As Typhoon Pepeng spared MM, I got the chance to take a peek at the on-going Pichay Cup sans my son who opted to sleep all day. We were actually planning to watch the GM play as early as the PGMA Cup but Typhoon Ondoy made it a fatal move last weekend.
As I entered the quiet playing hall, NM Gatus, who was one of the arbiter immediately welcomed me; mainly because he did a pair of mini-simuls at MERALCO (where I got a draw vs his Torre Attack by virtue of being the only one left in the 5-man/boy field and with us still equal in material) and he has coached my son Rhal once.
I surveyed the playing field and there were familiar faces;
1) IM Rolando Nolte who waved at me while waiting for NM Milagrosa to make his move. Nolts was recommended to us by GM Torre last June for the JPF Cup Simul with MERALCO jr and sr players plus the champions from Tahanan Walang Hagdanan.
2) NM Rhobel Legaspi nodded at me as he made his way to the rest room. The NM did a simul for us last Feb for the Olvida Memorial and again in March for the MERALCO Family Day.
3) NM Mirabeu Maga talked to me as he strolled around with a winning position. He played a simul for MERALCO Chess Club in January.
4) NM Efren Bagamasbad, a fellow UST alumnus, managed to smile at me even after his loss.
5) FM Chris Castellano answered me that their house in Brookside Cainta was submerged by the floods of Ondoy.
6) GM Bong Villamayor approached me as he was relaxing from a tight position vs NM Andador. Then NM Bong was the trainer of the MERALCO Chess Team and I cannot forget that I won a game from him with my pet French Defense - Arencibia Line, though on a 10-1 time control.
7) GM Joey tapped me on his way back to his board vs PGMA Champ Filipov. He started the fund-raising simul in MERALCO last Aug 1 where 6 out of 24 got a draw; including my son Rhal of LSGH GS Chess Team under NMs Carag and Bernardino.
8) GM Torre called out my name as he strolled away from the playing hall after winning, with a 2 pawn advantage, vs GM Dableo. Of course, El Eugenio did a 25 board simul in 2007 for the MERALCO Family Day and also recently, just this Sept 5, for the second fund-raising drive for the RP PARA Chess Team. BTW, I played in that one and lost my Q after I lost my "conciousness" after around 2 hours of play.
Wow! This is a great collection of friends and all because of our love for the game on the 64 squares and our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
So much for the intro!
The playing hall was extremely quiet and people whispers as they talk. I moved around to take photos, only to find out that my digicam was low on battery. I put the flash off and managed to take a few shots before the batteries finally resigned.
On Bd 1 was GM Michivili whose profile reminds me of Nicholas Cage and he was battling Darwin's Theory.
I saw IM Manny Senador playing and it brought back memories from the '80s; my game with him in a French Winnawer in Agora San Juan.
WNM Lamiel Bernales won her game vs FM Castellano. Lamiel played as a guest in our MACE Cup a few months ago which she topped despite the presence of MERALCO's top 3 players; Darryl Mata, Jay Dicen and Ricky Tan. That was the tournament where I logged a record 4 draws as I experimented with the Chinese style as pointed out by Prof. Bobby Ang - play solid and wait for your opponent to make a mistake.
I find the foreign GMs very friendly though I have not talked to any one of them. But I see them moving around and watching the other boards, even the lower boards, particularly GM Tigran. And if there are some post game analysis going on, he suggests a move or two.
These are great events and it is a pity that no live coverage from either GMA7 nor ABSCBN was there. Also, the place is not very accessible to the public and thre were just a handful of us spectators were there, and that includes Spawn2 of Barangay Wesley.
I wish I can go back again in this annual event.
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