Pinoy chess

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 07 March 2011)

The March 2011 rating list of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) is out. Here is the new top 10 of the Philippines:

1. GM Wesley So 2667
2. GM Rogelio Antonio Jr 2589
3. GM Mark Paragua 2547
4. GM John Paul Gomez 2538
5. GM Roland Salvador 2532
6. GM Darwin Laylo 2516
7. GM Joseph Sanchez 2513
8. IM Oliver Barbosa 2506
9. GM Eugene Torre 2495
10. IM Richard Bitoon 2480

Oliver Barbosa has finally hopped over the 2500 barrier. This is significant, because to become an International Grandmaster you have to achieve some GM norms and also bring your rating up to at least 2500. The latter is no easy task. For example IM Ronald Dableo attained all the required norms two years ago but up to now is not yet a GM because he is still in the 2400+ level.

Oliver was at one time the Philippines’ youngest National Master when he attained the title at the age of 11. He was considered a great potential with his creativity but his career stalled when he started mixing with a bad crowd. Hopefully he is now back at the right path.

Take a look at the following mating attack:

Barbosa, Oliver (2461) -- Demianjuk, Alexander (2305) [A39]
Aeroflot Open 2011 B Moscow (2), 09.02.2011
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Mark Paragua left Philippine shores more than a year ago to pursue studies through a chess scholarship in the University of Maryland Baltimore Country (UMBC). Yes, there is such a thing as a chess scholarship -- another institution of higher learning which has this is University of Texas-Dallas, (UTD). Not surprisingly, these two have monopolized the championship of the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Competition in the USA since the mid-90s.

There was some confusion and miscommunication and Mark was not able to enroll in UMBC. Since he was already in the US, Mark decided to play some chess with varying results. He has lately managed to pick up his form again and gained a massive 26 ELO rating points in the two months of 2011, most of which from the Jimmy Quon Memorial:

Jimmy Quon Memorial
California Market Center, Los Angeles, USA
January 19-23, 2011
Final Standings
1. GM Mark Paragua PHI 2520, 7.5/9
2. GM Melikset Khachiyan USA 2518, 6.0/9
3. IM Mackenzie Molner USA 2458, 5.0/9
4-7. GM Dejan Bojkov BUL 2544, IM Jacek Stopa POL 2451, IM-elect Daniel Naroditsky USA 2419, IM Zhanibek Amanov KAZ 2421, 4.5/9
8. IM Tim Taylor USA 2314, 3.5/9
9. IM-elect Robby Adamson USA 2349, 3.0/9
10. NM Alessandro Steinfl ITA 2209, 2.0/9

The tournament was named after Jimmy Quon who was a strong player from the Southern California Community who taught at La Jolla Country Day School for 14 years. At one time he was teaching 15% of the student body. In the end, he had coached over 1000 players.

Mark was a house on fire -- he won his first six games and then coasted along conceding three draws (to Taylor, Adamson and Khachihyan) at the end to finish 1.5 points ahead of his closest pursuer.

Molner, Mackenzie (2458) -- Paragua, Mark (2521) [B94]
Jimmy Quon Memorial California Market Center (1), 19.01.2011
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White resigns. The finish could be 32...g3 33.Rd2 f4 34.Kd1 Rg8 35.Rg2 f3 etc.

From across the Atlantic comes some more good news. GM Joseph Sanchez defeated his close pursuer the Italian GM Sabino Brunello in the 9th and final round to rule the 25th International Open "Pierre et Vacances," dubbed as Cannes Chess Festival, last February 21 to 27 in Cannes, France. This victory was worth EU 2,200.

Cannes Chess Festival
25th International Open "Pierre et Vacances"
Cannes, France
February 21-27, 2011
Final Top Standings
1. GM Joseph Sanchez PHI 2516, 7.0/9
2-6. GM Michael Roiz 2649, IM Xavier Vila Gazquez 2488, GM Christian Bauer FRA 2633, GM Evgeny Romanov RUS 2606, GM Andrey Sumets RUS 2619, 6.5/9
7-8. GM Alberto David 2580, GM Vlad-Cristian Jianu 2539, 6.0/9
9-19. GM Vadim Malakhatko 2546, GM Hicham Hamdouchi MOR 2592, IM Lucian-Costin Miron 2509, IM Anthony Bellaiche 2458, IM Axel Delorme 2492, FM David Anton Guijarro 2425, GM Sabino Brunello ITA 2540, IM Jules Moussard 2385, GM Evgeny Sveshnikov RUS 2521, IM David Recuero Guerra 2462, FM Christophe Sochacki 2366, 5.5/9
Total of 64 players
Time Control: 90 minutes for first 40 moves, after which another 30 minutes is given play-to-finish with a 30-second increment granted after each move

Joseph was unbeaten with 5 wins + 4 draws for a performance rating of 2741. We will look at his games on Friday.

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