain Antolin Jariol Jr (deceased),Bob Inocian and Bebs Andales, who is presently a councilor of Cebu City.

The following have been presidents of the club--Chessmoso (charter president for 2 years 1990-92, Alex Tolentino (92-93), Gerry Tomakin (93-94), Ben Dimaano (94-95), Danny Pestano (two terms 95-97), Ogie Reyes (97-98), Arwin Barrios (98-99) Nicnic Climaco (99-2000) Manny Manzanares (2000-01), Vic Legaspina (2001-02), Norway Lara (02-03), Renato Casia (03-04), Jun Olis (two terms 04-06), Mandy Baria (06-07), Emmamuel Matuco (07-08), Bobot Villaluna ( two terms 08-10) , Manny Manzanares (10-11). Jojo Muralla (two terms 11- 13) and Jerry Maratas (now on his second term as president).

Foreigners who became members of the club were Marte Lemvigfog, Graham Maitland Smith, Stelvio Guglielmi, Adlai Adams, Anders Berg and Roar Sorensen.

Honorary members are Bombi Aznar, who was replaced by his son Andrew, Bodjie Lim, Kelly Uy, Darcy Tabotabo, Sonny Bas, Manny Iway, former Mayor Alvin Garcia and Mayor Mike Rama.

Lady members are rare as a dodo. One of the early members was NM Susan Itaas and Marilou Pagarigan, the chess coach of Cebu International school and a teacher who I understand is now teaching in Korea. Susan is the only lady master of Cebu, a member of the Philippine team to the Olympiad and is based now in the USA as an accountant. Other lady members are Therese dela Torre, Harvey Jane Hilvano and Jessa Balbona

Others who are now residents of the USA are Rene Tolo and Josito Dondo. Rene was one of the most outstanding members of the club and Sito made headlines by winning $10,000 in a single tournament there.

Through the years we invited grandmasters to play simuls in Cebu, namely, Jorge Hickl (Germany), Edmar Mednis (USA), Alexander Wojiewich (Poland), Walter Arencibia (Cuba) , Carlos Juarez (Guatemala), Ian Rogers (Australia), Ye Rongguang (China), Dibyendo Barua (India), Jaime Sunye- Neto (Brazil), Eugene Torre and the latest, Cebuano Econg Sevillano.

At the very start we were very active that’s why membership grew to more than 120 members in the first two years. We were based in Baseline thanks to the late owners, Doring and Ponsoy Canizares.

During the first 10 years or so, our tournaments lasted for seven to nine days, as time control was classical, which was 90 minutes per player and only one game was played every day.

We are eternally grateful to the Sports editors of Sun.Star and the Freeman, the late Lando Sanchez and Glenn Basubas for actively covering our tournaments on a daily basis . I also had chess columns in Newstime and Freeman in the mid 90s.

Our arbiter at the start were the late Winnie Badilles and father IM Asing Badilles, who was the judge for our brilliancy prizes.

We also had special team matches against Manila executives , headed by Jenny Mayor, , Mindanao executives, headed by James Infuesto and Rey Urbiztondo. We also had special matches against Lapu-Lapu City seven times, and against Cifyya, three times.

Up to now we are the only organization that has participated in the Sinulog(1992) in three categories--free interpretation (dancing to the Budapest gambit), float and 32 mini- higantes and two higantes representing Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

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

Pestaño: Great chess players are getting younger

 Friday, June 19, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

BOBBY Fischer became a grandmaster at the age of 15 years 6 months and one day in 1958 and was a phenomenon then. He dominated his contemporaries to an extent never seen before or since.

The record stood for a long 33 years and was at last broken in 1991 by Judit Polgar, who became a GM at the age of 15 years 4 months and 28 days.

Since then, 32 players have become GMs at a younger age. The main reason is the advent of chess computers, which are rated at more than 3300 or more than 400 points over the highest-rated player now. Training is easily available using an ordinary PC .

Also, the popularity of chess has improved by leaps and bounds as the number of adherents worldwide has increased to more than 700 million compared to just 600 million over a decade ago. The increase has been mostly among the very young due to Chess in Schools.

There are also many more tournaments now where one can get a GM norm and there are lots of training materials available.

Among the very young who are expected to dominate the chess scene ,aside from World Champion Magnus Carlsen, are Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So and Anish Giri, who are all in their 20s.

Hikaru Nakamura pointed to Caruana as a player who--if he reaches his full potential--could take the title away from Carlsen down the line. Nakamura himself is now rated in the 2800s. Wesley is improving from tournament to tournament . Giri is a terror at the board, having participated in several major invitational tournaments and acquitting himself well over the years.

But this article is not about them. It is about five new up and coming players who have grabbed the attention of everybody.

China’s rise in the world of chess has been meteoric ever since the turn of the millennium. China is a powerhouse and in fact won the gold medal in the last Olympiad in Norway..

The Chinese Chess Championship is currently regarded as one of the most competitive events in the world.

So when 16-year-old Grandmaster Wei Yi won the Chinese Championship, it is a testament to his unusual talent.

Wei became GM at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the youngest grandmaster in the world at that time, and the fourth youngest in history. He also became the youngest to reach the 2700 barrier and is now at 2721, No. 30 in the world.

Fourteen-year-old IM Jeffery Xiong shocked the field at the 2015 Chicago Open, finishing clear first with 7.0/9, ahead of several strong grandmasters. It was held last May 21-25, in Wheeling, Illinois. More than 600 participants gathered at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel, including no fewer than 24 grandmasters and 18 masters.

The top seeds were GMs Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba), Gata Kamsky(USA), Ilya Nyzhnyk (Ukraine) and Daniel Naroditsky (USA). Well-known grandmasters Boris Avrukh (Israel) and Bartek Macieja (Poland) also played, and the world’s youngest GM, Sam Sevian (USA).

Two young players who may be playing for the World Championship in a decade or so are Russian Ilya Makoveev and Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Makoveev recently turned nine and has won European and World titles in his age group, often with a perfect score!

Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, at the age of only nine, defeated two grandmasters in the Tashkent Open May last year (Andrey Zhigalko 2600 and Rustam Khusnutdinov 2495), making the 2012 World Youth U8 Champion his country’s best hope for a potential World Champion. He is the strongest nine-year-old ever and is already rated over 2400!

Carissa Yip, 11, is America’s youngest female chess master and a future women’s champion. She also won over GM Alexander Ivanov 2545 in the New England Open last year.

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

Pestaño: Wala diay maghikog tungod napilde sa chess

 Thursday, June 11, 2015

 Ni 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMIS

NAAY dies anyos nga bata nga niambak sa second floor sa ilang eskwelahan ug namatay human magkalalis sa iyang kontra kay napilde kuno sa chess.

Ang ngalan sa grade 5 nga estudyante wala gihatag sa media (VR lang) pero nahitabo ni sa Grant School sa Dumont, New Jersey sa miaging buwan.

Nagsuwat ang bata una miambak ug gihatag sa usa ka aide nga ang iyang reklamo: wala kuno misulti ug “checkmate” ang iya kontra ug gikaon lang dayon ang iya king.

Ang suwat dili kuno suicide note matod pa sa pulis.

Si Corey Schlosser, 27, nga naa anak sa indergarten sa eskwelahan misulti nga   ‘I was scared and just freaked out. I don’t know how something like this could happen, especially at a school. They’re supposed to be protecting our children.’

Apan naa psychologist, David Miller, nga nakasuwat ug libro bahin adolescent suicide mi komentaryo nga “Suicide, we’re learning, is not as sometimes widely believed, an impulsive act. Most people who are suicidal have thought about this and have communicated it to other people. It sounds like that’s the case here as well.”

Ang bata nasuko ug giaway ang iya kontra ug nisulti nga “Something bad was going to happen to him. Do you want me to do something drastic?”

Pyschologist Jill Harkavy-Friedman sa American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFPR), misulti sa NJ Media nga talagsaon ra ang pre-adolescent suicides.
kadaghanan naa undiagnosed problema sa utok. “It doesn’t just come out of the blue .It often comes from long-standing contributors and then other risk factors that are like triggers — like having a fight or getting a bad grade.”

Sa imbestigasyon sa pulis, ang bata bag.o lang miabot gikan sa Russia ug naglisud ug adjust sa eskwelahan. Ingon sa mga empleyado sa eskwelahan wala sia uban mokaon sa lunch break ug sia lang usa. Giingnan pud sia sa iyang mga classmates nga dili sia makaduwa ug chess nila pero gibadlong sila sa lunch aide. Giingnan sila nga paapilon si VR sa ilang mga dua.

Misulti pud ang iyang classmates nga katulo kuno mihulga si VR nga moambak sa bentana pero abi nila “messing around” lang.

Ingon ang mga experts nga talagsaon ra kaayo ang paghikog sa mga elementary students. Sa 2013, 41,000 ang naghikug sa Amerika pero 17 ra ang under 14. Kadaghanan dili sad sa eskwelahan atubangan sa iyang mga classmates ug adto sa ilang balay pinaagi sa pagbitay.

Dili klaro kung si VR naa psychiatric treatment. Dili man mo komentaryo ang iya pamilya ug gidili sad sa federal law ang pagpagawas ani sa media. (boypestano@gmail.com)

Pestaño: Australia eyes compulsory chess in schools

 Friday, June 12, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

COULD a humble board game improve school performance and play a role in driving a country’s economy?

Economist and former Liberal advisor John Adams thinks so and is heading a push to make chess a compulsory part of the national curriculum.

“The Gonski report clearly outlined that the performance of Australian school children, based on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, has been in decline since 2000 across mathematics, science and reading,” he said.

He points out that chess is already a part of the curriculum in more than 40 countries worldwide and is already implemented in some schools in Australia with evidence that the game is an effective teaching tool.

“In some Australian primary and secondary schools, chess is being taught by full or part-time chess teachers as part of the school’s curriculum or co-curriculum,” Adams said. “I have been amazed at the teachers’ stories, particularly the outcomes they say have been achieved from chess instruction and the transformational effects it has had on the children.”

He adds, “To compete in a knowledge-based and high-tech global economy, Australia will require a workforce that has not only greater skills but greater intellectual prowess based on superior analytical and cognitive abilities.”

Julia Eileen Gillard was Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She wanted to make Australia’s education system in the top 5 in the world by 2025.

Australia’s results have been appalling in recent tests however. In 2011, Australia participated in PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) in which children throughout the world in grade four had their reading abilities evaluated. Australia ranked 27th out of 48 countries, behind every other English-speaking country in the world!

Russia, which ranked second in the PIRLS test, has long been using chess in their education system with astounding results. Chess as an educational tool has been scientifically proven to have limitless benefits academically, psychologically and socially.

Adams also said that “For us to be globally competitive but also to increase our living standards, we will have to compete in the knowledge economy with a greater level of complexity, particularly around high-tech innovation and manufacturing.” The future belongs to the ability of children and their training in school.

Playing chess regularly teaches children of all ages that each decision they make needs to be carefully thought out and viewed from a long term point of view. This is particularly relevant now as teens have problems with drugs and alcohol.

In 2009, President Gloria Macapoagal Arroyo issued an executive order to include chess in schools. As a result, a memorandum of agreement was signed between NCFP president Prospero Pichay and then DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus to implement the program and a National Chess Academy was supposed to be created.

However, there has been no progress made and the present administration does not have the foresight or the inclination at the highest level. The MOA is still technically in place though and GMs Eugene Torre, Jayson Gonzales , Pichay and especially Armin Luistro have their work cut out for them.

The chess leader here in Cebu, Bodjie Lim, has informed me that they have taken note of Marie Ernestine historic decision to include chess in the curriculum here in Cebu for Grades 3,4,5 and 6.

Apparently the biggest problem is the lack of competent teachers to implement it on a nationwide basis. That is a lame excuse though as Arroyo signed the executive order six years ago.

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

Pestaño: Caruana, Nakamura top grand prix qualifiers

 Friday, June 05, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

THE Fide Grand Prix 2014–15 is a series of four tournaments that form part of the qualification cycle for the 2016 world championship. The top two finishers will qualify to the 2016 candidates tournament, which consists of 16 players.

Fide announced the 11 qualifiers as per regulations, with four more nominees from the organizers and one from the Fide president. The players will be required to play three legs—comprising 12 players per leg.

The players were Dmitry Andreikin (Russia), Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Fabiano Caruana (formerly Italy but now USA), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Leinier Domínguez (Cuba), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Svidler (Russia)

The organizers’ nominees were Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan) and Baadur Jobava (Georgia).

Anish Giri (Netherlands) was nominated by the Fide president. When the list was announced last year, Wesley So would have been included. However, he was not released (or ignored) by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines when he transferred to the USA.

However, Wesley will still have a chance to challenge for the world championship as he will be playing in the World Cup. The 2015 World Cup is an important part of the 2014-16 world championship Cycle as the top two qualify to the 2016 Candidates. The WC15 will take place in Baku, Ajerbaijan from Sept. 10 to Oct. 4, 2015.

The total prize money is 120,000 Euros in every Grand Prix. The champion got 20,000 Euro and 170 points, while the second placer got 15,000 Euros and 140 points.

The third placer earned 13,000 Euros and 110 points. Every leg had 12 players so everybody won some money.

In the first leg played in Baku, Azerbaijan, last 0ct. 1 to 15, 2014, the winners were Caruana and Gelfand who were tied. The second leg in Tashkent, Uzbekistan was won by Dmitry Andreikin. The third leg in Tbilisi, Georgia last Feb. 14 to 28 was won by Evgeny Tomashevsky. The fourth and final leg saw a tie for first among Caruana, Nakamura and Jakovenko. It was played in Khanty-Mansiyk, Russia last May 12 to 26.

After all the points were counted, Caruana and Nakamura were declared the Grand Prix qualifiers.

At the beginning of the 2014-15 Fide Grand Prix cycle there was just one American attempting to qualify for the candidates tournament but by the end of the series, two American qualified. As previously reported, American-born Fabiano Caruana changed federations mid-cycle to once again represent the U.S.

Wesley So is continually improving and will be a dangerous opponent for anyone. He will also join the U.S. Team for the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan, forming the strongest American team of all time.

Cepca. We had our monthly tournament last Sunday and the winners in the A group were Jimmy Ty Jr and NM Arnold Cadiz respectively. In the B section, Jojo Paredes prevailed followed by a tie for second and third between Edwin Cablao and new member Michael Ventulan.

Michael is just 26 years old and is a BS Computer Science graduate of AMA Computer Learning Center in Tacloban City. He is connected as technical support engineer of Convergys (Comcast account) in IT Park, Lahug.

He Loves to solve chess puzzles online and was a former member of Leyte-Samar Chess Club in Tacloban City and Naval Chess Club as well. He was also a three-time champion of his school.

VP of Cepca Marvynne Guardiana will sponsor the cash prizes for the month of June. Many thanks Vin!

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