Pestaño: China: A new super power in chess

Friday, July 31, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

ALTHOUGH China has player rated over 2,800 and none in the top 10, they have 11 players in the top 100 list as of July 2015. Only Russia has more (13) in the list.

Russia has been dominant in chess for the past five or six decades but is slowly losing ground to rising countries such as Ukraine, Armenia, India and especially China. With the transfer of Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana to the USA, the coming Olympiad in Azerbaijan next year will be something to watch.

China already has four women’s champion while their men’s team won the gold medal in the last Olympiad 2014 in Norway.

China’s rise has been rather late. All of their top players became prominent only in the last decade.

The Chinese government pays serious attention to sports (just like the USSR did), especially chess. In the 90s, the Chinese female players emerged in the world chess scene. Xie Jun became the women’s world champion and was later followed by Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua and Hou Yifan. This resulted in the Chinese women’s team winning four Chess Olympiads in a row (1998-2004)!

The 2015 “Yin Zhou” Cup: China vs. Russia took place from July 14 to July 21, in Ningbo, one of China’s oldest cities.

The event was a friendly match between the men’s and women’s teams of the strongest countries in chess--Russia and China. Each team was represented by five male and five female players.

The Russia men’s team was composed of GM Peter Svidler (2740), GM Nikita Vitiugov (2734), GM Maxim Matlakov (2691), GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2664) and GM Daniil Dubov (2661), while the women’s team had GM Valentina Gunina (2548), WGM Olga Girya (2486), WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2486), WGM Natalija Pogonina (2465) and IM Alina Kashlinskaya (2432).

China’s men’s team had GM Yangyi Yu (2736), GM Yi Wei (2724), GM Xiangzhi Bu (2695), GM Shanglei Lu (2595) and IM Chen Wang (2521), while the women’s team ahd WGM Zhongyi Tan (2488), IM Yang Shen (2465), WGM Qian Huang (2457), WGM Tingjie Lei (2450) and WGM Yixin Ding (2439).

The event was played according to the Scheveningen System (every player plays each player in the opposing team) in five rounds and was split into men and women section.

China beat the Russian men’s team, 14-11, and the Russian women’s team, 15-10. The men’s team also won the initial blitz, 26-24, and 28-22.

CHINA’S TOP PLAYERS. ou Yifan is the former women’s champion and the highest rated female at 2675 (No. 64 in the world). She is the youngest ever to win the title. She forfeited her world title by declining to contest it in early 2015. But after winning the Fide Grand Prix 2014, she has qualified to challenge world champion Mariya Muzychuk to a 10-game World Championship match next year.

Ding Liren is rated No.14 in the world. At the age of 16, he became the youngest ever person to win the Chinese Chess Championship. In April 2011, he won the Chinese Chess Championship for the second time, and won the title again the next year at the age of 19.

Wang Yue became the World No. 11 in 2008, the highest ranking a Chinese player has ever achieved. He surpassed this after climbing to No. 9 in the January 2010 Fide rankings, becoming the first Chinese top 10 player. He is now rated No. 32 but has come back to his old form by winning the Chinese championship this year.

Weu Yi is considered the most exciting player now. On March 1, 2013 he won his final GM norm at the Reykjavik Open, becoming, at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the youngest GM in the world at that time, and the fourth youngest in history. He is rated No. 29 in the world now at 2724 and is still 16 years old! Many think he will become a world champion before age 21.

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

Pestaño: Chess in the Olympics and a wedding

 Thursday, July 23, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

EVER since I can recall, there have been several attempts to include chess in the Olympics. This started just after the last world war but the IOC has always stated that chess is not a sport.

It does not fit in the Olympic Motto of “Faster, higher, stronger!”

Another factor is the desire not to increase the size of the Games, since that puts additional burdens on host cities. So the general trend is to reduce the number of events, not increase them. For example, baseball has been dropped.

It is also pointed out that if you include mind games, then bridge, scrabble, poker and Go should also be recognized. These are not sports but games. What is the difference between a sport and a game? And what qualifies a sport to be an Olympic sport? Is it all just a question of semantics?

Finally, there already is a Chess Olympiad, held since 1924.

Most would agree that chess as a sport is a grey area. But the hybrid sport chess-boxing is certainly a sport so chess can enter into this category. The WCBO (World Chess Boxing Orgnization) is lobbying the International Olympic Committee to include chess-boxing as an Olympic event within the next decade.

The most active Fide president who was hoping that chess would be included was Filipino Florencio Campomanes in the 80s and 90s. Now his replacement Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has pressed the case harder.

Kirsan just recently visited South Korea, the host of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and met Choi Moon-soon, the governor of Gangwon and the president of the Organizing Committee of Games 2018 in Pyeongchang. The meeting was organized in the presence of the Korean Chess Federation and its president Hyun In Suk.

Following up on the recent successful meeting with the IOC President Thomas Bach, Ilyumzhinov informed the governor about the minimal requirements needed for chess competition.

“Chess does not require the construction of separate infrastructure with its high costs and is notable for its organizational flexibility. At the same time, it can attract the attention of a very large audience, especially foreigners. This makes it very important for the local tourism industry.”

Choi Moon-soon was obviously pleased with the presentation and as the head of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympic Games 2018 invited Fide to participate in the Games as a demonstration sport.

Kirsan said “I am happy that the negotiations with the IOC were successfully completed. I think this is a victory. All new Olympic sports were first included in the status of exhibition. This is a required first step.”

So after being a demonstration sport, it will soon be regular in the Winter Games. The next step is the Summer Games, where chess really belongs.

Mark and Mary. I have been to lot of weddings but the one I attended last Saturday was certainly fun, lively and entertaining. It was elegant, romantic and intimate. This was planning at the highest level and well-organized.

Mary Grace Muralla is 24 years old and the only child of Romualdo and Nennen Muralla Jr. She is a Graduate of Business Administration Major in Human Resource Management and currently working in Support Save Solutions.

Mark Eric Amores is 25 years and eldest son of Eugene and Lourdes Amores. A graduate of Information Technology he is working in PAL.

It was a love story 10 years in the making—a very long journey but worth the wait. Strengthened by the power of God’s love, the puppy love became true love.

The father of the bride, Jojo Muralla, is a past Cepca president for two terms and one of my best friends.

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

Pestaño: Changes among the top players

 Friday, July 17, 2015

 By 

FRANK 'BOY' PESTAÑO

CHESSMOSO

AS OF the July 14 live ratings list, there are now five players with ratings over 2800, the first time that this has happened and the changes has been substantial.

The top five players are Magnus Carlsen (2853), Viswaathan Anand (2816), Veselin Topalov (2816), Hikaru Nakamura (2814) and Fabiano Caruana (2808). I am optimistic that Wesley So will join the 2800 club this year.

The July rating list is especially interesting as it reflects the results of the Norway Chess tournament held last month in Stavanger. One of the big changes has been Carlsen, who lost a massive 23 points in Norway. He still holds a rating better than anyone has ever had as Garry Kasparov’s highest published rating was 2851.

Anand, who defeated Carlsen in Norway, improved by 12 points and is once again considered as a serious contender to be world champion.

Topalov, who was champion in Norway, went up 18 points. The Bulgarian player significantly improved his chances to qualify for the 2016 Candidates’ Tournament.

This is the highest rating in his career and he is now 40 years old! His previous best had been 2813, both attained in 2006 and 2010.

Hikaru Nakamura had a must win over Aronian in the last round in Norway and finished tied for second with Anand behind Topalov.

Fabiano Caruana is now down to world No. 5 after being second for quite some time and as he went below 2800. However, he recovered after a brilliant win in Dortmund Sparkassen. He is followed by Dutch GM Anish Giri, who dropped to No. 10 last month but is firmly at No. 6 now after gaining 18 Elo points. Giri’s rating three months ago was over 2800.

Alexander Grischuk and Levon Aronian (previously 2805) both dropped two places after losing points in Norway and are at No. 10 and No. 15, respectively.

The big winners in the top 100 this month include Yu Yangyi (up from No. 35 to No. 20 after gaining 21 points) and Igor Kovalenko (up from No. 85 to No. 60 after gaining 25 points).

Last month, Wesley had a four-game match with David Navara 2751 and had a surprisingly easy result with two wins and two draws

I was expecting Wesley to reach 2800 in his last tournament at Dortmund Sparkassen last week but he had a see-saw performance. He lost to Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter (2654) and Naiditsch, Arkadij (2722) but had wins over Ian Nepomniachtchi (2720), Vladimir Kramnik (2783) and Caruana, who was the eventual winner with an incredible 1.5 point-lead over the field.

There are only two women who are over 2600 in live ratings--Judit Polgar (2675), who has already expressed her intention to retire, and current women’s champion Hou Yifan (2671). The next three women are Koneru Humpy (2585), Dzadnidze (2573) and Ju Wenjun (2550).

Mariya Nuzychuk (2528) will challenge Hou for the world championship having won the knockout tournament this year.

However after obtaining a venue in Lviv, Ukraine, the match has been moved to March 2016. The two have played only two classical chess games against each other. One game ended in a draw, the other was won by Hou, who had the black pieces.

Cepca. Our July tournament will be on the 26th at our usual venue, Handuraw Gorordo at 2 p.m. Invited are some ladies varsity players to add spice to the tournament. Also playing will be the children of members.

The winners last month in the A group was Tony Cabibil, who won over second placer Arnold Cadiz .The other early qualifiers in the “Battle of Champions” this December are Rey Flores, Peterson Sia, Rosendo Yamyamin, and Jimmy Ty Jr, the defending champion.

Romy Pialan had 4.5 points to join Regelito Hortelano, Ruel Hortelano, Jun Kidlat, Elmer Odango, and Jojo Paredes into the championship stage this December in the B group.

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

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)