The Philippine team

THE Philippine teams which will represent our country in the Batumi Chess Olympiad this Sept. 23-Oct. 6, 2018, are: Men’s Team:

GM Julio Catalino “Ino” Sadorra GM John Paul Gomez

IM Haridas Pascua

IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia

FM MJ Turqueza Coach/Team Captain: GM Eugene Torre

Philippine Team Manager Atty. Ruel V. Canobas

Last June the National Chess Federation of the Philippines organized the Philippine Chess Championship and dubbed it the “Road to Batumi” as it also served as the qualifier for the national team. The final standings are:

Road to Batumi National Chess Championship (Men’s) Alphaland Makati Place, Makati City

1-3. IM Haridas Pascua 2439, IM John Emmanuel Garcia 2422, FM Mari Joseph Turqueza 2294, 8.0/11

4. IM Paulo Bersamina 2413, 7.5/11

5. GM John Paul Gomez 2461, 7.0/11

6. GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. 2452, 6.5/11

7. IM Richelieu Salcedo III 2249, 6.0/11

8. Jeth Romy Morado 2229, 4.5/11 9-10 IM Chito Garma 2339, Rolando Andador 2194, 3.5/11

11. Jonathan Jota 2259, 2.5/11

12. FM Roberto Suelo Jr. 2183, 1.0/11 Time Control: 90 minutes for the whole game with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1.

The three players who tied for first were all named into the Philippine team. Women’s Team:

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna WIM Catherine Secopito

WIM Elect Shania Mae Mendoza WIM Bernadette Galas

WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego Coach/Team Captain: GM Jayson Gonzales

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna is, of course, the Philippines’ first and only Woman Grandmaster. The other four players qualified via the Women’s Section of the Road to Batumi Tournament, to wit:

Road to Batumi National Chess Championship (Women’s) Alphaland Makati Place, Makati City

1. WFM Shania Mae Mendoza 2114, 7.0/9

2. WIM Catherine Secopito 2120, 6.5/9

3. WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego 2096, 5.5/9

4-5. WIM Bernadette Galas 2100, WFM Cherry Ann Mejia 1977, 4.5/9

6-7. WFM Allaney Jia G. Doroy 1974, WCM Christy Lamiel Bernales 2045, 4.0/9

8. WIM Mikee Charlene Suede 2092, 3.5/9

9. Jerlyn Mae San Diego 1700, 3.0/9

10. WFM Michelle Yaon 1847, 2.5/11 Time Control: 90 minutes for the whole game with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1

The big surprise to the men’s lineup is FM Mari Joseph “MJ” Torqueza. He already has three International Master norms and only needs to bring his rating from 2360 (as of current date) up to 2400 to earn the full International Master title.

MJ is the son of Atty. Gene Turqueza of the V. Luna Chess Club and plays for San Beda University.

GM Eugene Torre is the Coach and Team Captain but of course all eyes will be on our top board player, GM Julio Catalino Sadorra. Born Sept. 14, 1986 in Bacoor, Cavite, he moved to Singapore shortly after graduation and later on, in 2009, moved to the United States where he attended the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) on a chess scholarship. He has been a member of the Philippine Olympiad team since 2014. Ino has been keeping himself in sharp form by participating in a continuous round of tournaments and recently even won the Southwest Open in Irving, Texas.

84th Annual Southwest Open Irving, Texas August 30 - September 3, 2018

Final Top Standings:

1-3. GM Jeffery Xiong USA 2650, GM Julio Catalino Sadorra PHI 2555, IM Cameron Wheeler USA 2406, 6.5/9

4-8. GM Razvan Preotu CAN 2513, IM Nicolas Checa USA 2478, GM Angel Arribas Lopez ESP 2460, IM Zurag Javakhadze GEO 2438, IM Craig Hilby USA 2420, 6.0/9

9-13. GM Andrey Baryshpolets UKR 2609, GM Sergei Matsenko RUS 2533, IM Omer Reshef ISR 2497, GM Gil Popilski ISR 2491, IM Eylon Nakar ISR 2461, 5.5/9 Total Participants: 53

Time Control: 90 minutes for the whole game with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1

The game I am going to show you is an overpowering victory over the second seed (behind Jeffery Xiong) GM Anton Kovalyov. If his name sounds familiar to you it is because of last year’s World Cup held in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Kovalyov defeated the USA’s Varuzhan Akobian in the first round 1.5-0.5 and then upset the former world champion Viswanathan Anand in the second round with the same score. He was due to play Israel’s Maxim Rodshtein in the 3rd but, just before the game was due to start, the organizers asked him to change his shorts, the same pair he had worn in the first two rounds as it violated the dress code. In response Kovalyov left the venue and did not return. Neither did he show up for the second game and so he was eliminated from the World Cup. Of course, a lot has been said about this unfortunate incident, but I find it completely inappropriate for him to show up in shorts in a top level event like this where the organizers obviously spent a lot of money to showcase the best of chess.

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.b3 b6

Another way of continuing is 6...c5 7.Bb2 d4 8.e3 Nc6 9.exd4 cxd4 with sort of a Reversed Benoni. It appears that Black has no problems in this line, for example 10.Re1 Re8 11.d3 Bc5 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Rxe5 Bd6 14.Re1 e5 Black is at least equal here, probably better. Jones, G (2650) - Adams, M (2727) Bournemouth 2016 0–1 40.

7.Bb2 Bb7 8.cxd5

The main line here is 8.e3 but lately Black has been doing well with 8...c5 9.Nc3 Qc8! which enables a quick ...Rf8–d8, and supports ...Bb7–a6, attacking White’s queen should it move to e2.

8...Nxd5

[8...exd5 9.d4 leads to a line of the Queen’s Indian]

9.d4

And now we are in the Catalan.

9...c5

I’d like to remind the BW readers that this is the way the Wesley So game vs Onischuk went in the 2017 USA Championship. The game is the decisive one which won the title for the Cavite native. 9...Nd7 10.Re1 c5 11.e4 N5f6 12.Nc3 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Ne5 14.Qe2 Bc5 (14...Qxd4? 15.Nd5! Qc5 16.Rac1 Qd6 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Bxe5 leaves White with a strong pair of bishops) 15.Red1 Qe7 16.Na4 Bxd4 17.Bxd4 Nc6 18.Be3 Rfd8 19.Nc3 Qb4 20.Qb2 Ng4 21.Bf4 Nce5 22.a3 Qc5 23.Na4 Qb5 24.Nc3 Qc5 25.Na4 Qb5 26.h3 Nd3 27.Rxd3 Rxd3 28.hxg4 Qxb3? (Correct is 28...Rxb3 29.Qd4 Rc8 30.Bf1 Qe8 with chances for both sides) 29.Bf1! (The move that Onischuk missed) 29... Qxb2 30.Nxb2 Rb3 31.Nc4 Rd8 32.Nd6 Ba8 33.g5! (prevents ...g7–g5. White has a nice positional advantage but not a clear win yet. That is, unless your name is Wesley So. His perfect technique makes everything look forced) 33...Rc3 34.a4 Rc5 35.e5 Rd7 36.Be3 Rxe5 37.Rc1 Rd8 38.Rc7 Rd5 39.Nxf7 Rf8 40.g6! hxg6 41.Ng5 Rd1 42.Nxe6 Re8 43.Rxg7+ Kh8 44.Rxg6 Be4 45.Bd4+ 1–0 (45) So,W (2822)-Onischuk, A (2667) Saint Louis 2017.

10.Nbd2 Nd7 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.dxc5?!

This one looks like a mistake has Black’s knights get good squares in the queenside and center.

12...Nxc5 13.Nd4

Here is how a former world champion handled the black pieces. It has the same theme as Ino’s game — White could not get any action in the kingside while on the queenside Black’s forces advance quickly. 13.a3 b5 14.Rc2 Qb6 15.Bd4 Qa6 16.b4 Na4 17.Nb3 f6 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 f5 20.Bg2 Qd6 21.Be5 Qd7 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23.Qa1 Ndc3 24.Re1 Bd5 25.h4 Bf6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.e3 e5 28.Nh2 Kf7 29.Bh3 Ba8 30.Nf1 Qd3 31.e4 Bxe4 32.Re3 Qc2 33.Qe1 Rd8 34.f3 Ba8 Black is winning. Rubinetti, J (2430)-Spassky, B (2640) Buenos Aires 1979 0–1 44.

13...Bg5 14.N4f3 Bf6 15.Ne5 Bg5 16.Nef3 Bh6 17.Rc4 b5 18.Rh4 b4 19.Qe1 a5 20.Nc4 a4! 21.Nce5 f5

Keeping an eye on g4. 21...axb3? does not win a pawn. After 22. Ng4 Bg5 23.Nxg5 Qxg5 24.Bxd5 Blacks’s b4 pawn becomes vulnerable.

22.Nd3 a3 23.Ba1 Ne4! 24.Nd4

Not 24.Nxb4? as 24...Rc1! is a clear win for Black.

24...Qd6

A flashy win is 24...Bd2! 25.Qd1 Ne3! 26.fxe3 Bxe3+ 27.Kh1 Bxd4 28.Qe1 Bxa1 29.Qxa1 Rc2 but there is no need for this as simpler moves get the job done easily.

25.Nf3 Ndc3 26.Bxc3 bxc3

One gets the impression that at some point White should have given up his useless rook on h4 for Black’s powerful bishop on h6, for now the bishop ends the game quickly.

27.Nfe5 Bd2 28.Qa1 c2 29.Nc4 Rxc4 30.bxc4 Nc3 31.Nc1 Rb8 32.Bxb7 Rxb7 33.Nb3 Nxe2+ 34.Kg2 Bc3 0–1 <D> FINAL POSITION

The White queen has nowhere to go. On Ino Sadorra’s shoulders will rest the hopes of the Philippines.