All About Chess...

                           2nd Negros Closed Invitational Chess Championship 2012                            Rd.9    NM Acaling vs. CM Montoyo    Sicilian Defense (B27) I would rather not mention in detail the controversy that happened before and during the game since everything turned out to be alright after it. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d5! Honestly, this is the first time I encountered this move, which means my opening reference is very old, but probably not yet obsolete :) There are many moves in this position 5..Nc6, 5..Qb6, 5..Qc7, 5..Bc5 but perhaps the most popular continuation here is 5..Bb4 while 5..d6 will transpose to Scheveningen type of position. ...

Whew, what a ride! A very tough tournament. Prior to the event, I thought (based on last years results) that to be able to win the event, you have to score not less than 7pts. If I’m not mistaken last years champ FIDE Master Sander Severino’s score is exactly 7pts. This benchmark may have been equaled or even surpassed had Ellan Asuela been able to play in the first two rounds. National Master Carlito Lavega ( incidentally his NM title was not included in the National Chess Federation of the Philippines’ ratings list, I wonder why?!) snatched the lead in the first three rounds, but by the middle rounds he was caught up by FM Sander Severino. The blitz playoff of Lavega and Asuelan.* (Photo by James Toga) These two were involved in a neck to neck race down the wire up to the penultimate round, with the leads switching from one to the other with every rounds. After the eighth round was completed, it became apparent that there was a new co-leader, and it was none ot...

MIKHAIL TAL’S STARE was infamous, and to some ominous. With his deep brown, almost black eyes, he’d glare so intently at his opponents that some said he was attempting to hypnotize them into making a vapid move. The Hungarian-American player Pal Benko actually donned sunglasses once when he played Tal, just to avoid the penetrating stare. Tal's burning stare... Bobby had tolerated Tal’s stare when they first met over the board in Portorož, Yugoslavia. That game had ended in a draw. At his first game against Tal, in Bled, Bobby was already at the board when the twenty-three-year-old Mischa arrived just in time to commence play. Bobby stood and Tal offered his right hand to shake. Tal’s hand was severely deformed, with only three large fingers appended, and since his wrist was so thin, the malformation resembled a claw. Bobby, to his credit, didn’t seem to care. He returned the gesture with a two-stroke handshake, and play began. Within a ...

Over the years I have come to observe Anatoly Karpov's style of play, his deep and at times phenomenal strategic vision. I have enjoyed countless of his games. In Karpov's play I have always been staggered by his amazing ability to soberly and absolutely accurately evaluate the position on the board. To evaluate quickly without spending much time on analysis. This comes from his fantastic chess intuition, from innate talent. In his time, it is primarily this that distinguishes the young Karpov among the leading grandmasters in the world. By his style of play Karpov can be compared with the Cuban genius, the great Capablanca. Although there is one important distinction. When you play through Capa's games, you begin to think: Oh, it's all so simple, even I could do that. By contrast, Karpov's games initially startle you by their strategy, which seems illogical, but soon it becomes clear that in fact his play is extremely logi...

F ew young players knew how strong GM Boris Gelfand was and still is. In 1989 he won the GMA Open in Palma de Mallorca which was participated by more than 160 grandmasters! An amazing record!! He left Ivanchuk, Anand, Shirov, Karpov, Leko, Adams, Short, Korchnoi, Timman, Kamsky, Svidler etc. behind him eating dust. He won with a clear half point edge. Untied and un-equaled. He won the 1990 Manila Inter-Zonal (Ivanchuk was the co-champion but he lost in the tie-break) ahead of 63 elite grandmasters. In the 13th and final round Ivanchuk (who was the solo leader with a half point advantage against Gelfand) quickly drew with Anand in only 12 moves of Petroff Defense. While Gelfand, relieved somewhat of the pressure, was in a win to order mode. Determined to crush his own compatriot GM Alexander Khalifman (Khalifman became World Champion in the late 90's when Fide decided to hold the WCC in a ridiculous KO format.), he fought with all his might and accompl...

B eauty itself cannot be perceived. We have no physical sense for it in particular. We can only perceive elements, which in their combination, in their ratio of composition trigger a feeling of beauty in us. In order to experience beauty, it has nevertheless to be inside of ourselves. Not outside of ourselves. Not in a landscape, not in a sunset, not in the body of a woman and also not in a work of art. Neuroscientists say that the perception of beauty is caused by the disbursement of a certain hormone or neuron-transmitter. When this substance is present in an adequate concentration in a particular part of the brain, then it activates a special perception which we call "beauty". And it seems that a determinate set of impressions must act together, in order for the hormone to be disbursed. In their own way the mental movements of a game of chess seem to cause this effect equally on players and the audience in the same fashion, ...

The 2001 Philippine Open (Semi-Finals) was one of the most interesting chess events of the early 21'st Century. And not only because of the excellent start and sensational collapse of NM Rodrigo Atutubo, it is also the very first high caliber tournament sanctioned by the newly formed National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). NCFP was fresh from it's victory over the floundering chess organization Philippine Chess Federation (PCF). The media coverage of the tournament was huge. I remember that almost all the sports journalist/writer (not only chess journalist) was there to cover the event. And not only that, ABS-CBN also sent it's own representative to cover the event. The tournament was held at the 2nd floor of Greenhills Shopping Mall. The total prize fund of the tournament was huge, in the semi-final alone the total prize fund was close to P500,000. Atutubo started the tournament like a h...