LOVE FOR CHESS

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CHESS NEWS TODAY

Rey C. Urbiztondo

NCFP Region X Coordinator

AGUSAN DEL SUR WINS 2006 NATIONAL INTER-PROVINCE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Headed by SuperGrandmaster Mark Paragua, the team of Agusan del Sur capture the overall title in the National Inter-Province Chess Championship, October 26-31, 2006, at the Atrium Center, Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City.  The event is hosted by  Governor Oscar Moreno of Misamis Oriental. The 52 teams participating in the annual tourney is the biggest in the inter-province championship. The best of Philippine Chess participated in the said tourney, most prominent were Grandmaster Eugene Torre of Misamis Occidental and Grandmaster Rogelio Antonio of Tagaytay, Cavite. Rounding up the top 15 are:

1. Agusan del Sur                     =  16 points

2. Tagaytay City                       =  14 points

3.  Carrascal,Surigao Sur          =  13 pts.

4. Rizal                         =  13  pts.

5. Surigao del Sur                     =  12 pts.

6. Davao Chadric Builders        =  12 pts.

7. PNP Region X                     =  12 pts.

8. Tagoloan,Mis. Oriental       =  12 pts.

9. Gov. Maliksi-Cavite A          =  12 pts.

10. Misamis Oriental C =  12 pts.

11. Bataan  “A”                        =  11 pts.

12. Misamis Occidental            =  11 pts.

13. Misamis Oriental “A”          =  11 pts.

14. Tandag Chess Circle           =  11 pts.

15. El Salvador, Mis. Or.          =  10 pts.

There is a chess renaissance in the country today particularly in Mindanao. The best of Chess is happening ever since  Congressman Prospero A. Pichay Jr. of  the 1^st District of  Surigao del Sur,  became president of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).   When before, chess players were   dreaming  of  tournaments, now, big time chess tournaments are being held monthly. Started by Mayor Reynaldo O. Parojinog  in the Ozamiz City National Open (250^th Cotta Shrine Anniversary) last July 1-3, 2006, tournaments are being held once or twice a month. In August, the Prospero Pichay Memorial was held at Cantilan, Surigao del Sur in time for the fiesta celebration in Cantilan, August 12 to 15, 2006. Then  the  Surigao  City  Fiesta  Open followed last September 6 to 8, 2006. Then it was the  turn of Iligan City on their fiesta celebration September 25-27, 2006. By September 30 to October 2, 2006, the CARAGA Open was hosted by Butuan City.  Winners came from different regions of the country: In Ozamiz City, it was International Master Oliver Dimakiling of Davao City.  In the Pichay Memorial, NM Ernesto  Fernandez of  Pagadian City  upset most members of the Philippine Training Team by capturing the title and the solo P 100,000.00 first prize. At Surigao City, NM Levi Mercado of Cagayan de Oro was the winner. And in  Iligan, NM Ernesto Fernandez  again proved that his fate in Cantilan was no fluke.  In Butuan City, it was the turn of International Master Ronald Dableo of Manila. This fellow will represent the country come Asian Games in December at Doha, Qatar.

While  there are tournaments in the country,  a selected few were also given exposures in Europe. Purposedly, to campaign for Grandmaster status. At the Calvia Open in Spain, last October 20-29, 2006, five International Masters were able to play. IMs Jayson Gonzales,Oliver Dimakiling, John Paul Gomez and Wesley So got 6 points and 5.5 points respectively out of 9 games. None were able to get the required 6.5 for the GM norm. IM’s  Dimakiling and Gomez could have earned where if not the losses in the last round versus the Supergrandmasters.

Come November 17 to 24, 2006 is the 1^st GMA International Open Chess Tournament at Duty Free Philippines, Paranaque City. A total prize fund of $ 30,000.00 awaits the winners. This is the first chess tourney being sponsored by the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Already confirming participation are the Grandmasters from Russia, China, Vietnam and Asia. Again, the local  players of today’s generation are lucky with the series of tournaments.

Around the world, today starts the 4^th round of the Mikhail Tal Memorial Chess Championship at Moscow, Russia. Ten top players of the world are selected to play in a round robin format for the $ 100,000.00 prize fund. The top seed is GM Peter Svidler of Russia,2750 rating, while the lowest seed is  GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, 2698,  now the world’s strongest kid at 15 years old.

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Chess friends and patrons, we know that there are games that we could not retrieve nor follow because of limited resources. A lot of local  tournaments particularly in Mindanao were not compiled, recorded and reported. The most familiar, ChessBase and Informator are based in Europe, thus, the absence of the recorded games for review and report. In view thereof, this column will feature the unpublished games and will answer the necessity.

The game we will feature is from the crucial round 4 of the 2006 National Inter-Province Chess Team Championship. GM Torre sacrifices his Queen for strategic maneuver. However, he also has to stop the plan of his opponent’s version of Queen sacrifice in a tactical attempt to reverse the situation. Look at this beautiful game that attracts many kibitzers in the tourney.

October 28, 2006

Board no. 6, Round 4

Tromfovsky Opening

GM Eugene Torre       NM Nouri Hamed

Misamis Occidental     JRR Foundation,Bacolod

1.  d4               c5

2.  d5               Nf6

3.  Nc3                        Qa5

4.  Bd2             b6

5.  e4               b4

6.  e5               bxc3

7.  Bxc3           Qa4

8. exf6              gxf6

9. Bd3              Bb7

10. Qf3            h5

11. h3              Rg8

12. Ne2           Na6

13. O-O          

GM Torre said, better is the direct 13. Be4, followed by b3. The purpose is to cut the lane

Of the Black Queen from transferring to the King side as what happened to the game.

13…………….Nc7

14. b3

Now, 14. Be4 is a blunder! Black wins by a sacrifice Queen of his own version. By 14… Qxe4, 15. Qxe4 Bxe4 16. Q-h7 and 16…. Rxg7, then the discovered check next that win back the Queen and the game.

14…………….Qh4

15. Be4            Ne6

16. dxe6           Rg2

17. Qg2           Bxg2

18. exf7+         Kd8

19. Ba5+          Kc8

20. Kg2           d5

21. Ba6            Kd7

22. f4               f5

23. Bb7            Rb8

24. Bd5            e6

25. Bc4            Bg7

26. Rae1          e5

27.  Rd1

       1 -       O

CHESS NEWS TODAY

Rey C. Urbiztondo

NCFP Region X Coordinator

PICHAY’S -   MAKE THE RIGHT MOVE, PLAY CHESS! GAINING GROUND

The 1^st GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO CUP INTERNATIONAL OPEN AND CHESS CHALLENGE unfolded November 17 and will end on November 24, 2006 at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall,   Paranaque City. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself was the guest speaker  and   made the ceremonial moves versus the top seed of the tournament, Super Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk of USA (2668). The $30,000.00 event sanctioned by FIDE,  is the biggest tournament staged here in recent years where the Filipino chessers are hoping to perform creditably not only to contend for the top $ 6,000.00 purse but also to boost their respective international ELO ratings.  A total of 76 players including twelve (12 GMs), 12 IMs, 4 FMs,  2WFM from USA, Russia, China, Israel and Uzbekistan are participating.

            The tournament attracted 4  Super Grandmasters (ELO rating above 2600)  like GM Alexander Onischuk, USA, 2668, GM Pengxiang Zhang, China,2638,  GM Hua Ni, China,2621 and GM Zhang Zhong,, China,2609. They will be against the our  players headed by GMs Eugene Torre, Mark Paragua, Rogelio Antonio, Bong Villamayor and Nelson Mariano II. As for the local players who wanted  to participate to have international ELO ratings, the tourney also offered a separate category event called GMA Chess Challenge. It attracted 63 players from around the country.  

The  NCFP  is bringing home the  ELO ratings, where previously our chess players had to play outside the country to get the ELO ratings for FM, IM and GM titles.

This turn out of events became possible due to the efforts  of Congressman Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. of Surigao del  Sur. He is the man of the hour for Philippine Chess. “Make the Right Move, Play Chess!  slogan of Cong Pichay is gaining ground by the  series of tournaments.. After this GMA Cup, he scheduled other international  tournaments  like the following :

December 18-22, 2006            2^nd Prospero Pichay Jr. Open Chess Championship   ($ 15,000.00)

March 11-18, 2007                  Philippine International Open Championship                  ($ 40,000.00)

June 1-8, 2007                         Senate  President Manny Villar International Open   ($ 15,000.00)

August 1- 9, 2007                    Asian Championship,  thru  Manila Hotel

September 20-27, 2007           Speaker De Venecia  Ineternation Chess Open ($ 15,000.00)

Nov. 10-17, 2007                    2^nd GMA Cup International Open                                 ($ 30,000.00)

The year 2007 is already full of tournaments   scheduled as follows:

Jan. 8-14, 2007                        Philippine Olympic Festival (Mindanao Division), Lanao del Norte

Jan. 22-28, 2007                      Philippine Olympic Festival (Visayas Division),    Antique

Feb. 5-11,  2007                      Philippine Olympic Festival (Bicol/Tagalog Div.)   Bicol

Feb. 26-March 4, 2007            Philippine Olympic Festival (North/Central Luzon) Ilocos Sur

Mar. 19-25, 2007                    Philippine Olympic Festival (NCR Division)                   Quezon City

April 1-7, 2007                        Inter-Cities & Municipalities

April 12-16, 2007                    National Age Group                                                     Manila

April 19-23, 2007                    National Juniors                                                            Manila

August 13-17, 2007                 4^th Prospero Pichay Sr. Memorial Open                        Cantilan,

Sept. 3-9, 2007                        Philippine Olympic Festival National Championship Manila

October 26-31,2007                Inter-Province Chess Team Championship

            With all these events, we can only hope for the good of Philippine Chess that  Cong Pichay will continue serving the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).

            In the international scene, three tied for the championship of the Tal Memorial Invitational Chess Championship at Moscow,Russia. The prize total of $ 30,000.00 were principally shared by GM  Peter Leko of Hungary, GM  Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and GM Levron Aronian of Armenia with both 5.5 points. India, garnered ten medals including 5 golds in the World Youth Championship for boys and girls in age groups 8,10,12,14,16 and 18 held in Batumi, Georgia. The astounding dominance signaled the rise of  India as a chess power. Host Georgia followed by 6 gold medals and Azerbaijan with 5 medals.

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            DIMAKILING NOW THE MAN TO WATCH IN PHILIPPINE CHESS

We feature below the penultimate win of IM Oliver Dimakiling of Davao City over IM Richard Bitoon of Cebu City in the OZAMIZ NATIONAL OPEN (250^th anniversary of Cotta Shrine). This was the tournament that started the series of monthly tournaments.  Sponsored by Mayor Reynaldo O. Ozamiz,Sr. and with Congressman Pichay delivering the keynote address, the tournament attracted 194 star players from around the country headed by no less than the highest rated Filipino player, super Grandmaster Mark Paragua.  The one hundred thousand budget  was  way below the  P 200,000 to P 400,000.00 budget of the other cities, yet the 194 participants were twice or thrice more than the players of the other tournaments. The organizers of the Ozamiz Open however have had many successful tournaments on their credit and most having minimal expenditures but great exposures and  participants. Example to their successful staging was the Misamis Open in 2004 with 248 participants ( a record for provincial tourneys)  comprising of  3 IMs and 30 NMs with special participation of GM Eugene Torre,  yet a budget of only P 80,000.00. Advising the organizers therefore from other regions to seek assistance from  the  authors of the Ozamiz Open for their success and pleasure of the sponsors.

            Newly  crowned International Master Oliver Dimakiling is now the hope of the country  as the next Filipino Grandmaster. His winning the OZAMIZ  CITY NATIONAL OPEN (250 years Anniversary of the Cotta Shrine) proved more believers by demolishing top bets and Olympians  NM Emmanuel Senador, International Masters Barlowe Nadera and Richard Bitoon in successive rounds 6,7 & 8. All rounds were crucial. He relaxed in round 9 in a draw with NM Mirabeau  Maga when the champion purse of P 30,000.00 was already assured. Having monitored and tracked his achievement, it was really impressive. From being the chess team captain of De La Salle University (Taft) and leading his team to the UAAP championship, upsetting GM Eugene Torre, Asia’s first Grandmaster and Filipino chess legend in the Millenium 2000 Championship and finally qualifying for the Philippine Team in the 2006 SEA Games and World Chess Olympiad. He also won one of the side events in the Olympiad and was one of the top scorers for the Philippine Team in the World Olympiad in Turin, Italy.

His secret weapon? Annotators attributed it to his steady defense of the Ruy Lopez and Nimzo-indian as Black and the orthodox Tromfovsky and Torre Attack as White. Take a look how he demolished a three time Olympiad  team member and former top board of the Philippine Navy chess team, International Master Richard Bitoon.  The game in the penultimate round was most crucial  in the Ozamiz Open.

IM Oliver Dimakiling                            IM Richard Bitoon

Ozamiz Open, City Gymnasium, Ozamiz City

Round 8, July 3, 2006

1. d4                            Nf6

2. Nf3                          e6

3. Bg5

The Torre Attack!  It is one of the most popular varieties of the Queen’s Pawn Opening. Since in November 1925, when the young Mexican star Carlos Torre unleashed the opening at the top level in the important international tournament in Moscow.

3….                             c5

4. e3                            Qb6

The original reply in the Torre-Saemisch, Moscow 1925  was 4. . Nc6. The game follows: 5. Nbd2  b6 6. c3 Bb7  7. Bd3 cd 8. ed Be7 9. Nc4! Qc7 10. Qd2 Rc8 11. O-O h6 12. Bf4 d6 13. Rfe1 Nd8 14. Qd1 Nd5 15. Bg3 O-O 16. Nh4 g5 17. Qh5 Kg7? 18. Rxe6! Nxe6 19. Nf5 + Kg8 20. Nxh6+  1- 0

The text was the counter attack. It was the most critical of the variation. The Queen’s pressure on the d4 and b2 squares which were undefended  after the Bishop left. The move puts option to White whether to sacrifice the pawn on b2 or continue development. Hence, a sharp battle. rich in content and demanding concrete decisions, the result of which normally depends on the swiftness of the attack and the resourcefulness  of the

 defense.

5. NC3

White chose to sacrifice. The Dimakiling  variation !  Common and according to opening books is  5. Nbd2 Qxb2  6. Bd3 Qb6 7. O-O  cd  8    ed Be7 9. Re1 Qc7 10. c4 b6 11. Rc1  d6. White  has a definite advantage in development and space, but Black is a pawn up and without weaknesses.

5.                                 a6

If 5…Qb2. 2,  Nc3  Na6  7 Bf6 gxf6 8. a3 d5 9. Rb1 Qa2 10.Rb3 followed by 11. Nc3 trapping the Queen! 1-0.

6. a3                            d5

7. dc5                          7.. Qc5

8. Bxf6                        

The  bishop exchange  with compromise on the Black’s pawn structure.

                                    exf6                                                                                         

9.e4 !

 Other moves did not exploit the weakness of Black’ position . White should take advantage of being ahead in development while Black has still not used its Bishop pair.

9…..                            de4

10. Ne4                       Qe7

Forced moves follow.

11. Qd4                       e5

12.Qc3

The weakness of the undeveloped pieces and the uncastled King. Attacking the exposed C file and the unprotected Bishop.

12…..                          Be6

13.Rd1                        

Exploiting the weakness of the d6 square. The crucial square that delivers the win for White. Notice how Dimakiling extract a point in slight opportunities.

13….                           Bg7

14. Nd6+                     Kf8

15. Nc8!                      Qe8

(If 15….. Bxc8 16. Qxc8+ Qe8 17. Rd8  1-0)

16. Qb4+                     Kg8

17. Ne7+                     Kf8

18. Rd8                        Qd8

19. Nc6                       Ke8

20. Nd8                       Kd8

21. Qxb7                     Nc6

22. Qa8+                    

1          -           0.                                

CHESS NEWS TODAY

Rey C. Urbiztondo

NCFP Region X Coordinator

urbiztondo5crisologo@yahoo.com.ph

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WESLEY SO, AT 13, A GM CANDIDATE

The failure of the Pinoy chess champions to block the winning of  the visiting top seeds in the recently concluded 1^st GMA Cup International Open, Nov. 16-24,2006 at Duty Free Philippines should not be a reason for our  leaders and sponsors to be discouraged because somehow it unveiled the other side of the coin of Philippine Chess. The country undeniably is a chess republic.

Most Filipinos know how to play chess. And on this first international tournament sponsored by the president, all the Pinoy grandmasters: Torre, Antonio, Paragua,  Villamayor  and Mariano were beaten by lowly rated  countrymen. We will feature the upset wins next issue.

 The first to show an upset win was IM Wesley So, who outmaneuvered GM Mark Paragua in the second round. Many were written about this whiz kid from Bacoor, Cavite,  the PROMIL boy in the TV commercials. He won many youthful tournaments, but made presence felt now into the adult world. He shown prominence by qualifying and  becoming the youngest Filipino Olympian, at 12, in the 2006 Chess Olympiad at Turin, Italy.  Two weeks ago, at the 10^th International Open in Bad Wiesee, Germany (Nov. 4-12, 2006), he tied for 2^nd place (7/9) out of  a giant 446 player field to earn his first GM norm. Three norms are needed to get the Grandmaster title. In the GMA Cup, he could have earned another in as many weeks, had it not for a last round loss to the Russian GM  Vladimir Belov (2589). Their game was the feast of the tourney in a very double-edged position won only by the Russian as part of the breaks of the game.

The youngest GM record holder was Robert Fischer (USA) at 15 years, 6 months, a record for 34 years until broken by a lady, Judith Polgar of Hungary at 15 years, 4 months. Now the record holder is Sergey Kariakin of Ukraine, who made it at 12 yrs. and 7 months. Another is Magnus Carlsen of Norway at 13 years and 3 months. Wesley So’s  birthday is October 10, 1993. He therefore has until October next year to enter the history books among the top five youngest.

We feature now the upset win  of  Wesley So against the highest Filipino rated player today, GM Mark Paragua,  himself a former child prodigy.

GM Mark Paragua  IM Wesley So

 ( 2587)                   (2411)

1^st GMA International Open

 English Opening

1. Nf3                      Nf6

2. c4                       

Paragua is a king pawn player. Lately, he occasionally play d4. On his youth campaign, he used the Kings Indian Attack. But  not the c4 or the English Opening. He intentionally played this opening to surprise his young opponent. To his  surprise, Wesley is already an all around player and  forced Macmac to a passive game not to his liking.

2…c5  3. Nc3  Nc6  4.g3  g6 5.Bg2 Bg7

The symmetrical variation of the English Opening.

6. d4 cxd4 7.  Nxd4  O-O 8.O-O Nxd4

9. Qxd4  d6  10.Qh4

The previous popular move is 10. Qd3,  when after a6, 11. Be3 Ng4  12. Bd4 Ne5 13. Qd1 Rb8  14. Rc1 Be6 15. Nd5  b5 is unclear as in Tal –Torre, Leningrad Interzonal 1973. This game resulted to an upset win by the then youthful Filipino and Asia’s first grandmaster, Eugenio Torre versus former world champion Mikhail Tal of Russia.

10…Be6    11. Nd5

Also equal is 11. Bxb7 Rb8 12. Bf3 Qa5 as in Mikhalhishin-Gulko, USSR Championship 1978.

11……    Rc8

Catching  up the development with White.

12. Be3   b5    13. Nf4   Bxc4 14.  b3  e5

15. bxc4  exf4 16. Bxf4 Rxc4  17 Rad1 d5

18. Qh3  Ne4  19. Rd3 Nc3     20. Bf3  Re8

21. Re1  d4     22. Bd2 Ne4  23. Bxe4  Rxe4

24. e3      Rc2      25.  a3          Qd5      

Black is already taking the initiative. His pieces are well coordinated. White made no progress.

26. Qf1 h5       27. Rd1 Qf5  28. Bc1

If 28. f3 Rxe3 29. Bxe3 dxe3 30. Rd8+ Kh7 gives Black excellent chances.

28…..Bh6

Also 28…Qc5 may be tried, e.g. 29 Kg2 f5 39. exd4 Bxd4 31. Bd2.

29 Bd2

Better but not enough to bail White out of trouble was 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 30. exd4.

29……             Qe6

30. Re1

On 30 exd4, won’t work because of 30.. Bxd2 31. d5 Qe8.

30…Qf5   31. Bc1  Qe6  32. Bd2  Qc6

(Position after 32….Qc6)

33. h4     

With 33. Rd1 dxe3 34. Bxe3 Bxe3 35. fxe3 Re6, also favors Black.

33…Kh7   34. Kh2  a5  35. Kg1  b4

36. axb4  axb4  37. Qg2     b3!

The pawn can’t be stopped.

       O           -          1

1^ST  PRESIDENT GMA CUP            

GM Zhang Pengxiang of       China (2636) won the inaugural 1^st President Gloria  Macapagal-Arroyo International Open last Nov. 17-23, 2006 at the Duty Free, NAIA, Manila.  He scored  7.5 points out of  9 games and stay half a point ahead of 2^nd placer US champion GM Alexander Onischuk (formerly of Ukraine) and  GM Victor Mikhalevski of Israel.

Actually, the tournament is a rout in favor of the visiting grand masters.  The rest of the winners are: 4-6 th placers  GM Varuzhan Akobian (USA),GM Ni Hu a (China),IM Wang Rui (China) at 6.5/9. Tied for 7-16^th places at 6/9 points are: GM Zhang Zhong (China),Hamed Nouri (PHP),GM Vladimir Belov (RUSSIA), IM Darwin Laylo (PHP), IM Yves Ranola (PHP),IM Ronald Dableo (PHP), IM Jayson Gonzales (PHP),Emmanuel Senador (PHP), FM Julio Sadorra (PHP) and IM Ronald Bancod (PHP). All five Pinoy Grandmsaters played in the tourney but were collared by the visiting GMs and beaten by lesser rated countrymen.

The tournament is a reflection of our chess status versus our neighboring chess playing  countries. Gone are those days, particularly in the 1970’s, when the Pinoys lorded all over Asia.  Eugene Torre was Asia’s first grandmaster and Rudy Cardoso was Asia’s first International Master.

The first cultural exchange between China and the Philippines when both still has no diplomatic relationship was in 1975  when the two countries agreed to play a chess match. The Pinoy players bannered by Torre, Balinas, Naranja, Mascarinas, Bordonada and Caturla  won in  a twelve board match. To introduce western chess to China, the games were played at Beijing, Shanghai and Canton. The Filipinos repeated  in 1977 when our country reciprocated and played host to the return match.

That was before when we were the King of Asian Chess. Now, we can not even win the SEA Games. A few days ago, Vietnam demolished the Phils. 2.5-0.5 in the first round of the 2006 Asian Games.

We hope that under the new management and leadership of Cong Pichay as president of NCFP, chess in the Phils. will be better.

Below is a featured game of  the 1^st PGMA Cup featuring the champion versus our very own GM, a former Asian and Phil. junior champion.

1^st PGMA

Nov. 18, 2006       Rd.2

GM Mariano, Nelson (2418)   -

Gm Zhang Pengxiang (2636)

Sicilian Rossolimo Variation

1.        e4 c5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6

Common nowadays is

3…g6 4.Bc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7

6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Qd2 h6 9. O-O e5 10. h4 Qe7 11. h5 g5 12. Ne2 b6= as in Yudasin-Pigusov 1995. In round 4 of the PGMA tourney, our representative to the Asian games, Jedara Docena lost to China’s Wang Li, after 3.. g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nc3 Nc7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. d3 a6 10. a4 Ne6 11. Nd5 Ned4 12. Bf4 e6 13. Nc3 Qc7 14. Ne4 Qb6 15. Nxd4 cxd4 16. Nf6+ Kh8 17. Qfe d5 18. Bb3 Qc7 19. Qg3 Bxf6 20. exf6 Qd8 21. Qh4 Re8 22. Bh6 Rg8 23. f4 Bd7 24. Rf1 Qc7 25. Rf3 Rad8 26. Bg5 e5 27 g4 Bxg4 28. Qxg4 h5 29. Rh3 Rge8 30 Rxh5+ Kg8 31. Rh8+ Kxh8 32. Qh4+ 1-0

4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. Qe2 f6

An interesting move! The expected move is 6..d6 when the possible continuation is 7. e5 Nf5 8.O-O Rb8 9. Nbd2 Nd4 10. Qd1 d5 =

7.Nh4 g6 8. f4 Bg7 9. c4 O-O 10. O-O d6 11. Nc3 h6 12. g3 Rb8 13. Be3 f5 14. e5 dxe5 15. Bxc5 g5 16. fxg5 hxg5 17. Ng2 Rb7 18. Rf2 Ng6

Black invites a quality exchange on his rook versus a well placed Bishop.

19. Qh5

If  19. Bxf8 Bxf8 20 Qh5 Rg7 21. Nd1 Bc5 22. Nde3 f4!. Black has compensation and attack for the quality exchange.

19…Nh8. Another strong move.

Good for White is 19.. Rf6 20 Ne4 fxe4 21. Rxf6 Qxf6 22. Rf1 Nf4 23. gxf4 +=

Position after 19… Nh8

20. Raf1 Rff7 21. g4 Bf8 22. Bxf8 Rxf8

Better than 22…Qxf8 23. Qg5+ Rg7 24. Qh4 Nf7 25. Ne3=

23., Ne4 Rg7 24 Rf3 Ng6 25. Nf2

Also better for Black is 25. Nxg5 Nf4 26. Nxe6 Nxe6 27. Rxf5 Rxf5 28. Qxf5 Qd4+ 29. Rf2 Bd7

25.        c5 26 Rg3 f4 27. Rh3 Bb7 28 Qh6 Kf7 29. Rh5 Bxg2

O  -  1

If 30. Kxg2 Rh8 31. Qxg5 Qxg5 32. Rxg5 Nh4+ 33. Kh1 Rxg5 34. h3 Rgg8 35. Ne4 Nf5  O – 1

PUZZLE OF THE WEEK:

Solution to the last problem:

1.Qd8+ ! Kxd8 2. Bg5+ Ke8 3.Rd8+ mate.

 MATE IN THREE –

 WHITE TO MOVE

Send you answers to the email address above.  Special prizes be given to those consistently having correct answers in the weekly column.

India blanked rival China 3-0 in round 5 of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar last December 1-15,2006 to emerge as run away winner of the chess competition. India’s winning was so overwhelming so much so that the championship was decided 2 rounds before the final round. Only the silver and bronze medals were hotly constested that in the end, it was captured by China and surprisingly, Iran. It was the first for Chess to be included in the Asian Games. Take a look at the Philippines ranking in the Asian Games.

1.       India  = 22.5 points

2.       China = 17.5 points

3.