AUSTRALIA'S CHESS FUTURE
Daniel
Lapitan, left, won the under 12 years Australian Junior Chess
Championship this year and will now represent Australia in the World
Youth Chess Championship in Brazil on November 14-24, 2011. At right is
Alex Stahnke, another strong candidate to be one of Australia's best
junior players. (Photo by Raymond-Nancy Lapitan)
LETTERS
of invitation to join in the 3rd Palau Invitational Chess Championship
has been sent by organizer Roberto Hernandez to 7 invited participants
-- FIDE Master Christopher Castellano; USA and Philippines Master
Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr.; FIDE Arbiter Dr. Alfredo Paez and his
wife; International Arbiter (IA) Erwin Carag; Papua New Guinea's
Joselito Marcos, his wife and daughter; Jamie Kenmure of Australia and
another one (male or female) from Australia.
Dr.
Alfredo Paez was the first one to confirm his participation by email
that says: "Dear Mr. Hernandez, Greetings! It is my pleasure to join in
the Palau Invitational Chess Championship. I'm now preparing for the
event. Pls. include me in the list of participants. Thank you for the
invitation. Kind regards, Dr. Paez".
invited
and local players were asked to give their comments and suggestions
about the 3rd PICC and erstwhile top player of Palau Menandro 'Boy'
Manuel suggested the following:
(1).
The entry fee must be a requirement before any player can play his
first game. This is an international event and prizes will be very
important for the players to aim for. Maybe some amount in the club can
be added to the prize. The tournament venue is quite important here. The
site should be convenient and should have amenities standard for an
event like this.
(2).
The tournament will be a single round-robin event with 2 games to be
played every playing day. The foreign participants will have no problem
with this schedule but Palau-based players will definitely have. Almost
all players here work from 7am-5pm and can be available only during
weekends and maybe 6pm onward on weekdays. Maybe you adjust the locals
playing time accordingly. Also locals should play full time during Sat.
and Sunday as these are their day offs. If necessary, 2-3 games can be
played in these days.
(3).
I suggest Angie be included among the participants since she has
confirmed her participation in the Istanbul Olympiad. If we will send a
women's team and if she will be there 100%, we should give her all the
exposures she needs to improve her game. She can take the place of
Mohammad Manik Hossain and he will just be a reserve in case other
participants back out.
Joselito
Marcos also gives comments regarding these: "Please be advised that
Palau players should make "sacrifice" if needed by asking their
employers for day offs during the competition. The foreign participants
are making lots of sacrifices themselves--do you think it was only a
holiday for them (us)? If so, you are completely mistaken. Why not ask
the assistance from the OCC for prizes? OCC should extend its hands to
PCF even if there are no other Oceania participants except for me and
Jamie Kenmure.
The
invitational is an international tournament and should not be treated
like the way games are scheduled in the Palau National Championships. It
should remain as a closed tournament and as such the Palau local
participants should be finalized at the soonest. No apologies for being
blunt here."
Hernandez
wrote an email to the president of Oceania Zonal Chess Confederation
(OCC) Brian Jones. He responded with the following: "Dear Roberto and
Gary Bekker, OCC is happy to provide support to contribute towards
Oceania travel expenses provided that: (1). The host federation is not
in arrears with FIDE and OCC. (2). The event is FIDE rated. (3). The The
player is a member of an Oceania Federation. (4). Receipts from the
Oceania travel expenses incurred are provided. For the Palau tournament,
we would be happy to consider making a contribution to the travel
expenses of any player from Australia, Guam or PNG. But I am not sure
about Marlon Bernardino? Also, what is the $2,000? Maybe you need a
proper budget? What is the target to be raised for Istanbul? Good luck!
Brian Jones, President, FIDE Zone 3.6 (Oceania).
Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9-10
Volume 20
Issue 47
November 14, 2011
TOP 8 UNRATED PLAYERS
Anthony Pelayo captured the Top Unrated Player category in the
Ermita-Malate Open Chess Tournament in the Philippines held from March
19-27,1990. It's the handwritten report of Chief Arbiter Henry Sky.
THE ERMITA-MALATE OPEN CHESS
TOURNAMENT IN PHILIPPINES
(March 19-27, 1990)
Participated in by Philippines top players (except GM Eugene Torre), it's nice to take a look at the participants:
1.
Rodriguez, Ruben 2. Antonio, Jr., Rogelio 3. De Guzman, Ricky 4. Roca,
Petronio 5. Chiong IV, Luis 6. Maga, Mirebeau 7. Garma, Chito 8. Alaan,
Vince 9. Donguines, Fernie 10. Young, Angelo 11. Lao, Elias 12. Aguilar,
Susano 13. Cain, Celestino 14. Villamayor, Buenaventura 15. Cabrido,
Victor 16. Libre, Virgilio 17. Milagrosa, Alex 18. Badilles, Ponciano
19. Garma, Edgardo 20. Neri, Walter 21. Ortiz, Eduardo 22. Urbi, Emil
23. Sasot, Allan 24. Cabellon, Gerry 25. Bagamasbad, Efren 26. Gonzales, Jayson
27. Lorena, Carlo 28. Mariano, II, Nelson 29. Sanchez, Jess 30. Abriam,
Luis 31. Soria, Rene 32. Martin, Ricardo 33. Gutierrez, Dennis 34.
Salazar, Nelson 35. Ulanday, Jude 36. Arguelles, Efren 37. Gatus,
Edmundo 38. Agagon, Eduardo 39. Lagua, Joseph Bende 40. Miguel, Reynaldo
41. Gomez, Danilo 42. Carag, Erwin 43. Duhaylunsod, Herminigildo 44. Dalura, Rodolfo 45. Esmane, Rogelio 46. Zapanta, Jr., Ernesto 47. Camposano Agripino 48. Nolte, Rolando
49. Legaspi, Joselito 50. Mayo, Charlie 51. Ranola, Yves 52. Reyes,
Expedito 53. Vinas, Alexander 54. Estrella, Edgardo 55. Poliarco, Gene
56. Ibanez, Rudy 57. Parceco, Errol 58.
Fineza, Jun 59. Garcia, Noel 60. Panelo, Rudy 61. Bautista, Roberto 62.
Caunte, Juancho 63. Lorenzo, Edwin 64. Panopio, Rodolfo 65. Fontanilla,
Raul 66. Cunanan, Homer 67. Barrios, Benjamin 68. Rabe, Jose 69. Chua,
Cesar 70. Rabago, Celso 71. Cunanan, Crispin 72. Yu, Manuel 73.
Pamatpat, Stephen 74. Abalos, Wilfredo 75.
Castro, Orden 76. Chay, Alfredo 77. Palma, Michael 78. Munoz, Rommel 79.
Fontanilla, Edgar 80. Manabilang, Jose 81. Acuran, Rafael 82. De Villa,
Melchor 83. Edrada, Alex 84. Verdon, Norman 85. Clavo, Jess 86. Garcia,
Juancho 87. Bolico, Joshwe 88. Penaredondo, Leo 89. Manongas, Jessie
90. Pena, Robert 91. Sopungco, Alvin 92. Bolico, Exfelicos 93. Pabuaya,
Roger 94. Loyaga, Victor 95. Gopilan, Antonio 96. Catalan, Edwin 97.
Liquicia, Art 98. Mariano, Christine Rose
99. Marcial, Johnny 100. Cruz, Renato 101. Del Agua, Armelito 102.
Baltazar Jr., Ernesto 103. Ibra, Jamael 104. Gutierrez, Alfonso 105. De
Leon, Carlos 106. Castro, Ronald 107. Yap, Danilo 108. Roldan, Ric 109.
Roldan, Sheridan 110. Dawa, Alvin 111. Manlunas, Jay 112. Santos, Ed
113. Pagulong, Ronald 114. Castro, Ronald 115. Naling, Archie 116. Yulo,
Gerry 117. Mariano, Robert Gene 118. Opano, Virgilio 119. Jose,
Reginaldo 120. Almazan, Romeo 121. Aspril, Emil 122. Abakan, Jhonson
123. Mariano, Helen Grace 124. Mariano, Carmina Joy 125. Archimedes,
Rafols 126. Baccay, Lester 127. Bocallos, Jose 128. Capiral, Rowel 129.
Cayetano, Federico 130. Corpuz, Balden 131. Dawa, Avemelech 132.
Fontanilla, Ed 133. Gandarosa, Ali 134. Gonzales, Jesus 135. Hernandez, Roberto 136.
Jossi, Daniel 137. Lafuerza, Sebastian 138. Laurel, Rocky 139. Legarda,
Joselito 140. Madia, Manuel 141. Malenas, Herman 142. Nasser, Sharif
143. Pelayo, Anthony 144. Reyes, Al 145. Reyes, Noel 146. Reyes,
Norberto 147. Tilles, Bernardo 148. Salando, Gerardo 149. Tan, Montreo
2nd
seed Rogelio 'Joey' Antonio, Jr. became a Grandmaster 3 years after
this event, which he won (1993) after a drought of 17 years since GM
Rosendo Balinas became the 2nd GM of Philippines in 1976. Asia's first
GM Eugene Torre got his GM title in 1974 at Nice, France World Chess
Olympiad.
14th
seed Buenaventura 'Bong' Villamayor became the 4th GM of Philippines in
2000 followed by 28th seed Nelson Mariano II 4 years later (2004).
26th
seed Jayson Gonzales became the 9th GM of the Philippines in 2008, the
same year when child prodigy Wesley So became the youngest GM of the
Philippines at the age of 13.
GM
Gonzales was the team captain of Team Philippines in the 2012 World
Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey where they finished 4th in the Open
Division (if the tiebreak system that was used is the same as the
previous one prior to 2008 Dresden, Germany Olympiad). Roberto Hernandez
met him there. Eventually, Philippines finished 21st using the new
tiebreak system where the matches won prevails over the other tiebreaks.
GM
Gonzales and Hernandez met again while getting their Schengen visa in
Manila. GM Gonzales is also the playing Team Captain of the Philippines
in 2014 World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway. GM Wesley So became the
Team Captain of USA Team as he is transferring federation. In his
absence, GM Julio Catalino Sadorra is Board 1, GM John Paul Gomez at
Board 2, GM Torre at 3, FM Paulo Bersamina at Board 4 and GM Gonzales as
reserve.
23rd
seed NM Allan Sasot was the mentor of Palau blitz chess specialist Tony
Villa, who became the 4th Palau National Master for winning the 2007
Palau National Chess Championship, tied with Hernandez and Manuel Nedic.
42nd
seed Erwin Carag was one of the invited players of both 2007 and 2011
Palau Invitational Chess Championship but didn't make it due to
expensive airfare in going to Palau.
48th
seed Rolando Nolte is now an International Master (IM) with current
rating of 2395 (Dec. 2014). Hernandez lost to him in a 1991 tournament
in Quezon City, being held at the same building where billiards are also
played.
56th
seed Rudy Ibanez showed interest to participate in the 2013 Micronesian
Cup/Palau Invitational Chess Championship in November. The event was
postponed to Feb. 2014 because of Typhoon Haiyan and Ibanez was not
interested anymore.
74th
seed Wilfredo Abalos met Roberto Hernandez in the Asian Continental
Meeting being held during the 2010 World Chess Olympiad in
Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Roberto regrets not having a photo taken with
him at that time. Mr. Abalos passed away a few years later.
98th
seed Christine Rose Mariano was offered to be the Team Captain of Palau
Chess Team to 2010 Olympiad in Russia. The other choice is Jamie
Kenmure of Australia and Palau Rating Officer. They have to buy their
own airfare.
Eventually,
the slot was given to Mr. Kenmure and he became Palau Team Captain for 3
consecutive World Chess Olympiads (2010 Russia, 2012 Istanbul, Turkey
and 2014 Tromso, Norway Olympiads).
Since
Congressman Prospero 'Butch' Pichay took over as President of National
Chess Federation of the Philippines in 2008, he produced 9 GMs.
Philippines have only 7 GMs in the previous 40 years or more.
Those
9 GMs are Wesley So and Jayson Gonzales (2008); John Paul Gomez and
Joseph Sanchez (2009); Rogelio Barcenilla and Roland Salvador (2010);
Julio Catalino Sadorra, Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon (2011).
To complete the list, Mark Paragua got his GM title in 2005 while Darwin Laylo earned it in 2007.
At
74 years old, IM Renato Naranja is still listed at the Top 100 chess
players of the Philippines at no. 63 with a rating of 2187. Another
proven fact that in chess -- AGE DOESN'T MATTER AS LONG AS THE MATTER
DOESN'T AGE!
AMBASSADOR MARINO CUP GOES INTERNATIONAL
Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino, center, is flanked by USA and Philippines National Master Marlon Bernardino, right, and Roberto Hernandez during the awarding of trophy and cash prizes in the inaugural Palau Invitational Chess Championship which will now become the Ambassador Marino Cup. With the support of the Ambassador, the event will become the biggest in Palau chess history.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
THE 2nd Ambassador Marino Cup 2007 (Palau Invitational Chess Championship) that is slated to be held from August 30 to September 03, 2007 was postponed for 3 weeks to give chance for invited foreign players to prepare.
Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino pledged to sponsor the $1,000.00 cash prizes and 2 round trip tickets (Palau-Manila-Palau) as additional prize.
USA and Philippines National Master Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr., who was the runner-up in the inaugural PICC to New Zealand's Hilton Bennett, will be participating again in the event together with National Master and International Arbiter Erwin Carag.
Another 2 interested players from the Philippines are also willing to participate.
They are James Infiesto and Boris Diez. It will probably make the tournament a 12-player single round-robin event with the addition of Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich and Tony Villa.
To complete the roster, the top 6 players of Palau that played last year also showed interest to improve their FIDE international rankings by playing again with tougher opposition this time.
They are NM Menandro 'Boy' Manuel, Jose Omega, Cyril Montel, Jr., Roberto Hernandez, NM Manny Nedic and Gene Pastrana.
All 6 gained international rankings that put Palau in world chess standings at 148, ahead of US Virgin Islands and Bahamas.
Gary Bekker of Australia and Hernandez were the brainchild of the event.
Mr. Bekker can not make it this year but promised to shoulder the airfare of Bernardino.
With no response from Mr. Bekker since last month, the organizers decided to postpone it for another 3 weeks to accomodate the 4 invited players.
IA Carag is willing to hold a clinic during his stay while Jess Toldoya and Francis 'Sno' Temaungil, the chairman of Palau Chess Federation, will be the arbiters.
The will gain their 2nd Arbiter's norm after the event. Four such norms are needed to be an international arbiter.
Source: Tia Belau Newspaper
Volume 17
August 31-September 06, 2007
BLITZ chess specialist Tony Villa will have his summer vacation this Wednesday, May 30, 2007 and will be back before the start of the 2nd Palau Invitational Chess Championship (PICC) to be held from August 30-September 03, 2007.
In his last blitz chess competition before his school break, Villa, a teacher at Palau Community College, won the 4-player blitz contest held on Sunday, May 27 at Jean's Boutique and Store.
He won undefeated again against Palau's first National Master Manny Nedic, Roberto Hernandez and venue host Gene Pastrana.
Villa swept his 3 opponents on his way to another unblemished record of his favorite format in chess.
The 2nd PICC will now be known as the 2nd Ambassador Marino Cup after the generous Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino pledged the $1,000.00 prize pot for the international event.
With an additional 2 round trip tickets (Palau-Manila-Palau) as prize pot, this tournament will become the biggest ever in Palau's chess history.
USA and Philippines National Master Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr. and fellow NM and International Arbiter (IA) Erwin Carag confirmed their participation in the event.
The brainchild of the event, Australian Gary Bekker and Roberto Hernandez are finalizing the roster of other international players to be invited.
It will be a single round-robin event and Villa will have a chance to gain international rankings as the other top 6 players of Palau players have done last year after the first PICC.
Palau's top player Menandro Manuel emerged as the top local player in the inaugural PICC and got a 1942 World Chess Federation (FIDE) rating.
Cyril Montel, Jr., Jose Omega and Pastrana are tied with 1870 while Hernandez and Nedic have 1830.
Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich will also get a chance to have international ranking if he will accept the invitation to play in the Ambassador Marino Cup.
In the last tournament that he participated, Dittrich tied 2nd seed Omega at 5th place, ahead of 3rd seed Montel, Jr.
Villa, Hernandez and Nedic won the event with the same score of 7 points in 9 games.
Daewoo's Joel Azana took the 3rd runner-up plum.
Source:
Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 17
June 01-07, 2007
THE 2007 Palau Invitational Chess Championship will now be known as The Ambassador Marino Cup after the Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino pledged the prize for the 2007 edition of PICC.
With a pair of round trip Asian Spirit Airline tickets (Palau-Manila-Palau) as an additional prize, this tournament will be the biggest so far in Palau's brief chess history.
USA and Philippines National Master (NM) Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr., runner-up in the 2006 PICC, confirmed his participation together with compatriot NM Erwin Carag, who is a certified International Arbiter (IA) of the world's chess governing body (FIDE).
The brainchild of the event were IA Gary Bekker of Australia, who is also the President of Oceania Zone and the number one supported of chess in Palau and Roberto Hernandez, Chairman of Knights and Rooks Chess Club (Palau) and Secretary/Treasurer of Palau Chess Federation. It is chaired by Francis 'Sno' Temaungil, who acted as one of the arbiters in the inaugural PICC.
NM Carag is willing to hold a chess clinic for arbiters during his stay in Palau for the event that will also fall on the Labor Day weekend (August 30-September 03, 2007).
Jess Toldoya was the other arbiter of last year's event and will have his 2nd IA norm if he will act also as one of the arbiter.
Four norms are needed to be a certified FIDE International Arbiter.
Bekker sponsored Bernardino's airfare last year and this year, too. He and defending champion Hilton Bennett of New Zealand will miss this year's event.
There is a plan to give one round trip ticket to Carag for his clinic and a sort of appearance fee.
Bekker will invite more players from Oceania Zone that include Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Palau.
Nobody showed up at the chess clinic that is supposed to be held every Sunday at Jean's Boutique and Store last Sunday, Mother's Day, May 13.
Only 3 players showed up (Tony Villa, Roberto Hernandez and Manny Nedic, the co-champions of the just concluded 2007 Palau National Chess Championship).
Villa and Hernandez played 2 blitz chess games. Villa won the first and Hernandez employed his pet Danish Gambit to beat Villa in the 2nd game.
He left after the game to play music at Palau Royal Resort for their Mother's Day Special where he and Rmeriang Tmechtul and Ptoria entertained mothers and other guests with their songs, flute and international piano music.
Chess clinic every Sunday will still continue at Jean's Boutique and Store.
For more information, please call Roberto Hernandez at 488-3694 or Gene Pastrana at 488-4640.
Souce:
Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 17
May 18-24, 2007
THE CAST OF 2006 PICC AT PRR
Back row (left to right), Gene Pastrana, Gary Bekker, Hilton Bennett, Paul Spiller. Middle row (l-r) Roberto Hernandez, Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr., Jose Omega, Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. Front row (l-r) Manny Nedic, Francis 'Sno' Temaungil and Flavin 'Matlab' Andres.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
ERWIN, MARLON, CHRISTOPHER
WITHDRAW
AFTER BRIAN Jones politely declined the invitation to join the 3rd Palau Invitational Chess Championship, National Master and International Arbiter Erwin Carag, Almario Marlon Bernardino, Jr. and FIDE Master Christopher Castellano followed suit.
Mr. Jone's reason is that he is planning to visit Guam in Feb. 2012. It's too close for comfort as Joselito Marcos said.
Tournament organizer Roberto Hernandez emailed Brian and accecpted his reason for not coming but Hernandez asked him that maybe before returning to Australia in Feb. 2012, he may find time to visit Palau and participate in the 4th PICC.
Erwin's reason for not coming is the financial support that he cannot get. He wishes for the success of the Palau tournament and hopes that in the future, he can participate in one of Palau's chess tourney.
Marlon has some personal matters to attend to as his primary reason. He added that Mr. Alfredo Paez is coming anyway. He concluded by saying "Dr. Paez is a very good person. Please take care of him."
Christopher has just got a job at call center and has just started to work last week.
With only 2 invited players confirmed to participate in the 3rd PICC, Hernandez decided to make the field a 10-player round-robin event.
The final (9th) round will be played on Dec. 19 at 9:00 am and the Awarding Ceremondy will be held at 5:00 pm. This will give Dr. Paez some savings on hotel costs.
The drawn number of players is still the same with Brian, Erwin, Marlon and Christopher's names being omitted and thus as follows:
1. Dennis Gonzales 2. Joselito Marcos 3. Jeff Balbalosa 4. Roberto Hernandez 5. George Anzawa 6. Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. 7. Menandro Mauel 8. Alfredo Paez 9. Bernardo Garcia 10. Tito Cabunagan.
It takes 3 hours for Hernandez to finish the pairings according to the available time that the local players have provided him as follows: George Anzawa --on weekdays, he's available from 3:30 pm.
Dec. 15 (Thu) is a holiday and he's available all day. On weekdays and weekends, he's available from 3:30 pm.; Dennis Gonzales --on weekdays, he's available only from 6 pm to 10 pm. He can't play on Dec. 17 (Sat.) but on Sunday, he can play daytime.
Jeff Balbalosa --on Sat. (Dec. 17) he can play up to 3 games from 8 am to 4 pm and on Sunday from 8 am - 5 pm. There's a need for him to play on weekdays so he'll play at nighttime.
Tito Cabunagan --weekdays from 6 pm onwards and on Sat. (Dec. 17) he's available from 7 am -6 pm.
Cyril and Roberto's schedules are flexible and Cyril just need to know the days where he has to play in the morning so that he can adjust his schedule to those days.
He and Bernard will attend the Opening Ceremony but Bernard is not sure if he can play on that day (Dec. 14, Wed.).
Bernard's available time is the most complicated-- Dec. 14, he's available from 4-7 pm; Dec. 15, from 1-9 pm; Dec. 16, from 6-9 pm; Dec. 17, from 9:30 am - 4pm; Dec. 18, from 2-9 pm and Dec. 19 from 6-9 pm.
In Hernandez' meticulous juggling of the players' time schedule, Bernard and Tito will have to play 3 games from 9pm onwards. Dennis, Jeff and Menandro have to play 2 games each from 9pm onwards while George, Roberto and Dr. Paez have to play one game each from 9 pm onwards.
Bernard immediately responded that he can't play at 9 pm. He asked Roberto to reschedule his 9 pm games to earlier time as he is taking a 3-day leave so that he can play earlier.
After rescheduling the 15 of 91 squares of the pairings crosstable, 3/4 of Bernard's schedule were adjusted and 2 of his leave will be used while the 3rd one is at his discretion.
Jeff Balbalosa has formatted an easier to use Excel format of the 3rd PICC. That is for Hernandez' use in the future and in this coming invitational tournament.
That is a big help for Hernandez and another help and support from Joselito Marcos when he comes about the pgn recording of the moves of players.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 12-13
Volume 20 Issue 49
November 28, 2011
