FCPL Chess News

The FCPL again sent its players to the top rankings in the recent Dubai Active Chess Tournament held last October 15 and 17 at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.

Jobannie C. Tabada and Rolenson Loyola each scored seven points to join two others for a tie at the fourth to seventh places. Both FCPL players picked up the pace late in the tournament after early setbacks. Tabada suffered a loss by default in the first round along with fellow FCPL player Joey Tiberio as the two had to attend to urgent preparations for the FCPL's Sing for a Cause charity event. Tabada suffered another setback in the sixth round to second-seed IM Fouad El Taher before cruising to three straight wins.

Loyola got derailed in the second round after he forced and eventually lost an already drawn endgame against the UAE's Omar Abdulwahab. After another loss in the fifth round to fellow FCPL player Rocky Pabalan, Loyola raked in four successive wins, capped by a final-round victory over fourth-seed Mohamed Amer of Egypt.

The tournament was won by top-seed GM Salem AR Saleh, the UAE's current teenage chess sensation and No.1 player. IM Fouad El Taher, a long-time chess coach in the UAE, and surprise podium finisher Santhosh P of India, who is a regular participant in FCPL tournaments, were at joint second with 7.5 points each. Egypt's IM Ali Farhat and India's Candidate Master Haridas K had seven points each.

Salem received Dh 1,000, Fouad and Santhosh shared the combined second and third prizes and received Dh 600 each, while Farhat, Haridas, Tabada and Loyola split the Dh. 300 cash prize for fourth. The tournament offered cash prizes only to the top four players.

Other FCPL players who competed in the tournament were NM Robert Arellano, FM Antonio Molina Sr., Marvin Marcos, Willy Narag, Francis Erwin Dimarucut, Hermie Cagatin, Macky Ingcongan, Larry Dolor, Dennis Raymund Victoria, Carlos de Guzman, Angelito Melicano, Richard Perez, Armando Delgado, Gerry Lababo, Joey Tiberio, Kyle Cedrick Dolor and Marlon Manila.

Standings (up to six points)
















(Click here for full standings)

Final-round pairing (up to board 25)




















(Click here for complete final-round pairings)



It was interesting to note, though, that the champion had losing games against two FCPL players: Rocky Pabalan, who was looking to score a repeat after a rousing 28-move upset win over Salem during last April's Dubai Open, and new Dubai resident Francis Erwin Dimarucut, a former college standout out of Tarlac State University.

Pabalan - GM Salem
(White to move)












Rocky played 1.Ba6? in this position. Rolenson Loyola, who was observing this encounter, pointed out to both players in the post-mortem analysis the winning move: 1.Qxc6! After 1...Qxc6, which is forced or else black loses a piece, there comes 2.Bxd5 Qxd5 Rxd5 and black is a healthy pawn up with the e-5 pawn coming down as well shortly. Black's weak a7 and f5 pawns compound his problems.

Dimarucut - GM Salem
(White to move)












Erwin, who arrived in Dubai only last May to work for an insurance firm, would have probably won this position against any other opponent in the tournament. But playing the top-seeded grandmaster in the first round of his first tournament in the UAE may have added a little more pressure to this game. Dumarucut played 1.Rf7+, which was not bad and at first glance seems to be a sensible choice. But the direct 1.Rxh7! was actually the crusher as shown in the following sample variation: 1...Kg8 forced or else black gets mated 2.Rbg7! an important in-between move 2...Kf8 3.Rc7 with this rook now controlling the potentially dangerous passed pawn, the other rook can start wiping out the kingside pawns. 3...Kg8 4.Rhg7+ Kf8 5.Rgf7+ Ke8 6.Rxf6 c3 7.Rxg6 and white gets three kingside passed pawns while black's passer gets nowhere.

The actual game went 1. Rf7+ Ke8 2.Rxh7 Rd7 the only move 3.Rb8+ Rd8 4.Rh8 Ke7 5.Rb7+ 5.Rhxd8 looked plausible but black interjects with 5...f5+!, otherwise the immediate exchange of rooks will give the white king enough time to catch up with the black passed pawn on the c file. 6.Kg5 Rxd8 and the resulting rooks and pawns endgame now has less material but is a lot more complex than in the starting position 5...R3d7 Rh7, etc. Couldn't make out the rest of the moves but with the black king in a more active position, black's chances were now higher although the game may have still been a draw if not for fatal blunders committed by Dimarucut much later in the endgame.

Finally, Rocky's win over Salem during last April's Dubai Open.

[White "Salem, AR."]
[Black "Pabalan, R."]
[Event "11th Dubai Open"]
[Date "2009.04.26"]
[Round "1"]
[WhiteElo "2479"]
[BlackElo "1938"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bd3 Qe7 7. e4 dxc4 8. Bxc4 e5 9. dxe5 Bxe5 10. Nxe5 Qxe5 11. O-O O-O 12. h3 b5 13. Bd3 b4 14. Ne2 Ba6 15. Bf4 Qxb2 16. Rb1 Qa3 17. Rb3 Qxa2 18. Bc2 Nbd7 19. Nd4 Bxf1 20. e5 Rfe8 21. exf6 Nxf6 22. Qxf1 c5 23. Bb1 Qa4 24. Qb5 Qxb5 25. Nxb5 Nd5 26. Bg3 c4 27. Rb2 c3 28. Rb3 a5 0-1

Labels: Abu Dhabi Ramadan Active Chess Loyola Arellano Marcos de Guzman Simonian Chiburdanidze, Dubai Active Chess Tournament, FCPL, Rocky Pabalan, Salem, Tabada

Three FCPL players joined the winner's circle in the recent Sharjah Ramadan Chess Open held at the Holiday International Hotel in Sharjah.

Fide Master Antonio Molina Sr., Jobannie C. Tabada and Tato Abdullah each scored seven points to secure a tie for fourth to 14th places. Tabada ended up at ninth, Molina at 13th and Abdullah at 14th after the tiebreaks. Each of them received US$ 200.

Molina drew his ninth-round game against Georgia's Parmen Gelazonia, while Abdullah had a two-pawn defecit in a knights and pawns endgame but was able to successfully hold on to a draw against Egyptian FM Georg Magdy.

Tabada spoiled a chance to claim the overall championship when he bungled a two-pawn advantage in his final-round game against top-seed and eventual champion GM Yuri Drozdovskij of Ukraine. The FCPL player capitalized on an early blunder by the Ukrainian on the 18th move, a pawn push to g4 that resulted in the following position:

GM Drozdovskij - Tabada
(Black to move)












There followed 18... Nxg4! 19.hxg4 Qxg4+ 20.Bg2 Qxd4 and black is simply two pawns up 21.Qe2 Bf8 22.Re1 Bf5 23.Rd1 Qg4 24.f3 Qh5 25.c5 and the following position was reached...

GM Drozdovskij - Tabada
(Black to move)












Black played 25... Bd7?! (25.... Rad8 or 25... Qg6 was more accurate here) 26.Ne4? (26.cd6! Nf5 27.Re8 Re8 28.Ne4 gives white a dangerous attack) 26... Qg6 27.cd6 cd6? (black is hallucinating. 27...Nf5 was correct and after 28.dxc7 Qb6 29.Nf6+ Qf6 30.Re8 Be8, black is a piece up and will soon neutralize the white passed pawns) 28.Nd6 Nf5?? (black simply self-destructs. This move loses a piece without anything in return) 29.Rxe8! (of course, not 29.Nxe8? on account of 29...Bc5+ and black regains the upper hand) 29...Rxe8 30.Nxe8 and it was just a matter of time before black resigned.

It was a major disappointment for Tabada who failed to follow up on his big wins over FM Djakhangir Agaragimov of Azerbaijan and Serbian WGM Maria Manakova in the seventh and eighth rounds, respectively. A win over the top-seed would have given Tabada clear first and a US$ 1,500 paycheck.

Instead, it was Drozdovskij who picked up the championship with eight points. At joint second and third with 7.5 points apiece were Azerbaijan's IM Sanan Dovliatov and his youthful compatriot FM Ulvi Bajarani. The two players drew their ninth-round game.

Marvin Marcos, NM Robert Arellano and Rocky Pabalan also had a chance for a podium finish, but were unsuccessful in their final-round games against GM Roman Ovetchkin of Russia, GM Elmar Magerramov and IM Akaki Shalamberidze of Azerbaijan, respectively.

Other FCPL players who trooped to Sharjah to compete in the tournament were Melvin Segismundo, Larry Dolor, Angelito Melicano, Jumar Abo, Axel John Valerio, Augusto 'Marz' Marcial, Macky Ingcongan, Richard Perez, Alexius Valerio, Lito Lababo, Ronnie G. Balilo, Carlos de Guzman, Hermie Cagatin, Gerry Lababo and Antonio Gawid.

Nearly 200 players from different countries participated in the nine-round Swiss system tournament. Time control was 20 minutes plus five-second increment per move.

Top 14 standings below (click on image to enlarge)
















(Click here for complete final standings)

Final-round pairings (top 17 boards only)












(Click here for complete final-round pairings)

Videos taken at the tournament courtesy of Richard Perez.

Labels: FCPL, Sharjah Ramadan Chess Open, Tabada

Rocky Pabalan picked up another championship finish after winning the FCPL September Active Chess Tournament at Reef Mall.

Pabalan, who won the July tournament and finished runner-up in August, had a perfect 6-out-of-6 slate and was a full point ahead of the field entering the final round. A short draw with Axel John Valerio in the seventh round sealed the title.

Paul Dargan of the UK settled for second place with six points, half a point behind the champion. Jumar Abo was third with five points, while Valerio was fourth also with five points. Valerio's father, Alexious, took the fifth spot with 4.5 points.

(photos to be published later)

Final round pairings

Labels: Dargan, FCPL, Rocky Pabalan, September tournament