2 men in black from Surangel and Sons, Menandro Manuel and Jeff Balbalosa, watch the 2 men in red, Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr., left, and Tito Cabunagan, playing their first game of the 2012 PNCC. Pax lost this game being ahead by 2 pawns and couldn't sleep that night.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
HERNANDEZ, BALBALOSA
LEAD CLASS A, B
IT'S BEEN the busiest Sunday of the 2012 Palau National Chess Championship with 16 games played and another 3 games played on Monday afternoon, Nov. 12.
Jeff Balbalosa played 3 games and won it all. He subdued Zachary Techall Whipps in just 12 moves of King’s Pawn Opening; made short work of Angelil Sisior in 24 moves of Giocco Piano and outlasted Geoff Martin in 59 moves of Sicilian Defence for a total of 8 points from 7 wins, a loss and 2 draws.
Dennis Gonzales is just half point behind Balbalosa after scoring 2 full points over Jon Manuel Reyes in 30 moves and against Ksau Anthony Whipps in 38 moves of Irregular Opening for a 7-1-1 win-loss-draw slate.
Angie Parrado played only one game, a win over Reyes in 35 moves of Center Counter, and now in 3rd spot with a 4-2-2 card and a total of 5 points.
Luciano ‘Bong’Sibayan won 2 games on Sunday and 1 game on Monday to share 3rdplace with Angie. He clobbered Angelil Sisior in 45 moves of Bishop Opening and trounced Bheng Codinera Mendoza in 33 moves of Queen’s Pawn Opening.
Mendoza lost a game earlier to Dan Roldan in 35 moves of King’s Pawn Opening. She is playing in a possible replacement for Paz Ngiratechekii, who hadn’t showed up in the last 4 weeks.
With the withdrawal of Lenge Gibbons, Mendoza will officially replace Gibbons and will play as many games as she can in the last 3 weeks of the tournament.
Nilo de Jesus, the remaining undefeated player in Class B, didn’t show up last Sunday but kept abreast with the leaders with his clean 4-0-0 record. He will play as many games as he can on the last 3 Saturdays and Sundays of the event.
Dan Roldan tied Nilo and Jaime dela Cruz (3-1-2) at 5th place after winning over Zachary in 17 moves of King’s Pawn Opening; over Bheng (Paz) in 35 moves of another KPO and against Angelil in 17 moves of yet another KPO. He lost to Martin in 28 moves of… what do you think? Another KPO! He lost another one on Monday against Mohammad Manik Hossain, who climbed from 0-2 slate to 3-3-1 after nipping Ferdinand Gutierrez (1567 rating) and Roldan. He is now at solo 8thspot followed by Ksau and Zachary with both (3-4-0), Angelil (3-7-0), Freddie Gloria (2-1-0), Martin (2-3-0), Destiny Sisior and Mary Frances Lopez (2-5-0), Elpidio Manaligod (1-1-0), Reyes (1-3-0), Gutierrez (0-1-0) and Paz (0-5-0).
In the Class A division, only 3 games were played on Sunday, Nov. 11. Menandro Manuel drubbed Gonzalo ‘Jojo’ Escapatoria in 28 moves of Sicilian Defence. Paquito ‘Pax’Suringa, Jr. was ahead by 2 pawns but lost when he rushed things to Tito Cabunagan in 60 moves of another Sicilian Defence. Pax can’t sleep that night for letting a win slipped away.
But he bounced back from defeat and dealt Jojo his 5 consecutive losses with a 27-move conquest of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted.
The Class A standings is quite interesting—1. Hernandez at 1st with a 7-2-0 slate for a total of 7 points and the rest, from 2nd to 6thspot have identical number of wins – 4! Candidate Master Bernard Garcia has 2 losses, Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. and Cabunagan have 3 losses, Manuel had 5 and Pax had 6.
At no. 7 is Jose Celiz with 1-2-0 card and at the cellar is Jojo who hadn’t scored a point yet.
Source:
Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 8-9
Volume 21
Issue 83
November 19, 2012
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