(1020) ORTIZ QUITS, BONG'S IN, KAREN & ANN NEED A DRAW (TBN-July 25, 2011)

REPLACING JENALYN ORTIZ
    Ferdinand 'Bong' Gutierrez, left, uses a different kind of strategy in joining the ongoing 2011 Palau National Chess Championship. "Know your opponent" seems to be his tactic for this year's PNCC. Roberto Hernandez, middle, plays against Elizalde Madrinan in a special game held on Tuesday, July 19 at PRR Dorm 1.
                                     (Photo by Roberto Hernandez--Taken by Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr.)


JENALYN ORTIZ, the 4th woman player to participate in the ongoing 2011 Palau National Chess Championship has withdrawn her participation to pave the way for Ferdinand 'Bong' Gutierrez to fill-in the vacant slot. Bong was offered a slot 3 weeks ago before the opening day but he politely declined.

Upon seeing the contestants' styles of play in the opening games of the tourney, he was able to size-up the strength of the field and decided to join if there is an opening.

Ortiz has not played a single game yet and when asked if she wishes to continue, Karen Lee confirmed her withdrawal.

After talking to Ann Acebron and Lee, they agreed to play on Saturday at 2:00 pm. They need to have at least a draw to have all the unrated players gain their first international ranking.

Roberto Hernandez set up 4 chess boards and pieces, clocks, score sheets and pens anticipating another busy afternoon but it didn't happen again.

Mohammad Manik Hossain showed up at 12:00 to play at least one game before going back to work in Airai at 3:00 pm. It was decided that if Acebron and Lee come at 2:00, he will play one game against anyone of the two in 15-minute time control so that he can still make it at 3:00.
A match with Elizalde Madrinan was set on Monday (Eli's day off) instead.

Angie Parrado came at 3:30 and she played an official game against top seed Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. and lost in 24 moves of Caro-Khan Defence. She played another game against Rudel Roxas and suffered the same fate in a marathon 74 moves of Irregular Opening.

Elizalde Madrinan played his first game on Tuesday against 3rd seed Hernandez. It was an exciting match that the small crowd had enjoyed watching with Hernandez prevailing in 60 moves of Sicilian Defence. Eli missed some strong moves that should have altered the outcome of the game.

Jeff Balbalosa has uploaded some pictures of 2011 PICC from his digital camera at Facebook. Hernandez downloaded those pictures including the record of his participation in the 2010-2011 Palau National Chess Championship.

It's a great discovery of Jeff that it satisfied Hernandez' curiosity of what happened to the ratings of 8 other players who played in that event. Although they didn't get their international rating because of shortness of FIDE rated player (at least one third), their names and statistics, games played, their opponents and acquiring FIDE I. D. number is more than good enough as the ratings itself.

The following is the FIDE I. D. Number of the 15 participants of the said event: 1. Menandro Manuel 16600029  2. Jerry Sermeno  16600142  3. Roberto Hernandez  1660010  4. Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. 16600037  5. Dennis Gonzales 16600152  6. Tito Cabunagan 16600169   7. Gonzalo Escapatoria  16600177   8. Mohammad Manik Hossain 16600185  9. Ferdinand Gutierrez  16600192  10. Jeffrey Negrillo  16600207  11. Angie Parrado  16600215   12. Elizalde Madrinan 16600223   13. Manuel Mahor, Jr. 16600100   14. Andres Mestizo II  16600231  15. Jeff Balbalosa  16600240.

Please log on to ww.fide.com   Look for Country Top Player, choose Palau. Click the inf. and you will see the 2010 records of all 15 players.


Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez  
               Tia Belau Newspaper
               Vol. 20 
               Issue 30  
               July 25, 2011

(1018) MONTEL, MANUEL JOIN OTHER TOP 10 OCEANIA OTHER PLAYERS

PALAU Chess Federation now has two players among the top ten chess players in Oceania other than Australia and New Zealand. Cyril Tomas Montel Jr with a rating of 1943 was listed as number 8 while his compatriot Menandro Manuel, rated 1922, was on 9th spot.

The list include countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Palau and Guam. The last named country has recently been accepted as the newest member of the Oceania zone.

In another list, Palau Angie Parrado (1551) and Karen Lee (1250) were listed as the only active rated women in other Oceania countries.

(Source: Australasian Chess Magazine, March 2012 issue)

Karen Lee is not sure if she can make it to 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. Financial constraints is the first obstacle she has to tackle, that is the expensive airfare. Good luck to you in finding sponsors.

Photo by: Roberto Hernandez

Angie Parrado was listed as one of the only two active rated women player in other Oceania countries. She had a controversial game here against Palau's No. 4 Gene Pastrana regarding another touch move violation by Gene.
 

        Photo by: Roberto Hernandez

Menandro Manuel in deep thought against Joselito Marcos. He defeated Marcos to tie him for the title of 3rd Palau Invitational International Chess Championship --Dec. 14-19, 2011 in the City of Koror, Palau.

Photo by: Jamie Kirstie Marcos

Palau top player Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. poses for a profile picture before the start of his game.

      (Photo by Joselito Marcos)

(1007) FORMAT-- 2011 PALAU NATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP (TBN-June 06, 2011)

        

1.    The event will be held from June 26-Sept. 25, 2011 at Beken’s Store and General Merchandise premises or at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1. Playing days are mostly Saturdays and Sundays depending on the available time of participants.

2.    It will be a single round robin event limited to 18 players. The names have been drawn as follows: 1. Eugenio Pastrana (1754) 2. Karen Lee 3. Menandro Manuel (1910) 4. Jeff Balbalosa 5. Roberto Hernandez (1846) 6. Cyril Tomas Montel, Jr. (1941) 7. Paquito Suringa, Jr. (1602) 8. Jeffrey Negrillo 9. Dennis Gonzales 10. Elizalde Madrinan 11. Jose Celiz 12. Mohammad Manik Hossain 13. Gonzalo Escapatoria, Jr.  14. Angie Parrado 15. Tito Cabunagan 16. Elpidio Manaligod (1540) 17. Rudel Roxas 18. Edwin Acuyan

3.    The number of participants can increase to 21 if Manuel Mahor, Jr.  will join and up to 24 if Bernard Garcia will also join.

4.    The time control is 90 minutes to make 40 moves and 30 minutes more to finish the game +30 seconds increment starting from move 1.

5.    Registration fee is $10.00. Half of it will be for cash prize of the top 5 finishers and the other half is for the Palau Chess Team Fund to 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.

6.    When playing at Palau Royal Resort, players are asked to get a visitor ID before entering the venue. The third venue is the Bethlehem Park near Palau National Gymnasium. Players are asked to set a date and time so that chess materials can be supplied.

7.    This is a FIDE rated event. The players without international ratings yet must finish at least 9 games and should have played at least 3 FIDE rated players to get an international ranking.

8.    The FIDE Laws of Chess will be displayed at the tournament sites for referral in case of a protest or dispute. The official arbiters of the events are Roberto Hernandez and Gene Pastrana, who are both participating. If they are playing while a protest is made, their time clock will be temporarily stopped and will only be resumed after the dispute is settled.

9.    Score sheets will be provided and players are required to write in Algebraic chess notations. Aside from small cash prizes, the top 5 finishers will receive trophies in the shape of King for the champion, Queen for the 1^st runner-up, Rook for the 2^nd runner-up, Bishop for the 3^rd runner-up and Knight for the 4^th runner-up courtesy of Roberto Hernandez.

10. The 2 woman contestants are eligible to be members of Palau Women’s Team to 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. They have more than a year to save for buying their own airfare.

11. The basis of the composition of Palau Chess Team to the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey was the final standings of 2010-2011 Palau National Chess Championship. If Bernard Garcia is joining this year's PNCC and he finished in the top 5 AND he commits first than Cyril and Dennis Gonzales, then he can qualify as long as he is willing to buy his own airfare like the 4 who committed to the men's team (Manuel, Hernandez, Cabunagan and Mohammad Manik Hossain) and 2 to the women's team (Menandro's wife Elizabeth and Angie Parrado).

12. The Palau Chess Team Fund that were collected from registration fees and donations will be added to last year's fund to buy a laptop for Palau Chess Federation or to pay for the yearly due of PCF to FIDE (480 euros) for 2011 to be allowed to play in 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. Countries with 2-year arrears in their payment are not allowed to participate in an Olympiad.

Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
              Tia Belau Newspaper
               Pages 9-10
              Volume 20
              Issue 23
              June 06, 2011 

(150) 4 PALAU PLAYERS AMONG TOP 10 OCEANIA OTHER PLAYERS

FIRST TIME IN THE TOP OCEANIA OTHER PLAYERS

Tito Cabuangan, left, and Roberto Hernandez debuted in the Top Oceania Other Players with a rating of 1814 and 1875 respectively.

(Photo by Joselito Marcos)

THE May-June 2012 issue of Australasian Chess magazine is now out. The cover story is the inaugural Guam International chess tournament held in February this year. Guam Chess Federation is the newest member of FIDE and of the Oceania Chess Confederation. The tournament was a FIDE-rated event and six of Guam's chess players obtained their international ratings that was published in the FIDE ratings list published in May 1. The event was jointly won by local player Efren Manuel and Australia's Leon Kempen.

In the meantime, two more Palau players debuted in the Top Oceania Other Players published in the Australasian Magazine. They are Roberto Hernandez and Tito Cabunagan, ranked 9th and 10th respectively.

The list also includes Cyril Tomas Montel Jr (ranked sixth) and Menandro Manuel (seventh). In all there are four out of 10 Palau players in the list.

Joselito Marcos of Papua New Guinea, a recent Palau visitor and joint winner of the 3rd Palau International Invitational is on second spot.

Fiji's Damien Norris is on top. Three of his countrymen, namely Manoj Kumar (fourth), Calvin Prasad (fifth) and Sanmogan Goundar (eighth), together with PNG's Helmut Marko (third) round up the top ten list.

On the distaff side, only Angie Parado and Karen Lee, both from Palau, are listed in Top Oceania Other Women Players.

Australasian Chess magazine is published bimonthly by FIDE master and international organizer Brian Jones who is the current president of Oceania Chess Confederation.

(Report by Joselito Marcos)

(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