TOP seed Abraham 'Abe' Francisco of Palau Royal Resort spoiled the first tournament game of Minister Erick Matienzo in the resumption of Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) chess tourney held on Monday evening August 25 at the church premises.
The minister, one of the tough player expected to qualify in the Class A division, blundered away a whole rook on the 23rd move and resigned after 38 moves of Sicilian Defence.
Ka Abe's starting rating is 1670, the same as Paquito Suringa, Jr., a cook at PRR, who hadn't played a game yet as reported last week.
The other winner last week was Danny Oliver, who will be having a 1500 starting rating together with the rest except Arnold Rivera (1608).
Ka Abe's surge to the top of the tilt is not a surprise as he had already more than 1956 rating at chess.com where he can play different opponents around the world and honed his talents practicing with some of the top players of Palau.
The rest of the field of 13 players are Arnold Rivera, chief cook at PRR, Joel Kasaigan, Ferdie Sumadsad, Renaldo Corpuz, Rene Gutierrez, Joel Flor, Edgar del Rosario, Danny Guillermo and Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino, the brainchild of the event that also consist of scrabble, dama (Chinese checker), and dart.
Ambassador Marino is the top supporter of chess in Palau and had sponsored the $1,000.00 cash prizes of both the inaugural Ambassador Marino Cup in 2006 and the 2nd Palau Invitational Chess Championship (now known as the Ambassador Marino Cup) last year.
Another one will be held this year before the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany as the final training for the top chess players of Palau to participate with the help of Jan Berglund, an International Arbiter (IA),/trainer/coach and Delegate of Palau chess team.
Palau top player Menandro Manuel will lead the Board 1 while Palau first National Master Manny Nedic will be at Board 2.
Roberto Hernandez, PRR musician, will handle Board 3 and Cyril Montel, Jr. at Board 4 and Gene Pastrana as reserve.
The organizers of the Olympiad, which will be held on November 12-25, 2008 had reduced the number of rounds (11 now instead of 13) and the reserved player (1 now instead of 2).
More than 150 countries are expected to participate in the biennial event where Palau is rated 148th just ahead of British Virgin Islands and Bahamas.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
September 01-07, 2008
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