Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Fischer, Alekhine show way in Inter-Team chess
TEAM Fischer of Engineer Jun Atmosfera and Discovery Chess-Alekhine of Henry Fajardo maintained their lead at 6.5 points each after the second of the 1st Rep. Isidro Ungab Cup Toril Fiesta Inter-Team and Kiddies Chess Championships.
Both Fischer and Alekhine drew their matches on 2.5-2.5 scores against Team Kasparov of Glen Paclar and Guevarra Law-Team Topalov of lawyer Jong Guevarra, respectively.
In the absence of board 1 player Paclar, board 2 player Austin Jacob Literatus took over his place against Atmosfera. Handling the black pieces, Atmosfera bested the 11-year-old chess prodigy in 36 moves of a Sicilian Dragon game by controlling the open c-file at the cost of a pawn.
Team Fischer board 2 Erwin Tubog overwhelmed Anthony Mosqueda, while Jobert Lomanta and May Micayabas drew their match on board 3.
Team Kasparov recovered on boards 4 and 5 when Mark Micayabas and young John Jay Literatus prevailed over veteran chess players Bador Borras and Dante dela Cruz, respectively.
It was a heartbreaking defeat for Borras as he was winning and was even ahead on time, but in his haste to finish off his opponent, committed a gross blunder.
In the Alekhine vs Topalov match, Henry Fajardo, playing white, prevailed over Jong Guevarra in 41 moves of a Sicilian Alapin variation.
Scorers for Team Topalov were Alex Jover, who drubbed Bong Pineda, and Roy Alfafara, who outwitted Erika Yngayo. Erik Yngayo drew with Dondon Ostaco, while James Apao of Team Alekhine beat Giovanni Mariano of Team Topalov.
The most exciting game was between Councilor Bello-Kramnik Team starring John Ray Batucan against ONB-Capablanca Team of Chris Yap.
Yap, a former varsity chess player of Ateneo de Davao University, engaged Batucan in a Sicilian Scheveningen encounter and he attained a winning position but missed a coup de grace in the endgame that enabled his young opponent to bail himself out and win in the ensuing time scramble in 58 moves.
