Wednesday, July 29, 2015

(983) BENNETT BAGS INTERNATIONAL CHESS TITLE (Palau Horizon -- Sept. 05-07, 2006)


BENNETT BAGS INTERNATIONAL CHESS TITLE

THE INAUGURAL edition of the Palau International Chess Championship will always be associated with Hilton Bennett of New Zealand.

Bennett, who has an ELO rating of 2093, won the title just 0.5 ahead from runner-up Almario Marlon Bernardino of the Philippines last night at Palasia Hotel.

Bennett finished with 7 points built around 5 wins, and 4 draws and no loss after 9 games in this single round-robin tournament sanctioned by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the world's governing body in chess.

Bernardino, a US and national master, agreed to a quick draw in his final match with Bennett and closed out with 6.5 points.

Another player from New Zealand (Paul Spiller) was third with 6 points. Menandro Manuel came in 4th after finishing with 4.5 points, same as 5th placer Gary Bekker of Australia.

Manuel, the top finisher among the Palau-based players, earned more points in the Sonneborn Berger tiebreak system.

Completing the 10-man field tournament are Gene Pastrana (3.5), Cyril Montel, Jr. (3.5), Jose Omega (3.5), Manny Nedic (3.0) and Roberto Hernandez (3.0)

"It was a good event, an endurable one. I think that the objective has been achieved. It was a great experience to play here. All the players in Palau have earned international points. They were tough," said Bennett, who won his last title two years ago in a similar tournament in Fiji. He is within the top 20 players of New Zealand.

The week-long event was organized by the Palau Chess Federation and the Knights and Rooks Chess Club of Palau through the guidance and personal funding of Bekker, the President of Oceania Zone of FIDE.

Bekker said that from this small steps "we are going to snowball after Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino promised to personally fund the prizes in next year's Ambassador's Cup but Bekker must make sure to bring in  players again.

"I'm very much delighted. Every local players have score points. The level of competition he said is stronger compared to players from Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Palau is one of the strongest team in the Pacific. It has more depth," said Bekker, who commended the efforts of Knights and Rooks Chess Club chairman Roberto Hernandez and PCF President Sno Temaungil in staging the event.

Meanwhile, Spiller promised to finance the trip of one player from Palau to the next Zonal Championships in Fiji in May next year.

Bekker said that there would be two players to go to the Zonals, which is the qualifying tournament for a spot to the World Championships.

Palau has officially gained membership with FIDE last February and can send a team to the Chess Olympiad, which was just recently held in Turin, Italy last May.

In order to play in the championship, a local player must earn the needed points known as the Elo rating.

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players.

It was originally invented as an improved chess rating system.

"Elo" is often written in capital letters (ELO), but it is not an acronym. It is the family name of the system's creator Arpad Elo (1903-1992), a Hungarian-born American physics professor.

After he left Hungary, Elo spelled his own name "Elo", a common anglicination.


With report from Nazario Rodriguez, Jr. (Horizon News Staff)

Source: 
Palau Horizon 
Vol. 9 No. 11
Page 16 
Tuesday September 5-7, 2006


Eventual Champion Hilton Bennett vs. Eugenio Pastrana
USA and Philippine Chess Master Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr. in deep thought vs. Roberto Hernandez. Marlon crushed the pet defense of Hernandez (Dutch) to lead the event in early rounds.
Jose Omega, left, vs. Roberto Hernandez while Marlon is having a sip of coffee.
Third placer Paul Spiller is also unbeaten the whole event. He's facing Omega here while Jess Toldoya acted as one of the deputy arbiter together with Francis 'Sno' Temaungil, the chairman of Palau Chess Federation.

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