Endgame escape

Hi guys!

After almost a month of non-OTB games for me, I finally had the chance and time to play against my sparring neighbor, Maynard. We had two games last night and after a long drought for him against me, I lost the first game against him. My 2nd game against him was almost the same as with the first, blunder here and there for me. I was up with 2 R's, N and 3 P's against his R + B and 1 P when I had two consecutive inaccurate moves which led me to a N and 3 P's against his R and B + P. After several more maneuvers, I got the positional upper hand and the diagram below was a sure win for me.



1. Nb8+ (my move after his Ke6-Kd7) ...

A couple more moves and I mated him.

The funny thing about this guy, he would always say some words and statements that would make him feel good about himself in the midst of a pending defeat or a lose game. After some minutes of contemplation, he said to me:

"Naka-tsamba ka pa dre!" (you have your luck with you!)

To which I said,

"OO ng pre, ang laks ko tsumamba sa yo, may dalawang buwan na rin ako tsumatsamba sa inyo, hahahah! (Yes your right, I've got luck on my side and it's been with me for almost two months against all of you)

This game gave me a nice sleep, my smile as wide as the rainy sky last night and grin inside my heart, telling myself that I went there to get that feeling. Hahahaha! When I reached home, I re-created the position with a light beer on my hand! Whew! Chess!

Thanks to my ever faithful pawns!

Meanwhile, I was surprised to receive an email from NM Marlon Bernardino. Anyways, here's his share for our post for today:

PINOY CHESSER CAMER WINS AGAIN IN SYDNEY CHESS

VETERAN CAMPAIGNER Angelito Camer proving far too strong after beating all his opposition in the just concluded Rooty Hill Chess Club Tournament dubbed as Allegro Tournament over the weekend at the Rooty Hill RSL Club in New South Wales, Australia.

The Canterbery, Sydney based bus operator and former Las Piñas top chess wizard garnered seven wins after seven games of play, two points ahead with countryman Leonardo Tenorio who hails from Marikina City with 5.0 points.

Two months ago, Camer also topped the rapid chess tournament of Rooty Hill Chess Club headed by its president Italian Peter Cassettari.

Camer is schedule to arrive in the country this month to participate some local tournament as well to be one of the God Father "Ninong" when Anda, Pangasinan top non-master player Verth Alora will exchange his vows.

Davao City native Levi Descallar, meanwhile wound up solo third with 3.5 points.

Rounding up to the top eight finishers were Rick Carballo, Rolando Gonzales, Anthony Villanueva, Lorenzo Escalante and Frank Kresinger. (MARLON BERNARDINO).


CEBUANO IM SEVILLANO WINS US CHESS TOURNEY

US based Pinoy International Master Enrico Sevillano, who recently
earned the distinction of being the first Filipino to compete in the
United States Chess Championship, emerged as the clear winner in the
Open section of the prestigious Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic
chess tournament held May 26-28 at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los
Angeles, California.

Sevillano, who hails from Cebu province employ the Russian Defense and
held Armenian International Master Andranik Matikozyan into a draw in
the last round to finished with five points from four wins and two
draws in the six-round tournament.

Matikozyan, the event's champion in 2005, wound up in a tie for second
place with Joel Banawa, Alexandre Kretchetov and Leonid Furman with
4.5 points apiece.

Also figuring prominently is eleven-year-old Filipino-American Austin
Hughes who topped the reserve section.

The victory also marked the third time Sevillano won this annual
event, emerging sole winner in 2004 and sharing the title last year
with the late Polish GM Alexander Wojtkiewicz.

In a press statement sent to the publication yesterday by the Active
Chess Center of Asia (ACCA), Sevillano said that he was pleased with
how he played in the tournament, particularly his win over American IM
Jack Peters in the penultimate round. " It was a thematic win with my
pet Sicilian Alapin."

Peters is another three-time winner of the event and writes a
long-running chess column for the Los Angeles Times. He ended up tied
in eighth spot with eight others with 3.5 points each.

The soft-spoken Sevillano attributes his success to his stint in the
recent US Chess Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he finished
in the middle of the tournament standings." learned a lot from the US
Championship and I guess, I still had the momentum going into this
tournament," he told Chess Asia in an interview.

Sevillano, originally from Cebu City but is now domiciled in
Tehachapi, California, won the Asian Junior championship in 1986. He
played for the Philippine team in the chess olympiads of 1992 and
1994.

The Memorial Day Chess Classic is being staged annually by John
Hillery of Western Chess. It is also held to honor the late Lina
Grumette, hailed as the most beloved woman in American chess.

Grumette, who passed away in 1988 at the age of 80, is credited for
her enormous contribution to the promotion of chess in Southern
California.

Another Filipino who also made his mark in this event is Emmanuel
Perez, who tied for first in 1991.

Other past champions include GMs Larry Christiansen, Yasser Seirawan,
Walter Browne, Nick De Firmian, Miguel Quinteros, Dmitry Gurevich and
Zsuzsa Polgar.

And there goes my post for today. Haay! Till then!