(302) BERNARDO GARCIA OF PPR IS PALAU'S FIRST TITLED PLAYER

CANDIDATE MASTER BERNARD GARCIA
Mind and physical health conditioning helped Bernardo Garcia, I. T. Manager at Palau Pacific Resort, in obtaining his Candidate Master (CM) title. He and his roommate Roberto Hernandez always excercise before taking breakfast and always use the stairs (6 floors to the buffet) as part of their conditioning. HEALTHY BODY, HEALTHY MIND- A CM TITLE!
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)



BERNARDO GARCIA OF PPR IS
PALAU'S FIRST TITLED PLAYER

PALAU'S first participation in a World Chess Olympiad bears fruit already with the acquisition of a Candidate Master (CM) title of Palau's board 3 player Bernardo Garcia of Palau Pacific Resort.

In the first 3 rounds, Palau was swept by very strong opponents (Qatar, Iraq and Maldives) with board 1 Roberto Hernandez bowing to Grandmaster Al-Modiahki, who beat Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and the gold medalist in 2010 Olympiad in Russia, in the 2nd round.

But in the 4th round, Garcia avoided another sweep to Palau by drawing his game against Hong Kong board- 3 Arthas Kun Qian, whose rating of 1983 is 320 higher than his FIDE rating of 1663.

In the 5th round, Palau scored its first match win by nipping US Virgin Islands 2.5 - 1.5 from a draw from Hernandez and wins from Garcia and board 4 Menandro Manuel.

Palau lost to Bermuda 1.5 - 2.5 but Garcia won his 2nd straight and Manuel drew his winning game due to health reason on the 30th move, the minimum number of moves before a player can offer a draw.

In the 7th round, although Palau lost again this time to Macau by a 1-3 margin, Garcia scored his 3rd straight for a total of 3.5 points in his first 7 games for an automatic Candidate Master title.

He didn't know yet that he's got a CM title before Palau's 8th round match-up with Rwanda, which ended in a 2-2 tie. He was informed by team captain Jamie Kenmure of Australia about his title and it somehow affected his game and his 3-game winning streak was snapped.

With the loss, his bigger achievement of getting a FIDE Master title is now gone, where he needs to score 6 points in 9 games or 7 points in 11 games.

In the 8th round also, Hernandez got his first whole point with a win over Theotime Rutaremara and Manuel had 2.5 points, with a little chance to get also his CM title if he can score 5.5 points in 11 games.

Palau's objective has been accomplished! Get the first FIDE title in its first participation.

Only 3 players obtained their CM title in this 2012 World Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey from Aug. 27 (Arrival) to Sept. 10, 2012 (Departure) by scoring 3.5 in their first 7 games.

Before the start of the final round on Sunday, Sept. 09, 75 players have obtained CM, FM and International Master (IM) titles.

WELL DONE, TEAM PALAU!!! YOU'LL DO BETTER IN 2014 TROMSO, NORWAY WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD AND TO THE 2016 BAKU, AZERBAIJAN WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD.



Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 14 & 17
Volume 21
Issue 67
September 24, 2012