A night with the masters!

Hi! I’d like to share part of the dine-out chat I had with the masters….Am posting this 2 weeks after so I guess some of it are out of date now or irrelevant, but I simply would like to let you in on some of the players thoughts regarding their situation…

January 31, 2007. Tomas Morato Avenue Quezon City, Philippines.

In one of the fine dining establishments we have along Morato, historical one at that for it was D' PLACE where I first met the BANG in flesh late December of 2006. The meeting was set at 730 in the evening. Agenda: meet new friends in chess, have fun, share chess culture, enjoy the food and unconsciously learn from the masters the unpublished, unwritten, word-of-mouth factual events from local and global events of the Royal game.

My arrival time? 745. 15 minutes late.

Waiting was the nights' host (generosity is a virtue! hehehe!!!) the BANG who told me soon as I seated that "Kiko I forgot the "training books" you want to borrow but you can pick it up by tomorrow". What can a disciple say or do when the master tells you something like that? Instinctively I felt that he shouldn't be apologetic for I, in the first place who's asking a favor.

Then the shoot.

Questions fired from my side. The BANG, eveready to share his thoughts, knowledge and expertise but eternally honest if he's not sure of his replies. Chess issues from the past, recent past and the not so distant past. Afterwards, we headed to the present issues and then to the possible, future issues (hahahah! pun intended!).

And this brings us to the present issues of chess, more so, Philippine Chess.

Game fixing? networking? scam?

NCFP officer having this personal grudge against one of the suspected GM candidate player, from a list of ten, down to 8 then now 6? Curiously, the media snubs such issues except for one contributor of articles of confusion (re: I followed the story, first time it went out of the news, it says IM Garma was willing to testify, next time I read it, Garma never said he will testify....will not, never testify!) talk about journalistic ethical know-how.

800PM on my mobile phone... The Pride of Philippine Chess, Darwin Laylo and Ronald Dableo arriving.

On my left sat Darwin and across the table sat Ronald. After exchanging pleasantries, time for food... food and drinks. Nothing intoxicating hehehehe!

Geeh! Do I deserve such honor? Honor to be with these Chess Mighties? Yet I don't feel any snobbish attitude from them?... I guess that's where their greatness is...

Philippine Chess Chronicles (PCC):

"Kamusta ba tayo jan?"

Darwin Laylo (DL):

"Heto ok naman po!"

Ronald Dableo (RD):

"Sobra na tong' mga nangyayari, yung inaanak kong 5 years old, kapit-bahay ko, nakita ako nung isang gabi, sabi sa kin, ninong, nagbebenta ka daw ng game?" "Yung mother ko, diabetic, di na makatulog dahil sa mga lumalabas na balita" "Yung isang opisyal ng NCFP, merong patakbuhing dyaryo, tawagin ba naman akong traydor sa bayan"

PCC:

"Ahhhmm, noong unang lumabas ang mga ito sa dyaryo, it was sometime after the Pichay Cup which was held at SM Manila... in fact, sa NCFP Forum, I could remember, may mga nagpost dun statements like this: game-fixing can be felt in the air... or something to that effect. Naglaro din kayo dun di ba?"

DL :

"Naglaro kami dun pero walang katotohanan yan"

RD :

"Maaamoy sa ere? game fixing? kahit kelan di ako nagbenta ng laro, di ko kailangan, chess is my profession. I have a coaching job in one of the universities in Manila, I have a PSC monthly allowance and of course am from the Philippine Air Force"

Bobby Ang (BANG):

"Imagine that! Anong amoy? may amoy ang game-fixing?"

Hahahah! It was during these light moments when we can actually think deeper of these kind of issues at hand.

PCC:

"But can anybody or someone, truly prove such accusations?"

RD:

"Eh ang sabi nila sa dyaryo scoresheets..."

DL:

"Eh kung ganun wala nang mag submit ng scoresheets dahil pwede palang gamitin alaban sa amin iyon..."

BANG:

"Kiko, you see, only if one player testify against another player we can prove that there was indeed a game fixing involved" "What can the scoresheets tell? What about blunders? Only when another player, testify against a player can we prove such accusations"

RD: "

tsaka talaga ang paraan lang para magkaroon ng strong evidence eh may mag testify..yun ang strong evidence pero subject pa rin naman ito sa investigation"

DL:

"Eh ang hirap naman kasi eh, pag yung iba ang nag cha-champion, walang game-fixing, pero pag kaming mga bata, meron"

PCC:

“Sa mga dailies, in recent weeks, halos lahat or almost all news about chess is this issue, do you think this can have a bad effect to NCFP’s program? Or do you think this will again put Philippine Chess on hold?

BANG:

“You know what? Nobody in the media is really giving much attention to this except one contributor who does not, in anyway, qualify to be called a journalist.”

RD:

“Ewan ko nga bakit pinapayagan ng *** (name of newspaper) na i-publish ang mga contribution nyan eh… ang masakit pa nun, baseless naman"

DL:

“walang natanggap sa amin yan ni singkong duling kaya ganyan yan sa amin…”

PCC

: “ Ah ok. I think I know who we are talking about here…"

BANG:

“Ronald and Darwin, may experience yan si kiko jan sa tao na yan…go tell them kiko”

PCC:

“Well, I’ve posted the story at PCC sometime during the GMA Cup… sadly, hindi lang pala ako ang biktima nun… in fact the BANG himself gave him a nice newspaper beating on the nape to teach him a lesson about respect and appropriate behavior” “Also, he sends out solicitation letter using the BANG’s name… geeh! Money making schemes”

I guess the night is getting more interesting as we continue to feast on the food served on our table. It’s time to be a little more direct…

PCC:

“But really, tell me, do you see the end coming? Issues?"

DL:

“Sir kasi naman tinanggal na kami sa list ng 8 suspects, 6 na lang ngayon…”

RD:

“Sa tingin ko talagang the decision will depend sa Board of Directors…”

PCC:

“But I myself would be devastated if I find out that these things are happening simply because of personal quarrels between you guys, the personalities of Philippine Chess"

RD:

“ Bukas nga, February 1, may trial daw sa Marios’ Morato…I just received a text now…pinapapunta ako…”

PCC:

“Well, if it’s a trial, you should have received a formal invitation…”

BANG:

“Right!”

DL:

“Kahit di na ko kasama sa walo, sasamahan ko pa rin yan si Ronald”

PCC:

“Sadly, since you were informed thru text about the trial, you are at the losing end. If you attend, you’ll be grilled… do you have a lawyer? If you don’t attend, I could imagine the chess headlines, suspected chess player, non-appearance for the trial.”

RD:

“Ayun na nga eh!”

PCC:

“This maybe a bit far from the hot issue at hand, but tell me, how’s it going in your quest for the GM title?”

DL:

“Dalawa na GM norm ko sir, isa na lang… isa na lang nagyayari pa itong mga ganito… konti na lang…”

RD:

“Pareho lang ni Darwin. 2 GM norms na. Tapos nagkakaganito pa… Isa na lang GM na, pinipigilan pa ng mga ganitong issues.”

PCC:

“Hay! Well, Let me tell you this: it is inevitable, the young will replace the old but before that happens, for sure the old guards will try to hold on to what they have, can have for as long as they can. But still, the young ones will take the lead, and this they will have to give in to...”

Back to the present.

It’s the second week of February now. So far, no news about Philippine Chess except for that CJAP’s (Chess Journalist Association of the Philippines) Chess Player of the Month Choice.

Hhhmmmm! I wonder what happened to our favorite chess news contributor?

BLIND ITEMS

- Who is this individual who heads the syndicate, victimizing passers-by into luring them to solve chess problems along the streets of Metro Manila?

- Who is this active Filipino player who is having difficulty with his GM norms and is now considering converting to WGM? Hmmm! I smell green blood! (berde ang dugo!)

- Who is this active Filipino player who is very loud in condemning "networking" and "game-fixing" but who himself paid 250 Euros to win his last game in a tournament in Germany last year?