10-year old Daniel Lapitan reviewing the previous game in the Oceania Zonal Chess Championship and Gold Coast Open with Palau's representative Roberto Hernandez. The boy and his parents became friends with Hernandez together with Ric Ambatali, a part-time chess coach.
(Photo by Raymond Lapitan)
MIXED CHESS NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA
DURING THE penultimate round of Oceania Zonal Chess Championship, 10-year old Daniel Lapitan, with a rating of 1287, is up against Caleb Ericksson (1257).
Palau's lone representative Roberto Hernandez saw Daniel's mother Nancy very worried about Ericksson's constant standing and leaving the tournament site with women's division participant Sally Yu always following him and discuss chess. This was noticed by Nancy twice and Hernandez once.
Nancy called the attention of event organizer Graeme Gardiner and upon seeing them together again, he talked to them and Ericksson concentrated on the game on his own.
The game eventually ended in a fighting draw. Daniel defeated Fiji's No. 1 Damian Norris in the final round to finish with 3.5 points in 9 games.
And in the Gold Coast Open, he scored 3 points in 7 games, also half point ahead of Hernandez.
Through emails, Daniel's father Raymond said that Daniel participated in the Junior State Championship right after the Gold Coast Open. He won the under-10 Division. He wants to compete in the Under-12 Division but was not allowed by the organizers.
According to Ric Ambatali, part-time chess coach of Queensland School of Chess, "Daniel scores 8 wins and no losses. So we see the potential of this young player. He is just almost 2 years in playing active chess. Just imagine, 2 years? How much more in his 4th year in the future?"
Right from the start when he met the Lapitan family in the Gold Coast Tin Cup 2007, he told Raymond, "Your son Daniel got genuine and special talent in chess. And here are the results, very convincing results.
Just after the GC Open , I played Daniel some games to assess and test his strength. Again, I'm not mistaken. His playing strength is really getting stronger. I beat him only because I know already his style of play but you really have to sweat a lot before you beat him.
Once in a while, I used some adults and street-style chess. Although he is getting stronger with his play, he still needs some polishing to make him tough and stable. His parents are really, really amazing. Complete support.
They are with him always even in Western Australia and Sydney. Sometimes they spent AU$6,000.00 for one tournament that Daniel has participated.
Raymond has given up the top position in his job to accomodate Daniel's schedule of tournaments mostly on weekends. What a wonderful couple! They are one of the ingredients in making a future junior world champion."
In the Oceania Chess Zone Developmental meeting on June 23, 2009, Palau is mentioned in the minutes submitted by Oceania Zone President Gary Bekker in
1. Report from Oceania Chess Federations as: "Palau is a new federation but has had success in the area of publicity with coverage in Newspapers and on television. They are organizing regular tournaments and junior events.
2. Major chess events in Oceania:- Asian Chess Championship will be held in Subic Bay, Philippines during May 2010. Oceania Chess Federations are encouraged to send a representative as entry and full board is usually provided for the official representative from each country. The Zone President pledged financial support for a representative from Palau to take part.
5. Starter kit for new clubs and emerging federations - Distribution media- "USB flash drive is probably the best inexpensive option. The Zone President Gary Bekker, also suggested the possibility that each emerging Federation be provided with a netbook computer pre-loaded with the software and resources listed below. The CACDEC Secretary Rupert Jones, indicated that CACDEC might look favorably on such a proposal, with the view of funding it. Zone President to follow up. --items for inclusion: 1. FIDE Laws of Chess 2. Oceania Contact List 3. Swiss Perfect 4. Chessbase and Fritz 5. Internet chess account.
7. Sponsorship and financial support for chess -- Publicity and Media. - Again, often the smaller Oceania federations had greater success in achieving a good level of publicity and media interest for chess. The publicity and interest generated in the Solomon Islands and the regular chess news column in Tia Belau (Palau) were cited as good examples of what can be achieved. Larger federations need to appoint a publicity and fundraising officer if possible, in order to generate regular good publicity and a public profile for chess.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper July 20-26, 2009
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