1ST ROBERT " BOB " BULA TORIL INVITATIONAL CHESS CHALLENGE - " SHARING OWN'S BLESSINGS THROUGH CHESS "

( Bob Bula beside his car at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA )


[ Bob Bula ( holding his grandchild ) with his family at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA ]


( With Davao chess players, from left: Engr. Jun Atmosfera, Dante dela Cruz, Bador Borras, Engr. Boy Ramirez, Bob Bula, Henry Fajardo, Jun Sonsona and host Glenn Paclar during get together at GLenn's rest house. Not in picture is Caissa's father and Chris Yap of One Network Bank who arrived after this picture was taken ).

I first met Bob Bula last January 10, 2009 during a get together of Davao chess players ( mostly from Toril ) hosted by Glenn Paclar at his rest house at Eden, Bayabas, Toril, Davao City. Prior to our meeting, I already heard from chess player friends his utmost devotion and love for chess. During the past years he had sponsored and supported local chess tournaments, the most recent of which was the Kadayawan Open and Age-group competitions where he provided special prizes. He had also financed the campaign of some local chessplayers notably Jimmy Dano who had a couple of wins against noted GMs Mark Paragua and Joey Antonio. Others received chess books and Chess Life magazines from him.

With this backdrop I was able to talk to Bob and I found out that he was an amiable and down to earth guy. I was even suprised upon being told that he eagerly followed our team tournament last year through the internet. We were lucky then as the said tournament was prominently featured in the local newspaper Sunstar Davao. That is how passionate he is for chess and considering that we shared the same passion, we easily got acquianted to each other.

Just recently, our common friend Engr. Jun Atmosfera informed me that he had a series of talk with Bob through the Internet and that Bob will be sponsoring our next tournament. Thus the 1st Robert " Bob " Bula Toril Invitational Chess Challenge. The tournament will be a 14 players round-robin competition with a time limit of 45 min./player. Games will be played during the week-ends starting Oct. 16 to 31, 2009. Venue will be the Guevarra Law Office and Glenn Paclar's resthouse.The tournament aims to develop and sharpen the skills of the Toril young stars who will be pitted against veteran players from Davao City.

The prizes are as follows:

CHAMPION - P 5,000.00 + TROPHY
1ST RUNNER-UP - 3,000.00 + TROPHY
2ND RUNNER-UP - 2,000.00 + TROPHY
4TH RUNNER-UP - 1,000.00 + MEDAL

Here's a salute to Bob Bula and may your tribe increase !!