Check out GM Laylo's game at http://cup2007.fide.com/java/game.asp?game=1000120016.
Visit the Official Website of the World Cup 2007 at:
http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm.
Tsk! Tsk!
On with our regular feature, The Weekender by Mr. Manny Benitez:
The Chess Plaza Weekender
Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007
Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City
Vol. II No. 25
Camacho tied for 2nd to 6th in World Youth
PHILIPPINE Under-14 Girls’ champion Chardine Cheradee Camacho remained unbeaten halfway through the World Youth Championship in Kemer, Antalya, Turkey. After six rounds she had 5.0 points and was tied for 2nd to sixth in her age group.
She and four others including Vietnam’s Thi Mai Hung were just half a point behind solo leader Nazi Paikidze of Georgia entering the seventh round.
Camacho and Under-16 Boys’ champion Karl Victor Ochoa started with two wins in succession but Ochoa faltered in subsequent rounds.
Asean Under-14 Boys gold medalist Haridas Pascua also stayed within striking distance of the leaders with 4.5 points from six games.
Ochoa and Mirano (U10 Girls) had 4.0 each from 6.0 games to remain within striking distance of the leaders.
Paragua, So and 5 others in tight race
SEVEN Filipino players led by Grandmaster Mark Paragua and International Masters Wesley So, Ronald Dableo and Barlo Nadera were bunched together along with five foreign participants in a tie for third to 14th places with 3.0 points each entering the fifth round of the Second GMA Cup Open at 9 a.m. today.
In solo leadership with a perfect 4.0 points out of four games was Chinese GM Li Chao, followed by Singaporean GM Zhang Zhong in solo second with 3.5.
Li seized the solo leadership with a third-round win over Singapore-based Filipino IM Julio Catalino Sadorra, who had made huge waves in the second round by upsetting No. 1 seed Ni Hua.
After four rounds, GM Ni had dropped to a tie for the third to 14th slots along with the seven Filipinos, Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai and China’s WGM Wang Yu, WIM Huang Qian and untitled Yu Lie.
GM Zhang is a former leading player of China who now plays under the flag of Singapore. He switched allegiance just before entering the Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur in August this year.
The two leaders will be battling it out for supremacy in the fifth round, which gets under way at 9 a.m. today at the Duty Free Mall of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City.
The three other leading Filipino players with 3.0 points each were National Masters Dino Ballecer, Rolando Andador and Fernando Pialan.
IM So, who is seeking his third and final GM norm, faces untitled Yu Lie of China this morning, while Paragua is up against WGM Wang.
Other leading pairings today (first name mentioned plays White): GM Ni vs IM Nadera, NM Ballecer vs GM Dao, IM Dableo vs NM Pialan and Andador vs WIM Huang.
The current trend is clearly much better than during last year’s First GMA Cup Open and Challenge, in which almost all major prizes were won by foreign players.
Besides the seven Filipinos vying for the third slot, seven others were in the next bracket of 2.5-pointers. They were GM Torre, IMs Sadorra, Jayson Gonzales, Ronald Bancod and Oliver Dimakiling, along with NMs Hamed Nouri, the giant-killer of the First GMA Cup, Robert Suelo and Emmanuel Senador, a former Olympiad player.
GM Joey Antonio, who fell out of the leading pack when he forfeited his game because his cell phone rang while at play in an earlier round, could not seem to regain his stride and found himself with only 1.5 points.
Filipino participants with 2.0 points each or a 50 per cent performance thus far were IMs Chito Garma and Richard Bitoon, FM Fernie Donguinez and NMs Kim Steven Yap, who earned his first IM norm as a giant killer in the Asian Individual Championship in Cebu, Rolando Nolte and Alex Milagrosa, and Rodolfo Panopio Jr., who prefers being classified as a non-master.
• J.C. Sadorra (2414) – Ni Hua (2641)
Rd. 2, Slav Defense (D16)
1.d4 d5
2.c4 c6
3.Nf3 Nf6
4.Nc3 dxc4
5.a4 e6
6.e3 c5
7.Bxc4 Nc6
8.0–0 cxd4
9.exd4 Be7
10.Qe2 0–0
11.Rd1 Nb4
12.Bg5 Re8
13.Ne5 Nfd5
14.Bd2 a6
14...Nc2
15.Qh5 Rf8
16.Rac1! favors White, says Fritz
15.Bb3 a5 If 15...Nf6 16.Bf4
16.Re1 Ra6 17.Rac1 White has the edge Rb6 Not 17...Nf6 18.Nb5 Rf8 19.Qf3! 18.Bc4 18.Qh5 could be tried, e.g., 18..g6 19.Nxf7 gxh5 20.Nxd8 Rxd8 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Bxd5 Rxd5 23.Rxc8+ Kf7 24.Bc3! f6 19.Nd3 Nxd3 20.Qxd3 Instead of 20.Bxd3 Nb4 21.Bc4! Nxc3 21.bxc3 Bd7 22.Rb1 Rxb1 If 22...Bd6 23.Bb5 Bxb5 24.axb5 23.Qxb1 Qc8 24.Bd3 f5 25.Qb3 g6 26.Bf4 Bf6 27.Be5 Bxe5 28.Rxe5 Qc7 29.Bb5 b6 30.g3 Kg7 Fritz suggests 30...f4!? 31.Bxd7 White surges ahead Qxd7 32.Qxb6 Qxa4 33.Qc7+ Kh6 34.Rxa5 Qc2 35.Qf4+ g5 36.Qe5 Qxc3 Best but inadequate was 36...Kg6 37.Ra7 Rg8 38.Qxe6+ Rg6 39.Qxf5!
Meanwhile, NMs Roque Merben (White) and Nicomedes Alisangco face off today in the fifth round of the Second GMA Cup Challenge.
Manuel Yu Jr. took the solo third place just half a point behind the leaders. He will have Black when he faces 3.0-pointer NM Andrew Vasquez.
Other 3.0 pointers paired against each other were Rupero Abelgas vs Julius Sinangote, Ernesto Absin vs. Ivan Gil Biag, Edsel Montoya vs Christopher Rodriguez, David Elorta vs Deniel Causo and Arnel Pinero vs Noel de la Cruz.
My thanks to chief arbiter Gene Poliarco and his assistants, arbiters Patrick Lee and Ilann Perez, for supplying The Weekender with the results and games.
Naujan captures Governor’s Cup in Or. Mindoro
IN a final-round rally, Naujan town shot down the leading Bongabong team to win the First Gov. Arman C. Panaligan Cup team tournament held last Sunday in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
The chess festival was held in celebration of the province’s founding anniversary.
Underdog Naujan scored 3-1 against the favored Bongabong squad, which had been leading most of the way.
Best players were Alwyn Villas on board 1, Cesar Cunanan on board 2, Joselito Asi on board 3 and Ronald Berdera on board 4.
Six teams competed in the event, which was organized by the Oriental Mindoro Chess Federation, Inc., with the support of the provincial government under Governor Panaligan.
Raul Cruz, Tony Pelayo, Gatz Luz and Ferdie Bonifacio of the Chess Arbiters Association of the Philippines (CAAP) officiated at the team tournament.
Meanwhile, the CAAP will hold a three-in-one tournament next weekend, December 1 to 2at the Ramon Magsaysay High School in Cubao, Quezon City.
Last Saturday, November 17, the CAAP held a non-masters joust at the Quezon Memorial Circle Chess Plaza. It was won by Clemente Valledor (1952) with Ritchie Evangelista (1923) and unrated Danny Fadriquela as his runners-up.
Alfredo V. Chay, CAAP public relations officer and Weekender circulation manager, served as tournament director with Milo Samaniego, also of the CAAP, as chief arbiter.
PCCr snares 2007 CUSA crown, TUA ends up 2nd
FOR the first time in the Colleges and Universities Sports Association’s 13-year history, the Philippine College of Criminology captured the 2007 CUSA Chess Team Championship held from November 20 to 23 at the PCCr’s Police Seminar Hall.
PCCr outstripped seven other contending teams with a total of 25.5 points. Trinity University of Asia wound up in second place with 20.5, followed by Metro Manila Colleges in third with 20.
The champion PCCr team captured the crown with a final-round win over MMC while TUA outsmarted FEATI College.
Eight teams—PCCr, TUA, MMC, FEATI, Central Colleges of the Philippines. University of the Assumption, Manuel L. Quezon University and De Ocampo Memorial Colleges—competed for the 13th CUSA crown.
International Master Idelfonso Datu coached the PCCr team with the assistance of Candidate Master Chiara Lim.
Members of the champion team were Louie Rey de la Cruz (board 1), Genalyn Miclat (board 2), Joel Diaz (board 3), Joseph Miclat (board 4) Raymond Samones (board 5) and Celso Baldera (board 6).
De la Cruz and the Miclat siblings also romped off with the individual gold medals, and Diaz and Samones with the silver.
Isaac Chavez of MMC and Richard Romano of TUA took the gold on third and fifth boards, respectively.
The final games proved crucial for victory with de la Cruz of PCCr outwitting Alwin Occida of MMC in 39 moves of a French Defense and Genalyn Miclat of PCCr beating Marlon Tinia of MMC in 56 moves of a Double Fianchetto Opening.
On board 3, however, Diaz of PCCr lost to Isaac Chavez of MMC in 66 moves of a French Defense.
PCCr’s Samones on board 5 took the measure of MMC’s Jayson Jamosin in 31 of a London Opening.
BOBBY ANG’S BUSINESSWORLD COLUMN, CHESS PIECE (2)
Wesley’s Weakness?
FIRST, let me share with you an email I received from Ms. Eleanor So, the mother of GM-candidate Wesley So. She was writing about the “failure” (or so other people might want us to think) of Wesley in the 2007 World Junior Championship:
He tried his best. He studied hard and prepared himself for the World Junior....ON HIS OWN. No coach, no proper training provided, no proper guidance. I saw my son so determined, focus, and love this game.
To those who criticize, kindly invite them to help our chessplayers. Chess in our country is not as professionally managed compared to India and China. If they will not help, they will be disappointed again and again.
Sincerely,
Leny So.
I myself thought that his performance was a bit of a success. He got the GM norm, didn’t he? Wasn’t that what he set out to do?
Criticizing other people is easy. I have had a lot of experience, both on the criticizer and the criticized side of the coin. You just can’t please everybody.
Mr. John Sy from Xavier School asked me point blank – do I think Wesley So needs coaching? Everybody does. But there are several kinds of coaches. I myself have worked with GMs Torre, Antonio, Villamayor and also GM-candidate Darwin Laylo, but our work was in opening preparation and analysis. But if you ask me to teach endgame fundamentals to high school players I wouldn’t know where to start.
IM Anatoly Bykhovsky, one of the Soviet Union’s great chess trainers, put it well:
Boris Postovsky (many-time coach of the Russian national squad) was an excellent national manager. However, we used to call such people “trainers.” But Postovsky and Dvoretsky (considered one of the world’s greatest coaches, with students like Jussupow, Dolmatov, Zvjaginsev, etc...) are people of different professions! Postovsky cannot help Bologan or Inarkiev to improve at chess. And Dvoretsky, possibly, should not be hired as a national squad manager, because he is a strict and strong man, and it makes it difficult to find a common language with other strong personalities. Or consider Kart, who was a weak player, but a great pedagogue who raised many outstanding grandmasters in Lvov. And Bondarevsky was a trainer of yet another type: he would take Spassky by the throat and force him to work.
What kind of coach does Wesley need? I think someone like GM Alex Baburin, who teaches pawn structure chess – the relationships between opening, middlegame, and endgame, and what kind of pawn structures to play for, and how to utilize them.
Many years ago I played a game vs NM Efren Bagamasbad. He was White and we started out 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d4 exd4 6.Qxd4 Qxd4 7.Nxd4.
A basic position from the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation. I don’t remember the rest of the game, but Efren had a very easy time winning it. He exchanged off all the pieces and then won with his kingside pawn majority. After the rout he gave me a tip – in positions where you have doubled pawns, you should try to advance them and exchange off the weakness. Great lesson. Let us look at one of Wesley’s games.
Zhang Pengxiang (2649) - So,Wesley (2516) [B33]
Asia-ch 6th Cebu City (3), 21.09.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 Nxe7
It was Viswanathan Anand who revived interest in this exchange, and it has become Zhang's favorite system against the Sveshnikov. On the face of it, the move looks a bit illogical, since the knight is stronger than either of the two bishops, but White is counting on his piece activity.
10...Nxe7
Currently considered to be better than 10...Qxe7. The knight keeps an eye on the crucial squares d5 and f5. Black is not worried about the potential doubling of his f-pawns after Bxf6 gxf6 because either ...d6-d5 or ...f6-f5 will cure it.
11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.c4 Bb7
12...Qa5+ leads to an equal endgame, which is probably not what Black wants when he plays the Sveshnikov. 13.Qd2 Qxd2+ 14.Kxd2 b4 15.Nc2 Rb8 16.Ne3 f5 17.exf5 Nxf5 18.Nxf5 Bxf5 19.Bd3 Be6 20.Rhe1 Ke7 Gicev,B (2336)-Rogozenko,D (2530)/ Skopje 2002 0–1 (48)]
13.Bd3
[13.cxb5 Bxe4 14.Qa4! looks deadly for Black, but after 14...d5! 15.bxa6+ Kf8 followed by ...Rg8 Black's prospects are excellent]
13...Rg8
There is this move and 13.bxc4. The state of theory now is that 13...bxc4 14.Nxc4 d5 15.exd5 Qxd5 16.Qa4+ (this is Anand's idea which revived the line) 16...Kf8 (16...Bc6 17.Qa3! followed by a knight check on d6) 17.0–0–0 Qc5 18.f3 always leaves White with a nagging initiative. Zhang Pengxiang (2519)-Shirov,A (2726)/ Bastia 2004 1/2 (54).
14.Rg1
Let's take a look at the other possibilities:
1) 14.cxb5 Rxg2 15.bxa6 Bxa6 16.Bxa6 Rxa6 17.Qd3 Rc6 is double-edged. Kharlov,A (2593)-Khairullin,I (2481)/ Tomsk 2004 1–0 (43);
2) 14.0–0 bxc4 15.Nxc4 d5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.f3 Rd8 18.Rf2 e4! is almost winning for Black. Kupreichik,V-Chekhov,V/ Minsk 1976 0–1 (37)
14...bxc4 15.Nxc4 d5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Nd6+!?N
Zhang's new move. Previously played was 17.Qa4+ Kf8 which was good for Black in Motylev,A (2651)-Shirov,A (2726)/Bastia (rapid) 2004 1/2 (38).
17...Kf8
[17...Qxd6?? 18.Bb5+ wins]
18.Bxh7 Rh8
Grabbing the pawn by 18...Rxg2 19.Rxg2 Qxg2 20.Qh5 Bd5 21.Be4! leads to the type of position you would want to enter with the knowledge that your opponent specifically prepared this for you, but I think Black can hold here. 21...Qg1+ 22.Ke2 Qg7 (22...Qxa1? 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Bh7+ Kh8 25.Nxf7+ Bxf7 26.Bg6+ followed by mate) 23.Rg1 Qxg1 24.Bxd5 Ng6! The only move, enough to hold the position. 25.Qh6+ Ke7 26.Nf5+ (26.Bxa8? Nf4+ turns the tables) 26...Kd7 27.Qd2 Nf4+ 28.Ke3 Rb8 Black might even be better here.
19.Qxd5 Bxd5 20.Be4 Rd8 21.Bxd5 Rxd6 22.Bc4 Rxh2 23.Rd1 Rxd1+ 24.Kxd1 a5 25.Kd2
After 25.Kd2
After the exciting fireworks it is time to take stock. Material is equal but White has the better pawn structure and his bishop is better than Black's minor piece. The limited material still means that it should be a draw, however.
25...Nf5 26.Kc3 Nd6 27.Bd3 Ke7 28.a3 e4
The text does not lose, but going by the theory that doubled pawns should be pushed forward to be exchanged off, the easiest road to equality is 28...f5 29.b4 axb4+ 30.axb4 f4 (threatening ...f3) 31.f3 f5 followed by ...e4 and a handshake will follow.
29.Ba6 Rh5 30.b4 axb4+ 31.axb4 Rf5?
The same mistake. Going by the same theory given above, 31...Rd5! 32.Rb1 f5, should draw comfortably enough. The passed b-pawn can be stopped: 33.b5 Rd3+ 34.Kb4 (34.Kc2 Ra3!) 34...Rd4+ holds.
32.Rf1 Kd7?! 33.Kd4! Kc6? 34.Ke3 Re5 35.g4!
In contrast Zhang knows what Black should be playing for and blocks ...f5.
35...f5?! 36.g5
Now White has threats on both sides of the board.
36...Re8 37.Rc1+! Kb6?! 38.Be2 Rh8 39.b5 Kb7 40.Rc6 Ne8 41.Rh6 Rf8
[41...Rg8 42.Kf4]
42.Bc4 f6 43.g6 Kb6 44.Rh7 Kc5 45.Be6 Kxb5 46.g7 1–0
Black has been completely outplayed in the ending.
Wesley started off great, but lost the thread on the 28th move. With good pawn structure background he could have avoided it.
Reader comments and/or suggestions are urgently solicited. Email address is bangcpa@gmail.com.
This column was first published in BusinessWorld on Friday, November 23, 2007
Need to cut off the issue for I have to do the next post....
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