PERFECT COMBINATION.
Roberto Hernandez with chess and music student Ethan Nate Meyar.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
CHESS AND MUSIC
PERFECT COMBINATION
(The Beginning of Chess In Palau)
ON FEBRUARY 04, 1992, I started to work in Palau as keyboard player of Tropical Depression Band. I chose Palau over Bahrain, where I worked as keyboard player at Khayam Taverna (Greek Restaurant) in 1987-1989 because it’s closer to Philippines and I’d like to try something new.
Unfortunately, the band lasted only 6 months and I became the musician and Disc Jockey of Image Restaurant for 13 years. Eleven months as keyboard player of Rose Garden Resort and 11 months likewise as pianist at Dragon Tei, Teppan Dragon and Donburi Dragon (Japanese restaurants).
I am now the musician of Palau Royal Resort since June 01, 2007 and I will be 56 years old on January 02, 2012.
I started playing chess in early ‘70’s and I was taught by a 7-year old boy (Rene Crisostomo), who always put out his queen early in every game. When I get better, I played and practiced with his uncle, the founder of Hagonoy Chess Club in Bulacan.
In 1990, I participated in Philippine National Chess Championship and was seeded 218 with a rating of 1800. The top six finishers of that event represented Philippines in the biannual World Chess Olympiad.
I was the champion of Palau 2003 Senior & Junior Chess Tournament and co-champion of 2006 Inaugural Ambassador Marino Cup. I scored 3 points in the 2006 Palau Invitational Chess Championship to get my first international FIDE rating of 1830.
The first ever chess tournament in Palau was organized by me and The Filipino Community in Palau (TFCP) vice president Sergio Alemania. It was held on June 09, 2002 with 20 players participating (4 of them are women). It inspired me to see how many good players Palau has and still continue to do it for the love of the game.
I was elected as Chairman of Knights & Rooks Chess Club (Palau) on September 15, 2002 and Secretary/Treasurer of Palau Chess Federation. I have the records of all my games in all tournaments held in Palau and some game records of other players who annotate their games. In the 2005-2006 Rapid Chess tourney, I was the only one who wrote my games scores despite the 30 minutes time control.
In the Paquito Suringa Cup at Palau Royal Resort, I was recording my moves in my final game against Joel Flor. I got into time trouble (4 minutes remaining in my clock against Joel’s 16) and stopped writing. My roommate, Jaime Guevarra wrote down the other moves that I missed. That game was a draw and we played another game. I wrote all its moves this time and won the title convincingly.
The Palau Chess Federation is not yet a member of Palau National Olympic Committee but has been a member of World Chess Federation (FIDE) in 2005. And being a member, we can participate in FIDE sanctioned tournaments and obtain ratings of local players if the tournament is FIDE rated like the 2009 Palau National Chess Championship.
The main problem in organizing this kind of tournament is the players’ job schedule. That’s why I applied the most flexible chess game schedule in the world. Players can play any day that they are available either at the tournament site or at PRR.
The first one of my most memorable chess experience was in late ‘70s or early ‘80s where I played a friendly game against Asia’s first Grandmaster (GM) Eugene Torre at Alemar’s Bookstore in Makati. He was promoting his book “Beyond the 13th Move” which I had bought a week ago and not with me at the time. I took another book on the shelves-“Asian Zonal ’72 Champion: Torre” and asked him to sign it. During our game, I won a whole rook but forgot the safety of my own king and Eugene really showed how good he is.
The most memorable of my chess career was when I represented Palau together with Tito Cabunagan to the 2010 World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It was a once in a lifetime experience meeting former world champions of chess (Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Topalov, Kazimdzhanov), the world’s top Grandmasters, top officials of FIDE, top men and women’s chess players of 144 participating countries.
Free accommodations for 16 days were provided, free internet, bus rides to the tournament site, excursions and lots more that can only be experienced in an Olympiad. Although we were not allowed to play as a team because we’re short of one player, the experience of being there is really something unforgettable.
Also memorable to me is when I represented Palau in 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Gold Coast, Australia. I socialized with 4 GM’s, less than a dozen International Masters (IM), FIDE Masters, Candidate Masters and other players from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. I experienced firsthand how these masters played and discover young and promising players of all ages. It truly improves my approach to the game of kings.
I met there PNG’s top player Joselito Marcos, who became my best friend. We renewed our friendship in Russia and in the 3rd Palau Invitational International Chess Championship held at Palau Royal Resort from December 14 to 19, 2011. He and Menandro Manuel are joint winners of that event. I finished 4th and lost 14 rating points which is now 1875 from the previous 1889.
My third most memorable experience is my game with Juice Juice at chess.com where I was about to resign if he’d found the mate in two moves. He didn’t! I still hanged on even with only two pawns against his rook and a pawn. When he resigned, that game became my best win among my more than 100 games. His rating is 2200.
My mission is to continue promoting chess in Palau especially to the kids as they are the future of this game. And maybe Palau can have its own FIDE master, IM or even GM in the future. I want also to finally participate in World Chess Olympiad. We came close to compete in 2006 Turin, Italy and 2008 Dresden, Germany World Chess Olympiads but failed due to financial constraints. Cabunagan and I got to Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad but were not able to play because we were short of one player (minimum for a team is 3).
We’ll try again in 2012 Istanbul, Turkey World Chess Olympiad where we might field 2 teams—both in the Open and Women sections. In the current line-up, I will be playing Board 1, Cabunagan at Board 2, Bernardo Garcia at Board 3, Menandro Manuel at Board 4 and Mohammad Manik Hossain as reserve. Our team captain is still Jamie Kenmure, who is also the Rating Officer of Palau Chess Federation. Our delegate is the same Palau Delegate to Dresden and Khanty-Mansiysk, Mr. Jan-Olav Berglund of Sweden.
The women’s team will be spearheaded also by team captain of men's team Jamie Kenmure. Board 1 is Angie Parrado, Board 2 is Elizabeth Manuel (Menandro’s wife) and Board 3 is Ann Acebron, Board 4 is Karen Lee and reserve is Ma. Florida Hernandez, my wife of 29 years. I married her twice - in March 11, 1983 (civil wedding) and Sept. 25, 1983 (church wedding).
My wife Flor and only daughter Karen came to Palau on June 17, 1995. Karen finished her primary and high schooling here and took Nursing in Philippines in 2004. She graduated on March 08, 2009 and passed the Nursing Board examination on November 2009.
She played in the first ever chess tournament in Palau (All-Filipino Chess Tournament) and was first runner-up in the junior division of 2004 non-master chess tournament. My wife, now working at Dragon Tei, was the women’s division champion of 2006 Ambassador Marino Cup.
If she is available for the Board 4 or reserve slot, then there might be a mother and son and 2 husband and wife team members of Palau team!!! Isn’t it unique for first time participant in an Olympiad?
Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9-10
Volume 21
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