(904) BLITZ CHESS AFTER REGULAR GAMES (TBN-May 09-16, 2003)

THE INNOVATOR OF BLITZ CHESS AFTER REGULAR GAMES
     Philippine Consul General Julius Torres, left, prepare for his game against newcomer/veteran Menandro 'Boy' Manuel in the Classification Round of 2003 Open Chess Tournament held every Sunday at Image Restaurant and Sports Bar through its Owner/Manager Margarita Borja Dalton, who is Roberto Hernandez' employer for 13 years (1992-2004).      (Video photo by Roberto Hernandez)



                       BLITZ CHESS
          AFTER REGULAR GAMES 

CONSUL General Julius Torres of the Philippine Embassy in Koror, Palau is one of the pioneer chess players in Palau. He participated in the inaugural 2002 All-Filipino Chess Tournament, Champion of the 2002 Open, and the recently concluded 2003 Open Chess Tournament, where he finished 2nd to first-time participant Menandro 'Boy' Manuel.

He didn't participate anymore in the succeeding tournaments (2003 Age Group, 2003 Senior and Junior, 2004 Non-Masters, 2004 Open and 2004 Rapid) because he was assigned to be the Philippines Ambassador to Lebanon.

His co-employee at the Embassy, Mariano 'JR' Agustin, Jr. stayed till 2005 Regular Chess Tournament where he had a farewell photo with some players...

Left to right, standing, Manuel Nedic, Mariano Agustin, Jr. and his granddaughter, Jimmy Valenzuela and Gene Pastrana. Sitting left, Roberto Hernandez, Cyril Montel, Jr. right.
                                                         (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

This time with Jess Toldoya, 2nd from left, with Roberto taking the photo.
                                            (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)



During the penultimate round of 2003 Open Chess Tourney, Consul General Julius Torres inaugurated the holding of blitz chess competition after the regular games.

There is $5.00 registration fee in which the top 4 finishers will get $25.00, $15.00 $10.00 and $5.00 respectively. 

Touch move rule does not apply but after you press the clock, that will be you final move.

You must say "check" every time you are attacking your opponent's king. If not, you cannot capture the king if it didn't move out of the check area.

The time control is 10 minutes for each player to finish the game without increment because all clocks of Palau Chess Federation/Knights and Rooks Chess Club (Palau) are mechanical in the year 2002-2006.

    

CONSUL GENERAL JULIUS TORRES -- BLITZ CHESS CHAMPION
   2002 Palau Open champion Julius Torres captured another blitz chess title with an 8-2 win-loss card, edging 2002 All-Filipino champion Eddie Grefiel via tiebreak --Direct Encounter or winner over the other. The succeeding blitz chess tournaments in Palau were named after the Consul General for his gallant effort to promote chess in Palau.
                                                        (Photo and manual draft by Roberto Hernandez)


Both Consul and Eddie Grefiel finished with identical 8 points on 8 wins and 2 losses each.

Consul challenged Eddie to play one blitz game and whoever wins will keep the $40.00 top prizes of 1st and 2nd placer.
Eddie agreed and he lost but Consul used the prize money to buy beers for all players/participants.

Later, he said that in succeeding tournaments, to please play or have a blitz chess competition and call it "Consul General Julius Torres Blitz Chess Festival". 



Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
               Tia Belau Newspaper
               Page 9
               Volume 12
               May 09-16, 2003
 

 
    

 

 

(705) TFCP CALENDAR OF SPORTS ACTIVITIES from June 2002-December 2003

THE FILIPINO COMMUNITY IN PALAU (TFCP) VICE PRESIDENT AND SPORTS COMMISSIONER MR. SERGIO ALEMANIA ASKED ROBERTO HERNANDEZ IN 2002 IF THERE WERE ENOUGH CHESS PLAYERS TO START THE FIRST-EVER CHESS TOURNAMENT IN PALAU.

TWELVE YEARS AFTER THAT, PALAU IS NOW A MEMBER OF FIDE (WORLD CHESS FEDERATION in 2005), WITH 119 PLAYERS LISTED AT FIDE RATING LIST FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2014.

PALAU WAS ABLE TO SENT PLAYERS IN THE 2009 OCEANIA ZONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP IN AUSTRALIA, 2010 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD IN KHANTY-MANSIYSK, RUSSIA, 2012 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY, 2013 GUAM INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT, 2013 WORLD YOUTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP IN AL AIN, ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND IN THIS YEAR 2014 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD IN TROMSO, NORWAY (AUG. 01-14, 2014) WHERE PALAU WILL BE SENDING TEAM IN MEN/OPEN AND WOMEN'S DIVISION.

 CRIS GONZALES WAS THE SPONSOR OF TROPHIES IN THE 2002 OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT WHERE PHILIPPINE CONSUL GENERAL JULIUS TORRES EMERGED AS CHAMPION.




HERE'S THE CALENDAR:

Source: History of Chess In Palau
               By Roberto Hernandez
               March 2014
 

(120) ANGIE PARRADO RETURNS

SECOND TIME AROUND

Angie Parrado, left, shake hands with Jeffrey Negrillo before the start of their official game of 2011 PNCC at Beken's Store and General Merchandise premises. Watching their game were Angie's three daughters.

(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

RUSTY AFTER 5 YEARS

Angie Parrado, left, shakes hands with Jeffrey Negrillo before the start of their official game of 2010-2011 PNCC on Saturday, Jan. 22 at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1. Angie lost this game and the next one to Roberto Hernandez due to rusty play. She practices with PRR staff after her games to regain her top form.

(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

ANGIE PARRADO RETURNS

THE FIRST ever chess tournament in Palau was held in June 09, 2002 with 20 players participated in and 4 of them are women -- Karen Hernandez, Michelle Ramos, Remy Mingo and Angie Parrado, who finished 10th with 4 wins, 3 losses and a draw.

In the first round, she defeated Remy Mingo, the strongest women chess player of Palau. In the 2nd round, Angie clobbered Philippine Consul General Julius Torres but lost to Eugene Koh in the 3rd round.

She bounced back from defeat and dealt Lemuel Bacor, who died of colon cancer last year, his 2nd loss. She won again over Ben Ramos, lost to eventual champion Eddie Grefiel, his co-employee Geoffrey Moro and drew with Noel Filomeno.

Angie didn't finish the final round of this 9-round Swiss system event due to pregnancy.

Angie is now back to competitive chess and her first game against Jeffrey Negrillo in the resumption of 2010-2011 Palau National Chess Championship on Saturday, Jan. 22 at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 shows how rusty she is as she missed a winning combination even though down by a piece.

She always forgot to press the chess clock as the available chess clock in the 2002 event is only 2 units. She lost the game in 49 moves of Center Counter.

In her game against Roberto Hernandez, Jeffrey volunteered to write the moves for her. Despite the offer of convenience, she still moves very fast and lost her queen on the 11th move and was mated on the 36th move of Sicilian Defence.

Thus, Angie now has 3 losses as Mohammad Manik Hossain likes to keep his carry-over win over Masum Billah, the player that Angie had replaced.

In the latest results of the 2010-2011 PNCC, Tito Cabunagan dealt Jerry Sermeno his first loss with a masterful handling of Queen's Gambit Accepted and prevailed in 46 moves. It is also the first ever encounter of the two and both of them don't know each style of play.

Dennis Gonzales defeated Roberto Hernandez in 2006 Palau National Chess Championship. This time, Hernandez prevailed with a careful handling of Sicilian Defence and pinned Dennis' knight with no choice of counterplay. Giving up the pinned knight resulted in his downfall. With one move before being mated, he resigned on the 32nd move.

He bounced back from that loss and dealt Tito his 4th loss with a dose of Roberto's own medicine, with his own pin on Tito's knight. He pinned Tito's king with a nice bishop sacrifice that Tito refused. More problems occured when Dennis added a rook to the bewildering attack.

The game is over in just 27 moves and they practice blitz chess while Cyril and Jerry are playing their official game, which ended in a marathon 65-move victory to Cyril in their Sicilian Defence (Alapin Variation) encounter.

Jerry refused the exchange of rooks which is favorable for him to draw or win as they have endgame of bishop of opposite color. Analysis by Dennis and others show that even though Cyril is ahead by a pawn, the draw is imminent.

After that last game, Dennis, Jerry, Menandro and Roberto have a conversation about getting some financial support for the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey through non-profit organization, which Palau Chess Federation has been since April 11, 2006.

Menandro is suggesting to have this current National Chess Championship as the basis for the composition of Palau Chess Team. If one or two players that finished in the top 5 can't get sponsors for his airfare, the next one is eligible to replace him.

Papua New Guinea's top chess player Joselito Marcos is on his way to represent PNG in the 2011 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Rotorua, New Zealand from Jan. 25-31, 2011.

He's donating $100.00 for cash prize of the ongoing Palau NCC. He has given the money to his daughter in Philippines including the complete set of chess bulletins of the 35th World Chess Olympiad held in Bled, Slovenia and the Chessmates magazine that he borrowed from Roberto in Russia.

Joselito will be Palau's representative to Oceania Chess Confederation meeting through a proxy letter made by Hernandez for him to be forwarded also to Paul Spiller, New Zealand Chess Federation President and to Brian Jones, President of Oceania Zonal and OCC.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper Volume 20 Issue 4 January 24, 2011

(103) TORRES AIMS FOR CHAMPIONSHIP

                                         TFCP OPEN CHESS TILT
            TORRES AIMS FOR CHAMPIONSHIP

PHILIPPINE Consul General Julius Torres, who leads the standings of TFCP Open Chess tournament with 18.5 points after the 19th and 20th rounds played last Sunday, November 17, will aim for the championship in the tournament participated in by Filipino and Palauan players after Eddie Grefiel, at 18 points, lost two of his games.

Torres defeated Jimboy de Jesus (17) and drew with against Cyril Montel, Jr. (15). His last two remaining games will be against Tutii Joe Chilton, a Palauan player, and 16-year old Kris Ramos.

Grefiel, Danny Dandoy (17.5), Jimboy de Jesus, Roberto Hernandez (16), Bong Alipoon (16.5), Mariano Agustin, Jr. (15.5), Jun Mahor (16.5) and Noel Filomeno (17) will compete for the runner-up and special prizes games.

During the first round for the open chess tournament, the Knights and Rooks Chess Club was formed and elected the following officers: Roberto Hernandez -- Chairman, Jimmy Valenzuela -- Vice Chairman and Danny Dandoy -- Secretary.

The other participants and their respective points are: Nilo de Jesus, Edgardo Enarsao and Eugene Koh -- (15.5), Jimmy Valenzuela --15, Richard Reyes --14, Mike Miguel, Jr. --11.5, Glen Navarosa --7.5, Amante Caballero and Roland Tangelbad -- 6.5, Eric Carlson and Mario Ramos --6, David Clumpner--2.5, Omkar Tangelbad --2; and Tommy Tutii and Ricky Cabarubias -- 1.

From the report of Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper  Page 16   December 01-07, 2002

(99) CHESSMATE MARKS 6TH YEAR

                      CHESSMATE MARKS 6TH YEAR

SINCE THE first issue of Chess Mate in December 29, 2002, sixteen (16) major chess tournament have been held, two were invitational with foreign players from New Zealand, Australia and Philippines participated and enabled the top chess players of Palau to gain international rankings.

The first tournament ever in Palau was held in June 09, 2002 with Eddie Grefiel, a civil engineer of Daewoo Corporation bagging the first of his 3 titles.

Philippine Consul General Julius Torres, who is now the Ambassador of the Philippines in one of the Middle East country, claimed his only title in the 2002 Open Chess tournament participated in by 28 chess players (4 Palauans, 2 Americans and 22 Filipinos), while reigning Palau's top player Menandro 'Boy' Manuel won the first of his 6 titles in his first ever participation: the 2003 Open Chess tourney.

He won the 2005 Regular Chess tilt, the 2005-2006 Rapid Chess tournament, became the 2nd Palau National Master by winning the 2006 National Chess championship with co-champion Manny Nedic, Palau's first NM.

He also shared the title with blitz chess expert Tony Villa in year-ending 2006 Rapid Chess Festival. He is also the top Palau performer in the inaugural Palau Invitational Chess Championship won by Hilton Bennett of New Zealand.

He also shared the title of the second PICC (now known as the Ambassador Marino Cup) with Boris Michael Diez, number 86th rated player of the Philippines. He is currently leading the ongoing National Chess Championship with just a single loss -- to Craig Dittrich, who also beaten and snapped Tony Villa's 7-game winning streak.

The Class A of 2003 Age Group Chess tourney was won by Edgardo Enarsao and Jose Omega won his first 2 Class B championships while Jayrome Soriano became the first Palau junior chmapion.

In the 2003 Senior and Junior Chess tournament, Roberto Hernandez got his first of 2 titles and Charles Aquino dominated the juniors for two consecutive tourneys before going back to Philippines.

The 2004 Non-Master Chess tourney was won by Jess Toldoya. He received $100.00 prize donated by Jose Omega.

The 2004 Open and 2004 Rapid Chess tilts gave Grefiel his 2nd and 3rd titles with Omega getting his 2nd Class B title.

The 2004 Open also produced the first ever Italian champion in a one-day blitz chess tournament held on August 01, with Andrea Buriani, an Italian tourist, emerging undefeated in speed chess.

Omega finally claimed his first Class A title by winning the 2005 Open. He was tied with Bong Alipoon and won a sudden-death match break the tie. When he won the rated division of the inaugural Ambassador Marino Cup, he also won a sudden-death match with Hernandez to claim the title and they split the $300.00 cash prize for 1st and 2nd place.

Vincent Vergara won the unrated division, Ken Pastrana won the junior plum and Hernandez' beautiful and younger looking wife Flor won the women's division. She is currently the recepient of 2008 Perfect Attendance award at Dragon Tei restaurant.

The 2007 Palau Royal Resort Rating Chess Tournament took place in the second month of Hernandez' tenure as musician at PRR. He topped the tournament followed by Dennis Lara and Jaime Guevarra. The two are now regular competitors of Palau Chess Federation's regular tournaments. The 2008 PRR Rapid Chess tourney was not finished because many players left the island.

Palau's first even participation in 2008 World Chess Olympiad, held every 2 years, almost came to reality. But because of world economic breakdown and a week late in submitting their application for Schengen visa, the last two players that got sponsorship for the trip to Dresden, Germany --Roberto Hernandez and Gene Pastrana, finally realized the main problem of getting to play outside Palau-- the isolated location.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper December 29, 2008 - January 04, 2009

(98) CHESSMATE MARKS 5 YEARS

                     CHESSMATE MARKS 5 YEARS

THE FIRST ISSUE of "Chessmate" by Roberto Hernandez in December 29, 2002 was the start of the growing of the sport of chess in Palau.

The first six tournaments held produced six different champions with different styles of play. Eddie Grefiel, a civil engineer of Daewoo Corp. and the first multi-winner, is a positional player while Consul General Julius Torres , the 2002 Open Champion, is an aggressive and humorous wood pusher.

Palau's number one Menandro 'Boy' Manuel won six titles in 4 years including the 2nd Palau Invitational Chess Championship (The Ambassador Marino Cup) held in September 15-21, 2007 where he was the co-champion with top seed Boris Michael Diez of the Philippines. His style of play is modern, positional and rarely makes mistakes.

Edgardo Enarsao, the 2003 Age Group Chess tourney Class A champion is a defensive specialist but his effective attacking style is pinpoint and brutal. He studied the game very seriously and had a perfect attendance in the 2003 Open chess tournament.

The year-ending 2003 Senior and Junior Open Chess tourney was Roberto Hernandez' first title in Palau. He studied his opponents' style of play that proved decisive in his game against Palau's no. 3 Cyril Montel, Jr., who has yet to win a title after being runner-ups in numerous occasions.

The 2004 Non-master Chess tournament produced another champion in Jess Toldoya, the "draw master", who maybe the finest defensive player ala Tigran Petrosian, the Soviet World Chess Champion in the late '60's.

Jose Omega, the 2005 Regular Chess champion, was twice Class B champion before winning the title over Bong Alipoon in a one-game play-off. He is also a serious student of the game and a very good chess puzzle solver. He was the innovator of Four Knights Defence's 13th move, that gives back the sacrificed piece to gain a decisive advantage. He won the rated division of the 1st Ambassador Marino Cup over Hernandez in another one-game play-off to keep the trophy but split the $300.00 cash prize with Hernandez.

Tony Villa's coming to Palau improved the blitz chess quality of games with his unselfish sharing of his knowledge in the art of speed chess. He won the Rapid Chess tournament in 2006-2007 with Manuel as co-champion and won all but one blitz chess competitions held after the regular games are over. He was trained by Philippines National Master Allan Saysot and currently leading the Rapid Chess tournament where only 6 games were played during the Christmas break.

Andres 'Aying' Mestizo played 2 games against Hernandez in Dormitory 1 of Palau Royal Resort in December 26, 2007. In their first game, Mestizo introduced a different approach to Dutch Defence 2. d5 and Hernandez spent 3 minutes in his very second move and later running out of time.

With Aying missing a mate in one, Hernandez seized the initiative and won a piece. With an overwhelming advantage of 4 points, Mestizo escaped with a draw by stalemate. Hernandez easily won the second match.

Next in Aying's line-up was Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich, who won the first game but lost the second one. And in the only 2 games of the game day Sunday, Dec. 30 at Jean's Boutique and Store, Dittrich mated Dennis Gonzales with only 10 seconds remaining in his clock and he's got 3 queens to get the job done!

It's a very rare occassion in chess, where a maximum of 9 queens can occur. Gonzales bounced back from defeat and avenged his loss to end the year in a winning note.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper January 4-10, 2008

(54) Chessmate 28 HIGHLIGHTS OF 2002 CHESS TILT

(52) CHESSMATE 26 2004 BLITZ CHESS KING

AFTER THE conclusion of the 2004 Non-master Chess tournament, six players participated in this year's "Consul General Julius Torres Blitz Chess Festival."

They are current champion Jess Toldoya, former champions Menandro Manuel and Roberto Hernandez, Cyril Montel, Jr., Jimmy Valenzuela and co-host Lin de Guzman.

They agreed on 10-minute time control for each player to finish the game. Touch move rule does not apply but once you press the clock, that will be your final move.

Always say "check" when attacking the king. A player could not win by time forfeit if he does not have enough materials to force a checkmate and their game will be a draw.

Before every game, players will "toss" to determine who will handle the black or white pieces. It will be a single round-robin format and the $5.00 registration fee will go to the winner in which half of it will be for drinks of all participants.

There will be no tiebreaker and in case of tie, the winner-over-the-other rule will be implemented.

The first round featured Montel, Jr. against Hernandez in which the latter mated the former with his queen.

 In the 2nd round, Toldoya PLAYED against Hernandez. In the middle game, Hernandez lost his queen and attacked Toldoya's king and said the word "check".

Toldoya, instead of moving the king, captured Hernandez' bishop and pressed his clock. He lost the game due to technicality.

He suffered another loss by technicality to Valenzuela when he captured a knight on white square (d7) with his dark-colored bishop.

He drew his last game against Cyril Montel, Jr. where he had a king against Cyril's king and a rook and when time clock of Montel, Jr. expired, the game was a draw because Toldoya doesn't have enough material to win by time forfeit.

The last round was a cliffhanger. Manuel and Hernandez were both undefeated with identical 4-0 win-loss record. After the toss, Hernandez had the white pieces and Manuel played his 5th consecutive game with the black pieces.

The game started like the first few moves of their game in the 2003 Senior and Junior Open in November 02, 2003. Hernandez explored a different variation from the 5th move and onwards.

With both players attacking each other's king, there were a few seconds remaining on both players' clock and Manuel lost the game by time forfeit in an even position.

Last year's blitz king was Torres with an 8-2 win-loss record, the same as Eddie Grefiel. Other participants were Noel Filomeno (1-9), Bong Alipoon (6-4), Jimmy Valenzuela (4-6), Montel, Jr. (4-6), Manuel (6-4), Edgardo Enarsao (4-6), Hernandez (5-5), Chito Vargas (5-5) and Freddie Dumlao (5-5).

The awarding ceremony for the winners of 2004 Non-master Chess tournament was held on Sunday, April 18 at Paul Brothers Tri-M General Merchandise and Food Retail in Malakal.

Trophies, cash prizes and certificates were awarded to the winners in the senior and kid's division. After the ceremony, all participants were given a treat of pancit (fried noodles), sandwich, pastry and fruit punch courtesy of hosts Jojie Casinas and Lin de Guzman.

Another blitz chess contest was held without chess clock. Last Sunday's contestants participated except Montel, Jr. and Valenzuela (3-1) emerged as winner when he defeated Hernandez (2-2) in the last game.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper

April 23-30, 2004