INVITED
player Andres 'Aying' Mestizo II played 6 games in one day and took
solo 2nd place in the resumption of Palau Royal Resort Rapid Chess
tournament held at PRR Dormitory 1 on Sunday, April 06.
He
started with a sweep of 2nd seed Jaime Guevarra where in the first
game, Guevarra overlooked a mate in one that would have finished him off
in just over 5 minutes of play.
He played badly again in their 2nd round match maybe due to inactivity or lack of practice.
Next in line was Robert Tubice, who drew first blood when Aying failed to sustain his overwhelming advantage into a win.
He
trounced "Tube Ice" in their 2nd round match while Paul Garcia is
watching their game. They played practice game while waiting for another
available player.
Zaldy Ranopa's first tournament game of the year was spoiled by Aying when he lost in their first game.
He
had his chances in the 2nd game with a mate in one but he captured with
a pawn that leaves them with both a queen and a king and agreed to draw
the game.
With 4.5 points scored in just one day, Aying had 6.5 points and only a mere half point behind top seed Roberto Hernandez.
His
last remaining opponents are Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr., Eli Madrinan,
Laurence Abuton and Darwin Nisperos, who is going home on May 04, 2008
and will not renew his contract.
Garcia, on the other hand, has resigned and will be leaving on April 30, 2008.
Players
who are hesitant to play against Garcia are advised that if they have
not played him within 3 weeks, it will be declared as wins for Garcia,
the most feared player in PRR.
He
has shown the biggest improvement due to his everyday practice with
Ivan II Chess Computer, the talking and taunting chess machine that has a
rating of 2000 (United States Chess Federation).
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
April 11-17, 2008
FRANCIS
Diesta has 2 more remaining games in the Class B division of Palau
Royal Resort Rapid Chess Tournament against invited player Chat
Miraflor, who has played only 2 games in more than a month.
Diesta
showed good quality games and a potential master candidate if he will
concentrate more on positional play, tactics and practical play.
If
Diesta can sweep Miraflor, he is still in contention for the top 4
spot. It will also depend on the performance of top three Arnold Rivera,
Romy Cayanan and Morris Apresto.
No game was played within this week in the Class B division as most players enjoy the payday week in other activities.
But in Class A, Elizalde Madrinan finally scored half point after a string of losses and did it via 3-move repetition.
He
sacrificed a rook to obtain a draw position and would not like to take
chances with 3 pawns against a rook endgame against Paul Garcia.
That
game was already recorded last week as a victory for Garcia, but
according to them, it's just a practice game and not official.
Garcia
suffered his 4th loss when Arnel Pama, the elected Chairman of King
Royal Chess Club of PRR, combined tactics and patient play to subdue the
improved offensive and defensive plays of Garcia.
As
the 2008 National Chess Championship is tentatively set on April 27,
2008, the Group A against Group B team match-up will be postponed.
Jan Berglund, the International Arbiter and trainer will be coming on April 24 via Continental Airlines from Manila.
He will be joining the National Chess Championship to get the potential team players' strengths and weaknesses.
As
group training is not possible, he will do the individual training of
possible Palau team players to participate in the World Chess Olympiad
to be held in Dresden, Germany on November 12-25, 2008.
PRR
top players Roberto Hernandez, Jaime Guevarra, Dennis Lara, Pama and
Eli are all interested to join the National Chess Championship to get
World Chess Federation (FIDE) international rankings as Mr. Berglund
already notified FIDE that the said event will be rated.
He
is also working on a possibility of having Palau be a CACDEC chess
playing country to have the benefits of not paying tournament fees,
world competition fees and other benefits such as chess sets, clocks and
equipments.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
March 28-April 03, 2008
FOUR
players in the Class B division of Palau Royal Resort Rapid Chess
tournament are in a tight battle for supremacy in the resumption of play
where Morris Apresto made the contest interesting after dealing
erswhile leader Jess David his 3rd and 4th losses.
Apresto
showed signs of brilliant attacking prowess in defeating David in their
first game when he refused an exchange advantage and sustained his
mating attack. He did the same in their 2nd game and in a shorter time.
Chief
cook Arnold Rivera now holds the least loss record and can clinch the
title if he will defeat Morris, David and the other contender Romy
Cayanan, who is not far behind in the standings.
Rivera ousted top seed Randy 'Buhawi' Sioson of contention after sweeping him the 2 games.
They
played 2 games earlier but it is declared unofficial as only two of
them were around when they played it and Rivera lost both games.
Cayanan's hectic schedule didn't allow him to play a single game.
In
the Class A division, 4th seed Paul Garcia kept his chances intact for
the title with a two-game sweep of Eli Madrinan, who haven't won a game
since moving to Class A.
During
practices with Class A players, he showed his toughness especially in
defense that is why he is called "Petrosian" by friends. A name derived
from the former Soviet world chess champion in 1960 Tigran Petrosian,
the master of defense.
Top seed Roberto Hernandez lend Eli a book, "Tigran Petrosian, His Life And Games".
Arnel
Pama, the elected Chairman of King Royal Chess Club of PRR played
rapidly against Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr. and lost a piece in the
middle game.
He sustained his attack with accuracy but missed the chance to regain the piece and lost after Pax simplified the game.
Pama,
who is a Reti Opening advocate, bounced back from defeat and took the
measure of Suringa in their 2nd game. He uses "Pamareti" alias at
chess.com.
Suringa
squeezed another victory over Laurence Abuton in their 2nd round match
to gain a respectable 5-4-0 win-loss-draw card. He lost to Abuton in
their first game.
Other
Class A players Hernandez, Jaime Guevarra, Dennis Lara, Darwin
Nisperos, Zaldy Ranopa and Andres 'Aying' Mestizo II didn't see action
last week.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
March 21-27, 2008
THE
RAPID chess version of Palau Royal Resort with bang and boos as all
kinds of illegal moves and blunders were committed during the opening
round.
A
total of 27 players are participating in the event that will last only
for a month and will be held at Dormitory 1 during the free time of all
the players.
The
players were divided into Class A, B and C with the top 8 finishers of
PRR rating chess tourney held last year forming the Class A.
Class B were the lesser-placed players and Class C were all newcomers and first-timers.
Edgar
Cayanan, the Assistant Restaurant Manager of Waves Restaurant of PRR,
started with a perfect 4-0 win-loss slate and leads the Class C followed
by near-perfect performance of Jess David at 3-1.
Class
C top seed Randy 'Buhawi' Sioson had played 10 games already, winning 5
and losing 5. He was swept by David, split the double round-robin
matches with Francis Diesta, Delfin 'Scanamus' Mallare and Mark Apresto
and clobbered Edgar's nephew Romy Cayanan in a losing game when the
younger Cayanan missed an unopposed pawn move that would have won him
the game.
David's
only loss was against Apresto, whose brother Morris scored the shortest
game of the tourney with a 6-move conquest of Armand Lelis.
Morris
thought that he's doing the same thing in their 2nd game. He stand to
claim the 2nd victory but Lelis had another piece that captured the
queen of Morris and he succumbed to pressure of being outnumbered.
In
the first game of the tournament, Class A top seed Roberto Hernandez
scored 2 victories against the invited player Andres 'Aying' Mestizo II
in their Danish Gambit and Dutch Defence encounters.
In
Mestizo's next 4 games, he lost and won a game each to Paul Garcia and
Arnel Pama, the elected Chairman of King Royal Chess Club of PRR.
The
other invited player, Koror State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich withdrew
from the tournament to prepare for the National Championship to be held
in the middle of March 2008 where potential members of Palau Olympic
Chess Team will be trained and formed by International Arbiter (IA) and
organizer (IO) Jan Berglund.
Laurence
Abuton of Engineering Department started with a 2-0 card and drew his
3rd game Elizalde 'Eli' Madrinan to share the lead in the Class B
division after Eli swept Paquito 'Pax' Suringa, Jr.
Abuton's
other 2 wins were from Manny Dulay and Suringa. Class B's top seed
Abraham Francisco, January employee of the month Erick Ventinilla, Tony
Penas and Darwin Nisperos have not yet played their first games while
Class C invited player Chat Miraflor will play on Wednesday, his day
off.
Lelis
have taken the spot of Arnold Rivera, who has yet to confirm his
participation. Another newcomer, Arj Berenguer might join the crowded,
exciting and funny Class C division.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 13 & 15
Volume 18
February 22-28, 2008
BLITZ
chess specialist Tony Villa survived another close and crucial final
round encounter with 3rd seed Cyril Montel, Jr. to clinch another title
with Palau first National Master Manny Nedic in the final round of
2007-2008 Rapid Chess tournament held on Sunday, February 10 at Jean's
Boutique and Store.
Montel, Jr. needed to win at least 2 of his 3 crucial matches to clinch or tie for the title.
When
he lost to Dennis Lara of Palau Royal Resort, his chances look dim but
when another PRR player, Paul Garcia, upset Villa in their 2nd round
match, the race for the title is still a 3-way battle.
And finally, Cyril dropped 2 of his games against the champs and he finished the way he is seeded, 3rd.
Fourth seed Roberto Hernandez finished 4th and venue host Gene Pastrana, 5th.
Lara showed flashes of brilliance when he defeated Villa and ended at respectable 6th place.
Koror
State Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich and Paul Garcia won 13 games each
but Dittrich had lesser lost games and edged Garcia at 7th spot.
Palau
no. 1 and 2nd NM Menandro Manuel lost 4 and drew 5 of his remaining
games by default and finished 11th while 2nd seed Jose Omega was 9th
after losing 5 and drawing 3 games by default.
Only the top 4 finishers will receive cash prize from the registration fee collected.
Half of it will be fund of the Knights & Rooks Chess Club.
FINAL STANDINGS OF PLAYERS AND THEIR WIN-LOSS-DRAW RECORD:
1.
Tony Villa (23-4-3) 2. Manny Nedic (23-4-3) 3. Cyril Montel, Jr.
(21-5-4) 4. Roberto Hernandez (21-7-2) 5. Gene Pastrana (15-12-3) 6.
Dennis Lara (14-12-4) 7. Craig Dittrich (13-15-2) 8. Paul Garcia
(13-16-1) 9. Jose Omega (12-11-7) 10. Mike Mercado (11-9-10) 11.
Menandro Manuel (11-10-9) 12. Jaime Guevarra (9-16-5) 13. Andres
Mestizo II (7-13-10) 14. Dennis Gonzales (7-15-8) 15. Danny Dandoy
(1-22-7) 16. Joven delos Santos (0-28-2)
It's time now for Palau Royal Resort own version of rapid chess tourney to start on Sunday, February 17.
Class
A consists of the top 8 finishers of PRR Rating Chess tournament held
last year. Dittrich and Mestizo II are the 2 invited players for Class
A.
Class B will have the 9th place and below finishers.
Class
C will have Romy and Edgar Cayanan, Jess David, Randy Sioson, Mark
Apresto, Arnold Rivera, Francis Diesta, Delfin Mallare and the invited
Chat Miraflor.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 18
Issue 7
February 15-21, 2008
PALAU
Royal Resort pastry chef Jaime Guevarra scored the biggest upset of his
newly-found chess career when he clobbered the first National Master of
Palau Manny Nedic with the black pieces on Saturday, Feb. 02 at Jean's
Boutique and Store.
Guevarra
was the highest rated new player of PRR because of his strong
performance in the PRR rating chess tourney held last year at Dormitory
1.
His defensive style of play is somehow likened to former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the former Soviet Union.
He missed some tactical maneuver in their 2nd game and succumbed to Nedic's precise play.
Tony
Villa, Cyril Montel, Jr. and Nedic are still fighting it out for the
top 3 spots of the current tourney which will end this Sunday, February
10, 2008.
Villa has 5 games left while Cyril has 10 more.
On
the last day of the tilt, absent players will automatically lose by
default and other games will be declared default draws if not possible
to be played.
Danny
Dandoy already confirmed that he will not be playing his remaining
games and it will be declared default wins to his opponents.
The
most crucial game this week is the Villa vs. Montel, Jr. and everybody
is anticipating a Cyrl's victory to clinch his first ever chess title in
Palau.
For the 3rd time, Paul Garcia failed to play a single game on his day off even with a car to use.
He
still has to play 3rd seed Roberto Hernandez twice. Also against
Guevarra once. Dennis Lara has to play Guevarra twice to finish the
all-PRR players match-ups.
Training
for the Palau Royal Resort own version of rapid chess tournament are in
full swing as Class A, B and C players are practicing till dawn.
A regular visitor at Dormitory 1, Chat Miraflor, will be invited to
join the Class C (beginners) division to test his mettle against
neophytes Romy and Edgar Cayanan, Mark and Morris Apresto, Jess David,
chief cook Arnold Rivera, Randy Sioson, Brian Angala, Francis Diesta and
Delfin 'Scanamus' Mallare, the cafeteria's humoruous and very handsome
cook.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 18
Issue 06
February 08-14, 2008
EVEN
with the return of current leader and blitz specialist Tony Villa from
vacation, no games were played on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at Jean's
Boutique and Store.
The
3-game schedule of Paul Garcia against Villa, Cyril Montel, Jr. and
Manny Nedic were postponed due to transportation problem.
But
on Monday evening, 3 games were played at Palau Royal Resort Dormitory 1
between the 4 participants of the ongoing rapid chess tourney.
Garcia,
with the black pieces, trapped Jaime Guevarra's queen in the middle
game. With still chances for counter attack, Guevarra missed the right
defense and was mated in the process.
Next in line, Guevarra played 4th seed Roberto Hernandez and lost in their 1st game of Sicilian Defence.
Their
2nd game, a King's Gambit Declined, produce the most closed and tight
contest so far without pawns being captured till the last 3 moves of the
match and Hernandez sacrificed his queen to force a mate in two.
The
tournament will be finished in 4 more weeks and default games will have
to be implemented as the National Chess Championship will start on
March 02-May 25.
It might be FIDE rated and unrated players will have a chance to gain international rankings.
With
the help of International Arbiter Jan Berglund, the 2nd Palau
Invitational Chess Championship (Ambassador Marino Cup) might have 2
more Palau players gaining international ranking--Villa and Koror State
Legal Counsel Craig Dittrich.
The
3rd PICC will be held again on Labor Day weekend (August 29, 30, 31 -
Sept. 1, 2, 2008) with Philippine Ambassador to Palau Ramoncito Marino
sponsoring the cash prizes again.
Foreign players will be invited again to play against Palau top players.
Palau Royal Resort will hold it's own version of rapid chess tournament on February 17 or earlier.
A couple of players might be invited to participate -- Dittrich and Andres 'Aying' Mestizo II.
Players
are requested to pay their registration fee of $10.00 where half of it
will be used as cash prize for the current tourney.
Some
players of the 2nd PICC have not paid yet their registration fee which
will be added to pay for Palau Chess Federation yearly due to FIDE
(362.00 euros).
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 13
Volume 18
Issue 03
January 18-24, 2008
