Third round matches between Craig Dittrich, left, vs. Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr. and Jaime Guevarra, 2nd from left, vs. Joel Flor. The giant chessboard with pieces now in the background was made by Roberto Hernandez 4 years ago as an added attraction to incite interest to chess in Palau mostly played outdoors. It's noisy most of the time but that's Palau's local chess!
INSET:
Michael Mercado -- Perfect 3-0 start.
Flavin Andres -- Shortest win of the tourney.
Jun Mahor -- Very active now.
(Photos by Roberto Hernandez)
BHOEY GOPEZ, LUCIO BANDIBAS,
ED MARTINEZ SPONSOR
5 TROPHIES;
BERNARD, MICHAEL, ELPI,
CRAIG SCORED 3RD WIN
MORE AND more supports are coming while the 2009 Palau National Chess Championship is on its penultimate qualifying round held on Saturday and Sunday (September 12 & 13, 2009) at D. J. Cruz General Merchandise premises.
Mr. Bhoey Gopez, the Operations and Logistics Manager of Island Logistics, Lucio Bandibas of WCTC and Ed Martinez of Print Zone are sponsoring 5 trophies. They are members of Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Palau chapter.
Mr. Ogie Pineda, his brother Bobby and Jun dela Cruz are ready to chip in for the cash prizes of the top 5 finishers of the NCC.
Mr. Gary Bekker, Oceania Zone President, is happy to fund any required application fees to have Palau Chess Federation affliated with Palau National Olympic Committee.
He will also seek for World Chess Federation (FIDE) Development Committee for several DGT clocks and a small laptop computer (netbook) to be provided to the PCF in the future.
Palau Chess Federation Secretary/Treasurer Roberto Hernandez responded with gratefulness to those persons especially to Mr. Bekker and asked him not to send DGT clocks as PCF has more clocks than chess boards and pieces.
Only 4 sets are left as players who left Palau for good brought with them these equipments.
Three employees of Palau Royal Resort (Jaime Guevarra, Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr. and Elizalde Madrinan) are having the same day off on Saturday (Sept. 13) and they all went to the tournament site at 4:00 pm after Hernandez set 3 matches: 1. Joel Flor vs. Guevarra 2. Craig Dittrich vs. Pax and 3. Elizalde vs. Flavin Andres.
The 'home court' advantage is not on their favor as Eli suffered his 3rd straight loss to Flavin in just 18 moves of Petroff Defence when Eli lost his queen on the 8th move.
Jaime upended Joel in 53 moves of Sicilian Defence while Pax became impatient and was drubbed by Craig in 45 moves of Queen's Gambit Declined.
Eli was completely ousted from the top 8 with another loss to Jose Misael de Jesus in 37 moves of Irregular Opening in their 4th round clash.
Jimboy earned his first point after succumbing to 3 unknown opponents in the earlier rounds.
And in the last game of Saturday, Mohammad Manik Hossain was also ousted from the top 8 race with another setback. He was outplayed by Joel in 54 moves of Center Counter game.
Six games were played on Sunday, Sept. 13 with Bernard Garcia collecting his 3rd win in a row after trouncing Elpidio Manaligod in 47 moves of King's Pawn Opening.
Tutii Joe Chilton got a win via default when Zaldy Necia didn't show up again to keep his chance intact with 1.5 points.
But Mario Ramos' chances got slimmer when he bowed to Andres 'Aying' Meztizo II in 35 moves of Pirc Defence while Tito Cabunagan toppled Bangladeshi bet Massum Billah in 51 moves of another Center Counter game.
Manaligod bounced back from defeat and dealt Cabunagan his 2nd loss via 48-move conquest of Cabunagan in their Ruy Lopez 4th round encounter.
The longest game so far was the last game of the day --Romeo Caballes vs. Craig Dittrich that lasted almost 4 hours with Craig's patient play paid off and put Caballes' chances hanging in the balance.
Their game is full of controversies such as illegal move, pressing the time clock when it's not his move and improper use of force in putting down or capturing a piece.
These are natural incidents for first-time participants like Caballes, who excelled in badminton and many times single, doubles champion of the sport.
Players are reminded that the time control is 90 minutes to make 40 moves (not 30 moves as earlier announed) and 30 minutes more to finish the game with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 1.
STANDINGS OF PLAYERS AND THEIR WIN-LOSS-DRAW SLATE:
1. Bernard Garcia (3-0-0) 2. Michael Mercado (3-0-0) 3. Elpidio Manaligod (3-1-0) 4. Craig Dittrich (3-1-0) 5. Andres Mestizo II (2-1-0) 6. Jun Mahor (2-1-0) 7. Jaime Guevarra (2-1-1) 8. Paquito Suringa, Jr. (2-1-1) 9. Romeo Caballes (2-2-0) 10. Tito Cabunagan (2-2-0) 11. Joel Flor (2-2-0) 12. Flavin Andres (1-1-1) 13. Tutii Joe Chilton (1-1-1) 14. Val Vidar (1-2-0) 15. Massum Billah (1-2-0) 16. Mario Ramos (1-2-0) 17. Mohammad Manik Hossain (1-3-0) 18. Jose Misael de Jesus (1-3-0)19. Zaldy Necia (0-3-0) 20. Elizalde Madrinan (0-4-0).
The last game of the 3rd round between 8
Jun Mahor and Michael Mercado was played on the eve of Sept. 17, 2009 and Mercado prevailed in 50 moves of Queen's Pawn Opening to set up a match of 2 unbeated players --Bernard Garcia and Michael Mercado on Sunday's 4th round matches.
The Guevarra vs. Suringa, Jr. game was played likewise on Sept. 17 at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 and it's a draw in 34 moves of Sicilian Defence.
Another new player would like to join. He was advised to show up on Sunday, Sept. 20 and might replace Zaldy Necia.
He can not play anymore in the 2009 PNCC finals. His last 2 games is probably against Ramos and Madrinan in the 5th round.
The other 4th round matches are: 1. Vidar vs. Andres 2. Chilton vs. Billah and 3. Mahor vs. Mestizo II.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
Issue 38
September 21-27, 2009
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