(244) DITTRICH, CABALLES NARROWLY MADE IT; MERCADO AT 5-0

PAQUITO SURINGA CUP AT PRR DORM 1

2009 Palau National Chess Championship finalist Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr., right, organized the inaugural 'Cup' under his name with 6 chess neophytes participating. Joel Gabris, 2nd from left, Ferdie Altea, left, Morris Apresto, George Gabris, Jerome Ratunil and Rey Alenain, 2nd from right, who finished the single round-robin event with a 2-3 win-loss slate. Ratunil is 3-2 while Apresto is yet to lose a match at 4-0.

INSET:

Kristen Senajon -- Added excitement in Class B

Rustum Cabuso -- 3rd youngest participant

Bernard Garcia -- Darkhorse of the finals.

(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

DITTRICH, CABALLES

NARROWLY MADE IT;

MERCADO AT 5-0

THE TOP 8 qualifiers to the 2009 Palau National Chess Championship are now official with Craig Dittrich and Romeo Caballes narrowly making it despite Dittrich's loss to unbeaten Michael Mercado in just 18 moves of Queen's Gambit Declined.

Caballes' win over Andres 'Aying' Mestizo II in 37 moves of Queen's Pawn Opening secured Dittrich the number 7 spot and Romeo edged out Joel Flor at 8th place with a 9-7.5 tiebreak points.

Joel got his 3rd point via default win over Bernard Garcia, who made it to the finals with the highest tiebreak points of 12.5.

Earlier on Sept. 27 Sunday afternoon at D. J. Cruz General Merchandise premises, Elpidio Manaligod and Jun Mahor drew their 5th round game in 29 moves of King's Pawn Openig to avoid a jam-packed of 9 players with 3 points.

Mario Ramos won by default of Tutii Joe Chilton while the Tito Cabunagan vs. Flavin Andres match was declared a draw as Flavin didn't show up and Tito and his wife went to Guam for 2 weeks on Friday night.

Had Tito didn't go to Guam, he would have tied Craig and Romeo. And with the win-over-the-other tiebeak, Craig will make it. But still, Romeo will prevail in the second tiebreak of playing with the black pieces more (3 times) than Tito (2 times).

The Mohammad Manik Hossain vs. Elizalde Madrinan match was also a default draw while Jose Misael de Jesus got his 2nd point when the replacement of Zaldy Necia, Panfilo Pepito, Jr., didn't show up.

FINAL STANDINGS OF 20 PLAYERS AND THEIR WIN-LOSS-DRAW RECORD:

1. Michael Mercado (5-0-0) 2. Jun Mahor (3-1-1) 3. Elpidio Manaligod (3-1-1) 4. Bernard Garcia (3-2-0) 5. Paquito Suringa, Jr. (2-1-2) 6. Masum Billah (3-2-0) 7. Craig Dittrich (3-2-0) 8. Romeo Caballes (3-2-0) 9. Joel Flor (3-2-0) 10. Mario Ramos (3-2-0) 11. Tito Cabunagan (2-2-1) 12. Jaime Guevarra (2-2-1) 13. Andres Mestizo II (2-3-0) 14. Val Vidar (2-3-0) 15. Jose Misael de Jesus (2-3-0) 16. Flavin Andres (1-2-2) 17. Tutii Joe Chilton (1-3-1) 18. Mohammad Manik Hossain (1-3-1) 19. Elizalde Madrinan (0-4-1) 20. Panfilo Pepito, Jr. (0-5-0)

The 12-man NCC finals have been drawn and it's as follows:

1. Paquito Suringa, Jr. 2. Elpidio Manaligod 3. Roberto Hernandez 4. Jun Mahor 5. Michael Mercado 6. Cyril Montel, Jr. 7. Gene Pastrana 8. Masum Billah 9. Bernard Garcia 10. Craig Dittrich 11. Menandro Manuel 12. Romeo Caballes

THE CLASS B group (non-qualifiers) has been drawn likewise as:

1. Tutii Joe Chilton 2. Jaime Guevarra 3. Flavin Andres 4. Mario Ramos 5. Joel Flor 6. Jose Misael de Jesus 7. Elizalde Madrinan 8. Mohammad Manik Hossain 9. Val Vidar 10. Tito Cabunagan 11. Andres Mestizo II 12. Panfilo Pepito, Jr.

Kristen Senajon, an 18-year-old chess neophyte, has joined the Class B group to become the first women to participate in a Palau chess tourney in 3 years.

The last time that women participated in Palau's tilt was during the inaugural Ambassador Marino Cup in 2006. The 3 ladies were Flor Hernandez, Juvy Bulan and Minda Roa.

Rustum Cabuso, a 25-year old newcomer, joined the bandwagon of a very strong Class B. After Kristen paid her $10.00 registration fee, Rustum paid half of his to set up a 14-player round-robin slam bang.

The 2009 Palau National Chess Championship is sponsored by Jun dela Cruz, Bobby and Ogie Pineda of PALIBHASA ($60.00 cash prizes) and by members of Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Palau Chapter Mr. Bhoey Gopez of Island Logistics, Mr. Lucio Bandibas of WCTC and Mr. Ed Martinez of Print Zone.

Mr. Gopez is also planning to have a banner for this ongoing tournament.

Source: 

Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper

Pages 13 & 15

Volume 18

Issue 40

October 05-11, 2009