(276) SACRIFICE ROOK

This is one of the clippings that Roberto Hernandez has compiled since learning chess from 1972-2012.

Tore or Torre means rook in Filipino language.

MALLORCA, SPAIN -- Grandmaster Eugene Torre would sit out the first round of the World Chess Olympiad for the 2nd time since 1970, a decision reached to give national champion Darwin Laylo his baptism of fire in the world's most prestigious chess tournament.

Torre, assigned the top board for the 17th straight time, is giving way to give reserve player Laylo a chance to see action alongside GM Joey Antonio, International Masters Mark Paragua and Jayson Gonzales in the first round.

Follwoing a team meeting presided by captain Sammy Estimo, the following board order was decide: Torre, Antonio, Paragua, Gonzales, Emmanuel Senador and Laylo.

Senador is also sitting out the first round.

The Philippines' first round rival has yet to be ascertained, but based on the team seeding, it could either be Bahrain or Malta. The pairing, however, remains unofficial since 9 more teams are expected to come in late in the day.

A total of 120 teams, led by powerhouse Russia, are taking part in the open section.

The Philippines is also fielding a team in the women's section which has lured 85 teams so far.

Two-time national champion Sheerie Joy Lomibao, Women International Master Beverly Mendoza, rookies Loreshyl Cuison and Aices Salvador make up the board assignments in that order.

With 2 GMs, one GM-elect and one IM in the fold, the Philippines is seeded 41st.

Despite the absence of world no. 1 Garry Kasparov, Russia retains its top seeding with super GMs Alexander Morozevich (2758), Peter Svidler (2735) and Alexander Grischuk (2704) manning the first 3 boards.

Ukraine, with GMs Ruslan Ponomariov (2710) and Vassily Ivanchuk (2705), is ranked 2nd while GM Boris Gelfand (2693) leads the 3rd-ranked Israel.

GM Viswanathan Anand of India, ranked second behind Kasparov with an ELO of 2781, is making his first appearance in the Olympics after a long absence.

His presence elevated India to No. 5 in the team seeding, the highest among Asian countries. Other highly-ranked Indian players in the field are GMs Krishnan Sasikiran (2668) and GM Pentala Harikrishna (2612).

Despite its modest seeding, the Philippines is expected to figure prominently in the race for the Top 10 standings.

"We have a pretty solid lineup. We hope to do well here," said Torre.

Antonio said he is not discounting the possibility of a Top 10 finish.

"We will fight hard to bring honor to the country," said the 42-year-old Antonio, who along with Torre powered the Filipinos to their best finish --7th in the 1988 Thessaloniki Olympiad in Greece.

One thing going for the Filipinos is the presence of Paragua who is coming off his best season in his career with two international victories in Alusha, Ukraine that earned him his GM title.

The 20-year-old former child prodigy is on a roll.

After conquering the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, Paragua won a small international tournament in Torino, Italy, site of the 2006 World Chess Olympiad. He scored 5.5 points in 6 rounds.

Two days before the start of the Olympiad, Paragua also topped a blitz tournament against a cast of GMs and IMs here.

With Torre and Antonio expected to hold their own in the first 2 boards, the Filipinos are expected to strike hard in the lower boards.

Aside from Paragua, Gonzales, one of the key members of the team that dominated the Southeast Asian Games, will be a force to reckon with at board 4.

The team could also count on its reserve player in Senador and Laylo.

Senador has played in two Olympiads including the 1996 Yerevan Olympics in Yemen where his acquited himself well.

Laylo, on the other hand, was a former national junior champion who finished 2nd behind Sasikiran in the Asian Junior championships in 1999.

The delegation arrived Thursday afternoon following a 24-hour journey which included a six-hour stop in Zurich, Switzerland.

The team members were met by Paragua who came in a day earlier from Torino, Italy.

Salvador, left behind while the travel documents of her mother is being processed, is expected to rejoin the team in the next few days.


Source: Tempo Newspaper
"World Chess Olympiad -- SACRIFICE ROOK"
By Rey Bancod --Associate Editor
Saturday
October 16, 2004

(157) CHESS JOKES (Compiled by Roberto Hernandez)

C H E S S J OK E S
(Compiled by Roberto Hernandez)





WHICH ROOM?

Four people died on four separate occasions.
A priest died from a car accident.
A soldier died in Iraq from bomb explosion.
A chess Grandmaster died of heart attack.
And a prostitute died of cancer.

At the pearly gate of heaven, St. Peter asked them one by one of the good things that they've done while on earth.

The priest said that being a priest, he need not say anything.
St. Peter, seeing the purity in the priest, asked him to go to the
WHITE room.
Next comes the soldier. He said, "I am a soldier and I die for my country." Seeing braveness to the man, he said, "Go to the RED room."

Then, the chess Grandmaster. He said, "I devoted my whole life to chess. I don't drink, I don't do drugs and I lead a straight life."
St. Peter asks him to go to the CHECKERED room.

And the last one, he ask again, "What are the good things that you did on earth?" The prostitute said, "I made a lot of men happy!"
Without hesitation, St. Peter said, "Okay, you go to MY room!."




FAMILY PLANNING, SPANISH STYLE

During the 36th World Chess Olympiad that was held in Mallorca, Spain from Oct. 14-31, 2004, a young Spanish couple agreed verbally that they will have a family planning for 3 weeks, the duration of the Chess Olympiad.

They agreed that they will have sex ONLY during the day that there is no letter S in that day of the week.

In Spanish, LUNES is Monday, MARTES is Tuesday, MIYERKOLES is Wednesday, HUEVES is Thusday, VIERNES is Friday, SABADO is Saturday and LINGGO or DOMINGO is Sunday. Domingo is also a name of a person.

Realizing this, they can have sex only during LINGGO as SABADO also has an S in it.

Two weeks passed by and they still managed to follow this unique kind of family planning.

But in the middle of the 3rd week, the husband asked his wife, "Sweetheart, what day is today, VIERNE?" The wife said, "No, it's already ABADO!"

NINE MONTHS LATER, THEY HAVE A BABY AND NAMED IT DOMINGO!




A WHOLE WEEK

A man wrote a letter to his mother explaining his whole activity for the week. He is a Grandmaster from Spain so he used Spanish in mentioning the days of the week.
It says:
Dear Mother,
I wrote this letter last LUNES, I mailed it this MARTES. It will reach you on MIYERKOLES. I can't make it home on HUEVES because I have a final round chess game on VIERNES. I will be home on SABADO. Your son, DOMINGO.




Source: The History of Chess in Palau
             By Roberto Hernandez
            2004-2012
            To be published as a book in the future