(1251) PAX CUP IN FULL SWING AT PRR (TBN-Nov. 09-15, 2009)

6 PARTICIPANTS OF PAX CUP
     Paquito Suringa, Jr., left, the innovator of Pax Cup series of Rapid Chess Tournaments, poses with 5 other participants -- L-R: Miguel Gancayco, Roberto Hernandez, Rey Alenain, Jerome Ratunil and Japanese section Chef and top seed in the Class B Division Elizalde Madrinan.
                            (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)


            PAX CUP IN FULL SWING AT
               PALAU ROYAL RESORT 

 

The Paquito Suringa Cup Invitational Rapid Chess Tournament is in full swing at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 with the formation of Class A and Class B in the double round-robin event.

                There are 3 invited players in the Class A Division – Joel Flor, Arnel Ogalesco and Andres ‘Aying’ Mestizo II to make that division complete with 9 players. Likewise, the Class B will have 9 players and Melanie Santos will be tasked to get some donations from Accounting, Front Desk and other departments to add it for the cash prize of both Class A and B.

                A possible women’s division is being considered for this event that has commenced in Oct. 24, 2009 with different schedule that will fit the varying schedules of participants.

                The Class A is composed of top seed Roberto Hernandez, the innovator of the event Paquito ‘Pax’ Suringa, Jr., Robert Tubice, Nino Flores, Jaime Guevarra, Jomar Alerta and the invited players Arnel Ogalesco, Andres Mestizo II and Joel Flor.

                The weaker Class B participants are Ferdie Altea, Randy Sioson, Ronel Gutierrez, George Gabris, Jerome Ratunil, Rey Alenain, Miguel Gancayco, Joel Gabris and Elizalde Madrinan.

                Ms. Santos will chair the possible women’s division that will consist of May Olis, Maricar Baules, Gracie Alenain, Tonet Medilo, Shirin Dy, Marizon Sarabia, an Indonesian from Mandara Spa and the lone invited player Kristen Senajon.

                Hernandez’ dad died at the age of 92. He didn’t go home for the funeral. Instead, he took the 4 Sundays of November to be able to play his remaining 14 games in the Pax Cup. He has played only 2 games so far and it’s time to catch up…

                He played 10 games within the week of Nov. 4-11 and won 8 games, lost 1 and drew 1.

                There is a blitz chess contest held on Nov. 04, 2009 at Jean’s Boutique and Store and Menandro ‘Boy’ Manuel clinched another blitz title by toppling the opposition.

Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez

              Tia Belau Newspaper

             Pages 9-10

             Volume 18

            Issue 46

            November 09-15, 2009

(1176) CYRIL 3-0; TITO 4-0; AKRAM 2-0 (TBN-Onct. 26-Nov. 01, 2009)

Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
             Tia Belau Newspaper
             Pages 13-14
             Volume 19
             October 26 -- November

(1021) 2009 PAQUITO SURINGA CUP (July 05 -- Oct. 29, 2009)

From left to right (Participants of 2009 Paquito Suringa Cup)
     Jerome Ratunil, Morris Apresto, Paquito Suringa, Jr., Ferdie Altea and Rey Alenain.

                    2009 PAQUITO SURINGA CUP

                                 Rapid Chess Tournament

                           Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1

                               July 05 – October 29, 2009

FINAL STANDINGS ---   CLASS A

                                                                                                                Win         Loss        Draw       Total       Rank

1.       ROBERTO HERNANDEZ                                                        12           1              3              13.5        1

2.       NINO FLORES                                                                          9             5              2              10           2

3.       JOEL FLOR                                                                               8             5              3              9.5          3

4.       ARNEL OGALESCO                                                                 6             5              5              8.5          4

5.       PAQUITO SURINGA, JR.                                                        7             8              1              7.5          5

6.       JAIME GUEVARRA                                                                 4             7              5              6.5          6

7.       ANDRES MESTIZO II                                                              5             9              2              6              7

8.       ROBERT TUBICE                                                                     0             4             12             6              8

9.       JOMAR ALERTA                                                                     2             9              5              4.5           9

Top 4 semifinals –    November 29, 2009

No. 1 Roberto Hernandez vs. No. 4 Arnel Ogalesco   1-0

PAQUITO SURINGA CUP SEMI-FINALS

Nov. 29, 2009

White: ROBERTO HERNANDEZ (1830)

Black: ARNEL OGALESCO

            1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 c5 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e5 Ne4 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qf3+ Ke8 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Qxe4 dxc3 11. Nxc3 Nc6 12. Nd5 Qd8 13. Nf3 Ne7 14. 0-0-0 b6?? 15. Nxe7 Rb8 16. Nc6 Bb7 17. Nxd8 Bxe4 18. Nf7 Kxf7 19. Ng5+ Ke7 20. Nxe4 Rhf8 21. g3 h6 22. f4 Ke6 23. Rd6+ Kf5 24. Re1 Rfd8 25. h3 h5 26. Nf6 Bb7 27. Nxh5 Rg8 28. g4#

                                No. 2. Nino Flores vs. No. 3 Joel Flor      0-1

FINALS –       November 29, 2009

                 Game 1 Roberto Hernandez vs. Joel Flor   (Draw)

                 Game 2 Joel Flor vs. Roberto Hernandez    0-1

CASH PRIZE – Roberto Hernandez -Champion   $30.00

                         Joel Flor –runner-up -                      15.00

                        FINAL STANDINGS --- CLASS B

                                                                                                                Win         Loss        Draw       Total       Rank

1.       REY ALENAIN                                                                         12           4              0              12           1

2.       MIGUEL GANCAYCO                                                             11           4              1              11.5        2

3.       JEROME RATUNIL                                                                 11           4              1              11.5        3

4.       ELIZALDE MADRINAN                                                          10           3              3              11.5        4

5.       FERDIE ALTEA                                                                        7              9              0              7             5

6.       RANDY SIOSON                                                                     6              9              1              6.5          6

7.       MAR JOEL GABRIS                                                                6              10           0              6              7

8.       GEORGE GABRIS                                                                   3              11           2              4              8

9.       RONEL GUTIERREZ                                                                2              12           2              3              9

Top 4 Semifinals –   November 29, 2009

No. 1   Rey Alenain vs. No. 4 Elizalde Madrinan   1-0

No. 2   Miguel Gancayco vs. No. 3 Jerome Ratunil   1-0

                                 Jerome Ratunil, left, setting the clock for his game vs. Rey Alenain. Robert Tubice, middle, is in deep thought against Andres Mestizo II, right.                       (Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)

                FINALS ---       November 29, 2009

         Rey Alenain vs. Miguel Gancayco   0-1

                CASH PRIZE -  Miguel Gancayco – Champion -- $30.00

                                         Rey Alenain – Runner-up                15.00

TIME CONTROL – 30 minutes for each player to finish the game.

Tournament Organizer – Paquito ‘Pax’ Suringa, Jr.

Tournament Arbiter -- Roberto Hernandez

L-R  Mar Joel Gabris, Rey Alenain, Gracie Alenain, Randy Sioson, Roberto Hernandez, Paquito Suringa, Jr., Tonet Medillo and Miguel Gancayco.        (Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)

L-R  Mar Joel Gabris, George Gabris, Rey Alenain, Morris Apresto and Paquito Suringa, Jr.
(Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)

L-R Miguel Gancayco, Rey Alenain, Gracie Alenain, Randy Sioson, Roberto Hernandez, Mar Joel Gabris, Jaime Guevarra, Ronel Gutierrez and Paquito Suringa, Jr.      (Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)

   

Maricar Baules and Val Taylo are not contestants of Paquito Suringa Cup. They are just practicing chess using the vacant chess materials.
(Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)

Mar Joel Gabris shakes hands with Rey Alenain before the start of their game. Ferdie Altea, left, and Paquito Suringa, Jr., right, watch the game from the sideline.

(Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)

Source:

The History of Chess in Palau

By Roberto Hernandez

June 09- October 29, 2009 

(1016) CHESS ON MONDAY, MUSIC ON THURSDAY (TBN- March 12, 2012)

UPSET IN THE MAKING
    Jeffrey Negrillo, right, snapped the 12-game winning streak of Roberto Hernandez, left, in the last few rounds of 3rd Pax Cup. Jonathan Sta. Ana, of PRR's Purchasing Department, watches the first few moves of the game.            (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)




          CHESS ON MONDAY, MUSIC ON THURSDAY

                TIA BELAU News will be published twice a week starting on the 2^nd week of this month. Chess columnist Roberto Hernandez will contribute also on Thursday, this time about music.

                In the resumption of 3^rd Pax Cup Rapid Chess Tournament at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1, Jeffrey Negrillo snapped the 12-game winning streak of Roberto Hernandez by giving him a dose of his own medicine—against his pet Danish Gambit.

                Jeff refused the gambit pawn on the very 2^nd move and brought out his queen early in the game. He pinned the knight of Hernandez that’s defending the e pawn.

                Negrillo has created a weakness on Hernandez’ queen side.  He forced the exchange of his dark-colored bishop for a knight. Hernandez was obligated to capture with a pawn to avoid losing his e pawn with check. That double pawns on c file become the target as weakness that proved to be the deciding factor of the game.

                In the endgame, Jeff is ahead by 3 pawns and didn’t bite to Hernandez’ last-ditch attempt to salvage at least a draw with the bishop of opposite color endgame.

                With that victory, Jeff almost clinched a spot to the semifinals that include Hernandez and Paquito, who has 4 more remaining games. The last and final slot is still being contested by Ronnie Capio, who played all his remaining games already, Ferdinand Gutierrez and Rudel Roxas. If Roxas and Gutierrez will win their last 2 games, they will tie Jeff at 10 points apiece. It will eliminate Capio, who only had 8.5 points. Rey Alenain and Joel Gabris still have an outside chance to make it depending on the results of the remaining games of Jeff, Rudel and Ferdinand.

                Other results of last week’s games: Jeff swept Mar Joel Gabris and extracted 1 point from Dan Roldan; Gutierrez kept his hopes alive for a semifinal berth by sweeping Jeffrey this time.

                Standings of players and their win-loss-draw record:  1. Roberto Hernandez (12-1-0) 2. Jeffrey Negrillo (10-4-0) 3. Paquito Suringa, Jr. (9-4-1) 4. Ronnie Capio (8-9-1) 5. Ferdinand Gutierrez (8-6-0) 6. Rey Alenain (7-9-0) 7. Rudel Roxas (6-8-0) 8. Mar Joel Gabris (3-7-0) 9. Dan Roldan (2-13-0) 10. Miguel Gancayco (0-4-0).

                Ernesto Domingo, a stranger yet to Hernandez, has called Hernandez on his cell phone (778-5392) and set up a visit/practice with available players on Sunday, March 11 at 11:00 am at Dormitory 1.

                Hernandez also invited Rick Miskiv for practice/socializing, who later declined the invitation citing it is peak season now and he very busy.

Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez 
              Tia Belau Newspaper
              Pages 13 & 15
              Volume 21  
              Issue 11 
             March 12, 2012

(1015) JEFF WON 4, LOST 2; RONNIE IS 8-7-1

JEFF ON THE MOVE
    Jeffrey Negrillo, right, finally played in the 3rd Pax Cup by winning 4 straight before bowing twice to Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr., 2nd from right. Roberto Hernandez, who won 12 straight, shakes hands with Pax before the start of their game. Ronel Gutierrez, 2nd from left, withdrew from the tourney due to schedule conflict.
                                                                                                                                                      (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)


       JEFF WON 4, LOST 2, RONNIE IS 8-7-1

AS WRITTEN in the last issue of Chessmate, Jeffrey Negrillo, Edwin Acuyan and Ferdie Altea are the 3 remaining players who have yet to play a game in the 3^rd Paquito Suringa Cup Rapid Chess Tournament being held at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1. This tournament is exclusively for PRR employees only and to give equal chances to less experienced participants, top seeds Roberto Hernandez and Paquito ‘Pax’ Suringa, Jr. are required to play 2-4 players at the same time.

                Pax has yet to play against 2 or more players but Hernandez played 2 at the same time last month, against Ronnie Capio and Dan Roldan and against Joel Gabris, Ferdinand Gutierrez, Miguel Gancayco and Rey Alenain last week. Hernandez played one-on-one against Pax and against Rudel Roxas as there is no one available for at least 2-player being played against simultaneously.

                Finally, Jeffrey Negrillo played his first games of the event scoring a perfect 4 out of 4. He swept Capio, nipped Roxas, and then clobbered Gabris in succession. His 4-game winning streak was snapped when he was swept this time by birthday celebrant Pax on Friday, March 02, 2012.

                Meanwhile, Joel scored his 2^nd and 3^rd points at the expense of Dan Roldan when he swept the latter the other day. Jeff bounced back from defeat and swept Rey Alenain to have a respectable 6-2-0 win-loss-draw slate. Capio is making his move to make it to the semifinal with another sweeps of Joel and Dan to trail Hernandez and Pax at the forefront with an 8-7-1 card.

                The top 4 finishers of this event will play in the semifinals with the No. 1 to play No. 4 and No. 2 to play No. 3 in maybe best of 3 series. The registration fee is $5.00 which will be the prize for the top 2 finishers.

                The Palau Chess Federation, Knights and Rooks Chess Club (Palau) and King Royal Chess Club of PRR welcomes a new addition to the club/federation—Mr. Rick Miskiv, a dive instructor at Fish N’ Fins. He’s a friend of Blaire and he loves chess and is interested in playing or visiting the chess clubs for practice and meeting new people. He can’t participate in the ongoing event at PRR but he can visit the Dorm 1 and practice with available or day off chess players.

                He was offered by Hernandez the slot of team captain for Palau Women’s Team to 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey but he politely declined the offer citing he don’t have experience yet being team captain or do tournaments.  He’s looking for a more casual chess club experience to find other people who like chess, to learn skills and to meet new people.

                Hernandez also suggested to him to check the Palau Chess Federation website http://palau-chess.blogspot.com to learn more about chess in Palau. The website is becoming popular especially to Europeans since its inception in Dec. 26, 2011 with the help of Papua New Guinea’s Joselito Marcos, Hernandez’ best friend. As of March 03, 2012 at 4:22 pm (Palau time), the site have 2,109 page views and 63 posts mostly by Hernandez. The latest post is by Joselito entitled “March 2012 International Ratings of Palau Chess Players”. Hundreds of Chessmate articles have yet to be posted by Hernandez in the future. He accidentally created another website “Palau Chessmate” where he is posting the first issues of Chess Mate by Robert Hernandez in Tia Belau since Dec. 29, 2002. Currently it has 76 page views and 34 posts.
***As of April 02, 2015 (10:00am Palau Time), there are 138,386 page views, 965 posts and more than 89 countries who viewed this website (Palau Chess).
     With exactly 50 lesser posts, Palau Chessmate has 915 posts currently. 

Source:
Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez 
Tia Belau Newspaper
Volume 21  
Issue 10  
Page 12  
March 05, 2012

(1012) HERNANDEZ SCORES 12 STRAIGHT (TBN-Feb. 27, 2012)

HERNANDEZ VS. 4 PRR PLAYERS
     Left to right, Ferdinand Gutierrez, Rey Alenain, Roberto Hernandez, Mar Joel Gabris and Miguel Gancayco posed before the start of their games in which Hernandez played the four all at a time on Friday, February 24, 2012 at the resumption of 3rd Pax Cup Rapid Chess tourney.                                                 (Photo by Lee Lozano)



           

IN THE RESUMPTION of 3^rd Pax Cup Rapid Chess tournament at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, top seed Roberto Hernandez clobbered 2^nd seed Paquito ‘Pax’ Suringa, Jr. in 31 moves of Sicilian Defence at 2:30 pm.

Pax won a piece (bishop) on the 13^th move but committed a blunder 11 moves later when instead of 24. Rc8, he moved Kd7, leaving a whole rook unprotected. Another mistake on the 29^th move cost him his queen and bishop for a pair of rooks. After losing his last remaining piece, Pax resigned on the 31^st move.

Rudel Roxas also played his first game vs. Hernandez and quickly lost the 1^st and 2^nd game. Ferdinand Gutierrez is not available at that time to have at least 2 opponents for Hernandez at the same time as odds to lower rated players.

 At 7:30 pm, Hernandez played 4 PRR players at the same time with him having all the white pieces on all boards. At board 1 is Gutierrez, at 2 is Rey Alenain, who split his match with Mar Joel Gabris earlier. At board 3 is Miguel Gancayco and Gabris at board 4. They are using 3 digital chess clock whose time control is 20 minutes for each player to finish the game plus 10 seconds increment starting from move 1. The other clock (mechanical) is being used in Hernandez vs. Gancayco match with 30 minutes each for both players to finish the game.

Gabris is the first one to get mated after he lost his queen very early in the game. Gutierrez followed suit but Alenain gave Hernandez the toughest fight with the latter having 39 seconds remaining in his clock. Alenain tried to beat Hernandez on time forfeit and moves quickly also that cost him the game as Hernandez forked his king and rook to equalize and later promoted a pawn into a queen to survived Rey’s onslaught.

Hernandez is also down by 2 pieces in his game vs. Gancayco but a powerful pin on Miguel’s king enabled Hernandez to equalize and been ahead by a piece instead. A mating net was being weaved by Hernandez and after a loss of another piece, Gancayco resigned to the relief of Hernandez, who focus more on his game with Rey as he is in extreme time trouble against him.

 After the games, the crowd appreciates Rey and Miguel’s efforts in giving Hernandez tough matches. Analyses show that with precise defense and attack, Rey and Miguel should have scored upsets. Later in the night, Rey took the measure of Miguel to have an even night with 2 wins and 2 losses.

Standings of players and their win-loss-draw record: 1. Roberto Hernandez (12-0-0) 2. Paquito Suringa, Jr. (7-4-1) 3. Rudel Roxas (6-6-0) 4. Rey Alenain (5-6-0) 5. Ronnie Capio (4-7-1) 6. Ferdinand Gutierrez (4-6-0) 7. Dan Roldan (2-8-0) 8. Mar Joel Gabris (1-2-0) 9. Miguel Gancayco (0-2-0). Jeffrey Negrillo, Edwin Acuyan and Ferdie Altea have yet to play a game. Elizalde Madrinan and Nino Flores have withdrawn due to schedule conflict.

Adele Anzawa has informed Hernandez that she and her son George will not make it to the Palau women’s team in the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey to be held on August 27-Sept. 12, 2012. They will be having a vacation instead in Hong Kong in June or July in time of school break.

This development opens the door for another Palau player (male or female) to be with the team as Team Captain of Palau women’s team. If Paquito can save for his airfare, he might be included as team captain and will be a reserve player in the men’s (Open) division if one of the 5 committed players (Hernandez, Tito Cabunagan, Bernard Garcia, Menandro Manuel and reserve Mohammad Manik Hossain) will not make it to Istanbul.

The women’s team is composed of Angie Parrado, Elizabeth Manuel (Menandro’s wife), and the possibility of including Karen Lee and Ann Acebron to the list as they are already listed under Palau at FIDE website. Ma. Florida Hernandez might be included as reserve and those last 3 in the list have a few months to find airfare sponsors to grab this once in a lifetime opportunity.

One possible problem that Manik is facing is getting a Turkish visa. He’s a holder of Bangladesh passport and he has to get the visa in Bangladesh while the others will get theirs in Philippines. After the invitation from the organizers have been sent to Palau Chess Federation, Manik might have to go ahead of the team members to get his visa in Bangladesh and meet the other members in Istanbul. GOOD LUCK, MANIK!!!

Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
              Tia Belau Newspaper
               Pages 9-10
              Volume 21 
               Issue 09   
               February 27, 2012

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