GM Roland Salvador

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 12 September 2010)

Festival Internazionale del Fermano A,
Porto San Giorgio, Italy
August 21-29, 2010

Final Top Standings
1-6. IM Roland Salvador PHI 2498, GM Vladimir Epishin RUS 2598, GM Peter Prohaszka HUN 2526, GM Viesturs Meijers LAT 2474, GM Alberto David LUX 2622, GM Manuel Leon Hoyos MEX 2556, 7.0/9

7-9. GM Igor Naumkin RUS 2466, IM Roberto Mogranzini ITA 2387, Valerio Raineri ITA 2114, 6.5/9

10-17. IM paolo Vezzosi ITA 2362, IM Martha Fierro Baquero ECU 2372, IM Gyula Pap HUN 2508, GM Emilio Cordova PER 2560, GM Erald Dervishi ALB 2557, Giulio Calavalle ITA 2201, Fausto Calandri ITA 2107, IM Virgilio Vuelban PHI 2358, 6.0/9
Total of 103 participants

Time Control: 90 minutes for first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with 30-second increment starting move 1

IM Roland Salvador (IN PHOTO) won the 1st International Chess Festival del Fermano on tie breaks and in the process earned his third and final GM norm. This, coupled with the fact that his FIDE rating has broken the 2500 mark (it is 2511 in the September rating list), makes him the 12th International Grandmaster from the Philippines after the following:

1. Eugenio Torre, 2. Rosendo Balinas (deceased), 3. Rogelio Antonio Jr., 4. Buenaventura Villamayor, 5. Nelson Mariano II, 6. Mark Paragua, 7. Wesley So, 8. Darwin Laylo, 9. Jayson Gonzales, 10. John Paul Gomez, 11. Joseph Sanchez

By the way, IMs Rogelio Barcenilla and Ronald Dableo are both also on their way to the GM title. There are just some questions on Barcenilla’s earlier norms which have to be clarieid. In the case of Dableo he has fulfilled the three GM norm requirement and only needs to get his rating over 2500 to be given the title.

Roland Salvador is a native of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and the second GM to come from the University of Santo Tomas (the first is Bong Villamayor).

How does he play chess? Early in his career Roland was known for offbeat openings and constant striving for the initiative. The years he spent in Italy have considerably improved the theoretical basis for his games, but his style is still the same -- risky, aggressive and exciting. Please go over the following two games to see what I mean.

Salvador, Roland (2498) -- David, Alberto (2622) [A13]
Fermo Chess Festival Porto San Giorgio (4), 24.08.2010
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Salvador, Roland (2498) -- Vezzosi, Paolo (2362) [A60]
Fermo Chess Festival Porto San Giorgio (6), 26.08.2010
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Vezzosi’s time ran out on him, but anyway he was completely lost.

While I was writing this column I was reflecting on what a nice gentleman Roland Salvador is. He supported himself through school with his chessplaying skills and never forgot his humble beginnings, always acknowledging the help of friends and relatives. I could not help wishing that we had more grandmasters like him.