Francis 'Sno' Temaungil, middle, sits in the same spot where he was shot point blank by an air gun by a teen-age Palauan boy. Roberto Hernandez was the lone witness when he saw the window of a car go down, the boy sitting at the back of the car pointed the air gun to Sno and fired one shot hitting Sno's nape. The window goes up and the car sped away. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
I will never forget that date -- May 14, 2006.
Former FIDE President and the Honorary Lifetime President of World Chess Federation (FIDE) Florencio Campomanes visited Palau in May 11-14, 2006.
He checked in at Palau Royal Resort and in the morning of his first day in Palau, Roberto Hernandez, Gene Pastrana, Francis 'Sno' Temaungil and Palau Horizon reporter Nazario 'Jun' Rodriguez visited him at the lobby.
After some chess talks at the lobby, we proceed to the Philippine Embassy to have a courtesy call with Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino.
On the day of his departure back to Philippines, Campomanes organized a blitz chess tourney in which he is the top seed and participated in by the top 7 players of Palau -- Menandro Manuel, Manny Nedic, Roberto Hernandez, Cyril Montel, Jr., Gene Pastrana, Jimmy Valenzuela and Jess Toldoya.
That will be after the regular games of 2006 Palau National Chess Championship
where Sno is one of the participant.
A lot of games are ongoing with Sno playing with his back on the main road. It's about 7:00 pm at that time and I'm watching the games from the sideline.
There's a little bit of traffic when a black car slowed down. The passenger side window open up, a young Palauan boy put out his air gun and pointed it to Sno and fired it at point blank - about 2 feet.
Nobody heard the shot as it is noisy with car engines and other street noises. The shot hit Sno's nape. HE STILL CONTINUES PLAYING.
The pellet of the airgun is just like a mosquito bite to him. I saw him touch the part where the pellet hit him and he wipes the blood.
When he noticed that there's some blood and not blood from dead mosquitoes, he stopped playing and when he realized that he was shot by an air gun, he go to his sports car and bring himself to the hospital.
I told Campomanes what happened to Sno and he's worried and ask somebody to follow him to the hospital to see how's he doing.
Everything is okay with Sno absorbing the impact of an air gun. It's good that firearms is not a common sight in Palau. If Sno was shot by even a small caliber handgun at that range, he will not survive that even if he is a Vietnam war veteran.
The blitz chess tourney proceeded as planned with Campomanes showing his superiority among inexperienced Palau players. He swept the field like a tornado with only Manny Nedic able to draw with him.
NOTHING HAS BEEN PUBLISHED ABOUT THIS INCIDENT. NOT EVEN IN MY "CHESSMATE" COLUMN.
IT'S BEEN KEPT A SECRET FOR 7 YEARS... UNTIL NOW. IT WILL BE EXACTLY 7 YEARS ON MAY 14, 2013.
IT'S NOT A COINCIDENCE THAT THIS 500TH POSTS OF "PALAU CHESS" IS SOMETHING SPECIAL, MEMORABLE, MIND BOGGLING AND EXCLUSIVE!!!
Source:
Chess and Music: Perfect Combination
The Beginning of Chess In Palau
To Be Published As A Book In The Future
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