The 1st to 3rd rounds of 4th Xavier Interscholastic Invitational Chess Tournament happened last Saturday, January 19, 2007. It was a good Saturday for me for a lot of reasons.
It was by far the biggest Xavier Chess Tournament and yes (so sorry Mr. John!) it was late by an hour and a half. Let's be clear on this though: the organizers were there, Mr. Alex Dinoy (of the Shell Active Chess) was there too ready to do the arbitration but we had to wait for some schools.
During the wait, I had the chance to chat and observe other chess coaches. Interestingly, Southridge School's chess coach Mr. Lito Aguilar asked me a great question, Am I a Master? to which John replied quickly, "Ibang master yan!" and Sonny (of ISM) "Master Rapper yan!" Hay hay hay!
Well, I have to write more stuffs now because am waiting for the file download sent to me by Marc, the student, potographer and chess player of Xavier who was kind enough to give into my request for the pictures he took last Saturday.
Ok, while waiting here's a run down of the schools who participated last Saturday here's a rundown of the participating schools:
1. La Salle Greenhills-LSGH(Grade School and High School)
2. La Immaculada Concepcion School
3. Colegio de San Agustin (Makati)
4. Southridge School
5. Ateneo de Manila University
6. International School Manila
7. Mahatma Gandhi International School (ISM)
8. Lourdes School -Quezon City (Independent)
9. Xavier School
LSGH boys are favored to bring home the top prizes both for for grade school and high school division. Ateneo, I was told by their very friendly coach, NM Butel(maybe wrong spelling), sent their development team which is a good move to allow their upcoming players the chance and experience to play on their own without their stars. Hay! It's so good to have a "farm team"!
I was able to chat with Sir Sonny, the coach of ISM who generously shared to his insights on way to deal with chess club and other coaching issues. My goodness,ISM's players have improved a lot! In third round for grade school, I think I saw at least three greened-shirt (ISM) players playing on top boards! Great!
Of course, the three time Xavier Invitational champions, LICS always have players playing or fighting on the top boards, be it in grade school or high school category.
And yes, for my team, we managed to get 1.5 points out of possible 12 points. Huhuhu! Long way to go, long way!
Oops! Before I forget although the whole world knows it... The great Robert "Bobby" Fischer is dead at 64! The pride and sorrow of the chess kingdom! I got the message from NM Erwin Carag around 5 in the morning and man oh man! I was surprised to with what I felt. I felt bad, really! I never thought I'd be affected by news of his death. Don't know why but I suppose it's because I haven't had the chance of seeing him play actively during this phase in my life, chess life.
The chess world lost one of our greatest! It's time to move on Bobby!
Whatever happened to the 1st NCFP Congress last Saturday? I heard it pushed thruin Tagaytay and the newspapers says Congressman Pichay won the presidential seat again together with 14 other directors. Let's see what's next after this.
GM Gonzales is the ninth Fiiipino GM and the third one in less than 6 months!
Here's an announcement from NAPCA:
To : Sports Department of Cities and Municipalities,
Chess Clubs, Schools and Organization
From : The joint project of the National Chess Federation of the
Philippines and the National Association of Philippine
Chess Arbiters, Inc.
Subject : 2nd NCFP ARBITERS' SEMINAR
February 9-10, 2008 Baguio City
In cognizant to the just concluded FIDE Arbiters Seminar held September 21-24, 2007 at Cebu international Convention Center, Mandaue, Cebu City . It is important that some of the delegates of the prestigious International Seminar will share their skills and knowledge in the Laws of Chess to the participants of the NCFP Chess Arbiters Seminar.
This seminar is a fitting follow-up of the program to discover qualified Arbiters ready to officiate in CHESS activities nationwide. Our move is to support the program of NCFP under the leadership of President Prospero ?Butch? Pichay and Secretary-General Abraham ?Bambol? Tolentino.
A joint project of NCFP and NAPCA Arbiters Program cordially invites your representative to attend the NCFP CHESS ARBITERS? SEMINAR on February 9 ( 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ) to February 10 ( 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ) 2007 at the Seminar Room- University of Baguio , Baguio City .
Facilitators
INTERNATIONAL ARBITER WILLY ABALOS
Chairman, Committee on Tournament Organization & Management
National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP)
FIDE ARBITER & INSTRUCTOR ATTY. ROMMEL TACORDA
Chairman, National Association of Philippine Chess Arbiters (NAPCA)
The seminar registration fee is only Php 1,500.00 inclusive of food, materials, Seminar Uniform and other paraphernalia. Certified Arbiters will be issued by a Certificate of Completion to be signed by President and Secretary-General of NCFP.
For registration and inquiries please contact FA Ilann Perez, NCFP 381-7224 / 09053269576 or NAPCA Teddy Sarmiento (Baguio City) Rolando Suarez(Central) 8863478 / 757-9253 / 09167716369 or Rolando Li񡮨West) 671-7256 / 09179934851 / 09215307050 / 09166169586 or Avelino Carredo(East) 4305342 / 09208889412 or Joseph Estallo (North) 8826288 / 09228914199 or Leo Erazo(South) 09206460671 or Joseph Estallo 09228914199 or Francis Geriane 5415761. Registration Forms available at NCFP or NAPCA.
And yes, the sendit.com file download is not done yet! Arrgggh! I'll post those pictures later!
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