Thursday, September 30, 2010

R9: Turkmenistan vs Philippines

So draws with ex-champ Topalov

People's Tonight
by Ed Andaya


KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia – GM Wesley So  put up a brave stand  and  drew  with  former world champion  GM Veselin  Topalov but the Philippines dropped another 1.5-2.5 decision  to highly-rated  Bulgaria  in the  eighth round of the  39th World Chess Olympiad.

So, now one of the world’s top junior players with ELO of 2668,  defended with his usual calm  precision against the   white-playing  Topalov and  claimed  a morale victory with the draw achieved  from  the  black  side of the board after 52 moves of  the Gruenfeld.

Experts agreed that Topalov’s chances  in the endgame are slightly better, but that So managed to equalize with some adept rook and bishop moves.

In the  final position,  Topalov and  So  had a rook and three pawns each.

The  Filipino champion  from Bacoor, Cavite, who is playing in only his  third Olympiad since  2006 Turin and 2008 Dresden, also placed  the Bulgarian ’s  king on f6  under check twice already  when the game was agreed drawn.

“It’s a draw. Topalov has a slight edge, although  it’s very difficult  to exploit,” commented veteran chess journalist Ignacio Dee, who practically exhausted his mind analyzing the games shown live on the Internet.

Topalov opened with the  d4 and So countered with the solid system of  the  Exchange Gruenfeld  until the 12th move when he steered the game out of the book line  with  Ne5 instead of the customary Qa5.

The Bulgarian champion, who  held the world title in 2005, managed to seize the initiative after 22. Rc7 but  missed the right continuation  and   allowed the  16-year-old  Filipino  to initiate  massive  exchanges that included the queens on the 33rd move and bring about  a position that offered little  prospects.

But  even the hard-earned draw by So and  the victory by Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre over IM Kiprian Berbatov on board  four failed to save the day for the 37th- seeded Filipinos, who  plummeted into a tie for 42nd to 66th places with only nine points on  four wins, one draw and three losses.

Torre, who is making a record 20th  Olympiad appearance in 40 years, came  away with the much-needed victory over the lower-rated  Berbatov  (ELO 2461) on board  four.

The 58-year-old Torre, who became Asia’s first GM in  the 1974  Nice Olympiad, raised his personal record to  88 wins, 114 draws  and 39 losses in 242 games. His total of 145 points spread over 20 Olympiads from 1970 to  2010 tied him with GM Miguel  Najdorf for second most points  behind only Hungarian GM  Lajos Portisch ( 176.5 points).

But the draw by So and the win  by Torre  proved  not enough.

The pair of heart-breaking losses by  GMs John Paul  Gomez and  Darwin Laylo   on boards two and  three  did not help the Filipinos’ cause.

Gomez, who plays board two for the country in the absence of GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr,, went down to GM Ivan Cheparinov (ELO 2661) in  only 29 moves of the  English , while  Laylo yielded to  GM  Aleksander  Delchev (ELO 2623).

Cheparinov unleashed a deadly combination  against  the lower-rated Gomez that led to a mate in one  using a  rook, knight and bishop.

The loss, which followed a similar 1.5-2.5 setback to Spain  in the second round and 1-3 loss to  Belarus in the  sixth round,  left the Filipinos  five full  points behind solo leader  Ukraine.

Ukraine  battled  top seed Russia-1 to a  fighting 2-2 draw to keep the  solo lead with 14 points on six wins and two draws.

Up next for the Filipinos is  No. 69 Turkmenistan, which lost to India, 1-3.

It was double black eye for the Philippines, which also  lost  in the women’s division.

The  52 nd-seeded Filipinas were wiped out by Southeast Asian Games rival Vietnam, losing all four matches in their worst showing  in the tough 11-round tournament so far.

Dresden Olympiad top scorer Cheradee Chardine Camacho proved no match to WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram on the top board.

Also losing their matches were Catherine Perena to WIM Pham Le Thao Nguyen,  Rulp Ylen  Jose to WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Jedara Docena to  WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh  An.

With the loss, the Filipinas remained with only eight points  and fell several rungs below --  49th  to 69th places in the 115-team  field.

Overall, the Cesar Caturla-mentored Filipinas now  trail top seed Russia-1, which  routed India, 3.5-.5, to raise its score to eight wins for a perfect score of 16 points  based on the match point-style  2-1-0 win-draw-loss scoring system.

The Filipinas’ next assignment is No. 62 Bolivia, which drew with ICSC, 2-2.

National Chess Federation of  the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch” Pichay lauded the Filipinos’ gallant stand against the Bulgarians, especially  So’s  draw with Topalov and Torre’s victory over Berbatov.

Pichay, however, admitted that the Filipinas have a lot of work to do to catch up with the Vietnamese in the  women’s division.


http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/content/19389-so-draws-with-ex-champ-topalov.html

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

R7: Philippines vs Puerto Rico

Gomez vs Machin Rivera

Montalvo vs Laylo

Win Some, Lose Some




People's Tonight
by Ed Andaya
  
Tuesday, 28 September 2010 19:53
KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia  -- GM Wesley So managed to escape with a draw from a difficult  position against GM Sergei Zhigalko  but the Philippines still  went down to Belarus, 1-3, in the sixth round of the 39th World Chess Olympiad here Monday.

So, playing the top board for the Filipinos for the first time since  his debut  as a 12-year-old prodigy in  the 2006  Turin Olympiad, wisely  made the right continuation to salvage a draw with  Zhilgalko in 35 moves of the Siclina Pelikan  and  Sveshnikov variations. So, who will turn 17 on Oct. 9, had a queen, rook and seven pawns against  Zhilgalko’s queen, rook, knight and three pawns when the  game  was  agreed drawn by repetition of moves. The Filipino  champion  (ELO 2668) actually  initiated complications when  he gave up a knight for  two  pawns  on the 13th move, but  the lower-rated  Zhilgalko (ELO 2640) kept the pressure in a queen and rook ending.

GM John Paul Gomez also  battled  to  a draw  with  GM Vitaly Teterev in  40  moves of the King’s Indian  but  GM Darwin Laylo lost  to  Evgeniy Podolchenko in 92 moves of the Queen’s Indian defense and  IM Richard Bitoon bowed to IM Kiril Stupak in 58 moves of the Neo-Gruenfeld.

The ego-deflating setback, which came after back-to-back victories over Paraguay and Uruguay and  a one-day rest, proved fatal for the Filipinos, who dropped into a tie for 39th to 62nd places in the  149-team, two-week long tournament considered as the ‘Olympics’ of chess. The  37 th-seeded Filipinos remain with only seven points, four points behind defending champion Armenia,  Ukraine and Georgia based on the matchpoint-style scoring system which gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

Armenia, led by GM Levon Aronian , and Georgia, bannered by GM Baadur Jobava, drew with each other, 2-2. Ukraine whipped Hungary, 3-1, with GM Vassily Ivanchuk beating  GM Peter Leko and GM Pavel Eljanov downing GM Judit Polgar.

The Filipinos, however, will try to recover lost ground when they meet lowly No. 100 seed Puerto Rico, 2.5-1.5 winner over Iraq in the sixth round. So will take a much-needed rest on the top board, with Gomez taking his spot against  candidate master Mark Machin Rivera (ELO 2229). Laylo  handles  board two against IM Alejando Montalvo (ELO 2250), Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre plays board three against  Raul Vasquez  (ELO2217) and Bitoon holds board four against  Ramon Ovalle (ELO 2201).

In the women’s division, the Philippines dumped  Mexico, 4-0, to vault into a share of 18th to 32nd places with eight points on three wins, two draws and one loss. Cheradee Chardine Camacho, Catherine Perena, Shercila Cua and Rulp Ylem Jose swept their respective opponents to lead the Cesar Caturla-mentored women’s team  to its third straight shutout victory. Camacho whipped  WIM Alejandra Guerrero, Perena outclassed WIM  Lorena Aleja Mendoza, Cua demolished  Citlali Juarez Duran and Jose overwhelmed Daniuela de la Parra to complete the Filipinas’  surprisingly strong showing. Overall, the  52 nd-seeded Filipinas  are four points behind top seed Russia-1, which  edged Ukraine, 2.5-1.5, and three points behind Hungary, which blanked Poland, 4-0. Up next is No. 35 seed Peru, 2.5-1.5 winner over Albania. It will be Camacho against WGM Deysi Cori,  Perena against WFM Ann Chumpitaz, Cua against WFM Ingrid Aliaga and Jose against Lucia Orbezo.

Meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared the way for the re-election bid  of FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in the coming  FIDE presidential  election during the 81st FIDE Congress. In a ruling  late Monday,  the  CAS dismissed  the petition of former world champion Anatoly Karpov to disqualify Ilyumzhinov  and his ticket in the coming election.              

Friday, September 24, 2010

Chess Piece: Two Upsets

by Bobby Ang
Business World

The ongoing chess Olympiad has given us an embarrassment of riches in tremendous games. Today we have chosen two upsets for your entertainment.

The three former Soviet Republics from the Caucasus Region have traditionally been strong chess nations. Armenia, the land of the ninth world champion Tigran Petrosian, is the defending Olympiad champion while Azerbaijan is the reigning European champion. Georgia is more known for its women’s chess, being the mother country of former world champion Nona Gaprindashvili and Maya Chiburdanidze, not to mention perennial candidates Nana Alexandria, Elena Akhmilovskaya and Nana Ioselani, among many others.

Georgian men’s chess took off in the late ’90s with its first clear chess leader, GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili. Zurab was top board for his country up till the 2004 Calvia Olympiad. After that, starting Turin 2006, their new leader was the young Baadur Jobava, born 1983. The two of them was a study in contrast -- whereas Azmaiparshvili had a solid positional style with a limited opening repertoire, Jobava was a tactician who liked to throw in new moves and theoretical novelties to unbalance his opponent.

In round 4, when Jobava faced the world’s highest rated player, everybody expected him to play for a draw. After all, the team from Norway had two strong players (GMs Magnus Carlsen 2826 and Jon Ludvig Hammer 2633) and the rest were just IMs. A draw on board 1 and 2 would enable their lower boards to go for wins. Nothing of that sort. Jobava remained true to form by unleashing an unexpected novelty and won a tremendous victory.

Jobava, Baadur (2710) -- Carlsen, Magnus (2826) [E24]
39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk/Russia (4), 24.09.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Nc6 6.e4!?
A move played more for its shock value than anything else. Indeed, after ...
6...Nxe4 7.Qg4 f5 8.Qxg7 Qf6 9.Qxf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 b6
There is nothing wrong with Black’s position. Carlsen decides to play positionally and put pressure on white’s doubled c-pawns. Jobava on the other hand takes a tactical approach and goes for the attack.
11.d5 Na5 12.Nd4 Kf7 13.dxe6+ dxe6 14.Bf4 Ba6 15.Nf3 Ne4
[15...Bxc4?? 16.Ne5+]
16.Ne5+ Kf6 17.f3 Nd6 18.0-0-0 Rhd8 19.h4 Nf7 20.Nd7+ Kg7 21.Rh3
Jobava continues assaulting the Black king. He now threatens 22.Rg3+ Kh8 23.Ne5 with lots of mating threats. One possible continuation is 23...Rxd1+ 24.Kxd1 Nd6 25.c5! wins.
21...Kh8 22.Bg5! Nxg5 23.hxg5
With the idea of 24.Nf6.
23...Kg7 24.Rh6 Bxc4 25.Bxc4 Nxc4 26.Rdh1 Rh8 27.f4
To keep his stranglehold on the position best would have been 27.Rxe6 Rae8 28.Rc6 Nd6 29.Nf6! (29.Rxc7? Nb5 30.Rb7 Re7) 29...Rc8 30.Nd5 (threatens Ne7) 30...Rhe8 31.f4. Now however black gets a chance to escape...
27...c5?
...which he does not see. The best defense is grabbing the central file with 27...Rad8! 28.Nf6 c5 White does not gain anything by 29.Rxh7+ Rxh7 30.Rxh7+ Kg6 31.Rh6+ Kf7 32.Rh7+ Kg6 33.Rxa7 because of 33...e5!
28.Rxe6 Rae8 


Position after 28Rae8

29.Rxh7+!
Does not allow Black to gain control of the central file.
29...Rxh7
[29...Kxh7 30.Nf6+ Kg7 31.Nxe8+ Kf7 32.Nc7]
30.Rxe8 Kf7 31.Ra8 Rh1+ 32.Kc2 a5 33.Ra7 Nxa3+ 34.Kd2 Rh2 35.Nxb6+ Kg6 36.Rxa5 Rxg2+ 37.Kd1 Nb1 38.Rxc5 Nd2 39.Nd5 Ne4 40.Rc6+ Kf7 41.Ne3 Rg3 42.Ke2
With two pawns up the end game is a win. There are a lot of tricks left and Magnus tries his best to hold, but in vain.
42...Ke8 43.Re6+ Kf7 44.Re5 Nxc3+ 45.Kf2 Rh3 46.Rxf5+ Kg6 47.Rf6+ Kg7 48.Nf5+ Kg8 49.Kg2 Rd3 50.Rd6 Ne2 51.Rg6+ Kh8 52.Rh6+ Kg8 53.Ne7+ Kf7 54.Ng6 Kg7 55.Kf2 Nc3 56.Ne7 Ne4+ 57.Ke2 Ra3 58.Nf5+ Kg8 59.Re6 Nc3+ 60.Kf3 Nd5+ 61.Kg4 Ra1 62.Re5 Rg1+ 63.Kf3 Rf1+ 1-0
Now the tournament book gives 64.Ke4 as the last move played, but I believe Black resigned here, realizing that 64.Ke2 (or even 64.Kg2) wins a piece. After a game is over and white wins the arbiters usually clear the board and put the white king on e4. Perhaps the arbiter in this case put the king on e4 first before clearing the board, so the sensory board registered Ke4 as the move played.

Vietnam started the Olympiad very well. After an expected win over Botswana they had victories over Azerbaijan (2.5-1.5), Uzbekistan (2.5-1.5) and Estonia (3.5-0.5). Clearly the Vietnamese are going to finish higher than their seeded 27th place.
Azerbaijan was one of the title contenders and may have been pulling their punches against Vietnam -- they didn’t want to give away any special opening preparation against a "weak" team. Too bad for them... below is the decisive encounter.

Mamedov, Rauf (2660) -- Nguyen, Anh Dung (2500) [C54]
39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk/Russia (1), 22.09.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
Lately a lot of people are playing this way to avoid the Petroff Defense.
2...Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.Bb3 h6 7.Nbd2 0-0 8.h3 Be6 9.Nf1 d5 10.Qe2 Re8 11.g4
Looks out of place, but I don’t want to condemn it, considering that I have a lot of respect for the player behind the white pieces -- he has whipped my butt very comprehensively each and every time we played bullet in the Internet Chess Club.
11...a5 12.Ba4 dxe4 13.dxe4 Nxe4!
Probably overlooked by white.
14.Qxe4 Bd5 15.Qe2 e4 16.Bxc6 Bxc6 17.Nd4
It is really a wretched position, for example 17.Be3 exf3 18.Qd2 Qxd2+ 19.Kxd2 Rad8+ 20.Kc2 Be4+ 21.Kc1 Bd3 this cannot be held.
17...e3!
The rook in the corner is lost.
18.Bxe3
Also bad is 18.f3 Qh4+ 19.Kd1 Bxd4 20.cxd4 Qf6! (threatening the pawn on f3) 21.Nh2 Ba4+ 22.Ke1 (22.b3 Qxd4+ and the a1 rook falls)22...Qh4+ 23.Kf1 Bb5! 24.Qxb5 Qf2# checkmate.
18...Bxh1 19.0-0-0 Qf6 20.Ng3 Bxd4 21.Rxd4 Bf3 22.Qc4 Rad8 23.Rf4 Bd5 24.Qxc7 Qa6 25.Qb6 Bxa2 26.Qxa6 bxa6 27.Kc2 Rb8 28.Nf5 Bb3+ 29.Kc1 a4 30.Nd4 a3 31.bxa3 Rec8 32.Bd2 Ba2
This bishop will transfer to the b1-h7 diagonal to create mating threats against the king.
33.Nf5 Kh7 34.Nd6 Rc7 35.h4 Rb6 36.Nf5 Bb1 37.Ne3 Bd3 38.Rb4 Rb5 39.Kb2 h5 40.g5 Re7 41.a4 Rxb4+ 42.cxb4 Re4 43.Ng2 Be2 44.Nf4 Bd1 45.a5 Rc4 46.Ka3 g6 47.Be3 Kg8 48.Bd2 Kf8 49.Be3 Ke7 50.Kb2 Kd6 51.b5 axb5 52.a6 Bf3 53.a7 Ke5 54.Nd3+ Kf5 55.Ne1 Ba8 56.Nc2 Rxh4 57.Nd4+ Rxd4 58.Bxd4 h4 0-1
Reader comments/suggestions are solicited. E-mail address is bangcpa@gmail.com

Bitoon vs Peralta

R3: Philippines vs Scotland

Torre vs Burns-Mannion

Friday, September 17, 2010

A Sicilian Tale

I learn that it was analysed in 1594 for the first time by the Italian Giulio Polerio, also known as Polerio Lancianese, in his manuscriptTrattato degli scacchi dell’Abruzzese. About twenty years before, Polerio had traveled to Madrid together with his teacher, Leonardo di Bona, where Leonardo was invited by the Spanish king Philip II to play a match against the great Spanish chess player Ruy Lopez.
A Sicilian Tale : ChessVibes

Saturday, September 11, 2010

San Lorenzo Ruiz

Lorenzo Ruiz was born in Binondo, Manila between 1600 to 1610. His father was Chinese and his mother was native Tagalog.

During his youth he was an altar boy, sarcistan at Binondo convent. He was educated by the Dominican Fathers and was their escribano because of his skillful hand and unsurpassed penmanship.

It is most commonly believed that he left the Philippines in 1639 because the Spaniards believed he had committed a crime against them.

He left the Philippines on 10 June 1636 with the aid of the Dominican Fathers and Sr. Domingo Gonzales.

In Japan, Christians were persecuted and put to death. St. Lorenzo Ruiz together with his imprisoned companions were captured and brought to Nagasaki around 10 July 1636.  There they suffered incredible torture as they were hung by their feet and submerged in water till they neared death. They also suffered 'water torture' which brought some of St. Lorenzo's companions to recant their faith. Needles were pressed in between their finger nails and skin and they were beaten unconscious. St. Lorenzo never lost his faith.

On 27 September 1637 he was taken with his companions to the "Mountain of Martyrs". There he was hung upside down into a pit in what was called a 'horca y hoya'. This was the most painful way to die in those times and involved using rocks to add weight to the person so that the person suffocates faster and is crushed from their own and added weight. After two days he died from bleeding and suffocation. His body was cremated and his ashes were thrown into the sea. He always professed his love and faith in God.

He was beautified by Pope John Paul II during the Papal visit to Manila on 18 February 1981. St. Lorenzo Ruiz was elevated to sainthood and received canonization on 18 October 1987 by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, Rome.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz was a layman, with two sons and a daughter. He is recognized as the first Filipino Saint and Martyr.

His story as his life is so much more then the forementioned summary of events. Yet, his life stands simply for love, having true unyielding belief and faith in God.

For everyday Christians and Catholics around the world his life is a story of an ordinary person willing to give his life for God. But on a daily basis his life is a constant symbol of how we should never lose faith in God nor ever be afraid of meeting our Father.

San Lorenzo Ruiz Cup