(203) ALMOST THERE!

UNFAIR CLAIM FOR BRILLIANCY PRIZE
Menandro Manuel, left, receives his certificate of participation in 2004 Rapid Chess tournament from Roberto Hernandez. In his victory over Omega, he asked for a review of that game to be nominated for brilliancy prize but he didn't write his moves during that game.
                                                                              (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)




               ALMOST THERE!

2003 OPEN Chess tournament champion Menandro Manuel drubbed 5th seed Jose Omega in more than 50 moves of a Ruy Lopez to almost virtually clinch his 2nd title in 2 years.

He might become the first undefeated champion of the 9 tournaments that have been held since June 09, 2002.

Top seed Roberto Hernandez , with a 12-2-1 win-loss-draw record, moved closer by 1.5 points off Manuel by beating Dennis Gonzales (7-5-2) in 50 moves of a Danish Gambit, Morton Sawaichi (5-13-0)in 35 moves of Sicilian Defence and by default over junior defending champion Em-R de Vera.

Hernandez can only tie Manuel for the title if he will beat him in the final round and if at least one of his 5 remaining opponents salvaged a draw against him.

In that case, they will end up using the Sonnenborn Berger system of tiebreak.

After the Omega-Manuel game, the latter requested to review their game as he wants to claim a nomination for brilliancy prize of $50.00 for the most brilliant game for players who are writing theirs and their opponents' moves.

In this case, ONLY OMEGA IS WRITING THEIR MOVES AND IT WOULD BE VERY UNFAIR FOR A PLAYER TO ASK FOR A REVIEW TO CLAIM ELIGIBILITY FOR BRILLIANCY PRIZE IF HE HIMSELF DOESN'T ANNOTATE THEIR MOVES.

The other player's attention is divided when he is writing and thinking. Manuel just move and think and didn't write a single move since the start of the tournament.

In the 2004 Rapid Chess tournament where players have only 30 minutes each to finish the game, Hernandez was able to annotate all of his games.

Eventual champion Eddie Grefiel was the only player who volunteer to annotate their game when they played against each other to give Hernandez a very fair chance.

GREFIEL IS A REAL AND FAIR SPORTSMAN THAT HERNANDEZ EVER KNEW!

Other results of the 13th, 14th and 15th round of the 2005 Regular Chess tournament held on Sunday, April 03 at Privilege Family Store in Malakal: Bong Alipoon (8-3-3) playing seated again, won over Mariano Agustin, Jr. (3-8-3) and drew with Gene Pastrana (5-7-3) while Cyril Montel, Jr. survived a wild attack of Agustin, Jr. to notch a 10-2-2 slate after winning by default over Joel Azana who was absent for 11 consecutive weeks due to venue and job schedule problem.

Agustin, Jr. finally ends his losing streak by clobbering Sawaichi and won by default over Ronald Maomay (2-8-5) who is on vacation for medical treatment.

Lin de Guzman (8-3-3) slipped from 3rd to 5th after getting only half point with a draw against Gonzales.

ALL OTHER GAMES WERE DEFAULTS: Marcial Rodriguez (4-4-5) defeated Liam Bornovski (0-10-6); Azana lost to Manuel (13-0-2), Gonzales, Pastrana, Mario Ramos (5-5-2) and Omega (11-2-1).

Maomay lost to Omega, Manuel Nedic (7-4-3) and Sawaichi; Tutii Joe Chilton (2-6-4)lost to Omega and draw by default with Nedic and Eric Espartero (1-7-4); Jimmy Valenzuela (8-5-1) won over Chris Domingo (1-8-4) and Espartero who also lost to Agustin, Jr.; Rodriguez drew with Azana, Ivan II Chess Computer (4-6-4), Maomay and de Vera; Azana drew with Chilton, de Vera, Maomay and Espartero.

On Sunday, April 10, half of the remaining games of all players will be decided by defaults if they are absent. Players are requested to show up to avoid losing by default.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
        Tia Belau Newspaper
        April 08-14, 2005