(792) TOP 10 COUNTRIES WHO VIEWED PCF WEBSITE http://palau-chess.blogspot.com as of Sept. 30, 2014 at 1:25am

Candidate Master Joselito Marcos, right, did many generous, unselfish, fantastic, innovative, motivational and inspirational things for Palau Chess Federation. One of that is making a website for PCF which he started in Dec. 26, 2011 after his participation (and ended up as co-champion) in the 3rd Palau Invitational Chess Championship in Dec. 14-21, 2011. Roberto Hernandez, left, is very grateful to him and now continues to post at this website regularly. He has posted 833 already. This photo was taken inside Roberto and Bernard's room during the 2014 World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway.
     This 833rd article is dedicated to Roberto's best friend, mentor, motivator, investor (investing his time for chess development in Palau) and adviser --ENGINEER, CM, WRITER, DIRECTOR, ARBITER, PRESIDENT, DELEGATE AND GOD-FEARING JOSELITO MARCOS!
     THANK YOU VERY MUCH! MARAMING SALAMAT PO! MUCHOS GRACIAS! ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU! KAMSAMIDA! XIE XIE! KAN AN! AFKARISTO! MESULANG!
                                 (Photo by Roberto Hernandez -- Taken by Bernardo Garcia)


TOP 10 COUNTRIES WHO VIEWED
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
AS OF SEPT. 30, 2014 at 1:23am

1. USA                      82,359
2. Philippines            5,236
3. Russia                   3,306
4. Germany               1,958
5. Australia               1,336
6. Palau                     1,231
7. United Kingdom      778
8. Papua New Guinea 679
9. France                     570
10. Ukraine                 356
                     Total  97,809

All-time views  -  111,437
Other countries' views  -- 13,628


Sources: History of Chess In Palau
             September 30, 2014

             Palau Chess Federation website
             http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
   

(278) MANUEL COUPLE GRANTED SCHENGEN VISA; GARCIA COMMITS TO 2014 NORWAY WCO

RENEWING THEIR FRIENDSHIP AGAIN
     From left, Joselito Marcos, Gary Bekker and Roberto Hernandez will meet again in Istanbul, Turkey for different positions in the 2012 World Chess Olympiad. Mr. Bekker will be one of the International Arbiters while Marcos and Hernandez will be Board 1 players of Papua New Guinea and Palau respectively. Fernando Aguilar, right, of Solomon Islands, will miss again this WCO due to financial constraints.
                                                                       (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)


             MANUEL COUPLE GRANTED
                    SCHENGEN VISA;
  GARCIA COMMITS TO 2014 NORWAY WCO

AFTER getting their Turkish visa for their participation in the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, the Manuel couple (Menandro and Elizabeth) applied for Schengen visa so that they can proceed to Italy, France and Germany for 5 days after the Olympiad for a European tour.

                A week before his trip to Manila from Palau, Menandro informed Roberto Hernandez that their Schengen visa was granted and their European tour is finally confirmed.

                On August 24, 2012, Manuel, Hernandez and Bernard Garcia will fly to Manila for their August 26 (Sunday) flight to Istanbul via Singapore Airlines.

                They will arrive in Istanbul at 7:45 am with 12 hours to spare before the Captain’s meeting at 8:00 pm and the Opening Ceremony of the World Chess Olympiad at 8:30 pm.

                Meanwhile, with 2 weeks before the start of 2012 World Chess Olympiad, Garcia commits to Hernandez that he would like to be a member of Palau Chess Team to 2014 Tromso, Norway World Chess Olympiad.

                He’s thinking way ahead to be much prepared so that the team’s chances will be better. Like in chess, he’s thinking 20-move deeper which according to him is too deep.

                He likes also to be in the lower board than the 2012 Olympiad where he is playing at board 3. The tentative line-up for Palau Chess Team to 2014 WCO is: Menandro Manuel at Board 1; Hernandez at Board 2; Tito Cabunagan at 3; Garcia at 4 and Jeff Balbalosa as reserve.

                This is much stronger that the current line-up for Istanbul even if Mohammad Manik Hossain has made it at Board 2 as follows: Hernandez at 1; Elizabeth at 2; Garcia at 3 and Menandro at 4.

                Palau’s team captain Jamie Kenmure agreed to this line-up but he suggested Senator Mlib Tmetuchl be the reserve citing that at least a Palauan player can be fielded.

                But Sen. Mlib has not started to play competitive chess yet and he’s much better to be the Head of Delegation of team captain of women’s team where he will not be allowed to play.

                Team captain and Delegate are allowed to play if they are not a member of their country’s federation and had been to Palau at least once.

                Palau’s Delegate Mr. Jan Berglund has change his email address and is now having a hard time to receive Hernandez’ emails because he don’t like to open the noreply@boxbe.com

                This cause Hernandez’ bunch of emails to be waitlisted including the proxy letter to FIDE, Organizers of the Olympiad and his personal copy that says:

                August 16, 2012     To: Directory FIDE Elista Office

                                                        Organizers, 40^th World Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turker

                Dear Sir/Madame, The Palau Chess Federation is honored to have Mr. Jan Berglund as our Delegate to the 83^rd FIDE Congress that coincides with the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.

                Mr. Berglund was Palau Chess Federation’s Delegate to the 2008 World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany and to the 2010 World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

                Mr. Berglund is also allowed to be a substitute player in case one of the members of Palau Chess team didn’t make or if one of them gets sick.

                He is a member of Palau Chess Federation since September 27, 2007 and he is not a member of any chess federation except Palau.

                We hope that by doing so, Palau will be represented again to the 83^rd FIDE Congress as I would like to concentrate on Board 1.

                (Signed) Roberto A. Hernandez    Secretary/Treasurer, Palau Chess Federation

                                                                           Permanent Delegate to FIDE, Palau Chess Federation

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

              Tia Belau Newspaper

              Pages 0 & 13

              Volume 21

              Issue 57

              August 20, 2012

(204) HISTORY OF CHESS OLYMPIAD

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES (OLYMPIAD BOUND)
Two of the Papua New Guinea's Chess Olympiad bound team members Rupert Jones, left, and Brian Jones are having a discussion before the Oceania Zonal Chess Meeting in Australia. The other 2 members of the team are Joselito Marcos, PNG's top player and Shaun Press, the 2009 Solomon Islands Invitational Chess championship titlist. The 2010 World Chess Olympiad will be held in Russia on Sept. 19- Oct. 04, 2010.                                                                                               (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)



    HISTORY OF CHESS OLYMPIAD

THE CHESS Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organized by World Chess Federation (FIDE), which selects the host nation.

The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics, an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players.

While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad.

FIDE organized the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.

There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927. By the 37th Chess Olympiad, 2006, there were 133 participating nations.

The Olympiad was created by a Maltese man by the name of Joseph Pisani-Rosi.

Chess is a recognized sport by the International Olympic Committee with FIDE being the recognized International Sports Federation for chess since June 1999.

As a member of International Olympic Committee, FIDE adheres to its rules, including controversially having doping tests.

The prospects of chess becoming as Olympic sporting event at some future date remain unclear.

The naming of FIDE's team championship as the "Chess Olympiad" is of historical origin and implies no connection between this event and the Olympic Games.

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad (for the United Kingdom, one team for each of the 4 countries plus Guernsey and Jersey can enter a team separately).

Each team is made up of 6 players, 4 regular players and 2 reserves (changed to 4+1 in Dresden 2008).

Initially, each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years, this became impossible.

At first, team seeding took place before the competition. Later, certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976, a Swiss tournament system was adopted.

The trophy for the winning men's team is the Hamilton-Russel Cup, which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as the prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927).

The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it will be consigned to the next winner.

The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup, the first Women's World Chess Champion.

The 2008 Olympiad was held in Dresden, Germany. The 2010 Olympiad is going to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and the 2012 Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.

The bids for the 2014 Olympiad include Tromso, Norway and Albenia, Bulgaria.

The 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris, France was won by Czechoslovakia (31 points), followed by Hungary (30) and Switzerland (29).

The 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad (1926) in Budapest, Hungary, the host nation won it with 9 points, followed by Yugoslavia (8) and Romania (5).

In the 1st Chess Olympiad in London, UK, Hungary kept the title with 40, followed by Denmark (38.5) and England (36.5)

The 3rd Olympiad title of Hungary came from the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague, Netherlands with 44, USA (39.5) and Poland (37).

The next 3 Olympiads was won by USA in 1931 (Prague, Czechoslovakia) with 48, Poland (47) and Czechoslovakia (36.5); in 1933 (Folkestone, UK) with 39, Czechoslovakia (37.5) and Sweden (34); in 1935 (Warsaw, Poland) with 54, Sweden (52.5) and Poland, 52.

Hungary got its 4th title in the 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad (non-FIDE) in Munich, Germany with 110.5, Poland 108 and Germany 106.5.

USA likewise got its 4th title in 1937 at Stockholm, Sweden with 54.5, Hungary 48.5 and Poland 47.

Germany got its only title in the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Argentina by a mere half point over Poland with 36 points and 3rd place Estonia with 33.5.

In the proceeding Chess Olympiad in 1950 at Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, the host nation got also it first and only title with 45.5, Argentina (43.5) and West Germany --40.5.

In the next 12 Chess Olympiads, a span of 24 years (1952-1976), USSR showed their domination in chess, winning in Helsinki, Finland (1952), Amsterdam, Netherlands (1954), Moscow, Soviet Union (1956), Munich, West Germany (1958), Leipzig, East Germany (1960), Varna, Bulgaria (1962), Tel Aviv, Israel (1964), La Habana, Cuba (1966), Lugano, Switzerland (1968), Siegen, West Germany (1970), Skopje, Yugoslavia (1972) and Nice, France (1974), where GM Eugene Torre became Asia's first Grandmaster.

The streak was snapped when in 1976 Chess Olympiad in Haifa, Israel, the USSR and other communist countries did not compete for political reasons.

USA got its 5th title with 37, Netherlands 36.5 and England 35.5.

Hungary likewise got its 5th Olympiad title after besting USSR in 1978 at Buenos Aires, Argentina. USA is 3rd with 35 points. Only a point separated 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

The next 15 Chess Olympiad were dominated again by USSR and its other split states. Russia won 6 straight (1992, Manila, Philippines); 1994 Moscow, Russia; 1996 Yerevan, Armenia; 1998 Elista, Russia; 2000 Istanbul, Turkey; and 2002 Bled, Slovenia.

Ukraine won the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain and Armenia won the last 2 in 2006, Turin, Italy and 2008 Dresden, Germany.


Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
            Tia Belau Newspaper
            Volume 19 Issue 21
            Pages 13 & 15
            May 24-30, 2010