by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines—The Laguna Heroes recovered from a setback to the Manila Indios Bravos by blasting the Olongapo Rainbow Team 7, 17-4, in the third conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) online tournament via chess.com Saturday, September 18, 2021.

Grandmaster John Paul Gomez bested National Master Levi Mercado to power the Heroes to a 2-1 win-loss record in the Northern Division.

Gomez, a many-time Philippine olympiad team member, downed Mercado in 30 moves of Bogo Indian Defense in their rapid play.

Also delivering wins for the Heroes were Michella Concio, FIDE Master Jose Efren Bagamasbad, Vince Angelo Medina, Kimuel Aaron Lorenzo and Arije Bayangat.

“We are just trying to get better every game. We are just trying to get in better shape,” said Arena Grandmaster Dr. Fred Paez, one of the four co-team owners of the Laguna Heroes together with Mr. David Nithyananthan of KALARO, Engr. Benjamin Dy of SDC Global Choice and Engr. Jonathan Mamaril of Oregon, USA.

Backed up by Greatech Philippines, Inc., SDC Global Choice, Jolly Smile Dental Clinic, KALARO and Rotary Club of Nuvali, the Laguna Heroes also beat Pasig City King Pirates, 11.5-9.5.

Up next for the Heroes are the Rizal Batch Towers and the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights on Wednesday

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines— The Professional Chess Association of the Philippines held Awards Ceremonies today 15th September 2021 for the 2nd PCAP series.

Iloilo Kisela Knights clinched the second Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) title dubbed as GM Wesley So Cup after beating San Juan Predators in their two-leg encounter, 13-8 (first set) and 11.5-9.5 (second set) in the grand finals last month virtually held at chess.com platform.

“It really was a team effort from start to finish. The team’s hard works did pay off tonight and more success to come as the team continue to improve individually and as a team. Congratulations,” said Iloilo Kisela Knights Team Owner Leo Sotaridona.

13-time Philippine Open Champion Grandmaster Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., Woman FIDE Master Cherry Ann Mejia, National Master Fritz Bryan Porras and National Master John Michael Silvederio delivered victories for Kisela Knights after beating Sub-import Spanish Grandmaster Victor Moskalenko, Woman International Master Jan Jodilyn Fronda, Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa and Narciso Gumila ruled the rapid play, 11-3, in the first set.

Sub-import Armenian Grandmaster Hovhannes Gabuzyan, National Master Cesar Mariano and Dennis Bermas also contributed a draw.

San Juan Predators edged Iloilo Kisela Knights, 5-2, in the first set blitz game on triumphs by Moskalenko, Fronda, Barbosa and Narquingel Reyes while draws by IM Ricardo de Guzman and Gumila.

In their second set blitz encounter, Gabuzyan, Mariano, Silvederio and Porras won their matches and draw by NM Karl Victor Ochoa spearhead Iloilo Kisela Knights into a 4.5-2.5 victory. The rapid play ended up in a 7-all deadlock

by Marlon Bernardino
The N1 IIEE National Chess Olympiad opening ceremony attracted 96 players on the chapter team battle game held last September 10 at 9pm and 90 players on 7pm Regional Team battle.

Chapter team Bracket A winners:  IIEE Iloilo emerged on top followed by IIEE Southern Laguna (SLC) and IIEE CDO.  Eric Frigillana of IIEE Metro South top the scorer with 13 points followed by 11 of Jeremiah Nolasco (SLC) and 10 by Arjun Crisologo (CDO).

Chapter team Bracket B winners: IIEE Metro Central (MCC) was on top followed by IIEE Cebu and IIEE Camarines (Bicol).  Jorex Colmo of Abu Dhabi-UAE scored 13 points followed by 12 each of Jeff Pascua of Cavite and Joselito Alejano (MMC).

Chapter team Bracket C winners: IIEE Southern Tagalog (BQM or Batangas-Quezon-Mimaropa) gain the top spot followed by IIEE Metro West (MWC) and IIEE Metro East (MEC).  Apollo Zantua (MWC) was immaculate with 16 points Glenn Zenarosa (WRSCA) with 12 and 11 by Mark Eric Pilanga of IIEE Bulacan.

Chapter team Bracket D winners: IIEE Bahrain had rampage as team highest scorer for the day with  41 followed by IIEE Bataan and IIEE Metro North (MEC).  Henry Malinis (Bahrain) topped with 13 points followed by 12 each of Jayson Hilario(Bataan) and Alexander Piad (Bahrain).

Regional Team Battle:  IIEE Metro Manila Region (MMR) with 18 players accumulated 49 points (only top 6 players score counts), followed by IIEE Eastern/Central Visayas Region (ECVR) with 45 and IIEE Southern & Western Mindanao Regions (SWMR) with 41.  The top 3 players are Joselito Alejano (MMR) with 12 points and 10 each by Marlon Bulao (SWMR) and Chester Concordia of Southern Luzon Region (SLR).

There will be special Regional Team Battle on September 16, 2021 during the 20th Eastern Central Visayas Regional Conference.

The Olympiad will be guided by consultant FIDE National Arbiter Richard R. Dela Cruz, tournament director and former IIEE Bulacan chapter president  Norberto De Jesus and 2021 IIEE National President Allan Anthony P. Alvarez

Balochistan Chess Association organized another mega event “CM Mir Balak Sher khan invitational chess championship 2021”, under the umbrella of the Chess Federation of Pakistan. The event was organized in honor of the first international title holder for the region. The Association is the most active in country and in just 6 months, has organized 10 tournaments, in which 9 were of standard time control.

Mir Balak Sher khan is the first ever champion of Balochistan (1981) and highest ever FIDE rated player from the region (2205). Seventy players from all over Balochistan participated in this event, with complete support from ministry of Sports and youth affairs and Balochistan Sports Department.

CM Balak Sher started the event with three straight wins against Ewaz Ali, Senior player Hazrat Ali and Muhammad Nawaz Zehri, while the second seed and second highest rated player from region and winner of the last 7 out of 9 standard chess tournaments in country, Dr Muhammad Ayoub also won his first three games, including a win against Muhammad Ayaz, X-Balochistan Champion.

In the fourth round, Mir Balak Sher and Dr Muhammad Ayoub got paired together, and it was a match of supreme complexity and at the end Dr Muhammad Ayoub had beaten the CM!

It was hard to stop him afterwards and he once again claimed the crown of the champion after beating Ali Madad in the last round.

In the previous year, Dr Muhammad Ayoub won 8 out of 10 standard chess tournaments, with FIDE rating  points gain of more than 300 points. He Played 83 standard chess games in the last year, with 72 wins, 6 draws and only 5 loses.

Haseeb Ur Rehman Jawad stood second, while Ali Madad got third place.

Prof. Syed Wasee Akther congratulated the champion and players from all over the province for their participation. Afzal Mengal congratulated the CM Mir Balak Sher for his international title.

GM Abhimanyu Puranik topped the individual championship and led the Indian team to victory in the Asian University Men’s Team Championship held over the weekend of 10-12 September 2021 on Tornelo. IM Yeoh Li Tian of Singpore won second place alone with 7 points.

Puranik scored 7.5 points in the 9-round Swiss to lead India’s 24 point tally for the team gold medal. Indian teammates (l to r) IM Kalyan Arjun scored 6 points, GM Venkataraman Karthik 4.4 and IM A. Ra Harikrishnan 5 points for India’s total.

The Iran team won the silver medal with 22.5 points. Scoring for Iran were (l to r) IM Seyed Khalil Mousavi with 6.5 points, Mahdi Gholami Orimi and IM Mersad Khodashenas with 5.5 points each and FM Amir Hosein Kasheel with 5 points.

Malaysia and Indonesia scored 22 points apiece but Malaysia won the bronze with the better tie break by half a point of scores of top 3 boards.

Scoring for Malaysia were (l to r) IM Yeoh Li Tian with 7 points, FM Teh Eu Wen Aron with 5.5, Emir Rusyaidi with 5 points and Subramanian Sivanesan with 4.5 points. IM Yeoh Li Tian won the silver medal for individual results.

The event was hosted by the Indonesia University Sports Federation (IUSF) and organized by Universitas Gunadarma under the auspices of the Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF) and Asian Chess Federation (ACF). 2-12 September 2021 on Tornelo. The AUSF and ACF had entered into a Memorandum of Agreement last year to promote chess in Universities.

Participating countries are China, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Oman, Palestine, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and to download games.

Visit asianchess.com for Asian Women’s University Chess Championship rsults

  https://live.followchess.com/#!asian-university-chp-2021

  https://live.chessbase.com/watch/Asian-University-Chess-ch-Men-2021/

  https://www.chess.com/events/2021-asian-university-chess-championship

  https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-asian-university-chess-championship

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines—The 2nd season of the N1 IIEE National Chess Olympiad will be underway on September 10, 2021.  There will be 24 chapter teams which are bracketed into 4 based on the team average LiChess ratings of its 4 players.  There will also be 10 Regional teams that will play for the Olympiad that comprises of over 200 players.  There are 2 NMs (Robert Arellano and Dennis  Gutierrez) and more than 50 players with above 2000 ratings who will be vying for the individual honors and championship crown to be defended by the IIEE Southern Laguna Chapter.  The tournament will be until November 19, every Friday night and the awarding will be done during the IIEE Annual National Convention on November 27, 2021.

Bracket A: Metro South, Cagayan de Oro (CDO), Southern Laguna (SLC), Central Region CHapter Saudi Arabia (CRCSA), Iloilo and Visayas Team.

Bracket B: Camarines, Metro Central (MCC), Cebu, AUH-UAE (Abu Dhabi/Emirates), Northen Cavite (NCC0 and Southwest Mindanao Team

Bracket C: Metro West (MWC), Bulacan, La Union (CKAB, etc.), Metro East (MEC), Western Region Chapter Saudi Arabia (WRCSA) and Southern Tagalog Team

Bracket D: Eastern Region Chapter Saudi Arabia (ERCSA), Bahrain, Central Laguna (CLC), Bataan and Metro North (MNC).

There are 6 teams from the Foreign Region in the National Chess Olympiad.  This online chess is fostering camaraderie and friendship through among the IIEE members of both local and that of the Foreign Region.  For the Foreign Virtual Olympics, the driving force behind it was initiated by IIEE Foreign Governor Orlando T. Villapaña, Jr. thereby bridging the geographical locations of the participating chapters and counter the restrictions due to the COVID -19 pandemic hence the sports competitions are carried out virtually.

It was open last July 23, 2021 hosted by IIEE-State of Qatar Chapter and the 8-week event drew enthusiasts of Chess, Scrabble, Mobile Legends, Darts, 3-Point Shoot Out, Skill Challenge, Chant/Yell, Pictionary, Name that Tune, Electrical Quiz and Cheer Dance together in one virtual arena to battle it out for the overall championship.

Twelve chapters; IIEE-ERCSA, IIEE-WRCSA, IIEE-CRCSA, IIEE-SQC, IIEE-UAE, IIEE-BAHRAIN, IIEE-SINGAPORE, IIEE-KUWAIT, IIEE-NWRCSA, IIEE-ABU DHABI, IIEE-SOC and IIEE-CIC put their game faces on to uphold team honor and pride under the spirit of friendly competition.

The closing ceremonies will be held on September 10, 2021 with two events yet to be conducted, Electrical Quiz Show and Cheer Dance Competition. Awarding ceremonies will immediately ensue to officially proclaim the winners of individual events and declare the overall champion of the First IIEE Foreign Region Virtual Olympics.  After which, the Olympic torch will be virtually handover to IIEE National for the conduct of the on-line chess via LiChess.

Amir Zahoor Butt won the Serena Azadi Cup Rapid FIDE Rated Chess Championship organized of NM Muhammad Zahid with the support and sponsorship by Kingcrete Builders, under the umbrella of Chess Federation of Pakistan. It was the first ever chess tournament in the country conducted in the 5 Star Pearl-continental Hotel Lahore. Players were provided with all possible facilities including refreshments and lunch. The total tash Prize for the one day event was 150,000/ rp, the biggest to date.

The Event was a 6 Round Swiss league with time control of 15 minutes for the whole game with 5 seconds increment from move 1.

The Event was organized in 3 major categories:

Serena Azadi Cup FIDE Rated Rapid Chess Championship 2021 (Open)

Serena Azadi Cup FIDE Rated Rapid Chess Championship 2021 (Woman)

Serena Azadi Cup FIDE Rated Rapid Chess Championship 2021 (Junior U20, U15 & U10)

Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings and results.

Total participants in the event were 130, The Chief Guest was Sikandar Minhas.

Amir Zahoor Butt won the championship with a perfect score of 6 out of 6.

Junaid Sohail got 1st place in U20 and 5th overall 👍🏻

WCM Mehak Gul Won women category with 5 out of 5

Serena Azadi Cup Rapid FIDE Rated Chess Championship was organized by NM Muhammad Zahid and his dedicated team with the Support and sponsorship by KINGCRETE Builders, under the umbrella of Chess Federation of Pakistan and Asian Chess Federation. It was the First ever chess tournament in country conducted in a 5 Star Pearl-continental Hotel Lahore. Players were provided with all possible facilities including refreshments and Lunch. The Total Cash Prize for the one day event was 150000/ rp, the biggest till date.

The Indian team (left to right) of WGMs V. Varshini and Seshadri Srija and WIMs Mukherjee Arpita and P. Michelle Catherina, won the Asian University Women’s Chess Championship with a total of 25.5 points from 9 rounds.

The event was hosted by the Indonesia University Sports Federation (IUSF) and organized by Universitas Gunadarma under the auspices of the Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF) and Asian Chess Federation (ACF). 2-12 September 2021 on Tornelo.

The Iranian team (left to right) of Safoura Ghane, WFM Tannaz Azali and WIMs Anahita Gholami Orinmi and Vesal Hamedi Nia scored 25 points for Silver medal.

The Malaysian team (left to right) of WFM Tn i Ting, WCM Sivanesan Nithyalakshmi, WIM Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Azhar and WFM Puteri Rifqah Fahada Azhar score 21 points for bronze with a better tie score break over host Indonesia.

WGM V. Varshini of India won the individual championship alone in first place with 7.5 points followed by Safoura Ghani of Iran in second place with 7 points and WFM Tannaz Ghani of Iran in third place with 6.5 points and the better tie break score. Here are the top 8 awardees:

Participating countries are China, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Oman, Palestine, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings and standings and to download games.

Watch women’s games on:

 https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-asian-university-womens-chess-championship

https://www.chess.com/events/2021-asian-university-womens-chess-championship

 https://live.chessbase.com/watch/Asian-University-Chess-ch-Women-2021/

 https://live.followchess.com/#!asian-university-chp-w-2021

The event is hosted by the Indonesia University Sports Federation (IUSF) and organized by Universitas Gunadarma under the auspices of the Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF) in cooperation with the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). The AUSF and ACF had entered into a Memorandum of Agreement last year to promote chess in Universities,

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines —The Philippine Chess Team wound up second overall in the team competition of the Pool A action in Division 2 of the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad.
Reigning National Champion Woman International Master Jan Jodilyn Fronda outlasted Tanima Parveen in 56 moves of a Scotch Opening to power the Philippines to a 5.5-0.5 win over Bangladesh Saturday.
Grandmaster Darwin Laylo, International Master Michael Concio Jr., Jersey Marticio and Ma. Elayza Villa also provided the wins to help the Filipinos finish No. 2 with 16 match points, the same output of top notcher Indonesia, who trounced Chinese-Taipei, 5-1.
Indonesia grabbed the top spot with 40.5 tie break points better than runner-up place Philippines with 39.5 points.
Laylo subdued Grandmaster Bin-Sattar Reefat in 29 moves of a Catalan Opening, Concio nipped pine Master Rahman Mohammad Fahad in 66 moves of a Queens Indian defense, Marticio crushed Woman FIDE Master Anjum Noshin in 30 moves of a Scotch Opening and Villa trounced Woman International Master Sharmin Shirin Sultana in 73 moves of a Queens Gambit Declined.
Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman split the point with International Master Paulo Bersamina in 30 moves of a Kings Indian defense to prevent a possible shut-out loss of Bangladesh.
The top three finishers will then advance to the four-pool Top Division where the top two move on to the two-set quarterfinals.
The team, which has GM Eugene Torre as coach and GM Jayson Gonzales as delegation head.
” We win as one. Co-Champion, FIDE Online World Chess Olympiad 2021 (Division 2 – Pool A). After 3 days of teamwork and perseverance, Philippine Chess Team has conquered the World stage. We are now ready to fight for the next battle against the Top Divisions on Sept 8-10, 2021. Continue to show your love and utmost support to our Chess Heroes. A big congratulations to Philippine Chess Team,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Senior Deputy Speaker Prospero “Butch” Arreza Pichay J