Aronian wins Nalchik Grand Prix (But look who had the last laugh)

Leko had the last laugh, though

Levon Aronian defeated co-leader of the tournament Peter Leko in the final round to win 2009 Nalchik GP. Going into the 13th round, both players shared the lead with 7.5 points. Leko, on his part need to win his game with Aronian to take home the Nalchik trophy. Hats off nevertheless for Peter. He was notoriously unpopular with fans owing to his high percentage of draws. But in the final game in Nalchik, he goes for it, had his moments to equalized early on but was crushed in the end just the same.


[Event "Nalchik Grand Prix"]
[Date "2009.04.29"]
[Round "13"]
[White "GM Aronian"]
[Black "GM Leko"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E55"]
[White Elo "2754"]
[Black Elo "2751"]

-2009 Nalchik GP official website

See you at DepEd tommorow!

This piece of good news (and to some, outrageous) was first brought to our attention by a certain islesev, a kibitzer from Philippine Chess Portal but first published on eduphil.org. This is a historical moment for Philippine chess. Every chess supporter in the country, if their time will allow, should be at DepEd Complex tomorrow in Pasig City to show some support. No other than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be gracing the event. Don't forget to bring your camera. See you all there at DepEd!... and oh, for the critics, sorry folks, but it's too late for any grumbling. Learn the basic moves of the pieces first then come back later ;)

This April 30, 2009 (Thursday) will be the MOA signing between the Department of Education and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, as well as the launching of the National Chess Academy. President Arroyo will be present, as well as DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus and NCFP President Prospero Pichay. The venue will be Bulwagan ng Karunungan, DepEd Complex, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City. The activity will start at 8:00 A.M. (the original announcement here was 10:30 A.M.).

Chess will now be integrated in the basic education curriculum of Grades 3-6 and High School 1-4. It is to promote the development of higher order thinking skills and values among the students.

Photo opportunities available. For more information or to confirm your attendance, please contact Ella Romblon-Arienda at 633-7206 or Kenneth Tirado at 637-4933.

(via DepEd Communications Unit)

Top grandmasters speaking about rapid chess and blitz

The tremendous success of 1st Barley Rapid chess tournament last March in Quezon City proves to be that rapid tournament, is indeed the chess players and chess enthusiast ultimate chess tournament. Haven't I told you that over 600 people (my estimation) came to Gateway Mall each day to see the games? No surprise in that. Fans knew that at the end of each matches, 70% would end in decisive results, I mean with less drawn game. I'm not a big fan of blitz. It's of minor importance. But rapid, with increment, of course, is absolutely wonderful. Imagine seeing three exciting, quality rounds in one day? Oh, such a pleasure to watch. Somebody shake me up. I'm day dreaming again...

Alexander Grischuk: I like rapid chess and blitz very much: it is interesting either to play or to watch. I do not see any problems in creating more championships of this kind. It is a mystery for me why such tournaments are organized less than normal ones.

Pavel Eljanov: Quick chess is interesting due to its dynamics. I think it would be great if there would be organized a rapid chess world championship. It is much more interesting for me to play quick chess. But I think that the blitz is not serious.

Vassily Ivanchuk: Yes, I like blitz tournaments. I also like rapid chess but it does not mean that I don’t like playing classical chess. I welcome both kinds of chess I can’t say that I prefer one specific kind. If a rapid world championship would be organized, I would probably take part in it.

Levon Aronian: Frankly speaking, most of all I like Chess960 (Fischerrandom) chess. I wish there were more 960 tournaments. I think there are enough rapid and blitz tournaments.

Sergey Karjakin: I like quick chess. Opening theory is not of great importance there as it is in classical chess. By the way, I’d like to mention that I consider Vassily Ivanchuk the world blitz champion, because he won the “Tal’s Cup” last year. Almost everyone could be selected for this game, and there is not any sport selection for the so-called world championship. I consider the “Tal’s Cup” the world blitz championship.

Evgeny Alekseev: Classical chess acquired its reputation a long time ago. Blitz and rapid chess are of minor importance, I have to admit.

Peter Leko: It is good that there is a world blitz championship, and it would be much better to have an official world rapid championship too. The three branches should not be mixed; the more time is allowed for the game, the more important the tournament is. But many people are now interested in blitz and in rapid chess.

Boris Gelfand: All the three branches are very interesting and attract the spectators’ attention. And I participate in tournaments of all kinds with great pleasure. It is better to have more tournaments with any kind of control. I think that there should be three fixed branches: rapid, blitz and classical chess. Each of them has its advantages. To mix them is an absolute nonsense and even crime against chess. Classical chess has deeper games, quick chess is more entertaining, and blitz game checks your reaction. And such an outrage as the FIDE time control, when you are given an hour and a half for the whole game, should remain in history and should not be returned to.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov: I like to play both blitz and rapid chess. We, chess players, are always glad to take part in some good contests. Probably, if there were more of such contests, it would be easier to play, because classical games demand not only the game itself but you also have to work hard preparing for and during the tournament. And it is much more relaxed and pleasant when you play rapid chess and blitz.

Players comment from 2009 Nalchik GP website

No Filipino masters at 2009 Dubai Open

The 11th Dubai open ches championship starts today. Top seeded are Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan (2659), Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus (2624), Malakhatko of Belgium (2618), Fedorov of Belarus (2611) The top junior is GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan (2599) and the top woman player IM Anna Zozulia of Belgium (2371).

Unfortunately for our Pinoy OFWs working in the region, they won't be able to see our top Filipino masters as they opted to skip this $45,000 championship to prepare themselves for the equally prestigious event, the Asian Continental Chess Challenge (Asian Individual Open and Women's Championships) slated on May 13-24 at the Subic Freeport Zone in Olongapo City. This tournament will serve as a qualifier to the World Chess Championships in Russia. GM Wesley So, the defending champion of the tourney where he made history last year by becoming the youngest player ever to win the event at 14 years and 6 months also begged off from defending his title.

Filipinos who are expected to see action in Dubai are the following names: Tabada, Jobannie C. (2186), Arellano, Robert (2094), Taopa, Gilbert (2035), Pabalan, Rocky (1938), Castillo Jaydee (1888).

-2009 Dubai open official website

Fish be with You

This humble looking yellow and blue fin tuna from Quezon fish market can actually help you to become a better chess player.

No longer an urban legend. Fish, it really is chess players food.

We know about the claims that eating fish would make you smarter. Now new research HERE says those claims may be right. So what's the good news? The Philippines is an Archipelago folks and one of the biggest exporter of tuna in the world! Freshly caught tuna, in particular is relatively cheap (most are no more than P130 per kilo), tasty and and more importantly, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids that are the richest source of a type of fat that is vital to normal brain development and is known to keep brain cell membranes healthy and appears to aid communication within brain cells. You couldn't get any better than that. So you can eat well and keep your brain sharp by adding more fatty fish like tuna and sardines which are abound and quite cheap in local market. Of course there are mackerel, salmon, if you can afford them, (which I can't) to add to your eating plan. Fact: World Chess Champions like GMs Vaselin Topalov and Vishwanathan Anand rarely eat meat from pork or beef except fish.

Top GMs: I don't want my children to go for chess professionally.

Kasimzhanov, wife Firuza and son Azar.
Photo courtesy of ChessBase.com

World's top Grandmasters makes a point. Very few of them would have agree of seeing any of their children to take chess as a profession. One can not question them, though you can argue this. Surprisingly, most of these top GMs are sons of lawyers, bankers, land owners, and other professionals. They are mostly came from middle class to upper class family who has all the means to support their passion for the game. For you parents raising a child prodigy, don't grieve at this. It is just one of those cases that misguided fatherly instinct that this top GMs has to deal with when raising and protecting their children, knowing the hardship they have faced on reaching the top, despite all the financial and moral support they received all through out their career. They can only have to think for those who don't have. Somehow, these guys are good fathers.

Rustam Kasimzhanov: "My elder child plays chess a little. I am not against it. But I will be against if one of my children decides to become a professional chess player...I’d like them to have normal professions of a lawyer, doctor or banker."

Peter Svidler: "I have two seven-year-old sons. If they ask me to play chess with them, I will play a game or two, but I don`t want them to go for chess professionally."

Shahriyar Mamedyarov: "I am not married yet. But when I get married and have children, they won`t go for chess professionally. Of course I would like them to play chess well, but not professionally. "

Alexander Grischuk: I have a little daughter who can not play chess yet. But if she is eager to go in for chess I won’t be against it, though I am not going to urge her on choosing this way.

Vasily Ivanchuk: "Family is not the thing one should discuss in press. I am married for the second time. I have a child from the first marriage. Unfortunately I seldomly see him. There are a lot of reasons for it. As far as chess is concerned, he is not interested in this game. Now we don’t play chess in the family. We used to, during the first marriage, as my wife was a chess player. My second wife doesn’t play chess."

Full article can be read at 2009 Nalchik official website

More foresight on the inclusion of chess in school curriculum in the RP

Since chess is now included as a school curriculum in the country starting this year, this won't come as a surprise if we see our young chess players think of nothing else but chess competitions instead of their usual and regular academic subjects. Are we going to see rivalry and jealousy among grade school teachers and chess instructors in the coming years? I don't see that happening but take for example of brothers David and Daniel Ro's story from WillistonObserver.com.'s Williston teen checkmates peers in chess tourney

Pacquiao makes ceremonial pitch for SF Giants

Here's the video of Manny Pacquiao throwing the ceremonial first pitch at San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres at the sold out AT&T Park during the annual celebration of the so called Filipino Heritage Night. So how come that boxing landed on a chess blog like ChessHeroes? It is for the very simple reason that some posts and topics in this blog were also being discussed and well received by our friends over there at Mannypacquiao.ph forum.

Karjakin, bail out of Ukraine

We had finally learnt that there is no actual offer from the Russian Chess Federation. It is Karjakin's sole decision to transfer to Russia after all, in search of good coaches. Sergei just bail out of Ukraine to save his chess career, so it appears. A hundred years from now people will remember Sergei Karjakin as "A Russian World Chess Champion of Ukranian decent." Excerpt of this interview of Sergei Karjakin is from Peter Doggers chess blog, ChessVibes.

“I am going to play for Russia and I am going to live in Russia, most likely. This decision was made because I didn’t have enough support inside the country, in Ukraine. And I also need to train with good coaches and there are a few good coaches in Russia, for example Yuri Dokhoian, who worked with Garry Kasparov and now in this tournament he is working with me. So it’s mostly because of the coaches.”

OK, I had a little bit support from the private sponsors, but I almost didn’t have any support from the Federation. It’s not like in Russia, where you have very big support from the Federation.”

Vassily Ivanchuk:
“I think this is his personal decision. OK, if he thinks he will have more opportunities in the Russian Chess Federation, why not?” To the question if he was surprised, Ivanchuk answered: “I didn’t think about it, but it’s completely his personal decision.”

Pavel Eljanov:
“I think it’s a very good chance for Sergey to improve his skills, because he’s a very talented player. I think he’s one of the most talented prodigies in the world. I think that with this great support of the Russian Chess Federation he has great chances to become World Champion in the future.”

Two Filipino students wins sudoku championship in Thailand

I myself, rarely grab newspapers or magazines without sudoku puzzle games on it. And it's always great to see that Filipinos too are slowly gaining ground in this ultimate logic game. Journal.com.ph has this reports that two Pinoy students, John Robert Valcos, 17, of St. Mary’s College in Baliwag, Bulacan and Sarah Jane Cua, 14, a second-year high school student of Pangasinan Universal Institute in Dagupan City, wins major international sudoku competetion in Thailand, besting over 100 participants from six different countries. If you are not aware, a grandmaster title is also being conferred to a master sudoku player such as GM Sarah Jane Cua who is just 14. Hope to see more Filipino sudoku champion and grandmasters in the future.

Nalchik GP: when Chucky gets cocky

This is an interesting game and at the same time quite..funny? What the... this is not the first time that we've seen Ivanchuk, with his caliber, lose his concentration because of OTB ego and lost a game in the process in such a cruel fashion. Please take a moment to replay the game below. Ivanchuk, playing the white pieces was so confident, or cocky I should say, that his king was well shield from the ramming threat of black's queen and rook on the f file that he decided instead to retreat his bishop by 22. Bf1? using the rook at d2 to protect f2 instead of the possible 22.f3 or 22.Rf1 the latter he opted not to choose since it will definitely hurt his ego as he had previously played Rf-d1 and don't want to take back his decisions but then he overlooks black's next move 22...d4, and eventually fell to Rustam Kasimzhanov's final (and beautiful) combination, winning a piece. 26.Qd3 by 26…Rxc2 27.Qxc2 Qxf1+! 28. Rxf1 Rxf1 29. Kxf1 Nxe3

Never try this at home or tournaments folks. Swallow your pride!

Civilization IV, one good alternative entertainment for chess players

Ah, aside from chess.com and playchess.com this turn based, empire-building strategy game nearly ruin my life. I must say that I grew up with Sid Meier's Civilization series. I rarely indulge myself with racing, shooting or RPG PC games. I'm strictly into turn based strategy games (sometimes real time). That's part of the discipline when carefully choosing a PC game. I haven't stopped playing Civ series since I got my hands on it when Civ 3 was first released in local market 7 years ago. There's nothing that satisfy me most than to drop powerful nuclear bombs on a small and hapless, but uncooperative nations or exterminating the unruly and defiant citizens of conquered rival nations. Anyways, it's just a game. But you'll be surprise with the similarities of the game with chess that's why I highly suggest Civ IV as an alternative entertainment (in contrast with RPG and shooting, racing etc) for serious chess players since the strategies and decision making are quite relevant with chess in many ways.

One minute video interview of GM Wesley So

I do not actually find this video interview of Wesley So very informative and interesting since the questions had been asked to Wesley no less than a hundred times in the past. The usual money management and advice to young aspiring players no longer held any particular interest to me but since this video were meant for the younger ones (I presume) and it's all about Wesley So himself, this video somehow deserves a place in this blog. Beautiful, comfy looking sofa too.

2009 Nalchik Grand Prix Live games, webcam

Let me remind you folks that you can actually follow the live games and watch the action live through webcams (you need Java) from Nalchik for free and no registration is required. Don't expect high quality, streaming videos though. The camera appears to be taking shots of the playing hall every one or two seconds. All games starts at around 7:00 pm Manila time. Enjoy!

-Links
-Live webcam
-Live games

Karjakin to play for Russia?

This isn't possibly a late April Fool's Day joke entry am I right?

This news first brought to our attention through Chessdom but the original post first appeared at Chess Today. Could the youngest GM in history and possibly the next world chess champion is leaving mother Ukraine for good? I would like to hear what Vassily Ivanchuk has to say about the Karjakin's decision. We are well aware of Ivanchuk's extreme nationalism.

Yesterday Yury Vasilyev included in his ChessPro report from Nalchik the unofficial news that Sergey Karjakin will play for Russia in the near future.

Afterwards I spoke with Sergey's father Alexander who confirmed that it is not a secret, and such transfer is their intention. Alexander said that they have nothing against Ukraine, and they are grateful to everyone who helped them in the past...

...Petrov also agreed, however, that it is not possible to hold Karjakin in the Ukrainian federation against Sergey's will. From my side, I must add that it has been known for a long time that most (if not all) leading Ukrainian players have a strong feeling that they do not earn enough money inside the country.

In general, despite all efforts, there is still not enough money in Ukrainian chess for such strong players that we have. I am not sure if a more detailed analysis is of interest to the international readers... If some sixty our leading players move to the Russian, Slovenian federation, etc., then I will obtain a realistic chance to play for the national team and maybe even will read the Olympic Charter in this case.

Again, the nightmare that Filipino chess fans is having after April 1 will surely haunt us again for many years to come.

2009 Philippine Inter-Cities Chess Team Championship round 8

Somebody dropped me an email last night offering me the PGN and photos of the tournament in exchange for a fee. Much have I wish to have those stuffs in this blog for our readers and friends, I'm afraid I can't pay for anything, at least at these moment. ChessHeroes is entirely a "volunteer" effort and therefore I cannot pay anyone if you provide me with your content. May I reiterate that I'm not earning a single penny from this blog. Thanks anyway for the offer but I'm afraid I have to decline. But I can somehow assure you that this blog is more than willing to pay for your effort than the NCFP website ;). Nonetheless, I hope you will continue on what you are doing for chess in the country. Wish you luck!

Now on to Tarlac. More upsets in the tournament. Round 8, GM Mark Paragua of Valenzuela team, rank no. 4 in the country but hmm... fast becoming as the no.1 favorite target of lower rank/rated players this year, suffer another set back at the hands of Rolando Andador of PNP-NHQ. So after eight rounds, two teams share the lead: Quezon City and PNP-NHQ. Other results and details can be read at GMANews.TV

Nalchik Grand Prix, one of the strongest tourney this year starts today!

We won't see Teimour Radjabov and Wang Yue in Nalchik. These two supposedly the favorites to win the Grand Prix having garnered the most points thus far, Radjabov with 363,33 is occupying the first place in the standings and Wang Yue with a total of 353,33 is on the second spot. Nalchik GP is the strongest compare to its past three series and one of the strongest this year, boasting 11 out of 14 players with 2700+ and with an average rating of 2725. The winner of the Grand Prix series will play in 2011 in the Candidate event of the World Championship Cycle.

The Players

1 Akopian Vladimir Armenia 2696, 2 Alekseev Evgeny Russia 2716, 3 Aronian Levon Armenia 2754, 4 Bacrot Etienne France 2728, 5 Eljanov Pavel Ukraine 2693, 6 Gelfand Boris Israel 2733, 7 Grischuk Alexander Russia 2748, 8 Ivanchuk Vassily Ukraine 2746, 9 Kamsky Gata USA 2720, 10 Karjakin Sergey Ukraine 2721, 11 Kasimdzhanov Rustam Uzbekistan 2695, 12 Leko Peter Hungary 2751, 13 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar Azerbaijan 2725, 14 Svidler Peter Russia 2726

Back to the country, Day 3 of Philippine Inter-Cities and Municipalities chess team championship saw four team sharing the top spot with 10 points after six round: Tagaytay, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, FEU-FERN-QC-Inton, Pasig-Marfori. Alcon John Datu scores the biggest upset thus far in the tournament by beating the 3rd rank player in the country, GM John Paul Gomez.

For complete details of the tournament visit Journal.com.ph

Filipino couple left Japan, daughter

Noriko, the 13 year old Japanese girl born to Filipino parents

Undocumented Filipino man and his wife, Arlan and Sarah Calderon left Japan yesterday under a deportation order, leaving their 13-year-old daughter behind Noriko, who was born in Japan and currently attends a junior high school in Warabi. Noriko was allowed to remain but his parents must go. But what moved me most about this incident was on how Arlan's coworkers have rallied around him and more than 19,000 signatures have been collected on a petition calling on the Ministry of Justice to give him special permission to stay in Japan. But to no avail.

The following are excerpts from the Japan Times online

NARITA, Chiba Pref...Earlier Monday, relatives and colleagues of Arlan Calderon, 36, and his 38-year-old wife, Sarah, gathered at the family's home in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, to bid the couple farewell. "We will be waiting for you (to come back)," said construction worker Yasuhisa Nagashima, one of Calderon's colleagues, adding that this is not "goodbye." While expressing sadness, Calderon said: "I want to thank everyone. Not just the people of Warabi, but those across the nation for supporting me and my family's cause. "Noriko (their daughter) is here, so I hope we can return to her side as soon as possible."

The family had long been seeking special permission for residence for the entire family. But while the Justice Ministry granted their daughter special permission to stay, it refused to extend the permission to the parents.

Here's the irony. There are ten of thousands of Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and even Koreans live illegally in the Philippines for years. Yet the Philippines remains one of the lowest record of deportation cases against illegal aliens (not to mention the "lagay") in Asia. Truth is I grew up in an area in my hometown where a small Indian community (we called them Bombay and 5-6), resides and most of them stays illegally. Ask any Filipinos on why they think we are allowing these "illegal" immigrants to stay in the country, they would just shrugged off their shoulders and replied that they too have sons, daughters, parents and other relatives living either legally or illegally in other countries so why bother to kick this people out of the Philippines who are also seeking better lives like we do? It's all about the sense of "utang na loob" which other nationality may find it hard to understand.

Azerbaijan vs. the World Chess Challenge

In a recent entry from Chessdom, an interesting chess challenge is about to take place on 7-9 May in Baku, Azerbaijan. Anand, Kramnik, Karjakin and Shirov are expected to represent the world against all the top players from Gary Kasparov's native country, Azerbaijan. Quite strange that no Chinese players were selected for the team world to give the event some oriental flavor. Pity.

Recently during the closing ceremony of Barley Rapid chess tournament last March, it was mentioned by organizers that the proposed "Quezon City, Philippines vs. Asia" is also set to take place sometime this year. Let us see what will happen.

Meanwhile, day 2 of the Philippine Intercities and Municipalities Chess Team Championship, saw Quezon City took over the lead after GM Antonio defeated GM Villanueva, the highlight match of the day, obviously.

For complete details please visit GMANews.TV and Journal.com.ph

Standings after four rounds:
8 points -- Quezon City
7 -- Tagaytay City, LWUA-QC-F
6 -- Valenzuela, Muntinlupa, FEU-FERN-Inton-QC, PNP-QC, LWUA-QC-B, LWUA- QC-C
5 -- Mandaluyong, Antipolo, LWUA-QC-A
4 -- Makati, Pasig-Marfori, Lingayen, LWUA-QC-D, Calamba, Virac, Tarlac-A, Lanao del Sur, Gerona-A, Nueva Ecija, LQUA-QC-E, Gerona-B.
3 -- Cebu, La Union, Paniqui-Tarlac
2 -- DepEd-Pasig-1, Aparri, Passi, Tarlac-B, NCDA-QC, Tarlac-C
1 -- Calapan, Zambales
0 -- DeepEd-Pasig-2

2009 PICM Chess Team Championship, scandal at Barcza

For results and complete details from day 1 of Philippine Inter-Cities and Municipalities Team Championship please visit GMANews.TV. Unfortunately, GMA appears to be the only site that is interested to cover the Wesley So-less tournament.

In the meantime, everyone loves scandal (as long as we are not the ones involved, I mean). But this time money matters get's on the way again. Yup, "no money, no business". Here's from ChessBase:

It was scheduled to go from April 6th to 17th, and players had already arrived in Budapest – some from as far away as India. IMs had to pay a hefty starting fee, 600 Euros, in addition to their flights. Round one was played, but then the hosting hotel shut down the event since no expenses were being paid.

IM Robert Ris was one of the victims of the failed Barcza Memorial tournament. He sent the following letter to all chess news sites and blogs. Unfortunately, the letter landed on my inbox only last night, and it was quite long and too time consuming (and exhausting) to read. But anyway, one of you might want to give it a through read; then kindly give me your insights about this latest fiasco in chess.

Open Letter regarding the Barcza Memorial Scandal

IM Robert Ris

Thursday 9th April 2009

A few months ago I found out that in April 2009, there would be organized in Budapest a 2nd edition of Barcza Memorial (after reading the story you will understand why there is no tournament site of such strong tournament anymore!). I noticed an email address of the organizer, Mr. Pali, and decided to write him if there would be a possibility for me to participate. Unfortunately, I didn't get any reply, until 2 weeks before the tournament was scheduled. His invitation came quite unexpectedly for me, but I was very glad to get the chance to play in a Cat. 13 tournament, although I had to pay a huge entry fee (600 euro) + flight ticket (320 euro) all myself.

I started my trip Sunday 5 april. Due to late booking I couldn't get a direct flight to Budapest, so I had to make a short transfer in Prague. Arriving there, I decided to check my phone, and saw to my big surprise 3 missed calls from GM Ivan Sokolov, one of the players in the tournament. I called him back, and he told me he arrived at the hotel (http://www.ramadaresortbudapest.hu/ also playing venue) and wanted to check-in, but when informing the reception he came here for the chess tournament nobody understood where he was talking about. According to the hotel manager, Mr. Pali started negotiations a few months ago, but they were stopped early without signing any contract.

Mr. Sokolov informed me that it looked highly unlikely that there would be held a tournament, so the best thing I could do, he advised me, was taking a taxi and booking a room 1 night on my own expense.

After off-loading my luggage in Budapest I was surprised that Mr. Pali picked me up. He told me immediately that the first night I couldn't stay in the hotel, since it was overbooked. After the opening ceremony where all players, but Sokolov were, who was even not informed about the location, he therefore decided to drop me and a few other players in another hotel for 1 night and transfer us next morning.

The next day we checked-out and went to the other hotel. The playing conditions looked really excellent. Everything seemed to be ready for a nice and competitive event.

The 1st round went quite smoothly, despite the slight delay at the beginning of the round. It seemed that all small problems were more or less solved, but in fact they just started...

Next day, 5 minutes before the start of 2nd round, Mr. Pali arrived in the hotel and announced to the players that the 2nd round would be delayed for 1 hour, without mentioning any reason. To me all things were quite clear already, since the hotel management even didn't want to open the conference hall, where we were supposed to play. It was obvious that Mr. Pali hadn't paid anything to the hotel yet. Players decided to relax in the lobby while Mr. Pali went to the bank. Coming back (of course nobody cared about the exact delaying time anymore) he showed some papers to the hotel- and sales manager. As I could read from their faces they were absolutely not satisfied what was going on and Mr. Pali left again, this time accompanied by the hotel manager. After a while they returned and Mr. Pali informed a few players that 'today we don't play, maybe tomorrow double round' while the hotel manager wisely added 'maybe tomorrow no games at all'. When hearing this from other participants I decided to have a serious talk with Mr. Pali. I explained him that the situation for me was absolutely unacceptable, paying a huge amount to play this tournament and being treated in such a way. Arguments from his side like that he lost potential sponsors in preparation of the tournament and he suffered from private problems, didn't convince me at all. Losing sponsors in January and inviting me in end of March lacks any logic. He simply didn't fulfill any of his promises we agreed before the tournament and I didn't see anything better than to withdraw myself from the tournament.

About 1 hour later the hotel manager informed all players that the organizer had absolutely no money, and so the tournament had to be cancelled. The hotel gave him a few chances by extending the deadline, but as the manager stated correctly: 'No money, no business.'

Tournament being cancelled is absolutely a pity, but what about the expenses all the players made? For me personally it means that I lost around 1000 euro's for playing only 1 game. Most of the other players only lost their flight ticket and some starting fee. During the first 2 days GMs Almasi and Sokolov asked many times Mr. Pali to pay their starting fee, but every time he found a bad excuse to delay the payment.

I am very interested what was the reason that Mr. Pali did all this to us. As the hotel manager explained Mr. Pali had absolutely no money to transfer. He lost some sponsors during the preparation of the tournament, but still the Hungarian Chess federation sent him some money ( I have been told 2,2 million forint which is about equal as 7300 euro) which he absolutely misused and/or kept for himself.

After all what happened, it was decided to put up a list with all expenses the players made and forced Mr. Pali to sign himself. As he couldn't escape he signed of course and promised me he would pay me in the morning at the airport. At 7.45 am I met him together with GMs Gopal and Rozentalis. Mr. Pali told me he transferred the money to my account, which was absolutely impossible, since the banks are closed until 8 am. I asked him to pay me cash, so we went to the local currency office. His willingness to pay me cash is already enough proof that he did not sent the money to my bank account! Coming there he explained us that he didn't have his card with him, so he couldn't pay me cash. Similar problems occurred with Gopal and Rozentalis who also didn't get anything. Coming back home I was really surprised to hear that Mr. Pali informed Mr. Sokolov that he partly paid me back! Absolutely a lie!

At last I would really like to thank family Ignacz, who showed great hospitality inviting me to stay with them, after being kicked out of the hotel. Family Ignacz did an excellent job by taking care about more chess players and helped putting up the list with expenses.

I would kindly ask FIDE and Hungarian Chess Federation to take appropriate measures against Mr. Pali so that he will be unable to organize any chess events in the future.

Kind regards,
Robert Ris
robert_ris (at) hotmail.com

Happy Easter Sunday Everyone!

Holy Week was over and yours truly is back from summer vacation which I truly deserved. In my view, I do not consider that the Holy Week is more of a religious commemoration other than cultural tradition for the majority of Filipinos who observed the week. Anyways, since I'm officially back at home, it's time for this blog to hit the road once again.

Of course the biggest news for this week is the start of the 2009 Philippine Inter-Cities and Municipalities Team Championship which will kick off today at Tarlac City. I haven't clarify at this moment if Wesley So will be competing in the tournament but with or without Wesley, I'm pretty sure that the tourney will received the same amount of attention as other tourney Wesley participated with in the country.

For complete details of the tournament, please visit GMANews.TV

But wait...is there's a tradition such as Easter Sunday Fool's day joke?

CH wishes everyone a happy and blessed Easter Sunday!

IM Enrico Sevillano set to defend the 2009 U.S. Open

American based Filipino International Master Enrico Sevillano (2520), the co-champ from last year edition of the US Chess Championship is set to defend the title he won with three others, GM Alexander Shabalov and IMs Rade Milovanovi. The Championship will take place in Saint Louis, May 7-17, 2009. But with the participation of some of the biggest names in American chess today which includes GMs Gata Kamsky (2720), Hikaru Nakamura (2701), Alexander Onischuk (2684), Yuri Shulman (2632), Varuzhan Akobian (2612), Jaan Ehlvest (2606) the odds are obviously stacked against the Filipino-American. Sevillano became the second Philippine born players to win the annual tournament after another US based Filipino, FM Paulo del Mundo also wins the tournament with six others two years ago. The following are excerpt from last year interview after winning the tourney:

EV: You are Phillipino originally, right? Where are you living now?

ES: I moved to this country in ’95. I was in Vegas for a while, but moved to the mountains in California, about an hour and a half north of LA...

ES:...I play bullet on ICC a couple hours a day (laughs). When I was in the Phillipines I was on the national team, and we all used to study together very seriously: 25 of us including GM Eugenio Torre. I studied with them every day for two years.

Read the full interview at US Chess Federation Website

US Open Winners

No.	Year	Location	Champions
1	1900	Excelsior, Minnesota	Louis Uedemann
2	1901	Excelsior, Minnesota	Nicholas Menalaus MacLeod
3	1902	Excelsior, Minnesota	Louis Uedemann
4	1903	Chicago, Illinois	Max Judd
5	1904	St. Louis, Missouri	Stasch Mlotkowski
6	1905	Excelsior, Minnesota	Edward F. Schrader
7	1906	Chicago, Illinois	George H. Wolbrecht
8	1907	Excelsior, Minnesota	Einar Michelsen
9	1908	Excelsior, Minnesota	Edward P. Elliot
10	1909	Excelsior, Minnesota	Oscar Chajes
11	1910	Chicago, Illinois	George. H. Wolbrecht
12	1911	Excelsior, Minnesota	Charles Blacke
13	1912	Excelsior, Minnesota	Edward P. Elliot
14	1913	Chicago, Illinois	Bradford B. Jefferson
15	1914	Memphis, Tennessee	Bradford B. Jefferson
16	1915	Excelsior, Minnesota	Jackson Showalter
17	1916	Chicago, Illinois	Edward Lasker
18	1917	Lexington, Kentucky	Edward Lasker
19	1918	Chicago, Illinois	Bora Kostic
20	1919	Cincinnati, Ohio	Edward Lasker
21	1920	Memphis, Tennessee	Edward Lasker
22	1921	Cleveland, Ohio	Edward Lasker
23	1922	Louisville, Kentucky	Samuel Factor
24	1923	San Francisco, California	Stasch Mlotkowski, Norman Whitaker
25	1924	Detroit, Michigan	Carlos Torre
26	1925	Cedar Point, Ohio	Abraham Kupchik
27	1926	Chicago, Illinois	Leon Stolzenberg
28	1927	Kalamazoo, Michigan	Albert Charles Margolis
29	1928	South Bend, Indiana	Leon Stolzenberg
30	1929	St. Louis, Missouri	Herman H. Hahlbohm
31	1930	Chicago, Illinois	Samuel Factor, Norman Whitaker
32	1931	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Samuel Reshevsky
33	1932	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Reuben Fine
34	1933	Detroit, Michigan	Reuben Fine
35	1934	Chicago, Illinois	Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky
36	1935	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Reuben Fine
37	1936	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Israel A. Horowitz
38	1937	Chicago, Illinois	David Polland
39	1938	Boston, Massachusetts	Israel A. Horowitz, Isaac Kashdan
40	1939	New York, New York	Reuben Fine
41	1940	Dallas, Texas	Reuben Fine
42	1941	St. Louis, Missouri	Reuben Fine
43	1942	Dallas, Texas	Herman Steiner, Daniel Yanofsky
44	1943	Syracuse, New York	Israel A. Horowitz
45	1944	Boston, Massachusetts	Samuel Reshevsky
46	1945	Peoria, Illinois	Anthony Santasiere
47	1946	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Herman Steiner
48	1947	Corpus Christi, Texas	Isaac Kashdan
49	1948	Baltimore, Maryland	Weaver W. Adams
50	1949	Omaha, Nebraska	Albert Sandrin Jr.
51	1950	Detroit, Michigan	Arthur Bisguier
52	1951	Fort Worth, Texas	Larry Evans
53	1952	Tampa, Florida	Larry Evans
54	1953	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Donald Byrne
55	1954	New Orleans, Louisiana	Larry Evans
56	1955	Long Beach, California	Nicolas Rossolimo
57	1956	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Arthur Bisguier
58	1957	Cleveland, Ohio	Bobby Fischer
59	1958	Rochester, Minnesota	E. Cobo Arteaga
60	1959	Omaha, Nebraska	Arthur Bisguier
61	1960	St. Louis, Missouri	Robert Byrne
62	1961	San Francisco, California	Pal Benko
63	1962	San Antonio, Texas	Antonio Medina Garcia
64	1963	Chicago, Illinois	William Lombardy
65	1964	Boston, Massachusetts	Pal Benko
66	1965	Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico	Pal Benko, William Lombardy
67	1966	Seattle, Washington	Pal Benko, Robert Byrne
68	1967	Atlanta, Georgia	Pal Benko
69	1968	Aspen, Colorado	Bent Larsen
70	1969	Lincoln, Nebraska	Pal Benko, Arthur Bisguier, Milan Vukcevich
71	1970	Boston, Massachusetts	Bent Larsen
72	1971	Ventura, California	Walter Browne, Larry Evans
73	1972	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Walter Browne
74	1973	Chicago, Illinois	Norman Weinstein
75	1974	New York, New York	Pal Benko, Vlastimil Hort
76	1975	Lincoln, Nebraska	Pal Benko, William Lombardy
77	1976	Fairfax, Virginia	Anatoly Lein, Leonid Shamkovich
78	1977	Columbus, Ohio	Leonid Shamkovich, Andy Soltis, Timothy Taylor
79	1978	Phoenix, Arizona	Joseph Bradford
80	1979	Chicago, Illinois	Florin Gheorghiu
81	1980	Atlanta, Georgia	John Fedorowicz, Florin Gheorghiu
82	1981	Palo Alto, California	Florin Gheorghiu, Larry Christiansen, Jeremy Silman, Nick de Firmian, John Meyer
83	1982	St. Paul, Minnesota	Andrew Soltis, William Martz
84	1983	Pasadena, California	Larry Christiansen, Viktor Korchnoi
85	1984	Ft. Worth, Texas	Roman Dzindzichashvili, Sergey Kudrin
86	1985	Hollywood, Florida	Yasser Seirawan, Boris Spassky, Joel Benjamin
87	1986	Somerset, New Jersey	Larry Christiansen
88	1987	Portland, Oregon	Lev Alburt
89	1988	Boston, Massachusetts	Dmitry Gurevich
90	1989	Chicago, Illinois	Lev Alburt
91	1990	Jacksonville, Florida	Yasser Seirawan
92	1991	Los Angeles, California	Michael Rohde, Vladimir Akopian
93	1992	Dearborn, Michigan	Gregory Kaidanov
94	1993	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Alexander Shabalov
95	1994	Chicago, Illinois	Georgi Orlov, Dmitry Gurevich, Ben Finegold, Smbat Lputian, Leo Kaushansky, Albert Chow
96	1995	Concord, California	Alex Yermolinsky
97	1996	Alexandria, Virginia	Gabriel Schwartzman
98	1997	Orlando, Florida	Alex Yermolinsky
99	1998	Kailua-Kona, Hawaii	Judit Polgar, Boris Gulko
100	1999	Reno, Nevada	Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Goldin, Eduardas Rozentalis, Alexander Shabalov, Gabriel Schwartzman, Michael Mulyar
101	2000	St. Paul, Minnesota	Alex Yermolinsky
102	2001	Framingham, Massachusetts	Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Joel Benjamin, Alexander Stripunsky, Fabian Doettling
103	2002	Cherry Hill, New Jersey	Gennady Zaitchik, Evgeniy Najer
104	2003	Los Angeles, California	Alexander Shabalov
105	2004	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida	Alexander Onischuk, Rodrigo Vasquez, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Ildar Ibragimov, Andranik Matikozyan, Renier Gonzalez, Marcel Martinez
106	2005	Phoenix, Arizona	Vadim Milov, Joel Benjamin
107	2006	Oak Brook, Illinois	Yury Shulman
108	2007	Cherry Hill, New Jersey	Boris Gulko, Sergey Kudrin, Benjamin Finegold, Alexander Shabalov, Michael A. Rohde, Michael A. Mulyar, Anton P. Del Mundo
109	2008	Dallas, Texas	Alexander Shabalov, Rade Milovanovic, Enrico Sevillano

Dapitan City to host Battle of GMs for the second time

The third edition of the Battle of Grandmaster will take place again next year at Dapitan City following the announcement of the winners at Dapitan City offical website

"The Battle of GMs and the Regional Elimination for the Asian Indoor Games of Region IX, which championship will be held later this year in Vietnam, are sponsored by Phoenix Petroleum and the City of Dapitan...

The city will still host next year’s Battle of GMs to be held at Dakak Park and Beach Resort in Tagilon village."

There would be an ample of time to prepare and established its own official website. Hoping also to see an official logo for the tournament.

GM Eugene Torre sings with the Chessmen Band

As everyone are still amaze (and surprise) with the fact that GM Eugene Torre remains the second best player in the country after Wesley So, this video will surely amaze you even more! It was taken during the celebration of Torre's 57th birth day (one month advance) and victory party after winning the 3rd PGMA Cup last year. But please do not ask me what's the title of the song GM Eugene was singing. At 1:25 GM Torre was heard quoted this line : "let us smile, not only outside but especially inside."

:)

Enjoy!

Chess and Insomnia do not mix

I could not think of a more torturous situation for an athlete of any kind than playing a standard (with increment, to make things even worse) or classical chess games if you are hardly getting enough sleep for days. This is one of those time that short draws plays important role on one's strategy. I personally believe that if you have scheduled games the following day and your opponent is rated more or less the same as you do, he or she has already won half the game. No amount of caffeine and energy drink can help you to bring back your energy and concentration. A good night sleep is a must for everyone who want to become a master of the game.

Not long ago I knew only too well the misery of insomnia. For a long time I simply couldn't get to sleep at night and would lie in bed wide-awake wishing in vain for sleep to come. More often than not I'd get up again after an hour or more and potter around the house for a while before returning to bed. Eventually of course I would manage to sleep, but what little sleep I did get didn't seem to be doing me much good. I've been doing constant research for years on how to cure this problem. I listed below some insomnia techniques which I'm sure you've probably tried but are still worth trying again.


-Imagine it's time to get up -You know how delicious that feeling is in the morning when it's time to get up but you're so tired and your eyes are very heavy and you shouldn't do it but you just want to fall right back to sleep for a few minutes more?

-visualize something boriiiing -The beauty of it is you can turn a negative into a positive

-stomach rub -This soothes down the digestive system and helps to bring about a deeper relaxation.

-Toe wiggling -According to the science of Reflexology -- which has been around in other cultures for thousands of years -- your feet are a kind of master control panel for the rest of your body.

-Sleep with your head facing north -This aligns your body with the magnetic field of the planet, bringing your own energies into harmony with those of the Earth

Good luck! Have a pleasant sleep!

2009 Philippine Inter-Cities Chess Team Championship

One week from today in Tarlac City, 100 kms Northwest of Manila, the National Inter-cities and Municipalities chess team championship will take place. Most players who participated at the recently concluded Battle of GMs are expected to join their respective teams in Luisita, Tarlac City from April 11-15. Although there are reports in local media that Wesley So is also expected to join the tourney, it is the one thing that remains to be seen since Wesley is in deep preparation for the Asian Continental/Individual Championship slated to begin on May 12-24 at Subic, Olongapo City. In fact Wesley opt not to defend the 2009 Dubai Chess Open championship he won last year just to make sure he is ready for AIC where the top ten finishers will qualify for the World Cup Tournament. There's about fifty to sixty percent chances that Wesley will see action. If ever Wesley will be joining the tournament, he could be a last minute replacement for a certain team in this five days tourney.

No recession for Eugene Torre

What recession?

Since tomfoolery is officially over, now it's time to get serious again. Though people choice of topic these days is about the meteoric rise of Wesley So who now barge into top 100 players in the world (he is in 89th place) one interesting note is the steady, though rather slow rise of the pioneer of Philippine and Asian chess, GM Eugenio Torre. Do not blink, but Torre remains the second highest rated player in the country with an Elo rating points of 2561, his highest rating in more than 10 years and listed No. 349 among active players in the world! Mind you, the man is 57 years old but still able to hold his ground against the challenges of our young, computer savvy players. As for GM Eugene Torre, chess begins at 50.

Philippines top 20 players