(317) 2012 PNCC STARTS WITH FANFARE

CEREMONIAL FIRST MOVE
PRR's new GM Masayuki Kawaguchi, right, plays 1. e4 as ceremonial first move against 9-year-old Angelil Sisior in the opening day of 2012 PNCC at PRR Conference Room on Oct. 13. From left, CM Bernard Garcia, Angie Parrado, Destiny Sisior, Roberto Hernandez, Paquito Suringa, Jr., Paz Ngiratechekii, Freddie Gloria, Flor Hernandez, James dela Cruz and Menandro Manuel. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)





2012 PNCC STARTS WITH FANFARE

PALAU Royal Resort’s new General Manager Mr. Masayuki Kawaguchi made the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Palau National Chess Championship a memorable one by giving an inspirational speech and full support of the tournament held at PRR Conference Room on Oct. 13, 2012.

In attendance were Angie Parrado and her 2 daughters Destiny Sisior and Angelil Sisior, Jaime ‘James’ dela Cruz, 65-year-old Paz Ngiratechekii, Jeff Balbalosa, Paquito Suringa, Jr., Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr., CM Bernardo Garcia, Ma. Florida Hernandez, Freddie Gloria, Menandro Manuel and Mohammad Manik Hossain.

Palau Chess Federation Secretary/Treasurer Roberto Hernandez was the emcee and led the opening prayer and the giving of token of appreciation to Mr. Kawaguchi – 2 pieces of Istanbul magnet (from Roberto and Bernard) and a dark-chocolate from Turkey.

In the ceremonial first move, Mr. Kawaguchi was pitted against 9-year-old Angelil and being surrounded by all participants for a group photo. The first game in the 1600 and below category featured the youngest and the oldest participants with Destiny out-dueled the widowed Paz in an uncertain number of moves as they didn’t write their chess notations.

In the only game in the top 8 category, Suringa had the black pieces against Manuel with the latter prevailing in 44 moves of Pirc Defence. Paz suffered his 2^nd loss after being mated by Angelil in 61 moves King’s Pawn Opening. Paz wrote only 2 moves in the score sheet while Angelil had written all 61 moves to the end.

Freddie Gloria of Dragon Tei, replaced Ma. Florida Hernandez and he dealt Angelil her first loss in 38 moves of French Defence. Freddie left the Conference Room of PRR before 4 pm to report for work. He will come back again tomorrow for at least 2 more games because it’s his day off.

Manik came past 3pm and he played an official game against Balbalosa and he was mated in 43 moves of another French Defence. Destiny refused to play against James and instead, her mom was asked to play against him. Their see-saw game ended in a draw after more than 100 moves as Angie can mate James’ king in 50 moves with 2 bishops and a king to James lone king.

James scored his first full point with a win over Manik in 36 moves of Irregular Opening (James opened with 1. c3). Manik has an over-whelming advantage but lost the initiative with consecutive blunders. There’s still 58 minutes left in his clock. Their time control is 75 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Roberto, Bernard and Cyril didn’t play a game today. Roberto and Menandro are scheduled to play on Sunday, Oct. 14 at 3:00 pm. And in the last game of the day, James scored the quickest win of the event with a 4-move victory over Paz, who is very unfamiliar with 1. e4 2. Qf3 3. Bc4 and 4. Qxf7 mate.

After all regular games were finished, Roberto, Paquito, Menandro and Cyril had a double round-robin blitz chess contest. Roberto lost his first game to Cyril but scored 4 straight by sweeping Paquito and Menandro, who swept Cyril and Paquito in return. Cyril and Paquito drew their 2^nd game and his last game with Roberto will decide the outcome of the contest. If he will lose or draw, Roberto will be the champion by himself. If he will win, Roberto and Menandro will share the title. Roberto lost his rook and he shared the title with Menandro.

The following is the speech of Bernard Garcia in the Opening Ceremony of 2012 PNCC:

I will start my remarks with the quote from Plato - classical Greek Philosopher

"Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others."

For Palau Chess Federations, those good actions are support and assistance that PALAU ROYAL RESORT, PALAU PACIFIC RESORT and other sponsors have done for the past tournaments. Good actions that Roberto has done to promote chess in Palau. Good actions that Palau chess players have done in participating and supporting Palau Chess Federation Tournaments. Good actions from our chess friends abroad, our team captain Jamie of Australia, Jan Berglund of Sweden and Joselito Marcos of PNG who keeps on assisting and supporting us.

All those Good actions give strengths to ourselves and inspire good actions to others. After witnessing all those good actions, Palau Chess players get inspired to be part and participate in World Chess Olympiad. Palau Chess Team gets inspired to accept the challenge and compete against world’s best to show the world we may be in the very small island but we have big hearts, we are determined and we play chess.

Playing in World Chess Olympiad is a dream comes true for me. Getting a Candidate Master is just so unexpected, I cannot even believe it myself when I first learned about it. I would have not done it without the help of Palau Chess Team, the sponsors and all Palau Chess Federation members. It was a wonderful experience visiting other country and meeting other chess players all over the world.

PALAU ROYAL RESORT, PALAU PACIFIC RESORT and other sponsors good actions inspire us to make history, to achieve our goals.

I hope PALAU ROYAL RESORT, PALAU PACIFIC RESORT and other sponsors will continue to support us. I hope other companies will also support Palau Chess Federation. I hope all Palau chess players will do all their best to make all tournaments and projects a success.

For the Palau National Chess Championship participants, have fun and let the games begin. Thank you very much.



Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 14 & 15
Volume 21
Issue 73
October 15, 2012