Oooopss -- a history was made!

A regular reader of this blog alerted me. Our reader said:

"Sana inilagay mo rin na nakakuha ang RP team ng Bronze medal courtesy of camacho, fronda and mejia sa Girls 14-under, a first in the World Youth para sa Pilipinas."

OH YES! I missed that one.

I checked the official website (here) and indeed, the triad of Chardine Charadee Camacho, Jan Jodilyn Fronda, and Cherry Ann Mejia in the Girls 14 category won a bronze medal for Team Philippines.

Wow! That's history!!!

That was the first ever medal won by the Philippines in WYCC (individual and team categories).

That first ever team bronze medal put the Philippines in Rank No.14 out of 70 federations.

Congratulations to Camacho, Fronda and Mejia!!! Time to celebrate.

A salute to Chardine Cheradee Camacho

We congratulate and salute 14-year old Chardine Cheradee Camacho for making the best finish among 18 RP Team members to the just concluded World Youth Chess Championship 2008 in Vietnam.

In fact, Camacho narrowly fell short of making a Philippine record -- being the first Filipino ever to win a medal in WYCC.

She finished 5th overall in the Girls 14 Category out of a total of 79 players.

A job well done, indeed!

To showcase her tactical prowess, let's see her performance in one of her games.

[Event "World Youth Chess Championships 2008"]
[Site "Vung Tau city"]
[Date "20.10.2008"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Ambanwela,Lumbini"]
[Black "Camacho,Chardine Cheradee"]
[Result "0-1"]

Position after 28.Bxf3

Black to move. A basic tactical motif will make Camacho a piece up. Find the move.

Position after 34.Kh1

Black to move. Camacho is already a piece up. But find the move that led to the complete annihilation of her opponent.

Congratulations, Chardine.

Watch the full game here (No java needed. Simple graphics.)
Watch the full game here (Java needed. Better graphics.)

Marinduque

It's so heartwarming to know that this blog has a regular reader from Marinduque. I just want you to know that I am a pure Marinduqueño -- very proud to be one.

Right now, I'm working here in Makati and living with my wife and two kids in Malibay, Pasay City. But once I and my family permanently settle in Marinduque, I hope I would be able to revolutionalize chess development in my beloved province.

Just a few more years to wait for -- and hopefully, back to where I came from.

Have any idea where in the world is Marinduque? Please click here

Chess Olympiad 2008

Event: Chess Olympiad 2008

Site: Dresden, Germany

Venue: Congress Center

Date: November 12 to November 25, 2008

No. of Teams: Men (157)

No. of Teams: Women (119)

Total No. of Teams: 276

No. of Players: Men (784)

No. of Players: Women (593)

Total No. of Players: 1,377

Top Seed Teams

RP Team (Seeded No.38)

Individual seedings of RP Men's Team players out of a total of 784 players:

-- GM Wesley So (No. 86)
-- IM John Paul Gomez (No. 202)
-- GM Darwin Laylo (No.219)
-- GM Jayson Gonzales (No.254)
-- GM Bong Villamayor (No.257)

Interestingly, GM Villamayor (the lowest seeded RP Team member) will man Board 1.

RP Women's Team (Seeded No.51):

RP falls short of historic medal in WYCC 2008

The Philippine contingent to the World Youth Chess Championship 2008 in Vietnam narrowly missed a chance to bring home a medal in the conclusion of the event.

Chardine Cheradee Camacho's loss in the final round in the Girls 14 category shut the country's last hope of winning the historic first medal in WYCC.

Still, Camacho emerged as the best Filipino performer out of 18 Filipino participants in WYCC 2008.

Overall, 17 out of 18 members of the Philippine team surpassed their initial tournament seedings -- already an indication of a job well done!

We salute all our young participants who did a lot of sacrifices – particularly missing their families for almost two weeks – for the sake of our country.

Congratulations! We are proud of you!

Here is the FINAL overall performance of RP members (I ranked them according to their final rankings in their respective age categories) :

Camacho poised to make history

Chardine Cheradee Camacho (Girl 14) is poised to snatch the first ever medal for the Philippines in the World Youth Chess Championship after piling up 7.5 points after 10 rounds in WYCC 2008.

Camacho is now in the third spot going into the last round. If she wins in Round 11, the final round, she will make history as the first ever Filipino to win a medal in this highly regarded tournament.

But Camacho needs to climb hills and mountains to reach for glory as she is paired against the No.2-seeded player WFM Meri Arabidze (2182) of Georgia in the final round.

Let's all pray for our girl, for our hope, for our pride as a nation.

Jedara Docena (Girl 16) is also within striking distance as she is ranked 5th going into the last round. Let's pray for her, too.

Anand defends title

Reigning world champion GM Viswanathan Anand ably defended his title against challenger GM Vladimir Kramnik with a score of 6.5 against 4.5 after 11 rounds of play.

Some trivial facts:

-- 4 decided games (2 wins for each color)

-- 7 draws

-- TEN 1.d4 openings and ONE 1.e4 opening

-- a total of 390 moves in 11 games

-- average of 35 moves per game

-- shortest game finished in 24 moves

-- longest game finished in 47 moves

Openings used:

Round 1. D14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation (D14)

Round 2 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch (E25)

Round 3 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran (D49)

Round 4 Queen's Gambit Declined (D37)

Round 5 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran (D49)

Round 6 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Noa Variation (E34)

Round 7 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch (D19)

Round 8 Queen's Gambit Declined (D37)

Round 9 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav (D34)

Round 10 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights (E21)

Round 11 Sicilian, Najdorf (B96)

Another trivial fact: Anand is from Asia.

To view all games, click here

Can you beat an 8-year old kid?

No doubt, young chess players nowadays are a much improved bunch of players, thanks to technology and involvement of supportive parents.

In chess tournaments with age categories, we come so used to seeing terms like “Open 8,” “10 Under,” “Girl 14” even without realizing the abilities of players under those categories. This is especially true in the old days when there was no Internet yet to replay chess games online.

But the global chess landscape has improved much since time immemorial. Nowadays, with the power of information and communications technology, we can witness how our young mind warriors execute their plays.

Can you beat an 8-year old tournament player? Can you beat, for instance, Kyle Ochoa, one of the country’s bet in World Youth Chess Championship 2008 in the Open 8 category?

Let’s watch him play and decide for ourselves. See this one and be amazed!

[Event "World Youth Chess Championships 2008"]

[Site "Vung Tau city"]

[Date "23.10.2008"]

[Round "5"]

[White "Ho,Men-Wei"]

[Black "Ochoa,Kyle"]

[Result "0-1"]

Position after 21.Bd3

Black to move. See how Ochoa, an 8-year old player, unleashed his prowess in this game.

See the game here (no java needed)

Or here (java needed, more beautiful graphics)

Young heroes

More prayers are needed for all our young mind warriors who are now fighting in Vietnam for the country’s honor.

At their tender age – especially those aged 8 to 10 – they sacrifice the warm embrace of their beloved parents in the chill of long, long nights.

Surely, they are our heroes. Win or lose. Medal or no medal.

To hell with those whoever proposed and implemented the idea of not allowing the parents of these young kids to be with them during the time of one of the most important times of their battles.

Medal hopes now slim

The country’s three young hopefuls to land a medal in the WYCC 2008 have been trimmed to only one (just my own opinion) after eight rounds of play.

Kyle Ochoa (Open 8) and Chardine Cheradee Camacho (Girl 14), among the country’s hopefuls after seven rounds, seemed to blow apart their chances after losing and securing a draw, respectively, in the 8th round.

Ochoa was ranked 4th and Camacho, 7th, in their respective age categories entering the 8th round. The loss and the draw, respectively, seemed costly as their chances of snatching a medal are now falling out of reach.

Entering the 9th round, Ochoa fell to 10th place overall (but tied at 4th with 5.5 points) while Camacho dropped to 9th place overall (but tied at 4th with 5.5 points). They still have a chance, I guess, but very slim.

So now, the country’s brightest chance of winning a medal rests on the shoulder of Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Open 14) who inched up to 5th place after piling up 6.0 points after eight rounds. He is tied at 3rd place with three others.

Medal hopes still alive

With only four rounds remaining in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship 2008, hopes for snatching the historic first medal for the Philippines are still alive.

At least three young Filipino mind warriors are in a good position to win a medal in this world competition. Kyle Ochoa (Open 8), Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Open 14) and Chardine Cheradee Camacho (Girl 14) are within a striking distance to bring home the first ever medal from this highly competitive event.

Ochoa (5.5 points after seven rounds) is ranked 4th out of 83 competitors in the Open 8 category (very promising indeed!).

Garcia is tied at second place with other 5 players who piled up 5.5 points, but ranked 6th overall (out of 86 players) due to tie breaks.

Camacho, who has 5.0 points, is ranked seventh (still possible to win a medal, I think).

Filipinos are top bloggers

Filipinos are the top 20th bloggers (by country) who are commenting online on the World Chess Championship 2008 between Anand and Kramnik – at least during the live commentary of GM Susan Polgar in her famous blog (susanpolgar.blogspot.com).

You see, the Filipinos cannot be left behind when it comes to information technology (and of course, in chess abilities).

The interesting thing is that we Filipinos do not just passively watch the event. We actively participate in this globally celebrated chess match by voicing out our own thinking, feelings, opinion, and stand on this particular chess spectacle.

The top bloggers (according to GM Polgar):

1. India
2. United States
3. Germany
4. United Kingdom
5. Russia
6. Netherlands
7. France
8. Brazil
9. Czech Republic
10. Denmark
11. Finland
12. Belgium
13. Australia
14. Switzerland
15. Norway
16. Austria
17. Portugal
18. New Zealand
19. Croatia
20. Philippines

Asia

If the World Chess Championship 2008 match between Kramnik (Russia) and Anand (India) were all indications, then we could say that the rest of the whole world will now look at Asia as a real super regional chess power.

Changing of the guard, maybe? (That is, Asia is now the leading regional super power in the world of chess?) I know, this could raise a lot of eyebrows.

After eight rounds, the score now stands at 5.5 to 2.5 in favor of the defending champion Anand, a proud Indian and Asian.

India and China now parade of their very young chess talents. There are now a lot of Asians who are rated 2700+ and more of 2600+.

And of course, the list of Asian super heroes would not be complete nowadays without the name of our very own GM Wesley So, a genuine Asian and Filipino.

Hmmmnnnn . . . time to conquer the world!


How I dream that the next successor to Anand is another Asian. And how I dream more that that future world champion would come from the Pearl of the Orient.


Am proud to be Asian. Proud to be Pinoy! (And shame to our corrupt national leaders!!!)

Katorse

Chardine Cheradee Camacho (Girl 14) made a 4-0 stretch to post 5.0 points out of six rounds to lead the Philippine contingent in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship in Vung Tau City, Vietnam.

Along with Camacho with 5.0 points is Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Open 14) who posted three straight victories to join Camacho in leading the Philippine team to snatch the first ever medal in this tournament.

Top Filipino youth performers afte six rounds:

5.0 points
-- Camacho (Girl 14)
-- Garcia (Open 14)

4.5 points
-- Kyle Ochoa (Open 8)

4.0 points
-- Vince Angelo Medina (Open 12) [the only unbeaten Filipino mind warrior so far]
-- Christy Lamiel Bernales (Girl 16)

Good luck to all members of the RP team.

Bernales, Medina

With the loss of Patrick de Leon Haince in Round 4, only two young Filipino mind warriors remained unbeaten after four rounds of play in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship 2008.

Christy Lamiel Bernales (Girl 16) and Vince Angelo Medina (Open 12) now lead the Philippine campaign with 3.5 points (3 wins, 1 draw) and 3.0 points (2 wins, 2 draws) respectively.

Along with Medina with 3.0 points (although with a loss) are:
-- Jan Emmanuel Garcia
-- Chardine Cheradee Camacho
-- Patrick de Leon Haince



It’s really nice to know that Bernales’ rating is on the rise since October 2007. To date, Bernales parades a 1998 FIDE rating – or a 100-point gain since last year.

And wow, it’s a young Filipina girl who’s leading the Philippine campaign!

WYCC 2008 updates

Here is the performance of our bets to WYCC 2008 after three rounds of play:

Best performers:

- Haince Patrick de Leon (Open 8) 3.0 points (3 wins, 0 loss)
- Christy Lamiel Bernales (Girls 16) 2.5 points (2 wins, 1 draw)

RP contingent's performance in Round 3:

- 8 wins
- 6 losses
- 4 draws

Haince Patrick de Leon

Haince Patrick de Leon (Open 8) is so far the best performing Filipino youth campaigner in WYCC 2008 after posting 3.0 points after three rounds of play.

(Jan Emmanuel Garcia, RP's bet for the Open 14 category, was still playing as of this writing. Garcia has 2.0 points after two rounds.)

Kyle Ochoa (Open 8), who entered round 3 with 2.0 points, lost his 3rd round game.

Notably, Haince Patrick de Leon is leading the 83-kid field in the Open 8 category. May he continue his winning form.

WYCC 2008 tactics

Yes! The pictures and graphics are back again!

Let me share with you a wonderful tactical move made in the first round of the WYCC 2008.

The game was between Paulo Bersamina of the Philippines and Haria Ravi (1794) of England (Open 10 category).

Position after 32.e6

Black to move. Guess how Paulo (Black) punished his English opponent. For the answer, watch the game here.

Correction

The good man behind the Philippine Chess Chronicle (the no.1 chess blog in the Philippines) alerted me that the first round loss of Jan Jodilyn Fronda - the best female Pinay performer in the 1st World Mind Sports Games in China - in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship 2008 was due to non-appearance. According to KIKO, Jodilyn had no connecting flight from China.

The good thing is that Jodilyn was able to come and play in the second round and readily made her presence felt by posting a resounding win.

WYCC Round 2

After the second round of the World Youth Chess Championship 2008, only three young Filipino woodpushers remained unscathed.

Kyle Ochoa (Open 8), Patrick de Leon Haince (Open 8) and Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Open 14) continued their winning ways in the second round to post 2.0 points each after two rounds of play.

Round 2 performance of RP team:

- 6 wins
- 6 losses
- 6 draws

Hhhhhmmmnnnn, I don’t like the numbers. It’s something eerie.

Black Day

Before the start of the World Chess Championship 2008, I wrote in this blog that the choice of color in chess at this level of competition must be so important that the leading global chess sites made a lot of frenzy about it.

And as I implied, White seems to have the advantage over Black as chess databases show.

But, hold it for now, the two victories so far after round five were all won with Black.

Very interesting indeed. Chess is really enigmatic, deep, msyterious -- and mesmerizing.

Watch the Round 5 game here.

WYCC 2008 Round 1

The Philippine contingent to the World Youth Chess Championship 2008 that is being held in Vietnam performed fairly well overall in the first round of uncompromising chess competition.

Here are the some of the highlights of the first round results:

- 10 wins (6 with Black, 4 with White)

- 5 losses (4 with Black, 1 with White)

- 3 draws

- Of the 5 losses, 4 came from the Girls' side (Oh boy, we really need a strong and effective program for our beloved female mind warriors.)

Congratulations to the 1st round winners:

- Paulo Bersamina (Open 10)

- Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Open 14)

- Haridas Pascua (Open 16)

- Alcon John Datu (Open 16)

- Carl Victor Ochoa (Open 18)

- Chardine Cheradee Camacho (Girls 14)

- Christy Lamiel Bernales (Girls 16)

- Jedara Docena (Girls 16)

- Kyle Ochoa (Open 8)

- Patrick De Leon Haince (Open 8)

A shocker: Jan Jodilyn Fronda (1996), the country's best female performer in the recently concluded 1st World Mind Sports Games in China, lost to an opponent rated 1487 from Taipei.

Well, God bless our players . . .

Bersamina, Pascua, Samantila

Two members of the Philippine contingent to World Youth Chess Championship 2008 held a simul exhibition with clocks over the weekend in St. Athony School in Singalong, Manila – a day before their scheduled departure to Vung Tau City, Vietnam.

NM Haridas “Hari Potter” Pascua (University of Baguio) and Paulo Bersamina (La Salle Green Hills) -- the two players bound for Vietnam -- together with Daryl Unix Samantila (Adamson), wowed and inspired the students and crowd in St. Athony by treating all of them to a highly competitive level of chess.

According to Mr. Norlito Bersamina (father of Paulo), “the simul is a prelude to the tournament of SAS' students organized by SAS Alumni headed by chess patron Dr. Bong Perez.”

Notably, the 10-year old Bersamina, the Philippine bet in the Open 10 category, posted a perfect score of 13-0 in the simul.

Let’s just hope that these three Filipino woodpushers had enough rest for their tough assignments in Vietnam for the WYCC 2008 which is scheduled to run from October 20 to 30.

(From left: Daryl Unix Samantila, Paulo Bersamina, NM Haridas Pascua)

Paulo Bersamina

NM Haridas Pascua

Daryl Unix Samantila

World Youth Chess Championship 2008

Eighteen (18) young Filipino woodpushers (based on the interim list) are set to battle it out in the World Youth Chess Championship 2008 which runs from October 20 to 30 in Vung Tau City in Vietnam.

Based on my learning, they are scheduled to fly to Vietnam this coming Sunday (October 19). But as of this writing (Friday, October 17), flight tickets are yet to be given to the Filipino participants.

Ten FIDE-unrated players from the RP Team will face players from different parts of the globe such as powerhouses Russia and China. A total of 70 federations and 842 players players have registered to particpate in the event.

Hopelly, our young and talented FIDE-unrated players will finally get their ratings after this tournament.

Well, good luck to all the Filipino participants. Bring honor and hope to this politically hopeless nation.

RP Women's Team

Unlike the RP Men's Team, the RP Women's Team is not having an ideal showing in the Team Blitz category of the 1st WMSG 2008.

After seven rounds, the RP Women's Team is ranked 24th out of 28 participating country teams.

So far, Jan Jodilyn Fronda (1996) is the best performer among the Filipina mind warriors with 4.0 points (4 wins, 3 losses) for a rating performance of 2230.

Indeed, we need to scout for, and develop, strong and globally competitive female chess players in this country.

Well, good luck to our women's team.

Boring

Generally, the global chess media described the first round of the World Chess Championship 2008 between GM Kramnik and Anand as cold, dead draw.

Chessbase.com termed it as "a fairly effortless first game," "wasn't a riveting start," and "a cold hearted opening."

GM Susan Polgar's blog called it "dull draw."

Observers simply say that the draw was just a tactical move, or simply testing the waters.

Interestingly, world chess events of this scale have become highly commercialized in nature. There are advertisers and sponsors as well as highly demanding global chess fans to please.

If you were Kramnik or Anand, would you play to "please" the fans and sponsors or simply ignore them to ultimately win the crown at all cost? So what if you bore the fans and sponsors to death as long as you win the championship???

Hhhmmnnnn . . .

IM Catalino Sadorra

IM Catalino Sadorra (2431) is so far the best performing mind warrior after five rounds in the 160-man field of the Mean’s Team Rapid Preliminaries in the 1st WMSG.

So far, Sadorra scored five victories in as many games for a 100-percent winning performance.

Manning Board 3, he has the strongest showing with a 3039 rating performance!

He will face GM Wang Hao (2696) of China in Round 6.

Watch his games:

Round 1. Click here

Round 2. Click here

Round 3. Click here

Round 4. Click here

Round 5. Click here

RP Men's Team rampaging

The country’s quest for medal continues in the 1st World Mind Sports Games that is about to end in October 18 in Beijing, China.

Seeded No.15, the Philippine team in the Rapid Men Team Preliminary is now ranked No.4 after four rounds, only after China (seeded No.1), Turkey (seeded No.10) and India (seeded No.2).

RP Men’s Team performance:

Round 1. Defeated Korea (4-0)
Round 2. Defeated Latvia (4-0)
Round 3. Lost to India (1.5-2.5)
Round 4. Defeated Denmark (3.5-1.5)

The Philippine Team will face Estonia (seeded No.16) in Round 5.

A total of 32 country-teams are participating.

White or Black

The use of which color in chess battles, especially world championship, must be sooooooo important that it draws the focus of attention of the leading chess sites and blogs in the world to announce who's got White or Black in the draw for the 1st round of the World Chess Championship 2008 in Germany between GM Vladimir Kramnik and GM Viswanathan Anand.

For the first round, Kramnik of Russia will use the White color against Anand of India.

Well, chess databases generally show that White has better chances of winning over Black. As they say, if you're using the Black pieces against a higher rated opponent in a tournament, better claim for or accept a draw. Then, attack with White in the next round.

Let's take the country's pride GM Wesley So as an example. I always tell my chess sparmate at the Malibay Chess Club that Wesley CAN defeat any super GMs in the world, including the world's top ten like Kramnik and Anand, when using the White pieces.

You might call me a Wesley fanatic for saying that, but I really believe that Wesley is super brutal, sharp, merciless and ferocious with White. It's another story when Wesley is using Black (of course, he's still good with Black but not as good as, I guess, with White).

1st World Mind Sports Games

The Philippine chess team has yet to win a medal in the 1st World Mind Sports Games which is about to end on October 18.

After the Individual Blitz (men and women), Individual Rapid (men and women), Pair Blitz Mixed (men and women), Pair Rapid Mixed (men and women), Team Blitz (men and women, prelimenaries finished), the RP chess team ended empty handed.

The RP team is left with only one event, the Team Rapid event, to win a medal. Well, good luck to them.

Men's

GM MARK PARAGUA
IM ROLANDO NOLTE
IM JULIO CATALINO SADORRA
IM CHITO GARMA
NM LEONARDO CARLOS

Women's
WNM SHERILY CUA
WIM CRISTINE ROSE MARIANO
WNM KIMBERLY JANE CUNANAN
JAN JODILYN FRONDA
RIDA JANE YOUNG

Cebu rules national intercities

(Standing after 8 rounds)

"THERE’S STILL ONE round to play, but Cebu City can afford to celebrate.

No matter the outcome of its final match against Taguig City late last night, Cebu City will still emerge champion of the National Intercities and Municipalities chess team championship at the New Government Center here.

Powered by International Master Richard Bitoon, Cebu City routed Quezon City, 3-1, in the seventh round and drew with Binalonan (Pangasinan), 2-2, in the eighth round to boost its total to 14 points and move beyond reach of closest pursuer Tagaytay City, which has 11 points.

Bitoon, the 33-year-old native of Medellin, Cebu, bested Rolando Andador to set the tone for Cebu City’s romp over Quezon City in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Prospero “Butch” Pichay.

Cebu, assured of the P100,000 top purse, also leaned on Richard Natividad, who bested Horizon Villanueva, and Jayson Salubre, who beat Ernie Abanco, to rip Quezon City.

Tagaytay City, the National InterProvince titlist, drew with Talisay, 2-2, in the seventh round and won over Muntinlupa City, 2.5-1.5, in the eighth round.

Grandmaster Darwin Laylo lifted Tagaytay past Muntinlupa when he edged Oliver Barbosa at the top board.

Taguig City trounced Bohol, 3-1, and then nipped Maritima CC, 2.5-1.5, to share third to seventh places with Quezon City, Bacolod City-A, Talisay City and Binalonan at 10 points." (SOURCE: Philippine Daily Inquirer)

2008 National Inter-Cities and Municipalities Chess Team Championship

The 2008 National Inter-Cities and Municipalities Chess Team Championship has been taking place in Bacolod City since October 6 and will end in October 12.

A total of 22 cities and municipalities are taking part in this tournament which allows only one titled player per team.

I checked the NCFP website for updates but unfortunately, the site is down. Hopefully, NCFP is restructuring its site to make it more relevant to the chess community.

In the absence of an official website for this event, the local chess community can't help depending on the main stream media for fresh updates.

Standings after three rounds (as of Wednesday):

6 points – Cebu City
5 points – Tagaytay, Quezon City, Talisay, Mandaluyong
4 points – South Cotabato, MIsamis Oriental, Bacolod-A, Muntinlupa
3 points – Bacolod-B, Bayawan, Binalonan
2 points – Calamba-A, Taguig, Magalona, Capiz, Bais, Maritima, Bohol

It's really annoying when there's no official website for a national chess tournament like this one.

Cua beats Paehtz

Sherily Cua (2143) sparked some fireworks -- in her tandem with GM Mark Paragua (2526) -- in the Chess Pair Blitz Mixed category of the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China.

Highlighting Cua's participation in the event was her victory over the famous IM Elisabeth Paehtz (2471) of Germany in the 9th round.

Cua earlier demolished a higher-rated opponent in the name of English IM Jovanka Houska (2399) in the 2nd round where she and Paragua blanked England (2-0).

Cua and Paragua, however, failed to advance to the semi-final round.

Blitz chess

I was really stunned after learning that there are individuals (Filipinos, in fact) who belittle GM Mark Paragua’s feat in the Individual Blitz category in the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China.

For those who still don’t know Paragua’s accomplishment, he ‘simply’ placed fourth in the said chess event category – a feat punctuated by defeating the tournament’s top-seed GM Wang Yue (2736) of China and IM Martyn Kravtsiv (2549) of Ukraine, the eventual champion.

The main reason for demeaning Paragua’s exploit is anchored on the chess category that was participated in by this Filipino mind warrior – the blitz category.

Well, those who shrugged off Paragua’s 4th place finish said that his achievement does not mean so much since it was just a BLITZ chess. As plain and dead as that – just BLITZ chess.

The non-believers of blitz said that this category is not real chess, that it is not rated by FIDE, that it is an inferior kind of chess compared with standard or classical chess.

I respect their opinion, but I have my own opinion, too. And I completely differ from them.

Is there a better form of art? Is there a better form of science? What I believe in is that there are different forms of art as well as there are different forms of science. Differences do not necessarily translate to which is superior or inferior. They are simply different.

Just take boxing as an example. There are different forms of it. We have kickboxing, chess-boxing, K-1, for amateurs, for professionals, for women, for men, even for the third sex – meaning, there are different forms of it. Is there a superior category among all of them? It depends on who says what, right?

Same thing goes with chess, as with other areas, aspects and disciplines of human lives.

Simply because blitz is not rated by FIDE would mean that it is not real chess. In fact, the 1st World Mind Sports Games is in the calendar of events of FIDE. The FIDE website carries the news about the developments of chess events in this event. Even the leading chess websites such as Susan Polgar’s blog and Chessbase publicize this event.

The event category is participated in by a number of super GMs from different parts of the globe – an event that is still of no significance to non-believers of blitz. Don’t we have a world championship for blitz chess, too?

Blitz chess is a category of chess. Let me say it highlights speed more than depth. But still, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have depth. Even if blitz is more of the element of speed, it also requires correctness of thinking. In short, blitz is not ALL speed, but rather both an element of speed and logic.

Standard chess is also an element of speed and of depth, but let me say it highlights more of depth than speed. One thing for sure, standard chess is not pure depth. There is a time element, too. The correct statement to say is that there is more time for standard chess than in blitz to think of the right moves.

There are good blitz players as well as there are good standard chess players. There are those good in blitz but not as good in the standard, and vice-versa.

But of course, there are those good in blitz while at the same time good in the standard, too. A real good player in chess CAN excel in whatever category, be it in blitz, rapid, or standard.

If you’re good in the standard, don’t demean somebody whom you can’t beat in blitz. If you’re good in blitz, don’t demean somebody whom you can’t beat in the standards.

To completely demean blitz as a category – and worst, to label it as not real chess – is totally detrimental to the totality of chess as a mind sport.

And, oh boy, to demean your compatriot’s achievement in an international competition that is participated in by a number of super GMs and GMs from different countries and well publicized worldwide is plain and dead unpatriotic.

Paragua 4th

GM Mark Paragua (2526) placed 4th in the Individual Blitz Men category in the 1st World Mind Sports Games that is taking place in China from October 3 to 18.

Actually, Paragua led the pack with 8.5 points going into the semifinal rounds, but completely froze in the semis and finals to content himself at 4th top spot. Paragua lost to GM Yuri Drozdovskij (2587) of Ukraine in the semis and to GM Christos Banikas (2572) of Greece in the finals.

Seeded 28th out of 32-player field, Paragua beat the likes of top-seed GM Wang Yue (2736) and GM Zhou Jianchao (2612) of China and GM Varuzhan Akobian (2606) of USA.

What makes the feat of Paragua sweeter was his victory in the seventh round over IM Martyn Kravtsiv (2549) of Ukraine, the tournament's eventual champion.

Here is Paragua's performance round by round:

Round 1 vs GM Korobov Anton (2605) - Win

Round 2 vs GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (2599) - Win

Round 3 vs GM Akobian Varuzhan (2606) - Win

Round 4 vs GM Wang Yue (2736) - Win

Round 5 vs GM Drozdovskij Yuri (2587) - Win

Round 6 vs GM Banikas Hristos (2572) - Loss

Round 7 vs IM Kravtsiv Martyn (2549) - Win

Round 8 vs GM Gurevich Mikhail (2634) - Loss

Round 9 vs GM Le Quang Liem (2583) - Win

Round 10 vs GM Zhou Jianchao (2612) - Win

Round 11 vs GM Balogh Csaba (2616) - Draw

Semi-final vs GM Drozdovskij Yuri (2587) - Loss

Final vs GM Banikas Christos (2572) - Loss

Co-Filipino campaigner Rolando Nolte landed in 28th place.

Reigning women's world champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk took the crown in the Individual Blitz Women category.

Haridas Pascua

Haridas Pascua stood to be the biggest Filipino gainer in rating points in the October 2008 Rating List released by FIDE. From a rating of 2171 in January 2008, Pascua's rating this October 2008 skyrocketed to 2307 for a 136-point gain.

Pascua's big gain in rating points came on a solid ground. In fact, he scored one of the major upsets in the recently concluded 4th Pichay Cup by beating a higher rated opponent in the name of co-Filipino campaigner David Elorta (2405) who is known as the Blitz King in Guadalupe, Makati City.

See his tactical armament in Elorta-Pascua encounter in Board 13, first round, of the 4th Pichay Cup. Position after 28.Bf4

With a strong pin in mind, Pascua unleashed 28. . .Qxd4!

White replied 29.Rxd4

And Black simply executed the effective pin 30.Bxd4

See the complete game here.