Top semifinalist of Group A Paquito Suringa, Jr., left, played his Group A final game against Roberto Hernandez and watched by staff of PRR (L-R): Maricel Sapida, Pauline 'Pau' Umali and Rowena 'Weng' Victoria. Hernandez prevailed in 35 moves of Sicilian Defence to set a final showdown with Tito Cabunagan, who outwitted top seed Cyril Montel, Jr. in 57 moves of Queen's Gambit Declined.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
HERNANDEZ VS. TITO IN FINALS
THE penultimate round and semifinal of 2013 Rapid Chess Tournament was held at Bethlehem Park on Sunday, April 14, 2013. Some chess players/participants of the event are also basketball players. The park is just a few meters away from Palau National Gymnasium.
This suggestion to use the place as venue is an excellent way to promote chess. Some inactive chess players were able to practice with FIDE rated Palau players. Some games were also played like the Jaime dela Cruz vs. Mohammad Manik Hossain match (0-1), dela Cruz vs. Tito Cabunagan (0-1), Gene Pastrana vs. Hossain (0-1), Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. vs. Dennis Gonzales, which was declared a draw to save time.
The Group B semifinal between Cabunagan and Hossain was played first with Tito outwitting Manik. It was followed by Group A clash between Roberto Hernandez and Jeff Balbalosa in which Jeff lost when he miscalculated the exchange of queens that led to him losing a whole piece.
THE MOVES:
Hernandez, Roberto (White) 1 : 0 Balbalosa, Jeffrey (Black) Bethlehem Park, April 14, 2013
1. f4 c5 2. e4 a6 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. 0-0 Be7 7. d4 b5 8. Bb3 c5 9. Bc2 Nf6
10. e5 Nd5 11. exd6 Qxd6 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. fxe5 Qd7 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qf3 Bf8 16. Bg5 Bg7 17. Be4 0-0 18. Nd2 Bb7 19. b3 Rac8 20. bxc4 bxc4 21. Rab1 f5? 22. exf6 e.p. Bxf6 23. Rxb7 Qxb7 24. Bxf6 Rxf6 25. Qxf6 Nxf6 26. Bxb7 Black Resigned.
The other Group B semifinal between Cyril and Dennis is a good example of promoting chess by having the best players of Palau to be seen by crowd in person, up close and personal.
Cyril survived a relentless attack of Dennis to set a climactic Group B final game against Tito on Sunday, April 21, the final day of competition.
Group A top qualifier Paquito Suringa, Jr. arrived at the tournament site but his opponent Rafael Paloma didn’t show up. A match was set at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 2 on Thursday, Paquito’s day off, at 5 pm.
Their first game was a draw. They’ve been instructed to play another game if their first game ended in a draw. In their second game, Paquito prevailed and the Class A finals was set on Saturday at 11pm.
Paquito wrote the first 30 moves of their game. When he is running short of time, he stopped writing the moves. In their 2nd game, he didn’t write the moves likewise with his Group A final game with Roberto, who was the only player that wrote his moves in all of his games in the 2005-2006 Rapid Chess Tournament.
THE MOVES – Paquito Suringa, Jr. (White) vs. Roberto Hernandez (Black)
(FIDE Rating – 1717) (FIDE Rating – 1850)
1. e4 2. c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. h3 Nf6 4. d3 e6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Be2 Nc6 7. Qd2 b5 8. c3 Bb7 9. Na3 b4 10. Nc4 d5
11. exd5 exd5 12. Ne3 bxc3 13. Bxc3 d4 14. Nf5 0-0 15. 0-0 Re8 16. Rab1 dxc3 17. Qxc3 Bc8 18. Nxe7+
Qxe7 19. Be3 Nd5 20. Qxc5? Qxc5 21. Bxc5 Rxe2 22. a3 Bf5 23. Rb7 Bxd3 24. Ng5 f6 25. Nf3 Rc2
26. Bd6? Bxf1 27. Kxf1 Nc3 28. Kg1 Ne4 29. Bg3 Nxg3 30. fxg3 Re8 31. Nh4 Re1+ 32. Kh2 g5 33. Nf5 Ne5
34. Rb3 g4 35. Ne3 Rcc1 (White resigned)
In the 2004 Rapid Chess Tournament held at Parish Center for Migrants, Roberto was the only one who is writing the moves in spite of 30 minutes time control. When top seed Eddie Grefiel saw that Roberto is writing the moves, he volunteered to write the moves also. This is a very good sign of sportsmanship rarely seen today.
Roberto hopes that Cyril or Tito will write the moves also in the final game of 2013 Rapid Chess Tournament.
Solution to last week’s puzzle: 1. Qxe5!! dxe5 2. Rh8+ Kg7 3. R1h7 mate.
This week’s puzzle: White to move and mates in 3 (Solution next issue)
Source:
Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9 & 11
Volume 22
Issue 32
April 22, 2013
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