(1286) CRUCIAL ROUND 4 MATCHES OF QUALIFYING TILT (TBN-Oct. 31, 2016)

:   FIRST TIME TO BE FEATURED IN TIA BELAU

                      Paquito  ‘Pax’ Suringa, Jr., of PRR, is the 2^nd most featured chess player at Chess Mate. His co-employee here, Jay Orio, left, is first time to be featured by posing against another PRR employee Elizalde Madrinan, right, while waiting for Eli’s opponent Dennis Gonzales in another special game held at PRR on Oct. 21, 2016 (Friday).    (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

             CRUCIAL ROUND 4 MATCHES

                  OF QUALIFYING TILT 

  

ABOUT 80% of the participants of 2016 Qualifying Tourney still have chance to make it to the Top 10 Division of 2016 Palau National Chess Championship. After the 3^rd round, 4 players have an identical 50% performance of a win, a draw and a loss.

                Newcomer Wilson Barrameda of Cove Resort, who was born on March 21, 1976, drew his 3^rd round game with Glen Navarroza, to have a total of 1.5 points from an earlier default win over Jhoan Gemota, who was withdrawn from the tourney as she has not confirm her participation by herself.

                In the Top 10 Division, top seed Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. played with 5^th seed Allan Alcid and the results is another draw in 57 moves of Blumenfeld Defence. This year’s PNCC has the most number of drawn games this early – 6 out of 13 games played so far.

                The crucial 4^th round pairings is as follows (first mentioned name to have the White pieces):

1. Gonzalo Escapatoria, Jr. vs. Arnolfo Inres 2. Wilson Barrameda vs. Rustum Cabuso 3. Dennis Gonzales vs. Sofronio Mahor 4. Manuel Mahor, Jr. vs. Elizalde Madrinan (this game is supposed to be played on Friday, October 28 at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1 but Mahor didn’t show up at 5pm) 5. Navarroza vs. Baby Edna Mission 6. Angelo Salvadora will have a BYE.

                 An 11-year-old Indian boy with a very long name is changing chess history. Already the youngest ever international master, the Chennai prodigy is likely to eclipse Sergey Karjakin’s long-standing world record as the only pre-teen player to achieve the grandmaster title. His early career is outpacing both Russia’s Karjakin (GM at 12 years seven months) and Norway’s reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen (GM at 13 years four months), whose title match starts in New York on 11 November.

                Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa learned chess at five and soon made remarkable progress. He won the world under-eight title in 2013, the under-10 in 2015 and is currently the No1 seed in the world under-12 championships at Batumi, Georgia. He outclasses his peers but it is his advance in global adult chess which has set new all-time peaks for age achievement.

                His first international master result at Cannes, France, in February this year, was quickly followed by his second at Moscow Aeroflot in March, then his third and final norm at Bhubaneswar, India, in May, so qualifying him as an IM at 10 years nine months and breaking Karjakin’s world record by more than a year. And the way he did it hints at much more to come. He recovered from a 0.5/3 start in Moscow, while at both Cannes and Bhubaneswar he reached the IM score with a round to spare.

Several talents including Carlsen have reached IM at 12 but Karjakin (11 years 11 months) and Praggnanandhaa are the only players to have qualified before their 12th birthday.

                Once the first title breakthrough is achieved, the best of the best are likely to make further quantum jumps. Karjakin and Carlsen both took less than a year to progress from IM to GM. Praggnanandhaa still has 17 months in which to break Karjakin’s GM world record and the omens for his doing so are bright. He has already shown that he can play well outside India, at Cannes, Moscow, and again at this month’s Isle of Man Open. A property entrepreneur has sponsored his travel.

            To become a GM a player needs three norms of 2600+ performances from individual tournaments plus an overall 2500 rating. His FIDE world rating is already within range at 2454, his personal best and only 46 points short of the target.

                Praggnanandhaa’s world GM age record chase is sure to interest every tournament organizer who wants to maximize publicity. Europe’s prestige events like the London Classic Open at Olympia in December along with Tradewise Gibraltar and Tata Steel Wijk B in January 2017 could all invite him.

Two of his replies near the end of his interview after his final round Isle of Man game revealed his ambition. Asked if he was pleased with his score of 5.5/9, he answered that he would have liked another point or so, that would have put him close to 2600. Asked whether he hoped to become a GM, he replied “in about a year”. GM at 11 might be pushing it, but such is the speed of his advance that it cannot be ruled out.

                Praggnanandhaa comes from Chennai/Madras and his chess hero is Vishy Anand. His parents do not play chess but his older sister Vaishali has led the way for him, winning the world girls under-12 and under-14 championships and qualifying as a woman international master. He has been coached since the age of eight by GM Ramachandran Ramesh, who in 2002 earned his own place in chess history as the last player from his country to win the British championship before Indians were ruled ineligible.

It is not just that he plays very well. His style is rich in tactics, with two queen sacrifices at Moscow Aeroflot in addition to his Isle of Man 18-move miniature against one of the best players in South America, a 2645 GM from Paraguay.

                This brilliancy is going round the chess world, has made many chess fans fully aware of the new Indian talent, and has been compared to Bobby Fischer’s Game of the Century against Donald Byrne in 1963. That game, played in New York 60 years ago this month, was of much higher quality with deeply calculated knight and queen sacrifices, but Fischer was 13 against 11 while Praggnanandhaa’s last dozen or so moves were almost all the first choice of the computer and he saw and was ready for the better defenses missed by his opponent. His victory is sure to become part of chess lore and be quoted in future as a classic example of dynamic attack.

                Solution to last week’s puzzle No. 3492: 1. Qb7 Qe8 2. Qg7 mate.

This week’s original puzzle was composed by CM Joselito Marcos of Papua New Guinea in May 02, 2014:

     White to move and mates in 5 (Solution next issue) *$5.00 reward each for the 1^st 2 persons who will solve this puzzle.
***In the published 714th issue, it is Black to move and mates in 5. We're sorry for the error.

      

Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez  

               Tia Belau Newspaper

               Pages 9-10

               Volume 25

               Issue 87

               October 31, 2016

               Memoirs of a Chess Amateur
               (My Memorable Games and Compositions

               By CM Joselito Marcos
               Page 429

               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 18, 2013
               http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
               April 25, 2013 --October 31, 2016

              The History of Chess in Palau
              By Roberto Hernandez
              June 09, 2002 -- October 31, 2016