Live Games: Sochi Grand Prix

Grand Prix Series Starts today!

FIDE Sochi Grand Prix will start at around 7:00 pm. Manila time. You can see all the LIVE top level chess games HERE. Enjoy!

Antonio took game 5 leads series 3-2

On what describe as the most exciting match of the series so far, Antonio playing aggressively through out the game, took game 5 in a gang-ho fashion to take a commanding lead, 3-2 with one more game left to be played. The game ended after 47 moves of the Scotch. Torre, who was racing against time, desperately tried to keep Antonio in check by giving up a bishop for two pawns during the endgame scuffle. But Antonio, wisely using his time advantage made the right continuation with his more active pieces that left Torre no choice but to try his luck the next game and resigned after almost four hours of play. Antonio could claim the the victory in their one on one much up with a draw tomorrow. If Torre somehow managed to find a way to pull of a victory, a deciding game 7 will be played.

I'll take a half-day-off tomorrow from my office work to witness personally, if happens, the final game and awarding ceremony at Gateway Mall in Cubao and hopefully took some photographs.

Anand breaks his own simultaneous record at Mainz

winning 39 games and drew one.

The 40 players visibly try their best for three hours and a half to outwit the best player they might ever have played against and will ever play against, but to no avail. And this are experienced, top club players with average rating that could have reached of perhaps 2000+. And now they were asking this questions: why does it take the simul player only seconds to find better moves than his opponents? Why is his fairly automatic play, necessary to play on 40 boards at the same time, still superior to the creative efforts of the individual player?

photograph courtesy of chessbase.com

5TH PROSPERO PICHAY SR. MEMORIAL CUP

Cantilan Map

This is the last major local events before the prestigious International tourneys such as Pichay and PGMA cup this coming September so this tournament will definitely keep the CH eyes busy in a few weeks time. My boss wouldn't definitely allow me to have another "inconsequential" leave of absence this year :) Anyway, good luck to the participants.

5TH PROSPERO PICHAY SR. MEMORIAL CUP

CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

After the successful staging of this event for the last four years, the 5th PROSPERO PICHAY SR. MEMORIAL CUP CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP unreels on AUgust 12 - 15, 2008 at he Surigao del SUr Institute of Technology in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur.

At stake in this 9 round FIDE Rated Swiss Sytem tournament is the Prospero Pichay Sr. Memorial Cup and a total of P 300,000 in cash prizes, broken down as follows:

Champion P 100,000

2nd Place 50,000

3rd Place 30,000

4th Place 20,000

5th Place 15,000

6th Place 10,000

7th - 10th Place 5,000 @

11th - 25th Place 3,000 @

NCFP Chairman & President together with other NCFP Officials will personally grace the Opening Ceremonies.

For inquiries, contact NM Cesar Caturla @ 0928-7132397 or Arturo Rosit @ 0920-6609348.

Torre took game 4

Eugene Torre managed to hold on on a drawish position and pull of a victory in a classic knight vs bishop endgame to even the match 2-2 against arch-rival Joey Antonio in Game 4 of their "Quezon City Chess Road Show" at Tandang Sora Shrine. The end game saw Torre after forty moves of the French, had a knight and six pawns against Antonio's bishop and six pawns. According to reports a questionable king push by Antonio in the end game--Kh8-- enable Torre to gain the initiative that enable his knight to become more active and turned Antonio's bishop into defensive role to protect his pawns much of the endgame struggle. Antonio playing with blacks pieces eventually lost by time forfeit. Game five will be held tommorow at 2 pm. (july 30) at the Shrine of Pugad Lawin,

Sunday is a rest day

in the meantime here's a video find. I'm not promoting anything here (it's a non commercial, non profit blog after all) I just find this video funny enough to share with everyone. "Beauty is nothing without brains". Enjoy!

Chess Classic Mainz 2008

Another major event will takes place from July 28 to August 3. The Chess Classic in Mainz, Germany. It includes tournaments and Opens in traditional and Random Chess, with chess tigers like the current World Champion and world's number one Vishwanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Russian GM Alexander Morozevich and Judit Polgar of Hungary. The Chess classic has always been dubbed "Anand's tournament" and with good reasons, he's been dominating the annual event for more than a decade now. Many expects the "wunderkid" from Norway, Magnus Carlsen as the one among the other participants who are capable of challenging Anand's dominance at Mainz because of the fact that the last time Magnus and Vishy face each other, that was in Melody Amber this year, Carlsen pull off his first ever victory against Anand. But Amber was a disaster tourney for Vishy. He was visibly out of shape as he had lost a couple of matches in some of the most terrible fashion. In fact Melody was one of the worst tourney for Anand in years. Alexander Morozevich is here as well. Morozevich as one may already know has a great disdain on how FIDE, he claimed, is handling every FIDE sanction tournament like the Grand Prix. Too bad that Morozevich vow never to take part in any of the FIDE Grand Prix tournaments, which is a self infliction because thereby he lost any chance to get a shot for the world championship. And hey, one of the master of psychology in chess, Judit Polgar is also around. Anand was too gentle with Judit and Judit is to charming for Vishy (as well as to every men she faces!) in their past head to head encounter that's why Judit manage to pull off a couple of games against Anand. But Anand knew now what to expect from a world champion. Sorry for Magnus and the rest of the pack but I honestly feel that the Indian GM, will once again, ripped everyone that get on his way at Mainz like a tiger on Chess Classic logo.

Rapid Chess, 20min/game + 5s/move. Course of events: Fri, 1 Aug.: first rounds 1, 2 and 3; Sat, 2 Aug.: second rounds 4, 5 and 6, possible tiebreak; Sun, 3 Aug: four-game matches, big and small final, possible tiebreak, award ceremony. Participants:

Player	Nation	Title	Rating	WRnk
Viswanathan Anand	India	GM	2798	1
Alexander Morozevich	Russia	GM	2788	2
Magnus Carlsen	Norway	GM	2775	6
Judit Polgar	Hungary	GM	2711	22

Note: world rankings and ratings according to the official FIDE rating list of July 2008

Tournament official website

Antonio-Torre Game 3: Drawn

Threefold repetition without any threat of mate, may not be the most noblest of showing one's intention of peace over the board but nevertheless it's a silent, mutual draw. The ceasefire was agreed after Antonio moved his knight three times. In an obvious attempt by Antonio for a quick halt, Torre also didn't take much chances and accepted the offer. Antonio actually was a pawn up. The endgame saw Antonio with two rooks, a knight, a bishop and five pawns against Torre’s two rooks, knight, bishop and four pawns. Torre, however, had more active rook and knight on the fifth rank. Game 4 is scheduled on Monday, July 28, at the Tandang Sora Shrine in Quezon City with Torre handling the white pieces.

FIDE Grand Prix - Sochi 2008--second in a series of six tournaments

The second tournament of the FIDE Grand Prix 2008/9 will take place five days from today, 30th July - 15th August in a Russian sea resort - Sochi. Magnus Carlsen, the first series co-winner will be out, that's understandable since he is currently campaigning in 41st Biel Chess Festival of which he is currently sharing the lead with Evgeney Alekseev. Newly crowned 2008 Dortmund king Peter Leko also begged out for the tourney but the seemingly omnipresent and one of my personal chess hero, Vassily Ivanchuk, will again take no chances to scribble the Grand Prix to his long resume of tournaments he take part with. Radjabov, Kamsky, Karjakin and Gelfand are some of the big names who will also see action. The pride of Arab chess, Qatari GM Mohamad Al Modiahki competing in perhaps the biggest tournament he ever join in, is also line up to mix it up with the big guys.

Of course I'm definitely rooting for "big Chucky" here. Though I've got a feeling that Levon Aronian, Sergei Karjakin and Kamsky could be the surprise winners. Aronian is well rested and well prepared. While Karjakin looks very sharp and fully rejuvenated in his recent tourneys especially in his demolition of former World title contender Nigel Short in a series of rapid matches. Kamsky should win at least a major tournament before his face off with Topalov in FIDE championship match. He must really show something. Now pick your bet from the names below.


Participants:

Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2781)
Teimour Radjabov (AZE 2744)
Peter Svidler (RUS 2738)
Levon Aronian (ARM 2737)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS 2728)
Sergey Karjakin (UKR 2727)
Gata Kamsky (USA 2723)
Boris Gelfand (ISR 2720)
Vugar Gashimov (AZE 2717)
Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS 2709)
Wang Yue (CHN 2704)
Ivan Cheparinov (BUL 2687)
David Navarra (CZE 2646)
Mohamad Al Modiahki (QAT 2556)

GM Wesley So, breached the 2600 barrier

Youngest Super GM in history?

I don't want this blog to turn out as a Wesley So's fan blog (and I posted lots about him) but according to our friends from chessPHI who are conducting a live rating of Filipino chess masters claims that indeed, GM Wesley So, 14, has just breach the 2600 rating barrier with a total of 2605 points. If my knowledge of chess history doesn't fail me, goodness me, not only that makes So the youngest ever to achieved such feat, he is also one of the youngest ever to reach a super GM status? It is interesting to see the official FIDE rating list this coming October and see if GM Wesley So is truly the world's newest chess phenom.

Philippine Chess Player Live Ratings as of July 21, 2008

Rank	Name	Title	Rating	Change	Games	Birthyear
1	SO	g	2605	+28	28	1993
2	TORRE	g	2532	+8	11	1951
3	ANTONIO	g	2515	-3	11	1962
4	PARAGUA	g	2514	-9	21	1984
5	LAYLO	g	2504	0	17	1980
6	NOLTE	m	2503	-19	30	19??
7	SANCHEZ	m	2491	+5	9	1970
8	GOMEZ	m	2490	+33	28	1986
9	GONZALES	g	2488	-35	28	1974
10	DIMAKILING	m	2479	0	0	1980
11	VILLAMAYOR	g	2464	-5	28	1967
12	SADORRA	m	2455	-15	28	1986
13	BARBOSA		2453	-2	11	1986
14	BITOON	m	2450	+11	31	1975
15	DABLEO	m	2444	0	0	1979
16	SALVADOR	m	2443	0	0	1982
17	MARTINEZ	m	2441	0	0	19??
18	BALLECER		2419	0	0	1985
19	ELORTA		2415	+10	9	1983
20	CAUSO		2410	0	0	1985
21	NAVA	f	2401	+34	9	1986

Top Ten Average: 2511

Tournaments Covered:

• Battle of GMs
• Philippine National Semi-finals
• Philippine National Finals
• Danang IM Tournament (VIE)
• II Torneo San Juan (ESP)
• Washington Open (USA)

Antonio wins game 2 against Torre

That's good. Another draw would have wane the public's interest, I say.

Anyway, the win came after 68 moves of the Sicilian Dragon with Antonio handling the black pieces. The end game had seen Antonio with two unstoppable passed pawns which left Torre with no option but to resign the game. Reports also said that Torre surprised Antonio with his first move--a pawn push to e4--that saw Antonio rethink his strategy for more than 12 minutes. The game proceeded to white's advantage, with Torre keeping intense pressure on the king side and Antonio launching a strong counter play on the opposite side of the board which is the typical game play in Sicilian Dragon Variations. Then came the dramatic rook-for-knight sacrifice by Antonio on the 25th move despite being under time trouble, perhaps because of the calculation time he would needed for the plan sacrifice. Post game analysis by both Antonio and Torre which drew lots of spectator around the board proved that the sacrifice turned effective and shifted the momentum to black.

Game 3 of the six-game match will be played tommorow starting at 2 pm. I'll be at the duel on August 1 at Gateway Mall to personaly witness the closing and awarding ceremony and of course take some photos.

The Strongest chess tournament in history

Computers indeed is taking over the world. A Category 29 tournament? Sounds crazy. But it is actually happening! Arbiter Hans Secelle calculated that the average rating of participating software Rybka, Shredder, Naum and Deep Sjeng adds up to (3052 + 2970 + 2956 + 2947) = 2981. Heck, even if you put all the strongest chess player in history, Fisher, Kasparov, Alekhine, Capablanca Kramnik, Anand etc, in one tournament they won't surpassed the average rating or even come closed to the chess960 computer chess world championship in Mainz this July. So to what computer program you are rooting for? I keep two German computer programs in my hard drives, Fritz 10 and Shredder though it was Fritz 10 I regularly spar with and Shredder makes a good game analyst more than Fritz, I presume. Anyway I'd like to see Rybka keep her (yes, it's a she) title. We need Kasparov too in chess computers to draw more interest in the public and make this amazing world of computer chess far more and more exciting. Anyway do cheating, by the help of other computer programs or world class chess players, is also disallowed in such tournaments? Just asking. Lol.

More news HERE

So, Pascua to World Junior Chess Championships

Two extremely confident Pinoy teenagers GM Wesley So and NM Haridas Pascua will lead the RP team along with Jan Garcia and Alcon John Datu in their campaign for this years edition of World Youth U-16 Olympiad in Ankara Turkey. Haridas Pascua, to many updated chess afficionados in the country will remember as the boy who shocked former super GM and long time RP's numero uno woodpusher Mark Paragua in the just concluded Final Qualifying round for the rights to represent the counry in 2008 Dresden Olympiad. GM So, 14, is rank no. 18 among juniors in the world today with FIDE rating of 2577 and RP's no.1

Chessbase.com is back. The popular chess site suffer some technical problems with their server and that made them quiet for a couple of days. There's a lot of things going on in the world of chess this year specially here in the Philippines as one can remember. Chess is back in RP. We are in the flow man!

Torre-Antonio game 1: draw

Nonetheless it was a fighting draw.

So reports said that it was indeed an evenly fought match. I tried to contact the NCFP early this morning if they have already released the PDF game but CH hasn't received any response yet. The NCFP website doesn't provide any information concerning this match up of two of today's most controversial figure of Philippine chess. The draw came after 47 moves of the Ruy Lopez four knights variations after four hours of battle. Reports also said that Both Torre and Antonio had a queen, bishop and two pawns when the game was agreed drawn. Game 2 of the six game duel will be held at Alfredo's Restaurant along Tomas Morato Avenue at 2 p.m. tomorrow, (Wednesday)

And by the way, Hon. Prospero Pichay wasn't around to grace the opening rites. Either he was not invited or simply not interested...let the tsimis begins

Torre - Antonio Showdown starts today

Quezon City Memorial Shrine

The "Old Guard" of Philippine chess, GM's Eugenio Torre and Rogelio Antonio will renew their rivalry in the so called Quezon City Chess Road Show, starting today that will be held in various location around the city of Quezon which will play host for the six game event.

Many city officials and chess masters are expected to grace the openings rites including QC mayor Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte Jr and GM Jayson Gonzales, IMs IMs Rolando Nolte, Ronald Bancod, Emmanuel Senador and Mirabeau Maga will also do simultaneous exhibition and chess clinics. But one intriguing question is will NCF president Prospero Pichay also show up?

Yours truly might drop by the Gateway Mall in Araneta Center on Aug.4, that is the final match because the place is near to where I live.

So what's your prediction? Mine is a win for either of the two and five draws.

image source courtesy of wikipedia

RP Chess team official board order

Here's the final board order of the Philippine team that will represent the country in these years Dresden Olympiad. The line up is one of the youngest ever composed in RP's participation in the Olympiad. Wesley So will play on board one, as expected. Good luck guys!

Men Division
1 GM Wesley So
2 GM Buenaventura Villamayor
3 IM John Paul Gomez
4 GM Jayson Gonzalez
5 GM Darwin Laylo

Women Division
1 Catherine Perena
2 Shercila Cua
3 Daisy Rivera
4 Chardine Cheradee Camacho
5 Cristy Lamiel Bernales

GM Joel on Checkmate Etiquette

I'm back folks! In the meantime here's an interesting article written by GM Joel Benjamin on checkmate etiquette. Enjoy!


A reader wavers from yelling "Checkmate, you lose!" and saying "nice game."

My problem is out of mutual respect for the opponents that I compete against, I don't believe in saying "checkmate" to them. I don't want to embarrass them, and I just simply say "nice game", as I was checkmated in a tournament game back in the 1980's, and my youthful opponent said to me "nice game". I played speed chess against a guy name Roy, and after I checkmated him in the first game, I said "nice game", and he went ballistic on me saying that I should say "checkmate". So in our 2nd speed game, I checkmated him again, and yelled at the top of my lungs "checkmate Roy, you lose!"

I know I exhibited the extremes in both of these cases, and I guess my question is, what is the rule or correct etiquette about saying "checkmate"?

From USCF Website

Vacation!

I'll be away from updating my blog to sort some things out. In fact, there is more to life than blogging. Hope to be back soon - on or before the last round of the Philippine Chess Qualifying rounds for Dresden Olympiad.

See you all soon guys :)

Campomanes: "I told you so!"

could he may have a point?

According to reports, the Singapore International Open was canceled and this sudden event stepped up FIDE Honorary President Florencio Campomanes criticism of NCFP decision to gave its right to promote and organized the big international events in the country to Singaporean based itchess lead by Ignatius Leong, the managing director of Intchess Asia.

"If the SCF, led by Leong, was forced to cancel an event in its own country for yet unexplained, reasons, then how can you expect Intchess Asia to stage international meets in the Philippines?" Campomanes explained.

"Had I known (Pichay would sign the agreement), perhaps I could have given the NCFP president better advice," said Campomanes.

Maybe it's not about national pride at all, maybe its for the better of Philippine Chess. Campo and Pichay should seek one's advise in the first place. They could be a great tandem.

You can read the complete stories HERE

Image source courtesy of chessbase.com

Top Seeded GM's, slowly regaining their form

Mandaluyong City Hall

Although there is still eight rounds left, I can finally heave some sigh of relief. All GM's who see action in the tourney barge into top ten after 9 rounds. As I've stated previously, I'd like to see our RP team composed of battle hardened, well experience GM's/IM to represent the country in Dresden Olympiad. Of course I'm not down playing the capabilities of our other talents but I say with such young guns like GM Wesley So, Paragua, Gonzales, Laylo, IM's Sadorra, Gomezs these boys are the future of Philippine Chess. It's good to see that IM Sadorra is fighting back. He is now tied for 10-14 place. IM Gomez who is well ahead of the pack is a mile 2 points ahead of second placer and top seeded GM Wesley So. Not surprisingly since IM Gomez, after So, could be the next star of Philippine Chess.

NATIONAL FINALS - MEN Rank after round 9 Rank Name Rtg Pts 1 IM GOMEZ John Paul 2457 8½ 2 GM SO Wesley 2577 6½ 3 GM VILLAMAYOR Buenaventura 2469 6 4 IM GARMA Chito 2346 6 5 GM GONZALES Jayson 2524 5 6 IM BANCOD Ronald 2375 5 7 GM LAYLO Darwin 2504 5 8 CARLOS Leonardo 0 5 9 GM PARAGUA Mark 2523 4½ 10 NODADO Jerry 0 4 11 IM NOLTE Rolando 2522 4 12 IM SADORRA Julio Catalino 2470 4 13 IM BITOON Richard 2439 3½ 14 HABLA Jony 0 3½ 15 IM NADERA Barlo 2401 3½ 16 DELA CRUZ Noel 0 3 17 PASCUA Haridas 2174 2 18 GATUS Edmundo 0 2