(106) BAPTISM OF FIRE FOR ANN ACEBRON AND KAREN LEE

NEOPHYTE WOMEN CHESS PLAYERS
Ann Acebron, left, and Karen Lee, pose before the start of their practice games in preparation for their first competitive chess tourney entered in. Although they both lost their first 2 games, the experience of playing against the best players in Palau and of the world in the future seems to be a motivation for them. WELCOME TO THE PALAU WOMEN'S TEAM TO 2012 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD (Istanbul, Turkey)
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

BAPTISM OF FIRE FOR
ANN ACEBRON AND KAREN LEE

THEY DIDN'T make it last Saturday because they don't have a ride to Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1. This time, Ann Acebron and Karen Lee made it and got their baptism of fire by losing all of their games (2 each) in the resumption of 2011 Palau National Chess Championship.

In her first tournament game in Palau, Acebron succumbed to Jeff Balbalosa in 26 moves of Giocco Piano and bowed to Rudel Roxas in 34 moves of Caro-Kahn Defence while Karen lost to Jeff in another shorter by 10 moves (16) of Queen's Paqn Opening.

Erstwhile Palau top player Menandro 'Boy' Manuel crushed the King's Pawn Opening variation of Karen and mated the neophyte chess player on the 29th move.

Jennalyn Ortiz didn't make it and might play as many games as she can on Sunday either at PRR or at Beken's Store.

A lot of players showed up at Beken's Store last Sunday but it's close the whole afternoon so the 3 games that were played on that Sunday afternoon all involved Mohammad Manik Hossain who lost all of his 3 games to Manuel in 37 moves of Alekhine's Defence; to Tito Cabunagan in 36 moves of Queen's Pawn Opening and to Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr. in 42 moves of another Giocco Paino.

Dennis Gonzales showed up also at Beken's Store but didn't proceed at PRR. He will play as many games as he can on Sunday and a possible Monday night clash with Suringa, Jr. at PRR.

Roxas is having a 3-day annual leave and a possible game between him, Dennis, top seed Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. and Pax might ensue also on Monday.

Balbalosa should have been leading in the early rounds of 2011 PNCC but he missed a winning continuation on the 18th move in his game against Pax.

Instead of capturing a pinned knight with a pawn, he moved his queen to h4 that allows Pax to equalize and seized the initiative 30 moves later when Jeff blundered away his rook.

After another 36 moves, he resigned with only his king left on the board and Pax has a pawn and a bishop. With that win, Pax is now leading the event with a perfect 3-0 win-loss slate.

The first game of the day was between Roxas and Manuel with the latter prevailing in 29 moves of another King's Pawn Opening.

AND THE LONGEST GAME OF THE EVENT SO FAR -- is between Manik and Rudel that lasted more than 2 hours with Rudel prevailing in a marathon 94-move victory of their Caro-Kahn Defence game.

Manik has a strong attack when Rudel captured the b2 pawn with his queen on the 11th move threatening to capture Manik's rook for a knight and a pawn and a superb attack is the logical choice for Manik with the addition that Rudel's queen is out of play but he missed the chance to score his first elusive victory.

Edwin Acuyan, the new F & B Manager of PRR, will play on his day off Sunday. In a sporadic conversation with Roberto Hernandez, Acuyan showed his interest in the different style of chess pieces of a chessboard.

He has a collection of rare chessboard designs from Russia, Australia, Europe, South America and USA. He's planning to buy a $60.00 chessboard carved elegantly at Palau Shop to add to his collection.

Top seed Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. played his first game of the event against Rudel Roxas and outwitted Rudel in 34 moves of Caro-Kahn Defence early in the afternoon.

Dennis Gonzales arrived and waiter for the next available player to come which is Jeff Balbalosa. Dennis made short work of Jeff and drubbed Jeff in just 18 moves of Pirc Defence.

Jeff blundered away a whole rook in his game against Mohammad Manik Hossain and is set to suffer his 3rd straight loss. Gonzalo Escapatoria is playing his first game against Menandro Manuel with the game even in material and position.

Tito Cabunagan is looking for a 3rd straight win against Dennie being ahead by a piece. Dennis will get the $65.00 cash prize of Jerry Sermeno, and will send it to him, who is now in Philippines.

No players are playing at Beken's Store at 4:00 pm with Cyril decided to proceed to PRR upon seeing nobody there for a chess match. The 4 lady contestants didn't show up either at the 2 venues.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper Volume 20 Issue 28 July 11, 2011

(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