Lets talk about chess here...

[cyberjason4]

Um mga kuya pwede po bang paturo chess? Pano po ba yon laruin?

[ceedee]

GM Wesley So will lead an 8-man RP delegation to the Asian Continental Championship that will begin tomorrow in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Joining Wesley (2653), who will be seeded number 5 in the tournament, are GMs Rogelio Antonio (2557), Oliver Barbosa (2550), Darwin Laylo (2502), John Paul Gomez (2507), Mark Paragua (2521), Eugene Torre (2496), and IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia (2399)


good luck, team

[ceedee]

first round pairings:

GM Wesley So (2653) vs Ma Quin (2481 - China)
GM Joey Antonio (2557) vs IM GohWei Ming (2426 - Singapore)
IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia (2399) vs GM Oliver Barbosa (2550)
GM Mark Paragua (2521) - FM Nguyen Van Hai (2341 - Vietnam)
Li Hanbin (2289 - China) vs GM John Paul Gomez (2507)
GM Darwin Laylo (2502) vs CM Farid Firman Syah (2285 - Indonesia)
GM Eugene Torre (2496) vs IM Bao Khoa (2257 - Vietnam)

[ceedee]

first round results:

GM Wesley So (2653) vs Ma Quin (2481 - China) ; 0.5 - 0.5
GM Joey Antonio (2557) vs IM GohWei Ming (2426 - Singapore); 0.5 - 0.5
IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia (2399) vs GM Oliver Barbosa (2550); 0.5 - 0.5
GM Mark Paragua (2521) - FM Nguyen Van Hai (2341 - Vietnam); 1 - 0
Li Hanbin (2289 - China) vs GM John Paul Gomez (2507); 0 - 1
GM Darwin Laylo (2502) vs CM Farid Firman Syah (2285 - Indonesia); 1 - 0
GM Eugene Torre (2496) vs IM Bao Khoa (2257 - Vietnam); 0.5 - 0.5

top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and third-seed GM Ni Hua of China were upset by lowly-rated Chinese chessers.

2nd round pairings:

GM John Paul Gomez - GM Parimarjan Negi (2640 - India)
GM Yu Yangyi (2626 - China) - GM Darwin Laylo
IM Liu Qingnan (2483 - China) - GM Mark Paragua
GM Nguyen Ahn Dung (2440 - Vietnam) - GM Wesley So
GM Ehsan Maghami Ghaem (2579 - Iran) - IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia
IM Husein Aziz Nezad (2393 - Qatar) - GM Rogelio Antonio
GM Oliver Barbosa - GM Tu Hoang Thong (2434 - Vietnam)
FM Wei Ying (2376 - China) - GM Eugene Torre

ELO Live Ratings:
GM So - 2651 (-2.30)
GM Antonio - 2555 (-1.80)
GM Barbosa - 2548 (-2.00)
GM Paragua - 2524 (+2.60)
GM Gomez - 2509 (+2.20)
GM Laylo - 2504 (+2.20)
GM Torre - 2493 (-3.00)
IM Garcia - 2401 (+2.00)

[ceedee]

2nd round results:
GM John Paul Gomez - GM Parimarjan Negi (2640 - India); 1 - 0
GM Yu Yangyi (2626 - China) - GM Darwin Laylo; 1 - 0
IM Liu Qingnan (2483 - China) - GM Mark Paragua; 1 -0
GM Nguyen Ahn Dung (2440 - Vietnam) - GM Wesley So; 0.5 - 0.5
GM Ehsan Maghami Ghaem (2579 - Iran) - IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia; 1 - 0
IM Husein Aziz Nezad (2393 - Qatar) - GM Rogelio Antonio; 1 - 0
GM Oliver Barbosa - GM Tu Hoang Thong (2434 - Vietnam); 1 - 0
FM Wei Ying (2376 - China) - GM Eugene Torre; 1 - 0

3rd round pairings
GM Gomez - GM Yu Yangyi (2626 - China)
Yu Ruiyuan (2511 - China) - GM Barbosa
GM Laylo - GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2656 - Vietnam)
GM So - IM Lou Yiping (2428 - China)
GM Paragua - IM Ton That Nhu Tung (2144 - Vietnam)
GM Antonio - IM Srinath Narayanan (2383 - India)
GM Torre - FM Rudin Hamdani (2322 - Indonesia)
IM Garcia - Tersiman Ferdiman (2009 - Indonesia)

Live ELO Rating
GM So - 2648 (-5.00)
GM Antonio - 2548 (-9.00)
GM Barbosa - 2551 (+1.40)
GM Paragua - 2518 (-2.90)
GM Gomez - 2516 (+9.00)
GM Laylo - 2501 (-1.10)
GM Torre - 2486 (-9.60)
IM Garcia - 2398 (-0.60)

[Jay P. Mercado]

Unveiling the PHL national chess team that will compete in the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey next month:

Board 1: GM Wesley So
Board 2: GM Oliver Barbosa
Board 3: GM Mark Paragua
Board 4: GM Eugene Torre
Board 5: IM Oliver Dimakiling

Torre was able to snatch a slot in the 5-man team when GM Julio Catalino Sadorra cannot attend to this commitment owing to his studies at Texas Tech University. This will be Torre's 21st Olympics dating back from the time he first played for the Philippines in 1970 at Germany.

Barbosa, on the other hand, was the wildcard pick of NCFP President Butch Pichay. The composition was So being seeded to the 5-man team and the next 4 to be competed in the recently-concluded National Open. Paragua ended up topping the tournament, followed by Sadorra and Dimakiling. Since Torre placed 4th and with Sadorra opting not to join, the first grandmaster of Asia became part of the team.

This is a pretty solid lineup and Torre at Board 4 is going to be very difficult for opponents. I hope he'll be in top shape to go for victories instead of settling for draws especially since the lower boards are where we normally get points than the top boards.

I'm also hoping Paragua is in good shape as well. When he's playing well, he's difficult to beat, especially since he's known to be a topnotch offensive player. But when he's not in focus and loses confidence, he'll be a paradox.

Barbosa failed to snatch a slot in the National Open but because he's the second highest rated Filipino player today, it was a no-brainer on the part of Pichay of getting him. He's expected to do well and I have high hopes for him at Board 2.

Dimakiling will play alternate and I hope he continues to play well. His amazing performance in the Open speaks well and let's hope he sustains this run up to next month.

We really have a deep bench today. Too bad we can only include 5 players when we used to have 6 a decade ago. Not in the lineup are prominent names like Darwin Laylo, Joey Antonio, JP Gomez, Banjo Barcenilla, Joseph Sanchez and Ronald Dableo.

[Jay P. Mercado]

Another piece of good news...we have another grandmaster, and finally, it's Enrico Sevillano, one of my favorite chessers back in the late 80's. Here's the news clip:

Cebu chesser earns 3rd GM norm

ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 08/14/2012 1:50 PM | Updated as of 08/14/2012 1:50 PM


MANILA, Philippines – Filipino chess player Enrico Sevillano (ELO 2526) became a Grand Master (GM)-elect after winning the 21st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational, where he earned his third and final GM norm.

The 10-player, round-robin tournament was held last August 3-7 at the Radisson Los Angeles Airport Hotel in Los Angeles.

Sevillano, a native of Cebu who is now based in California, tallied six points in nine outings.

He defeated International Master (IM) Melikset Khachiyan of the United States and IM Levon Altounian in the final two rounds to earn his third and final GM norm.

Tying for second place were GM Robert Hess of the US (ELO 2624) and IM Roman Yankovsky of Russia (ELO 2468), after finishing with 5.5 points in nine games.

Sevillano was the 1986 Asian junior champion, a two-time Philippine Chess Olympiad participant (1992 and 1994), the 2008 US Open champion and the first Filipino to qualify for the US Championship in 2009.

He achieved his second GM norm in the 13th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational last December 2011.

Sevillano becomes the third Cebuano GM following Paris-based Joseph Sanchez and Richard Bitoon. By Marlon Bernardino

[Jay P. Mercado]

Let's try to list all the PHL grandmasters at this time:

1. Eugene Torre
2. Rosendo Balinas
3. Joey Antonio
4. Bong Villamayor
5. Nelson Mariano
6. Mark Paragua
7. Wesley So
8. Darwin Laylo
9. Jayson Gonzales
10. John Paul Gomez
11. Joseph Sanchez
12. Rogelio Barcenilla
13. Roland Salvador
14. Julio Catalino Sadorra
15. Oliver Barbosa
16. Richard Bitoon
17. Enrico Sevillano

Next in line would be IM Oliver Dimakiling, who, if I'm not mistaken, is just one GM norm away to earning his GM title.

Good list really. Say what you want to say about Butch Pichay's politics but he's a darn good chess leader. As NCFP Chair / Prexy, he has produced at least 11 GM's already in a span of 5 years. It took us 31 years to produce our first 6 grandmasters. Big names like Ruben Rodriguez, Rico Mascarinas, Lito Maninang, the late Andronico Yap, among others, never reached GM status despite several efforts to do so.

[ceedee]

JPM, even though I'm happy that he already achieved his goal of being a GM, but Sevillano is now playing for the United States of America. He had switched his federation in 2009.

[Jay P. Mercado]

Is that so, Ceedee? Tough luck then, although I never really will expect him to represent the PHL in any international staging. I don't think he'll have the chance to do so also for the US team since they have a pretty deep bench out there. Ditto here, when we have more than our fair share of quality players to represent us.

Speaking of which, I yearn for the old times when there were 6 players representing us in the Chess Olympiad. Unlike today which only has 5 (4 boards and one alternate), it used to have 6 slots (4 boards and 2 alternates). Now that we have a relatively "deep" bench, it would be nice to have 6 players coming in without sacrificing quality of play. My dream lineup would probably be:

Board 1: Wesley So
Board 2: Joey Antonio
Board 3: Oliver Barbosa
Board 4: Eugene Torre
Alternates: Mark Paragua and John Paul Gomez / Darwin Laylo

Laylo plays very well against local players - a difficult feat considering how each player matches up well with the other here in local shores. But his success here doesn't translate as well in international competitions. Torre, on the other hand, doesn't play well against his compatriots as his game is pretty much scouted already. But ranged against the finest players all over the world, Torre remains competitive.

[naturecrawler]

sino dito sa Pex pinakamagaing mag-Chess?

[LoCkSmItH99]

Istanbul 2012 Chess Olympiad

[ceedee]

Unveiling the PHL national chess team that will compete in the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey next month:

Board 1: GM Wesley So
Board 2: GM Oliver Barbosa
Board 3: GM Mark Paragua
Board 4: GM Eugene Torre
Board 5: IM Oliver Dimakiling

Torre was able to snatch a slot in the 5-man team when GM Julio Catalino Sadorra cannot attend to this commitment owing to his studies at Texas Tech University. This will be Torre's 21st Olympics dating back from the time he first played for the Philippines in 1970 at Germany.

Barbosa, on the other hand, was the wildcard pick of NCFP President Butch Pichay. The composition was So being seeded to the 5-man team and the next 4 to be competed in the recently-concluded National Open. Paragua ended up topping the tournament, followed by Sadorra and Dimakiling. Since Torre placed 4th and with Sadorra opting not to join, the first grandmaster of Asia became part of the team.

This is a pretty solid lineup and Torre at Board 4 is going to be very difficult for opponents. I hope he'll be in top shape to go for victories instead of settling for draws especially since the lower boards are where we normally get points than the top boards.

I'm also hoping Paragua is in good shape as well. When he's playing well, he's difficult to beat, especially since he's known to be a topnotch offensive player. But when he's not in focus and loses confidence, he'll be a paradox.

Barbosa failed to snatch a slot in the National Open but because he's the second highest rated Filipino player today, it was a no-brainer on the part of Pichay of getting him. He's expected to do well and I have high hopes for him at Board 2.

Dimakiling will play alternate and I hope he continues to play well. His amazing performance in the Open speaks well and let's hope he sustains this run up to next month.

We really have a deep bench today. Too bad we can only include 5 players when we used to have 6 a decade ago. Not in the lineup are prominent names like Darwin Laylo, Joey Antonio, JP Gomez, Banjo Barcenilla, Joseph Sanchez and Ronald Dableo.

You said it right, JPM. GM Barbosa will be the turning point for our team in every round in the tournament. I just hope he will prepare well for the Olympiad as he appears to have a slight advantage to other GMs in the world as his matches are very limited for them to analyze. Also, I just hope that they will put Eugene Torre in Board 3 and Paragua at board 4. Being the veteran of the team, I feel comfortable for him to play in Board 2 if Barbosa will be rested rather than Paragua. and sorry, I just don't trust IM Dimakiling's play in international tournament.

with this line-up, I don't have high hopes for them to finish in the top 20. But I do hope that this team will finish better than the 2010 team had achieved (50th)

[Jay P. Mercado]

Ceedee,

What's your preferred 5-man lineup and their respective positions? I'd name mine later but I want to see your choices for now. And granting that this lineup is made, up to what ranking will we make it?

[shpecker]

Chip,

Mwah!

I agree with your line-up.

So, being at the top can duke it out with fellow SGMs. Surprisingly, he has a better winning percentage against Hyper-GMs.

Antonio is a fighter and a seasoned veteran. His wizardy display at endgames creates trouble to his opponents.

Barbosa, a rising star. He can notch wins against 2500-level GMs and compete well w/ SGMs.

Torre, the 'Grand Old Man of Philippine Chess'. As you mentioned, being at Board 4 will be a poison for the opponents. A gold medal is not far-fetched. I hope more Ws for him even at this point in his career. I had enough of his countless D's.

Among the alternatives:

Gomez is a rising star. He has the ability to pull wins and upsets in international tourneys. He'll be joining SGM So at the top level in the near future.

Paragua is on a comeback trail. He is on his way back to his once lethal position being the nation's first Super-GM. Consistency is his biggest challenge at the moment as he reloads himself.

Laylo is the least among them. He needs more training, exposure and focus. He tends to skid each time he suffers stinging defeat. Surely we don't want him to be a whipping boy. But among the alternates, he is my weakest.

Chip,
Coach Susan Polgar tweets me each time I ask about Wesley So. Paraphrasing her tweets...

-She considers So as his brightest pupil.
-She is aware So has the biggest fan base worldwide.
-With US brightest star Ray Robson as his roommate, they will learn A LOT from each other.
-Team SPICE have started informal chess training. Coach Susan wouldn't disclose beyond their training.
-She was still confused why So did not get the invite in the recent World Blitz Championship. She considers him as one of world's best blitz players.

I just found out So's live ELO 2730 is ranked higher than Caruana (2718) & Topalov (2686)!

I hope they'll crack top 20 in Istanbul. Thessaloniki and Nice was just an amazing performance by our woodpushers. We are on our way to regain those golden moments.

Lastly, former Toluca winner/Interzonal Champion Eugenio Torre will be the latest Guinness Book of World Record holder as most appearcnes (21) in the Olympiad the moment he makes his first PK4 move in Board 4 beating GM Lajos Portisch's.

I am just wondering how his contemporaries would think of his secret to his longevity and mental toughness for decades. I'm thinking of Portisch, Vaganian, Timman, Ljubojevic, Sax and his nemesis Zoltan Ribli of Hungary.
(Damn I still can't forget Torre's stinging defeat from that Hungarian GM)

[shpecker]

Chip,

Mwah!

I'll send you photos with Coach Susan and So when schedule allows me to visit Webster U. It's not far-fetched as I have visited family friends in St Louis, MO.

Mwah, mwah!

[Jay P. Mercado]

I like Schpecker's lineup. And I agree with his assessment of Laylo - he's a solid player in the local front, capable of winning tournaments featuring all the GM's in the country but once he loses a game or two, his game spirals downwards. He needs more mental toughness to bounce back from these stinging losses. I see the same thing with Jayson Gonzales, another streaky player.

I've always felt that our two greatest stabilizers are Torre and Joey Antonio. These guys are so experienced in the international front that they would know when to win and when to draw. When ranged against the best GM's around the world, we can expect them to extract at least a GM draw to secure a half point for the effort.

Of course, So should be there. And Schpecker and my bias for Barbosa may also be because he hails from UP Diliman - the same school where we both came from. Nonetheless, he's a gem capable of proving his mettle against the best of the world.

What do you mean by So's LIVE RATING? I didn't get that part.

[shpecker]

I like Schpecker's lineup. And I agree with his assessment of Laylo - he's a solid player in the local front, capable of winning tournaments featuring all the GM's in the country but once he loses a game or two, his game spirals downwards. He needs more mental toughness to bounce back from these stinging losses. I see the same thing with Jayson Gonzales, another streaky player.

I've always felt that our two greatest stabilizers are Torre and Joey Antonio. These guys are so experienced in the international front that they would know when to win and when to draw. When ranged against the best GM's around the world, we can expect them to extract at least a GM draw to secure a half point for the effort.

Of course, So should be there. And Schpecker and my bias for Barbosa may also be because he hails from UP Diliman - the same school where we both came from. Nonetheless, he's a gem capable of proving his mettle against the best of the world.

What do you mean by So's LIVE RATING? I didn't get that part.

Chip,

Mwah!

FIDE's August update shows some of the players ELO ratings on Standard, Rapid and Blitz. Here's SGM So's posted ratings: (His Blitz ELO is 2685)

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=5202213

However, his recent string of successes in Blitz tournaments that is yet to be submitted to FIDE for posting earned him 45 (Philadelphia) and 35 (11th Asian Blitz) points.

http://chessaccount.wordpress.com/li...-live-ratings/

Adding these points to the posted mark makes his Live ELO Blitz Rating increase to 2730.

I'm feel good for him for topping Caruana!!! Giri's ELO on Blitz is yet to be published.

[ceedee]

^^ we have to separate the ELO ratings of blitz, rapid and Standard games. and the most common and widely-used is the standard ELO rating.

Wesley is 2nd-ranked blitz chess player in Asia with a live Blitz ELO rating of 2730. now who is the number one? It's Le Quang Liem of Vietnam with a Live ELO Blitz rating of 2854,. which is one of the top 20 in the world

[ceedee]

the 40th edition of Chess Olympiad starts today at Istanbul, Turkey. a total of 158 teams will participate in Open competition while women competition attracted 131 teams.

there is a possibility that Wesley So will be rested as the mens team (ranked 36th) could go up against 112th ranked Estonia.

While our women's team which is ranked number 56 in the tournament could rest their top player WIM Catherine Perena (2091) as WFM Jose Rulp Yiem (2061), Jedara Docena (2061), Jan Foronda (2022) and World Junior campaigner Janelle Frayna (1991) could face 121st ranked Pakistan in the opening round

good luck, team