Thursday, September 30, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Win Some, Lose Some
| 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. |
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
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
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
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