(1107) PHOTOS -- 3RD WEEK OF 2015 PALAU NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

There is a gathering of religious organizations at Bethlehem Park on Oct. 25, 2015 so the venue of the 3rd round of 2015 Palau National Chess Championship was held at the nearby vacant space of Finance Department of Palau Government. We ran out of tables because we only have 3 and 8 chairs. We combined the 3 benches there to make a table for 6 players, mostly juniors and women.

We combined also the 3 tables so that 8 chessboards were set instead of only 6. It was decided by the Palau Chess Federation Board Members (Roberto Hernandez, Jeff Balbalosa, CM Bernardo Garcia, Dennis Gonzales and Tito Cabunagan) to buy 2 more tables and 8 more chairs and we will do the next rounds in the same place now. Bethlehem Park will be very occupied during the Christmas season.

Remelym Pascual, left, is persuaded by Roberto and Jeff Balbalosa to join the tournament and replaced Kent, who haven't show up in the first 3 rounds.

Arnolfo Inres outsmarted Joel Gemota. THE MOVES:
[Event "2015 PNCC"]  [Site "Bethlehem Park Koror, Palau"] [Date "2015.10.25"] [Round "3"]
[White "Inres, Arnolfo"] [Black "Gemota, Joel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [PlyCount "75"]
         1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qf3 Qe7 5. Qxe4 d6 6. Nc3 dxe5 7. Be2 Qf6
8. Nd5 Qd6 9. O-O Be6 10. Nc3 Be7 11. Qxb7 Qc6 12. Bb5 O-O 13. Bxc6 Nxc6 14.
Qxc6 Rfe8 15. d3 Bf6 16. Qxc7 Re7 17. Qc5 Rae8 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. Qxd5 h6 20. Qf3
e4 21. dxe4 Rxe4 22. Bxh6 gxh6 23. Qxf6 R8e6 24. Qd8+ Kg7 25. h4 h5 26. g3 f5
27. f4 Re2 28. Qg5+ Kf8 29. Qxf5+ Ke7 30. Qc5+ Kf6 31. Qg5+ Kf7 32. f5 R6e5 33.
Rad1 Rxc2 34. Qg6+ Ke7 35. Qd6+ Kf7 36. Qxe5 Rc6 37. Rd7+ Kf8 38. Qb8+      1-0

Jeff Balbalosa, extreme left, has to wait for a vacant chessboard and clock to play his 3rd round match with Allan Alcid. When they do, Alcid prevailed after winning Jeff's bishop.  THE MOVES:
[Event "2015 PNCC"] [Site "Bethlehem Park Koror, Palau"] [Date "2015.10.25"] [Round "3"]
[White "Balbalosa, Jeffrey"] [Black "Alcid, Allan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D53"]
[White Elo "1738"] [Ply Count "98"]
1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3 h6 6. Bh4 Nc6 7. e3 a6 8. Bd3
Nb4 9. cxd5 Nfxd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Bb1 Bd7 12. a3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nd5 14. Qb3 b5
15. O-O c5 16. Ne5 cxd4 17. cxd4 Rc8 18. Be4 Nf6 19. Bb7 Rb8 20. Bxa6 Rb6 21.
Nxd7 Qxd7 22. a4 Rxa6 23. axb5 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 O-O 25. b6 Rb8 26. Qb1 Qb7 27. h3
Qxb6 28. Qd3 Qb2 29. Re1 Qa2 30. Qd1 Ne4 31. Qf3 Qc2 32. h4 Rb1 33. Rxb1 Qxb1+
34. Kh2 f5 35. g4 Nf6 36. g5 Ng4+ 37. Kg2 Qe4 38. Kg3 Qxf3+ 39. Kxf3 hxg5 40.
hxg5 Kf7 41. Ke2 Kg6 42. f4 Kf7 43. Kf3 g6 44. e4 Ke7 45. e5 Kd7 46. Ke2 Kc6
47. Kd3 Kd5 48. Kc3 Nf2 49. Kb2 Kxd4        0-1

Angelo Salvadora, 2nd from right, had a decisive advantage against 2nd seed Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. but he missed the 17th move Bd6 and moved Re4 instead and was mated instantly. THE MOVES:
[Event "2015 PNCC"] [Site Bethlehem Park Koror, Palau] [Date "2015.10.25"] [Round "3"]
[White "Montel, Jr., Cyril Tomas"] [Black "Salvadora, Angelo"] [Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D07"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [PlyCount "33"]
          1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Bf4 dxc4 4. e3 Be6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Nf3 Nd5 7. Bg3 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Bd5 9. Nd2 e5 10. e4 exd4 11. exd5 Qxd5 12. Nxc4 O-O-O 13. Qg4+ Kb8 14.
Rd1 f5 15. Qf4 Re8+ 16. Ne3 Re4 17. Qxc7+ 1-0

Another heartbreaking loss by Roberto, this time against 3rd seed Tito Cabunagan.
THE MOVES: [Event "2015 PNCC"] [Site "Bethlehem Park, Koror, Palau"]
[Date "2015.10.25"] [Round "3"] [White "Cabunagan, Tito"] [Black "Hernandez, Roberto"]
[Result "1-0"] [ECO "B50"] [White Elo "1825"] [Black Elo "1840"] [Ply Count "89"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. h3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a3 b5 6. e5 dxe5 7. Nxe5 Qc7 8. Nf3
Bb7 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. d3 e6 11. Be3 Bd6 12. Qd2 Rc8 13. Nd1 Nd5 14. O-O b4 15. c4
bxc3 16. Nxc3 Nxe3 17. fxe3 O-O 18. Rac1 Ne5 19. Nxe5 Bxe5 20. Na4 Bxg2 21.
Rxc5 Bh2+ 22. Kxg2 Qg3+ 23. Kh1 Qxh3 (23... Rxc5 24. Nxc5 Qxh3 25. Rf3 (25. Bf3
Qxf1+ 26. Kxh2 Qxf3) (25. Bg4 Qxf1+ 26. Kxh2 f5 27. Bh3 Qf3 28. Nxe6 Rf6 29.
Nf4 Rh6 30. Qc2 Rc6 31. Qg2 Qxg2+ 32. Nxg2 Rc2 33. Bxf5 Rxb2 34. d4 g6 35. Be6+
Kf8 36. d5 Ke7 37. e4 Rb3 38. a4 Kd6 39. Nf4 Rb4 40. Kg3 Rxe4) 25... Bg3+ 26.
Kg1 Qh2+ 27. Kf1 Qh1#) 24. Rh5 Qg3 25. Rxh2 Rc7 26. Nc3 Rfc8 27. d4 Qd6 28. Bd3
f5 29. Qe2 g6 30. Qg2 Rxc3 31. bxc3 Rxc3 32. Qa8+ Kg7 33. Qb7+ Rc7 34. Qb4 Qd7
35. Rg2 Rb7 36. Qc5 Rc7 37. Qe5+ Kg8 38. Bxa6 Ra7 39. Bb5 Qf7 40. a4 h6 41.
Rxg6+ Kh7 42. Rxe6 Qh5+ 43. Qh2 Qxh2+ 44. Kxh2 Rf7 45. Rf4 1-0

Glen Navarroza, right, is leading the Reserves Division with 3 straight wins. This time, over Gonzalo Escapatoria, Jr. Eugene Labarda, 2nd from left, was outsmarted by Felix Oling in a marathon  57 moves of Semi-Slav game. THE MOVES:

[Event "2015 PNCC"]
[Site "Bethlehem Park, Koror, Palau"] [Date "2015.10.25"] [Round "3"]
[White "Oling, Felix"] [Black "Labarda, Eugene"] [Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"] [White Elo "1465"] [Black Elo "1565"] [Ply Count "113"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Bf4 c6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bxd6 Qxd6 7. c5 Qc7 8. Nf3
Nbd7 9. b4 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. h3 Ne4 12. Qd4 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Nf6 14. Rg1 O-O
15. Qxf6 g6 16. h4 Qh2 17. Rg2 Qc7 18. h5 Qd8 19. Qd4 Bf5 20. Bd3 Bxd3 21. Qxd3
Qh4 22. hxg6 Qh1+ 23. Ke2 Qxg2 24. gxh7+ Kh8 25. Qd4+ Qg7 26. Qd3 f5 27. Rh1
Rae8 28. Kf1 Rf7 29. f4 Rfe7 30. Rh5 Rf7 31. a3 Qf6 32. Ke1 d4 33. Ne2 dxe3 34.
fxe3 Rxh7 35. Rxh7+ Kxh7 36. Nd4 Kg6 37. Kd2 Rd8 38. Kc3 Qf7 39. Qc2 Rg8 40.
Qg2+ Kf6 41. Qh3 Rg4 42. Qh8+ Kg6 43. Qe5 Rh4 44. Nf3 Rh3 45. Ng5 Qa2 46. Nxh3
Qxa3+ 47. Kc2 Qa2+ 48. Qb2 Qc4+ 49. Kd2 Qd5+ 50. Ke2 Qc4+ 51. Kf2 a6 52. Ng5
Qd3 53. Qd4 Qc2+ 54. Kg3 Qb1 55. Qd6+ Kh5 56. Nf3 Qxb4 57. Qf6 1-0






Source: The History of Chess in Palau
             By Roberto Hernandez
             June 09, 2002 -- October 25, 2015