Can you beat a six-year old?

Remember Stephen Rome Pangilinan?

Well, he's the six-year old kid who made the country proud by ruling the Susan Polgar Boys Under-8 tournament in Las Vegas International Chess Festival.

With his big triumph in the US, the local media paid attention and made him instant celebrity. I saw his interview over Mel and Joey about his conquest of the US.

By the way, I had a chat with Stephen's parents last Saturday at the venue of the 2nd National Age Group Championships. We talked about their prized son's trip to the US andI learned some valuable information.

I saw Stephen play in Round 5 against equally talented 10th ASEAN RP representative Julius Gonzales for Boys U8 category. Stephen and Julius shared the top spot with perfect 4.0 points going into Round 5. A costly blunder by Julius in the endgame led to a full point lead by Stephen.

I, together with Stephen's father, Bong, was watching from the sideline. Haha, I would tell an interesting story about this in another posting.

By the way, Bong shared with all of us the PGN of Stephen's win over Julius in Round 5. Let's watch how these six-year old kids play.

Stephen vs Julius

(NOTE: Sorry, I wasn't able to put this PGN in a game replayer. Am just in a cafe and I got to go now.)

1. e4 c5
2. d4 cd4
3. c3 Nc6
4. Nf3 e6
5. cd4 d5
6. e5 Nge7
7. Bd3 Nb4
8. 0-0 Nd3
9. Qd3 Nc6
10. Be3 Be7
11. a3 0-0
12. Nbd2 Bd7
13. Rfc1 Rc8
14. b4 Qb6
15. Nb3 Nb8
16. Nc5 Bb5
17. Qb1 h6
18. a4 Be8
19. Nd2 Na6
20. b5 Nc5
21. dc5 Qa5
22. Nb3 Qb4
23. Bd2 Qh4
24. Qd3 f6
25. ef6 Bf6
26. Ra2 Qh5
27. Qg3 Bh4
28, Qd6 Bf2
29. Kh1 Bf7
30. Bh6 Qh6
31. Rf2 Qe3
32. Rf3 Qg5
33. Rg3 Qf6
34. c6 Rfd8
35. Qc5 Be8
36. Qa7 bc6
37. bc6 Rc6
38. Re1 Qf7
39. Qd4 Rc4
40. Qd3 Ra4
41. Rf1 Qe7
42. Nd4 Ra3
43. Qa3 Resigns

1-0