News from years ago

Hi guys!

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I was invited by the Group Owner/Creator of RP-Chess Online Group. From his invitation, he said "let's promote Philippine Chess together..." And the rest they say, is history, or a history in the making.

I didn't receive any much mails from this group until this week. And when the group started sending files about Philippine Chess, (games, news, facts, stats and all the infos) to someone suffering from Severe Chess Addiction Syndrome (SCAS), secondary to this thing called chess bug and of course THE BANG! (one of the prime suspects which causes this severe condition) I said to myself "why don't I publish these precious infos at PCC?

One of the mostly sent themes dealt with Philippine Chess of long ago. The names of GM Rosendo Balinas, Eugene Torre, Florencio Campomanes come up. Even the article that dealt with the PFC-NCFP vicious floor fight was there on my email. NCAA Philippine Chess Champinonship was also included.

So here now are some of the articles about Philippine Chess from years ago...

I'll start with our National hero, Dr. Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal's love affair with the Royal Game:


http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter18.htm

x---
Tomas Arejola says that "such was his punctuality and his enthusiasm
for study that he would abandon any ceremony, no matter how important
it might be, if the hour he had previously arranged had arrived, and
go home to his books. A certain hour of the day he played chess (at
which he was a master.) But even though the moment of most intense
interest had come, such as being able to checkmate the king or queen,
if the clock marked the time his schedule said he should do something
else, he would get up and leave, and no pressure from his friends
could persuade him to change his mind." (13)
---x

http://www.joserizal.ph/tr01.html

x---

Rizal's First Trip Abroad

3 May 1882
Rizal left Philippines for the first time Spain. He boarded the
Salvadora using a passport of Jose Mercado, which was procured for
him by his uncle Antonio Rivera, father of Leonor Rivera. He was
accompanied to the quay where the Salvadora was moored by his uncle
Antonio, Vicente Gella, and Mateo Evangelista.

4 May 1882
He got seasick on board the boat.

5 May1882
He conversed with the passengers of the ship; he was still feeling
sea-sick.

6 May 1882
He played chess with the passengers on board.
---x


About GM Rosendo Balinas Jr. :

Chess Grandmaster Balinas Dies
Grandmaster Rosendo Balinas, jr. (Sept. 10, 1941 -- Sept. 24, 1998)

Grandmaster Rosendo ("Bali" and "Junior" to his fans and loved ones)
Balinas died at 10:45 a.m. Philippine time at his residence in
Antipolo city, Philippines. He had liver cancer.

A six time Philippine open chess champion and considered Asia's best
chess player during the '60's, Grandmaster Balinas (a lawyer by
profession) first gained international prominence by winning
international tournaments in Singapore and Hong Kong.

He tied for 1st with Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric in the 1968
Philippine open. Prior to that, on September 1967, Balinas, then a
national master, was the only Filipino player to play GM Bobby Fischer
to a draw in their individual match, in the "Beat Bobby Fischer
Series" in Manila, Philippines.

Balinas' uncompromising opposition to the unethical practices of
Florencio Campomanes, then the Philippine chess federation and FIDE
Asian representative, kept him out of local and international
competition. In 1995, Balinas, then an international master, was
allowed to play at the intercession of the Executive Assistant to the
Philippine President de Vega, and returned with vengeance during the
1975 Marlboro Chess Classic International Tournament.

Balinas' electrifying win against the world championship candidates
and Danish champion GM Bent Larsen, beating his pet "Larsen opening"
in a blitz finish when Larsen resigned under threat of forced mate,
was one of the most memorable chess scenes in Philippine chess as
players and spectators applauded both competitors at the end. IM
Balinas also defeated Russian champion GM Lev Polugaevski in a classic
ending and Czechoslovakian champion GM Lubomir Kavalek in route to a
5/6th place finish, 1/2 point short of the GM norm. In this same
tournament, the Philippine chess star and Asia's first Grandmaster
Eugene Torre placed 9th/10th place.

Rosendo Balinas, Jr.'s chess pinnacle occurred during the 1976 Moscow
Central Chess Club International Tournament, Odessa, USSR, opposing
Russian chess stars world candidate qualifiers GM David Bronstein, GM
Korchnoi (who pulled out at the last minute), absolute Russian
champion GM Vladimir Savon, Moscow chess champion GM Lutikov and young
stars Tukmakov, Lerner, Lev Alburt, Ignatiev and other foreign GM's
Espig, Tringov, Plachetka, and Tarjan. IM Balinas shocked the chess
world by winning the tournament and going undefeated against all his
Russian opponents.

During this period, IM Rosendo Balinas, Sr. was only the 2nd foreigner
in 35 years to win an international chess tournament in Russia, the
"land of grandmasters". The only other foreigner who won in Russia was
former world champion Jose Raoul Capablanca. For his feat, IM Balinas
was awarded the Grandmaster title outright.

GM Balinas' continuing feud with the more powerful now former FIDE
president Campomanes forced his semi-retirement from chess
competition. Without support from government or private patrons,
Balinas established the Philippine Grandmaster school of chess. Among
his former students are the 3rd Philippine Grandmaster Rogelio
Antonio, Jr., international master Rick de Guzman and a host of
masters. The most recent is the youngest Philippine master (10 years
old) Oliver Barbosa.

Grandmaster Rosendo Balinas, Jr. was the Philippine's national
treasure and unsung hero by his fans and faithful, an uncompromising
lawyer who stood up for the ideals of fairness, and who promoted chess
excellence and pride of the Filipino people, till his dying days.

Prior Report: Subject: Grandmaster Balinas is dying of cancer --
former Philippine and Asian chess champion considered the Philippine
national treasure and unsung hero for his contribution to the
Philippines, and Philippine chess, Grandmaster Balinas is in his last
dying days. Indeed chess was and continues to be his passion, even
during his waning years.

Being ill during the last few years did not keep Grandmaster Balinas
from playing chess -- especially in the US, winning a number of
tournaments.

His distinction and legacy as a six time Philippine Open chess
champion, top Asian player during the '60s and the 2nd foreigner to
win a chess tournament in Russia (after Capablanca) is probably
overshadowed by his uncompromising stand (for close to 30 years)
against Campomanes and his cohort (and still with FIDE) Casto Abundo
for their abuse of position first with the Philippine Chess Federation
and then with FIDE.

Grandmaster Balinas obtained his GM title despite Campomanes' efforts
to keep him out of international tournaments. Ironically it was
Polugaevski, Bronstein and the Russian Chess Federation who
recommended strongly his Grandmaster title be award.

This was after Balinas' tournament win in the Moscow Chess Club
International Tournament in Odessa, Russia, going undefeated against
the Russian players.

And about GM Bobby Fischer:

CHESS PIECE
by Bobby Ang
19 March 1999

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – PART 1

Many people do not realize it, but chess history was made in the
Philippines when Bobby Fischer resurfaced from his hibernation in
Hungary to give several exclusive interviews on Philippine soil.
Twice in January 1999 and once in February he allowed GM Eugene Torre
and Pablo Mercado to interview him during the latter's 30-minute slot
in Bombo Radyo Baguio. And last March 10, 1999, in a nationwide live
broadcast on DZSR (Sports Radio, 918 on the AM dial), Messrs. Romy
Kintanar, Eugene Torre and myself interviewed him for a full two
hours from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.

Why the Philippines? And why the sudden publicity? Didn't Fischer use
to charge US $10,000 for a 10-minute interview? Before we answer
those questions let us go down memory lane first for a short history
lesson. Most of our readers have heard of his name, but have no
inkling of just what a legend he is.

Bobby Fischer was born on March 9, 1943, and started making a name
for himself in 1957 when he won in turn the USA Junior Championship,
the American Open and then the USA Championship, which was also the
zonal tournament. Just a year later Fischer was to play in the
Portoroz interzonal, qualify for a place in the Candidates'
tournament (to determine the challenger for the World Champion) and
become at the age of 14 the world's youngest grandmaster.

This was a period of great chess activity for him. He didn't do too
well in South American tournaments, but in the 1959 Candidates he was
equal 5th-6th, in the Zurich tournament of the same year equal 3rd-
4th. 1961 saw him make a level score in the abandoned match with
Reshevsky, and win second prize at Bled. Then in 1962 came his
victory in the Stockholm Interzonal, with a 2.5 point lead over his
nearest rivals. The chess world awaited with bated breath for him to
gather his weapons and assault the chess olympus, but he was only 4th
in the Curacao Candidates, losing his individual matches not only to
Petrosian, Keres and Geller who came in front of him, but also to
Kortchnoi. Obviously this result was a great surprise for Fischer.
Whereas others after such a body blow normally suffer from a period
of creative depression, Bobby reacted differently by cutting down
sharply on his tournament appearances. No, it was not that he
abandoned chess, he studied it very hard, and when he did play he
scored good results. Thus he won every USA championship he took part
in (in the 1963 edition he won first place with a score of 11 wins, 0
draws, and 0 losses. This prompted Hans Kmoch, the arbiter, to
congratulate the second-placer Larry Evans for winning the USA
championship, and Bobby Fischer for winning the exhibition!), and
made excellent scores on top board in the 1962 and 1966 Olympiads. He
shared second place at Havana 1965 and let only Spassky come ahead of
him at Santa Monica 1966. Then he won at Monte Carlo and Skopje in
1967, and it looked like he was running away with the Sousse 1967
interzonal (7 draws, 3 draws, 0 losses) when a scheduling dispute
arose and he withdrew from the competition.

Then, once again, there came a long lay-off from top class chess
until 1970 revealed to the chess world a slightly different Fischer –
more steady, more mature and certainly even stronger than before. His
first places in past years were achieved by high scoring against the
bottom half of the table. His rivals were unable to match him in his
exceptionally keen desire to win each and every game. The new
Fischer, however, showed that he can make a plus score against his
fellow super grandmasters. A plus score in the USSR vs Rest of the
World Match in Belgrade, a run-away victory in the super tournament
in Rovinj/Zagreb both served to whet the public's appetite as to how
he will do in the Palma de Mallorca interzonal later in the same year.

This time, he did not disappoint. He grabbed the lead in the
interzonal and scored a mind-boggling 7 straight victories over elite-
class competition in the last 7 rounds to win it 3.5 pts away from
the closest pursuer. This was the start of his drive to the world
championship – six victories vs. no draws and no losses in his
candidates' match vs GM Mark Taimanov, six victories vs. no draws and
no losses in his next candidates match vs. GM Bent Larsen, and he
closed out the win streak with a victory over Tigran Petrosian in the
first game of the candidates' finals on his way to a 6.5-2.5 triumph.
A total of 20 straight wins! Incredible!

Just how unbelievable this feat was can be illustrated by the remarks
of former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik in an interview on Soviet
television just before the match with Larsen started (remember, Bobby
won this 6-0). In response to a question as to who will win, he
replied that "It is hard to say how their match will end, but it is
clear that such an easy victory as in Vancouver (against Taimanov)
will not be given to Fischer. I think Larsen has unpleasant surprises
in store for him, all the more since having dealt with Taimanov thus
(a 6-0 victory), Fischer will want to do just the same to Larsen and
this is impossible." (!!!!) Heh heh heh – famous last words.

The world championship was held the next year, 1972, in Reykjavik,
Iceland against Boris Spassky. After losing the first game and
forfeiting the second to go down 0-2, Fischer revved up his engines
and came up with several jewels to also win pulling way, finally
becoming the world champion on August 31, 1972 with a score of 13.5-
8.5.

His fairy-tale ride to the highest position in world chess triggered
a chess boom of unprecedented proportions in the US and all over the
world. More than ever you can go to any street corner and see 7-yr
old kids cutting out chess positions from the local newspaper getting
ready to take on the "Russians" at their favorite game. Chess clubs
mushroomed in every city and municipality, chess magazines were
started in every state, movie stars wanted their pictures taken while
playing chess, yes, this was definitely the golden age of chess.

You can therefore imagine the universal disappointment while Bobby
decided to forfeit his FIDE world championship title as a result of a
rules dispute. For his match with Anatoly Karpov he requested for an
unlimited match, with the victor's share of the purse going to the
first to win 10 games, draws not counting. Also, the world champion
will retain his title in the event of a 9-9 draw. The FIDE found the
last provision unacceptable, and Fischer did not defend his title. He
dropped out of public view, and no more was to be heard from him
until 1992.

We will continue with this short history in the next installment on
March 23, 1999. For now, we present two of his games when he was in
top form: game 7 of his candidates' finals against Petrosian, and
game 5 of his world championship classic with Spassky.

--------x
End of Part 1.

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – PART 2

We come to the "wilderness years" of Bobby Fischer's life, the 20-
year period between 1972 and 1992 where he dropped out of the public
eye and lived the life of a recluse (resurfacing just so briefly in
1975 to resign his FIDE world championship title over a rules dispute
with the International Chess Federation). What did he do then?

He has produced a pamphlet describing how he was once arrested and
tortured by the police in Pasadena, California. Also rumors that he
lived with an older woman, that he rode around on a bicycle with a
chess-set clipped to the handle-bars. Also talk of his long-standing
connection with the so-called "Worldwide Church of God."

What is not common knowledge was that Fischer was a frequent visitor
to the Philippines. First time was in 1973 when he was an official
guest of President Marcos to formally open the first Philippine
International Tournament – one of the strongest tournaments for that
year (Larsen won). He stayed on for a few weeks after that for some
rest and recreation, and made quite a few friends.

After that Bobby would visit every once in a while, always incognito
and, since GM Eugene Torre was the best-known Filipino chess player
here, they came into frequent contact. It was during this period when
the two chessplayers developed strong bonds of friendship.

Now we come to a critical year in this story: 1992.

On July 23, 1992 the president of the Jugoskandic Bank, Jezdimir
Vasiljevic, issued a statement from Belgrade announcing a world
championship match between Fischer and Spassky.

Many newspapers refused to give the story any prominence, assuming it
was just another Fischer comeback hoax; there had been several in the
intervening twenty years. However, as the days passed it became more
and more clear that the announcement was indeed genuine.

Then the teams started arriving in Yugoslavia: Spassky had IM
Alexander Nikitin, GM Yuri Balashov and GM Borislav Ivkov as his
assistants. Fischer had two Filipinos: GM Eugene Torre and NM Eric
Gloria.

Now, they had their first big problem: The US Treasury Department
faxed Bobby Fischer an order not to play in the match, because it
would be in violation of UN-sanctions against the Milosevic-
controlled Yugoslavian government. There were a few strange things
about the order:

First, there were a lot of people involved in the match: Europeans,
Russians, Asians and Americans, and nobody else was warned not to
participate: only Fischer. While this match was going on the American
GM Yasser Seirawan even publicized in his magazine and book that he
went there and played in a Yugoslavian team tournament!

Before GM Lothar Schmid (Germany) decided to travel to Yugoslavia in
order to act as an arbiter in this 1992 Fischer-Spassky match he
asked the German Foreign Ministry in Bonn and was told that the match
was NOT subject to the U.N. sanctions.

As to sporting events, what is prohibited under the US Executive
Order is (underscoring mine) "any transaction in the United States or
by a United States person related to participation in sporting events
in the United States by persons or groups representing the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)." Clearly this does
not apply to Bobby.

So why is he being prosecuted? Well, according to them the provision
he violated was: "The performance by any United States person of any
contract, including a financing contract, in support of an
industrial, commercial, public utility, or governmental project in
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro);"
Fascinating! For the Federal Grand Jury the Fischer-Spassky match
1992 was no sporting event but a "commercial project" with Robert
James Fischer "exporting services" to Yugoslavia (Department of the
Treasury, Aug 21 1992).
Anyway, in full view of the world press Fischer took out the Treasury
Cease-and-Desist Order, spat on it, and continued with the match as
if nothing happened. What followed was a Federal Indictment by a US
Grand Jury and then came a warrant for his arrest, stranding him out
of the United States from that time on.

Bobby Fischer won the 1992 match against Spassky by a score of 10-5,
with 15 no-bearing draws. We will conclude this write-up on the
exclusive Bobby Fischer interviews on Friday, 26 March 1999.

As to what games to present today, we note that Fischer in his
Philippine interview acknowledges that the first game of the 1992
match was the one which gave him the most satisfaction, but that the
jury of Chess Informant did not award it the "Best Game Prize for the
second half of 1992", preferring to give it to the "fixed" Karpov-
Shirov game. You be the judge as to which one is better ..

End of Part 2
-----x

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – PART 3

Bobby Fischer's prize for winning his 1992 match with Boris Spassky
was US $3.35 million. He was not to be given the opportunity to enjoy
the fruits of his labor, though, since a warrant for his arrest
awaited him in the US due to his so-called "violation of UN
sanctions" (explained in part 2 of this series), so he made his way
to Hungary, where he is to live the life of a refugee up to this very
day.

In the Baguio City interview which he gave in January Bobby took the
opportunity to clear up a few points.

Rumor has it that a few months after this match the main sponsor, the
Jugoskandic Bank, went belly-up, and the owner, Mr. Jezdimir
Vasiljevic was forced to flee, showing up in Israel with a suitcase
full of money and Bobby's passport in his pocket.

Another rumor was that Fischer was never paid, and even another was
that Fischer WAS paid, but deposited the money in the Jugoskandic,
and therefore when it closed down all his money was lost.

Facts are: (1) Jugoskandic Bank closed, (2) Mr. Vasiljevic left
Yugoslavia (3) Bobby's passport was never lost and is still with its
rightful owner, and (4) there was no problem with the prize fund. All
winnings were paid, and Fischer deposited his share in the Union Bank
of Switzerland, where it is still intact. This revelation was made to
rebuff stories which later circulated that he is broke, and that he
can no longer pay his bills. More about this later.

Now for the raison d'etre of the Bobby Fischer interviews. He claims
that the "world jewry" (you know, Jews the world over) have conspired
to give him a hard time, and even now are trying to destroy
everything he ever had, everything he ever valued. This writer is not
so convinced of the "world jewry" part, but of one thing he is sure:
it is truly truly tragic that the greatest genius who has ever played
the game of chess is still alive, but he has been banished from the
US, the land of his birth, the country to which he has brought great
honor, and a lot of his enemies are taking advantage of his exile to
exploit his name and mystique to make money for themselves, and there
is nothing Fischer can do but watch helplessly, and turn to his
friends in the Philippines to at least broadcast and let the public
know what is being done to him.

Bobby Fischer himself reveals in the Philippine interviews just what
his complaints are:

1. The Fischer Clock. The traditional chess timing device consists of
two conventional clocks, coupled by a button mechanism which allows
at most one of the clocks to run at a time. A player, having moved on
the chess board, presses the button over his clock, which stops his
clock from running and starts the opponent's. Sometimes, during a
game, a player is so absorbed in the complexities of the position
that he loses track of time, and finds out he has to complete say 20
moves in the space of one minute. This is commonly called the "panic
time" situation.

Bobby Fischer wanted to eliminate the time scrambles, and so
conceptualized, designed and patented an electronic chess clock which
has a provision to add bonus time for each completed move. For
example, the organizers of a tournament can specify that all games
will be for a time control 100 minutes, but with increment of 30
seconds per move, meaning that a player NEVER has less than 30
seconds to complete a move. This clock was first used in the 1992
Fischer-Spassky match, and has since caught on that even the world
championships and the olympiads now almost exclusively use it.

Yes, you guessed it, Fischer was never paid for his invention.

2. Bobby Fischer's books. Bobby has written two books: the first one
was done early in his career, a best-seller beginners' books
entitled "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess", and the second one is "My 60
Memorable Games" , without a doubt the highest grossing chess book in
history. The instructional book was reissued as a CD in the 90s, and
his sixty memorable games went through several reruns, but for some
reason no permissions were ever asked, and no royalties were ever
paid.

Even worse, last 1996 Batsford Books reissued "My 60 Memorable Games"
and for some reason saw fit to "uglify" (Bobby's exact words) it.
They changed the descriptive notation to algebraic (which in itself
is not too bad), they changed the analysis to ADD errors (including
an illegal move), they changed the english to ADD grammatical errors,
the pages and the table of contents don't match, the original errors
were NOT corrected, etc. etc. Chess historian Edward Winter pointed
out in CHESS Monthly (January 1997 issue) around 570 (!) alterations –
Bobby Fischer contests this, he had checked the books himself and
documented more than a thousand (!!).

3. "Searching for Bobby Fischer". Fred Waitzkin wanted to write a
book about his son, Josh, a chess prodigy who never quite managed to
live up to his earlier promise: as of this writing he is not yet even
a grandmaster. Readers will recall that Josh made his bid for the
World Junior Championship in 1994 but was wiped off the board by our
very own Nelson Mariano (game is given below). So that leads us to
his problem: who would want to buy a book about the chess career of
Josh Waitzkin? Answer: put Bobby Fischer's name on the cover! This
they did without his permission or any royalty of any kind.

The book was later on even made into a movie with the same title, and
incorporated film clips of Fischer and a simul exhibition he gave.
This writer is not qualified to opine whether the movie became a hit
because of the use of Bobby's name, but can relate that the only
reason he watched the movie was due to curiosity as to Bobby
Fischer's role in it. Later on, due to a howl of protest by Fischer,
the movie's title was changed to "Innocent Moves", but that is beside
the point – the money had already been made.

4. Bobby Fischer's personal belongs auctioned off! This was the last
straw which convinced him to finally come out in the open and
publicize the injustices which have been perpetrated against his
person.

In 1992, before Bobby left for Yugoslavia to play his match against
Spassky he entrusted all of his personal belongings with a storage
company in Pasadena. While the match was going on a warrant was
issued for his arrest (as explained in part 2 of this series),
preventing him from returning to the US, and so he had to entrust
payment of the storage fees to a trusted friend. In late 1998, this
friend for one reason or another stopped paying the rent, and in
order to collect on the rental arrears amounting to US $480 dollars
(!!!), the storage company saw fit to lien auction off all of his
personal stuff and memorabilia worth millions of dollars to settle
his accounts. No attempt was made to contact Fischer.

End of Part 3
----x

BOBBY FISCHER INTERVIEW – CONCLUSION

For a long time after his 1972 world championship match with Boris
Spassky our hero Bobby Fischer was to move from apartment to
apartment to escape the glare of media. To increase his mobility
Bobby decided to entrust most of his personal belongings with one of
the leading storage companies in Pasadena. He would then drop by once
in a while just to spend a quiet afternoon going over his
collections. He valued them so much that he even bought a lot of
safes with combination locks, all with timers.

Right after his second world championship match with Boris Spassky in
1992 the federal indictment and warrant for his arrest meant that he
could not return to the United States (this was recounted in an
earlier installment of this series), so he had to make arrangements
for his personal belongings.

Aside from the above-mentioned belongings in Pasadena, Fischer also
had some stuff in storage in New York, two Post Office boxes in
Pasadena and some property in Florida where he had to pay taxes on
every year. All these things come to a little less than US $4,000 a
year, so he contacted one of his friends, a certain Bob Ellsworth,
sent him US $5,000 a year to take care of all this plus giving him
something like a thousand dollars for his trouble. For many years
this was a satisfactory arrangement, but sometime last 1998 Mr.
Ellsworth just stopped paying, and that was when the trouble started.

Claiming that Bobby owed them US $480.00 (yes, that is right, four
hundred eighty dollars), the Storage Company confiscated all of his
memorabilia and sold them off in a lien auction.

Completely shocked, Fischer desperately tried to recover his
belongings, but it was already too late: they were already sold off.
This was a big blow to him, and in the Philippine interviews he makes
the following points:

1. He worked very hard for this memorabilia for years. He was in and
out of those file cabinets and safes thousand and thousands of times.
He had kept this stuff through thick and thin for decades. There were
twenty lean years where Bobby hardly made any money, and it was a
hardship just to pay the storage. So how is he going to give it up
after the match in 1992 when he made 3.5 million dollars?

2. Rumor has it that the reason Bobby Fischer didn't pay his storage
bill in Pasadena is because he's broke. That it is a tragedy that all
his stuff was confiscated and auctioned off, but he couldn't pay his
storage bill, and he's ashamed to admit it. And that's why he lost
everything. They say he was never paid his prize fund in his match in
Yugoslavia, or that he was paid but then he reinvested all the money
in the Jugoskandic Bank and he lost it all when the bank collapsed.
These stories were refuted by Bobby in the interviews when he
detailed his financial status:

Three and a half million dollars in the Union Bank of Switzerland,
Zurich, give or take a couple of hundred thousand dollars dollars
either way. The last time he spoke his account manager, she said it
was three and a half million dollars. Of course a lot of it's tied up
in stocks and bonds, gold, metal, platinum, etc... but there is also
a lot of freestanding cash in the equivalent of a money market. At
the time his memorabilia was being confiscated over nonpayment of
$480, he had about nine hundred thousand dollars in the money market,
available within twenty four hours. To quote: "I could be paying the
storage for a thousand years and not even miss it. This is a ripoff.
This is a mega-robbery of what I've spent a lifetime accumulating."

3. Just the safe alone was worth more than the $480 that he allegedly
owed, and the storage company knew that. Originally all of his
belongings was in an ordinary storage bin. Bobby wanted it to be the
best room, so he decided to pay a little more and requested that they
move them to a higher floor with real rooms of solid walls and solid
doors. This was immediately done, but they lifted the safes with some
kind of hydraulic jack, and when they got it into the new room they
just dumped it right off the jack without slowly lowering it down.
This, of course, damaged one of the safes, and the door jammed. In
his own words: "OK, so I didn't have use of the safe. I couldn't open
and close the safe, you know, I couldn't get in. So then my lawyer
negotiated with them, eight months a year. So finally, they get them
to pay the damage so I can have somebody repair it, and for the
damage just to my safe they paid me three thousand dollars."

By this time the reader is probably curious as to what were some of
the things contained in the safes. Well, there is a very long list,
but here are some of the items which Bobby enumerated:

1. "My stuff from Marcos, my letters from President Nixon, books
dedicated to me by President Nixon, former President Nixon when he
dedicated the books, but he was President Nixon when he wrote to me.
All kinds of stuff, photo albums, statues, the works!"

2. "one scrap of paper in there is worth more than that. You got
thousands of pages with my signature all over the place, my writing
all over the place."

3. "They stole silver dollars. I had a bag of silver dollars. I don't
know how many, about fifty, a hundred silver dollars. Just a bag of
silver dollars is worth more than they claimed I owed."

4. "I have hundreds of chess books. I had all my stuff regarding this
Karpov - Kasparov prearranged match. A big big file I'd been working
on."

5. "I had thousands and thousands of Mexican comic books. OK, I love
Mexican comic books cause they're real earthy. These are not for kids
like American comic books. I had thousands of these comics on
everything. These Mexican comics, they're not like kiddie comics.
They cover everything... getting pregant, abortion, you know, corrupt
police, you know the whole thing.. Anyway, I had the first hundred
edition, the first hundred numbers of a famous Mexican comic
called 'Denuncia' I was in Mexico six months, I couldn't get em. I
was going to all these used comic book stores, looking through all
this filthy old garbage trying to find it. Everybody took em though.
They were collectors' items. Finally, I met this very very famous
football player... and he had a connection with the editorial up
there at Denuncia and I got the first, almost complete set of the
first one hundred comics. Just these Denuncia comics they stole were
worth a fortune."

6. "I had Japanese picture posters, beautiful posters from, like,
movies back in the 60s. I used to go to this Japanese movie theater
down in L.A. They closed up.. I was, like, their best customer. This
guy gave me about forty, fifty of their beautiful posters. They're
worth a damn fortune too.. rare. You know, that was the golden era of
Japanese movies back there in the 60s."

7. "When I played in Argentina, I played Tigran Petrosian a
candidates match and beat him to qualify to play Spassky in Iceland
the next year, you know. After I played I gave an exhibition tour
down there, a simul exhibition tour. I don't remember exactly how
many I played. I have to check the record, twenty five, thirty simul
exhibitions. And before every simultaneous exhibition it was
announced that all the players had to give me their copy of the
score. So I had a complete record. They didn't give me the carbon
copy, I insisted on the original copy. I've got hundreds and
hundreds... I don't know, maybe about between six hundred and a
thousand scores. None of these games have ever been published
anywhere. And I, only I had the original scores. What the hell are
they worth, thousands, millions of dollars.

"I'll tell you something else. I don't like to brag, but those were
great great simultaneous games. I was in great form. And they played
the openings badly down there, cause you know, they're pretty far
from Europe, nowadays of course it doesn't matter. Everybody can get
any literature super fast. But then they didn't get the latest
theoretical journals and books on chess. So they didn't know the
openings well at all. But if you didn't smash them down in the
openings, watch out, cause later on they got stronger and stronger.
So.. I knew this. I learned this real fast. So I made a real attempt
to make sure I completely got an overwhelming game before they got
into the middlegame, so I could be sure to win. These games were so
instructive."

When Fischer was asked what he was going to do about recovering his
belongings, his answer was sad ... nothing, they are all gone now.
The only thing he CAN do is to publicize all of this, so that the
world may know how badly he is being treated -- how the country to
which he has brought great honor had exiled him to a foreign land. In
1998 Bobby's mother and sister died separately, and he could not even
go home to the US to visit them in their deathbed. Now even his
personal belongings are gone. It is indeed a tragedy what his enemies
and opportunists are doing to him, and an even greater tragedy that
the American people are allowing this to happen.

We wind up this series by presenting the famous game Robert Byrne vs
Bobby Fischer from the 1963 USA Championship (which Fischer won with
a score of 11 wins, no draws, no losses). Romy Kintanar during the
Metro Manila part of the interview quizzed Bobby about this game, and
I have incorporated the comments in the annotations.

End of Part 4 (Conclusion).

---x

PCC: "I have read these articles from Inside Philippine Chess by Bobby Ang"

And the vicious floor fight during the FIDE General assembly...

Chess Olympiad, day thirteen:
Philippines Chess Federation:
Vicious Floor Fight in FIDE General Assembly

ISTANBUL, November 9: Chess Politics took center stage today as the
FIDE General Assembly met. Almost as soon as proceedings came to
order, Steve Doyle, a FIDE Vice-President from the USA, demanded that
the established Philippines Chess Federation be seated and allowed to
vote.

This stemmed from an action taken by the FIDE Executive Council at a
meeting in Tehran in August in which the established Philippines Chess
Federation was summarily kicked out of FIDE and replaced by a newly
formed entity named the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

This action, which was taken without consulting the General Assembly
of FIDE, was obviously illegal and followed a long pattern of
violations of FIDE rules and statutes which has persisted ever since
Kisan Ilyumzhinov became president of FIDE.

Rogues Gallery
Rogues Gallery: From Left: Mikko Markkula standing, Steve Doyle, Kurt
Jungwirth, Emreham Halici, Noureddine Tabbane, Florencio Campomanes,
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Georgios Makropoulos, Emmanuel Omuku, David
Jarrett, unknown, Boris Kutin, and Lakhdar Mazouz.

As a result, as soon as substantive proceedings began, Steven Doyle, a
FIDE vice-president, protested that the only party entitled to vote
was the representative of the so-called "old" Philippines Chess
Federation.

Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, who was presiding over the
meeting in the absence of President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, objected that
Doyle's remarks were out of order, that the agenda must be followed
and that this matter must be taken up at the appropriate time and
place. Doyle replied that the time and place was now, because it was
essential that the representative of the Philippines Chess Federation
be seated and allowed to vote.

Doyle further stated that unless the Philippines delegate was seated,
then he was walking out, as he would not participate in an illegal
meeting.

An acrimonious debate followed during which many prominent FIDE
personalities spoke in support of the position of Steve Doyle. Doyle
then made a motion which was seconded by Israel Gelfer that the
decision of the FIDE Executive Board in Tehran was null and void and
that the established Philippines Chess Federation had never been removed.

Objecting to this was FIDE General Secretary Noureddine Tabbane of
Tunisia, who repeatedly said that it was "impossible" that the old
Philippines Chess Federation be recognized because only the new
Philippines Chess Federation has been recognized by the Olympic
Committee of the Philippines.

More acrimonious debate followed, with Makropoulos and Doyle both
speak loudly and often.

There were many other speakers, with Campomanes giving an emotional
speech about how it greatly pained him to have to turn against an
organization which he had founded in 1956.

Finally, a vote was taken. The first vote was about 24 to zero in
favor of the Doyle resolution. Campomanes objected on the grounds that
many people did not understand what they were voting for. A second
vote was taken and this time by a show of hands the vote was about 24
to 6, so the Doyle resolution passed.

After that, David Jarrett, FIDE Treasurer, read a report on the status
of various countries. Jarrett reported on countries which had been
suspended for non-payment of dues. Jarrett reported that Papua New
Guinea had paid their back dues and had been readmitted, while Nigeria
and Surinam were temporarily suspended for non-payment of dues.
Mauritius had paid most of its debt, Afghanistan and Guyana were
temporarily excluded for non-payment of debt. Tajikistan was excluded
for non-payment of debt.

Then, the roll was called.

Almost immediately following was one of the top items on the agenda,
which was to replace the old Philippines Chess Federation with the new
Philippines Chess Federation. Doyle, Morton Sand of Norway and
Kelleher of the USA objected that this matter should be postponed
until tomorrow. However, Makropoulos insisted that the matter go
forward today.

Another vote by a show of hands was taken in which it was
overwhelmingly decided to continue with the matter today.

There followed another acrimonious debate. First, the representative
of the old Philippines Chess Federation, who was Efren G. Manuel, gave
an impassioned speech in which he emphasized that no charges had ever
been brought against the old Philippines Chess Federation and no
notice or opportunity for a hearing before FIDE had been provided to
the old Philippines Chess Federation.

He emphasized that the old Philippines Chess Federation had been a
member in good standing of FIDE for 43 years, that the new Philippines
Chess Federation had been formed as a legal entity on August 16, 2000,
and that on August 27, 2000, only 11 days later, it had been
recognized by FIDE. No notice of this action was given to the old
Philippines Chess Federation and still no minutes of that meeting are
available.

Five minutes had been allowed for this speech, but Makropoulos allowed
it to go on to eight minutes.

After that, Toti Abundo spoke in favor of the new Philippines Chess
Federation. The points he emphasized were that ever since Campomanes
retired from the old Philippines Chess Federation, there has been no
activity in the Philippines and not a single grandmaster tournament
has taken place since 1992. The last international event to take place
in the Philippines was the 1992 Olympiad in Manila, and that had been
organized by Florencio Campomanes.

After that, there were many speeches on both sides of the issue. Those
supporting the old Philippines Chess Federation, which included
Norway, the USA, Holland, Portugal, Guernsey and several other major
European countries, emphasized the legal issues, such as the fact that
the old Philippines Chess Federation had not been given notice or the
opportunity for a hearing.

The most effective speaker in behalf of the new Philippines Chess
Federation was Ignatius Leong of Singapore, who recounted an incident
where two of the strongest grandmasters in South East Asia, both of
whom were Filipinos, had arrived for a zonal tournament, only to hear
from the old Philippines Chess Federation that they were to be denied
entry.

There was a similar speech by Al Hitmi of Qatar that he had been faced
with the same situation of deciding whether to admit Philippine
players who had been essentially banned by their own country. The
players in question were obviously Torre and possibly Antonio.

Eugenio Torre, the first Filipino grandmaster, was the initial driving
force behind the formation of the new Philippines Chess Federation.

Finally, a vote was taken. The new Philippines Chess Federation won by
a vote of 56 to 16, with 25 abstentions.

Voting for the old Philippines Chess Federation were British Virgin
Islands, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Ethiopia, Germany,
Guernsey, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland, Tunisia, USA and Vietnam.

After that vote was taken, the meeting was adjourned because the
scheduled ending time of 1:00 PM had long since passed.

It was overlooked that when the roll had been called, the Philippines
was not asked for its vote.

-------x

The NCAA Philippine chess Championships...

NCAA Philippines Chess Championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) chess
tournament is held every first semester of the Philippines academic
year. The eight members schools send in a four-member team in both the
Seniors and Juniors Division.

The structure is a Swiss-style tournament. In the end of the
tournament, the schools with the two top scores would figure in a
Finals match.

NCAA Chess Champions
A.Y. Juniors Seniors
1978-79 La Salle Green Hills Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1979-80 La Salle Green Hills Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1980-81 La Salle Green Hills Mapúa Institute of Technology
1981-82 Trinity College of Quezon City Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1982-83 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1983-84 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Mapúa Institute of Technology
1984-85 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1985-86 Mapúa Institute of Technology Colegio de San Juan de Letran
1986-87 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1987-88 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1988-89 Mapúa Institute of Technology San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1989-90 San Beda College San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1990-91 San Beda College San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1991-92 San Beda College Mapúa Institute of Technology
1992-93 San Sebastian College - Recoletos San Beda College
1993-94 San Sebastian College - Recoletos Mapúa Institute of Technology
1994-95 San Sebastian College - Recoletos Mapúa Institute of Technology
1995-96 San Sebastian College - Recoletos Mapúa Institute of Technology
1996-97 Mapúa Institute of Technology Mapúa Institute of Technology
1997-98 San Beda College San Sebastian College - Recoletos
1998-99 San Sebastian College - Recoletos San Sebastian College -
Recoletos
1999-2000 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College -
Recoletos
2000-01 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College - Recoletos
2001-02 Colegio de San Juan de Letran San Sebastian College - Recoletos
2002-03 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Mapúa Institute of Technology
2003-04 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Colegio de San Juan de Letran
2004-05 San Sebastian College - Recoletos San Sebastian College -
Recoletos
2005-06 San Sebastian College - Recoletos De La Salle-College of
Saint Benilde
2006-07 Philippine Christian University Philippine Christian University

Number of Championships by School
School Jrs Srs All
Mapua 6 11 17
San Sebastian 7 10 17
Letran 7 5 12
San Beda 4 1 5
La Salle* 3 0 3
PCU 1 1 2
Trinity* 1 0 1
St. Benilde 0 1 1

----x

Chess Clubs in the Philippines...

Chess Clubs Worldwide :: Philippines

Club: Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental Chess Association
City, Country: Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
Address: OKK, Divisioria
Contact: GrandRoly, e-mail rolyt@... Tel.# 063 8822
728686 063 888572572
Meeting Times: Everyday Monday.-Sunday 8:00 to 12:00 PM
Comments: Play blitz or normal game, chat and have fun !


Club: Tagbilaran City Chess Club {TCC}
City, Country: Tagbilaran City, Philippines
Address: c.pg avenue tagb. city, torralba marketing
Contact: N/A
Meeting Times: friday 3:00 pm
Comments: locking of young players


Club: The Astorian team
City, Country: Manila, Philippines
Address: Mapua Institute Of Technology
Contact: www.Snake@...
Meeting Times: every Saturday
Comments:


Club: METRO DAVAO UNIFIED CHESS ASSOCIATION
City, Country: DAVAO CITY, Philippines
Address: LANDCO COMPANY , BAJADA DAVAO CITY PHILIPPINES
Contact: JIDANOV@...
Meeting Times: 3:00 PM-8:00 PM
Comments: TO DEVELOPE YOUNG PLAYER IN OUR CITY


Club: Mt. Matutum Chess Club and School of Chess
City, Country: Gen. Santos City, Philippines
Address: National Highway, besides St. Blaise Pharmacy, Gen.
Santos City
Contact: 083-5522777, 083-5539730 choi@...
Meeting Times: Everyday 1600H-200H
Comments: to develop mentally. intellectually, psychologically
strong chess players


Club: Laoahg City Chess Club
City, Country: Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Address: Ilocos Norte National High School
Contact: andy_jam2@...
Meeting Times: monday 7 pm
Comments: great


Club: SOUTHERN CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC.
City, Country: MUNTINLUPA, Philippines
Address: Sampaguita Bldg., Brgy. San Vicente, San Pedro, Laguna
Contact: jamh67@...
Meeting Times: weekly
Comments: monthly tournaments


Club: tabing ilog chess club
City, Country: sta.maria, Philippines
Address: #54 R. Mercado st. Sta. Maria, Bulacan
Contact: 044 641 2023
Meeting Times: every saturdays and sundays whole day
Comments: rapid and long games beginners to strong players
accomodated


Club: OTON SATURDAY CLUB
City, Country: Iloilo Province, Philippines
Address: Brgy. Trapiche, Oton, Iloilo
Contact: boyespejo@... (033) 320-4938
Meeting Times: Saturdays only
Comments: A group of professionals and businessmen dedicated to
clean, honest chess


Club: cebu chessmen club
City, Country: cebu city, Philippines
Address: calderon compound ,banawa, cebu city, 6000 philippines
Contact: solarlight9@...
Meeting Times: every thursday, from 2 am till all games end
Comments: amateur semi-professional players have fun time thru
chess play at dunkin donut


Club: cebu executive and professional chess association
City, Country: cebu, Philippines
Address: fruits and foods restaurant, Queens road, cebu city
Contact: 2317656, www.cepca.on the web.com
Meeting Times: every tuesday
Comments: for professionals and executives only.


Club: colonade chess club
City, Country: cebu, Philippines
Address: colonade mall, 2nd floor,colon st., cebu city
Contact: 2537530,lito pielago or joeboy
Meeting Times: 1;00 pm to 9;00 pm everyday
Comments: 20 tables with chess clocks.14 pesos per hour.chess
club is airconditioned.


Club: GM Balinas Memorial Chess Club
City, Country: General Santos City, Philippines
Address: PIT Compound North Laurel Avenue
Contact: 639208185956, gmbmcc@..., http://www.pydi.org/gmbmcc
Meeting Times: Daily except Saturday
Comments: Please get in touch for club activities and programs
with Mr. Charles Ongayo


Club: ACSAT Antipolo City Chess Club
City, Country: Antipolo City, Philippines
Address: 2nd Floor Hillside Plaza Brangay Mayamot, Lower
Antipolo City
Contact: Tel # 250-51-14, rudylac2001@...
Meeting Times: Saturday
Comments: Develop and Train young chess enthusiast


Club: Laoahg City Chess Club
City, Country: Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Address: Ilocos Norte National High School
Contact: andy_jam2@...
Meeting Times:
Comments:

Club: Dasmariñas Chess Club
City, Country: Dasmariñas, Philippines
Address: Sports Center, Municipal hall, Dasmariñas
Contact: dasma@..., rooking
Meeting Times: everyday
Comments: promotes chess in our locality for international
competition


Club: Talisay City Chess Society
City, Country: Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Philippines
Address: Capt. Sabi St., Talisay City, Negros Occidental,
Philippines
Contact: +639107858196 - nm_andador@...
Meeting Times: daily
Comments: Every Day Blitz

Club: g4 Chess Club
City, Country: Olongapo City, Philippines
Address: 28 A 14th. street,East Tapinac
Contact: gapochessclub@...
Meeting Times: every weekend
Comments: scholastic


Club: Tactics101 Chess Club
City, Country: Zamboanga City, Philippines
Address: Sta. Barbara St.
Contact: Mr. Zulfikar Sali ( zulsali@... ) and Sr.
Master Lito Chua
Meeting Times: All the time...
Comments: Where Challengers become Champions!


Club: MANTICAO CHESS CLUB
City, Country: Poblacion, Manticao, Misamis Oriental, Philippines
Address: Manticao Misamis Oriental
Contact: arch01best@...
Meeting Times: 9:00 in the Morning
Comments: To develop young Chess players:Mentally,Intellectually
and psychologically


Club: TOBOSO CHESS CLUB
City, Country: TOBOSO, Philippines
Address: SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER
Contact: vintonlucenio@... / cel # 0915-575-3045
Meeting Times: SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS
Comments: To develop critical thinking among the young members &
the older ones.


Club: Tabaco City Chess Circle
City, Country: Tabaco, Philippines
Address: Llorente Street,Tabaco City
Contact: 09106683091
Meeting Times: Everyday in the afternoon
Comments:

Club: Almanza Chess Club
City, Country: Las Piñas City, Philippines
Address: CRM Friendly St., FIRST BF HOMES SUBD., ALMANZA DOS,
LAS PIÑAS CITY
Contact: 02-801-81-22; 02-805-56-79; gpfaustino@...
Meeting Times: Every Friday , Saturday & Sunday
Comments: To develop potential players & Promote camaraderie and
friendship w/ one another


Club: Bago City Chess Association
City, Country: Bago City, Philippines
Address: Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Sports Center , General Luna
St., Bago City
Contact: mgjalandoon@...; rayhofilena@... -- look
for Mr. Ray Hofilena
Meeting Times: daily, 2:00 to 6:00pm
Comments: scholastic, training


Club: Eight Squared Knights
City, Country: San Pablo City, Philippines
Address: YMCA, San Pablo City
Contact: philjet@...
Meeting Times: 9:00am - 11:00a m saturdays
Comments: chess tutorials for elementary and secondary levels

----x

Here's the Group's address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RP-Chess. Register and join now!