So, Antonio, Laylo off to Russia tomorrow

GMs Wesley So, Rogelio Antonio and Darwin Laylo- their baggage are all ready and will be flying tomorrow for Khanty Mansiysk, Russia to compete in the 2009 Chess World Cup. After weeks of tension and suspense that the Philippines might fail again to send a representative to an important international competition, I say everybody can now heave a sigh of relief.

For the chess world cup, what we have here is three different generation of chess players. Antonio, 47, one of the "Old Guard" of Philippine chess, is living up in an old school but still very effective style of playing. Darwin Laylo, 28, who bridges the old school and the tech savvy new generation of chess in the country, is over all, more of an independent type of player. Then Wesley So, 16, a certified computer savvy and is very vocal in admitting that all his secrets to his success is mostly through the guidance of Fritz programs alone, belong to this group of young Filipino chess players who rely on the perfection of the machines. Of the three, and in a personal note, it is okay to say that it is Wesley who has the best chance of making it to the second round. There is no bad news though, if ever So and Antonio will ever meet in the second round should they both get past their opponents. Especially Joey Antonio who is up against Gata Kamsky.

Report by NM Marlon Bernardino

THE Philippine Chess Team is schedule to leave the country today, Thursday, with one mission to perform well in the prestigious 2009 World Chess Cup slated on November 20 to December 15 in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

Supported by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., the RP chess team is composed of Grandmasters Wesley So, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., and Darwin Laylo. Off the three, 15-year-old So, the highest-rated Filipino player with an ELO of 2640, is seeded 59th in the 128-player event is the first time in World Chess Cup, formerly World Chess Championships.

So, will have GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan, 23, is seeded 70th with his ELO of 2625 as his first opponent.

If So, the youngest Filipino GM, succeeds in his first-round match, he will face either GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine or GM Alexei Bezgodov of Russia in the second round.

However, the bad news is that the Bacoor, Cavite kid So is possible to face compatriot Sta.Mesa, Manila born Antonio in the third round if both of them will progress.

“Magkasama kami ni Wesley (So) sa bracket at posible kaming magtapat sa third round kung pareho kami mananalo sa 1^st at 2^nd round. Pero gaya ng una ko ng nasabi, (may) 30 percent (ang) chance manalo kay Kamsky, pero lalaban tayo,” said Antonio, who is fresh from an impressive outing in the recently concluded Asian Indoor Games blitz chess competition.

“Sana ipagdasal n’yo po kami,” added the pride of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro Antonio, who is also aiming to break the current Guinness simultaneous chess world record held by Iran’s GM Morteza Mahjoob on January 22 and 23,2010 at the historic Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila as dubbed 1 vs. 600: Pinoy Ironman.

The 12-time national open champion Antonio, sergeant from HSSG in Philippine Army under the baton of Commanding Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, toting an ELO of 2574, will be the underdog against defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the United States who topped the 2007 edition at the expense of Spanish GM Alexei Shirov.

The former Russia stalwart Kamsky who defected in the United States in 1989 reached a peak rating of 2746 and is the top board player for the United States with an ELO of 2695.

Antonio first met Kamsky in the 2005 HB Global Challenge in Minneapolis, USA. The game, where Antonio employed his pet line caro-kann defense, ended in a draw.

Should Antonio pull an upset this time against Kamsky, he will face the winner between GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel and GM Zhou Weiqi of China in the second round.

Laylo, meanwhile, will test the mettle of GM David Navara of Czech Republic. “[May] 25 percent naman ang chance natin kay Navara,” said Laylo in a recent interview.

It shall be recalled that Antonio first seeing in action in the World Chess Championships in1999 losing to eventual runner-up Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian in their second round matches was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA while the Marikina City native Laylo also bowed in the second round against French GM Etienne Bacrot in the last edition.

Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) chief, said he is confident that the three Pinoy pawn pushers will give a good performance.

“Umabot lamang sa fourth round magandang achievement na po ito,” said Pichay.

Top seed GM Boris Gelfand of Israel opens his bid against International Master Andrei Obodchuk of Russia in the knockout matches organized by the World Chess Federation.

The players, most of whom advanced through worldwide qualifiers, will play two games each on Nov. 20 and 21 with the winner gaining the second round on Nov. 24. Tie-breaks, if necessary, will be played on Nov. 23.

The total prize fund is USD $1,600,000

Kramnik wins Tal Memorial, Carlsen is the new number one

He's definitely back. Fans of Vladimir Kramnik should savor this one since Kramnik rarely played serious rated tournaments lately and nothing could be more sweeter than winning the strongest tournament of the year, the 2009 Tal Memorial. His game against Morozevich is a must see and the video of Ivanchuk (video below) wearing a mouth cap in his match against Carlsen is a must watch. Precaution is the best medicine, right? Kramnik was undefeated with three wins and six draws but it seems many are more interested with Carlsen having officially rank no.1 in the world in live rating chart with 2805,5 surpasing Vaselin Topalov just by a hairline with 2805,1. Wondering how far this 18 year old Norwegian phenom could climb in the ratings. 2850? 2860?

After Tal Memorial, all the players who saw action in the event will stay in Moscow for a couple more days to compete in the World Blitz Chess Championship that will take place from November 16-18. Live games with analysis are also available at chessdom

Manny Pacquiao makes boxing history

Are you experiencing a guilty pleasure like I do? The Philippines may have been unfortunate for having boxing as the country's most revered sport today, but have all the fortune and was blessed for having Manny Pacquiao as it's ambassador of the sport. I always think that if it weren't for Manny's easy going and humble disposition, the sport may in fact do more harm than good to the country. I say Manny's lovable personality just makes up for the violence of the sport this country now represents.

And so there you go Manny Pacquiao, one, if not the all time great; the first boxer in history to win seven division title in seven different weight classes, just defeated the larger and stronger Puerto Rican, Miguel Cotto in one of the most brutal beating ever inflicted by a fighter to his opponent I've seen in years. By the end of the fight, Cotto's face was unrecognizable. If you rarely watched the sport, I doubt if you can stomach it. But it's boxing. It's a different dimension from chess or golf. Nevertheless, by going through hell for 30 minutes, Cotto will take home no more or less than $ 10 million for the fight. And Pacquiao, oh...the guy just earned well, around $20 million and of course the glories and marbles to back it.

Let us set aside chess for a moment. Right now, you are the man Manny!

Filipino kids are some of the luckiest in Asia

Speaking of Filipino youth...

We, the grown up people may still nursing the embarrassment we suffered by failing to send any delegation to the World Youth Chess Championship. But our kids, who are supposed to be in Turkey right now and representing the country at WYCC may not be as devastated as we might think. Here's some interesting result. A recent survey released by Cartoon Network revealed that Filipino youth are one of the luckiest kids in Asia. Lucky for what? Here's an excerpt from Yahoo! Philippines' Rich, middle-class Pinoy kids are 'recession-proof' - survey. Read on...

"Filipino kids are the luckiest in terms of the proportion that receive pocket money...there are no signs of the economic downturn affecting Filipino kids in terms of what's in their pocket.

...Filipino children are becoming increasingly tech-savvy and "recession-proof"...Turner Asia's Research team estimates that 3.7 million Filipino children in the areas surveyed have a grand total income of P12,000 a year each (from pocket and gift money), amounting to a collective amount of P42 billion.

Tech-savvy

The survey found that Filipino children living in urban areas have more access to technology - especially at home - than in previous years.

Notably, internet usage has grown significantly since 2007, according to Morris.

The survey showed that 6 out of 10 (63%) of children in areas surveyed have used the internet in the past month, with 32% of children having internet access at home. This is a 37% growth in internet usage since 2007.

Further, 47% of children surveyed said they own computers, compared to 42% in previous years. Of the children that use the internet, 76% visit cyberspace at least weekly, while 26% go online daily.

The survey also showed 84% of children have access to mobile phones at home, whether or not they own the unit.

Now that leaves us grown up people to figure out for ourselves how it is to be lucky and happy!

Paragua has backed out from simul world record attempt. GM Antonio was recall

As early as yesterday, it is already announced that GM Mark Paragua has just backed out from his attempt of setting a new world simul record this coming December. With good reasons. Mark has been struggling with serious chess lately. The organizers then issued that they need to make another recall from the "Old Guard". Eventually, it is GM Rogelio Antonio who heed the call. Although Paragua, 25, is a lot younger than Antonio who is 47, GM Joey is still one, if not the fittest and physically conditioned chess players the Philippines has up to this day. The said simul record will now be dubbed "1 vs. 600 Pinoy Ironman" (Pinoy is a slang for Filipino) and will take place next year, January 22-23, 2010. The last time I saw GM Joey was at PGMA and Pichay Cup and quickly, you have this impression that the man is indeed is in top physical shape to take up this huge challenge. Flat bellied with well rounded arms to show off. He's in the army, for starters, and makes jogging a regular habit and a certified gym buff. On a personal note, I think Antonio has a better chance of performing better than Mark.

Expect for more updates soon.

Marlon Bernardino reports

...GM Mark Paragua is initially considered to try and break the current Guinness simultaneous chess world record held by Iran’s GM Morteza Mahjoob. But a spate of poor performances in big tournaments from the first Filipino to breach the 2600 mark doubts many if he’s really up to the task.

“We’re no longer talking of personal glory here,” Paragua said in Filipino. “GM Joey will have a better shot to break the record.” Antonio readily accepted the challenge. “My game has been pretty sharp recently. I hope I’ll be up to the task and make our country proud,” said the Sta, Mesa, Manila born Antonio, the pride of Calapan, Oriental, Mindoro.

The twelve time national open champion Antonio mowed a strong field in the blitz team competition of the 3rd Asian Indoor Games last week in Hanoi, Vietnam, posting 8.5 points in nine games while Paragua only came up with a measly 4.0 points.
The former University of Manila standout is also the best Filipino finisher in last month’s PGMA Cup and Pichay Cup.

Antonio, the country’s second ranked player behind GM Wesley So, is the first of three Filipinos to qualify in the World Cup 2009 (FIDE World Chess Championships) slated on Nov. 20 to Dec. 15 in Khanty, Mansiyk, Russia. The other Filipinos to qualify are So and GM Darwin Laylo.

His record breaking attempt will be held at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Jan. 22-23, 2010. The event will be dubbed 1 vs. 600: Pinoy Ironman.

Supporting the event organized by Touch of Gold Enterprises is Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), Manila Sports Council (MASCO) Chairman Niño dela Cruz, City of Manila, Filway Marketings Inc. CEO/ President Hector "Chito" Tagaysay, g4 chess club and Meralco Chess Club.

World Youth Chess Championship begins today

One of the most important chess tournament for the youth begins today in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey. The championship will run from November 11 till the 23rd. Chessdom just released the participants to World Youth Chess Championship. This year's WYCC will boast of more than 1500 players from 89 countries. All in all, over 2600 people are expected to arrived in Kemer-Antalya.

As everyone maybe well aware by now, we failed to send any delegation here. Please check our previous post. A discussion is taking place there and feel free to vent all your feelings here. Bear in mind that last year, at the World Youth Chess Olympiad, also in Turkey, the Philippines finished 3rd overall behind perennial powerhouse India and Russia...it's just so frustrating.

Chess Federation of Canada website was hacked!

If you think that all official chess organization website is safe for visiting, better think again. In a recent security advisory by google safebrowsing, the "official" website of Chess Federation of Canada, (www.chess.ca) has been reported as an attack site and was officially banned by Google due to safety reasons. The site is no longer available for public viewing on the popular browser. Hackers could possibly be behind this, or not. Not sure. But according to google safebrowsing page, the website has this security problems:

What is the current listing status for chess.ca?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 411 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 24 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-11-07, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-10-28.

Web indeed is such an eerie place to horse around. Browse smart and stay safe everyone.

Video of Mikhail Tal's last days

The strongest chess tournament of the year, the 2009 Tal Memorial is currently being held in Moscow, Russia in honor of former world champion, Mikhail Tal. For starters, GM Eugenio Torre scores a couple of wins against Tal way back in the 70's and 80's. But ever wonder what the great Tal looks like in his latter days? Here's a rare video of him playing blitz game against the youthful Gary Kasparov.

Where's our youth?

With financial difficulties that is plaguing the NCFP recently, a non profit organization, and the devastation caused by successive typhoons that crippled the economy, this may probably explain everything why the Philippines won't be sending a delegation for this years World Youth Chess Championship in Turkey that will begin this November 11. But for those who knew well the chess in the country, they know that there must be a deeper reason. There was this commotion between the NCFP and the players who are yet to received their prize fund after the PGMA and Pichay Cup, and then the strange momentarily disappearance or not inclusion of the Philippines in FIDE database (not for technical reasons) and according to an insider, the Philippines supposedly be sending 8, not 4 players in Asian Indoor Games but PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) can only spare 4 tickets to Vietnam. GM Jayson Gonzales and IM Rolando Nolte were originally assigned to look after our Turkey bound youth players but decided to back out to make themselves available for the Asian Indoor Games. They didn't made it, as we know.

So there you have folks. Wesley So skipped the World Junior last October and now we're skipping the most important chess tournament for the youth. I guess we're back on the drawing board again after a minor surge...

I would like to send my deepest appreciation to our readers for notifying us with this development every now and then. Please continue sending us information we may or might have missed.

Chess.com and Meebo

chess.com shows off their new feature on their site and that is by adding a live instant messaging program courtesy of Meebo. Meebo also host to many popular online communities like YM, MySpace, AIM and last year, Facebook. As we all know, it is impossible to moderate a live chatter room/box. Hopefully, this live chatter box, which intends to bring friends and people together in the first place won't end up as another quick and easy tool to badmouth and trash talk their opponents during an actual game as we've already experience in many online chess communities.

Wesley So met his fans

A small gatherings between a young icon and avid supporters just happened at Burgoo Restaurant Mall of Asia where fans of GM Wesley So finally got their chance to talk, sign autographs and took pictures of the beloved youthful grandmaster. So received a late birthday gifts from his fans and even conducted a friendly games! The gathering was supposed to take place last Saturday but due to strong typhoon that hits Manila Friday evening, it was moved to a latter date. Fellow chess blogger aka Rusticbull of Chess Window, formerly the Malibay Chess Club has the story and piles of photos as well from the said reunion with Wesley's adoring fans.

Filipinos at World Cup and the World Youth Chess Championship

As previously announced by various chess site around the web, the pairings for the 1st round of the World Cup 2009 shows many interesting, promising and even scary match up. But let us focus first on the three Filipino players who qualified for the world cup, the third most in Asia behind India and China. GM Joey Antonio will be facing defending world cup champ and former World Championship contender, GM Gata Kamsky of the USA. One may still remember that it is Gata Kamsky who defeated GM Alexei Shirov in the finals of the world cup two years ago, giving him the right to face GM Vaselin Topalov in a qualifying match to determine who will challenge Anand for the world championship. Topalov of course, as we know now, defeated Kamsky.

GM Darwin Laylo on the other hand will be up against one of the most likable personalities among the top GM in the world today and this chess blogger personal favorite player, GM David Navara of Czech Republic.

GM Wesley So, on his part will have Azerbaijan GM Gadir Guseinov (2667), a player that is still unknown to us. With so many good players coming from Azerbaijan, it is easy to get lost among the crowd even if you have a rating of over 2660. One thing is for sure, though. GM Guseinov is stronger than his rating indicates as he came from a region where chess is a culture and no doubt, will be one, if not the toughest player Wesley will ever face since Corus C.

For the upcoming 2009 WYCC this coming November 11 in Turkey, there will be a rare live blogging on Chessdom and live games also at the same site through chessbomb, will also be provided for selected games. Below is the list of young Filipino contingent being handled by GM Bong Villamayor.

DOCENA JESCA U-8 Girls
REVITA SAMANTHA GLO U-10 Girls
MIRANO MIRA U-12 Girls
ENRIQUEZ JEAN KAREN U-14 Girls
BERNALES CRISTY LAMIEL 2056 U-16 Girls
DOCENA JEDARA 1987 U-18 Girls
PANGILINAN STEPHEN ROME U-8 Open
MORADO JETH ROMY U-10 Open
BERSAMINA PAULO 1879 U-12 Open
GARCIA JAN EMMANUEL 2312 U-14 Open
DATU ALCON JOHN 2188 U-16 Open
TURQUEZA MARI JOSEPH 2077 U-18 Open

Mind Museum soon to rise in 2011!

Photo from the Mind Museum site

Set your mind on this. The futuristic Bonifacio Global City in Taguig will be the site of the first world-class science museum in the Philippines named The Mind Museum, a P1 billion project that will begin its construction this month and is expected to be opened to the public on the 3rd quarter of 2011. This is the first of its kind in the country and I say this may perhaps the most important and wonderful knowledge/art related infrastructure in the Philippines since the construction of the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in mid 1970's and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) late in 1960's.

Finally, we will have a true home for science in the city. Can't wait for 2011!

Check out the official site for more details at themindmuseum.org

Watch this video and see how it all begun and what we can expect from the museum.

Wesley So is out of the top 100; The Philippines is (still) rank no. 32

Believe it or not, as competition gets tougher and tougher here and abroad, GM Wesley So is experiencing a minor recession recently. For the first time in nearly a year, Wesley So who just turns 16 last month now finds himself out of the elite top 100 chess players in the world based on FIDE rankings. After reaching his highest peak of 2646 last July, Wesley shed just 6 points but that is enough to topple him out of the top 100, ranking him at no. 102 (active) in the world. To add some consolation, So is still the "youngest" player among the top 102 players and remains the top under 16 in the world today. So still holds in the top 20 junior players, at no.8 from his previous spot at no.7

And yes. The Philippines is no longer invisible and is back in the FIDE list. Despite improving in our individual rankings, the country is still placidly rank no 32 based on the average rating of the top ten players of 2525. Norway, who used to be the Philippines major rivals in the fight for the first to barge in the top 30 spot along other ex-soviet nations like Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Slovenia etc has finally entered the top 30 at no 29. Probably for the first time. Blame it on Magnus Calsen who is now officially the youngest player ever in history to break the 2800 mark.

Behind Wesley So, it is GM Joey Antonio, one of the best performer at the Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam, Team Blitz preliminary event with 8 wins and a draw is the Philippines second best with 2574, followed by GM Darwin Laylo (2552), GM elect Rogelio Barcenilla (2518), GM John Paul Gomez (2507), GM Eugenio Torre (2506), GM Mark Paragua (2497), GM Roland Salvador (2491), GM Joseph Sanchez (2487) and IM Julio Catalino Sadorra (2478), completing Pinoys top 10.


November 2009 (active players)

Top 100 Philippine players
Top countries
Top 100 Players (statistics)
Top 100 Women (statistics)
Top 20 Juniors (statistics)
Top 20 Girls (statistics)