Sunday, June 23, 2013

PHILIPPINES WIN FOUR MEDALS IN CHINA BOXING OPEN


The Philippine boxing team sent by the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) and PLDT won four medals in the highly-competitive China Open in Guiyang, China. 

Nesthy Petecio saved the ABAP team from coming home without a gold. She won a convincing victory over Alexis Pritchard of New Zealand in the finals by a 3-0 verdict for a unanimous decision in the 60-kg. category. 

Petecio was only 5'3" while Pritchard stood at 5'11". But the 21-year-old female boxer from Davao finally connected her punches after several misses and delivered uppercuts and hooks to the head and body of the Kiwi boxer. 

World champion Josie Gabuco failed in her bid to secure a gold when the much-improved Xu Shiqui of China exacted revenge on the Filipina to win by a 3-0 verdict. The Palawan boxer defeated Xu during the world championships last year. Gabuco scored an upset over three-time world champion and 2012 London Olympics silver medalist Ren Cancan in the semi-finals but settled for a silver medal. 

Junel Cantancio lost to Viacheslav Supinov of Russia 0-3 and won another silver medal. He gave several punches to his nemesis but the power-punching Russia proved to be more dominant. 

Earlier in the semi-finals, London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga gave the Philippines a bronze medal. He bowed to Guiyang native Wo Zhunglin on a 0-3 decision. He injured his thumb in an uppercut during the fight and had to be taken to the hospital. 

ABAP president Ricky Vargas sent a message commending the team of their achievement, saying he is “proud of our boxers’ achievements in a tough tournament such as the China Open.” 

ABAP executive director Ed Picson commented after Barriga's loss that our boxers have yet to adjust to the new a scoring system. “They need to know how to adjust their game to the system. We had a lengthy meeting after the fights this afternoon with the coaches and boxers to explain to them in more detail what they need to do to take advantage of the new rule”, said Picson. 

The host country China won the overall championship with seven golds, followed by Kazakhstan and Russia with two each then the Philippines and Mongolia with one apiece. New Zealand got two silvers while India had one. Only Mauritius failed to obtain a medal. 

Other PLDT-ABAP team members who failed to win a medal were Roldan Boncales (flyweight), Nico Magliquian (bantamweight) and Dennis Galvan (light welterweight). The coaches were Pat Gaspi, Roel Velasco and Elias Recaido Jr. 

Ed Picson was the delegation head while the women had AIBA international technical official (ITO) Karina Picson as team manager. 

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Asi Taulava, San Miguel Beer sweep Indonesia Warriors to clinch ABL title


The San Miguel Beermen cruised to a 70-55 victory over the Indonesia Warriors to complete a three-game sweep of the defending champions and win their first-ever ASEAN Basketball League championship.

League Most Valuable Player Asi Taulava led San Miguel with 19 points while Chris Banchero and Leo Avenido added 10 apiece.

San Miguel won the opener, 75-70, behind a 22-point, 10-rebound performance from Taulava then eked out a tight Game Two win, 66-65, on a game-winner from import Brian Williams.

The Beermen led by just four points, 35-31, in the third quarter but Paolo Hubalde keyed a big sequence with a layup, a steal and an assist on an Avenido three-pointer that gave his team a nine-point lead.

Taulava would later give the Beermen a double-digit lead that they would push to as much as 17 points in the fourth quarter.

San Miguel had contributions from up and down the roster with Val Acuna scoring nine points and reinforcements Justin Williams and Brian Williams adding seven and six points, respectively. Jeric Fortuna, Hubalde and Eric Menk all scored as well.

Mario Wuysang topscored with 21 points for Indonesia. Chris Daniels added 15 while Filipino-American guard Stanley Pringle added 11 but the Warriors only had five players in the scoring column.

The championship capped a dominant campaign for the Beermen, who won 16 consecutive games at one point in the season.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

GM Wesley So a Triple Winner at 2013 Las Vegas International Chess Festival


During the month of May 2013, GM Wesley So delighted his fans and supporters with his back-to-back conquest of Calgary’s International Chess Classic in Canada, winning two chess championships (Standard & Blitz) on the same day on 19 May 2013. 

This month of June, was a big surprise, more delightful and incredible, since, instead of two as earlier reported, GM Wesley So delivered three titles, a TRIPLE CROWN, in a span of 4-days from June 6 to 9 at the 2013 Las Vegas International Chess Festival at the Riviera Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas. 

First, the U.S. Game/10 Championship held on June 6th, an 8-round Open ’10-minutes time control with 2 sec. time delay’ Swiss System Tournament, a FIDE Blitz Rated, where GM Wesley So (6Wins-2Draws-NoLoss) tied for 1st Place with GM Varuzhan Akobian (7Wins-1Loss) both scoring 7.0/8 points. 

Enrico “Ikong” Sevillano, a U.S. based Filipino (Cebuano) Grandmaster came in solo in 3rd place with his last round (R8) against GM Wesley So ended in a draw. GM Sevillano scored 6.5/8 (6Wins-1Draw-1Loss). 

Second, the National Open Championship, a 6-round ‘Standard’ (3-day) or alternate 2-day Swiss System Tournament, one of USA's longest running premier Open tournaments since 1965 when it was established by Ed Edmondson, the centerpiece of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival held on 7-9 June 2013, produced a 6-way tie for 1st among the 6-GMs namely Wesley So (PHI)2705, Jaan Ehlvest (USA)2621, Varuzhan Akobian(USA)2609, Alejandro Ramirez (USA)2574, Manuel Leon Hoyos(MEX)2568 and Enrico Sevillano (USA)2467. 

GM Wesley So, a freshman from Webster University (2013 U.S. College Chess ‘Final Four’ National Champion) coached by GM Susan Polgar was declared the 2013 Edmondson Cup winner by submitting the best tie-breaks points. 

En route to his 1st Edmondson Cup, Wesley So, registered for the 2-day playing schedule where R1 to R3 scheduled on June 8th were played in ‘non-standard’ or shortened time control thus it was not FIDE rated. He scored 2.5/3 with a single draw in R2 against GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (GEO)2555. R1 & R3 were won games. 

R4, the start of the ‘Standard’ time control games (for the 2-Day schedule), that was also played on June 8th, Wesley So won against GM Mikheil Kekelidze (GEO)2503. 

R5 was a crucial game against R4 solo leader sporting a perfect score of 4.0/4. GM Tamaz Gelashvili (GEO)2560 succumbed to time pressure and resigned on the 47th. With the win in the penultimate round GM Wesley So arranged the final round meeting with his co-leader GM Alejandro Ramirez (USA)2574 who also had a big win in R5. 

Sensing the 2013 Edmondson Cup already in the bag with only one player, his Webster U teammate, GM Manuel Leon Hoyos had an outside chance to overhaul his lead if Hoyos defeats another Webster U teammate GM Ray Robson, he quickly settled for a 12-mover draw with GM Ramirez. Hoyos, pressing for a win against Robson could not extract the full point and the game ended in a draw after white’s 45th move. 

GM Wesley So's final score was 5.0/6 (4Wins-2Draws-NoLoss). His R4 to R6 results had gained for him a +3.7 points to his ‘standard’ FIDE Live Rating that now stands at 2708.1. 

Additionally, he now has a streak of 54 games ‘No-Loss’ record in official FIDE rated ‘Standard’ Chess events. 

Third, after resting for a few hours (this could be one reason for a quick draw in the final round of the National Open), GM Wesley So returned to the National Open Blitz Championship at 9:30pm on June 9, a 7-round Double Swiss (14 games: playing white & black on each opponent) with Game/5 minutes (no delay) time control, and annexed his 3rd Crown at the 2013 Las Vegas International Chess Festival, scoring 12.0/14 from his 10 Wins, 4 Draws & No-Loss record a full point ahead to the 2nd placer GM Aleksandr Lenderman. 

The Triple Crown at 2013 Las Vegas International Chess Festival 
1. U.S. Game/10 Championship (June 6, 2013) 
2. National Open Championship (June 8-9, 2013) 
3. National Open Blitz Championship (June 9, 2013) 

“Wesley swept the National Open Triple Crown … No one has ever done this before”! - Coach GM Susan Polgar 

Friday, June 7, 2013

EUGENE TORRE LOOKS BACK, LOOKS FORWARD


MANILA (PNA) -- In 1982, Grandmaster Eugene Torre, who was the best chess player there ever was in the country and Asia, advanced into the quarterfinal round of the Candidates Matches, which, at that time, was the system to determine the top challenger for the world chess championship.


Lack of funding though had him selling chess clocks and even pieces of furniture to fly to the scenic City of Alicante in Spain to face Hungary’s Zoltan Ribli in one of the Final Eight matches with the winner making it to the Final Four. 

To augment his finances, he wrote then President Marcos a letter reminding the Chief Executive of his promise to assist him in his campaign for the world crown. The letter, asking the President P150,000, never reached Malacanang, forcing the first Filipino and, for that matter, Asian Grandmaster to travel on his own. 

Lacking an able second, which the amount of P150 grand was intended, Torre lost in his first-to- win-10 confrontation with Ribli. 

For years following, the memory of that sad experience lingered in his mind. He thought of quitting the game he learned since he was only five years-old, but the thought of someday seeing, if not himself, another Filipino disputing the world championship stopped him from doing so. 

“Since then, I have been telling myself, that should not, again, happen to me or any Filipino chess player who has talent to improve on that top eight ranking in the world and, perhaps, challenge whoever is the world champion,” Torre said in last Friday’s SCOOP session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura. 

Thirty one years after the Alicante experience, Torre made true his promise by establishing the Eugene Torre Chess Foundation and the Eugene Torre Chess Center, which he assured, are aimed primarily at searching hidden talents from the provinces and developing them to continue the quest for honors and recognition he and many others started. 

“And, most importantly, to help shoes seeking fame in the different international chess arenas top achieve their dreams by providing them all their needs, including financial requirements,” the now 62 year-old chess genius said. “as I have been saying, I don’t want my sad experience and those of my peers in other sports, happen to our future sports heroes.” 

“Let not lack of money hamper our athletes’ campaign in the different sports capital of the world,” Torre emphasized. “By nature, Filipino athletes, particularly in chess, are talented. “Everybody knows that. 

But the perennial problem of lack of support, especially in funding, remain the hindrance.” 

“Marami na tayong nakikitang mga atleta, individual man or team, nag-qualify na para katawanin ang bayan sa international competitions, hindi makapunta because of lack of plane fares,” Torre, who owns the record 21 Chess Olympiad appearances in the last 40 staging of the quadrennial conclave, lamented. 

“Instead of getting help, the athletes are being penalized. Sinusupende ang asosasyon so it is the athletes who are suffering,” he bewailed. “That won’t happen in chess that’s why we formed those two associations.”  

Thursday, June 6, 2013

GUIDE | How the FIBA Asia Championship tournament format works


On Thursday, the draw for the FIBA Asia Championship in August was set, with the Philippines choosing to be part of Group A.

The SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team is bracketed in Group A in the preliminary round, joining Chinese Taipei, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
Here are the full groupings:

Group AGroup BGroup CGroup D
Chinese TaipeiHong KongChinaBahrain
JordanJapanIranIndia
Saudi ArabiaLebanonSouth KoreaKazakhstan
PhilippinesQatarSoutheast Asian Qualifier 2Southeast Asian Qualifier 1
In the preliminary round, each team plays the other squads in its group once.

Second round:
The top three teams from Group A and the top three teams from Group B are grouped to form Group E.
The top three teams from Group C and the top three teams from Group D are grouped to form Group F.
In Group E, qualifiers from Group A play one match each against the qualifiers from Group B.
In Group F, qualifiers from Group C play one match each against the qualifiers from Group D.

Knockout Stages
The top four teams from Group E and the top four teams from Group F move into the knockout quarterfinals:
- Group E 1st-place vs Group F 4th-place
- Group E 3rd-place vs Group F 2nd-place
- Group E 2nd-place vs Group F 3rd-place
- Group E 4th-place vs Group F 1st-place

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

FIBA-Asia Championship draw to air live on BTV

BTV takes you through another important event of the FIBA-Asia Championship when the groupings of the nations are determined at the draw on June 6 at the Manila Hotel.

The draw – which will be supervised by FIBA-Asia Secretary General Hagop Khajirian – will divide the 16 participating nations of the tournament into four groups of four. After the first three groups have been formed, the Philippines – being the host country – will get the chance to pick 13th and decide which group they will play in. The fate of the remaining three teams will be decided after.

Among those that will be present during the drawing of pools will be Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president and Local Organizing Committee (LOC) chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, SBP executive director Barrios, and LOC deputy chief executive officer Moying Martelino.

National team coach Chot Reyes will not attend the occasion due to Gilas-Pilipinas’ training in Lithuania, but assistant coaches Ryan Gregorio and Nash Racela will be present at the draw.

The FIBA-Asia Championship - set to take place in Manila from August 1 to 11 – will serve as the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Spain. The games of the tournament will be broadcasted live on BTV, in partnership with Sports 5.

Witness the entire drawing process of the FIBA-Asia Championship groupings on June 6 (Thursday), live on BTV at 1:30 pm.

SOURCE

Monday, June 3, 2013

The Unpublished records of GM Wesley So


A good deal of success stories have been published about the 19-year-old Philippines’ top ranked International Chess Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So who only last month had back-to-back conquests of Calgary’s International Chess Classic (CICC), in Canada, winning two chess championships on the same day on 19 May 2013.   

First, the 9-round Swiss “Standard” chess championship which he secured with one more round to go after beating his opponent in the penultimate round (R8)  and establishing an unbeatable 2-point lead. Second, after a few hours of rest, Wesley So returned to the tournament’s venue and competed next in Calgary’s  9-round Swiss “Blitz” Championship and captured his 2nd championship as the sole winner with an amazing perfect score of 9.0/9. 

But there were records that he had established that were not yet accounted, written and published. 

As a starter, many are already aware that on March 2013 FIDE rating list publication, officially, GM Wesley So (born 9 Oct 1993) had breached the 2700 mark with a 2701 ELO rating that ranked 50th best in the world that he achieved at Reykjavik Open on 27 February 2013 where he tied for first place, a 3-way tie, with GM Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine and GM Bassem Amin of Egypt. However, what was not written, was that he breached the hyper-GM mark of 2700+ at age 19yrs-4mos-20days making him the 10th youngest hyper-GM ever in history. 


Top 12 Youngest chess players to breach the 2700 mark (Hydra or Hyper GMs): 

(Note: Age computations were based on the dates the official FIDE ratings were published). 

Another feat of So is he was the 9th youngest chess player to attain a GM status at the age of 14yrs-1mo-28days and the youngest to officially breach the super GM mark at 2600+ at age 14yrs-11mos-22days. 

Secondly, GM Wesley So, have a 42 No-loss record versus GMs officially with 2700+ rating when he played them in ‘Standard Chess‘ for the period 13 November 2008 until 19 October 2012 when GM Wesley So string of No-Loss record was ended by France’s top rated hyper GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2705) in R8 of the 2012 SPICE CUP Invitational at St. Louis, Missouri. His last, #42 was recorded two days earlier on 17 October 2012 in R6 of the 2012 SPICE Cup, a draw against China’s hyper-GM Ding Liren rated at 2702. Wesley So had compiled this record spanning a period of 3yrs-11mos-6days with a 5-Wins, 37-Draws and NO-Loss record. 

His 5-Wins were recorded against the following GMs: 

1. Ni Hua CHI(2710) – 13 Nov 2008 @ Dresden Chess Olympiad, Germany (R1) 

2. Vassily Ivanchuk UKR(2739) – 24 Nov 2009 @ World Chess Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia (R2) 

3. Laurent Fressinet FRA(2707)–21 Jan 2011 @ Tata Steel, Wijk Aan Zee, NED (R6) 

4. David Navara CZE(2708) - 22 Jan 2011 @ Tata Steel, Wijk Aan Zee, NED (R7) 

5. Alexei Shirov ESP(2709) –10 Jun 2011 @ Sigeman Chess in Malmo,Sweden(R2) 

His top-2 rated encounters were against 2 elite GMs rated at 2800+ that both ended in draws. Those were against GM Veselin Topalov (2803) whom he played in R8 at the 2010 Olympiad and GM Levon Aronian (2816) whom he played in R4 at the 2012 Olympiad who then was the World’s Number 2 rated player. 

Thirdly, the still work in progress, the initial result of his college scholarship at Webster University in St Louis, Missouri that started last Fall (August 2012) joining the SPICE program under Coach GM Susan Polgar. According to Coach Susan, “Wesley has worked very hard to improve on his chess.” Indeed hard work has paid off and as a result he gained +53 points to his rating since May 2013 until June 2013 FIDE rating list that now stands at 2705. His FIDE rating in August 2012 was 2652. 

Since August 2012, in 70 games that he played he registered a 32Wins-37Draws-1Loss in official FIDE ‘Standard’ time control games. His single loss was registered on 19 October 2012 in Round 8 of Spice Cup 2012 Invitational against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Ever since after that single loss, he now has a streak of 51 games ‘No-Loss’ record. 

Gilas-Pilipinas starts Lithuania training stint


MANILA(PNA) -- By early evening today (Manila Time) the Gilas-Pilipinas national basketball training pool would have landed in 
Klaipeda City in Lithuania to begin its rigid two-month preparations for the World Championship qualifying tournament FIBA-Asia Championship here in Manila this coming August 1-11. 

No less than business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, president of the organizing Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, expressed hopes on the day of the aspirants’ departure yesterday that the expensive 16-day Lithuanian trip would produce the desired results towards forming a national team competitive enough to finish at least in the top three and make it to the World Championship next year in Spain. 

“May Lithuania be a productive learning exercise for our national team,” Pangilinan, MVP to the sports and business sectors who also chairs the Local Organizing Committee of the FIBA-Asia meet, said in his pre-departure statement sent to this writer via text message. 

“We (in the SBP) look forward to a successful FIBA-Asia Championship – there is hope always. Mabuhay! “ Pangilinan, who only a few days ago was retained as chair of the Alliance of Boxing Associations in the Philippines via acclamation, said. “Safe journey to our Smart Gilas team.” 

The PH team hopefuls will, actually, attending a two-week long training camp set in the facilities of Svyturio Arena in Klaipeda starting Tuesday. 

The camp, which according to head coach Chot Reyes is the begining of a “61-Day Trip to History,” will include a six-game exhibition cum goodwill series against three local commercial teams and that nation’s Under-20 national squad. 

Training sessions consist of two parts daily, one in the morning confined in conditioning exercises and in the evening of actual basketball, according to team manager Butch Antonio. 

The first to test the Filipinos’ basketball mettle is the Klaipedos Neptunas squad which Reyes' boys will meet on Wednesday, followed by skirmishes against Kaunas LSU-Baltai on June 7. Another matchup against Birstono Jazz Diremta on June 7 precedes the Nationals’ two-game confrontation versus the Lithuanian Under-20 Selection on June 11 and June 13. 

The Nationals windup their six-game goodwill games in a return match with Kaunas LSU-Baltai on June 15, eve of their departure back to Manila. 

Reyes said chances are that the final composition of the team could be decided in this trip depending on how his players will respond to the rigors of the training regiment they will undergo in the camp and their performance in the six-game tuneup games. 

“Definitely, preparations kick into high gear (in this trip) which to me is the ‘61-Day Trip to History’. Reyes said after a two-hour workout in the final day of a two-week training sessions Thursday at The Arena in San Juan City. “We will learn a lot about ourselves in this trip.” 

SBP chair and newly-elected ABAP president Ricky Vargas, MVP’s long-time in sports development, shares his boss’ sentiment saying the trip allows pool members chance to bond together, know each other, work together and strengthen their hearts to play for country.” 

“Stay safe, work hard and learn not only from others but gain trust from each other,” he advised. “Mabuhay kayong lahat for accepting to represent the country.” 

Team manager Butch Antonio, for his part, said he’s been looking forward for this trip, which he said, will pave the way for the formation of a solid unit to carry the country’s colors in the FIBA-Asia campaign in a sentiment shared by SBP executive director Sonny Barrios.