CYRIL TOMAS MONTEL, JR.
PROFILE OF A CHAMPION
DURING THE first ever chess tournament in Palau in June 09, 2002, Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. is just an expectator. When he thought that he is ready for serious chess competition, he is the first one to register in the
1.) 2002 Open Chess tournament held at Mindzenty Auditorium from Sept. 15- Dec. 01, and finished in 10th place out of 28 participants with a win-loss-draw record of 17-7-3.
Since then, he never missed a major chess tournament and never been a champion except in the currently concluded 2009 Palau National Chess Championship.
Here are the other results of all the events that he participated:
2.) 3rd runner-up in the 2003 Open with a 9-4-2 record in Class A held from January 12-April 27, 2003 at Image Restaurant and Sports Bar.
3.) 1st runner-up in the Class A of 2003 Age Group Chess tournament held from May 25-August 24 with a 6-3-0 slate held at The Filipino Community in Palau (TFCP) office beside Palasia Hotel.
4. Tied with Jun Mahor, Bong Alipoon, Ivan II Chess Computer and Jimmy Valenzuela at 2nd runner-up in the 2003 Seniors and Juniors chess tournament held at C & N Refrigeration & Air Con Shop from Sept. 21- Dec. 14 with an identical record of 7-4-2. His approximate rating now is 1740.
5.) Tied with Roberto Hernandez at 6th-7th spot in the 2004 Non-master chess tourney with 8-6-0 card held from Jan. 11- April 11, 2004. He committed an illegal move against eventual champ Jess Toldoya. His rating now is 1782.
6.) His 2nd worst finish in a tournament was in the 2004 Open where he scored only 2 wins, lost 5 and drew one game to finish 8th among 9 contestants in Class A held from July 11-Oct. 03, 2004 at Filco Thrift Mart in Malakal. His rating of 1804 dropped to 1799.
7.) With big improvement, he tied Menandro Manuel and Jose Omega at 4th-6th spot in the 2004 Rapid Chess tournament held from Oct. 24 - Dec. 19 at Parish Center for Migrants with 11-4-2 card. His rating soars to 1940. He tied Hernandez at 3rd in blitz chess at Image Restaurant during the Christmas party of Knights and Rooks Chess Club (Palau). Eddie Grefiel and Manuel are co-champions of that event.
8.) Tied with Omega and Alipoon at 3rd - 5th in the 2005 Regular Chess tourney held from Jan. 16- April 17, 2005 at Privilege Store premises with 15-3-3 slate. He gained 104 rating points and now 4th seed at 2044. Finished 4th in blitz chess tilt (4-7-1) held on April 24, 2005 behind Hernandez, Alipoon and Valenzuela.
9.) Almost became the champion of 2005 Open when he missed a winning move in his adjourned game with Omega. He finished 3rd instead with a 12-3-0 record of the tilt held from May 22 - Sept. 25, 2005. His rating now is 2101. He was 7-5-0 and 3rd in the Mid-Year Blitz Chess Festival won by Hernandez (10-2-0) followed by Manuel at 8-2-2 on July 10. On July 24, he was 6th and 4th on Aug. 07 won both by Manuel. He was 5th place in the Aug. 14 blitz chess tourney won by Manny Nedic and Manuel. He won his first blitz chess title on Sept. 04, 2005 with co-champion Manuel at both 5-1-0 card.
10.) He was tied at 4th - 5th with Alipoon in the 2005-2006 Rapid Chess tournament held for the first time at Jean's Boutique and Store from Oct. 23, 2005- Feb. 12, 2006 with 39-11-6 slate and was 3rd in the Christmas Blitz Chess Festival held on Dec. 18, 2005 with 5-2-2 record. Hernandez topped the event with 8-1-0 followed by Edwin Eti at 7-1-1. Cyril struggled again in Jan. 29, 2006 blitz chess tourney with a 3-4-0 record, good only 6th place. Nedic won it with 6-1-0 card. They are tied at 3rd and 4th in the one-day blitz chess tilt in Feb. 19, 2006 at both record 4-3-0. Hernandez and Eti shared top prize at 6-1-0 identical card.
11.) At the 2006 Palau National Chess Championship, he could have been Palau's first National Master if the tourney stick to its single round-robin format held from March 19-August 06. He's leading the field of 12 players when the organizers decided to have a double round-robin instead and he finished with 15-3-4 record behind co-champion Nedic and Manuel at 17-3-2 and 18-4-0 respectively. He was 4th in the pre-championship blitz chess tourney in March 05 at 2-5-1. Gene Pastrana won his first and only blitz chess title with co-champion Hernandez at 5-1-2 and 6-2-0 slate respectively. He struggled again in March 19 and placed 6th at 3-4-0. Nedic and Eti are co-champs at 5-2-0 and 4-1-2 respectively. He was 4th again twice in March 26 (3-3-0) and April 02 (3-5-0) which was won by Manuel (6-0-0) and Hernandez (5-1-2). He improved at 3rd place in April 16 at 4-4-0 won by Manuel (7-1-0). Cyril finished 4th twice again in the next blitz chess tilt held in April 23 and 30 at 3-3-0 and 5-7-0 respectively. Eti won both events.
Cyril tied Hernandez at 2nd and 3rd place in May 07 blitz chess contest at both 5-3-0 record and won by Manuel.
In the Invitational Blitz Chess tournament participated in by Honorary Lifetime FIDE President Florencio Campomanes in May 14, 2006, Cyril is tied at 6th - 7th spot with Pastrana at both 2-5-0 slate. Campomanes won it undefeated at 6-0-1. Nedic was the only one to draw with Campo.
Cyril was 4th again (3-6-1) in May 21 with Manuel winning unbeaten (10-0-0). Finally, Cyril won his 2nd blitz chess title in May 28 with 7-3-0 slate. Eti and Hernandez were 2nd and 3rd at 5-3-2 identical record.
12.) At the 2006 Ambassador Marino Cup Rapid Chess tournament, he finished 4th again in the rated division at Philippine Embassy office. He finished with a 7-3-0 record and received $50.00 cash prize. Omega and Hernandez split the $300.00 1st and 2nd prize. Omega prevailed in one game playoff to get the nicely crafted glass trophy.
13.) And in the 2006 Palau Invitational Chess Championship held at Palau Royal Resort and Palasia Hotel in Aug. 31- Sept. 04, he scored 3.5 points from 1-3-5 record and finished in 7th place. His lone win was against (5th) Gary Bekker , the Oceania Zone President from Australia. He drew with eventual champion Hilton Bennett of New Zealand and his compatriot (3rd) Paul Spiller, (6th) Pastrana, (8th) Omega and (9th) Nedic. He lost to (4th) Manuel, (10th) Hernandez and USA and Philippine Chess Master Almario Marlon Bernardino, the top seed but finished only 2nd.
14.) Cyril was 7th again in 2006 Rapid Chess tournament held from Oct. 01-Dec. 17 with 9-8-3 card and won $20.00. Tony Villa and Manuel shared the title at 13-3-4 and 14-4-2 slate respectively and split the $175.00 cash prize. In Nov. 12 blitz chess contest, he was 5th at 3-5-4. Villa, blitz chess specialist, started his domination in speed chess. He won 4 of last 6 blitz chess contest. Cyril is 7th in Nov. 19 and 4th in Nov. 26. And in the last blitz chess contest held for 2006 in Dec. 10, Cyril was 6th at 4-8-0.
15.) At the 2007 Rated and Unrated Chess tournament held from Jan. 28-May 05, Cyril was 7th again at 2-3-4 with Hernandez, Nedic and Villa sharing the title with 7 points each.
16.) In his worst performance in 5 years, Cyril was in the cellar of 2nd Ambassador Marino Cup Invitational Chess tournament held from Sept. 15-21, 2007 with 1-6-2 dismal record. Boris Michael Diez (FIDE rating 2180) and Manuel topped the event with identical 6-1-2 record followed by Nedic (5-3-1) and Boris' father Allan (5-3-1), Villa (4-3-2), Omega (3-4-2), Hernandez (3-5-1), Pastrana (0-3-6) and Craig Dittrich (1-5-3).
17.) In the 2007-2008 Open Rapid Chess tilt, he was 3rd with 21-5-4. Villa and Nedic share the title with an identical 23-4-3 card.
18.) Finally, in the unfinished 2008 National Chess Championship, he had 5-3-1 slate. Villa (14-2-1), Omega (12-3-0), Dittrich (9-6-2), Nedic (10-3-0), Hernandez (9-4-1), Jimboy de Jesus (7-6-1), Manuel (6-1-1), Dennis Lara (5-4-2), Jaime Guevarra (3-5-2), Elpidio Manaligod (3-5-1), Paquito Suringa, Jr. (3-7-0), Andres Mestizo II (2-9-2), Michael Mercado (2-6-2), Mohammad Manik Hossain (2-12-1), Eric Espartero (2-2-0), Patrana (2-3-0), Geary Ken Pastrana (0-2-2), Arnel Pama (0-9-0).
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper Volume 19 Issue 04 February 01-06, 2010
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