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Commodities competition and the mining debate

Commodities competition as defined in this piece refers to companies that are producing certain commodities and are competing for investors. Thus, energy companies are those that plan to attract more investors and expand operations when world energy prices are high as compared to those companies producing agricultural, industrial, and other commodities.
This is a continuation of a series of pieces about competition.
Last week we discussed overall competition and the role of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), electricity competition and the role of Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), innovation and the role of IPR protection.
Endless competition also leads to endless innovation and this results in disruption in global economic balance or imbalance, which, among others, would be discussed in BusinessWorld’s Economic Forum 2018 that carries the theme: “Disruptor or Disrupted? The Philippines at the Crossroads.”
Currently, energy prices especially oil are rising again as the supply from OPEC-Russia remains constricted and US shale oil production expands but insufficient to cope with high world demand. But this rise in energy prices do not represent disruption in the global energy balance yet.
I visited the Commodities section of Trading Economics, https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities, and checked which of the many commodities have “disrupting”prices over the last five years.
The commodities are divided into five groups: (1) Energy (crude oil, natural gas, naptha, propane, uranium, etc.), (2) Metals (gold, silver, manganese, palladium, rhodium, etc.), (3) Agricultural (rice, corn, coffee, cheese, lumber, sugar, soybeans, wheat, etc.), (4) Livestock (poultry, cattle, hogs, beef), and (5) Industrial (coal, copper, cobalt, steel, nickel, lead, aluminum, etc.). There are about 50 commodities in total.
What is surprising is the eminence of certain metallic products.
Four commodities have incurred disruptive price hikes — cobalt, rhodium, palladium, and lumber. Zinc and lithium also have rising price trends but not as steep as these four. The rest of the commodities have up-down-up cycles, or declining prices like uranium.
Cobalt is mainly used to produce high performance alloys and rechargeable batteries. Thus, companies producing batteries for mobile phones, electric cars, motorcycles and buses would be scrambling for limited cobalt supply in the world as Congo is the dominant supplier but politically unstable. Cobalt is found in copper and nickel ores and the Philippines is a major nickel producer in the world and an average copper producer.
Rhodium is a silver-white metallic element that is highly resistant to corrosion. Thus, it is mainly used in automobiles as a catalytic converter, changing harmful unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide exhaust emissions into less noxious gases. It is found in platinum or nickel ores and other metals, and again, the Philippines is a major player in global nickel production and exports.
Palladium is used in catalytic converters, also in jewelry, dentistry and surgical instruments, watch making, aircraft spark plugs, ceramic capacitors, among others.
High lumber demand is experienced as there is a new trend in building construction using treated wood instead of cement and steel. Innovations in wood treatment allow them to be fire-resistant. Demand for “eco-friendly” packing materials and related products also experience rising demand.
And this brings us to the endless mining debate in the Philippines.
The trend is there — rising if not disruptive price hikes in many metallic products — so why make mining production highly politicized and bureaucratic? Why is that DENR circular that suspended or closed several mining companies issued by a former secretary who believes she can fly still not lifted until now?
Not content with bureaucratic licensing and monitoring of mining companies, mining excise tax has been doubled in the TRAIN 1 law of 2017 and there are moves to further raise this tax in TRAIN 2 bill now in Congress.
A better alternative for Congress would be to ban “small-scale” mining as almost all such mining actually use heavy equipment such as backhoes, bulldozers, and huge trucks. They should then be encouraged to pool their resources to become medium- to large mining corporations registered with SEC and subject to mandatory community projects as provided in the Mining Act of 1995.
Australia and Canada, among the biggest mining powerhouses in the world despite having major environmental NGOs, do not have “small-scale” mines that are harder and more time-consuming to monitor.
The Philippine government should be a partner and not a hindrance to more modern and responsible mining and allow us to take advantage of this upward trend in global metal prices.
The government should be an enabler of disruption, not a disruptor, in the clear potentials of metallic mining.
 
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is President of Minimal Government Thinkers, a member-institute of Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia.
minimalgovernment@gmail.com.

Don’t waste Malaysia’s moment

QUITE unexpectedly, Malaysians just voted out their ruling party for the first time since independence in 1957. They voted for change, and that’s what their new leaders need to deliver.
You might think so stunning an electoral upset would make a bold new departure inevitable. Not so. Malaysia’s fractious opposition won only after joining forces with 92-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad — a stalwart of the long-ruling United Malays National Organization and hardly a change agent.
In his first stint in power, Mahathir laid the foundations of Malaysia’s most illiberal policies. He defanged independent institutions such as the courts and the press, and jailed rivals — including Anwar Ibrahim, his former deputy. (Mahathir, sworn in on May 10, now says he plans to pardon Anwar and make way for him to become prime minister.) Mahathir expanded the Malay-first affirmative-action programs that fueled cronyism and drove bright young Chinese and Indians to flee the country. Even now he vows new populist measures — such as scrapping a recently introduced goods-and-services tax — within his first 100 days.
Yet, if voters had wanted pure populism, they could have re-elected UMNO and its leader, Najib Razak. If urban Malays had cared more about their pocketbooks than a free press or civil liberties or the scandal surrounding the 1MDB development fund (Najib denies a US Justice department claim that $681 million in his personal bank accounts was stolen from the fund), they wouldn’t have voted in such numbers for the opposition.
The ruling coalition was ejected despite massive gerrymandering, nativist appeals, a muzzled press and concerted efforts to depress the vote — a sign that the system is no longer working for most Malaysians. Voters know they need better access to education when automation threatens more than half the country’s jobs. They ask why government-linked companies invest in high-end health care and housing, rather than working to lower the cost of basic services.
Malaysians can also see how far their country has drifted from its proud self-image as a modern, tolerant, multiethnic nation. Though voters in some parts of the country did succumb to the appeal of more extreme Islamic parties, others rejected the government’s efforts to drive a wedge between Malays and the country’s minorities. Increasingly, Malays acknowledge that affirmative-action policies need to be reformed to focus less on race.
Whatever their differences, the various parties making up the new government can agree on the need to rebuild the country’s battered institutions. Mahathir has talked about restoring the independence of the judiciary and other institutions, while reducing the powers of the prime minister. The new government should make those tasks a priority. It should also withdraw draconian security regulations and challenge the Muslim chauvinists with whom the previous government flirted. And if anyone can sell rural Malays on the need to reform affirmative-action policies, it’s Mahathir — their longstanding champion.
Malaysians just did something bold. It’s an unforeseen opportunity, and their new leaders mustn’t waste it.
 
BLOOMBERG EDITORIAL BOARD

No LeBron worries despite Celtics playoff rout of Cavs

NEW YORK — LeBron James says he’s not worried after the Cleveland Cavaliers were routed, 108-83, Sunday by the Boston Celtics in the opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
But the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, trying to reach his eighth consecutive NBA Finals, admits the Cavaliers need to make some changes before the best-of-seven playoff series resumes Tuesday in Boston.
“I have zero level of concern at this stage,” James said. “You get better throughout the series. I’ve been down 0-1. I’ve been down 0-2. I’ve been down before. We have another opportunity to be better Tuesday.
“Game One has always been a feel-out game for me. I got a sense of how they are going to play me and I can make some changes going into Game Two. We’ll see ways we can be better and get our offense into a better rhythm.”
Jaylen Brown scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Al Horford added 20 points for the Celtics, who seized a 36-18 lead after the first quarter and never looked back, inflicting the second-worst game one playoff loss James has ever suffered.
“We were great,” Horford said. “We came out with a lot of energy. We fed off the crowd and we kept it going throughout the game. We’re just out here playing hard and doing the best we can.”
Marcus Morris had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Boston and led a swarming defensive effort that shut down Cavs playmaker James, who averaged 34 points, 9.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists in prior playoff games.
“We just have to make it hard for him,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “Our guys played with good aggression.”
James finished with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting with seven rebounds and nine assists. He blocked two shots but also made seven turnovers as the Cavaliers missed their first 14 3-point attempts and came no closer than 14 points in the second half.
“They had a great game plan in Game One,” James said. “They did a great job of communicating the whole game. We have a lot of film to look at how they were making us uncomfortable. I was out of my rhythm the whole game.”
CONTAINING LEBRON
Morris boasted he was the best defender to guard James and led the hustling work that contained the 33-year-old Cleveland superstar, who has more career playoff appearances than the entire Celtics roster combined.
“It was a team effort,” Morris said. “Everybody played their part in guarding him. We did a great job of that.”
The Celtics forced James to work harder defensively as well.
“They showed two bodies (against James) all night,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “When he thought he had driving lanes, they made him kick it out to other shooters.
“We didn’t play well. We know we have to play better. They attacked us early on. We had some great shots we couldn’t make and it snowballed from there.”
‘YOUNG GUYS ARE SPECIAL’
Kevin Love led Cleveland with 17 points and added eight rebounds. Tristan Thompson had a game-high 11 rebounds off the Cavs’ bench. Jayson Tatum added 16 for Boston and Terry Rozier had eight points and seven assists.
Talented 20-something players Tatum, Rozier and Brown have filled the void left by injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, combining with Horford — who has been eliminated by James four times in the playoffs — to outhustle and dominate.
“Our young guys are special. They have been showing it all year,” Morris said. “Their mentality, the way they carry themselves, is like veterans in this league. It’s very unfortunate we had those injuries but no one is going to feel sorry for us. Other guys got the opportunity. We’ve had to step up.”
Boston surged ahead 61-35, the biggest half-time playoff deficit of James’s career. Cleveland pulled within 78-64 entering the fourth quarter, but Boston answered with an 18-4 spurt that sealed Cleveland’s fate.
“We’ve got a lot of room to improve,” Stevens said. “We got stagnant in their third quarter run. We’re very aware we will get a heavyweight punch Tuesday.” — AFP

Simpson wins Players by 4 strokes

PONTE VEDRA, FLORIDA — Webb Simpson heard the roars echoing across TPC Sawgrass as Tiger Woods made a charge but in the end he had a large enough cushion to clinch a comfortable four-stroke victory at the Players Championship on Sunday.
The 2012 US Open champion was never seriously challenged after starting the day with a seven-shot lead, though Woods briefly got within four strokes after making six birdies in the first 12 holes.
“There’s so much noise in front of us with Tiger,” said Simpson. “His roars are definitely a different sound than everybody else’s but I knew he started 10 or 11 shots back, so he would have to do something really special.”
Woods would stall later in the round, dropping three shots.
Simpson did not hit the high notes of his previous three rounds, but he was able to enjoy his victory march down the 18th fairway and even a double-bogey took nothing away from the quality of his performance.
He carded a 73 to finish at 18-under 270 for his fifth victory on the PGA Tour and first since late 2013.
South African Charl Schwartzel (67) and Americans Xander Schauffele (67) and Jimmy Walker (67) tied for second on 14-under.
Woods shot 69 after a double-bogey at the island-green 17th and ended equal 11th on 11-under.
Simpson was not expected to blow a lead bigger than anyone had ever blown in the final round of a PGA Tour event but he said it was not as easy as it looked.
“Over four years without a win, I never doubted myself but at the same time that’s a long time,” he said.
“(Today) was harder than I thought. You don’t feel relaxed until that ball finds land on 17. So once that happened, internally I was celebrating.”
Simpson dedicated the victory to his parents — his late father Sam who died last November, and his mother Debbie back home in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“My dad got me started in the game,” Simpson said. “He kept me in other sports but he could tell that I was better in golf.
“I also felt unconditional love from my mum no matter how I played.” — Reuters

Atlangeriev tries to spoil Folayang’s ONE return

SINGAPORE — Filipino mixed martial arts star Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang makes his ONE Championship return on Friday, May 18, here against Russian prospect Kharun Atlangeriev, who vowed not to make it easy for the former world lightweight champion.
Part of the packed ONE: Unstoppable Dreams card at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Mr. Atlangeriev is eyeing a huge win in his debut outing with the MMA organization at the expense of one of the more beloved ONE fighters who is angling for a bounce-back win.
Undefeated in 11 fights to date, Mr. Atlangeriev, who paraded his wares at the Octagon Fighting Sensation in his hometown of Russia, expressed his readiness to take on the challenges in his latest career turn.
“I am super excited to visit Singapore and put on a show. I know that he (Folayang) is a former champion and an experienced competitor, but I have no pressure on me. The pressure is on him. It is going to be a wild night,” said Mr. Atlangeriev in the lead-up to the Unstoppable Dreams.
“To the common eye, it may be a mismatch on paper due to records and experience, but I am confident in my skills. I feel like this is my time to make myself known around the globe. Anything can happen, and I have the skills to finish him,” the 25-year-old Russian added.
Known by the moniker “The Predator” due to his intense demeanor inside the cage, Mr. Atlangeriev went on to signal a warning to the Filipino fighter, saying “I have fought some crazy people in my career. I know what Eduard Folayang offers, and I know how he fights, and, to be honest, I am not really afraid of anything. The only thing I am afraid of is me not giving my 100%, and that is pretty much it.”
Mr. Atlangeriev’s most recent victory came in December 2017 when he stopped compatriot Andrew Kurbatov by way of technical knockout (punches) in the second round of their OFS 12 clash.
For Mr. Folayang (18-6), Unstoppable Dreams marks his first action back in the ONE cage after losing the world lightweight belt to Australian Martin Nguyen in November last year in Manila.
He is now looking for a rebound victory here where he was crowned ONE champion in November 2016 with an impressive third-round TKO win over MMA legend Shinya Aoki.
Headlining ONE: Unstoppable Dreams is the women’s atomweight world championship between champion Angela Lee of Singapore and Mei Yamaguchi of Japan.
Also on tap is the world featherweight battle between Mr. Nguyen and Christian Lee of Singapore as well as the ONE Super Series muay thai flyweight world championship clash between Sam-A Gaiyanghadao of Thailand and Sergio Wielzen of the Netherlands. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Barcelona’s unbeaten season ended by 5-star Levante

MADRID — Philippe Coutinho hit a hat-trick but could not save Barcelona’s unbeaten season as the Catalans were left stunned by an extraordinary 5-4 defeat to Levante on Sunday.
Ernesto Valverde rested Lionel Messi for his team’s penultimate match of the campaign but it was a defensive horror-show that allowed Emmanuel Boateng to score three times and Enis Bardhi twice at the City of Valencia Stadium.
The La Liga and Copa del Rey champions trailed 5-1 after an hour and still came within a whisker of a sensational comeback as Coutinho’s second and third goals, and a Luis Suarez penalty, set up a grandstand finish.
But Levante held on for a thrilling victory, which ends their opponents’ hopes of becoming the first ever club to finish a 38-game La Liga season as invincibles.
After drawing at home to Real Madrid last weekend, despite playing the second half with 10 men, and thrashing Villarreal, Barcelona sat just two games away from the historical feat.
It was 1932 when the last side, Real Madrid, went unbeaten in the top-flight but even that was across only 18 matches, in a 10-team division.
This was Barcelona’s first league loss since slipping up against Malaga on April 8 last year and while it has minimal impact on the table, Valverde will have questions to answer, not least with regards to leaving out Messi.
“We are angry not to have come through this game and not to have the opportunity to finish unbeaten,” Valverde said.
“But in a season some matches go your way and some don’t. I think this result was harsh in all respects but at other times this season, like in Seville, we could also have lost.”
This defensive collapse was reminiscent of their Champions League meltdown against Roma, which has soured an otherwise successful campaign. The unbeaten record was supposed to help atone for the European failure.
“Obviously we wanted to finish the league undefeated,” Sergio Busquets told beIN Sports.
“But this does not take away everything we have done otherwise this season — everything we have achieved in league, the run we managed across two seasons — but, it is a shame.”
For Levante, this is their eighth win in 10 matches under new coach Paco Lopez, who took charge with the club in danger of relegation but has overseen a remarkable transformation. They move up to 15th.
Paco’s players exploded out of the blocks and pulled ahead in the ninth minute when Boateng nipped in at the near post after Jose Luis Morales’ weaving run down the left.
Bardhi hit the woodwork with a lifted finish over Marc-Andre ter Stegen but Barca failed to heed the warnings and Boateng made it two after half an hour, latching on to Sasa Lukic’s threaded ball through.
Coutinho pulled one back with a rasping shot before halftime but three Levante goals in 10 minutes after the interval sent the home fans into delirium.
Bardhi’s blistering shot restored the two-goal advantage before Boateng completed his hat-trick as Barca’s defense was ripped apart again on the break.
Another counter just before the hour ended with another crisp Bardhi finish, as Barca were now staring at a four-goal deficit.
The game looked dead but Coutinho scored twice in six minutes, the first a close-range finish after Ousmane Dembele’s shot spilled loose, the second an instinctive shot from the edge of the area.
When Boateng brought down Busquets in the area and Suarez drove the penalty down the middle with 20 minutes left, it felt inevitable Barca would find a fifth.
But without Messi even to bring on, Levante withstood the late onslaught and should even have scored a sixth only for Ruben Rochina to prode wide after a dreadful backpass by Busquets. It was the final mistake of an error-strewn display. — AFP

Columbian Dyip picking up their game

A WINNING record midway into the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup by the Columbian Dyip may come as a surprise to many but not for the team which said the success it is enjoying right now is in line with its expectations.
Holding a 3-2 record at the halfway juncture of the midseason PBA tournament, the Dyip have already surpassed their 1-10 record in the previous conference, Philippine Cup, when they were still playing as the Kia Picanto, and are poised to go even further if they get to sustain their spirited showing.
“We’re just trying to keep it going. We are playing pretty well right now so we just want to build on what we have accomplished so far heading into the second half of the conference,” said Columbian guard RaShawn McCarthy in an interview with BusinessWorld following their most recent victory on May 9 against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
“The chemistry of the team is getting better. Also the addition of Jerramy [King] and Andreas [Cahilig] has helped but mainly it is the chemistry on the court,” added Mr. McCarthy, who is averaging 16.2 points, seven assists, five rebounds and 2.2 steals in five games to date, in what is doing it for them in the Commissioner’s Cup.
He went on to say that they are not overwhelmed by what is in front of them and are instead more determined to prove their true worth.
“We are not at all overwhelmed by it (good start). Our expectations for ourselves are higher than what everybody has set for us. We are not surprised by it. What was surprising was we went 1-10 last conference,” Mr. McCarthy asserted.
For Columbian coach Ricky Dandan, what they have been experiencing is a product of a conscious effort to change their ways and shed the “whipping boys” reputation of the team.
But the coach, who took over for erstwhile bench tactician Chris Gavina midway in the last conference, was quick to say that their work is not yet done and that they have to continue improving themselves in every way possible.
“Of course we are happy with a 3-2 record heading into the All-Star weekend. We are going to enjoy it for now but we are going back to the salt mines so to speak as we are facing Magnolia in our next game,” said Mr. Dandan, referring to their matchup with the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok on Wednesday, May 16, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Apart from Mr. McCarthy, other Columbian players making their presence felt in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup are import John Fields (36.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and a block), Mr. King (17.2 points) and Reden Celda (12.6 points). — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

High on grassroots development through the Jr. NBA program

NOW RUNNING in the country for the 11th straight year, the Jr. NBA program has afforded many youths the opportunity to experience a holistic basketball experience designed not only to develop their hoops skills but also hone them as productive individuals.
And more of this can be expected, the National Basketball Association (NBA) said, as it is one of the key initiatives they have in the country, recognizing the long-term impact it has had.
Speaking to a group of sports media in a recent roundtable discussion at the NBA Philippines office, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum reiterated their backing for the Jr. NBA program as it is very much representative of their push for true grassroots development.
“We are high on our grassroots development program, specifically our Jr. NBA programs,” said Mr. Tatum who was in the country as part of a tour of the region where the NBA has a presence.
“We really want to get more kids playing the game. That’s going to be our contribution to getting more kids healthy and active. By teaching the game of basketball, there are so many wonderful benefits. You also learn valuable life lessons. It’s not just how to learn to shoot, pass or dribble. You learn how to be a good teammate, how to work hard, how to get better, overcome adversities, how to lose gracefully, and how to win gracefully. These life lessons are important lessons to teach children. That’s why we’re investing in more kids playing the game of basketball,” the NBA executive said.
Anchored on the Jr. NBA core S.T.A.R. values of Sportsmanship, Teamwork, a positive Attitude and Respect, for more than decade the program has been going around the country sharing its vision and mission through a variety of camps, clinics, skills challenges, league play, and outreach events.
It has gone to produce a number of alumni who are now making waves and doing well at the professional and amateur basketball levels as well as outside of the basketball court.
“With the help of our partners here, we hope to continue growing the Jr. NBA program,” Mr. Tatum said, adding that they see the future of basketball in the Philippines as “fantastic.”
NATIONAL TRAINING CAMP
The 2018 Jr. NBA Philippines National Training Camp will be held later this week, with NBA up-and-coming star Willie Cauley-Stein and WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes gracing the event.
The culminating activity of the program, the training camp will feature the top 75 boys and girls, aged 10 to 14, culled from the various selection camps which were held previously.
The camp will be held on May 19 at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati before moving to the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on May 20.
“Participating in sports and having proper nutrition are both integral parts of a child’s holistic development as it touches on physical, emotional and mental well-being. Through the Jr. NBA program, I look forward to this opportunity to contribute to our goal of getting more kids, especially girls, to play the game of basketball and help them understand how working hard on their craft in the same way it opened doors for my career, can unlock greater opportunities in life,” said Ms. Swoopes.
Also at the Natonal Training Camp, the search for the 2018 Coaches of the Year will conclude and the winning coaches will take part in the NBA experience trip alongside the Jr. NBA All-Stars. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Wesley’s games

2018 USA Championship
Saint Louis, USA
April 18-30, 2018

Final Standings
1. Samuel Shankland 2671, 8.5/11
2. Fabiano Caruana 2804, 8.0/11
3. Wesley So 2786, 6.5/11
4.-6. Hikaru Nakamura 2787, Aleksandr Lenderman 2599, Ray Robson 2660, 5.5/11
7.-8. Zviad Izoria 2599, Jeffery Xiong 2665, 5.0/11
9.-11. Awonder Liang 2552, Yaroslav Zherebukh 2640, Varuzhan Akobian 2647, 4.5/11
12. Alexander Onischuk 2672, 3.0/11
Average Rating 2674 in category 17
Time Control: Players receive 90 minutes for the 1st 40 moves then 30 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to their clocks after every move starting move 1.
Wesley So was the defending US Champion and duly showed up in Saint Louis to do battle with the challengers to his crown. GM Fabiano Caruana, having recently won the Candidates’ tournament to sew up a match for the world title with Magnus Carlsen in November, was the favorite to win in Saint Louis. The chances of GM Hikaru Nakamura are not to be counted out either as he is a player of a very high standard and, notwithstanding his relative inactivity for the last two months, he always comes up with something extra when it comes to vying for the US title.
They were all not prepared for Sam Shankland who just suddenly starting winning all his games. I already told this story last week.
Wesley So won his first two games but then drew his remaining nine, good enough to finish solo 3rd but perhaps not good enough for his legion of fans not only in the USA but also in the Philippines. After all, it seemed like Wesley wasn’t pushing for the win in his games and just content to let it flow smoothly from the opening to the middle and sometimes to the endgame and if he’d see an opening he’d go for the kill, but if the opponent played solidly then they’d shake hands and go back to their rooms.
Several of our readers wrote me to ask what I think happened. My opinion is that Wesley worked very hard and prepared from morning to night for the Candidates’ tournament last March — he came off the starting line pushing very hard but was rewarded with two losses in the first two games. This was devastating for the Cavite native and he had to revert to damage control and played solidly for the rest of the event to finish with a respectable score.
Here in Saint Louis he was perhaps unsure of the approach to take and decided to just swim with the tide and hope for the best. It didn’t work in the US Championship, but don’t worry — as he has done many times in the past, Wesley will figure it out and come back stronger.
Here are his two wins.
His first opponent was 24-year-old GM Yaroslav Zherebukh, originally from the Ukraine. He was a member of the Ukrainian national youth team which won the 2006 Under-16 Chess Olympiad in Turkey. His best performance to date was in the 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk World Cup (this is the one won by Peter Svidler) where he reached the Final Round-of-16 by upsetting superGms Pavel Eljanov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in mini-matches before being knocked out by David Navara. Zherebukh switched his affiliation to the USA in 2015. He is a very strong player and I imagine he will soon be a mainstay in the US national team.

Zherebukh, Yaroslav (2640) — So, Wesley (2786) [B51]
USA-ch 2018 Saint Louis USA (1), 18.04.2018

1.e4 c5
Back in 2015, during the 2015 Sinquefield Cup, Wesley, on the Black side of a Sicilian, lost a very exciting game to Magnus Carlsen. Since then he has almost exclusively reserved the Sicilian only for rapid and blitz games. That he uses it again now shows that, at least here in the beginning of the tournament, he is willing to fight.
2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+
Zherebukh chooses a quiet line.
3…Nd7 4.Ba4?! Ngf6 5.0–0 a6
Black can take the e4 pawn but of course Wesley refrains from it fearing some sort of preparation. Indeed, after 5…Nxe4 6.Re1 Nef6 7.d4 cxd4 (Or 7…a6 8.c4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 e6 10.Rxe6+! fxe6 11.Nxe6 Qa5 12.Bd2 Black’s position looks very dangerous although there is no immediate knock-out) 8.Nxd4 e6 9.Nb5 White wins back the pawn right away.
6.c4 g6
Taking the pawn on e4 is still very dangerous.
7.Nc3 Bg7 8.d3 0–0 9.h3 b6 10.Rb1 Bb7 11.Bg5 h6 12.Be3 Qc7 13.Qd2 Kh7 14.b4 Rac8 15.Rfc1
White bolsters his defense of the knight on c3 to prevent Black’s counter of…cxb4 followed by…b5.
15…e6 16.Ne2 Rfd8 17.Ng3 Ba8 18.a3 Nb8
This reminds me of the games of the Philippines’ new IM John Marvin Miciano — he is always contorting his knights to get them to their most ideal positions. Here this knight wants to go to d4.
19.Nh2 Nc6 20.f4 Nd4 21.Rf1?
A mistake — the rook is needed on c1 and you will soon see why. I believe White’s best bet is to challenge the strong knight on d4 with Ng3–e2.
21…b5! 22.cxb5 axb5 23.Bd1
[23.Bxd4 is refuted by 23…Nxe4! 24.dxe4 Bxd4+ 25.Kh1 bxa4]
23…Qa7 24.Ra1 <D>
POSITION AFTER 24.RA1
24…cxb4?!
No harm done, but a pity that Wesley missed 24…Nf5!! 25.exf5 Nd5! and now the threat of …Nxe3 followed by Bb4 means that White has to give up his a1 rook. The Fil-Am GM was completely oblivious to this possibility and was shocked when it was pointed out to him after the game. He then joked, “that’s why I’m only no. 7 in the world!”
25.Qxb4 Nd7
[25…Ne2+ is met by 26.Kf2]
26.Kh1 Nc2!
Black wins the cucial pawn on d3. Some will say that the “rest is a matter of technique,” but what technique! Wesley’s handling of the knights and bishops is really beautiful. Please go over the final phase carefully.
27.Bxa7 Nxb4 28.Rb1 Nxd3 29.Rxb5 Bc6 30.Rb1 Ra8 31.Be3 Rxa3
White has to act quickly otherwise Black will play…Nd3–c5 and win the pawn on e4.
32.Bf3 h5 33.Ne2 N3c5 34.Bxc5 Nxc5 35.e5 Ba4!
Keeping an eye on d1.
36.exd6 Rxd6 37.Rbc1 Nb3 38.Rc7 Nd2
See? The white rook can’t go to d1.
39.Re1 Rd7 40.Rxd7 Bxd7 41.Rd1 Ra2 42.Nc1 Ra1 43.Nd3 Rxd1+ 44.Bxd1 Ne4 45.Nf3 Bb5 46.Nfe1 h4 47.Kh2 Bc3 48.Bc2
White is still trying to untangle his pieces. If 48.Bf3 Ng3 with the follow-up f7–f6, e6–e5 and e5–e4.
48…Bd2 49.Nf3 Bxd3 50.Bxd3 Bxf4+ 51.Kg1 Be3+ 52.Kf1 Ng3+ 53.Ke1 Kg7 0–1
Zherebukh now realizes that 53…Kg7 54.Nxh4 is not possible because of 54…e5 followed by e5–e4 and his knight on h4 is trapped.

So, Wesley (2786) — Onischuk, Alexander (2672) [C87]
USA-ch 2018 Saint Louis USA (2), 19.04.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 d6 7.c3 0–0 8.Re1 Bg4 9.Nbd2 Nd7 10.h3 Bh5 11.Bc2 Nb6 12.Nf1 d5 13.Ng3 Bg6 14.Qe2 Re8 15.Be3 Qd6 16.Bxb6 cxb6 17.h4!
Setting up action along the a2–g8 diagonal.
17…h6 18.Bb3 d4
Onischuk wanted to keep the d-file closed although, as the sequel will show, he does not succeed. Maybe 18…dxe4 19.dxe4 Rad8 was better? I don’t think so for White will continue 20.Rad1 Qc7 21.h5 Bh7 22.a4 and I can’t think of a constructive plan for the second player while White can just build up an attack on the enemy kingside.
19.cxd4 Nxd4 20.Nxd4 Qxd4 21.Qg4
Threatening Qxg6.
21…Qd6 22.d4! Kh8
[22…exd4 23.e5 Qb4 24.e6 Black loses a piece]
23.Rad1! Qf6 24.h5 Bh7 25.dxe5 Qxe5 26.Bxf7
Wesley has won a pawn, just like in the previous game. And just like in the previous game it is enough for victory. “Just a matter of technique.”
26…Rf8 27.Qe6 Bf6
Now we see why White’s 23.Rad1 has an exclamation mark. Onischuk cannot counter against the f2 square with 27…Qf4 because now 28.Qxe7 Rxf7 because the back rank is exposed. 29.Rd8+ Bg8 (29…Rxd8 30.Qxd8+ Rf8 31.Qxb6 defends f2 quite satisfactorily and now Wesley is two pawns up) 30.Qxf7! Qxf7 31.Rxa8 White has Re1–d1–d3 which wins quite easily.
28.Qxe5 Bxe5 29.Rd7 Rad8 30.Rxd8 Rxd8 31.b3 Rd7 32.Be6 Re7 33.Bd5 Bxg3 34.fxg3 Bg8 35.Kf2 Be6 36.Bxe6 Rxe6 37.Ke3 Kg8 38.Rf1 g6 39.hxg6 Rxg6 40.Rf3 Kg7 41.e5 Rg4 42.Kd3 b5 43.e6 Rg6 44.e7 Rd6+ 45.Ke2 1–0
After 45.Ke2 the end is clear: 45…Re6+ 46.Re3 Rxe3+ 47.Kxe3 Kf7 48.Kf4 Kxe7 49.Kf5 Kf7 50.b4 Wesley will advance his g-pawn and exchange it off for Black’s h-pawn, followed by advancing his other g-pawn.
 
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant, he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
bobby@cpamd.net

Making the Cavaliers bleed

Considering how much the Celtics leave achieved in the 2018 Playoffs, there shouldn’t be anything else that needs to be said about their resolve. Based on advanced analytics, they’ve overachieved — and considerably — through the first two rounds, winning against the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Bucks in their opening series and then against the favored Sixers in the conference semifinals. And so it comes as no surprise that they’re competing against the Cavaliers, the reigning East champions spearheaded by historically great LeBron James, with supreme confidence.
So what if the Celtics have missed All-Star Gordon Hayward since Day One of their 2017-18 campaign? And so what if top dog Kyrie Irving joined him in the sidelines last month and will be missing the remainder of the playoffs? Under the Brad Stevens dispensation, they’ve always been about making their whole even better than the sum of their parts, hence their uncanny knack for producing results the metrics argue they don’t have any business even getting close to.
Parenthetically, the Celtics provided yet another prime example of their resilience with their shellacking of the Cavaliers yesterday. The odds were against them heading into the best-of-seven affair, and in large measure because they faced the daunting prospect of containing — or, rather, trying to contain — the scorching-hot James. Instead, they showed from the get-go that their indomitable will backstopped by outstanding leadership from the hot seat allows them to exceed expectations. Whatever else anybody may think they’re capable of putting up, they’ll invariably trump.
True, all the Celtics did yesterday was protect home court. For all the embarrassment they dealt, they got just one win, and will have to be even more ready tomorrow. As Stevens noted in his post-mortem, they believe the Cavaliers will be primed to deal a “heavyweight punch” in Game Two. On the other hand, they have, at the very least, managed to disabuse all and sundry of the notion that they’re around merely to act as victims of James’ assault on the record books. No doubt, he will be better — make that much, much better — tomorrow, but so will they.
Indeed, the Celtics are used to being counted out, so they’re not taking conventional wisdom’s gross underestimation of their capacity to succeed as an affront. Heck, they’ll even grant that the best of the Cavaliers can beat their best. As they’ve kept showing over and over again, however, real life is never ironed out to approximate the ideal. And while they may be offensively challenged at times, the other end of the court is where they hang their hats on.
Perhaps James is due for yet another eye-popping performance. Perhaps those around him will go along for the ride anew. Perhaps the anticipated “heavyweight punch” does get to land. Through all the speculation, however, one thing is certain: The Celtics will not make the going easy. The Cavaliers will have to bleed for every point, just as the Bucks and Sixers did before them.
 
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

North Korea will never fully give up nuclear weapons — top defector

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea will never completely give up its nuclear weapons, a top defector said ahead of leader Kim Jong Un’s landmark summit with US President Donald Trump next month.
The current whirlwind of diplomacy and negotiations will not end with “a sincere and complete disarmament” but with “a reduced North Korean nuclear threat”, said Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the North’s deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016.
“In the end, North Korea will remain ‘a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state’,” Thae told the South’s Newsis news agency.
His remarks come ahead of an unprecedented summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12, at which North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes are expected to dominate the agenda.
North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation of the peninsula at a summit last month, and Pyongyang announced at the weekend it would destroy its only known nuclear test site next week.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday welcomed the announcement, calling it an “initial step in the complete denuclearisation of North Korea”.
But North Korea has not made public what concessions it is offering, and the South’s JoongAng Ilbo daily pointed out that it had only invited journalists to witness the operation at the Punggye-ri site.
“It is regrettable that North Korea did not invite nuclear experts to the destruction of the test site,” it said in an editorial. “If North Korea has really decided to denuclearise, it has no reason not to invite them.”
Pyongyang has said it does not need nuclear weapons if the security of its regime is guaranteed.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has met Kim twice, said he was “convinced” the North Korean leader shared US goals, and promised security assurances and bountiful American investment in the isolated nation.
“Those are the kind of things that, if we get what it is the President has demanded -– the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation (CVID) of North Korea -– that the American people will offer in spades,” Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday.
But verification will be key.
And Thae, one of the highest-ranking officials to have defected in recent years, said: “North Korea will argue that the process of nuclear disarmament will lead to the collapse of North Korea and oppose CVID.”
At a party meeting last month Kim proclaimed the development of the North’s nuclear force was complete and promised no more nuclear or missile tests. He called its arsenal “a powerful treasured sword for defending peace”.
“Giving it up soon after Kim Jong Un himself labelled it the ‘treasured sword for defending peace’ and a firm guarantee for the future? It can never happen,” said Thae, who now lives in South Korea and whose memoir hit the shelves Monday.
‘Peace gestures’
Tensions on and around the peninsula had been mounting for years as Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others.
Trump last year threatened the North with “fire and fury”.
But since the Winter Olympics in the South, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to their unprecedented meeting.
Kim has also twice visited China after failing to pay his respects to President Xi Jinping in the six years since he inherited power from his father. He also met the South’s President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.
On Monday Japanese media said an unidentified high-level North Korean official arrived in Beijing, reportedly to brief China about Pompeo’s recent visit to Pyongyang. He returned with three freed US detainees, the latest in the North’s diplomatic overtures.
Pyongyang’s sudden change in attitude was probably driven by the mounting international sanctions, which have included measures hitting sectors including coal, fish, textiles and overseas workers, Thae said.
But it had a long history of making overtures that ultimately came to nothing, he warned.
“North Korea’s diplomacy has always been a repeat of hardline and appeasement,” Thae said.
“It is North Korea’s diplomatic tactic to push the situation to extreme confrontation and suddenly send peace gestures.” — AFP

Australian wins lottery twice in a week

Sydney — Talk about lucky. A stunned Sydney man who was celebrating an Australian lottery windfall could not believe it when he won again less than a week later.
The unidentified man, in his 40s and from the suburb of Bondi, picked up Aus$1,020,487 (US$770,000) on Monday last week and then scooped another Aus$1,457,834 on Saturday.
“I just thought this is too good to be true,” he told NSW Lotteries Monday after being informed of his good fortune.
“The chances of winning twice in such a short period of time must be non-existent. I wish I had some advice to others on how to win the lottery, but I don’t.”
Asked what he would do with the cash, he said: “I’m not going to be stupid with it.” He plans to invest in some Sydney real estate, buy a new car and “a holiday to Honolulu goes without saying”.
Lottery organisers could not estimate the likelihood of winning twice in a week, but the odds of winning once are one in 1.845 million.
“We don’t know of anyone else who has won twice in a week,” NSW Lotteries spokesman Matt Hart told AFP.
“We have had people win twice in their lifetime, but not twice in a week. It is very unusual and unique.”
Lotteries are hugely popular in Australia, with various government-owned and private-sector operators.
The biggest recent winner was a man from Victoria state who woke up Aus$55 million richer in January. — AFP

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