Last Hoorah for 2008

As we almost near the end of 2008, we are seeing a last hoorah for the year for Team Philippines playing in the 1st Asian Club Cup. Going into the 4th round, our young, all-GM team maintains an unblemished 6 Match points to place 1st on the standings.

GM's Wesley, Mark, John Paul and Darwin are in good form and hopefully maintain this until the end. Some say this line up is a lot stronger than what our country had for the Olympiad. Some even say we could have landed higher on the standings if we had this team for the Olympiad. I don't agree with this coz hey, we had a national qualifying and the players in the names of Villamayor, Gonzales qualified fair and square. Also, please stop crying over it.

Back in January 2008, our present NCFP president, former congressman Pichay jr. gave a forecast about producing 5 grandmasters this year. We almost produced an egg this year, thanks for the fine showing of John Paul Gomez, our newly-minted grandmaster. I was lucky enough to have had a chit-chat with him 2 a month before the Olympiad as he helped out his girlfriend who was promoting environmentally helpful projects in our school, Mahatma Gandhi International School. All he had to say was hopefully he plays well in the Olympiad. He did and he got his reward, a GM title.

Going back to the Asian Club Cup, everybody's awaiting for the match between GM Wesley So and GM Sergei Karjakin, two prodigies playing board 1 for their teams. Remember Wesley's drawn game with Gm Shirov in the Olympiads? Well, we can only be hopeful if ever the two prods' meet in this tourney.

In the local shores, not much chess news as we all take a long holiday break. Hope all is well and yes, my dad's out of the hospital, thanks for all the prayers.

Till then!