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
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
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