(1201) Roberto & Jeff--Teammates in Norway & Azerbaijan, Adversaries in Palau (TBN-April 11, 2016)

TEAMMATES AND ADVERSARIES

               3^rd round pairings of 2016 PRCC: Pax, left, vs. Tito; Roberto vs. Jeff; Arnolfo Inres vs. Rustum Cabuso; Jun Mahor vs. Jojo Escapatoria, Jr.; Glen Navarroza without opponent (Moyet) and top seed Cyril at Board 2 as well vs. Dennis Gonzales. Pax, Roberto, Jeff, Dennis and Jun are possible teammates in 2016 Baku, Azerbaijan World Chess Olympiad. There’s also a possibility that Allan Alcid and Angelo Salvadora might be included in the team.               (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

**This photo was not published due to lack of space.

              ROBERTO AND JEFF--

                    TEAMMATES IN

        NORWAY AND AZERBAIJAN,

           ADVERSARIES IN PALAU

IN THE 2014 World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway, Roberto Hernandez and Jeff Balbalosa were teammates with Roberto assigned for the 2^nd time at Board 1 while Jeff, a first timer, was the reserve (Board 5) but the most productive member of the team.

                In this year’s Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan to be held from Sept. 01-14, Jeff will be Board 3 to try again to gain at least a Candidate Master (CM) title if he would score 50% of his played games. Roberto will be Board 5 (Reserve) and the Delegate of Palau, as PCF President and official Delegate of Palau Eric Ksau Surangel Whipps will be attending a wedding. The original date of Baku Olympiad was Sept. 17-30 which is a perfect date for Eric but the change of date will make him skip this event.

                In the penultimate and final round of 2016 Palau Blitz Chess Championship, Roberto and Jeff played in the final round with the former beating the latter to have them and 2 other tied for 1^st place. The 3 tiebreakers were applied and Jeff emerged as champion, Tito Cabunagan – 2^nd, Manuel Mahor, Jr. at 3^rd and Hernandez, 4^th.

                In the 3^rd round of the ongoing 2016 Palau Rapid Chess Championship held on Sunday, April 03 at Surangel’s Campaign Headquarters, Roberto and Jeff played once more with Roberto having the white pieces and opened with 1. b3 and countered by Jeff with 1. …d5 thus, Bird’s Opening with 1. …d5. On the 26^th move, Jeff gained a decisive advantage which he held on till the 44^th move when he missed a rook sacrifice that will maintain his 2 unopposed passed pawns advantage. Instead, he moved his queen to c2 and Roberto seized back the initiative.

                Roberto’s time remaining is just 7 seconds and Jeff has more than 5 minutes but the increment of 10 seconds per more leveled their clock at both 39 seconds remaining after a series of blitz moves by Roberto, countering with perpetual check to draw the game by 3-fold repetition after 49 moves to the satisfaction of a small crowd. Arnolfo Inres is all praises of Roberto’s handling of the clock.

                THE MOVES: Hernandez, Roberto (1798) - Balbalosa, Jeffrey (1734) [A03]

2016 PRCC (3), 03.04.2016

           1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Be2 e6 6.Ne5 Bxe2 7.Qxe2 Bd6 8.0–0 Qc7 9.f4 Nbd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.c4 Qe7 12.Be5 0–0 13.Nc3 Rad8 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.d4 b6 16.Na4 Ne4 17.Rac1 c5 18.dxc5 Nxc5 19.Nxc5 Qxc5 20.cxd5 Qxd5 21.Rc7 Rd7 22.Rfc1 Rfd8 23.Rc8 h6 24.Rxd8+ Rxd8 25.Qa6 Qd2 26.Qc4 Qxe3+ 27.Kh1 Rd2 28.Qf1 Rxa2 29.Re1 Qxb3 30.f5 Qc3 31.fxe6 fxe6 32.Rc1 Qf6 33.Rc8+ Kh7 34.Qb1+ Qf5 35.Qe1 Rb2 36.h3 a5 37.Rc3 b5 38.Rf3 Qc2 39.Qg3 Rb1+ 40.Kh2 Qc1 41.Qg4 Qg5 42.Qxe6 Qg6 43.Qd5 a4 44.Rg3 Qc2 45.Qf7 Qb2 46.Qf5+ Kg8 47.Qc8+ Kh7 48.Qf5+ Kg8 49.Qc8+ Kh7    ½–½

            Paquito “Pax” Suringa, Jr. and fellow unbeaten Tito Cabunagan played their 3^rd round game with Tito prevailing to stay unbeaten with a perfect 3-0 start. But his reign as the only unbeaten player remaining was snapped by defending champion Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. Pax only managed half point in the 3^rd and 4^th round, the same total of Roberto, after he (Pax) drew a winning game against Inres.

                Roberto suffered another setback from Manuel ‘Jun’ Mahor, Jr. in 53 moves of another Bird’s Opening. THE MOVES: Mahor, Jr., Manuel (1658) - Hernandez, Roberto (1798) [A85]

2016 PRCC (4), 03.04.2016

            1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bd2 0–0 6.e3 b6 7.Be2 Bb7 8.0–0 d5 9.a3 Bd6 10.Nb5 Ne4 11.Nxd6 cxd6 12.Ne1 Qg5 13.f3 Nxd2 14.Qxd2 Nd7 15.f4 Qg6 16.Qb4 dxc4 17.Qxd6 Rad8 18.Bxc4 Nc5 19.Qe5 Ba6 20.Bxa6 Nxa6 21.Qb5 Nc7 22.Qe2 Nd5 23.Nd3 Nf6 24.Ne5 Qh6 25.Rac1 Rc8 26.Rc4 Ne4 27.Rfc1 Rxc4 28.Rxc4 g5 29.fxg5 Qxg5 30.Rc7 f4 31.exf4 Qxf4 32.Qg4+ Qxg4 33.Nxg4 Kh8 34.Rxa7 Nd2 35.h3 h5 36.Ne5 Rf1+ 37.Kh2 Rf6 38.b4 Nf1+ 39.Kg1 h4 40.Rf7 Rxf7 41.Nxf7+ Kg7 42.Kxf1 Kxf7 43.Ke2 Kf6 44.Kf3 Kf5 45.a4 e5 46.d5 e4+ 47.Ke3 Ke5 48.d6 Kxd6 49.Kxe4 Ke6 50.Kf4 Kd5 51.Kg4 Kc4 52.Kxh4 Kxb4 53.g4 Kxa4          1–0

            Before the start of any rapid games that he is playing since 2004, Roberto is always asking his opponents if he/she would like to annotate their game. Ninety nine percent (99%) of the time, Palau players will refuse to write their moves. There’s only one Palau chess player who is fair and gentleman enough to write his moves when he saw that his opponent is writing moves. His name is Eddie Grefiel, a civil engineer at Daewoo Corporation. During the 2004 Rapid Chess Championship, he is the only one to ask for a score sheet when he sees Roberto is writing his moves. Eddie won that game. He cited the word “TO BE FAIR TO YOU” which has never been shown by any chess player in Palau.

                In the finals of 2013 Palau Rapid Chess Championship between Tito and Roberto, they write their moves ONLY because Roberto insisted that they should write their moves to have records of annotated games for the 2013 PRCC. Roberto won. In the 2005-2006 PRCC, all 43 games that were recorded are all by Roberto, who won about 85% of his games despite writing moves with a time control of 30 minutes for each player to finish the game.

                Solution to last week’s puzzle No. 3832: 1. Nc6+ Kb7 2. a6+ Kxc6 3. b5 mate.

                This week’s puzzle No. 4367: Black to move and mates in 3 (Solution next issue)

Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
                 Tia Belau Newspaper
                 Pages 9-10
                 Volume 25
                 Issue 29
                April 11, 2016

                Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)
                The Beginning of Chess in Palau
                By Roberto Hernandez
               To be published as a book in the future

                Music and Me by Roberto Hernandez
                Tia Belau Newspaper
                March 15, 2012 -- April 2013
                http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
                April 2013--April 11, 2016

                The History of Chess in Palau
                By Roberto Hernandez
                June 09, 2002 -- April 11, 2016