(482) DITTRICH NIPS 2ND SEED OMEGA (TBN-April 27-May 03, 2007)

IN THE penultimate round of 2007 Palau National Chess Championship, Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich upset Jose Omega in undetermined number of moves of their special time format game.

To accomodate Omega's few hours availability, a special time format was agreed at 30 minutes fo Dittrich and 15 minutes for Omega to finish the game.

They are not required to annotate their game anymore and in the endgame when Omega had the exchange advantage, he underestimated a complex drawn endgame and lost the initiative and resigned.

Dittrich picked up another victory by default over Anselmo Idol, who didn't show up and lost 3 more of his games and drew with Joel Azana via default draw when the latter didn't show up also.

In the first game of the day, Sunday, April 22 at Jean's Boutique and Store, 4th seed Roberto Hernandez clobbered newcomer Emmie Buyacao in 31 moves of Pirc Defence to set up a climactic final round clash with Tony Villa for the title.

Villa made short work of Buyacao in just 14 moves of French Defence when Buyacao blundered away his queen but got his first win by default over Idol.

With a default win over Idol, National Master Manny Nedic now totes a 5-1-2 win-loss-draw slate and will forge a 3-way tie for the championship if Hernandez will beat Villa and he will prevail over venue host Gene Pastrana.

The 6th seed Pastrana was the other recipient of default win from Idol, whose last 4 games will also be awarded to Villa, Hernandez, Cyril Montel, Jr. and Omega if he will not show up on Sunday, April 29.

After a few weeks rest, another tournament will start. This time, it will be sponsored by The Filipino Community In Palau (TFCP) with a roundtrip airfare from Palau to Manila as the champion's purse.

Its Vice President Jess Toldoya has already worked out the format which will be a Swiss system and every game must be completed before the start of next round.

The highlight tournament of this year will be the 2007 Palau Invitational Chess Championship which will be known as the 2nd Ambassador Marino Cup.

The Philippine Ambassador Ramoncito Marino pledged the cash prize for the event during the awarding ceremony of the successful 2006 PICC.

Australian Gary Bekker will co-sponsor the prizes and he will invite more foreign players.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 17
April 27-May 03, 2007

(481) TITLE CHASE ON (TBN-April 20-26, 2007)

THE 2007 Palau National Chess Championship will go down the wire with 3 players in tight position for the title.

Top seed Tony Villa remains the favorite as he had only one loss and his closest pursuer, Manny Nedic, had also a loss but he had 2 draws which might affect his tiebreaking total if things end up with a triple tie at the top.

Roberto Hernandez needs a victory over Villa to force a tie at the top while a draw will ensure Villa in clinching the title.

In a special game held on Saturday, April 14, Hernandez kept his chance for the championship intact with a victory over 8th seed and venue host Gene Pastrana in 54 moves of French Defence.

Pastrana mishandled the opening and lost a pawn on the 10th move and another one on the 21st move.

Hernandez also won the exchange on the 26th move and although Pastrana won the exchange back on the 35th move, his position became hopeless after the exchange of queens on the 43rd move.

Villa seized the lead in the standings after a masterful conquest of 3rd seed Cyril Montel, Jr. in the only game of the day, Sunday, April 15, 2007 at Jean's Boutique and Store.

Their Pirc Defence encounter lasted 42 moves that showed the lethality in Villa's game after game.

His penultimate clash with Hernandez will have to be played on either Saturday or Monday as Hernandez' day off now is Monday.

The last 2 weeks of the tournament will go on as scheduled and absent players will lose by default.

Anselmo Idol, who paid his registration fee already but had not played a single game, will lose half of his games on Sunday and the other half on the final day by default if he will not show up.

The same thing will happen to Emmie Buyacao. His last 6 remaining games need to be played within 2 weeks.

The prize money of $100.00 is from registration fee of players ($20.00). The other half will become fund for Knights and Rooks Chess Club, Palau.

The awarding of prize money will be held on the last day of the tourney.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 17
April 20-26, 2007

(479) ESCAPE WITH A WIN (TBN-April 06-12, 2007)

ESCAPE WITH A WIN

WHEN a player drew a losing position, he is said to escape with a draw. But when a player won losing position, it is not really escape with a win but that's the closer thing to it.

It happened on Easter Sunday afternoon in a match between 4th seed Roberto Hernandez and 8th seed Joel Azana of Daewoo Corporation held at Jean's Boutique and Store in the resumption of 2007 Palau National Chess Championship.

In their Modern Defence game, Azana won a minor piece for a pawn on the 15th move and looking ahead for a win with simplification of major and minor pieces.

But a weak knight move on the 19th move, instead of a more forceful queen exchange challenge, enabled Hernandez to counter with a strong attack with a strong knight on f6 and a rook that occupies the f file.

With his extra piece out of action, Azana was tied in defending his exposed king.

When Hernandez finally won back the piece on the 27th move, Azana again seized the initiative with a surprising capture.

Hernandez didn't allow the exchanges of queens and took 2 pawns instead and maintaining his attack.

A battle of tactics and strategies ensued and when Azana committed a blunder on the 37th move, the game ended on the next move with a mate.

In the first game of the day, newcomer Emmie Buyacao lost for the 3rd time in 3 games to Azana in 27 moves of Irregular Opening.

Buyacao left again after the game and didn't come back to play another one.

The tournament is only single round-robin and after it is finished, another tournament will follow and it will be sponsored by The Filipino Community In Palau (TFCP) with a round-trip ticket to Manila as the prize to the champion.

Hernandez has to play his remaining 4 games on Mondays as his day off now is Monday.

His remaining 4 opponents are venue host Gene Pastrana, top seed Tony Villa, Buyacao and Anselmo Idol, who paid his registration fee of $20.00 but haven't played a single game yet.

If after 4 weeks, he hasn't played all of his games ,he will lose it all by defaults.

Another 6-player blitz chess tilt was held after the regular games and blitz chess expert Tony Villa asserted himself again with another victory even with 2 losses and 2 draws allowed.

National Master Manny Nedic was the only one that can catch up with Villa, but his 1 draw prevented him to catch-up.

Joeven delos Santos joined the blitz chess contest after a long absence due to job schedule.

Another controversy about blitz chess rules happened between 2 of Hernandez' games.

The one against Montel, Jr. where the game was an overwhelming advantage for Cyril but on the last move, a stalemate position occured which is a draw.

But Hernandez moved his king to a square where it can be taken by Cyril's bishop.

Hernandez already press his clock when he noticed that the game had already ended in stalemate as his king has no square to go and it's not under check.

Even if Hernandez pressed his clock for illegal move violation, the game has already ended in a draw before his last move.

The other controversy occured in his game against Pastrana.

Hernandez played and moved his opponent's pawn and captured his own piece to the surprise and laughter of the audience!

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN REALLY IN BLITZ CHESS CONTEST!

The violation does not include a king move so it just need to be replayed from the last position before the violation.

Next time, maybe a minute penalty might be imposed if a player has at least 3 minutes left in his clock.

If less than that, 15 seconds might be enough.



Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 17
April 06-12, 2007

(467) VILLA OUTWITS AZANA (TBN-Feb. 02-08, 2007)

THE FIRST chess tournament of 2007 finally started last Sunday, January 28 with only one division due to low turnout of players in the unrated division.

Rey Lapuz, the Christmas blitz chess festival champion, showed up early in the morning and played blitz chess with Tony Villa.

He was offered a job in Dubai and will be leaving in March. He will not participate in the current tournament that will last till April.

The organizers decided to have only one division with the same time format of 90 minutes for each player to finish the game with 20 seconds increment per move. It will be a double round-robin event.

The first game was played between Villa and the combacking Joel Azana, who didn't finish his last remaining games of 2006 Rapid Chess tournament.

With the position equal with rook and pawns ending, Azana missed a drawing line move that will have his king opposing his opponent's king.

The last tricky move that he played was countered by Villa to avoid stalemate.

The game lasted 66 moves of a Modern Defence with Azana having only 3 minutes left in his clock.

The 2nd game featured Azana and Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich.

The waiting game was equal till the 23rd move when Dittrich blundered away his bishop and through simplification, Azana scored his first win when Dittrich resigned to stop the agony of continuing to play a hopeless position.

All players are requested to annotate their game in whatever notations they choose.

Dittrich wrote his moves in English or descriptive notation while everybody else is doing it in Algebraic notation which is internationally being used.

Anselmo Idol practiced writing chess notations while playing a practice game with Roberto Hernandez.

It slows down Idol's game but he still plays good till the end of the unfinished practice game.

The tournament is still open to those who would like to catch up and they have to play at least 2 games and come at 1 pm.


Source:
Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 11
Volume 17
February 02-08, 2007

(464) SCHEDULE CONFLICT )TBN-Jan. 26-Feb. 01, 2007)

THE FIRST round of the rated and unrated tournament didn't proceed as planned because of conflicting schedules of at least 8 players --Rey Lapuz, Emmie Buyacao, Anselmo Idol and Craig Dittrich in the unrated division.

Lapuz and Buyacao came in the morning while Dittrich was waiting early in the afternoon.

When he left, Idol came in the afternoon and no single game was played.

In the rated division, Tony Villa and Cyril Montel, Jr. came early in the afternoon but left after an hour and came back late in the afternoon.

Second seed Jose Omega showed up for a few minutes and didn't play a game as his schedule for this week is tight.

National Master (NM) Manny Nedic came in late also and practiced blitz chess with Villa while waiting for other players to come.

Fourth seed Roberto Hernandez came in at 2:00 pm and played blitz chess with Dittrich, who defeated venue host Gene Pastrana twice and scored his 3rd win over Hernandez.

Top seed Menandro 'Boy' Manuel didn't show up also as well as the other 3 rated players while 12-year-old Dmitri Villanueva, the youngest contestant, didn't make it likewise.

Dittrich cited that the $20.00 registration fee might have been one of the reasons for the low turnout of players.

If next week's schedule continues, there will be no separate divisions of players and the registration may be reduced to $10.00 or $15.00.

The prospect of sending at least 2 chess players to Fiji for the Oceania Zonal Chess Championship looks dim as players are not financially capable of producing $2,000.00 for airfare/accomodation just to represent Palau in the biennial event to be held from May 5-12, 2007.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 11
Volume 17
January 26-February 01, 2007

(437) ALL SET FOR RAPID CHESS TILT OCT. 01 (TBN-Sept. 29-Oct.06, 2006)

THREE newcomers have registered for the last tournament of the year that will start on Independence Day, October 01 at Jean's Boutique and Store premises.

This will be the first time that no trophies will be awarded to the top 4 finishers.

Edwin Eti donated $100.00 for cash prize and the brilliancy prize of another $100.00 for the still unfinished 2006 National Chess Championship will be added to the pot as agreed by the organizing Knights and Rooks Chess Club.

Registration is still going on through Roberto Hernandez at tel. no. 488-3694/2997 or Gene Pastrana at 488-4640.

REgistration fee is $15.00. The $10.00 will be added to the cash prize and the remaining $5.00 will become fund of the KRCC.

Rey Lapuz and Anselmo Idol confirmed their participation in the event while Eti's friend will also join the field of newcomers.

Inactive Gerry Sermeno will join the fray of other inactive players like Joel Azana. Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich practiced with other players the other week and may join again.

Time control of the tourney is 30 minutes for each player to finish the game.

Eti will be late in the opening round as he will be busy on Independence Day.



CONTINUATION OF "HIGHLIGHTS OF P. I. C. C."

The 2nd half of the 2006 Palau Invitational Chess Championship was full of surprises.

Jose Omega dealt Gary Bekker his 2nd lost of the tournament in 27 moves while Roberto Hernandez refused the draw offer of eventual champion Hilton Bennett thinking that he had a winning position. He lost instead in a marathon 81 moves of Modern Defence.

USA and Philippines National Master Almario Marlon Bernardino clobbered Cyril Montel, Jr. in 36 moves.

Palau's top player Menandro Manuel drew with New Zealand bet Paul Spiller in 15 moves of Sicilian Defence while Pastrana and Nedic drew their game in 24 moves of Ruy Lopez.

Hernandez offered 4 pawns to Bekker but obtained a rapid pieces development. Bekker committed a blunder on the 11th move but Hernandez missed a neat knight sacrifice on the 16th move that could have won him the game.

Bekker was able to simplify the game and won in 55 moves of Danish Gambit.

On the eve of September 02, many thought that not all players can complete their games on time but when Montel, Jr. showed up in the last day of the tournament, everything was working well with Montel, Jr. needing a whole point to get international ranking.

He defeated Bekker in 24 moves and drew with Bennett in 12 moves to finished 7th.

Bernardino got a full point from Nedic while Omega and Manuel. halved their game.

Pastrana was able to squeeze half point from Spiller and the Bernardino-Bennett, Manuel-Hernandez and Nedic-Spiller games all ended in draws.

Pastrana drubbed Omega in 25 moves of Sicilian Defence and finished 6th despite his last game lost to Hernandez.

Bennet nipped Bekker in 18 moves of Bishop Opening and Manuel took the measure of Montel, jr. in 52 moves in a game played on Sept. 02.

Finally, Omega and Nedic drew their game and Bernardino and Spiller split the point in just 3 moves to end the tournament in good results for Palau's to 6 players as all of them scored at least 3 points.

The final standings and their win-loss-draw record:
1. Hilton Bennett (5-4-0) 2. Marlon Bernardino (4-5-0) 3. Paul Spiller (3-6-0) 4. Menandro Manuel (2-2-5) 5. Gary Bekker (4-4-1) 6. Gene Pastrana (1-3-5) 7. Cyril Montel, jr. (1-3-5) 8. Jose Omega (2-4-3) 9. Manny Nedic (0-3-6) 10. Roberto Hernandez (2-5-2).



Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
September 29-October 06, 2006

(25) 2007 PALAU NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

2007 PALAU NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

January 28 – May 05, 2007

Venue: Jean’s Boutique and Store

Single Round Robin

FINAL STANDINGS

              Players                                                                     Win   Loss   Draw     Total

1. ROBERTO HERNANDEZ                                         7       2         0            7
2. MANUEL NEDIC                                                       6       1         2            7
3. ANTONIO VILLA                                                      7       2         0            7
4. JOEL AZANA                                                             4       3         2            5
5. CRAIG DITTRICH                                                     4       4         1            4.5
6. JOSE OMEGA                                                            4       4         1            4.5
7. CYRIL MONTEL, JR.                                                2       3         4            4
8. GENE PASTRANA                                                    3       5         1            3.5
9. EMMIE BUYACAO                                                   1       6         2            2
10. ANSELMO IDOL                                                       0       8         1              .5

Source:  The  History  Of  Chess  In  Palau  
            by   Roberto Hernandez     
            Part  15     
           January 28, 2007

*Tournament Organizer -- Roberto Hernandez
*Tournament Chief Arbiter -- Roberto Hernandez
*Tournament Deputy Arbiters -- Eugenio Pastrana
Jess Toldoya




LET THE GAME BEGIN!

THE following is the format for the first chess tournament of 2007 -- the Palau National Chess Championship which is the qualifying chess tourney for a slot to represent Palau in Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Fiji on May 5-12, 2007:

1. The tournament will be a double round-robin in both division. In case that there are more than 15 players in the unrated division, it will become a single round-robin event.

2. The time control for both divisions is 90 minutes for each player to finish the game with 20 seconds increment per move. It means that every time a player moves and presses his clock, an additional 20 seconds will be added to his clock.

3. Writing chess notations is mandatory either in Algebraic, English or descriptive notation. Players will be given score sheets to be signed by both players after their game and submit the score sheets to Arbiter Jess Toldoya or Roberto Hernandez. Protests may also be referred to the arbiters.


4. The tournament venue is Jean's Boutique and Store premises. Playing day is Sunday at 1:00 - 6:00 pm. Some games may last longer depending on the schedule of players.

5. Touch move rules will be applied. Once a piece is touched, it must be moved so the players are advised to analyze the moves with their mind and not with their hands.

6. Registration fee is $20.00. Half of it will be for the cash prize and the other half for support to the expenses of Palau's representative to Fiji or for Palau's yearly payment of membership to World Chess Federation (FIDE).

7. No tiebreak will be used to break the tie. Instead, the players will play one sudden-death game or just split the cash.

8. Registration is still going on. Please contact Roberto Hernandez at 488-3694 or Gene Pastrana at 488-4640 for more informations and details. The unrated division is also open for kids and women chess players.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper Page 11 January 17-23, 2007



SCHEDULE CONFLICT

THE FIRST round of 2007 Palau National Chess Championship didn't proceed as planned because of conflicting schedules of at least 8 players --Rey Lapuz, Emmie Buyacao, Anselmo Idol and Craig Dittrich in the unrated division.

Lapuz and Buyacao came in the morning while Dittrich is waiting in the afternoon. When he left, Idol came late in the afternoon and not even a single match was played.


In the rated division, Tony Villa and 3rd seed Cyril Montel, Jr. came early in the afternoon but left after an hour and came back late in the afternoon.

Second seed Jose Omega showed up for a few minutes and didn't play a game as his schedule for the week is tight. National Master (NM) Manny Nedic came in late also and practiced blitz chess with Villa while waiting for other players to come.

Fourth seed Roberto Hernandez came in at 2 pm and played blitz chess with Dittrich, who defeated venue host Gene Pastrana twice and scored his third win over Hernandez.

Top seed NM Menandro 'Boy' Manuel didn't show up also as well as the other 3 rated player while 12-year old Dmitri Villanueva, the youngest contestant, didn't make it also.

Dittrich cited that the $20.00 registration fee might have been one of the reasons for the low turnout of players. If next week's schedule conflict continues, there will be no separate divisions of players and the registration fee may be reduced to $10 or $15.

The prospect of sending at least 2 chess players to Fiji for the Oceania Zonal Championship looks dim as players are not financially capable of producing $2,000.00 for airfare/accomodation just to represent Palau in the biennial event to be held from May 5-12, 2007.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper January 26- February 01, 2007



VILLA OUTWITS AZANA

THE FIRST chess tournament of 2007--the Palau National Chess Championship finally started last Sunday, January 28 with only one division due to low turnout of players in the unrated division.

Rey Lapuz, the Christmas blitz chess festival champion, showed up early in the morning and played blitz chess with Tony Villa. He was offered a job in Dubai and will be leaving in March. He will not participate in the current tournament that will last till April.

The organizers decided to have only one division with the same time format of 90 minutes for each player to finish the game with 30 seconds increment per move. It will be a single round robin event.

The first game was played between Villa and the come-backing Joel Azana, who didn't finish the last remaining games of 2006 Rapid Chess tournament.

With the position equal till the rook and pawns ending, Azana missed a drawing line move that will have his king opposing his opponent's king. The last tricky move that he played was countered by Villa to avoid stalemate.

The game lasted 66 moves of a Modern Defence with Azana having only three minutes left in his clock.

The second game featured Azana against Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich. The waiting game was equal till the 23rd move when Dittrich blundered away his bishop and through simplification, Azana scored his first win when Dittrich resigned to stop the agony of continuing to play a hopeless game.

All players are required to annotate their game in whatever notations they choose. Dittrich wrote his moves in English or descriptive notations while everybody else are doing it in Algebraic, which is being used internationally.

Anselmo Idol practiced writing chess notations while playing a practice game with Roberto Hernandez. It slows down Idol's game but he still plays good till the end of the unfinished practice match.

The tournament is still open for those who like to catch up and have to play at least two games and come at 1:00 pm.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
            Tia Belau Newspaper 

            Page 11

            February 02-08, 2007