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| EM-R DE VERA --first title, first tournament, 2nd Palau Junior Champion. |
FOURTEEN-YEAR old Em-R de Vera clinched his first ever chess title in his very first tournament on Sunday, December 12, 2004 in the penultimate round of the 2004 Rapid Chess tournament held at Parish Center for Migrants and sponsored by The Filipino Community in Palau (TFCP), Margarita Borja Dalton and Kabayan Restaurant.
De Vera defeated 1st runner-up finisher Chris Domingo (2-1) in their best of three series. He later drew with Ivan II Chess Computer by stalemate when he promoted his pawn to another queen that resulted to Ivan's escaping with a draw.
He lost his second game with the black pieces and finished the tilt with a 6-1-1 win-loss-draw record. Domingo is 5-3-0, Ivan II 2-2-4, Jayrome Soriano 1-4-3 and Kelvin Cuenco, who showed up only one time, is 1-5-2. Soriano and Cuenco lost their remaining matches by default.
In the senior division, Eddie Grefiel (14-2-0) defeated Mariano Agustin, Jr. (4-9-0) and won by default over newcomer Wilson Milambiling and Pastor Fontanilla to virtually clinch his third title with one game left against his co-employee Joel Azana (5-8-3).
Even if he loses his final round game, Grefiel will have a higher tiebreak over Roberto Hernandez (14-3-0) using the Sonnenborn Bergen system that adds the points of the opponents that a player had beaten to his total points.
Jimboy de Jesus (12-4-1) clinched 3rd place with a win over Agustin, Jr. and 2 default victories over Milambiling and Fontanilla. He lost his final round game to Ivan II Chess Computer.
Jose Omega (12-5-0) and Cyril Montel, Jr. are tied at 4th and another player, Menandro Manuel (10-5-0) can force a 3-way tie if he will win his last 2 remaining games on Sunday. He is in Yap for a 5-day job assignment.
The 3-way tie possibility occurred when Omega lost 3 games in a row to Ivan II, Hernandez in 43 moves of a Sicilian Defence and Bong Alipoon (9-8-0). If Manuel will win his last 2 games, he will be the 3rd runner-up. Montel, Jr. will clinch 4th runner-up and Omega will drop to 6th place.
OTHER COMPLETED PENULTIMATE ROUND GAMES: Gene Pastrana (8-9-0) upset Jimmy Valenzuela (8-7-1) but lost to Ivan II (9-3-3-). Alipoon beat Agustin, Jr. and Valenzuela lost to Ivan II by time forfeit in a hopeless position. He had a knight and a king against Ivan's 2 pawns, king and a bishop.
Milambiling (2-11-4) lost by default to the following: Grefiel, Hernandez, Pastrana, Manuel, Valenzuela, Montel, Jr., Omega, de Jesus, de Guzman and Morton Sawaichi (5-12-0). Fontanilla (0-12-5) lost by default also to the first 7 players and to Alipoon, de Jesus and Sawaichi.
Milambiling has default draws with Ivan II, Mike Miguel, Jr. (0-14-3), co-employee Fontanilla and Azana while Fontanilla's default draws were with Ivan II, Muguel, Jr., Azana and Dennis Gonzales (3-11-3), who called the chairman that he can't finish the tourney and will prepare for the next tournament on Jan. 16, 2005 where the time control will be longer and will give $50.00 for the brilliancy game for the player who will write chess notations during the game.
The winning brilliancy game is subject for review by Grefiel, Hernandez, Manuel and Montel, Jr.
FINAL ROUND PAIRINGS: (First name to play white) Azana vs. Grefiel; Manuel vs. Ivan II; Ivan II vs. Agustin, Jr.; Agustin, Jr. vs. Manuel; de Guzman vs. Agustin, Jr. and Agustin, Jr. vs. Valenzuela.
Knights and Rooks Chess Club Christmas party will be held after the completion of all final round games at Image Restaurant parking area. A one-day blitz chess fest will follow and the introduction of a giant chess board made by Hernandez to feature crucial games so the crowd can watch from a far distance.
Awarding of trophies for the 2004 Open and the current tournament will also be held. Players who wish to participate in the party and blitz chess tilt are requested to contribute $10.00 for food, drinks and a little cash for the next blitz chess king.
Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
December 17-24, 2004
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