Atty. Sammy Estimo's side

The Weekender of Mr. Manny Benitez, extra edition wherein he has given Atty. Sammy Estimo a chance to air his side. There Atty. discusses about the NCFP constitution and other matters pertaining to, well, NCFP.

Extra!!! The Chess Plaza Weekender
Tuesday, 20 January 2008
Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City
Weekday Edition

Estimo threatens to sue Pichay for contempt

LAWYER Samuel Estimo has threatened to sue former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. and his group for alleged contempt of the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court stopping a National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) board election.

In a press release emailed to The Weekender Sunday, Estimo claimed that NCFP president Pichay and his co-respondents in the TRO had “toyed with the rule of law.”

“What they could not do directly they did it indirectly,” he said.

Estimo explained that the group’s “lawyers had appeared at the TRO proceedings and when they lost and Quezon City Judge Reynaldo Daway issued the TRO, they brazenly defied it and toyed with the TRO.”

He denied the allegation that the NCFP had no constitution and by-laws.

“We have in our possession the original copies of the NCFP Articles of Incorporation (SEC Reg. No. A20012818, October 16, 2000) and the By-laws,” Estimo said, adding that “we had even submitted them to the court as documentary proofs that the Constitution and By-lasare are registered with the SEC contrary to the claim of Pichay and (Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham) Tolentino.”

In its press release, published almost verbatim by The Weekender in its regular Sunday edition, the Pichay group said the NCFP’s General Assembly had “voted to ratify its first real constitution and by-laws and then elected former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero ‘Butch’ Pichay and 14 others to a new, four-year term.”

Estimo said there was no need for “Pichay and his co-respondents to draft a new Constitution and By-laws because these documents are extant in the records of the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

“They just did it to legitimize the Tagaytay polls and went around the TRO issued by the Court,” he said.

He went on: “Pichay and co-respondents could not feign non-participation in the electoral process. They claim they were just observers and merely let the General Assembly conduct the polls where they got elected along with 13 others. But it was Pichay and Tolentino who initiated everything and billeted the members of the voting clubs in the hotels inside the Tagaytay International Covention Center.

“If it is true that the NCFP did not have a Constitution and By-laws, under what law did Pichay, Tolentino and their co-respondents gain their positions during the March 2006 polls where thousands of votes of GM Eugene Torre, Mila Emperado of Metropolitan Chess Club, Dr. Jenny Mayor and those of our Regional chess coordinators were cast?”

Estimo also claimed that Fide’s honorary president, Florencio Campomanes, who he said attended the NCFP election in Tagaytay City, “knows about the existence of NCFP Constitution and By-laws and their SEC regulations because it was he, GM Eugenio Torre and I who jointly prepared and helped each other to give juridical and legal personality to the NCFP.”

He charged that “the unlawful Tagaytay NCFP polls (held Saturday) disenfranchised hundreds of voting chess clubs nationwide. I understand only thirty-six (36) clubs participated and certainly, this number does not represent the majority of chess voters in this country.”

The Pichay camp claims that 175 votes were cast and that the NCFP president was reelected unanimously.

Among those who got the highest number of votes were Tolentino, who is the incumbent secretary general, and Pichay allies Ed Legaspi and Red Dumuk.

NCFP chairman and Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor and former Benguet Gov. Raul Molintas were among those elected to the board in Tagaytay. Both are identified with the Estimo camp.

Under the presidency of Pichay, the NCFP has produced three new grandmasters in just a little over four months—Darwin Laylo, Wesley So and Jayson Gonzales.

The Philippines had its first grandmaster in 1974 in the person of Torre, who is also Asia’s first. Since then, only five more earned the GM title—the late Rosendo Balinas Jr., Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr,, Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor, Nelson Mariano II and Mark Paragua, in 2005.

In other words, only six Filipinos acquired the coveted title in 31 years, as against four in just over four months of 2007-08.

This is why The Weekender is calling for a united NCFP.

Carlsen grabs lead solo in Corus Super
Cheparinov apologizes to Short over handshake row

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen has captured the lead just by himself in Group A of the ongoing Corus Super Tournament in the world-famous Dutch resort of Wijk aan Zee.

In Group B, trouble erupted when Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria refused to shake hands with Nigel Short of England but the Bulgarian later apologized rather than lose his game by forfeiture as decreed by the chief arbiter.

Carlsen and 25-year-old Ukrainian superstar Levon Aronian had been jointly leading the 14-player pack in the main event that features the brightest superstars in the world, including reigning champion Viswanathan Anand of India and former champions Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Veselin Toplaov of Bulgaria.

Aronian, however, slid down to the third slot when he lost to Kramnik in the sixth round.

Carlsen strengthened his hold on the lead also in the sixth when he defeated Hungarian wonder woman Judit Polgar, who is rated as the strongest female player in the history of the game.

After eight rounds, Carlsen had the solo lead with 5.5 points from three wins and five draws, followed by Kramnik and Aronian who were tied for second to third with 5.0 each.

Then came Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, who had shared the lead briefly with Carlsen and Aronian in the fifth round, and Anand in a tie for fourth to fifth with 4.5.

Anand who had been struggling since losing to Radjabov in the opener soared to the top five on the back of his victory over Polgar in the eighth canto.

Behind the five leaders with 4.5 points each were two-time world junior champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Michael Adams of England and Loek van Wely of The Netherlands.

Peter Leko of Hungary followed with 3.5 in a tie for 10th to 12th with Topalov and Polgar, while Boris Gelfand of Israel and Pavel Eljanor of Ukraine brought up the rear in a tie for 13th and 14th with 2.5 each.

In Group B, Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia led with 6.0 points from eight games, followed by Etienne Bacrot of France with 5.5 and two Dutch grandmasters, Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen with 4.5 each.

Group C had the teenaged American-Italian prodigy, Fabiano Caruana, setting the pace with 6.0 points, followed by Dimitri Reinderman of The Netherlands in solo second with 5.5.

In a tie for third to fifth with 5.0 each were Arik Braun of Germany, John van der Wiel of The Netherlands and Parimarjan Negi of India with 5.0 each.

The imbroglio between Short and Cheparinov arose from remarks made by Short about former world champion Topalov and his Bulgarian team. Cheparinov was Topalov’s second in Elista where Fide’s champion lost the crown to classical champion Kramnik in a reunification match in September 2006.

Short accepted Cheparinov’s apology, clearing the way for them to play their eighth-round game.

Mariana top barangay team in QC 4th District

MARIANA topped Quezon City’s 4th District Inter-barangay Team title series over the weekend at the Amoranto Sports Complex.

Peter Lim and Neil Villanueva powered the team to garner 22.5 points and enter the next part of the series sponsored by Councilor Ariel Inton.—Marlon Bernardino