Well-organized Pangasinan chess tilt

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

 

SELDOM do I watch a chess tournament because honestly it’s not really my sport. I don’t know much about this mental game, but I do enjoy watching it especially if there are grandmaster players participating in a tourney. And that’s what I saw last May 5 at Robinson’s Place in Calasiao as I watched the province’s biggest chess tournament of the year (so far) with four of the Philippines’ grandmasters gallantly participating.

As expected, three of the four GMs landed in the top five won by Oliver Barboza.  The two-day tilt was really well organized and I doff my cap to the Hermanos Chess Club of Calasiao led by Allen Garcia for a job well done. The battle-of-the-brains tourney was conducted at the first floor main lobby of Robinson’s Place where the sweltering heat outside the mall was no match to the coolness of the venue due to the huge newly-furbished air-condition unit at the reception area. Not one of the 128 participants, divided into two categories (open and 14 under), complained of any inconvenience. All the participants were well taken care of by chief organizer Garcia, especially the GMs that were obviously the crowd-darlings of the tilt attended by hundreds of chess lovers.

I also met the five Pangasinan prides, young idols of mine led by the 19 year-old international master (IM) Haridas Pascua of Mangatarem, 17 year-old Prince Mark Aquino of San Nicolas, national master (NM) Giovanni Mejia of Labrador and the youthful lasses Samantha Revita of Rosales and Cherry Ann Mejia of Labrador. My town Mangaldan, a lover of this Russian-invented sport fielded only two of the town’s best, Mark Donald Castillo and John Marx Anastacio, in the open and 14 and under categories, respectively. I’m proud of my kabaleyan, the 14 year-old Anastacio, who finished third out of 41 participants. But the best of the 65 Pangasinan contestants that joined the tiff was Pascua, placing sixth in the open class. That was expected because Pascua with FIDE elo-rating of 2367, is the highest ranked Pangasinan woodpusher and has been many times abroad to represent our country. He’s just few points away to acquire his IM norm and hopefully to eventually notch the prestigious grandmaster norm. I also had the opportunity to meet the ageless first Asian international master, mi amigo Rodolfo Tan Cardoso who was one of the guests of the occasion. Cardoso was born in Anda and now a bona-fide resident of Alaminos City.

Elated by the success of the tilt, Garcia is contemplating to organize another one this year, but will be promoted with bigger prizes and with a more impressive list of entries. Garcia said it will be sponsored anew by the sports-loving Robinson’s Place Pangasinan of Calasiao and will be staged at the same venue. Yes, I believe it will push through. Garcia also extends his heartfelt thanks to the ‘key to the event’, Ms. Maria Catherine S. Alejandro, the regional operations manager of Robinsons Place Pangasinan and also to Ricardo Yuzon and Francisco G. Junio for without these generous people, the prestigious tourney would not have been successful. Mabuhay kayo, my fellow kabaleyan and please continue promoting chess. Like billiards, football, boxing, cycling and taekwondo, chess is another sport where we we can excel in international competitions.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And Jesus Christ said, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. JAMES 1: 22-25

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