The 2nd edition of the Negros Closed Chess Championship is set on Dec. 26 to 30 at the Centroplex Mall in Bacolod City .
Organized by the AV Aguirre/Villanueva Negros Chess Club Inc., the competition offers a full international chess tournament participation packages to the top two finishers.
Sponsors for the four-day chess extravaganza are Antonio Ivan Aguirre, Hugo Villanueva, and First Community Bank, Inc. headed by Lawrence Villanueva.
Both Aguirre and Hugo are chess players who are determined to tap the potential of Negrense woodpushers and provide them with international exposure.
Aguirre earlier said that sponsoring local tournaments is his way of paying back to the community through his favorite sports, chess. It is also inspiring to see local talents pitting their skills against each and to prepare them for high-level competition, Aguirre said.
With the participation in an international contest as the top prize, the Negros Closed Chess Championship will cater to the best of the best chess players in the province.
To see action in the tournament are 20 chess players who were pre-selected due to their exceptional skills.
The competition will follow the 9-round Swiss System with each player to be given 1 hour and 30 minutes with 30 second increment in every game.
Last year, tournament winners FIDE Master Sander Severino and PO1 Ernie Abanco was sent by the organizers to Thailand to compete in the 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open Tournament.*NAB
Source: http://www.visayandailystar.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Where are the top players?
this tournament is for the top players of Negros Occidental, Philippines and the top 2 winners will be given a round trip free ticket, tournament registration, hotel accommodation and per diem for an international tournament next year
this tourney is for the top players from Negros Occidental, Philippines. They will be provided with free round trip ticket, free tourney registration, hotel accommodation and per diem to participate in an international tournament next year
this is for the top players of negros occidental, philippines
Reflections on the 2nd Negros Closed Invitational…
Whew! what a ride! A very tough tournament. Prior to the event, I thought (based on last years results) that to be able to win the event, you have to score not less than 7pts. If I’m not mistaken last years champ FM Sander Severino’s score is exactly 7pts. This benchmark may have been equaled or even surpassed had Asuela been able to play in the first two rounds. NM Carlito Lavega (whom incidentally his NM title was not included in NCFP ratings list, I wonder why?!) snatch the lead in the first three rounds. But he was caught by FM Sander Severino in the middle rounds.
These two were involve in a neck to neck race down the wire up to the penultimate round, with the leads switching from one to another with every rounds. After the eighth round was completed it became apparent that there was a new co-leader, and that is none other than… Ellan Asuela. Asuela has been quietly collecting the points, zooming up atop the leader board just in the nick of time!
While he was climbing up (practically from the bottom pit) he was like a meteor heading towards the earth at breakneck speed, on the way he bulldozed practically all players within striking distance at the top. He only played 7 games by the way, and only NMs Lavega and Rodrigo Atotubo managed to stop the juggernaut. It’s like everyone was caught standing still!
In the last round the two leaders fought for the ultimate crown, it was a real cliffhanger, but Carlito was able to withstand Ellan’s desperate attempt to win as Black! In the end Lavega finished the event with a better tiebreak score than Asuela but he lost in the Rapid Play-Off. Asuela fully deserves the title as the 2012 Negros Chess Champion. And to think that he was handicapped by only a half point in the first two rounds.
What can I say of the new champion?
Before I begin I have to backtrack a little. Earlier in the year I posted in our FB Group Negros Chessplayers Association and my prediction. That IM Pimentel, Asuela, Cajeras, Arellano, and Ernie Abanco is going to make it big someday. Pimentel have already earned his International Master title a few months ago.
Now it’s Asuela’s time. I already saw a rosy future for him even then. And that future is now within his grasp. Asuela was already ripe for the big time last year pa, it’s just that he couldn’t find a sponsor. This Bangkok trip is perhaps the biggest break of his entire life. And I believe that the last half of 2011 was his breakout year. I will not be surprised if he will snatch a GM norm in Thailand. Bold prediction, Top10 in Bangkok!
This guy is already famous for his penchant of sweeping various non-master events. But perhaps the one that stood out from memory is his remarkable sweep of the Sugarlandia Non-Master last November 2011. In a field that included Montoyo, Arellano, Raymund Dela Pena, Danny Mangao, the Abanco Brothers and many others, he scored an emphatic 9 out of 9!
Asuela was born with a killer instinct. He possessed perhaps the most important character that any chess player should have. The drive and the will to win at all cost. Even in equal positions and even if the chips are down, he keeps on confusing or confounding his opponents, setting up problems upon problems that his opponents finally cracked under the combined positional and psychological pressure. He had a Fischerian drive to win and an indomitable spirit!