FIDE ELECTION, POLITICS OVER THE CHESSBOARD

Russian president Vladimir Putin (right)
and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (left)

In October last year, incumbent FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced that he would run for re-elections this 2014, signalling the start of a fierce electoral battle against his rival, former world champion Garry Kasparov, for the FIDE presidency. Ilyumzhinov also launched the "FIDE Arena" this year which is an online chess server where official ratings are given to it's members who play rated games in the website. The existence of such online server may help boost Ilyumzhinov's bid for the presidency which is terrible news for Kasparov's camp. Nonetheless, Kasparove has to do something about this. So how is Kasparov going to counter Ilyumzhinov's plans? 

Garry Kasparov

One thing's for sure, Kasparov isn't staying behind the sidelines.He has been very active campaigning in countries in Asia and Africa where a significant number of chess federations are supporting his bid. Take for example in Africa,  Kasparov simultaneously visited  7 countries which were Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. He was warmly welcomed there in each of those countries. On top of that, three West African chess federations (Nigeria, Senegal, and Ivory Coast) have united together to declare their support for Kasparov, saying that they were already tired of the crappy ole' FIDE shenanigans and thought it was time for some change. To say that all of these African federations would truly support Kasparov might be too optimistic. But at least it is something Ilyumzhinov would not be particularly thrilled about.

And In Asia, Kasparov has been drumming up support from a lot Asian countries like Macau, India, Hongkong, you name it! Yet the most intriguing among his Asian campaign visits were actually "ASEAN" ones (Southeast Asia).

Recently, the word came out that Kasparov had been making a "secret" deal with FIDE general-secretary Ignatius Leong of Singapore (well, it wasn't any secret at all since Kasparov wanted as much transparency as possible to discourage any corruption which Kasparov himself said in a New York Times report).

Along with the deal, Kasparov would virtually receive up to 15 federation votes from Leong's region (whoah, what a number of votes!) In exchange for the votes, Leong would be given finacial support of up to 250,000 US dollars per year, for four years. The money will be used to fund chess development projects in Singapore and perhaps in some parts of the ASEAN countries as well. However, as Morten Sand (Kasparov's lawyer) stated, the deal would be void if Kasparov didn't win. So Leong really needs to deliver well.

And I mean very well.

Garry Kasparov (right) and Ignatius Leong (left)

Now that we're done chit-chatting about Kasparov's campaign programs, let's give some time to our very own FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov ;)

Ilyumzhinov has been so far well-received in Latin America, particularly in Central America where not only do its federations' presidents welcome him, but as well as their very own national sports ministers of their respective nations. But how about Canada and the USCF? Well forget about it because Kasparov's got them. If there's any consolation for Ilyumzhinov, a Kasparov would not getting any from China since it would be ridiculous for that country to support an anti-Putin ( 'cause obviously in China, Putin is like an uncle to them). Meanwhile...

One of Ilyumzhinov's important allies, Jorge Vega, is the Continental President in the Americas for FIDE. he is very influential in garnering sizable amounts of votes in the Americas (particularly Latin America). He has also been constantly around the incumbent president during campaigns and is a respected voice in Latin American chess. Having Vega in his camp is a good move in Ilyumzhinov's part.

In Europe however, Kasparov will most likely have better chances since the supporters of Anatoly Karpov (Ilyumzhinov's rival in the previous FIDE elections, and awesome chess legend), will now support Kasparov... And so does Germany's ChessBase (for propaganda purposes). Hehe.

But at least Chessdom will always post glorious infomercials for Ilyumzhinov, right? Oops...

AND DID YOU KNOW?
A key supporter from Europe, Dr. Adrian Siegel, president of the Swiss Chess Federation, has just joined the Ilyumzhinov elections ticket for the position of Treasurer?
So this could be a good move, right?
Not even close. I don't think this is enough for Ilyumzhinov to drum-up support from the ECU (European Chess Federation). Even the ECU President, Silvio Danailov, who is a "well-hated" figure in FIDE, dislikes him in so many ways. So how do you expect Ilyumzhinov to gather enough support from Europe? Well as for now, only his henchmen know...

PART II COMING SOON

Author:Guy Chessman

What's Next for Wesley So?

Philippines' #1 chess player Wesley So crushed the competition in the recent Annual Capablanca Memorial Tournament last week. Immdediately right after his victory, the 20-year-old Caviteño was shrouded with praises from thousands of fellow Filipino chess fans all over the world.

So's remarkable triumph in Havana boosted Philippine chess morale; with a lot of young aspiring players worshipping him, making him their idol...

Which really isn't that bad if we ain't talking about religion :)

Just after that monumental but very quick draw So made with Hungarian GM(Grand-Master) Zoltan Almasi, it was clear who would bring home the filthy bacon.

It is fantastically fortunate that the extremely hard work of Wesley So and his US-based coach, GM Susan Polgar has beard fruit, and that such training had not been in vain:)

Perhaps one of the key factors that lead to Wesley's triumph in Havana was his 8th round win against Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez. Their imbalanced game seemed OK for both sides(black and white), only until Dominguez first faltered. NOTE: at that time, a lot of Hispanic chess blogs were tackling about So especially when he faced Dominguez and the Spanish GM Vallejo Pons. I guess they were intrigued by So's "DOUBLE DEAD" performance when he beat both Dominguez and Pons! Only GM Lazaro Batista Bruzon(who is not related in any way to Batista the WWE wrestler by the way), was able to hold So flawlessly in two games. 

So the million dollar question right now is...

What's next for So?

Lazaro Batista Bruzon who drew with Wesley So
in both of their games took 2nd place in the
tournament...

By now, So is currently rated #15 in the FIDE live ratings, which means that So might get even more elite tournament invites. While this is obviously good for the Filipino #1, this also means that the challenges will be tougher. One big challenge for So that I could easily  pinpoint is his arch-nemesis, GM Anish Giri:). It is very well-known that So has a recognizably bad performance against the Dutch-Bangladeshi hybrid which I will not dicuss because I've got a feeling that the majority of Filipino chess fans will crucify me for even mentioning the name Giri:)

Anyways...

A lot of Filipino chess players from the homeland are prasing So right now and are making noise that Wesley So should be given 100% support its national government. And hopefully, So will get the support he needs which will fuel his passion even more to climb to the top of the chess elite.

Anish Giri

Two's A Company: Moro and Ivan Lead 15th Karpov Tournament

Alexander "Moro" Morozevich (left)

World-class player Alexander "Moro" Morozevich of Russia is on the run in the 15th  Karpov Tournament. having 3 wins and only 1 draw, Morozevich proved his class by demolishing grandmasters Viktor Bologan in the 1st round, Alex Motylev in the 2nd round, and Emil Sutovsky in the 4th round. Alexei Shirov, who is on a 50% performance in the tournament, has been so far the only player to draw a game against Morozevich. Leading the tournament along with Morozevich is the rising talent Ivan Saric of Croatia.

Morozevich's most brilliant game in the tournament so far, was his round 1 game against the Moldovan Viktor Bologan. Bologan (Black) initiated on what looked like a promising Queen sacrifice as early as on the 13th move only to be "return-sacrificed" by Morozevich. As their game progressed to move 35, both sides seemed to have equal chances until Bologan blew it up with 36...Bxg3?, overlooking the intermediate 37 Rxd5 (which Morozevich actually played). Immediately after this 37 Rxd5!, Morozevich gained favorable exchanges: R+R for Morozevich vs R+B for Bologan, in a very clear endgame. Bologan resigned after 96 moves. 

Meanwhile, Ivan Saric busted Ian Nepomniatchi (which Saric had an overwhelming space advantage in their game), Emil Sutovsky (a R+B vs R+R game with Saric having the supposedly inferior R+B side. But with connected passed pawns in the center, Saric easily won), and Pavel Eljanov (Saric won the game beautifully on what some may call  "an endgame masterpiece". It's worth checking it out on Chessgames.com). Just for the record, Saric won rounds 2-4 while drawing round 1 to Alexei Shirov.

NOTE

ROUND 5 UPDATE!

RUSSIAN GRANDMASTER DMITRY JAKOVENKO CATCHES UP WITH THE TWO LEADERS:

Saric 3.5/5

Morozevich 3.5/5

Jakovenko 3.5/5

© Guy Chessman

2014

Wesley So Grabs Solo Lead in Capa Memorial Tourney

Wesley So

Havana, Cuba--

The number 1 Flipino chess player Wesley So grabs solo lead in the current Capablanca Memorial Tournament ahead of many of chess veterans which included Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Vallejo Pons Francisco (Spain), and Cuba's #1 Leinier Perez, Dominguez. Other notable players included former Hungarian #1 Zoltan Almasi, and Lazaro Bruzon. Although So leads by only half a point, he is the only player in the tournament to achieve a +2 performance. Meanwhile, GM Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba's #2) was content in obtaining a 50% performance with all games having drawn. The biggest disappointment in the tournament however was Vassily Ivanchuk who was a top seed of the event. Ivanchuk, a regular top ten player and World championship candidate, could only grab as much as 2.5 points in 7 rounds. Had he at least drawn his round 3 game against Zoltan Alamasi (a game which Ivanchuk lost.), he would have at least have a 50% performance. Right now, So's closest rival within regards in having the most points, is Leinier Dominguez (4 points compared to So's 4.5 points). Perhaps it should not surprise us if ever Dominguez would try something a little bit "wild" to snatch the lead from So. Or he may just wait if So eventually cracks during the tournament. For that, we will never know for sure.

NOTE:

at this time of writing, 7 rounds have been finished and the 8th round starts at 3AM May 17 (Philippine Time)

"Capablanca Memorial Tournament"

HENRY INFANTE WINS THE 2014 "KADAUGAN SA MACTAN" CHESS TOURNAMENT

Henry Infante of Brgy. Poblacion, Mactan won the annual "Kadaugan sa Mactan" chess tournament in Mactan, Cebu last April 28, 2014. The tournament featured two categories, A blitz event, and a rapid event. Incredibly, Infante won both events! In the Blitz tournament, he posted 13.5 points in 15 games while in the rapid category, he scored 3.5 points out of 4 rounds! What an amazing feat for the newly married chess player! In the blitz event, players who only managed to fall behind 1st place were Ian Villareal (2nd placer), Romeo Resuera (3rd), Mark Simafranca (4th), Ademar Toledo (5th) and Kraig Quinain (6th) respectively. While in the Rapid event, Aldwin Daculan, Romeo Resuera, and Ian Villareal shared 2nd place. In solo 3rd was the very solid Lemuel Montero. 

Mark Simafranca and chess prodigy Ariel Abellana had to share 4th place while Albert Rivera was still able to clinched one of the cash prizes, in the form of 5th place. 

Local veteran, Albert Rivera, not so happy for coming out
5th place in the Rapid Category

A pic of some of the players from the chess tournament...

The tournament would not have been possible without the help of  chess enthusiast

Tony Ycong...

"KADAUGAN CHESS TOURNAMENT" KICKS OFF THIS 27th

"Kadaugan sa Mactan" Closed Tournament

Saturday, April 19, 2014 The "Kadaugan sa Mactan" festival in Mactan, Cebu is near. And for it's local chess players, this only means one thing: Chess, chess, chess. Yup, it's chess. Celebrating the festival, Mactan's local government will allocate a humble amount of budget to spearhead a chess tournament for its resident players. Furthermore, I speculate that this tournament will also have "side events" like blitz tournaments that will most likely occur before the actual main event. Just as I had said earlier, the event is open only to Mactan residents. Although I suspect that Class C players from Cebu City will be allowed to join, all for the sake of getting them to hone their skills of the game. The tournament will kick off on the 27th of April. Standby for more details, or you could send us your email address on beatmychess@gmail.com for inquiries.

Carlsen-Anand LOL!

So Anand (photo above) has just won the Candidates Tournament. But what does this mean? For me, this simply means that chess fans all around the world are going to see, once again, a battle between two generations: the "new" and the "old". While I don't necessarily imply that the new will ultimately beat the old, being young certainly has its advantages... and of course disadvantages too! Just several months before the epic Anand-Carlsen match of 2013, a lot of Anand's fans were saying things like, "Carlsen doesn't have the experience", "Anand is better in World championship matches", and so on. Yet in their match, the 23-year-old Magnus carlsen proved that having the great-ER experience (which Anand had, by the way) is not always everything. It's not as if Carlsen doesn't have any experience at all, right? I mean, he's been playing among the Top 10 elites for over 5 years by now and has been world's #1 for quite some time. Surely, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Carlsen was the most poised player to become world champion in 2013 last year, right? Not exactly, cause we had Levon Aronian (photo below) buzzing to everyone that he had a shot for the world championship too.. until he went downhill in last year's Candidates :(

So what will be Anand's strategy when he comes face to face with his young nemesis once again this November? Beats me. But when I followed their match last November I observed that Anand didn't try to steer his games towards volatile paths, especially in the first few few rounds. So why am I telling you this? Because that strategy could have been a good idea especially when you take into account that Carlsen prefers to play simple positions. Anand took heed of this idea only when he was already 3 games down in the match. Tsk tsk tsk. Another strategy Anand may try in order to beat Carlsen is by preparing and then playing specific opening variations that may force Carlsen to spend lots of time to think in the early phase of the game. One good example is by playing out an opening where the correct reply for your opponent is a "not so usual-looking" move like in this line of the Scoth Opening: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 where the Black Queen hinders the development of his own Bishop. I know this example might be way too simple but I really intended this so that my point would be easily understood by the readers in general :)

So what about Carlsen? Well Carlsen (photo below, right) has already made a big leap from being a naive and somehow, awkward 13-year-old chess prodigy, to a chess super-star and world champion. He could play a lot of openings with precision and squeeze out victories from "unwinnable" games. He was tutored by the great Kasparov and even before that, drew a game with Kasparov himself in 2004 when he was only 13. According to Kasparov, Carlsen has made a qualitative leap in his skills and is now well advanced and ahead of the rest of the chess elite by 5 years. If this is true, Anand may only have little or no chance at all to regain his title this November. Yet I think we must still refrain from any of our bias as anything can still happen in the playing field :)

Bayonet Attack: Kramnik's Approach

by

Sans Riumin

Kramnik's Bayonet Attack

1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. g3 f5 11. Ng5 Nf6 12. Bf3c6 13. Bg2 N

In the Bayonet Attack of the King's Indian defense, a special variation from Kramnik had made a strong impression towards KID players. The variation runs like this: 1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. g3 f5 11. Ng5 Nf6 12. Bf3c6 13. Bg2 N. Players from the Black side tried to find new ways to battle it , looking for new alternatives on the previous moves. Here I will discus a sample game played by two strong grandmasters. I shall do my best to provide to you suggestions that may help you get insights and some understanding on this particular line :)

Wojtaszek,Radoslaw (2717) - Morovic Fernandez,Ivan (2575) [E97]

 Istanbul ol (Men) 40th Istanbul (3.1), 30.08.2012

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 The Bayonet Attack, a favorite of V.Kramnik.

9..Nh5 10.g3

                     

   

10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.Bf3 For a long time has been Kramnik's main weapon against the KID., but later Black has able to find some fine method of defending the position.

10...f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.Bf3 c6 :

But if Black players tried not to engage Kramnik's novelty 13.Bg2. For example. 12...fxe4 :

                 

         

The move relieves the tension. 13.Ncxe4 Nf5 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 Rb8 16.Bb2 Qe7 17.Nxf6+ Bxf6 18.c5 dxc5 19.bxc5 Qxc5 20.Rc1 Qb6 21.Qe2 Rbe8 22.Bd5 Re7 23.Bxe5 c6 24.Bc4 Bxe5 25.Qxe5 Qd4 26.Qe1 Qf6 , with equal play. Nguyen,DH 2492-Paragua,M. 2533, Ho Chi Minh City HD Bank op (3), 2013.;

and

12...Rb8

                      

     

13.b5 h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 Qc8 16.Ba3 Rd8 17.Nd5 Qxe6 18.exf5 gxf5 19.Nxc7 Qxc4 20.Rc1 Qf7 21.Qa4 Nc8 22.Rfd1 e4 23.Be2= Wang,H.2733 -Ding,L. 2660, CHN-chT Beijing(5), 2012.

13.Bg2 :

                      

 

This was Kramnik's novelty played in the same year against A.Grischuk in Moscow. 13.Ba3 was played by Kramnik against Giri game (Hoogeveens 2011), the play continued 13...cxd5 14.exd5 e4 15.Be2 Here Black could have played  15...h6 16.Ne6 Bxe6 17.dxe6 f4! with strong counterplay.

13...h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 fxe4

15...Nxe4 16.Nxe4 fxe4 17.b5 Rf6 18.Bxe4 Rxe6 19.Qa4 d5 20.Rd1 White's has the initiative for the missing pawn. Kramnik 2801–-Grischuk 2761, Moscow Tal Memorial 7th(2), 2012.

16.b5 d5

16...Re8 would be better, staying away fron the a3-f8 diagonal.

17.Ba3 Re8 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.Qb3 Qb6 20.Bxe7 Rxe7 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Qxd5 e3 :

                       

22...Rd8 is the correct attacking play for an equality. 23.Qxe4 Qxe6

22.fxe3 Qxe3+ 24.Kh1 Qb6 25.Rad1 Rae8?

If  25...Qxe6 , then 26.Qxe6+ Rxe6 27.Bd5; So 25...Kh8 , moving away from the in is more logical.

 26.Be4

Too many weak spots for Black in the kingside, White should win.

26...g5 27.Bg6 Rf8 28.Rxf8+ Bxf8 29.Bf7+ 1-0

Black resigns, play might continue with 29...Rxf7 [29...Kh8 30.Qxe5+ Kh7 31.Qf6 wins.; 29...Kh7 30.Qe4+ with same outcome as 29...Kh8.] 30.exf7+ Kh8 31.Qxe5+ Kh7 32.Qf5+ Kg7 33.h4. Kramnik's new move proves to be an excellent idea! Only Morovic has the balls to try it but with no avail. Now seems like Black players on the KID tried to avoid it, let's see, time will tell.

Cebu's Edilberto Velarde Sr. Tournament

Submitted by Aldwin Daculan
Edited by Guy Chessman

Two weeks ago, I was told that there would be a small tournament at Barangay Pajac in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu. The tournament would be in honor of someone from the Velarde family. The Velarde family is known to be the home of the chess kiddie wonder, Jerish Velarde. But this tournament was not about the kid... it was about the kid's grandfather who just turned 77 last month. Just two days ago, Aldwin Daculan submitted to me a list of the top 10 winners of the small tournament. Though the tournament was small, it included very strong Cebuano masters, with some of them who have already have a good reputation outside Cebu. The Negrense, Edsel Montoya, won this event ahead of tournament favorites Kim Yap and Eden Diano. 
Meanwhile, The blitz sensation NM Merben Roque, "only" managed to place fifth in the overall standings. Still a respectable position though.
The organizer of the tournament was Engr. Edilberto Jr (Jerish Velarde's father) while the arbiters were Rigil Amacna and Peterson Sia. FYI, Peterson Sia is Cebu's most famous "chess bookworm". Hehe.
 Here is the complete list of winners of the said event. 

1st- Montoya
 2nd-Diano 
3rd-IM Yap 
4th-Lepalam 
5th-NM Roque 
6th-Cablao 
7th-NM Cadiz 
8th-Sia 
9th-Pepito 
10-Uy 


"A Pest in The Budapest?"

Nowadays the 6.Bd2 variation of the Budapest Gambit rarely occurs in tournament at any level. A surprise weapon shall I say, I Black needed a win.

Berkovich (2350) - Peev (2320) [A52]

Pavekeni, 1992
[ IM Dmitry Berkovich]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Bd2!?

Not even considered in John Nunn's Chess Openings! Mostly 6. Nc3, 6.b3 and 6.Be2 had been played here, it was played first by the great Cuban Jose Capablanca at London,1919!

6...Ngxe5

6...0–0 would also transposed to our line.

7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.Bc3 Qe7

Black should be careful here, 8...d6 9.b4 Bb6 10.c5; and 8...f6 9.Bxe5 fxe5 10.Qh5+ are bad for Black.

9.Nd2 0–0 10.Be2 a5 11.Qc2 Ra6

with the idea of transfering the rook to the kingside to gain some attack.

12.Nb3 Bb4 13.0–0–0!?

With this move, it neutrtalizes the idea of Black to transfer the rook on the kingside, and now it simply stands bad on a6.

13...Bxc3

13...a4 14.Nd4 intending to play 15. Nf5 Qc5 16. Rd5.; The simple  13...d6 is possible alternative intending to give Black's last piece into to enter the game, but the rook on a6 looks misplaced.

14.Qxc3 a4 15.Nd4 d6

White gains the initiative in the endgame by this temporary pawn sacrifice. 

16.c5! dxc5!

 If Black declines the offering by 16...Ra8 gives White an unpleasant pressure in the center and in the queenside with 17.cxd6 cxd6 18.Qa3 This prevents the possible ...a3 move.

17.Bxa6 cxd4 18.exd4

Not 18.Rxd4 bxa6 19.Re4 f6 20.f4 Bf5

18...Ng4 19.Bd3 Nxf2 20.Rhe1 Nxd1

20...Qh4 is also possible, for example: 21.Re2 Nxd3+ 22.Rxd3 Qxh2 23.d5 with roughly equal play.

21.Rxe7 Nxc3 22.bxc3

White here has a slight edge in the endgame, because White's pieces are more active and Black's queenside pawns are rather shaky, for they can easily be attacked by White's king.

22...c6 23.Kb2 g6 24.Ka3 Kg7

If 24...b5 , then 25.Be4 with a huge advantage for White.

 25.Kxa4 Be6 26.Kb4 Bxa2 27.c4!

 This is more accurate than 27.Rxb7?! Bd5 28.Kc5 Forced. 29... c5 is the threat. 28...Bxg2 29.Rb2 (29.Rc7 h5 30.Ra7 Rd8 31.c4) 29...Bh1 30.Rb1 with equal play.

27...b5

If 27...b6? 28.Ra7+-]

28.cxb5 cxb5 29.Bxb5

Now the smoke is cleared and White has a cental passed pawn, but with correct play, Black can hold this endgame, but I prefer to play with White here.

29...Rd8 30.Rd7

30.Re2 is also possible here, with the idea to place the rook behind the passed pawn.

 30...Rxd7?

This is already a bad idea by Black. Keeping the rook would be difficult for White to exploit his passed pawn. [30...Rc8 was far more better.

31.Bxd7 Kf6 32.Kc5 Ke7 33.Bb5 f5 34.d5 f4 35.d6+ Kd8 36.Bd3

36.Kd4 is better, going to the kingside and attack the pawns the idea.

 36...Bf7 37.Kd4 h6 38.Ke5 g5 39.Be4

39.Bb5 is another alternative.]

 39...Kd7 40.Bf3

40.g3 immediately is more direct.

 40...Bc4 41.Bg4+ Kd8 42.g3 fxg3 43.hxg3

 Zugzwang!

43...Bf7 44.Kf6 Be8 45.Be6 g4 46.Bxg4 h5 47.Be2

 1–0

This game gives me a good impression of playing 6.Bd2 line against the Budapest, though I must admit that in  this game, Black played excellently in the opening and in the middlegame but a couple of inaccurate moves in the endgame causes his fall.The 6.Bd2 line deserve futher practical test.


Here's the PGN DOWNLOAD if you guys wanna view this game on your Chessbase softwares:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-PXUPMH0sUhbTdXVzJMaEhtWjg/edit?usp=sharing

Lapu-Lapu Chess © 2014

Sgt. Olea Mini Tournament and Lapu-Lapu's top 30 players

Report by Aldwin Daculan
Edited by Guy Chessman

A very tiny tournament was held in Lapu-Lapu, 2 weeks ago in Sgt. Amado Olea's neighborhood, in celebration of the baptism of Sgt. Olea's second child. The tournament was comprised of some CEPCA members and some top Lapu-Lapu players as well. They were, Aldwin Daculan, Mark Cimafranca, Jun Kidlat, Alvin Regodon and even Sgt. Olea himself. Former CEPCA presidents, Jun Olis and Jojo Muralla, also participated in the mini tournament. Winners of the said humble event were 1. Cimafranca, 2. Daculan, and 3. Olis (!). A very surprising comeback for the CEPCA player and Lapu-Lapu patron. Hehe.

By the way, Mr. Aldwin Daculan sent me a text comprising a list of the top 30 rated players in Lapu-Lapu. I will share these to you all, my fellow Cebuano players, because It is somehow interesting.

1. Joel Fernan 2243 NM
2. Bryle Arellano 2102
3. Allan Salientes 2093
4. Allan Pason 2051
5. Peterson Sia 1977
6. Mark Cimafranca 1932
7. Albert Rivera 1911
8. Henry Infante 1865
9. Jerish Velarde 1843
10. Kraig Quinain 1841
11. Jonathan Canque 1835
12. Aldwin Daculan 1831
13. Alvin Regodon 1813
14. Rigil Amacna 1808
15. Roxanne Tampus 1808
16. C. Lim 1796
17. Rolando Torres 1793
18. Raffy Bensi 1792
19. Amay Igot 1788
20. Josh Gocotano 1787
21. Adimar Toledo 1787
22. Ezekiel Limpot1785
23. Nilo Bonganciso 1774
24. Ariel Abellana 1770
25. Ian Pino 1756
26. Jerele Velarde 1751
27. Michael Gocotano 1738
28. Lefa Bensi 1727
29. Jose Gocotano 1691
30. Adelyn Bensi 1645

Along with the list, I will give some insight on the top 4 players rated in the list...

NM Joel Fernan(photo below), who is now currently rated no.1, now lives in Pagadian, Mindanao, and seldom comes back to Lapu-Lapu occasionally. He has a lot of accollades awarded to him, among them is the Region VII Championships of 2007, wherein, after a draw with the very strong player Jobannie Tabada, Fernan clinched the title. Fernan was also the Non-Master National Champion of 1999.

Rated No.2 is Brylle Arellano. A native of Negros, this relative newcomer to Cebu's chess scene has proven quite a lot in a very short period of time. He is already considered a serious contender for any Cebu tournament he participates. He is already known as a strong and relatively veteran player from his hometown by the way.

Allan Salientes(photo below), rated #3 in the list, is no new face in Cebu chess. He is a veteran player and has already won, or at least placed, on some of the local tournaments here in Cebu. Most of the tournaments he participated, were very strong in Cebu.  His most recent triumph was the Consolacion Open in SM Consolacion, last 2012.

The youngest in the top 4 is the teenage Allan Pason(photo below), who, at the tender age of 16, has proven a lot already in Cebu Chess. Nobody expected that such a tiny, midget young boy would be a "thorn" to Cebu's very best best! When he was still 14, he had already beaten a lot of the "old guards" of Cebu and rising star players as well. he attacks well, defends well, and has an immense talent for "danger". He is a CVIRAA player, Palaro player, Shell grand finalist and Cebu's Junior Champion. He also placed 3rd in one of those very strong E-Mall tournaments in Cebu a few years ago. It is speculated that he will play for the University of San-Jose Recoletos when he finally goes to college. In Cebu, he is considered as the main rival to the 14-year-old positional player, Rhenzi Khyle Sevillano.

So I think that's it! By the way, a FULL report would be coming soon on the VELARDE BIRTHDAY TOURNAMENT last week. Please stay tuned on this site. Hopefully, the full report will be readily available by the end of this week :)

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Abellana and Cimafranca: Upcoming Chess Talents from Lapu-Lapu

AJ ABELLANA

In his performance at a tournament in Cebu City on November last year, Ariel Joseph (a.k.a. "AJ") Abellana displayed his chess powers when he beat four of Cebu City's Class A players, of whom among them were Joel Pacuribot, Bonn Tibod, and NM Leonardo Alidani. Although Abellana was not able to get any of the prizes, he certainly shocked Cebu's chess community especially when he was in a winning streak from rounds 2 to 5! A few weeks later, he also had a small match with chess wonder Allan Pason and swept the match with a 4-0 score! 

Despite his great performance in the game, Abellana will not be able to play enough tournaments because of his priorities, and that is his studies. Hopefully, Cebu will see more of him this summer when he can divide his time between chess and studies :)

MARK CARL CIMAFRANCA

Another Lapu talent, Mark Carl Cimafranca, had a very strong showing recently in the latest PNG Cebu City Qualifyig Leg. Cimafranca drew with top seeds Carlos Moreno III and Felix Shaun Balbona in the penultimate rounds, but his chances were extremely narrow to qualify as he was beaten by Kidd Salazar in the early rounds. In the final round, Cimafranca was in a must-win situation with the Black pieces but was held to a draw by University of San Carlos player, Spencer De Guzman. That draw, sealed Cimafranca's fate for having any chance to qualify in the PNG. Yet this is not the end for Lapu-Lapu's Cimafranca, as he still has hopes to win the VMA tournament this Saturday.