WINNING WITH THE PENANG ATTACK

I have been using the Sicilian Sozin Velimirovic Attack when faced with the Sicilian Defense from the time I became a member of the University of Mindanao varsity chess team in the late 1980's. However, I came across the July 8, 2005 Chess Piece Column of Bobby Ang which was published in the Business World where Bobby wrote about the Penang Attack and featured three brilliant games of our very own NM Glenn Bordonada to whom this opening line was attributed. This made me reassessed the way I was handling White's Attack in the Sozin Velimirovic line. Nonetheless, I had no opportunity to test the line in tournament play as I shut-out myself from local tourneys during that time to concentrate on my work.

In 2007, I was able to borrow from my neighbor Austin Jacob Literatus, who incidentally was recently crowned 2010 ASEAN 14 and under champ, a book " THE SICILIAN SOZIN ", by GM Mikhail Golubev. The book was sent to him by his uncle IM Marlo Micayabas who was the 1983 Asian Junior champ and who is now based in the U.S. This further galvanized my resolve to play the Penang Attack in tournament play if given the opportunity. The following year I was able to used the line and won against Atty. Bernie Cataluna in the Eastern Mindanao IBP chess competition where I placed runner-up. However, I was not able to record our game as it was a 15 mins/game tourney.

Several months after, I was again given the opportunity to used the line in the 2008 Cong. Ungab Cup team tourney. Players were allotted 1 hour each play to finish thus I had the time to record the game. By the way, my opponent in this game was among the top players of Davao City in the late 80's and early 90's but has already retired from competition. This was his first tournament after more than 10 years of absence thus he was a little bit rusty.

The other featured game is a miniature win at chesscube.com. Hope that you enjoy the two featured games. The annotations are just for fun and without the aid of chess program thus may not be the strongest continuation.


[Site "Guevarra Bldg., De Guzman St., Toril, Davao City, Philippines"]
[Date "2008.10.2"]
[Round "5th"]
[Event " 2008 Cong. Ungab Cup Team Tourney"]
[White "Atty. Jong Guevarra Jr."]
[Black "Glen Paclar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1835"]
[BlackELO "?"]

SICILIAN SOZIN VELIMIROVIC ATTACK

Annotations by Caissa's Father


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6
6. Bc4 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9. O-O-O Qc7



This is the tabia position of the Sozin Velimirovic Attack. There are two
ways upon which White proceeds with his attack:

a.) 10. g4 followed by g5 and h4 where white tries to smash Black's
king side position. This was the line I was using before I shifted to
the Penang Attack.
b.) 10. Rg1 followed by g4 and Qh5 where White creates mating threats
with the help of his queen, rook and bishop. This is the so called
Penang Attack.

10. Rhg1 Na5!

According to GM Golubev, not good for Black is 10... 0-0 as 11. g4
is attractive for White as he is a tempo up in the main line not having
played Bb3. Another interesting try is 10... Nxe4 which Lito Laput played
against me in the 2009 Bob Bula Cup. I emerged with a slight advantage in
the opening but almost lost the game due to a premature piece sacrifice.

11. Bd3 b5 12. g4 Bb7 !?

(In the game Shvidenko-Kurass, Kiev 1970 black essayed the move 12.. b4!
13 Nb1 Bb7 14. Nd2 d5 15. f3 dxe4 16. fxe4 Nd7 with equality )

13. g5 Nd7 14. Kb1 Ne5?!



Black should have commenced counter-play at this stage by 14... b5 15. Na4 d5!

15. f4 Nxd3 16. cxd3! Nc6 17. Rc1 Qd7 18. f5 b4

Too late..

19. Nd1 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 e5 21. Bb6 Bd8 22. Bf2 Qb5 23. Ne3 Rc8 24. Nc4



White has emerged in the opening with a clear advantage. Black's pieces
lacks coordination with no immediate counter-play in sight.

24... Bc7 25. f6 g6 26. Rc2 h5 27. gxh6 Rxh6 28. Be3 Rh5 29. Qg4 Qd7?

Black blunders in a difficult position.



30. Qxh5!

Black resigns..

1-0

Replay the game below..



Last month, I played a 3 minute game at chesscube.com and used NM Glenn
Bordonada's attacking strategy in coming up with this beautiful miniature.
By the way, my username at chesscube is bw-metrolirot.


[Event "ChessCube Game"]
[White bw-metrolirot@chesscube.com]
[ Chesscube rating "2030 "]
[Black slider_k999@chesscube.com]
[Chesscube rating "2026 "]
[Date "2010.05.24"]
[Result "1-0"]

Brief annotations by Caissa's Father
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 Nc6
7. Be3 e6 8. Qe2 Be7 9. g4

The game started with the g4 line of the Velimirovic attack but eventually
transposed to the Penang Attack

O-O 10. g5 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Nd7 12. h4 b5 13. Bb3 Bb7 14. O-O-O Rc8
15. Kb1 Qc7 16. Rhg1 Nc5? 17. Bf6!



This Bishop incursion is thematic in the Penang Attack and should have been prevented by Black. Black is just routinely playing the standard counterplay
unaware of the mating sequence that follows..

b4 18. Qh5! bxc3?



18... Rd8 is the only move to prevent mate

19. Qh6!


Final position.

Black resigns as mate cannot be prevented..

1-0

GM Golubev's conclusion: By responding correctly to 10.Rhg1,
Black solves his problems. Nevertheless, when played against
an unprepared oponent, this idea can have an impressive effect.

Replay the game below.

FISHER'S REMAINS TO BE EXHUMED

Below is a feature from Chessbase in the continuing legal battle for Bobby Fischer's estate. What arose my excitement and attention was the fact that among the protagonists was Fisher's alleged child Jinky Young whose mother Marilyn Young is from Davao City, Philippines. According to one news report, the Young's are now residing in a two storey house in Davao City which they acquired from the money send to them by Bobby Fischer. Since I'm also residing here in Davao City, maybe we are just neighbors with the Young's ?

Bobby Fischer with Jinky Young and "live-in partner" Marilyn Young in 2004

Icelandic Court: Fischer’s remains can be exhumed
18.06.2010 – On April 1st of this year we reported – and it was not a tasteless April Fool's joke – that the remains of former World Champion Bobby Fischer could be exhumed to settle a paternity dispute. The District Court of Reykjavik did not allow it, but now the Iceland Supreme Court has overturned this ruling after receiving new evidence from the claimant Marilyn Young. The story is in the international news.

Fischer’s remains to be exhumed

In our April report we provided details of the court appeals. Samuel Estimo, the lawyer representing Fischer's alleged Filipino child Jinky Young, told us that Judge Sigrun Gudmundsdottir of the Icelandic probate court found no DNA samples of Fischer at the National Hospital in Iceland, where the ex-world champion died on January 17, 2008 of renal failure. Because of this development, Estimo and his collaborating Icelandic lawyer, Thordur Bogason, requested the court to issue an order for the exhumation of Bobby's remains for DNA samples to be tested with the blood samples extracted from Jinky when she went to Iceland in December last year.

In our article we also described an inexpensive and uncomplicated alternative to digging up the remains of Fischer to extract DNA samples for testing against those of Jinky Young. The company 23andMe, a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company (co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, who is married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin) provides a service that genotypes DNA samples and can map the ancestry of a subject.

A single sample – in the form of saliva – taken from Jinky Young will provide a map of her DNA family tree, going back many generations. If the map shows ancestry in Hungary and the US, where Fischer's parents originated, then further tests are justified. If they are only in Asia or the Philippines then it would be clear that Fischer is not the father of Jinky – without having to extract DNA from an exhumed body. The cost of a 23andMe is $399 for ancestry. The DNA mapping can also be conducted by many hospital facilities.

Fischer's friends in Reykjavik

One of Fischer's Icelandic friends and member of the RJF Committee Einar S. Einarsson told us that "many of Bobby's friends doubt very much that he is the biological father of Jinky Young." He and others are against the exhumation and argues that "it is easy and possible nowadays to get a DNA from a postage stamp that has been licked, or even from a hair, which should be quite easy to get from his appartment, which has been sealed off since he died. To exhume his body for DNA samples, which could be retrieved by other means, is simply a brutal and a rude thing to do. It distrub the sanctity of the grave and is a very serious matter."

Einar sent us the above picture, which is probably the very last taken of Fischer. It was during a privat New Year's party, with Kantathi Suphanongkhon, who had represented Tailand at FIDE and Asian Zone meetings, GM Helgi Ólafsson arrange the party, and his uncle Thorgeirsson was the host.

Just click the link below for the complete story..
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6435

THE PELAGIO GUEVARRA MEMORIAL

Just came across the result of the 1st Pelagio Guevarra Memorial Chess tournament held way back in 2002 in the internet while surfing for data for my feature of NM Allan Macala. To those outside the loop, The Pelagio Guevarra Memorial was an open chess tournament held in Davao City in 2002 and 2003 which I sponsored and organized as a tribute to my grandfather Pelagio Guevarra as well as to give chance to up and coming players to test their chess skills against seasoned players in this part of Mindanao. It was also during this period that chess tournaments came in trickles in Davao region thus adding to its significance.

The First Pelagio Guevarra Memorial Active Open Chess tournament was held on June 22-23, 2002 at the Toril Gym, Davao City with 8 National Masters in attendance . Cotabato National Master (NM) Roger Sarif tallied 6.5 points to emerge champion. Sarif pocketed a cash prize of P4,000 along with a trophy in the seven-round Swiss System 30-minute active chess tournament organized by the Metro Toril Chess Association (MTCA) under its president lawyer Dionisio "Jong-Jong" Guevarra.

The runner-up prize of P2,500 went to Panabo City's NM Cedric Magno who earned 6.0 points while Cagayan de Oro City's Abu Reynaldo had 5.5 points for third place and P1,500 cash prize. Reynaldo edged Davao City's Allan Macala via a higher tiebreak of 30 to Macala's 28 in the event sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines under regional director Ronnie Tabudlong. In fifth was James Infiesto of Davao City (5.0) whose 24.5 tiebreak points was enough to eclipse General Santos City's NM Ric-Ric Portugalera 5.0 (24.0).

Completing the top ten finishers were Davao's Reynaldo Quinonez (4.5, 32.5) in seventh, NM Miguel Te (4.5, 31) eighth, General Santos City's NM Ferdinand Leysa (4.5, 24.5) ninth and NM Kaharudin Tayuan of Davao City (4.0, 30.5) tenth. The chessfest drew 36 woodpushers of the region, including Davao City lady bets Jennifer Catilo and Rowela Acedo, both members of the Holy Cross of Davao College chess varsity team. Acedo tallied 2.5 while Acedo got 1.5 points.

The 2nd Pelagio Guevarra Memorial was held on July 11-12, 2003 at the Spazio of Gaisano Mall of Davao City. The 2nd edition was a round robin competition among 13 players who qualified for the grand finals. There were 3 qualifying tournaments, 1 open and 2 thematic (Sicilian Defense and French Defense ) upon which participants were given points corresponding to their ranking.

The 2nd edition was ruled by Reynaldo " Bembem " Quinonez who finished with a total of 11 pts ( 11 wins and a single loss to Engr. Nofre Reyes). Engr. Nofre Reyes took runner-up honors with 9 wins against 3 losses inflicted by Johnny Salud, Engr. Anselmo " Jun " Atmosfera Jr. and James Infiesto. Shell National Youth Active chess contender Brene parreno settled for the 3rd spot with 8 points on account of 7 wins and 2 draws. The champion received P 5,000.00, a trophy and an MTCA t-shirt, the 2nd placer P 2,500.00 plus MTCA t-shirt while the 3rd placer received P 1,500.00 plus MTCA t-shirt.

2nd Pelagio Guevarra Memorial
Final standing:

11 pts. - Reynaldo " Bembem " Quinonez
9.0 " - Engr. Nofre Reyes
8.0 " - Brene Parreno
7.0 " - NM Sammy Yu
6.5 " - John Ritter Belocura
6.0 " - James Infiesto, Johnny Salud
5.0 " - Vien Tipay, Henry Fajardo
4.5 " - Sherwin Orbeta
4.0 " - Atty. Jong Guevarra Jr.
3.0 " - Engr. Jun Atmosfera, Engr. Werner Priete


I stopped organizing the tournament for the next and succeeding years for many reasons. First and foremost is the financial aspect and secondly i momentarily lost interest in chess due to minimal number of players participating. However, the past couple of years showed a renaissance of chess activity in the Davao region and the emergence of new breed of chess players thus rekindling my interest to the sport. Hopefully , a 3rd edition of the Pelagio Guevarra Memorial will be organized this year.

THE 2010 NATIONAL AGE- GROUP CHESS TOURNEY - " UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL "

From May 15 to 19, 2010 I was at the NCCC Mall located at Matina, Davao City watching the new crop of Pinoy chess players battle each other during the 2010 National Age-group Chess Tourney hosted by Davao City for the 1st time. My two daughters, Caissa Jane ( 12 and under) and Florence Faith ( 10 and under ) played their first natl age group competition together with my two nephews Darren John ( 10 years old), Jose Danilo ( 8 years old ) and their sister Alyssa Daniele (12 years old). By the look in their face I could see that my kids and their cousins were having fun joining the competition and met new friends along the way.



( My eldest daughter Caissa Jane, seeing action in the 12 and under category )


I was also there as an invited guest of NCFP Region XI coordinator James Infiesto in my current capacity as President of the Metro Toril Chess Association ( MTCA) and as one of the minor sponsors of the event. MTCA sponsored 3 Toril junior players namely Neptali Batucan, Adrian Llanos and Anthony Mosqueda with additional help from chess patron Glen Paclar. Our new group Chess Excellence Limited Co., also provided t-shirts and allowance of P 500 each to 4 selected Davao players namely Austin Jacob Literatus, John Ray Batucan, Rowelyn Joy Acedo and Ella Grace Moulic.



( Caissa's Father with boys 14 and under champ Austin Jacob Literatus and
Toril players Erwin Tubog, Adrian Llanos, Anthony Mosqueda, and Neptali
Batucan III )



Competition was keen and heated especially in the 14, 16 and under 20 ( boys
and girls competition) with majority of the RP's big guns in action. The
competition in the under 20 girls feature some of RP's national players who are not
only good in chess but good looking as well.



( RP national team members in action: Jedara Docena ( w/green jacket),
Christy Lamiel Bernales (w/ violet t-shirt), and Akiko Charmaine Suede
(w/ polka-dot shirt) who incidentally finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the
under 20 girls, respectively)



( Winners of the under 20 girls with newly elected councilor Atty. Melchor
Quitain ).


Five Davao City players qualified for the ASEAN age- group to be held in Subic,
Philippines this coming June 4 to 13, 2010 namely Austin Jacob Literatus ( champ-
14 and under boys), Irish Yngayo ( 2nd-8 and under girls), Ella Grace Moulic ( 3rd-
12 and under girls) Donna Yngayo (3rd- 14 and under girls) and Nikki Erica Yngayo
(1 6 and under ).



( Caissa's Father and Nofre Reyes of Chess Excellence Ltd. Co. together with
Alfred Moulic ( father of Ella Grace), Austin Jacob Literatus and Ella Grace
Moulic ).




( Caissa's Father with kids Florence Faith and Caissa Jane and their cousins
Alyssa Daniele and Darren John ),


( The winners in the 12 and under boys category. The champion Paolo
Bersamina ( center, w/ blue jogging pants) also topped the National Juniors
competition that followed and was awarded the national master title, the
youngest to be awarded such title).


( Posing with the champ: Alfred Moulic, Glen Paclar, Caissa's Father, Austin
Jacob Literatus, Engr. Enrico Vanta, Charles Maxey, Sammy Yu, and IM Candidate
Reggie Olay ).

The event was organized by the National Chess Federation Region (NCFP) in coordination with

the City Government of Davao, Growee Vitamins, JCI Durian City, Inc. and Jewm Eggs. Kudos to the

chess enthusiasts and organizations who workied together to stage this event. For the main core committee: FA James Infiesto, NA Engr. Allan Diez, Secretariat Chair Gogo Alba, Maning Eva of Multicar and Engr. Enrico Vanta of Chadric Builders. With added support from Robert "Bob" Bula, MTCA President Atty. Jong Guevarra and Tony Dacudao.