SWEPT
IN THE 10th ROUND
Right to left, Pax, Allan,
Roberto and Dennis all lost their 10th round games to Bermuda Chess
Team. They bounced back in the 11th and final round and swept
Djoubuti to salvage a position where they started – 163rd. Overall,
the team did well but needs improvement esp. in the opening. Team Captain CM
Joselito Marcos suggested having the next tournament (2016 PNCC) to be a themed
tournament with all games to be played using ONLY Sicilian Defense.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
PALAU IS SEEDED 163rd,
FINISHED AT 163rd in BAKU
CHESS OLYMPIAD
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
PALAU IS SEEDED 163rd,
FINISHED AT 163rd in BAKU
CHESS OLYMPIAD
THE PALAU Chess Team to the 2016 World Chess Olympiad in
Baku, Azerbaijan is seeded 163rd among 182 participating countries.
After a grueling 11-round event, Palau finished the same as it is seeded – 163rd.
The Palau players, who survived the selection by placing respectably in the
2015 Palau National Chess Championship, are Board 1 Paquito ‘Pax’ Suringa, Jr.,
Bd. 2 Allan Alcid, Bd. 3 Jeffrey Balbalosa, Bd. 4 Roberto Hernandez and Bd.
5/Reserve Dennis Gonzales. The Delegate is Eric Ksau Surangel Whipps and the
Head of Delegation is Candidate Master Joselito Marcos of Papua New Guinea. CM
Marcos acted as Team Captain when the Team Captain (Hernandez) is playing. With
the withdrawal of Cyril and Tito, 2 of the top players of Palau, this team is
weaker than the 2014 Palau team.
As
in the previous 2 Olympiads, Palau was swept in the first 3 rounds
(2012-Istanbul, Turkey and 2014 Tromso, Norway –first 2 rounds and 4th round.
Hernandez drew his game in the 3rd round vs. Enofre Manuel of Guam).
The first round opponent of Palau in Baku is the team of ICCD (International
Chess Committee for the Deaf). Pax was easily defeated by a Grandmaster (GM)
Gruenfeld from Israel, the only GM that a Palau player has played. Roberto
rested and captained the team for the first time.
In
the 2nd round, Palau was swept again by Barbados this time. At Board
4, Roberto got scared to capture a pawn against CM Poon Yu Tien that will make
him have a triple pawn in the same file and lost a pawn instead and the game.
Dennis rested with Joselito taking over as Team Captain.
In
the 3rd round, Roberto sacrificed a bishop for 3 pawns on the 29th
move against Yui Kuen Pang of Hong Kong. It could have been a draw if Roberto
continued with perpetual check but pushed his luck too much for his 2nd
loss.
Palau
finally won its first match against Gambia in Round 4 with Roberto scoring the
first point of Palau via a win over Ousainou Garber in 46 moves and scored half
point in his next game against Mohamed Ahmed Nor of Somalia in the 5th
round for the only point of Palau in that round. They underestimated the
Somalia Team that has no rating at all!
It’s
the rest day after the 5th round. In a Mercedes Benz van, they took
a 320-kilometer trip to Qusar and enjoy the panoramic view of mountain side of
Baku. The temperature there is very cold and Allan is freezing because he wears
only shorts. Even with a jacket, it’s still very cold for him.
Against
Ivory Coast in the 6th round, Roberto scored another victory over
Hubert Ble Kuoko for a 50% performance -- 2.5 points in 5 games. Palau scored
its 2nd match victory by the closest of a margin – half point, when
Allan drew his match to become the hero of the 6th round.
Hernandez missed the Candidate
Master title 4 times in a row when he failed to score the elusive win for a
total of 3.5 points in 6 games when he lost a drawn game against his opponent
from Congo Hubert Kutesa Willy Mimbasa, who has 3.5 points in 5 games.
Hernandez opponent for that round is supposed to be at board 3 with no victory
yet but team captain CM Joselito Marcos and Hernandez failed to submit the
players’ line-up for that round before 10am. Failure to submit it means that
the top 4 boards (Paquito Suringa, Jr., Allan Alcid, Jeff Balbalosa and Roberto
will play respectively. It’s supposed to be Paquito, Jeff, Roberto and Dennis
at board 4.
That game against Hubert is a
very tough pill to swallow for Hernandez as he had a king, a rook, a bishop and
5 pawns against Hubert’s queen, king and 4 pawns. It’s a draw already if he
just moves his king to and fro as he had a rock solid position in which the
queen alone could not force mate.
WHEN
IT’S NOT MEANT TO BE, IT’S NOT MEANT TO BE – As Roberto lost 3 in a row to miss
the CM title. The last one is against Bermuda’s Don Dacres on the 10th
round on Sept. 12 as Palau suffered consecutive shut out from Fiji and Bermuda
and down 5 slots in the standings at 168th. Its last round opponent- Djoubuti, is a first
timer in the Olympiad and its Board 3 player Muhamed Ali Goumaneh has practiced
blitz chess with Roberto at the lobby of Qafqaz City Hotel, an 18-storey five
star hotel for Palau team and other countries rated 150 and below. Roberto
defeated Goumaneh 5 straight before losing the last game in that practice
sessions where Joselito is also practicing with a dentist FIDE Trainer from
South Africa – Dr. Bhawoodien.
Djoubuti
board 4 player didn’t make it and Dennis scored the first point of Palau in the
last and final round. Hernandez followed suit with a conquest of Goumaneh in 44
moves of Sicilian Defence. Alcid won also and lastly, Pax completed the sweep
to put Palau to where it stands – seeded 163rd -- finishing at 163rd!
USA, seeded 2nd,
captured its 1st Olympiad title in 40 years with 3 of its top 10 players in the top 10 in
the world –Fabiano Caruana (previously No. 1 of Italy), Hikaru Nakamura and
Wesley So (previously No. 1 of Philippines).
Vintage Filipino GM Eugenio
Torre scored 10 points in 11 games from 9 wins and 2 draws for 90% performance.
When Philippines lost to Australia in the final round, it finished 49th
and Australia – 30th.
In the awarding/closing
ceremony, Torre received the bronze medal at Board 3 with So getting the gold
as he had higher TPR (Total Performance Rating) because he played higher rated
opponents than Torre. The Philippines had its first Woman Grandmaster in this
Olympiad.
Magnus Carlsen, the world
champion from Norway, joked that he and his teammates has simply been
outgunned. After Norway finished a surprising 5th, Carlsen wrote, “probably
need an even better squad to go further through, wonder if Caruana and So are
still for sale.” This is the headline from New York Times – “USA Wins Gold at
Chess Olympiad with Help of Imported Talent”.
Solution to last week’s puzzle
No. 3462: 1. Qe5 (This puzzle was composed by P. H. Williams in 1917)
This
week’s puzzle No. 3463 White to move
and mates in 2 (Solution next issue)
Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9 & 11
Volume 25
Issue 83
September 19, 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 18, 2013
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
April 25, 2013 -- September 19, 2016
The History of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
June 09, 2002 -- September 19, 2016
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