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LRT-1 operator names Alfonso as new president

LIGHT RAIL Manila Corp. (LRMC) on Wednesday said it has appointed Juan F. Alfonso as its president and chief executive officer to replace Rogelio L. Singson.

In a statement, LRMC, which operates and maintains Light Rail Transit Line 1, said Mr. Alfonso assumed his post on Dec. 1. Mr. Singson was also appointed as board director.

Mr. Alfonso was previously the chief operating officer of the Aseagas Corporation, a subsidiary of AboitizPower. He was also senior vice-president for corporate services of AP Renewables, Inc., another unit of AboitizPower.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from the Ateneo de Manila University and a Masters in Business Administration (Cum Laude) from F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

In September, Mr. Singson, a former Public Works secretary, was appointed as senior vice-president of Manila Electric Co. and president and chief executive officer of Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen). MGen is the utility’s subsidiary involved in several pending power plant projects.

LRMC is a joint venture of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation, Ayala Corporation’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

Moody’s flags risks to power industry from carbon ‘transition,’ outlook stable

THE ASIA-PACIFIC power sector outlook for 2018 will be stable, Moody’s Investors Service said, adding that business conditions across the region will increasingly diverge as governments implement policies to address growing carbon transition risks.

“The key factors supporting our stable outlook for the power sector in [Asia-Pacific] are the steady market structures or consistency of returns in the region,” said Mic Kang, a vice-president and senior analyst at Moody’s, in a statement.

“Growing demand for electricity will help most Moody’s-rated power companies with dominant or stable market positions maintain adequate dispatch volumes, despite challenges from renewables,” the analyst said.

“As for the higher environmental costs associated with carbon transition policies, such costs will remain manageable, because of the gradual implementation of initiatives, cost pass-through and/or compensation through subsidies.”

The outlook is contained in its report for rated power companies in Asia-Pacific through the end of 2018, “Power sector — Asia Pacific: 2018 outlook stable, business conditions to diverge on carbon transition policies,” which was authored by the analyst.

The report said carbon transition policies would prove to be a key driver of business conditions across the region as each country’s respective target level of carbon emissions and timeframe to achieve its carbon goals would affect its exposure to carbon transition risks.

It said China’s thermal power generators will face the greatest challenges because of the sector’s faster transition towards renewables in light of overcapacity.

The Moody’s report also said the prudent sector reforms would reduce the risks arising from market liberalization.

“Specifically, the proposed or already implemented sector reforms in most countries call for only moderate changes in the operations of most companies through until the end of 2018,” it said.

It added greater funding diversity would help power generation companies to expand capacity and develop renewables.

“Given their large investment needs, a multi-pronged approach that combines bank loans with institutional debt capital will help boost private sector debt capacity,” it said.

While corporate-type debt will remain dominant through 2018, debt funding across the region will gradually include more project bonds, it said.

Moody’s said it could change its outlook for the sector to negative if the exposure of the majority of power companies to carbon transition risk increases substantially and/or intensified competition or sector reforms weaken business conditions.

“On the other hand, the elevated industry risk mainly stemming from carbon transition risk limits the likelihood of a change in the outlook for the sector to positive during 2018,” it said.

Moody’s has maintained a stable outlook on the Asia-Pacific power sector since 2009. — Victor V. Saulon

Much noise about black rock

There has been much noise in media lately regarding a certain black rock. In particular, there has been an effort to create the perception of big public opposition to the Senate plan to increase the tax on coal used for power generation. The lobbying has come from big business, among others, given what they perceive to be the tax’s negative impact on economic growth.

Last week, the Senate voted to hike the excise tax on coal to as much as P300 per metric ton by 2020 from the present P10 per metric ton. The present rate, if I recall correctly, was set in 1996 or more than 20 years ago. It has not been increased since then. The Senate plan, which did not go through the House, is to raise the tax to P100 in 2018, to P200 in 2019, and to P300 in 2020.

I have been supportive of the coal tax hike, primarily because I believe it was about time that the rate was adjusted. The present rate of P10 per metric ton, in my opinion, was absurdly low. And, I think, there is no real strong opposition to taxing coal, considering that we also currently tax oil and other fuel products like diesel, gasoline, and kerosene.

The concern, however, is whether the new tax rates set by the Senate are reasonable. So, the issue is not so much the tax — which has been there for decades — but whether the Senate-approved increase of P100-P300 is a good alternative to other forms of tax. And, of all the arguments I have read so far against the new coal tax rates, my friend Romy Bernardo clearly makes his case.

In his recent column in this paper, he noted that “the P300 per metric ton tax on coal [by 2020] will add P0.14 [14 centavos] per kWh to our cost of generating electricity.” He also argued that using actual carbon emissions as basis for a so-called “carbon tax” on coal, the Senate should not look at anything higher than P60 metric ton. So, P100-P300 is definitely unacceptable.

I would have preferred that Romy shared with his readers the simulations for a tax of P60, P100, P200, and P300 and how they imply on power-generation cost. But, going by his numbers, I reckon every P20 increase in the coal tax translates to a one centavo rise in power cost. And therefore, his P60 can translate to a per-kWh increase of about three centavos.

I believe coal is now sold at about P5000 per metric ton. It was at around P3700 in May. The present tax of P10 per metric ton appears miniscule given these prices. Assuming an average coal price of P4000, a tax of P10 is negligible. But, a tax of P300 is almost 7.5% of that, while an excise tax of P60 drops that percentage to only 1.5% of coal cost.

Assuming that a metric ton of coal generates about 2700 kWh of electricity, and every P20 in tax increases generation cost by one centavo, then a tax rate of P60 translates to a total increase of P81 for 2700 kWh of electricity (from one metric ton of coal) that can be shared by maybe 13 households all operating below 200 kWh — the lifeline threshold.

This then translates to a shared cost of a little over P6 per household. On the other hand, a P300 tax — five times that of the P60 — can then translate to a P30 increase in electricity prices for each of those 13 households. And there lies the rub, really. For, there is substantial difference in P6 and P30, particularly for the poor and the marginalized.

Pardon the computations, please. I cannot aim to be exact here, but I am simply trying to illustrate how even small changes in tax structure can significantly impact on everyday lives. And this, in my opinion, is where Romy gets it right and where the Senate seems to be falling short. The coal tax hike to P300, while seemingly logical, requires more study and deliberation.

An P6-P30 increase in power cost for households may seem reasonable, particularly to those who can afford to pay, but imagine the implications if we start computing the price hike in relation to the amount of electricity consumed by business and industries — which are most likely to pass on that higher cost to consumers by way of higher retail prices.

I remain supportive of the Senate call for a higher tax on coal. However, P300 appears to be way off mark. Doubling of even tripling the current tax rate may be sufficient for now. Perhaps there may even be justification for a P60 tax. This can already multiply the present coal tax yield of P200 million annually to about P1.2 billion — without over-burdening power consumers.

Of course, by compromising on the coal tax rate, the Senate will be hard-pressed to look for other sources of new revenues. It has practically run out of time as it is scheduled to go on recess by late next week. Frankly, I would rather err on the side of a shortfall now, by going ahead with a lower tax rate, and working double time next year.

The disadvantage, of course, is that 2018 is the year before an election year — and maybe a number of our good senators and congressmen are going to seek reelection in May 2019. If so, then the House and the Senate may be even more tentative next year in legislating new taxes. And without new sources of tax revenues, new infrastructure will have to take a back seat.

Marvin A. Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.

matort@yahoo.com

The easiest cocktails to make for your holiday parties

HOLIDAY PARTY season is upon us. And if you’re hosting, the question of what drinks to serve is almost as pressing as gift lists. As with most things, the trick, of course, is to not overthink it.

“People are looking for more streamlined drinks,” says Kara Newman, spirits editor for Wine Enthusiast. “I think it’s a backlash to years of overwrought cocktail books written by bartenders who mean well but have access to a bar that’s so much more vast than anyone has at home. No one should need 10 bottles to make a single drink.”

In Shake. Stir. Sip. More than 50 Effortless Cocktails Made in Equal Parts for a Crowd (2016, Chronicle Books), Newman has found that the easiest “easy” cocktails are the ones that have equal proportions of ingredients. She advises prebatching the drinks and chilling them in the fridge. Skip the bitsy jigger and simply pour cupfuls into a pitcher, stir, and decant into bottles.

“That’s the beauty of equal-parts drinks, they scale beautifully,” enthuses Newman. “You don’t really need a recipe. You don’t even really need a measuring cup — you could use a Quaker Oatmeal canister, and as long as you measure the same amount of every ingredient, the drink will work.”

There’s one caveat: If the drink is meant to be shaken or stirred with ice, but you opt to pop it into your fridge instead, be sure to add a little water to approximate the dilution you would have gotten as you mixed each individually.

Robert Simonson, the celebrated drinks and liquor writer at the New York Times, has also written a book that doubles as a resource for stressed hosts. His 3-Ingredient Cocktails: An Opinionated Guide to the Most Enduring Drinks in the Cocktail Canon (2017, Ten Speed Press) points out that classic cocktails have endured because they are, by and large, simple.

“If the Manhattan had eight ingredients, nobody would be making it today — at least not at home and probably not at many bars,” he opines in his book. He doubled down on that in an e-mail, noting that there’s a move at present toward simplicity. “After many years of bars serving up rococo cocktails with elaborate presentations, I do think there is at present a movement back toward simplicity. Complex cocktails will always have their place, but that place should be in the bar, in the hands of professionals.”

He notes that besides his and Newman’s books, more are on the way, such as Maggie Hoffman’s upcoming The One-Bottle Cocktail. “They are a reminder that excellence is within the grasp of the home bartender without maxing out your credit card at the liquor store and renting a U-Haul to bring your purchases home.” Amen.

Whatever you decide to make — and we have four can’t-fail recipes below — use top-notch liquor and think about having two instead of four. To paraphrase venerated mixologist Jim Meehan, this holiday drinking season make it quality, and make it count. — Bloomberg

Fair Harvard

From 3-Ingredient Cocktails by Robert Simonson

The author created this drink for a party at an architecture gallery decorated in white that didn’t want to risk the spillage of dark spirits. It cleverly riffs on the classic, brandy-based Harvard.

Serves 12
24 oz. pisco
12 oz. bianco vermouth
About 36 dashes of orange bitters
12 lemon twists

In a large pitcher, combine all the ingredients except the lemon twists. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into another pitcher or container and refrigerate until serving. To serve, pour into chilled coupes. Twist a lemon twist over each drink, drop into the glass and serve.

Toffee Negroni

From Shake. Stir. Sip. by Kara Newman

Serves 12

Like a regular Negroni — equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari — Newman notes that it’s easy to scale this drink up or down; you can double it for a bigger crowd or make just one drink. New York bartender Lynnette Marrero created this variation in which the rich, deep tones of aged rum combined with luscious amontillado really do evoke caramel and toffee without overt sweetness.

12 oz. aged rum
12 oz. amontillado sherry
12 oz. Aperol
12 grapefruit twists

In a large pitcher, combine the rum, sherry, and Aperol. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into another pitcher or container and refrigerate until serving. To serve, pour into a rocks glass over a large cube of ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Fitty-Fitty Martini

From Shake. Stir. Sip. by Kara Newman

Serves 12

Newman credits Audrey Saunders, co-owner of New York’s famed Pegu Club, for reviving this martini style, tweaking it, and giving it a saucier name. “This is literally two ingredients, in equal parts. It does not get any easier than this.”

36 oz. gin
36 oz. dry vermouth
24 dashes orange bitters
12 lemon twists

In a large pitcher, combine the gin, vermouth, and bitters. Add about ½ cup of water to mimic ice dilution. Refrigerate until serving. To serve, pour into chilled martini glasses and garnish with lemon twists.

Note: To make a more classic martini, omit the orange bitters and substitute olives for the twists.

The Trifecta Punch

From Meaghan Levy of HGU Hotel in New York

Serves 16-20

During the holiday season, Levy turns (and returns) to this simple, hassle-free punch recipe with three easy-to-find ingredients that anyone can whip up in three minutes. “That inspired the name, the Trifecta Punch. Gin is a nice alternative to brown spirits often used in punch. Slightly bitter Aperol provides contrast and lends a great winter feel.”

24 oz. gin
12 oz. Apero
l64 oz. chilled sparkling rosé wine
Cranberries, for garnish

In a pitcher, combine the gin and Aperol. Stir and refrigerate until serving. To serve, add the sparkling rosé wine and stir again gently. Pour into rocks glasses or cups and garnish with cranberries.

Megaworld preparing ‘surprise’ tourist attraction at Davao township

MEGAWORLD CORP. is adjusting the design of its 11-hectare township project in Davao City to include a feature that would “become a tourist destination,” according to the company’s communications head. Brian C. Geronimo, head of public relations and communications, said the redesign is part of the evolution of the Davao District Park complex. “We are coming out with something that has not been thought before,” he said. “Every township has its own character… One thing I can assure you it will become a tourist destination; it is something that would take care of Mindanao’s heritage and culture and something of its history,” he added. The first building in the complex, now under construction with a budget of about P1.2 billion, will be a 15-storey office center. Construction is also underway for the residential towers, while the Lanang Premier Doctors Hospital is expected to be completed within the next two years. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Jokowi says his reforms are a success with Indonesia’s economic growth above 5%

JAKARTA — Indonesian President Joko Widodo said government reforms to boost the economy are starting to pay off, enabling it to embark on the biggest infrastructure plan in the nation’s history.

Conditions are much better now than when he took office three years ago, with economic growth back at above 5% and the currency rebounding, Mr. Widodo, known as Jokowi, said in his speech at Bloomberg’s Year Ahead Asia Conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“These positive developments are thanks to one thing and one thing only: reform,” he said.

The economy grew more than 5% every quarter this year and is forecast by the government to expand 5.4% in 2018. While that’s still below the 7% target set by Jokowi when he came to power three years ago, a recovery in exports and rising investment are underscoring the strength in Indonesia’s economy, he said.

Jokowi has been rewarded for his economic reforms with an investment-grade credit rating from S&P Global Ratings this year and a flood of foreign investment in the nation’s bonds. After dropping to its weakest level since 1998 in September 2015, the rupiah has gained nearly 9% against the dollar.

FOREIGN BORROWING
Indonesia, which is rated by Moody’s Investors Service at Baa3 with a positive outlook, should continue pursuing economic reforms, Michael Taylor, managing director and chief credit officer for Asia Pacific at Moody’s, said at the conference. The measures have started to bear fruit in the form of higher foreign direct investment, he said.

Still, the nation is heavily reliant on external borrowing and a shift toward more domestic sources of financing would be a positive development, he said.

The government has worked hard on reforms, including removing fuel subsidies to free up funds to finance building roads, railways and ports, the president said.

“We are on track to complete the most amount of infrastructure ever built during a five-year period in Indonesia,” he said.

Jokowi, who is yet to commit to running for reelection in 2019, still faces plenty of economic challenges. Indonesia has a poor record of tax compliance and he needs to raise revenue to help keep the budget deficit under control.

While Indonesia has jumped 19 places to be ranked 72 out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s latest ease of doing business index, the nation still needs to reduce regulatory uncertainty to spur foreign investment.

That’s a sentiment echoed by Thomas Lembong, chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board, known as BKPM.

“We definitely admit that the top complaint of investors is regulatory uncertainty,” Mr. Lembong said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. Having joined the public sector from the business world, “I’m quite startled by how underdeveloped our policy-making processes are,” he said. “The way we formulate policy has fallen far behind the cutting edge.”

The president is aware of the challenges and is making an effort to reform the bureaucracy, Mr. Lembong said.

“Government needs to be a public servant, and supportive, rather than talking a lot,” he said. “We need to be a great listener, and that’s what President Jokowi is.”

The dramatic growth of the digital economy will continue to boost Indonesia’s growth, Jokowi said.

“Indonesia is today experiencing a historic boom in e-commerce,” he said, citing the rise of three so-called unicorn companies. “Given the size of our domestic market we will have many more in the years to come.” — Bloomberg

Radjabov misses

Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix
Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Nov. 16-25, 2017

Final Standings

1-2. Levon Aronian ARM 2801, Dmitry Jakovenko RUS 2721, 5.5/9

3-9. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2780, Ding Liren CHN 2774, Peter Svidler RUS 2763, Teimour Radjabov AZE 2741, Penteala Harikrishna IND 2738, Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS 2702, Richard Rapport HUN 2692, 5.0/9

10-12. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2796, Pavel Eljanov UKR 2707, Ernesto Inarkiev RUS 2683, 4.5/9

13-15. Anish Giri NED 2762, Li Chao CHN 2741, Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2705, 4.0/9

16. Alexander Riazantsev RUS 2651, 3.5/9

17-18. Boris Gelfand ISR 2719, Jon Ludvig Hammer NOR 2629, 3.0/9

Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and then 15 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added after every move starting move 1.

Here is the situation. In March we will have the 2018 Candidates’ tournament to take place in Berlin. Eight of the top players of the world will compete in a double round-robin event and the winner will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship in London on November 2018.

The eight players are:

The loser of the 2016 world championship: Sergey Karjakin

The two finalists in World Cup 2017: Levon Aronian and Ding Liren

Top 2 highest rated players: Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So

Organizer’s Nominee: Vladimir Kramnik

The top two of the Grand Prix 2017: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk.

About the two qualifiers from the Grand Prix, Mamedyarov and Grischuk were leading the Grand Prix going into the final event in Palma de Mallorca just last month. Both Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov could take over one or two slots with a +2 performance (meaning 2 more wins than losses) in Palma. Neither of them succeeded.

The Frenchman-with-3-names started off well with a nice win vs Boris Gelfand in the first round but could not get the needed second full-point. In the last round he tried too hard against Jakovenko and even lost. Vachier-Lagrave is a player of very high class and tactical genius and he will be missed in the Candidates. There were some who criticized him for his 13-move draw with Nakamura and 10-move armistice with Svidler but I understand that you cannot maintain such an energetically high level of play without taking some rest days.

Radjabov’s tournament had more adventures. First, a 12-move draw with Riazantsev then a nice King’s Indian victory vs Vallejo Pons which I will show you in a while. After that came another short draw with Giri and a loss to Nakamura. Then a quick draw with Harikrishna followed by another loss, this time to Tomashevsky. With three games to go and his score at -1 only a clean sweep of the last three rounds will get him into the Candidates. He almost did it, beating Li Chao in round 7, Gelfand in round 8 but was held to a draw by Rapport in the final round, ending his candidates’ aspirations.

Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2705) — Radjabov, Teimour (2741) [E73]
FIDE Grand Prix Palma 2017 Palma de Mallorca (2), 17.11.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7

As many of our BW readers know Radjabov is currently the world’s best authority on the King’s Indian Defense.

4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.Be3

I don’t think the line that Vallejo uses in this game has a name yet, but it is similar to the Makogonov (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0–0 5.Nf3 d6 6.h3 e5 7.d5 e5 8.g4 Na6 9.Be3). Ivan Sokolov used this system three times against Jorden Foreest in their match in Hoogeveen last year and won all three games.

6…e5 7.d5 a5 8.g4 Na6 9.h4

In contrast with the Makogonov White has played his h-pawn to h4 directly without “wasting” a move on h2–h3, so you might say this is an improvement, but of course it is not that simple.

9…Nc5 10.f3

In the Makogonov the kingside pawn advances are made only after Ng1–f3–d2. Here in this line how to develop the knight is a problem.

10…h5 11.g5 Nh7 12.Kd2!?

Most people would play Qd2 followed by 0–0–0 here, but Vallejo thinks that his king should be more secure on d2. GM Yermolinsky, annotating the game in the Chessbase Web site, opines that he “underestimated the importance of maintaining pressure on the d-file to fight against c7–c6.”

12…Bd7 13.Nh3 c6 14.Nf2 cxd5 15.exd5

After 15.cxd5 Black has …a5–a4, …Qa5 and …b7–b5 and White’s king will be feeling insecure on d2.

15…f5 16.gxf6 Nxf6 17.Bxc5

It must have been painful for White to part with his dark-squared bishop, but he really wanted to get a knight on e4.

17…dxc5 18.Kc2 a4!

Radjabov shows his understanding on King’s Indian formations. He wants to weaken the long diagonal a1–h8 foro his g7–bishop. For us people who have seen the twin brilliancies Pachman vs Bronstein and Zita vs Bronstein, surprisingly enough from the same Prague vs Moscow Matrch in 1946 (shown below), this decision is very logical.

19.Qd2

[19.a3 creates a hole on b3 for Black’s queen to exploit after …Qb6.]

19…a3 20.b3 e4!

Just like I said — opening up the long diagonal.

21.fxe4

[21.Nfxe4 Nxe4 22.fxe4 Rf2 is even worse]

21…Ng4 22.Nxg4 hxg4

Position after 22…hxg4

Here is what Black will try to accomplish: (1) put his bishop on either d4 or e5, (2) put a rook on f2, queen on f6 and then the other rook on f8, (3) push his passed g-pawn.

23.h5 Rf2 24.h6 Be5 25.Raf1 g3 26.Rxf2 gxf2 27.Nd1 Qf6 28.Rf1 Bd4

With the idea of …Bh3.

29.Nxf2

White is just trying to muddy the waters, he already knows he is lost.

29…Bxf2 30.e5 Qxe5 31.Rxf2 Bf5+ 32.Kd1 Qa1+ 33.Qc1 Qxa2 34.Rxf5 Qxb3+

Please, not 34…gxf5?? 35.Qg5+ and it is White who is winning.

35.Kd2 Qa2+

[35…a2 36.Qa1 Qb4+ 37.Kc2 Qb1+ 38.Qxb1 axb1Q+ 39.Kxb1 gxf5 wins as well]

36.Ke1

[36.Kd1 Qb3+ simply goes back to the line above]

36…Qb2 37.Qf4 Qb1+ 0–1

You know what? The 36-move draw with Rapport in the last round was not a sterile position — it could have been fought on. When Radjabov shows up at the chessboard you don’t know whether it will be a fightless draw or a struggle to the finish. I think he got a bit confused himself at the end.

SOFTENING UP THE LONG DIAGONAL
Here are the two brilliant examples of softening up the long diagonal I wrote about earlier.

Pachman, Ludek — Bronstein,David Ionovich [E68] 
Match/City Prague-Moscow 13,0–23,0 Moscow (Russia) (2), 03.1946

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.g3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.0–0 0–0 8.b3 Re8 9.e4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Nc5 11.Re1 a5 12.Bb2 a4 13.Rc1 c6 14.Ba1 axb3 15.axb3 Qb6 16.h3 Nfd7 17.Rb1 Nf8 18.Kh2 h5 19.Re2 h4 20.Rd2 Rxa1 21.Rxa1 Bxd4 22.Rxd4 Nxb3 23.Rxd6 Qxf2 24.Ra2 Qxg3+ 25.Kh1 Qxc3 26.Ra3 Bxh3 27.Rxb3 Bxg2+ 28.Kxg2 Qxc4 29.Rd4 Qe6 30.Rxb7 Ra8 31.Qe2 h3+ 0–1

Zita, Frantisek —
Bronstein, David Ionovich [E68]
Match/City Prague-Moscow 13,0–23,0 Moscow (Russia) (6), 03.1946

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 Nbd7 5.g3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.0–0 0–0 8.b3 Re8 9.Bb2 c6 10.e4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Qb6 12.Qd2 Nc5 13.Rfe1 a5 14.Rab1 a4 15.Ba1 axb3 16.axb3 Ng4 17.h3 Rxa1 18.Rxa1 Nxf2 19.Re3 Nxh3+ 20.Kh2 Nf2 21.Rf3 Ncxe4 22.Qf4 Ng4+ 23.Kh1 f5 24.Nxe4 Rxe4 25.Qxd6 Rxd4 26.Qb8 Rd8 27.Ra8 Be5 28.Qa7 Qb4 29.Qa2 Qf8 30.Bh3 Qh6 0–1

In his “100 Selected Games” former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik mentioned that the Ukrainian players (at that time the two leadings Ukranians were Isaak Boleslavsky and David Bronstein) had developed a “secret weapon” in the opening. Well, this is it.

Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.

bobby@cpamd.net

Australia stung by NZ bid to register manuka honey brand

MANUKA honey’s much-hyped healing properties have proved a money-spinner for beekeepers in Australia and New Zealand, but a push to trademark its name has sparked a bitter row between the two countries.

The fracas erupted when a New Zealand association applied for exclusive rights to market manuka honey in five countries, including the United States, Britain, Australia and China, incensing Australian beekeepers who have dismissed the Kiwi claims as “ridiculous.”

Nicknamed “liquid gold,” manuka honey is produced by bees foraging on the flowers of the tea tree shrub, which grows wild in both countries.

Devotees hail it as a wonder food, with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties that can cure skin conditions, heal sore throats, boost immunity and aid digestion.

Celebrity fans include Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kourtney Kardashian, a manuka “brand ambassador” who slathers it on her face, eats it raw and feeds her children manuka honey tea to ward off colds.

In his autobiography, tennis champion Novak Djokovic cites manuka honey as a key part of the organic diet that helped revive his career when he discovered he was gluten intolerant.

The honey’s star ingredient is methylglyoxal (MGO), an antimicrobial molecule, found in higher concentrations in manuka than other honey varieties.

While scientists strongly dispute some of the health claims made on its behalf, manuka is now a staple in high-end supermarkets around the world and appears in expensive products ranging from face cream to shampoos and lip balm.

Prices soar in line with the proportion of MGO, reaching up to €300 for a one-kilogram jar containing 700 milligrams of the antiseptic ingredient.

It has helped the value of New Zealand’s honey exports triple in the five years to 2016 on soaring demand, particularly from China.

Small wonder then that New Zealand’s honey producers are fiercely protective of their manuka brand and bristle at what they see as Australian attempts to piggyback off its success.

The Australians are equally adamant that their honey should be called manuka because it comes from the same plant as the Kiwi product and has similar MGO levels.

The New Zealanders want to secure protected status for honey labeled manuka, meaning only their products can carry the name.

France did it with Champagne, Portugal with its Porto wine, and Italy with Parma ham and Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan) cheese, all to lucrative effect.

“Our initiative is not an anti-Australian thing,” said John Rawcliffe, spokesman for the New Zealand association Unique Manuka Factor (UMF), whose contentious application for the trademark sparked the dispute.

“The most important thing is to protect the customers. Manuka is a Maori word and it’s crucial that Manuka honey can be authenticated and related to a terroir, a climate, exactly like… Champagne,” Rawcliffe told AFP.

The absence of certification has helped counterfeiters hawk their version of manuka honey to unsuspecting consumers, Rawcliffe said, citing Portuguese producers among the offending imitators.

“Australia should be able as well to have certifications for its very good honeys… in a global market exposed to forgeries, the certification of our products would benefit both of us,” he added.

But Australian producers say New Zealand has no right to claim a monopoly on manuka honey.

Lindsay Bourke, a spokesperson for the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, described the trademark bid as “ridiculous and unfair.”

“Why would they prevent other manuka honey producers to use the name manuka considering they grow exactly the same variety of plant?” Bourke told AFP.

Paul Callender of the recently established Australian Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) said Australia was home to 80 varieties of manuka honey, including one native to Tasmania but claimed by New Zealand.

Callender pointed out the manuka market is expected to continue to grow — making further inroads into “medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and nutritional sectors” — and urged producers in both countries to join hands and reap the benefits.

“We have cheaper price acquisition and operating costs than the Kiwis. But they are very good in marketing. So why not become partners instead of fighting?”

New Zealand producers launched their bid for protected status in 2015, applying to authorities in their five largest markets.

It is expected to be a long process, with their Australian rivals lodging objections every step of the way and warning that a result in the Kiwis’ favor would have dire implications for honey lovers.

“If they managed to get the certification then our losses would be huge,” Bourke said.

“Fortunately it’s not going to happen: first because this request is based on a lie and then because it would mean a surge of manuka honey prices for consumers.” — AFP

Google blocks YouTube access from Amazon’s streaming devices

ALPHABET, Inc.’s Google pulled support for its YouTube video service from Amazon.com, Inc.’s streaming-media devices, citing the Internet retailer’s failure to make Amazon Prime Video available through Google’s gadgets and the recent halt of the sale of some Nest products on its Web site.

Google blocked YouTube access via the Echo Show, Amazon’s smart speaker with a touchscreen, on Dec. 6 and will stop supporting YouTube on Amazon’s Fire TV set-top box on Jan. 1. In a statement, a Google representative said it’s taking the action because the YouTube apps on Amazon products aren’t made by Google, like the YouTube app on the iPhone is, and the retail giant doesn’t sell some Google products, such as Chromecast and Google Home.

“We’ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other’s products and services,” Google said in a statement. In its own statement, Seattle-based Amazon said its gadgets now send users to the YouTube Web site, and the company hopes to resolve the dispute as soon as possible.

The rivalry between Google and Amazon has heated up as the search giant and online retailer have moved quickly into hardware and Internet services. In the past few years, both have introduced multiple new home devices, including speakers and home-security products. Both have also been pushing their own video and music-streaming services as well as competing video-control platforms. They also both offer corporate cloud-computing services, a market where Amazon leads by a wide margin.

“Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard Web view of YouTube.com and point customers directly to YouTube’s existing Web site,” Amazon said in the statement. “Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website.”

Mountain View, California-based Google isn’t the only competitor that has seen its products blocked from Amazon’s site. After being pulled from the no. 1 e-commerce site in 2015, the Apple TV box reappeared on the retail Web site in September, only to vanish again. Apple Inc., meantime, said Amazon Prime Video would become available as an app for Apple TV by the end of the year, but it hasn’t yet been released. — Bloomberg

Forgotten and overlooked

Heading into the start of any given National Basketball Association season, the Raptors feel forgotten, perhaps even overlooked. Every year, pundits assess their victory potential, and, every year, they set about exceeding it. Not that it has mattered any; in recent memory, they have failed to turn 50-win campaigns into deep playoff runs. And even as the reason — LeBron James — is understandable to the casual observer, their inability to translate early overachievement to late prosperity serves only to fuel their intent to break through.

And so the Raptors greeted the 2017-18 season intent on disproving armchair experts anew. Not a few quarters saw fit to rank them as low as sixth in the East, behind usual suspects (the Cavaliers and Celtics) and unusual upstarts (the Bucks and Sixers), and they viewed the development as a continuing dis. Significantly, the chip-on-the-shoulder mentality pervades the roster, from top dog DeMar DeRozan to backcourt mate Kyle Lowry to fellow starters Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka to head coach Dwane Casey to general manager Masai Ujiri.

Fast forward two months, and the Raptors are once again in the thick of things in their conference. They’re on the heels of the Celtics and Cavaliers, but ahead of notables supposedly better than them. Granted, it’s hard to draw conclusions when a full three-quarters of the regular season still has to be plaed. On the other hand, it bears noting that they’re competing on the strength of better ball movement, with emphasis on the power of a determined team of five players to surpass the output of five determined players on a team.

Parenthetically, the Raptors’ new identity stems from their desire to effect lasting changes. They didn’t want to be branded insane for moving to do the same thing and expecting a different result. Instead, they reinvented themselves, relying less on isolation sets and more on equal-opportunity efforts, to decidedly tangible results. Their net rating of 7.2 is tops in the conference, a reflection of their preferential option to spread the wealth (with five players norming double figures in points and a sixth coming close).

Whether the Raptors manage to do better from April onwards is anybody’s guess. Meanwhile, one thing’s clear: They’ve earned the right to wax optimistic. And armed with no small measure of confidence, they’re out to turn their underdog status to success.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

When artificial intelligence gets real for investors: a timeline

AI’s recent feats — beating a Go champion, navigating driverless cars, making money for investors — were many decades in the making.

1950: Alan Turing developed the Turing Test for recognizing machine intelligence.

1956: John McCarthy coins “artificial intelligence” at Dartmouth College conference.

1957: Invention of Perceptron, an algorithm that could be trained to classify images.

1964: Computers understand natural language enough to solve algebra word problems.

1968: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey features intelligent computer HAL 9000.

1979: The Stanford Cart, an autonomous vehicle, navigates across a room full of obstacles.

1982: James Simons starts quant investment firm Renaissance Technologies.

1988: David Shaw founds D.E. Shaw, an early AI adopter among hedge funds.

1990s: AI advances in machine learning, case-based reasoning, data mining, virtual reality.

1997: IBM computer Deep Blue beats world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

1990s: Web crawlers, other AI-based information programs, become Internet mainstays.

1999: Sony AIBO, a robotic pet dog, understands 100 voice commands, learns and matures.

2005: Sebastian Thrun’s Stanford team wins DARPA’s 132-mile driverless car race.

2011: IBM Watson, a system capable of answering questions, wins quiz show Jeopardy.

2012: Google’s self-driving car gets license in Nevada.

2014: Man Group starts using machine learning algorithms to manage client money.

2016: Alphabet’s DeepMind AlphaGo computer program beats Go champion.

2017: AlphaGo Zero learns by playing against itself, beats AlphaGo by 100 games to 0.

2017: Facebook switches entirely to neural networks for 4.5 billion translations a day.

2017: First AI Powered Equity ETF driven by IBM’s Watson computer starts trading.

2017: Two Sigma, a hedge fund that deploys machine learning, crosses $50 billion in assets under management.

2040s: AI could be involved in 99% of investment management, according to Man Group. — Bloomberg

La Niña pattern forms in tropical Pacific Ocean, Australia says

A WEAK La Niña weather pattern has formed in the Pacific Ocean, Australia’s weather bureau declared, and the event may bring wet weather to cropping and coal mining regions in the nation.

Climate models suggest this La Niña will be short-lived, persisting until early in the southern hemisphere autumn of next year, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its Web site. The central to eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean has cooled steadily since winter and has now reached La Niña thresholds.

La Niñas occur when the atmosphere above the equatorial Pacific reacts to cooling water temperatures and typically deliver colder winters across the northern US, drought in Brazil’s soybean-growing areas and flooding rains across the coal-mining regions of Australia. The US last month said a weak La Niña formed in October and had a 64% chance of lasting through March.

Prices for agricultural commodities including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, sugar and coffee may rise and be volatile during a La Niña cycle, BMI Research said in October. Australia’s cotton output may benefit from La Niña rain, industry group Cotton Australia said in October, as the weather conditions can fill irrigation dams.

While La Niña events are typically associated with wetter than normal conditions across eastern and northern Australia, the sea surface temperatures in the current event aren’t typical of La Niña and so may result in a reduced likelihood of widespread, above average summer rain, the bureau said. La Niñas can also increase the chance of prolonged warm spells for southeast Australia, it said.

The last event was the 2010-2012 La Niña which included one of the strongest peaks on record. The nation activated a watch for the weather pattern in October this year with seven out of eight international climate models suggesting sea surface temperatures would reach La Niña levels by November. — Bloomberg

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