RP Men crawl past Puerto Rico

(IN PHOTO: RP's GM Darwin Laylo)

A dominant performance by GM Darwin Laylo (2522) over IM Montalvo Alejandro (2250) anchored the 3-1 victory of the Philippines against Puerto Rico in Round 7 of the 2010 Chess Olympiad.

Don't get deceived, though, by the 3-1 score as a manifestation of the RP Men's Team "dominating" performance over their Puerto Rican rivals.

Except Laylo, the other three players had to crawl their way to post one more win and two draws - and that's against a No.100 seed team who didn't even have a GM and whose strongest player has an Elo rating of 2250.

The victory over Puerto Rico gained two match points for the Philippines and made it possible for our Pinoys to face powerhouse No.8 seed Team Bulgaria in Round 8.

Yes, that's Team Bulgaria which is led by former FIDE World Champion GM Veselin Topalov (2803), the world's No.2 highest rated player. Topalov will be backed up by two strong players, GM Ivan Chaparinov (2661) who's famous for not shaking hands with GM Short Nigel and GM Delchev Aleksander (2623).

Let's pray for our team.

RP vs Puerto Rico match results:

24. Philippines (7/14)	3-1	Puerto Rico (7/10.5)
1. Gomez, John Paul	1-0	Machin, Rivera Mark
2. Laylo, Darwin	1-0	Montalvo, Alejandro
3. Torre, Eugenio	½-½	Vazquez, Reyes Raul
4. Bitoon, Richard	½-½	Ovalle, Burgos Ramon

RP vs Puerto Rico Round 7 games:
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RP vs Bulgaria Round 8 board pairings:

Round 8 on 2010/09/29 at 15:00
Bo.	8	Bulgaria (BUL)	Rtg	-	37	Philippines (PHI)	Rtg	0 : 0
18.1	GM	Topalov Veselin	2803	-	GM	So Wesley	2668
18.2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2661	-	GM	Gomez John Paul	2527
18.3	GM	Delchev Aleksander	2623	-	GM	Laylo Darwin	2522
18.4	IM	Berbatov Kiprian	2461	-	GM	Torre Eugenio	2489

Fiestang Kuliat Chess Tournament (2050 and below Rapid Rating)

TOURNAMENT MECHANICS:

Fifty pesos registration fee, free globe t'shirt for the first 100 registrants
7 rounds Swiss system (30 minutes time control)

Prizes:
Champion: 8,000.00 plus trophy
1st runner up: 5,000.00 plus trophy
2nd runner up: 3,000.00 plus trophy
3rd runner up: 2,500.00
4th runner up: 1,500.00
5th runner up: 1,000.00
6th runner up: 700.00
7th runner up to 9th runner up: 500.00
plus prizes for categories: Top 3 College Boys
Top 3 College Girls
Top 3 High School Boys
Top 3 High School Girls
Top 3 Elementary Boys
Top 3 Elementary Girls

Where: Marquee Mall Angeles City
When: October 23-24, 2010 (10:00 A.M Registration Time)
Contact Person: Jose Camaya - 09274141175

RP Pinays sweep Mexico

(IN PHOTO: RP's WFM Catherine Pereña)

Our ladies continue to be a pure delight to watch, performing strongly way beyond expectations.

In Round 6, they didn't just defeated Team Mexico - they mercilessly demolished their Mexican counterparts to post a resounding 4-0 shutout.

After six team matches, our women's team has already posted three sweeps - against the Netherlands Antilles in Round 1, against Qatar in Round 3, and against Mexico in Round 6.

Against lower-rated teams, they do not make any reservation to mercilessly demolish them. Against powerhouses, they put up their most stubborn stance to produce hard-fought draws (against Israel and Argentina), and even a bravely fought loss (against Romania).

In the history of Philippine women chess, this select of Pinay players is promising to be a "dream team" in the making.

RP vs Mexico match results:

24. Philippines (6/12.5)	4-0	Mexico (6/11)
1. Camacho, Chardine Cheradee	1-0	Guerrero Rodriguez, Alejandra
2. Perena, Catherine	1-0	Mendoza, Velazquez Lorena Aleja
3. Cua, Shercila	1-0	Duran Juarez, Citlali
4. Jose, Rulp Ylem	1-0	De La Parra, Daniela

RP vs Mexico Round 6 games:
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RP Men bow to Belarus

The RP Men's Team didn't just lose against Team Belarus in Round 6 of the 2010 Chess Olympiad - our team lost badly.

Instead of gaining momentum after beating Team Uruguay in the previous round, the Philippine Team stepped hard on the break to barge into a 1-3 bitter loss against lower rated Belarusians.

The draw against Scotland, the hairline win over Paraguay, and the dismal loss against Belarus have exposed a weak spot in the RP Men's Team.

The cure to the weak spot, I think, could be found in the underlying strength of the RP Women's Team - (watch the games of our Pinays for you to find out).

Surprisingly, it is the most "senior" (ooopss, sorry for the word, but I mean most veteran) team member of the RP Team - no other than GM Eugene Torre himself - who has been exhibiting youthful rush in this team tournament.Torre's Round 3 victory and two hardly fought draws in Rounds 4 and 5 speak of a distinctive character of a time-honored Olympian.

RP vs Belarus match results:

16. Philippines (7/13)	1-3	Belarus (7/14)
1. So, Wesley	½-½	Zhigalko, Sergei
2. Gomez, John Paul	½-½	Teterev, Vitaly
3. Laylo, Darwin	0-1	Podolchenko, Evgeniy
4. Bitoon, Richard	0-1	Stupak, Kirill

RP vs Belarus Round 6 games:
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In Round 7, the RP Men's Team will face No.100 seed Team Puerto Rico whose strongest player has en Elo rating of 2250. It's no longer a question of winning, but of expectation.

The interesting question is: When would the RP Men's team perform beyond expectation in the 2010 Chess Olympiad? That remains to be seen.

RP vs Puerto Rico board pairings:

Round 7 on 2010/09/28 at 15:00
Bo.	37	Philippines (PHI)	Rtg	-	100	Puerto Rico (PUR)	Rtg	0 : 0
24.1	GM	Gomez John Paul	2527	-	CM	Machin Rivera Mark	2229
24.2	GM	Laylo Darwin	2522	-	IM	Montalvo Alejandro	2250
24.3	GM	Torre Eugenio	2489	-	CM	Vazquez Reyes Raul	2217
24.4	IM	Bitoon Richard	2447	-	CM	Ovalle Burgos Ramon	2201

NM Bordonada annotates GM Wesley So's game in 2010 Chess Olympiad

Highly respected NM Glenn Bordonada, a veteran Chess Olympian himself, dutifully annotated the Round 5 game of GM Wesley So against GM Rodriguez Vila Andres of Uruguay.

NM Bordonada is well recognized in Barangay Wesley (over chessgames.com) as a "resident Master" who devotedly annotates the games of Filipino chess players for the delight and learning of BW kabarangays.

Rodriguez Vila, Andres vs So, Wesley Khanty Mansysk 2010 Rd. 5
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Bobby Ang annotates GM Torre's game in 2010 Chess Olympiad

BY: BOBBY ANG

(An abridged version of Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 27 September 2010)

Eugene Torre is still Eugene Torre. In the following 3rd-round encounter he salvaged the draw by defeating Stephen Mannion. By no means a pushover.

Torre, Eugenio (2489) -- Burns-Mannion, Stephen R (2372) [C50]
39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk (3), 23.09.2010
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2010 Chess Olympiads top players (after Round 5)

After five rounds of games in the 2010 Chess Olympiad, the list of the Top 10 players in terms of individual player's points will tell you that even the current Top 10 players of the world (FIDE September 2010) are having a rough sailing in this most supreme tournament of world chess.

No Magnus Carlsen in the list, no Veselin Topalov, no Levon Aronian, no Vladimir Kramnik, no Pavel Eljanov, no Alexander Grischuk, no Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, no Boris Gelfand. Only GM Vassily Ivanchuk, current world's No.9, made it to the 2010 Chess Olympiad's Top 10 list (after Round 5).

Rank after Round 5 (In terms of points)

No.		Name	Rtg	Team	Pts.	Games	%	Bo.	Rp
1	GM	Grandelius Nils	2500	Sweden	5,0	5	100,0	5	3199
2	IM	Barrientos Sergio E	2464	Colombia	4,5	5	90,0	3	2609
3	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2683	Ukraine	4,5	5	90,0	4	2851
4	GM	Giri Anish	2677	Netherlands	4,5	5	90,0	4	2842
5	GM	Guseinov Gadir	2611	Azerbaijan	4,5	5	90,0	4	2770
6		Sipila Vilka	2231	Finland	4,5	5	90,0	5	2643
7	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2754	Ukraine	4,0	4	100,0	1	3315
8	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2599	Georgia	4,0	4	100,0	4	3265
9	GM	Miton Kamil	2629	Poland	4,0	4	100,0	4	3176
10	GM	Malisauskas Vidmantas	2510	Lithuania	4,0	4	100,0	4	3000

Even in the Top 10 players in terms of individual player's performance rating, only GM Vassily Ivanchuk and GM Levon Aronian (world's No.4) made it to the list.

The best players sorted according Rp,Pts,games,%,board (Rank after Round 5) - Open

No.			Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	Pts.	Games	%	Bo.
1		GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2754	Ukraine	3315	4,0	4	100,0	1
2		GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2599	Georgia	3265	4,0	4	100,0	4
3		GM	Gelashvili Tamaz	2611	Georgia	3216	3,0	3	100,0	5
4		GM	Grandelius Nils	2500	Sweden	3199	5,0	5	100,0	5
5		GM	Miton Kamil	2629	Poland	3176	4,0	4	100,0	4
6		GM	Malisauskas Vidmantas	2510	Lithuania	3000	4,0	4	100,0	4
7		GM	Aronian Levon	2783	Armenia	2974	3,5	4	87,5	1
8		GM	Mitkov Nikola	2531	Former YUG Rep of Macedonia	2957	3,0	3	100,0	3
9		GM	Navara David	2722	Czech Republic	2946	3,5	4	87,5	1
10		GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2733	United States of America	2910	3,5	4	87,5	1

Notably, our very own IM Richard Bitoon made it to the No.39 spot (out of 1,305 players) for accumalating the most points.