CEBU MOURNS DEATH OF CHESS ICON
I admire his deep intelligence and creativity. He was like an encyclopedia of chess that he knew almost everything that sorrounds it. He is great loss to the whole chess community. JERRY MARATAS Cepca president
Politicians in Malaysia are urging the organizers of a chess tournament to clarify what happened when a 12-yearold girl was allegedly banned from a tournament because of her dress. FRANK ‘BOY’ PESTANO, in his last Chessmoso column about a chess candal in Malaysia.
Cebu chess community saddened by passing of columnist Boy Pestano Founder of Cepca credited for boosting the game through contacts Pestano praised as kindhearted soul who looked out for young players
Francisco “Boy” Pestaño left Cebu chess just as when it is scaling back to the top, an advocacy that he constantly fought for in his columns that came out every Friday in SunStar Cebu and every Wednesday in SuperBalita Cebu.
His unique take, trivia and puzzles engrossed his readers, players and hobbyists alike who have been hooked with his column that they sometimes talk about his pieces regularly.
But that is gone now as the writer behind “Chessmoso” died peacefully in his sleep at his residence in Mabolo last Tuesday, May 9.
The news shocked the entire chess community--not just players, coaches, enthusiasts and and officials in Cebu--but from the entire nation as well and his death took a little out of the excitement in the awarding rites of the 2017 National Age Group Chess Championships.
Final message
The night before he died, he sent a text message to almost everybody in his phonebook, to set up a dinner meeting to talk about the upcoming events of his pet organization—the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (Cepca).
Pestaño was the co-founder of Cepca along with Art Yncli- no, Sonny Sollano, Gerry Tomakin, his brother Danny Pestaño, Bombi Aznar, Loy Miñoza, Alex Tolentino and Nicnic Climaco. He also served as its founding president in 1990.
In his term as the Cepca president, Pestaño became close with former Fide president Florencio Campomanes, who became his drinking buddy. Cepca was able to hold several simul events with grandmasters Filipino Eugene Torre, Walter Arencibia of Cuba, Jaime Sunye-Neto of Brazil and Carlos Juarez of Guatemala in 1990.
Cepca also had similar events with GMs Jorge Hickl (Germany), Edmar Mednis (USA), Alexander Wojiewich, Ian Rogers (Australia), Ye Rongguang (China) and Dibyendo Barua (India) and just last month, Cepca had one with Cebuano GM Enrico Sevillano.
Through Campomanes’s influence, Cepca got a piece of recog- nition in international community as one of the active clubs in the world by Chess Digest, considered Bible of Chess. It all happened because of Pestaño’s friendship with Campomanes.
Current Cepca president Jerry Maratas is thankful for Pestaño for his influence in chess.
“Boy was very passionate about the whole world of chess, from games to players to tournaments to organizers and even the politics in chess. I admire his deep intelligence and creativity. He was like an encyclopedia of chess that he knew almost everything that surrounds it. He was also the chief architect of some of our memorable activities such as the Cepcans vs. Lady Varsity players and Cepcans vs. inmates. He was also instrumental in the inclusion of ladies and kids in our monthly qualifying tournaments. He even shouldered the registration fees for some of them. He was so kind to lady and kid players. He is great loss to the whole chess community. Cepca will surely miss him. So long my friend,” Maratas said.
Before he wrote columns for newspapers, Pestaño was a respected chemical engineer and businessman.
He finished high school at the Christ the King Seminary in Quezon City in 1961 and graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1966 at the University of San Carlos. He passed the ChE board in the same year and started working at Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.
After a year with PII, he was hired by MobilOil Philippines Inc. (before it was sold to Caltex Philippines), and worked with the sales department for a decade before he decided to start a business of his own.
Pioneer
He was a pioneer in selling betamax tapes and players in the country and the of manufacturing the TV Projection systems. He admitted that that earned him fortunes before his products got outdated by the latest technology.
It was in his years with MobilOil that Pestaño pursued his love for chess and became a permanent fixture at the Luneta Chess Club,, where he had played against the top players of today, including the GM Joey Antonio. He lost four games to Antonio.
In his lifetime, Pestaño had a rating of 2080 by the then Philippine Chess Federation, which was carried over by the now National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
Aside from being a chess addict, Pestaño was also a member and lecturer of the Philippine Astronomical Society. It was in his-star gazing days that he developed a theory and belief in God being genetic when we “evolved” and not rational.
It was because of this theory that Pestaño turned his back on the belief that there is one Divine Being.
Aside from this, Pestaño, also had a hypothesis of intelligent aliens whose memory and computing power is like that of today’s computer capable of unimaginable IQs.
Away from his intellectual side, he was just like an average Filipino when he was much younger. Being blessed with height; he was 5-foot-11, which was tall for the average Filipino in 1950s to 70s,Pestaño was also lured by the love of basketball.
All seven boys of the family, including their older brother Jimmy, who became a member of the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles squad, and younger brother Danny, formed the deadly Hi-7 squad of Mabolo that began winning tournaments in Cebu.
He even became a member of the Christ the King basketball team. But his love affair with chess was hard to ignore as it was also inherited from their father. He eventually returned to playing chess after he got his college degree.