I don't know why

I don’t know why I love chess so much, even if chess doesn’t love me back.

I don’t know why I love chess pieces, even if the King orders the imprisonment of my passion, even if the Queen betrays my expectations, even if the Rook becomes the tower of my defeat, even if the Bishop leads me to sin, even if the Knight thrusts my heart to disillusion, and even if the Pawn doesn’t promote my stature.

I don’t know why I see checkered squares of dark and light colors whenever I thread my way to work and home, whenever I stare at the ceiling when in bed, whenever I walk on tiled floors, whenever I glance at tiled walls.

I don’t know why I see chess moves whenever I watch war movies, whenever Pacquiao wields his power, might and grace in the ring, whenever I watch political tactics in the country, whenever I plan my work in the office and even the chores at home.

I don’t know why I want to say “Sicilian Dragon” whenever I buy medicine in a drugstore.

I don’t know why I think of “en passant” whenever I jostle my way in a heavily populated place.

I don’t know why I think of capturing chess pieces whenever I consume my food on the table, and say “checkmate” after consuming all what’s on the plate.

I don’t know why I say “checkmate” whenever I am going to be summoned by my wife for going home late at night because of playing chess outside.

Ah, the Queen. I don’t know why I think of its power whenever my wife wields her power over me, a lowly pawn.

I really don’t know why I love chess so much. How I wish for the moment when chess would learn to love me back . . .

1st Edang Rapid Chess Tournament (Additional photos)

(TOP PHOTO): The future in chess of Pasay City, Renn Eldriege A. Villar receives the champion's trophy after winning the kiddies category of the 1st Edang Rapid Chess Tournament.)

(MIDDLE PHOTO): John Paul A. Peña receives the 4th runner-up trophy from Pastor Larry for the juniors category.

1st Edang Rapid Chess Tournament

(TOP PHOTO): Rev. Larry S. Teodoro, or simply "Pastor Larry" to his friends and constituents (in white shirt without a cap), eagerly administers the 1st Edang Chess Rapid Tournament held beside the barangay hall of Brgy. 154 Zone 16 in Pasay City last May 24. Notably, young participants, who attend Pastor Larry's free chess clinics using GM Susan Polgar's chess lessons, outnumbered adult participants. Being the culmination of Pastor Larry's chess clinics for the summer vacation, the event was staged in coordination with members of the Malibay Chess Club.

(MIDDLE PHOTO): Sammy Canapit receives the champion's trophy after topping the adult's category. Sammy scored 6 points out of possible 7 to capture the title.

(BOTTOM PHOTO): Winners in the junioor category show off their trophies (with Pastor Larry). They are Ivan F. Porteza (champion), Bryan C. Nofies (1st runner-up), Bryan L. Cornelio (2nd runner-up), Gerald Belarmino (3rd runner-up), and Manerl Estiller (4th runner-up).

The Bible and Chess

Today I was able to read a passage in the Holy Scripture which says: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”- 1 Corinthians 1:10

Although this particular passage is about “Divisions in the Church,” a moment of serene reflection will lead us to thinking of its application in any organization such as a chess club.

All I want to say is that let us be guided by a true spirit of kindness and understanding in fostering enlightened brotherhood among us.

Peace . . .

The Lawyer and The Pastor

Some members of the Malibay Chess Club (MCC) pose with the two kind souls - the one being a lawyer and the other being a pastor - who selflessly lend a helping hand in pushing the MCC forward.

One is "Attorney" ( the eldest one in blue shirt) and the other one is "Pastor" (in green shirt). Believe it or not, most of the club members do not now the first names, last names, or even nicknames of these two benefactors. But they are always there to support MCC members.

Their assistance is no small time. Imagine, they have sponsored MCC members' participation in several chess tournaments in different parts of Metro Manila. They shoulder for the transportation expenses, meals, and tournament fees - without expecting something in return!!! Where in the world can you find people like them?

To "Attorney" and "Pastor," THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! We hope you don't fade in your desire to help us . . . God Bless!!!

Wizard chess

As they say, life and chess have a lot of similarities. The main point is that chess can be applied in understanding life complexities. With this point of view, I would like to share an article that came out in the Youngblood section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Although written by a very young lady, the article provides interesting ideas to ponder on. Please read . . .


Youngblood
"Wizard chess"
By Miraflor CastorPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 01:54:00 05/17/2008


If you’re familiar with Harry Potter, you would know wizard chess. It is actually the plain old chess game, with a twist: The pieces are destroyed once they’re “eaten” by the opponent.

I cannot help but compare wizard chess with today’s politics. Of course, politics requires a lot of strategy like chess. If you don’t strategize, you’ll definitely lose. Politicians think hard before making any move, that’s how it is supposed to be. They think hard how to project themselves in front of people. Say, the looks—should it be “pangmasa” like Erap (Joseph Estrada) and the Guy (Ramon Magsaysay). And there are lots of decisions that have to be made, all about strategy.

One wrong move and you could be checkmated by the opponent, and that’s what every player is waiting for, the other side’s wrong move.

Now, let’s take President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as an example. To be sure, the opposition has been waiting for her to make a wrong move. Let’s admit it, she’s been making a series of wrong moves these past years: Jose Pidal, “Hello, Garci,” Macapagal “Highway” robbery, and the ZTE national broadband network (NBN) deal, to name a few. Now, it appears that she’s prone to always put herself in trouble; this is what we call bad strategy on her part.

On the other hand, every time it looks like the opposition has the upper hand, the President seems to always counter with a Plan B, which enables her to stay in her position—and this has been so for quite a time.

In every set, the players must sacrifice some pieces—the rook so that they can check the opponent’s king, or the bishop so they can get into a position where they can eat the opposing queen. In politics, you’ll have to sacrifice the privacy you yearn for, the friend who doesn’t believe what you believe, the ordinary life you once have, and if worst comes to worst, your dignity and morality.

In chess, sometimes, you have to sacrifice one, two or all eight pawns so that a higher official can penetrate the opponents’ territory. That is very risky, but players do that just the same. In politics, the pawns may be the people rallying in the streets, the village council captains, campaign supporters, and so on. But there are times that higher officials—like the rook, bishop or the knight in chess—will also have to be sacrificed. Like the President did with Virgilio Garcillano, or Jose de Venecia, or Benjamin Abalos. Who knows what the next move is? We might yet be shocked by how this set ends.

The opposition also has made some sacrifices, and a recent major one is the ZTE-NBN deal whistleblower Jun Lozada. The opposition has put Lozada on the front line, a bait in this game. The other side has an option: to destroy Lozada, the opposition loses a knight but gains the upper hand in the game; or to keep on defending, putting up one defense after another until her other officials get to penetrate the opposition’s defenses for a checkmate.

In wizard chess, the contending players destroy each other’s pieces in a very brutal way. That is what makes it so much like today’s politics. Ninoy Aquino was assassinated, and Jonas Burgos and other many activists are still missing, even as some have been found again—but dead. Many other political murders and disappearances have not really made it to the public consciousness.
In wizard chess, once a piece is destroyed, it is irretrievable. That’s worse than the “touch move” rule in chess. All that the players can do is to go on with the game, think a little more ahead than their opponent and strategize even more.

Now comes the exciting part, the twist. It is not the king that we need to trap or to checkmate, it is the queen. It is hard to trap the king because, although he only moves one square or tile at a time, he is surrounded by all the other pieces in the game. But even harder is to catch the queen because she literally has all the moves of the game. And so it is easy for her to escape the opponent’s traps. So it is difficult to checkmate her. And this makes the game a lot more challenging.

In the game of contemporary politics, many doubt if the opposition can win the set currently in play. The game has been playing for eight long years. The king is not really doing much but he is contributing his share of bad moves. But then again, who knows what is in the administration’s mind? Remember, the administration always has a Plan B.

Many pieces have been sacrificed, many bad moves have been made and the set is drawing to an end. Only few pieces are on the chessboard and both contestants are playing cautiously not to lose.

Sadly, there are no “16 moves” rule in this game, so no player can force a draw. It’s a win-or-lose game. It dictates that the game can end only when a winner emerges and the loser falls. So it must be that after blood has been shed and all strategies have been played, the queen either is off her throne (checkmated) or remains standing (winner).

Either way, a new set of wizard chess begins.

(Miraflor Castor, 18, is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Development Communication, Batch 2007, University of the Philippines, Los Baños.)

Message from the President

(NOTE: To all Malibay Chess Club (MCC) members, what follows is a message from Greg. Please read and spread the message, thanks.)



Pre kung may problem, guys eto contact details ko..

wong.greg.g@gmail.com
greg.wong@yahoo.com

mobile number 090630496621
peso per text...

guys kunin ko sana emails nyo para may communication tayo

thanks...

Introducing the man a.k.a. Bragimov

Malibay Chess Club's Alex Imperial (a.k.a Bragimov) drew the respect and admiration of his fellow MCC members after posting a perfect score (3/3) in a friendly mini-chess team tournament held over the weekend in Tanyag, Taguig.

Manning Board 2, he unleashed his intellectual prowess by downing all his opponents in succession and therefore was awarded a medal for his accomplishments.

Well done, Alex! Keep up the good work!

Start 'em young!

This boy is starting to learn the basics of chess. May he fall in love with this sport, learn more, grow, and have fun in the game of kings.

Volunteerism

It’s really a good thing to note that there are people who are more than generous to provide “something special” for the advancement of a good cause.

We have a member who donated a digital chess clock and who promised to shoulder half of the amount of our expenses in our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) application.

We have a member who committed to chip in P500 for our SEC registration.

The future of the Malibay Chess Club holds promising as long as we have people who are very much willing to help the club, in whatever way, achieve its full potential as an organization of – volunteers.

SEC, here we come!

Angelo Berico, (a.k.a. ELO to his fellow club members) stands in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after securing some SEC forms and inquiring about the necessary initial steps on how to register the Malibay Chess Club (MCC) with the commission.

With the selfless efforts from all MCC members, the quest to formally establish a legal and binding organization is within reach.

A step forward

No matter how small, a simple step forward could lay the strong foundation of something grand.

It is very interesting and fulfilling to find out that there are individuals who converge to exchange ideas and come up with a unified view to advance the spirit of brotherhood and camaraderie.

We are proud indeed to announce that we have started to bring together our dreams and expectations by forming a formal organization – no matter how simple and small – that will lead us to better understanding and sticker bonding. More importantly, we have come to a point where we laid a clear vision and direction that we are to take in the future.

We, the MEMBERS of the MALIBAY CHESS CLUB, are taking a little step forward to start a new chapter of our lives. May we succeed in this endeavor that we should all work for . . . God help us.