(1640) MANIK FINISHED IN THE MIDDLE OF 2019 TOKYO MARATHON (March 03, 2019)

 MANIK FINISHED IN THE MIDDLE 
     OF 2019 TOKYO MARATHON
               (March 03, 2019)

        In 2012, Mohammad Manik Hossain was supposed to be a team member (Board 2) of Palau Chess Team to the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. At that time, there is no qualification or selection of players who wants to play in that Olympiad. As long as you are committed and has money to buy for airfare, you can be a member even if you are not in the top 10 in Palau's FIDE rating list.

       Everything is ready with Istanbul's invitation for Palau's Team that was composed of me at Board 1, Manik at Board 2, CM Bernardo Garcia at 3, Menandro Manuel at 4 and his wife Elizabeth at Board 5/Reserve).

       Manik asked me to write a letter to his employer to allow him to participate in 2012 WCO but he was allowed to go with just 2 weeks before the Olympiad and 4 of us got our Turkish visa already. It will be too late for him to get Turkish visa so he was left behind and we have to play all 11 games in that Olympiad because there is no reserve. Elizabeth took the spot of Manik at Board 2 and didn't win or draw in those 11 games to have an initial FIDE rating.

      One of the reasons why Manik was not allowed earlier is that he wants to have a vacation in Bangladesh for 3 months after the Olympiad. He is hoping that because he hadn't had a vacation for 6 years, his employer might allow it as being done by many Bangladesh nationals when taking a vacation for that long because they didn't take it annually or every 2 years like in my case at Palau Royal Resort.

     Since then, Manik has become wax cold in participating in any Palau local tournaments UNTIL 2 years ago in a blitz practice game that ignite his desire again to play.

     He always find some extra time to play in standard, rapid or blitz tournaments.

     Originally, there are 33 players in Eric Ksau Whipps' list of those who will come to Guam for the 2019 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Feb. 17-24. But in the final tally, only 12 made it. I cancelled my participation because my wife Flor wants to save the money that I will spend there for our vacation in Sept.-Oct. in Philippines. She said I have already participated in 2018 World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia so cancel the Guam OZCC.

     In Manik's case, it's like 2 birds in one stone as he will proceed to Japan for the prestigious 2019 Tokyo Marathon on March 03. He won the lottery to be allowed to participate in that event. There are 370,000 applicants for that marathon and only 37,000 were invited through lottery. Manik said there are 73,000 participants with him finishing in the middle (14,000th finisher). 

     He said there are 11,000 volunteers and they are lined-up in the streets. Some of them are giving water. He specified some have peeled oranges for them to eat while running. The guy from Kenya finished first with a time of 2:25.00, a little short of the world record.

     Manik told me that the wind and rain and cold weather prevented him to finish better. He's already in his hotel and about half of the runners are still running. There's a 73-year-old man from Chicago that able to finish the marathon in more than 5 hours.

     Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world and Manik said that taxi fare of about a kilometer costs $10.00. Because the roads signs are all in Japanese, there are lots of time that he lost his way to his hotel.

    All finishers were given a very nice gold-plated medals.


       Because of Manik's participation in the 2019 Tokyo Marathon, he lost his first 2 games by default. Upon his return, his first opponent in the 3rd round is a boy from Solomon Islands Carlos Santus Amo Sifix, left, whom he defeated.

While Jennifer Tubtub Angeles, left, is playing vs. Bruce Soriano, their sons Aome Angeles and Brandon Kyle Soriano are having kids' chat while waiting for the next round pairings. Aome plays Nobu Yano next while Kyle lost to Manik in the 4th round.

In the 4th round, Manik defeated my guitar/chess student Brandon Kyle Soriano, 2nd from right, who likewise went to Guam for Spring vacation with his dad Bruce Soriano and mom Violet Lagmay Soriano. Both the father and son lost their 5th and 6th round matches respectively vs. Angelito 'Jun' Mintar, Jr., left, and Mary Grace Capili, my 7th round opponent on March 24. Jun's opponent here is my other guitar/piano/chess/ukulele student Angelica Magno.

In the 6th round, Bruce lost by default to Destiny Sisior while Brandon Kyle is lucky to have a BYE for an automatic 1 point.

Manik won over Rommel Gulla in the 4th round for an even score of 2 wins and 2 losses.




Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
               Tia Belau Newspaper
               December 29, 2002 -- March 21, 2019

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

               Music and Me by Roberto Hernandez
               Tia Belau Newspaper
               March 15, 2012 -- April 18, 2013
               http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
               April 25, 2013 -- March 21, 2019

               The History of Chess in Palau 
               By Roberto Hernandez
               June 09, 2002 -- March 21, 2019