: LITO
MARCOS AT THE MODERN CHESS ACADEMY IN RUSSIA
This is what Judit Polgar is
mentioning in this article –the bathrooms have chess motifs on the tiles. Lito
Marcos, Board 1 player of PNG in 2010 WCO, proudly poses at the motifs. Polgar
didn’t mention the chess board that was signed by all former world chess
champions. In that Russia Olympiad, Roberto and Lito renewed their friendship
that started in the 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Australia.
(Contributed photo by CM Joselito Marcos)
**This photo was not published in Tia Belau because of lack of space)
BULLET CHESS BEFORE RAPID
ON MARCH 20
AS SUGGESTED by Rustum Cabuso, there will be a Bullet
chess competition before the start of 2016 Palau Rapid Chess Championship on
March 20 at Surangel Campaign Headquarters, within Mason’s Hardware premises,
starting at 2pm. Bullet chess time control, according to Palau Ratings Officer
Jamie Kenmure of Australia, is the fastest blitz chess in the world with a
minute for each player to finish the game + 1 second increment.
The
chess clocks that Palau Chess Federation usually used don’t work with 1 sec.
increment so it is set at 1 minute + 2 sec. increment. Lightning Chess time
control is 5 minutes flat or 3 min. + 2 seconds increment. The 2016 Palau Blitz
Chess Championship used the 5 minutes + 3 seconds increment format.
Registration
for PRCC is $5.00 for members and $10.00 for non-members while in the bullet it
will be $2.00 with the champion pocketing the half of the registration fee like
what have been done before the start of the 2016 PBCC, where Tito Cabunagan won
$12.00. The other half will be added to PCF fund.
In
this Rapid Chess Championship, there will be 9-round Swiss system format for
the Open while the women and junior division will be integrated with the same
9-round Swiss system. If there are only 10 contestants, it will be single
round-robin. The participants must play 2 games every Sunday in this 5-week
tourney where there will be one game only on the 5th week to be
followed by awarding of medals to the top 3 finishers in both divisions.
In the 2011 FIDE World Cup held
at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Judit Polgar played Sergey Karjakin, the youngest
player ever to be a GM (Grandmaster) at the age of 12 years, in the 3rd
round with the first moves as follows: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6
4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 [Vladimir
Kramnik was able to eliminate Gary Kasparov's white pieces in the London 2000
match with the help of this ambitious defense. Black is playing without
castling and with the worse pawn structure, but he can lean back on the
advantage of the bishop pair.]
On the 20th move,
Karjakin made a mistake with 20...Bxe6?
[Karjakin
is a brilliant talent from the Ukraine, but currently playing for Russia. The change
of the federation did not come cheap - the conditions for him had an implicit
guarantee of the Russian government. The goal is to groom a player with the
potential to win the world championship title. In the 2011 World Cup he had the
bad luck of meeting Judit Polgar who was coming back after longish maternity
leave at the height of her powers. The strongest woman player in history is not
afraid of any opponent. The Russian hope missed the chance to apply an unusual
solution. After the less appealing recapture with a pawn, chances would have
remained balanced.]
Polgar exploited this mistake till
the endgame where she won after 49.f4! [The charming finish is
reminiscent of the sharp intake of breath you experience at the moment, when
everything is beautiful around you. White will win the pawn endgame without any
effort, since the black king has to go to the far away a8–square.]
In the next round (4th),
Polgar is facing a very strong GM from Cuba Leinier Dominguez Perez. Here is
what Judit said about Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, where Roberto Hernandez and Tito
Cabunagan represented Palau for the first time in an Olympiad:
I got the chance to play in the 2011
World Cup at Khanty-Mansiysk due to having qualified from the European
Championship which was organized in France, Aix les Bains during spring. Not
only did I qualify but I played very well and ended up tying for first which
left me with the bronze medal.
My first visit to Siberia was in the World Cup
in 2009, when the weather was very memorable; one of the nights we went back to
the hotel and it was -38 Celsius! My second visit was the Olympiad in 2010. I
consider it was the best organized Olympiad that I have played in (I have
played in 8 Olympiads in my life so
far).This was my third occasion to play in Khanty-Mansiysk (by this time I had
no problems pronouncing it either:). The playing conditions were excellent, a
well organized event and fantastic live coverage during the event. We played in
the Chess Academy which was built specially to organize chess events. It is
very modern and in different parts of the building you can feel that chess is
respected and is in the center of attention, even the bathrooms have chess
motifs on the tiles).
The live coverage was something
which would be fantastic to have in future events. In the playing hall there
were 5 cameras following the games and the players’ facial expressions. One
could really feel the tension during the games while watching the transmission
live. During the round, commentaries were in two languages - in Russian and
English. The press room was always ready for a live press conference. Let's
move on to the game! This match was in round 4. I had won my previous matches,
the first against Corrales from Cuba, round 2 against Movsesian.
I won my first game in round 3 against
Karjakin who was the number 1 seeded player of the World Cup. In game 2 Sergey
was not able to equalize the match and I moved on to round 4! Against Dominguez
I had lost my first game with White, which meant that I was in a must-win
situation. I did not prepare much for the game, but was very much focused on
trying to play a long game and keep the game going. Thinking in the long run I
might get some chances. Obviously to win with Black against a very strong and
solid player as Dominguez is almost impossible.
Polgar eventually won in 112 moves!
Her commentaries of the game will be published next issue.
Solution to last week’s puzzle No.
3829: 1. Qxg7+!! Kxg7 2. Bf6+ Kg8 3. Nh6 mate. (Congratulations to father and
son Bruce and Kyle Soriano for solving this puzzle together).
This
week’s puzzle No. 3830: White to move and mates in 3 (Solution next issue)
Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9-10
Volume 25
Issue 23
March 21, 2016
Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)
The Beginning of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
To be published as a book in the future
Music and Me by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
March 15, 2012 -- April 2013
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
April 2013 --March 20, 2016
The History of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
June 09, 2002-March 20, 2016
MORE PHOTOS OF THE CHESS ACADEMY IN
KHANTY-MANSIYSK, RUSSIA
MORE PHOTOS OF THE CHESS ACADEMY IN
KHANTY-MANSIYSK, RUSSIA
: LITO
MARCOS AT THE MODERN CHESS ACADEMY IN RUSSIA
This is what Judit Polgar is
mentioning in this article –the bathrooms have chess motifs on the tiles. Lito
Marcos, Board 1 player of PNG in 2010 WCO, proudly poses at the motifs. Polgar
didn’t mention the chess board that was signed by all former world chess
champions. In that Russia Olympiad, Roberto and Lito renewed their friendship
that started in the 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Australia.
(Contributed photo by CM Joselito Marcos)
**This photo was not published in Tia Belau because of lack of space)
BULLET CHESS BEFORE RAPID
ON MARCH 20
AS SUGGESTED by Rustum Cabuso, there will be a Bullet
chess competition before the start of 2016 Palau Rapid Chess Championship on
March 20 at Surangel Campaign Headquarters, within Mason’s Hardware premises,
starting at 2pm. Bullet chess time control, according to Palau Ratings Officer
Jamie Kenmure of Australia, is the fastest blitz chess in the world with a
minute for each player to finish the game + 1 second increment.
The
chess clocks that Palau Chess Federation usually used don’t work with 1 sec.
increment so it is set at 1 minute + 2 sec. increment. Lightning Chess time
control is 5 minutes flat or 3 min. + 2 seconds increment. The 2016 Palau Blitz
Chess Championship used the 5 minutes + 3 seconds increment format.
Registration
for PRCC is $5.00 for members and $10.00 for non-members while in the bullet it
will be $2.00 with the champion pocketing the half of the registration fee like
what have been done before the start of the 2016 PBCC, where Tito Cabunagan won
$12.00. The other half will be added to PCF fund.
In
this Rapid Chess Championship, there will be 9-round Swiss system format for
the Open while the women and junior division will be integrated with the same
9-round Swiss system. If there are only 10 contestants, it will be single
round-robin. The participants must play 2 games every Sunday in this 5-week
tourney where there will be one game only on the 5th week to be
followed by awarding of medals to the top 3 finishers in both divisions.
In the 2011 FIDE World Cup held
at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Judit Polgar played Sergey Karjakin, the youngest
player ever to be a GM (Grandmaster) at the age of 12 years, in the 3rd
round with the first moves as follows: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6
4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 [Vladimir
Kramnik was able to eliminate Gary Kasparov's white pieces in the London 2000
match with the help of this ambitious defense. Black is playing without
castling and with the worse pawn structure, but he can lean back on the
advantage of the bishop pair.]
On the 20th move,
Karjakin made a mistake with 20...Bxe6?
[Karjakin
is a brilliant talent from the Ukraine, but currently playing for Russia. The change
of the federation did not come cheap - the conditions for him had an implicit
guarantee of the Russian government. The goal is to groom a player with the
potential to win the world championship title. In the 2011 World Cup he had the
bad luck of meeting Judit Polgar who was coming back after longish maternity
leave at the height of her powers. The strongest woman player in history is not
afraid of any opponent. The Russian hope missed the chance to apply an unusual
solution. After the less appealing recapture with a pawn, chances would have
remained balanced.]
Polgar exploited this mistake till
the endgame where she won after 49.f4! [The charming finish is
reminiscent of the sharp intake of breath you experience at the moment, when
everything is beautiful around you. White will win the pawn endgame without any
effort, since the black king has to go to the far away a8–square.]
In the next round (4th),
Polgar is facing a very strong GM from Cuba Leinier Dominguez Perez. Here is
what Judit said about Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, where Roberto Hernandez and Tito
Cabunagan represented Palau for the first time in an Olympiad:
I got the chance to play in the 2011
World Cup at Khanty-Mansiysk due to having qualified from the European
Championship which was organized in France, Aix les Bains during spring. Not
only did I qualify but I played very well and ended up tying for first which
left me with the bronze medal.
My first visit to Siberia was in the World Cup
in 2009, when the weather was very memorable; one of the nights we went back to
the hotel and it was -38 Celsius! My second visit was the Olympiad in 2010. I
consider it was the best organized Olympiad that I have played in (I have
played in 8 Olympiads in my life so
far).This was my third occasion to play in Khanty-Mansiysk (by this time I had
no problems pronouncing it either:). The playing conditions were excellent, a
well organized event and fantastic live coverage during the event. We played in
the Chess Academy which was built specially to organize chess events. It is
very modern and in different parts of the building you can feel that chess is
respected and is in the center of attention, even the bathrooms have chess
motifs on the tiles).
The live coverage was something
which would be fantastic to have in future events. In the playing hall there
were 5 cameras following the games and the players’ facial expressions. One
could really feel the tension during the games while watching the transmission
live. During the round, commentaries were in two languages - in Russian and
English. The press room was always ready for a live press conference. Let's
move on to the game! This match was in round 4. I had won my previous matches,
the first against Corrales from Cuba, round 2 against Movsesian.
I won my first game in round 3 against
Karjakin who was the number 1 seeded player of the World Cup. In game 2 Sergey
was not able to equalize the match and I moved on to round 4! Against Dominguez
I had lost my first game with White, which meant that I was in a must-win
situation. I did not prepare much for the game, but was very much focused on
trying to play a long game and keep the game going. Thinking in the long run I
might get some chances. Obviously to win with Black against a very strong and
solid player as Dominguez is almost impossible.
Polgar eventually won in 112 moves!
Her commentaries of the game will be published next issue.
Solution to last week’s puzzle No.
3829: 1. Qxg7+!! Kxg7 2. Bf6+ Kg8 3. Nh6 mate. (Congratulations to father and
son Bruce and Kyle Soriano for solving this puzzle together).
This
week’s puzzle No. 3830: White to move and mates in 3 (Solution next issue)
Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9-10
Volume 25
Issue 23
March 21, 2016
Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)
The Beginning of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
To be published as a book in the future
Music and Me by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
March 15, 2012 -- April 2013
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
April 2013 --March 20, 2016
The History of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
June 09, 2002-March 20, 2016
MORE PHOTOS OF THE CHESS ACADEMY IN
KHANTY-MANSIYSK, RUSSIA
MORE PHOTOS OF THE CHESS ACADEMY IN
KHANTY-MANSIYSK, RUSSIA
