In the bottom photo of the Australasian Chess Magazine, Tito Cabunagan, left, shakes hands with Joselito Marcos of PNG. The other photo was already published in this column on Dec. 26, 2011 issue of Tia Belau with caption "Winners and presentors of 3rd PIICC".
Australasian chess magazine
features 2011 PIIC
THE MARCH/April 2012 issue of
Australasian Chess Magazine has featured the 2011 Palau Invitational Chess
Championship held at Palau Royal Resort from Dec. 14-19, 2011. Two colored
photos were featured. The one in the awarding ceremony (group) and the other
one is the game between Tito Cabunagan and Joselito Marcos, where the flag of
Palau (for Tito) and flag of Papua New Guinea were seen very clearly.
Three
games with annotations were also featured – the Montel, Jr. vs. Manuel clash,
the Montel vs. Marcos encounter and the Marcos vs. Manuel instructional game.
In the 3rd and last page, the final standings are shown in the
cross-table.
The
text of the report is as follows: The ten-player closed championship, Palau’s 3rd
international tournament, was held in the conference room of the five-star
Palau Royal Resort from 14-19 December 2011. The event was jointly won by top
seed Joselito Marcos of Papua New Guinea and third seed Menandro Manuel of
Palau.
The
single round robin event turned out to be a race between Marcos and Manuel as
they both registered seven straight wins in as many rounds. Curiously after
seven rounds, the top four finishers were already decided (except for their
placing) as the other participants could no longer catch them up.
In
his penultimate game, Manuel suffered his only loss to Montel that boosted
Marcos’ chance to win the event all by himself with a possible draw against
Manuel.
In a conduct that bewildered most observers, it was Marcos instead of Manuel who played all out for a win. The former maintained the advantage of the first move and had the draw for the taking any time in the ensuing knight and pawns endgame until the crucial blunder that cost him the game.
Manuel,
buoyed up by the unexpected win, displayed magnanimity by volunteering to the
organizer that he and Marcos be declared joint winners without him realizing
that the latter still has a delayed game in hand against Hernandez himself.
Marcos
eventually won his final game but only after overcoming some scary moments
caused by the resulting pressure of a “must-win” game. Hernandez wound up
fourth following losses in his last two games.
The
event was the best organized invitational international chess championship ever
in Palau. The participants appreciated the tremendous contribution and
generosity of Joselito Marcos for the success of the tournament.
The
final standings are shown in the accompanying cross-table.
Source:
Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 12
Volume 21
Issue 13
March 19, 2012
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