Dr.Leviste Cup Final Standings: March 2011 College Open: Ferrriol by a tie-break!

Gerald Ferriol of the University of Santo Tomas defeated tournamnet leader Joseph Cayanan then beat four others in the tie-break to finished in a tie for first to fifth place with 5.0 points. Also with the same score as Ferriol and Cayanan were Narquinden Reyes of St. Benilde College Chester Guerrero of Letran College and Jerome Barreto of the University of the Philippines.After the tie break Ferriol clinch the title,Cayanan inished second while Reyes 3rd ; Guerrero  fourth and Barreto fifth in the tournament which attracted a total of 55 players.Jimson Bitoon and Joel Pimentel both from St. Benilde College finished in a tie for 6th-7th place with 4.5 points. 
Michael Kevin Baltazar of the Philippine College of Criminology , individual gold medalist in Inter-Collegiate Team Championship finished in a tie for 8th to 17th places with 4.0 points.Aside from Baltazar, other players with the same scores were Ywen Richard Lababo of U.P. ;Adrian Perez of M.I.T. ; Nino Datu ; Kristine Mariano of Ateneo de Manila ; MJ Turqueza of De La Salle University ;Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza of U.P ; Gabriel Layugan of Ateneo de Manila ; Steven James Dacanay of U.S.T. and Marjune Sandoval also of P.C.Cr.

PCCR's Michael Kevin Baltazar Individual gold medalist 2011 Inter-Collegiate Team Championships

20th Amber Chess Tournament: FINALResults: Aronian clinch title!

Levon Aronian is the winner of the last edition of the Amber Chess Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament,full point ahead of runner-up Magnus Carlsen and 2.5 ahead of world number one V.Anand of India. The final round saw a marathon match between Gashimov and Grischuk with both games lasting a total of 279 moves the blindfold game ended in adraw in 140 moves while the rapid game also ended in a  139 moves draw.

20th Amber Chess Tournament: Round 10 Results: Aronian maintains over-all lead, rules Blindfold event ; Carlsen top rapid event.

Levon Aronian defeated V Topalov 1.5 : 0.5 the same score of Magnus Carlsen against A. Grischuk to maintain their 1-2 positions with only one round remaining. In  other game Sergei Karjakin failed to extract a full point against Hikaru Nakamura in their blindfold games as the 50 moves rule without capture was applied, Karjakin with a rook and a bishop against Nakamura's lone rook ended in a draw in 124 moves of a French Defense.

Happy 80th Birthday !! Victor Korchnoi

Victor Korchnoi was born in Leningrad in March 1931. He learned how to play chess at the age of seven and soon started playing in  "family tournaments."
At the age of 13, he entered the chess club at the Leningrad Palace of Young Pioneers , winning first category rating at the age of 15.  In 1947 he joined the U.S.S.R. Junior Championship and finished at the top of the table.
H competed against experienced masters for the first time in the 1950 Leningrad Championship ,scoring 4.5 out of five against masters to finished 2nd place.
His play is characterized by  striving for the initiative , tactical inventiveness and love for unusual , dizziying combinations. He boldly sought complexities and made more accurate and far sighted appraisals of entangled positions than his adversaries. In 1951 Korchnoi was one of the finalist in the All Russian Chigorin Memerial tournament participated by hundreds of thousands amateur. He qualified for the title of Master.
He first won the right to compete in a U.S.S.R. Championship in 1952, in this tournament he played against renowned grandmasters in equal footing and finished sixth place with 11 points out of 19.
Korchnoi then 24 captured first place in an international tournament in Bucharest,capital of Rumania with only one defeat; he won ten games and drew six,scoring 13 points.
In 1953 F.I.D.E. conferred the title of International Master to Korchnoi ,at about the same time he graduated from the Department of History at the Zhdanov University in Leningrad. In 1956 after winning new victories in tournaments and matches both in the U.S.S.R. and abroad, F.I.D.E. made him an Internationa Grandmaster.
ORIGINAL PLANS, A CONSTANT QUEST FOR THE NEW,GOOD COMBINATIONAL VISION, AND A HIGH LEVEL OF TECHNIQUES are the features of Korchnoi play.

20th Amber Chess Tournament: Round 9 Results: Aronian increases lead , Grischuk moves up.

Lecon Aronian won against Vladimir Kramnik 1.5:0.5 to increased his lead to a full point while Gischuk defeated Anish Giri 1.5 :0.5 and moves into a tie for 3rd to 5th place after round 9 .

20th Amber Chess Tournament: Round 8 Results: 6 out of 6 for White in rapid chess! Blindfold games all ended indraw

It's 6 out of 6 for the white pieces in rapid chess while all blindfold games ended in a draw in the eight round of the 20th Amber Chess. Levon Aronian maintain his slim lead with 11.5 points.

Dr.Leviste Cup Round 5: March 2011 College Open: Cayanan takes solo lead

Joseph Gabriel Cayanan of Trinity College defeated Nino Datu to take the solo lead after five rounds of the Dr Leviste College March 2011 Open held in Ateneo Elementary Canteen, Ateneo de Manila University.
Adrian Perez of Mapua Institute of Technology won against Jimson Bitoon of St Benilde to join six others with 4 points, good for 2nd to 7th place. Other with 4 points were Gerald Ferriol of UST; Jerome Barreto and Ywen Lababo of University of the Philippines ; Narquinden Reyes of St. Benilde and  defending champion Chester Guerrero of Letran College. Michael Kevin Baltazar of Philippine College of Criminology defeated Nelson Que to led a big group of of players with 3 points.

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND  5
5.0 points -     Joseph Cayanan
4.0 pointers -- Gerald Ferriol ; Chester Guerrero ; Ywen Lababo ;
                        Jerome Barreto ; Adrian Perez ; Nino Datu
                        Narquinden Reyes
3.5 pointers --  Jimson Bitoon ; Wilbert Pilarta ; Joel Pimentel
                         Angelo Angeles ; Jeffrey Ravago
3.0 pointers --   Gabriel Layugan ,  Steven Fulcher ; Mary Grace Serdanco
                         Steven Dacanay ; Krizza Lyn Abasolo ; Kevin Baltazar
                         Marjune Sandoval ; Ralph Sy ; Kristoffer De Leon ;

                         Marc Anthony Umali ; Kristine Mariano ; Nimrod Malabiga

                         Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza ; MJ Turqueza
2.5 pointers --    Vangielyn Bautista ; Marc Nazario ; Benjamin Lising
                           EJ Plan ; El Nino Malabiga
                        
2.0 pointers --     Jesus Datu ; Lance Sese ; John Isaac Piccio ;
                           Junievieve Soriano ; Wilfred Neri ; Susan Grace Neri ;
                           Jomar Naranjo ; Joseph Aco ; Joanna Barbosa ;
                           Nelson Que
1.5 pointers ----   Dominique Layugan ; Luke Prudente ; Francis Magtibay
                            Ann Sia Pua ; Maria Clarita Intia ; Allan Ducut
                            Vergielyn Bautista ; John Michael Lapinig
1.0 pointers ----    Claudio Olar ; Victor Mendoza ; Pamela Marie Mendoza ;
                              Camila Santos Buduan ; Claudine Casidsid

20th Amber Chess Tournament: Round 7 Results: Aronian maintains lead , Carlsen closes in

7.1    NAKAMURA        1.0         VS     ANAND      1.0
         Blindfold :       Nakamura    0.5  :   Anand   0.5       Trompowsky Attack   52 moves
         Rapid :            Anand         0.5  :   Nakamura  0.5   French Defense; Classical Sytem Mc Cutcheon         variation 65 moves

7.2    GIRI             0.5       VS       TOPALOV     1.5
         Blindfold :      Giri            0.5  :  Topalov    0.5      Kings Indian Defense Classical  44 moves
         Rapid :           Topalov    1.0   ;  Giri      0             Nimzo Indian, Rubinstein variation 48 moves

7.3     GRISCHUK        0.5        VS      IVANCHUK      1.5

Dr.Leviste Cup Round 4: March 2011 College Open: Two shares lead

Nino Datu defeated Wilbert Pilarta of the University of the Philippines to share the lead with Trinity College Joseph Cayanan who beat Ywen Lababo also of  U.P. after 4 rounds of the Dr Leviste Cup March 2011 College Open held in Ateneo de Manila. Jimson Bitoon and Narquinden Reyes both from St Benilde College are one-half point behind at 3.5 points. Bitoon defeated Gerald Ferriol while Reyes won against Joel pimentel also of St. Benilde College. Eleven players led by top seed Chester Guerrero of Letran College shares 5th-15th place with 3 .0 points.

Standings After Round 4

4.0 pointers----         Nino Datu ; Joseph Cayanan
3.5 pointers ----        Jimson Bitoon, Narquinden Reyes
3.0 pointers ----        Adrian Perez ; Wilbert Pilarta ; Kristoffer De Leon ; Gerald Ferriol;
                                  Ywen Lababo ; Mark Anthony Umali ; Jeffrey Ravago ; Jerome Barreto
                                  Ralph Sy ; Steven Dacanay ; Chester Guerrero
2.5 pointers ------       MJ Turqueza ; Joel Pimentel ; Angelo Angeles; Michael Kevin Baltazar ;
                                   Benjamin Lising ; Marc Nazario
2.0 pointers ------       Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza ; Kristine Mariano ; Krizza Lyn Abasolo ;
                                   Susan Grace Neri ; Junievieve  Soriano ; Mary Grace Serdanco ;
                                   Nimrod Malabiga ; Nelson Que ; Joseph Aco ; Wilfred Neri ;
                                   Jomar Naranjo ;  Jesus Datu ;  John Isaac Piccio ; Gabriel Layugan ;
                                    Marjune Sandoval ;   Steven Fulcher
1.5 pointers ----          El Nino Malabiga ; Ann Sia Pua ;  Francis Magtibay ;  Vangielyn Bautista
                                   Vergielyn Bautista ; E J  Plan ; Dominique Layugan
1.0 pointers -----         Claudio Olar ; Lance Sese ; Joanna Barbosa ; Camila Santos Buduan ;
                                    Allan Dacut ; Claudine Casidsid ; Victor Mendoza ; Luke Prudente
0.5 pointers -----         Maria Clarita Intia ; John Michael Lapinig
wala pa score --            Pamela Marie Castillo