(1152) WHO WILL BE PALAU'S FIRST LIGHTNING CHESS CHAMP ON JAN. 18, 2016? (TBN-Jan. 11, 2016)

BACK TO CHESS AND MUSIC WITH DICHEM TMETCHUL

                    Roberto Hernandez, left, taught Dichem Tmetchul piano in 2013 and later chess. She stopped having piano lessons and chess tutoring in 2014 and in the 4^th quarter of 2015, took piano lessons again. With a suggestion from Chief Justice Arthur Ngiraklsong, she will continue to have chess tutoring again starting Jan. 11, 2016. Roberto got a FIDE Instructor title in 2014 and is eligible to teach chess in any of 181 FIDE member countries.                             (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

WHO WILL BE PALAU'S FIRST LIGHTNING

     CHESS CHAMP ON JAN. 18, 2016?

 

PALAU Chess Federation will hold its first ever lightning chess championship on Monday, Jan. 18 at Surangel’s Construction Office (former Socio). The suggested venue, Bethlehem Park is not logical as Bethlehem Park will be dark at the late stage of the event which will start at 6pm. Players must pay first his/her registration fee before being included in the pairings for the first round.

                The time control of this fastest blitz chess format is 1 minute for each player to finish the game with 1 second increment. PCF held its first ever blitz chess championship last year with time control of 5 minutes and 3 seconds increment. Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. claimed his 2nd of the 4 major chess championships of PCF from Nov. 16, 2014-Dec. 06, 2015.

                The change of date and time control was done to accommodate more Palauan chess players. The bullet chess championship was scheduled on Jan. 11, 2016 with time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.

                The possible participants in this event are 1. Cyril 2. Roberto Hernandez 3. Tito Cabunagan 4. Jeff Balbalosa 5. Paquito Suringa, Jr. 6. CM Bernardo Garcia 7. Dennis Gonzales 8. Angelo Salvadora 9. Angelica Parrado 10. Nilo de Jesus 11. Gonzalo Escapatoria, Jr. 12. Felix Oling, Jr. 13. Rico Mangayan 14. Baby Edna Mission 15. Rafael Paloma 16. Josef Karlo Moyet 17. Eugene Labarda 18. Destiny Sisior 19. Angelil Sisior 20. Arnolfo Inres 21. Manuel Mahor, Jr. 22. Sofronio Mahor 23. Joan Gemota 24. Joel Gemota 25. Gladys Anne Paloma 26. Glen Navarroza 27. John Malinao 28. Eric Ksau Surangel Whipps 29. Robert Godwin Sola 30. John Mark Tamayo 31. Roxanne Parco 32. Angelica Magno 33. Leif Toribiong 34. Christopher Kitalong 35. Arnold Undecimo 36. Tuloy Rengiil 37. Cyrelle Ann Montel 38. Joey Balute 39. Nelson Sablan.

                The new ratings of World Chess Federation (FIDE) for the month of January is now available at www.fide.com Palau has 48 chess players listed with Menandro Manuel (1847 rating) still on top although he is not in Palau anymore since Dec. 2014. It’s because FIDE still publish an inactive player’s name for one year. It is expected that Manuel will be out of the list next month and Montel, Jr. will take the no. 1 spot again with 1845, an increase of 5 while Roberto Hernandez (1798) will drop to no. 3 after losing 47 points due to his poor performance in the 2015 Palau National Chess Championship (3 wins, a draw and 5 losses) for 6^th place finish. Unrated and the top 10 qualifier Allan Alcid is now the No. 6 player of Palau due to his superb performance with 1750 rating. He is still in Philippines after going on a business trip in the middle of the 2015 PNCC.

                No. 4 Tito Cabunagan (1779) lost 42 rating points from his 1821 rating. Jeff Balbalosa (1738), who finished 1^st runner-up, gained 30 rating points and now at 5^th spot with 1768. Suringa, Jr. gained 6 rating points and now his 1712 dropped him to 8^th. Candidate Master Bernardo Garcia (1732) dropped from 5^th to 7^th after losing 14 points (now at 1718). Dennis Gonzales (1680) still made it to top 10 at 10^th with his new 1651 rating, losing 29 points. Palau’s first Woman National Master (WNM) Angie Parrado landed to her best ever spot (8^th) after topping the 2015 Palau National Chess Championship’s Women and Junior Division.

                Angelo Salvadora’s initial international rating is an impressive 1643 after scoring 3 points in the Top 10 Division, better than Reserves Division champ No. 14 Felix Oling, Jr. (1571), No. 12 Nilo de Jesus (1591), No. 13 Gonzalo Escapatoria, Jr. (1574), No. 15 Rafael Paloma (1562), No. 16 Josef Karlo Moyet (1556), No. 17 Eugene Labarda (1535) and No. 20 Manuel Mahor, Jr. (1489), who stays exactly the same rating as before.

                The complete list of FIDE’s top Palau chess players of January 2016:

                                 Palau Players  (FIDE Ratings – January 2016)  

#	Name	Title	Fed	Rating	G	B-Year
1	Manuel, Menandro		PLW	1847	0	1951
2	Montel Jr, Cyril Tomas		PLW	1845	7	1970
3	Hernandez, Roberto		PLW	1798	7	1956
4	Cabunagan, Tito		PLW	1779	7	1959
5	Balbalosa, Jeffrey		PLW	1768	7	1979
6	Alcid, Allan		PLW	1750	7	1964
7	Garcia, Bernardo	c	PLW	1718	6	1976
8	Suringa Jr, Paquito		PLW	1712	7	1973
9	Parrado, Angelica		PLW	1655	9	1968
10	Gonzales, Dennis		PLW	1651	7	1978
11	Salvadora, Angelo		PLW	1643	8	1968
12	De Jesus, Nilo		PLW	1591	4	1962
13	Escapatoria, Gonzalo		PLW	1574	4	1967
14	Oling, Felix		PLW	1571	4	1991
15	Paloma, Rafael		PLW	1562	5	1974
16	Moyet, Josef		PLW	1556	6	1988
17	Labarda, Eugene		PLW	1535	4	1967
18	Sisior, Destiny		PLW	1508	9	2004
19	Mission, Baby Edna		PLW	1492	9	1967
20	Mahor Jr, Manuel		PLW	1489	6	1970
21	Sisior, Angelil		PLW	1485	9	2003
22	Santander, Marcial		PLW	1465	0	1972
23	Inres, Arnolfo		PLW	1455	5	1966
24	Toribiong, Leif		PLW	1439	0	1984
25	Kitalong, Christopher		PLW	1437	0	1980
26	Gemota, Joan		PLW	1428	9	1985
27	Paloma, Gladys Anne		PLW	1382	9	1982
28	Martin, Geoff		PLW	1358	0	1977
29	Gemota, Joel		PLW	1357	5	1990
30	Navarroza, Glen		PLW	1356	3	1978
31	Malinao, John		PLW	1343	5	1980
32	Whipps, Eric Ksau Surangel		PLW	1336	0	1977
33	Ulap, Jo-Arl Cris Banaga		PLW	1329	0	1990
34	Undecimo, Arnold Lansang		PLW	1320	0	1978
35	Rengiil, Tuloy		PLW	1318	0	1986
36	Sola, Robert		PLW	1310	9	2003
37	Whipps Jr, Surangel Samuel		PLW	1300	0	1968
38	Whipps, Joy Flores		PLW	1292	0	1978
39	Tamayo, John Mark		PLW	1266	5	1985
40	Surangel, Ultei Angelei		PLW	1249	0	2005
41	Montel, Cyrelle Ann		PLW	1222	0	2003
42	Parco, Roxanne		PLW	1201	9	1992
43	Balute, Joey Jaime		PLW	1143	0	1972
44	Sisior, Kyarii		PLW	1098	0	2008
45	Pascual, Remelyn		PLW	1091	9	1989
46	Whipps, Kayah Iblai Flores		PLW	1083	0	2004
47	Sablan, Nelson		PLW	1063	0	1962
48	Magno, Angelica		PLW	1052	9	1994

Solution to last week’s puzzle No. 3802: 1. Qg6+!! fxg6 2. hxg6+ Kh8 3. Nf7 mate.

This week’s puzzle No. 3801: White to move and mates in 3 (Solution next issue)

Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez

                  Tia Belau Newspaper

                  Pages 9 & 11

                  Volume 25

                  Issue 3

                  January 11, 2016

                  The History of Chess in Palau

                  By Roberto Hernandez

                  June 09, 2002 -- January 11, 2016

                  Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)

                  The Beginning of Chess in Palau

                  By Roberto Hernandez

                  To be published as a book in the future

                   Music and Me

                   By Roberto Hernandez

                   Tia Belau Newspaper

                   March 15, 2012 --April 2013

                   http://palau-chess.blogspot.com

                   April 2013 -- January 11, 2016