(1336) SO ZEROES IN ON TITLE (Manila Bulletin -- May 4, 2008)

So is wearing the same long sleeves shirt that I bought in Philippines after coming back from participating in the 2016 World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. Coincidence? I just notice it yesterday, January 16, 2017.












        SO ZEROES IN ON TITLE

Wesley So played with his usual swashbuckling style before settling for a fighting draw with NM Oliver Barbosa to move closer to the overall title in the 2008 "Battle of GMs" chess championship at the 11th floor, Bayside Hall, City State Hotel in Mabini St. cor. Padre Faura, Manila.

With the title and the P200,000 grand prize well within his reach, So halved the point with Barbosa after 52 moves of the Queen's Indian to stay a full point ahead of Asia's first GM Eugene Torre, with only one round remaining in this tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and sponsored by PAGCOR and City State Hotel.

Overall, So has eight points on six wins and four draws.

The 14-year-old high school student at St. Francis College (Bacoor), who made the headlines by winning the 10th Dubai Open chess championship last month, needs only to draw his 11th and final round assignment against three-time national junior champion John Paul Gomez to formalize his claim for the title.

"Basta laban lang po. (Just keep on fighting). Kung may winning line, I'll go for it. Kung wala, "I'll be happy with a draw," So referring to his final round match with Gomez.

But not to be outdone was Torre.

Torre, at 56 and the country's winningest chess player for almost four decades now, whipped GM candidate Julio Catalino Sadorra in 44 moves of the King's Indian to grab solo second place with seven points on four wins and six draws.

Like So, Torre is the only other undefeated player in the tournament.

Gomez outplayed NM Hamd Nouri in 68 moves of the Philidor while IM Richard Bitoon outduelled  NM Rolando Nolte in 50 moves of the Sicilian to share 3rd spot with 6.5 points.

Half-a-point behind in 5th with 6 points was GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr., who was ambushed by GM Jayson Gonzales in a marathon 78 moves of the French defense.

Antonio has 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses. Barbosa and Nolte share 6th with 4.5 points.

In the women's division, Catherine Perena split the point with Shercila Cua to keep her slim half-point lead. Perena has 7.5 points on 5 wins and 5 draws against Cua's 7 points on 4 wins and 6 draws.

Cheradee Camacho bested Cristy Lamiel Bernales in 52 moves of the Sicilian to join Sherily Cua in 3rd with 6.5 points. It was Camacho's 4th win in as many rounds in a belated effort to crash into the magic circle.

Sherily, the younger of two chess-playing Cua sisters from V. Luna Chess Club, drew with Kimberly Jane Cunanan in 43 moves of the Slav.

In other 10th round results, Asian Games campaigner Jedara Docena upset Yiem Jose in 37 moves of the Sicilian, Aices Salvador trounced Enersoe Magno in 35 moves of the Slav and Beverly Mendoza drew with Jenny Palomo in 34 moves of the Nimzo-Indian.    

         

Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
                 Tia Belau Newspaper
                 December 29, 2002 -- January 17, 2017

                 Manila Bulletin
                 Page S-3
                 Sunday, May 4, 2008

                 Music and Me by Roberto Hernandez
                Tia Belau Newspaper
                 March 15, 2012 -- April 18, 2013
                http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
                April 25, 2013 -- January 17, 2017

                The History of Chess in Palau
                By Roberto Hernandez
                June 09, 2002 -- January 17, 2017
     

(60) CHESSMATE 34 TORRE, ASIA'S FIRST GRANDMASTER

 

 

GRANDMASTER Eugenio Torre of the Philippines was the first Asian player to participate in the Candidates matches, a tournament of qualifiers from different zones to select a challenger for the world champion.

He is also well known for having served as Bobby Fischer's second during his 1992 match with Boris Spassky.

His opponent in this featured game, Yuri Balashov of Russia, has been rated over 2600 and has a win over Anatoly Karpov to his credit.

Balashov had the white pieces and Torre used his pet defence, the Pirc or Yugoslav Defence.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 the Pirc Defence, named after the Yugoslav Grandmaster who was among the first to appreciate the counterattacking possibilities of this elastic defence.
4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2 b5 Black shows his deep understanding of the position by avoiding 2 tempting but inaccurate moves. Here... Bg7 would lose a tempo to a future Be3-h6 and moving his queen early would be misguided as what black really need is quick counter play on queenside and in the center.
6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. Nf3 e5 8. a4 b4 9. Ne2 exd4 10. Nexd4 c5 11. Ne2 Bg7 12. Rd1 Bb7 13. Ng3 0-0 14. 0-0 Re8 15. Bf4 Bf8. The game is about equal as the weak pawns on e4 and d6 cancel out.
16. Rfe1 a6 17. Bc4 d5 18. Ba2 safer was 18. exd5. Now black destroys white's once proud center in truly hypermodern fashion.

... b3 19. Bxb3 c4 20. Ba2 dxe4 21. Ng5 Rc8 22. h3 Qb6 23. a5 Qa7 24. Kh2 Qc5 25. N5xe4 Nxe4 26. Qxd7 Bc6 27. Nxe4 Bxe4 28. Bd6 the losing move. Necessary was 28. Re2 or 28. Bg3.
... Bxd6+ 29. Rxd6 Kg7 30. Re2 Bf5 White resigns.

The author's (Hernandez) friendly game against Torre happened in early 1980's while Torre is promoting his book "Beyond The 13th Move" by Eugene Torre at the Alemar's Bookstore in Makati.

Hernandez had bought that book a week earlier so he took another book from the shelves to have Torre autograph it.

The book featured Torre and entitled "1972 Asian Zonal -- Champion --Torre." After signing it, a sales lady of the bookstore, who was a neighbor of Hernandez, asked them if they like to play a friendly game.

Torre said okay but just one game. They played on a medium size chessboard where Torre won a pawn in the opening. Hernandez was able to penetrate in Torre's kingside and won a whole rook in exchange of a pawn.

Overwhelmed by his advantage, Hernandez overlooked the safety of his own kingside and Torre counterattacked with his queen and bishop.

When Hernandez is about to be mated in one move, he shook the hand of the champion.

Ten years later, they both participated in the national championship where the top six finishers will represent the Philippines in Chess Olympics held every two years.

Torre was the top seed then and Hernandez was 218th out of 240 contestants in that 13 round Swiss system tournament.

Torre topped that tournament while Hernandez scored 6 points in 13 games against players whose ratings were not lower than 1800.

Solution to last week's puzzle: 1. Qh6 Rg8 2. Qxh7 Kxh7 3. Rh5 mate.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Page 14
June 18-25, 2004

Left to right -- Cesar Caturla, Almario Marlon Bernardino, Rolando Nolte and GM Eugene Torre.
(Photo by Almario Marlon Bernardino)