(605) INVITATION TO PLAY IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA (TBN-Dec. 08-14, 2008)

THE President of Oceania Zone Mr. Gary Bekker of Australia has sent an invitation to Palau Chess Federation Secretary/Treasurer Roberto Hernandez and Gene Pastrana to play in Queenstown Classic chess tournament in New Zealand (January 15-24, 2009) and in the Oceania Zonal tournament in Gold Coast Australia in July 2009.

Mr. Bekker is willing to give free accommodation for these two prestigious chess events and an airfare subsidy of $500.00.

He is trying to get some more sponsorship from Asian Chess Federation President Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nehyan for the rest of the airfare.

Upon consulting Mr. Pastrana, he can't go to these tournaments unless a full airfare sponsorship is provided.

The same thing to Hernandez as he has already taken his annual leave during the 2008 World Chess Olympiad date (Nov. 12-25), where their visa a week late and were unable to play for team Palau.

Mr. Bekker also extended the invitation to other top players of Palau Menandro Manuel, Cyril Montel, Jr., Dennis Lara, Craig Dittrich and even to Arnel Pama and Tony Villa, who are not in Palau anymore.

Hernandez forwarded the invitation to Allan Diez, who placed 3rd in the 2nd Ambassador Marino Cup (Palau Invitational Chess Championship) in 2007.

He is capable of buying his own airfare to the said events.

During the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, Mr. Bekker already promised to help out with at least free board and lodging and $500.00 as a contribution to Hernandez if he decided to go to Queenstown.

He'll share his room with Hernandez but didn't mention about the food.

Mr. Bekker also promised Mr. Jan Berglund, Palau Delegate to the Chess Olympiad, to be one of the arbiters at the Queenstown and Zonal but when Mr. Berglund talked to the main organizer, Grandmaster Murray Chandler, there is no budget for any more arbiters and Mr. Bekker said that he doesn't need any more arbiters for the Zonal in Brisbane, Australia.
 fro
It means that Mr. Berglund is not going to these 2 tournaments and rather save those airfares and spend it in going to Palau instead.

He's hoping to go to Brisbane to coach one or 2 players from Palau and will see if there are any funds available to obtain that. 

Also mentioned in the conversation is the school project for Palau. Mr. Bekker said that he had someone from the Philippines, who could come for a month.

The very same person will go for a month in Papua New Guinea. The salary for this person will be taken care of by someone so that it would not cost Palau anything.

In Dresden, Mr. Bekker also promised the 4 professional and retired teachers from USA/British Virgin Islands the airfares to go to Palau and teach. 

The four women have spent from their own money to travel to Dresden without getting able to play for Palau women's team in the end.

Mr. Berglund thinks that it would be a much better idea to have these women as there would be responsible for this teaching for the entire semesters and they could inspire more women to start to play chess as well as waken up the USA community in the island to take part in the local tournaments.

In Hernandez' last day off (Sunday, Nov. 30), a blitz chess contest was held at Jean's Boutique and Store.

The other players were Manny Nedic, Gene Pastrana and Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich.

Hernandez emerged as champion by sweeping Pastrana and Dittrich and split his match with Nedic for a total of 5 wins and a loss.

Pastrana was 2nd with a 3-2-1 win-loss-draw slate. Nedic was 2-3-1 and Dittrich scored his only win against Nedic and finished with 1-5-0.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
               Tia Belau Newspaper
               Pages 13 & 15
               Volume 17
               December 08-14, 2008       


         



       

(436) HIGHLIGHTS OF P.I.C.C. (TBN-Sept. 22-29, 2006)

A LOT of good things happened before and after the 2006 Palau Invitational Chess Championship that even highlights of the event are not enough to describe its success and minor setbacks.

It was held on August 31 to September 04 with foreign players arriving a day or two earlier.

Australian Gary Bekker and Roberto Hernandez, organizers of the event, met for the first time on the evening of August 29.

Hernandez was so excited to meet Gary that he forgot to turn off his car's headlight and drained the car battery's load.

A game has to be played ahead of schedule to give players with schedule problem a chance to catch up.

Bekker and Menandro Manuel, Palau's top player, played a special game on the eve of the tournament.

Bekker was on the brink of defeat when Manuel blundered a piece and lost in the endgame in a very exciting game watch by other participants till 2:00 am!

Bekker drew his game in just 6 moves against top seed USA and Philippines National Master Almario Marlon Bernardino, who defeated Jose Omega in another special game held at Jean's Boutique and Store.

Manuel lost his 2nd straight to New Zealand eventual champion Hilton Bennett.

Hernandez and Manny Nedic drew their game in 21 moves with a slight positional advantage to Hernandez.

Gene Pastrana and Cyril Montel, Jr. also halved the point in 55 moves of Ruy Lopez.

Another New Zealand bet, Paul Spilller, dealt Omega his 2nd straight loss in 44 moves.

Pastrana squeezed out a draw from Bennett. Hernandez lost to Spiller in 45 moves of Caro-Kahn Defence.

Montel, Jr. drew with Nedic and Bernardino also split the point with Manuel.

Bennett continued his winning ways by drubbing Nedic in 53 moves. Omega bounced back from 2 straight losses to win over Hernandez while Bekker shared the lead after trouncing Pastrana in 39 moves of another Ruy Lopez.

Montel, Jr. surprised Spiller with a 1. ...Nh6 reply to 1. f4 and was able to draw in just 17 moves.

Compatriots Bennett and Spiller drew their game while Bekker clobbered Nedic is 44 moves of Sicilian Defence (Najdorf Variation) to gain solo lead.

Bernardino gave Hernandez a clinic in their Dutch Defence game while Manuel started to show his supremacy over Pastrana.

Montel, Jr. drew with Omega and Hernandez clustered a crucial first win over Montel, Jr.

Bennett was in the lead pack again after defeating Omega. Nedic and Manuel drew in just 12 moves so is Pastrana-Bernardino match in 11 moves.

Bekker suffered his first loss of the tournament from Spiller in 25 moves of another Dutch Defence.

After the players played all five games each, the 4 foreign FIDE rated players were in the top 4 of the standings.

SECOND HALF OF THE PICC WILL BE PUBLISHED NEXT WEEK.




Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
September 22-29, 2006

(311) A LETTER TO THE NEW GM OF PALAU ROYAL RESORT

This place -- Palau Royal Resort Conference Room, will be very busy again in the coming 9 consecutive weekends (Saturday and Sunday) for the 2012 Palau National Chess Championship -- Oct. 13- Dec. 09, 2012.                (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
This became possible because of a letter below:




                                       PALAU CHESS FEDERATION
                                      MEMBER OF FIDE 2005
                                                                 P. O. Box 1662
                                                    Koror, Republic of Palau 96940
                                                    http://palau-chess.blogspot.com


October 01, 2012

To: Mr. Masayuki Kawaguchi
General Manager, Palau Royal Resort

Dear Sir,

The Officers and Members of Palau Chess Federation are requesting you to allow us to use the PRR Dorm 1 Lounge as the venue for the 2012 Palau National Chess Championship (PNCC) to be held on October 14- December 09, 2012.

We held the 2009, 2010 and 2011 PNCC at the same venue.

The 2006 Palau Invitational Chess Championship (PICC) was held at the Conference Room of PRR in August 31- September 04, 2006 where 4 invited players from New Zealand, Australia and Philippines participated against the top 6 players of Palau.

And in December 14-20, 2011, we held the 3rd PICC at the Conference Room again where the top chess player of Papua New Guinea was invited.

Roberto Hernandez, the PRR Musician, is the defending champion of this coming 2012 PNCC.

Forty seven (47) employees of PRR have participated in numerous chess tournaments in Palau since July 2007.

Please check the Palau Chess Federation website http://palau-chess.blogspot.com to see how the PCF is promoting Palau and Palau Royal Resort through chess -- in Australia, Russia, New Zealand and lately in Istanbul, Turkey.

The post "Palau Chess Federation --Players/Names/Pictures" featured more than 215 players and Honorary Members of PCF.

We hope to hold the 2012 PNCC again at PRR.

Thank you and more power and blessing to PRR!



________________

Roberto Hernandez
Secretary/Treasurer,
Palau Chess Federation


*Because of this letter, the new General Manager (GM) of Palau Royal Resort has generously offered the free use of PRR Conference Room for the duration of the event during weekends (Saturday and Sunday) from Oct. 13- December 09, 2012.

A similar letter was written to Palau Pacific Resort where 1 room accomodation, 1 dinner for 2 gift certificate, 1 brunch for 2 gift certificate and 3 t-shirts were asked for the prizes of the top finishers of this event.

(258) CYRIL & TITO: THE UNBEATABLES

MY ROOMMATE IS A GRANDMASTER AND MUSICIAN
Australia's top chess player Grandmaster (GM) Zong-Yuan Zhao, right is a roommate of Roberto Hernandez, left, during the 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Australia. He's also a musician like Roberto and plays flute. The other roommates of Roberto were FIDE Master (FM) Rupert Jones of Papua New Guinea, Candidate Master (CM) Manoj Kumar of Fiji and Fernandro Aguilar of Solomon Islands.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)


        CYRIL & TITO: THE UNBEATABLES

SECOND SEED Cyril Montel, Jr. is on a roll as he collected his 6th straight victory by clobbering top qualifier Michael Mercado in a marathon 70 moves of Gruenfeld Defence last Sunday, December 06 in the resumption of 2009 Palau National Chess Championship at D. J. Cruz General Merchandise premises.

Not to be overshadowed is the perfect 7-0 slate of Tito Cabunangan in the consolation round (Class B) after outsmarting Gonzalo Escapatoria in the resumption of their adjourned game with the latter resigning on the 43 moves of Center Counter.

Mercado bounced back from defeat and dealt Masum Billah his 8th loss in 33 moves of Slav Defence. Billah finished the NCC with 3 wins (over 4th seed Roberto Hernandez, Elpidio Manaligod and Craig Dittrich) and lost to the other 8 finalists.

In a special game held on Dec. 05, venue host Gene Pastrana bowed to Palau's number one player Menandro 'Boy' Manuel in 56 moves of Ruy Lopez (Spanish Defence).

Pastrana is requesting the other players that he had not played yet to play with him on any other day except Sunday. He's very busy on Sunday attending to the needs of NCC players and acting as arbiter.

Bernard Garcia, I. T. Manager of Palau Pacific Resort, tried to set a match with Hernandez but was asked to work overtime at PRR for changing their I. T. system with two Singapore nationals. He hopes to play at least 2 games on Sunday.

Windsor John Genova, a former reporter/writer of Tia Belau News, is now the editor and layout artist of The International Filipino, a new newspaper/magazine on overseas Filipinos.

He asked Hernandez to contribute a 700-word story about his extraordinary efforts in promoting chess in Palau. It is for the 2nd issue of TIF on Dec. 16-31, 2009.

Also about submitting the article, Mr. Casto Abundo, Deputy President of Asian Chess Federation, emailed Hernandez also and said that they will publish that story in the Asian Chess Federation site and asked Hernandez to send some pictures to go with the story, his, his family and chess in Palau.

The Executive Director of World Chess Federation (FIDE) Davit Jarrett, also emailed Hernandez that FIDE is creating an archive of all publications that include chess, whether in newspaper or magazines.

He asked to forward them a list of such publications in Palau, including names, addresses and emails of the publication.

They would also be grateful for a list of chess journalists with their names, addresses and emails and kindly forward the information to the FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com

The Edgar Cayanan Cup Rapid Chess tournament was postponed due to the schedule conflict of most participants, who are also busy preparing for their production numbers for the Christmas party of PRR staff at Rip Tide on Dec. 19.

The NCC is sponsored by Bobby Pineda, Jun dela Cruz and Ogie Pineda ($60.00 cash prize) and by Bhoey Gopez of Island Logistics, Lucio Bandibas of WCTC and by Ed Martinez of Print Zone (5 trophies).


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
            Tia Belau Newspaper
            Pages 13 & 15
            Volume 18
            Issue 50
            December 14-20, 2009

(256) OCEANIA ZONAL MEETING

      OCEANIA CHESS ZONAL MEETING

IN HIS second letter to Roberto Hernandez, Mr. Gary Bekker wrote:

"Dear Roberto, You are invited to attend the Oceania Chess Zonal Meeting to be held from 12:00 pm on Tuesday 23rd June at the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort, Tweed Heeds, Australia.

The Meeting will be held on the rest day of the Oceania Zonal Chess Championships, being held at the same venue, and will be attended by key chess organizers from all the federations of the Oceania Zone and selected FIDE guests.

The focus of the meeting will be to discuss (1) the current level of chess activity in Oceania, and (2) ways to improve co-operation and chess development throughout the Oceania Zone in future.

In order to provide a direct comparison of chess activity in the Oceania federations, I will send each of you a short survey in the coming weeks which can be used as the basis for a brief report on chess in your federation.

I would also like to ask that you advise me of any topics you would like to chair or raise for part two of the meeting.

Please let me know if you will be able to attend the Oceania Zonal Meeting, or if you are able to nominate another person to take your place if required.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting and having some fruitful discussions about the development of chess activities in the Oceania Zone.

A draft agenda is attached below.

Warm regards,

Gary Bekker

FIDE Oceania Zone President

Draft Agenda for the 2009 Oceania Chess Zonal Meeting:

A. Opening comments by Gary Bekker and invited FIDE guests.

1. Report from Oceania chess federations: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Palau, Emerging Oceania Federations

2. Discussion of chess development in Oceania: Major chess events in Oceania (Zonal, Asian Ch's, GP, etc); Project GM, elite player training and support; Oceania chess administrators, arbiters and organizers; Starter kit for new clubs and emerging federations; National Olympic Committee membership; Sponsorship and financial support for chess; Other items suggested by federation representatives

B. General Discussion and Meeting Close.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper

Pages 13 & 15

Volume 18

Issue 16

April 20-26, 2009

(141) ALL SET FOR 2010-2011 PNCC

GETTING READY TO HAVE INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS
Tito Cabunagan, left, practices with Mohammad Manik Hossain at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 in preparation for the opening of 2010-2011 Palau National Chess Championship on Nov. 14, 2010 - Feb. 13, 2011. Newcomer Jeffrey Negrillo, right, also practices with a beginner while Ferdie Altea, 3rd from left, and Joel Gabris watch the action from the sideline. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)



    ALL SET FOR 2010-2011 PALAU N.C.C.

THE OPENING round of 2010-2011 Palau National Chess Championship will proceed as planned even with the absence of many time host Gene Pastrana, who is currently in Manila acquiring USA visa for a well-piad job as flight mechanic in Guam.

The Beken's Store and General Merchandise will still be one of the tournament site and players have already started rigid practice at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 on Sunday, November 07.

Tito Cabunagan, Mohammad Manik Hossain, Ferdie Altea, newcomer Jeffrey Negrillo and two more newcomers have tested the feeling of playing against Palau's best chess players.

Miguel Gancayco was given a chance to participate. He is still thinking about it while Ronel Gutierrez' brother, who will come to Palau on Nov. 17 has been enlisted by Ronel as late entree.

The registration of $100.00 for rated players, $50.00 or $75.00 for Jimboy de Jesus, $45.00 or $20.00 to the unrated players is not yet final.

Another meeting is proposed to finalize the fee. In the meantime, the regular registration fee of $10.00 will be applied and if the huge amount will be approved, some players might pay their fee in installment basis as the tournament will last till Feb. 13, 2011.

The following is the email of New Zealand Chess Federation President Paul Spiller to Roberto Hernandez: "Hello, Roberto, I hope that you are well. Following on from our brief internet discussion a week or so ago, the NZ Chess Federation are willing to allow the participation of two Palau representative players for the Open section in lieu of a woman representative player in the Women's event. Hopefully, you and the other player will be able to come.
I am in the process of applying to CACDEC via the Asian Chess Federation for some funding to assist players from Palau and The Solomon Islands to travel to New Zealand. As I mentioned, it would be very good if you come also to take part in the inaugural meeting of the Oceania Chess Confederation.
I look forward to hearing back from you. Yours sincerely, Paul Spiller

The other player that Mr. Paul Spiller is talking about is Tito Cabunagan, the only other player that made it to 2010 World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (Sept. 19-October 04, 2010).

Joselito Marcos, Papua New Guinea's top chess player, was already given invitation by Mr. Spiller to come to NZ for the Oceania Zonal Chess Chmapionship to be held in Rotorua, New Zealand on Jan. 25-31, 2011.

Joselito or "Tolitz" (Russian nickname), is now in the process of obtaining New Zealand visa. He suggested to Hernandez and Cabunagan to get also as it is free anyway and can be obtained online. Unlike in getting Russian visa where you have to be present before being issued one.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
             Tia Belau Newspaper Page 12-13
             Volume 19 Issue 44
             November 01-07, 2010

(100) CHESSMATE MARKS 7TH YEAR

RETIRED TOP AUSSIE GRANDMASTER
Grandmaster (GM) Ian Rogers, right, has been the top GM of Australia for a while. Due to illness, he retired before the 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship. But he still shared his help and promotion of the game by analyzing the live games of the top 4 boards of the event, live on the internet. His retirement was somehow "offset" by the victory of David Smerdon to become the new and 4th GM of Australia. He is pictured here with Palau's lone representative Roberto Hernandez, Palau Royal Resort's musician and Tia Belau News chess columnist. (Photo by: Joselito Marcos)

     CHESSMATE MARKS 7TH YEAR
SINCE THE first issue of Chess Mate in December 29, 2002, 17 major chess tournament have been held, two were invitational with foreign players from New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines participated and enabled the top chess players of Palau gained international rankings.

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

Manuel is currently one of the leaders in the 2009 Palau National Chess Championship with 6 wins and a loss, third best only to Cyril Montel, Jr. with a perfect 7-0 start after trouncing Romeo Caballes in 2oves of Giocco Piano last Sunday, December 27 in the resumption of NCC.

Bernard Garcia is in 2nd place with an identical record with Boy. Montel, Jr. will try to win his first ever and elusive chess title in Palau. He's been runner-ups in many occasions. A win over Bernard and Menandro will clinch him the championship.

Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr. suffered his second loss in two weeks by bowing to Caballes in a special game held on Tuesday at D. J. Cruz General Merchandise premises, the official tournament site, in the resumption of Palau NCC.

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.

Through the generosity of Oceania Zone President Gary Bekker, Hernandez became the first Palau player to participate in Oceania Zonal Chess Championship held in Australia (June 2009).

Hernandez also attended the Zonal Chess Meeting with FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong and other officials from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Palau and Solomon Islands.

One of the highlights of that meeting is that the smallest nation (Palau)has more regular chess news, because of CHESS MATE.

C H E E R S ! ! ! I'm wishing everyone a prosperous New Year!


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper Volume 19 Issue 01 January 04-10, 2010

(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

(83)Montel, Manuel Join Top 10 other countries

PALAU Chess Federation now has two players among the top ten chess players in Oceania other than Australia and New Zealand. Cyril Tomas Montel Jr with a rating of 1943 was listed as number 8 while his compatriot Menandro Manuel, rated 1922, was on 9th spot.

The list include countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Palau and Guam. The last named country has recently been accepted as the newest member of the Oceania zone.

In another list, Palau's Angie Parrado (1551) and Karen Lee (1250) were listed as the only active rated women in other Oceania countries.

(Source: Australasian Chess Magazine, March 2012 issue)


Karen Lee is not sure if she can make it to 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. Financial constraints is the first obstacle she has to tackle, that is the expensive airfare. Good luck to you in finding sponsors.

Photo by: Roberto Hernandez

Angie Parrado was listed as one of the only two active rated women player in other Oceania countries. She had a controversial game here against Palau's No. 4 Gene Pastrana regarding another touch move violation by Gene.

Photo by: Roberto Hernandez

Menandro Manuel in deep thought against Joselito Marcos. He defeated Marcos to tie him for the title of 3rd Palau Invitational Internaitonal Chess Championship --Dec. 14-19, 2011 in the City of Koror, Palau.

Photo by: Jamie Kirstie Marcos

Palau's top player Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. poses for a profile picture before the start of his game.

(Photo by Joselito Marcos)