STILL UNBEATEN
Cyril Montel, Jr., center, ponders his move against Palauan bet Morton Sawaichi in the early round of 2006 Palau National Chess Championship. Montel, Jr. is still unbeaten in 5 games and currently in 3rd place and expected to deal the frontrunner and also undefeated Edwin Eti his first loss of the tournament. Watching their game is Jess Toldoya, who had an even one win, one loss and one draw record.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
FRONTRUNNER Edwin Eti scored two more convincing victories to keep the lead in the 6th round of National Chess Championship held on Sunday April 23 at Jean's Boutique and Store premises.
The generous donor of 6 trophies and $100.00 brilliancy prize is Mr. Manny Kimpo of Pinoy Express Remittance, Palau.
The 6th seed Eti nipped 2nd seed Jose Omega in the resumption of their adjourned game after another 34 moves of quality chess.
Omega deviated from a more dangerous 20. Kf8 and managed to keep his game close until his bishop was pinned by Eti's rook.
His other adjourned game against Dennis Gonzales was not played because he had to go to work at 4:30 pm.
Venue host Gene Pastrana ended his 6-game losing streak and managed to squeeze out a draw with 3rd seed Cyril Montel, Jr. in 52 moves of Caro-Kahn Defence.
His half point gained was short-lived as he lost another one to Eti in 53 moves of French Defence while Gonzales upset Roberto Hernandez in 51 moves of Sicilian Defence.
A weak move by Hernandez on the 16th move allowed Gonzales to hang on to his en prise piece and in endgame struggle he kept his extra piece handy to thwart the promotion of Hernandez' isolated pawns.
It's not a lucky day for Hernandez as he lost another close game to Manny Nedic in 49 moves of Modern Defence.
It was Hernandez' 6th loss and his chances of becoming Palau's first National Master looks dimmer.
Top seed Menandro Manuel bounced back from an upset loss last week to score 2 victories over Palauan bet Morton Sawaichi in 39 moves of Queen's Gambit Declined and over Gonzales in 29 moves of another Queen's Gambit Declined.
Fifth seed Jimmy Valenzuela won his only game of the day over Gonzales in just 21 moves of Siclian Defence.
Palau Chess Federation elected chairman Francis 'Sno' Temaungil missed competitive chess action and asked if he can still join the field.
He was allowed to play and lost to Sawaichi in 38 moves of Irregular Opening.
Temaungil is the chief arbiter of the event. With low turnout of participants, his position was not very much needed so he decided to compete in his 2nd tournament after the rapid chess tourney.
A 7-player blitz chess tournament was held after the regular games. The players were Montel, Jr., Eti, Hernandez, Manuel, Nedic, Gonzales and Pastrana.
It's just a single round-robin of 10-minute chess. Manuel and Eti drew their game while Hernandez won 4 and lost 1 before his final game against Nedic.
When Manuel suffered his 2nd loss, he's out of the race. Now it's between Eti and Hernandez (again!).
If Hernandez will win his last game against Nedic, Eti can't catch up with him. But he lost to Nedic and if Eti will lose to Montel, Jr., Hernandez will be the champ.
If Eti will draw his game, they will share the title and half of the cash prize.
Montel, Jr. was behind by a pawn. When he recovered it, he became over-confdent and blundered away his rook in a drawn pawns endgame.
Eti got another blitz title by a mere half point.
THE FINAL STANDINGS OF PLAYERS WITH THEIR WIN-LOSS-DRAW RECORD:
1. Eti (4-1-1) 2. Hernandez (4-2-0) 3. Manuel (3-2-1) 4. Montel, Jr. (3-3-0) 5. Nedic, Gonzales and Pastrana (2-4-0).
Solution to last week's puzzle: 1. Nc6+! bxc6 2. Qb3+ Bb4 3. Qxb4 mate.
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