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House bill on gov’t salary hike approved on second reading

THE House of Representatives approved on second reading Monday the consolidated bill increasing the salaries of government employees next year.

House Bill 5712 or the proposed Salary Standardization Law of 2019 (SSL-V) was written by Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Deputy Speaker Paolo Z. Duterte, and Majority Leader Martin G. Romualdez.

The measure covers all civilian government personnel in the Executive, Legislative, Judicial Branches, Constitutional Commissions and other Constitutional Offices, and government-owned and controlled corporations.

According to the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Isidro T. Ungab, the panel will seek urgent certification of the bill from Malacañang.

“We expect that the Office of the President might issue a certificate of urgency any time after ma-file yung Committee report sa plenary mamaya (after the committee report is filed with the plenary later)” Mr. Ungab said.

Should the President issue a certificate of urgency, the bill will not be required to undergo three readings.

If the bill is signed into law, Salary Grade (SG) 1 government employees will receive a total P2,000 increase or P500 each year starting from 2020 until 2023. In other words, SG 1 employees who currently receive P11,000 will receive P13,000 by 2023.

Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said that the Senate will also prioritize the bill before Congress adjourns for the year.

“Hopefully by today, so malaki ang pag-asa, and then the salary standardization law, para finally maayos na rin yung sweldo ng lahat (We hope to tackle it today, so the prospects are good for finally fixing new salaries for everyone)” he said.

Separately, President Rodrigo R. Duterte certified as urgent Monday Senate Bill 1219 which seeks to modify the salary schedule for civilian government personnel and authorize the grant of additional benefits.

ACT Teachers representative France L. Castro said the salary increase in the House bill is insufficient because the salary of teachers in basic education will only increase to P27,000 from P20,754.

“Kapos siya ng P3,000 dun sa proposal ng mga teachers. Ito ay ano ah P27,000 after four years pa to. Eh ngayon magkano na ba ang sweldo ng mga uniformed personnel? P30,000 na sila ngayon. Pero ang mga teacher P27,000 after four years pa. Sobra namang napaka barat ng proposal na ito ng DBM (Department of Budget and Management) at ng liderato ng House (The proposal is short by P3,000 from what the teachers are seeking. The P27,000 will only come after four years; meanwhile uniformed personnel receive P30,000 right now. The DBM and House leadership proposal is not very generous)” Ms. Castro told reporters.

Mr. Ungab said the DBM proposal was carefully studied.

“Kung may pagkukulang man (If there are any shortcomings), we hope to correct that in the future. Kung kaya lang ibigay nang mataas why not? Ang problema, we also have limited funds (If we are able to give more in the future, why not? The problem is, we also have limited funds)“ Mr. Ungab told reporters. — Genshen L. Espedido

Flash Report: Revised BIR reportorial requirements

Last year, I had the chance to write an article about the things that the employers need to know in computing for the annualized tax on compensation. The focus was the changes brought about by the Republic Act (RA) No. 10963 — Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law and recent Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issuances. This year, I’ll tackle the recent changes in the reportorial requirements, especially now that we’re nearing towards the year-end.

Cessation of the submission of the Semestral List of Regular Suppliers (SRS). In Revenue Memorandum Circulars (RMC) No. 122-2019, the BIR removed the requirement for the top 20,000 private corporations (now included as part of the Top Withholding Agents, or TWAs) to submit a list of income payments subjected to 1% and 2% creditable withholding tax (CWT) on its purchases of goods and services, respectively, on the last day of the following month after the end of each semester due to the following reasons:

1. The information contained in the SRS is already reported in the Quarterly Alphalist of Payees (QAP);

2. The requirement cannot be applied to the Taxpayer Account Management Program (TAMP) taxpayers and medium taxpayers (included also as part of TWA) since the requirement was no longer mentioned in Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11-2018; and

3. To be consistent with the policy of ease of doing business.

Revised Annual Information Returns for Withholding Taxes. New versions (January 2018 ENCS) of the annual information returns of creditable income taxes withheld (expanded)/ income payments exempt from withholding tax (BIR Form No. 1604-E), income taxes withheld on compensation (BIR Form No. 1604-C), and income payments subjected to final withholding taxes (BIR Form No. 1604-F) were circularized and made available in RMC No. 73-2019 in connection with the implementation of the TRAIN Law.

The revised annual information returns required the taxpayers to indicate: (1) whether the taxpayer is one of the TWAs; and (2) Payment Reference Number (Tax Remittance Advice or TRA/Electronic Revenue Official Receipt or eROR/Electronic Acknowledgment Receipt or eAR reference number). For BIR Form No. 1604-F, the withholding agent is also required to indicate if the income recipients are availing of tax relief under Special Law or International Tax Treaty.

Since the BIR is currently enhancing the Alphalist Data Entry and Validation Module (Version 6.1), the deadline for the submission of BIR Form No. 1604-C and 1604-F and corresponding Alphalists for the calendar year ending 2019 was extended from Jan. 31, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2020, pursuant to RMC No. 124-2019.

Revised Annual Alphalists. In RMC No. 73-2019, the Alphalist of Employees attached to BIR Form No. 1604-C was also revised and reduced from five schedules to two schedules only: (1) Schedule 1- Alphalist of Employees; and (2) Schedule 2- Alphalist of Minimum Wage Earners. In both schedules, the employer is required to indicate the following additional information:

1. Nationality/Resident (for foreigners only);

2. Current Employment Status

3. TIN of previous employer (if applicable);

4. Employment period from previous and present employer (if applicable); and

5. Reason of Separation from Previous and Present Employer (if applicable).


Further, the same RMC provides a revised Alphalist of Payees attached to BIR Form No. 1604-F to include the following details of the transaction:

Revised Withholding Tax Certificates. The BIR also issued new versions (January 2018 ENCS) of the withholding tax certificates (BIR Form No. 2307/2306/2316). This was circularized in RMC No. 74-2019 and RMC No. 100-2019.

In RMC No. 26-2019, the BIR allowed the withholding agents issuing computer/system generated BIR Certificates to use and issue the old versions of the above mentioned BIR Certificates for all transactions covering the taxable year ending Dec. 31, 2019. This is to give taxpayers ample time to reconfigure their computerized accounting system (CAS) to reflect revisions and changes in the certificates as provided in the above RMCs.

It should be noted that the extension to use the old versions of the forms are only for those withholding agents who issue computer/system generated BIR Certificates to its payees/employees. All other withholding agents are required to use and issue the new versions of the withholding tax certificates.

Further, RMC No. 116-2019 provides that in all copies of BIR Form No. 2316 to be issued to seconded employees assigned to RAHQ/ROHQ/OBU/PSCS entities, the phrase “For Seconded Employee” shall be typed or printed in bold capital letters enclosed in open and close parenthesis immediately under the form’s title “Certificate of Compensation Payment/Tax Withheld.”

Submission of BIR Form No. 2316 and Certified List of Employees. For employers/withholding agents mandated or who opted to submit the scanned copies of BIR Form No. 2316 of its employees qualified for substituted filing of income tax return (ITR), RMC No. 24-2019 provides that a Universal Storage Bus (USB) memory stick or other similar storage devices may be used in the absence or unavailability of the DVDs provided that the scanned copies of the forms shall be made in uneditable format.

Aside from the manner of submission of scanned copies of BIR Form No. 2316, the RMC also introduced changes in the format of the “Certified List of Employees Qualified for Substituted Filing of ITR.” While the number of employees in the format prescribed in Annex “F” of RR No. 11-2018 is only limited to 18 employees, the RMC prescribed the procedure if the employer will attach additional pages or prepare a separate list to accommodate additional employees. A reference statement shall be clearly indicated in the certification to refer the attachments and such attachments must be signed by the certifying employer or its duly authorized representative at the bottom of all the pages.

The certification is not required to be notarized provided that all pages attached to the certification are duly signed by the certifying employer or its duly authorized representative to be consistent with the policy of ease of doing business.

“I’ve had my adventure, I don’t need something new, I’m afraid of what I’m risking if I follow you, Into the unknown!” I imagine taxpayers singing these lines from the song “Into the Unknown” from the movie “Frozen 2” not only because of its catchy lyrics but also because of its message about change, which is very relevant to our lives. Since one of the goals of the TRAIN Law and other tax reform packages is to enhance the progressivity of our tax system, we can only expect a lot of changes in the coming years. Yes, change is never really easy but without it, there will be no progress.

Let’s Talk Tax is a weekly newspaper column of P&A Grant Thornton that aims to keep the public informed of various developments in taxation. This article is not intended to be a substitute for competent professional advice.

 

Christian Derick D. Villafranca is a senior of Tax Advisory & Compliance division of P&A Grant Thornton, the Philippine member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.

pagrantthornton@ph.gt.com.

TNT looks to create further separation against Meralco

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

TOOK an early 1-0 lead in their best-of-five Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup semifinal pairing, the TNT KaTropa look to create further distance with the Meralco Bolts in Game Two of their joust at 7 p.m. today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Led by import KJ McDaniels, the KaTropa, the third-seeded team in the playoffs of the season-ending PBA tournament, found themselves in a battle with the number two team Bolts in the series opener but hung tough in the end in extricating for the 103-94 victory and the early series cushion.

Mr. McDaniels finished with a game-high 38 points, to go along with 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

The two teams stood toe-to-toe in the opening quarter before Mr. McDaniels started to make his presence felt.

After trailing, 25-22, in the first canto of the match on Sunday, the KaTropa outscored the Bolts, 55-36, in the next two quarters to build a 16-point separation, 77-61, heading into the final frame.

In the payoff quarter, Meralco, on the lead of import Allen Durham, tried to rally back.

It came to within eight points, 97-89, with 1:37 left in the game, but that was the closest it could get at that point as Mr. McDaniels and the rest of TNT went for the closeout after.

Jayson Castro backstopped their import with a near-triple double of 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, with four steals to boot.

Roger Pogoy came back from back injury to help the KaTropa with 18 points with Ray Parks, Jr. and Troy Rosario adding 11 points each.

Mr. Durham, meanwhile, paced Meralco with 32 points and 21 rebounds.

Allein Maliksi came off the bench to score 15 points while Chris Newsome had 14.

Recognizing that the series still has a long way to go, TNT coach Bong Ravena said that while they take the win, they are not getting ahead of themselves.

“We’re happy we won Game One because it’s an important part of any series. But there is nothing to celebrate yet as the series is still a long one,” said Mr. Ravena.

The TNT coach then underscored the need for them to find ways to limit the impact of Mr. Durham, who he described as a difference maker, especially if allowed to do his thing.

NFL: Buffalo Bills defeat Pittsburgh in defensive battle, clinch playoff berth

PITTSBURGH — The visiting Buffalo Bills clinched a playoff spot Sunday night when Josh Allen’s 14-yard tiebreaking touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft was the difference in a 17-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the score tied at 10, Allen found Kroft at the right pylon to cap a six-play, 70-yard drive with 7:55 left in the fourth quarter.

Buffalo (10-4) has won four of its past five games, and Pittsburgh (8-6) had won seven of eight.

Allen was 13 of 25 passing for 139 yards with an interception, and he also ran for a touchdown.

Steelers quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges, an undrafted rookie who had been 3-0 as a starter, was 23 of 38 passing for 202 yards and a touchdown to James Conner, who returned from a shoulder injury.

Hodges also threw four interceptions, including two in the end zone in the final two minutes: one by Jordan Poyer with 1:54 left and one by Levi Wallace with six seconds left.

A Pittsburgh mistake set up Buffalo for the only touchdown of the first half.

Jordan Berry’s shanked punt went only 22 yards and put Buffalo at the Steelers 40. Nine plays later, on the second play of the second quarter, Allen picked up his ninth rushing touchdown, from 1 yard on a quarterback draw, for a 7-0 lead.

The Steelers answered with a 49-yard field goal by Chris Boswell to cut it to 7-3.

There were three turnovers in the opening half — Tre’Davious White’s interception of a Hodges pass, Steven Nelson’s interception of an Allen pass, and Poyer’s recovery after Conner fumbled a low snap on a wildcat play. None resulted in points the other way.

Pittsburgh opened the second half with a seven-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Hodges rolling right and finding Conner, who went down the sideline for an 11-yard touchdown and a 10-7 lead.

White’s second interception of the game set up a tying field goal. White stepped in front of receiver Diontae Johnson to pick off a Hodges pass and returned it 49 yards to the Pittsburgh 18.

The Bills went backward in three plays before Stephen Hauschka’s 36-yarder made it 10-10 with 12:23 left in the fourth quarter. — Reuters

Allianz’s futsal tourney bags silver award for ‘Best Youth Sports Dev’t Program’ in PHL

ALLIANZ PNB Life received the silver award for the “Best Youth Sports Development Program” category of the Sports Industry Awards (SPIA) Asia last Dec. 3 at the Grand Hyatt Manila, BGC.

Allianz was bestowed the honor for its National Youth Futsal Invitational (ANYFI), the annual nationwide futsal competition it stages in partnership with the Henry V. Moran Foundation and in coordination with the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).

“We at Allianz believe that engaging in sports is a good way for children to learn discipline and achieve their dreams. With this award, we are further affirming our commitment to continue to provide a venue for Filipino kids to be trained in the sport of futsal or football under the best coaches, so they can reach their goal of playing as world-class professional football players,” said Gae Martinez, Allianz PNB Life chief marketing officer.

The ANYFI, which is now on its third year, has been instrumental in advancing futsal and football, and in discovering young players across the country. More than 7,000 kids have already participated in the games. Some of them have gone on to become members of the National Football Team. Others have discovered bigger opportunities outside of the country, like Konrad Keim Sollorin and JM Mitra, who were both members of its first batch of winners. Sollorin now plays for Sevenoaks Senior College in Australia, while Mitra is with the Los Angeles Surf Soccer Club in the US.

It has also served as the search for talented Filipino kids who would participate in the prestigious Allianz Explorer Camp in Germany where they get to train under FC Bayern Munich coaches along with participants from other countries.

This is the second year that the ANYFI has been recognized by the SPIA. In 2018, it received a silver medal under the “Best Sports CSR” category.

Three Filipino cue artists make it through last 32 in World 9-Ball in Doha, Qatar

By Ted Lerner
WPA Media Officer

DOHA, QATAR — Finland’s Casper Matikainen came into his round of 64 match at the World 9-ball Championship today versus the defending champion and world number 1 Joshua Filler feeling relaxed and ready for battle. He figured the German great would bring his usual fire, but he also knew that Filler might also take his eye off the proverbial ball. After all, the 23-year-old Finn wasn’t exactly the most feared name in a field of absolute monsters.

The Philippines had only three players in the final 64 but all three made it through the last 32. 2017 World 9-ball champion Carlo Biado got taken to the limit by Qatari veteran Bashar Hussein, before breaking and running the last rack for an 11-10 win. Also winning today for the Team Pinoy were Johann Chua and Jeffrey Ignacio.

The mental strategy soon started to bear fruit for the cool-headed blonde. Slowly, and increasingly surely, Matikainen crawled even, and then took the lead while at the same time Filler started to get sloppy, lose focus and even showed some signs of panic. From 4-1 down Matikainen calmly won 9 out of the next ten frames. After a brief hiccup on the hill that allowed Filler to claim two quick racks, the steady Finn held his nerve and closed out the biggest shock of the tournament so far, an 11-7 upset of the defending champion.

America’s Shane Van Boening had come to Doha a heavy favorite this year and for good reason. His last three starts here ended with two runner ups and a spot in the semis last year. But several early mistakes against Taiwan’s Liu Ri Teng was all it took for the Taiwanese to grab a commanding lead at 10-4. The American mounted a valiant fight back, but the alternate break format meant the hole was too deep. Liu sent Van Boening packing in the round of 64 with a humbling 11-8 defeat.

After his runner up finish at the US Open in Las Vegas last April, former champion Wu Jiaqing figured to go far here in Doha. But Wu came up against fellow compatriot Xu Xiaocong, who is one of a slew of quality young talents coming out of China. Xu has impressed all week here and against Wu he turned his game up several notches, crushing the former Boy Wonder 11-5.

2016 World 9-ball champion Albin Ouschan of Austria looks to be in very fine form this year, as he easily defeated Taiwan’s Lin Ta Li 11-5. Fellow Austrian Max Lechner continued his rise this year with an 11-4 win over Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis.

Also advancing today were the USA’s Billy Thorpe, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, China’s Liu Haitao, Greece’s Alexander Kazakis, Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Estonia’s Dennis Grabe, England’s Chris Melling, Canada’s Alex Pagulayan, Qatar’s Waleed Majid, Vietnam’s Do The Kien, and Hong Kong’s young upstart Yip Kin Ling.

The penultimate day of the World 9-ball championship will be extremely busy as the field will be whittled down to the final four at the end of the days’ action.

Play on day 3, Monday, Dec. 16th will begin at 10 a.m. Doha time(GMT +3). All matches will be single elimination knockout race to 11, alternate break.

The winner of the 2019 World 9-ball Championship will receive $30,000. The total prize fund is $150,00.

Los Angeles Lakers finally put away Hawks for seventh straight win

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 32 points to lead the visiting Los Angeles Lakers to a 101-96 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday and extend their road winning streak to 14 games.

James made 12 of 21 from the field, four of them 3-pointers, and added 13 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks to help the Lakers extend their overall winning streak to seven.

The Lakers’ road winning streak is the longest by the club since they won 18 straight away from home during their NBA record 33-game winning streak in 1972-73. Their only road loss this season was in their own building in their first regular-season contest, when the Clippers were the “home” team at Staples Center, which the teams share.

The Hawks, who lost to the Lakers by 21 last month in Los Angeles, were in the game until the end.

Atlanta got as close as 98-96 when De’Andre Hunter hit a pair of free throws with 19.8 seconds, but James made one of two free throws with 15.2 seconds left to extend the lead to 99-96.

The Lakers also got 27 points and 13 rebounds from Anthony Davis, who picked up his 12th double-double. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Rajon Rondo both added 11 points.

Atlanta lost shooter Kevin Huerter to a left shoulder contusion. It is the same shoulder Huerter injured in Denver on Nov. 12, and his status is day-to-day.

The Lakers play the fourth game of their five-game road trip on Tuesday at Indiana. The Hawks travel to play the New York Knicks on Tuesday. — Reuters

SEA Games sponsor Razer touts great support from fans and proponents for esports events

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

ESPORTS debuted in the Southeast Asian Games this year and was warmly received by proponents and fans alike.

In numbers shared by Razer, the official SEA Games esports sponsor, on the first day alone of the event on Dec. 5, its streaming platforms recorded over one million views with approximately 70,000 concurrent viewers.

At its peak, the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City, where the esports event was held, was filled to maximum capacity, and Razer’s streaming platforms registered 20 million impressions with 90,000 concurrent viewers throughout the duration of the competition, which ended on Dec. 10.

Razer also said that audiences spent over 200,000 hours watching the streams on YouTube, making it one of the top 10 trending gaming videos worldwide on the platform.

For Razer officials, such numbers speak a lot of how far esports has come in being accepted and considered legitimate in this part of the world.

“The esports event was a resounding success and the games are a testament of our esports talent in the region,” said David Tse, Global Esports Director at Razer, in a statement.

“While we may have achieved success in the SEA Games, this journey to legitimizing esports is not over. We will continue to strive for esports’ inclusion in the Olympics and we look forward to the next SEA Games in 2021,” added the Razer official, whose group has worked its way to becoming a leading lifestyle brand for gamers with its high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems since setting up shop in 2005.

The same numbers were welcomed by Alvin Juban, Philippine SEA Games Esports Union and national team manager, saying while staging the esports event was not easy, the reception it got made it all worth it and encouraging for the whole esports community moving forward.

“We’ve seen some pretty exciting gameplay and a superb level of competition among the SEA Games esports athletes. A formidable force, these youths have shown grit, resilience and a tremendous respect for their craft and supporters. We’re proud to host them and we hope to see them celebrating again in the next SEA Games,” said Mr. Juban.

“Appreciation also came not only from the players but also the entire delegations, sponsors and partners. We worked as one,” he added.

PHILIPPINE ESPORTS IN SEAG
In the just-concluded SEA Games, Team Sibol, the country’s esports team, did well, producing three gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the six games featured.

Golds came from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, DOTA 2 and StarCraft II with silver and bronze coming care of Tekken 7.

The other events were Arena of Valor and Hearthstone.

The Philippine Mobile Legends team was bannered by Kenneth Jiane “Kenji” Villa, Karl Gabriel “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Carlito “Ribo” Ribo, Jeniel “Haze” Bata-anon, Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, Allan Sancio “Lusty” Castromayor, and Jason Rafael “Jay” Torculas.

It was the first to hand the country a gold in the Games on Dec. 8, coming from behind to beat the Indonesian team, 3-2.

Following suit was the DOTA 2 squad of Mc Nicholson “Mc” Villanueva, John Anthony “Natsumi” Vargas, Jun “Bok” Kanehara, Marvin Salvador “Boomy” Rushton, Bryle Jacob “CML” Alvizo, Van Jerico “Van” Manalaysay and James Erice “Erice” Guerra held tough to win, 3-2, over Thailand.

The final gold was handed by Caviar “Enderr” Acampado after he beat his Singaporean opponent in the finals to win the first-ever StarCraft II gold medal in the esports event.

Enderr defeated Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz, winning, 4-1.

“I’m really happy and at the same time relieved that I didn’t disappoint our countrymen and all of our fans and supporters. My opponents were really tough but fortunately my preparation along with the program we had prior to the SEA Games helped me a lot. This is for all who believed in us,” Enderr said after his historic win.

Silver was by Alexandre Gabrielle “AK” Laverez while bronze was from Andreij Hosea “Doujin” Albar, both for Tekken 7 and came on the final day of esports competitions on Dec. 10.

Ding Liren is Grand Chess Tour champion

The 2019 Grand Chess Tour (GCT), a series of seven tournaments, two classical (Croatia And Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, Missouri) and five Rapid/Blitz (Ivory Coast, Paris, Saint Louis, Bucharest and Tata Steel in Kolkata) culminated with the top four players by cumulative score fighting it out in London. At this point I should emphasize that, unlike the FIDE Grand Prix (which winds up in Jerusalem next week), the Grand Chess Tour is not part of the world championship qualifying cycle. On the other hand, this private enterprise, run by the dynamic IM Malcolm Pein of the London Chess Center, offers lucrative cash prizes, more than enough incentive for any player.

The Finals took place at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington from 2–8 December as part of the London Chess Classic Festival. The matches consist of eight games, two classical (worth six points), two rapid (four points) and four blitz (two points). In case of a tie, a rapid mini-match (10+5) and Armageddon (5 versus 4) will be played. The prize fund is $350,000, with $150,000 for first place, $100,000 for second, $60,000 for third and $40,000 for fourth.

In classical chess the players receive 130 minutes for the entire game, with a 30-second delay from move 1, then 25+10 (25 minutes with 10 second delay) for the rapid and 5+3 for the blitz.

Semifinal Results:

Maxime Vachier Lagrave FRA 2777 beat Magnus Carlsen NOR 2870 15.5-14.5

Ding Liren CHN 2801 beat Levon Aronian ARM 2772 19.0-9.0

Match for 3rd place:

Magnus Carlsen beat Levon Aronian 17.0-11.0

Match for 1st place:

Ding Liren defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 16.0-12.0 to become the 2019 Grand Chess Tour Champion.

Ding Liren won once in the classical portion and once in the rapid to open up a 10 point lead before the four-game blitz section started. Since a blitz win is worth only two points, that meant that MVL could no longer overhaul his opponent’s lead. This may have caused Ding to relax his concentration and allow Vachier-Lagrave to win three of the four blitz games to narrow the final score.

This was a great finish for the Chinese No. 1 Ding Liren who has been experiencing the year of life.

His “strong” cycle started with the Norway Chess 2019 held in July in Stavanger. Here the organizers worked out a new scoring system: the winner of a game got two points while the loser walked away with none. If there was a draw, then immediately afterwards an armageddon rapid chess game (White started with 10 minutes while Black had seven minutes — the catch is White had to win while Black only needed a draw to be declared victor). The winner of the Armageddon game got 1.5, the loser 0.5. So the possible results were 2:0, 0:2 and 1.5:0.5 or 0.5:1.5. GM Ding put in a strong performance in the classical chess and actually tied for 1st with Magnus Carlsen in the classical chess with 5.5 out of nine, but it was the armageddon games that did him in. Magnus Carlsen decided six of his seven armageddon duels in his favor and so racked up overall victory with 13.5 out of 18 possible points.

The Sinquefield Cup which followed a few weeks later did not have any new-fangled scoring system, just the usual one point for a win ½ for the draw and 0 for the loss. Ding Liren tied for first with Magnus Carlsen at 5.5/9 and shocked the world champion by winning the rapid/blitz tiebreaks 3-1. This was the first tie-break that Magnus Carlsen had lost in well over a decade.

After that came the FIDE World Cup, a 128-player single-elimination tournament which took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from Sept. 9 to Oct. 4 this year.

Ding Liren eliminated Shaun Press (New Zealand), Sergei Movesian (Armenia), Alireza Firouzja (Iran) and Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) in the 1st 4 rounds. In the Quarterfinals he met and defeated Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 1.5-0.5 and eliminated countryman Yu Yangyi in the semi-finals 2.5-1.5. In the finals Ding Liren was doing most of the pressing but his opponent Teimour Radjabov proved to be a very slippery foe and prevailed 6-4. Anyway, as per FIDE rules the 2 finalists qualified for the 2020 Candidates, so both Radjabov and Ding will be going to Yekaterinburg this coming March.

And now Ding Liren is the 2019 Grand Chess Tour Champion. His total winnings from the tour came up to around $300,000, or about P15 million, not bad at all.

Here is his decisive win over GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the second game of their classical match.

Ding, Liren (2801) — Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2777) [A37]
Grand Chess Tour Finals (2.2), 07.12.2019

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e5

MVL plays this system for Black regularly. In fact, he is one of its main popularizers — as you may have noticed not a single pawn or piece has been exchanged, there are possible pawn breaks all over the board, the pieces can swing from one side to the other — both players can find lots of content and the better player will win.

6.0–0 Nge7 7.d3

Let me tell you about the “computer crash” incident. Three years ago in the Saint Louis Sinquefield Cup GM Levon Aronian prepared something against this pet line of MVL. The game proceeded 7.a3 0–0 8.b4 (White does not usually lash out this early. Instead 8.d3, 8.Rb1 or 8.Ne1 are more common) 8…d5 (8…cxb4? 9.axb4 Nxb4 10.Ba3 Nbc6 (10…Nec6 11.Nd5 Black’s awkward pieces are not so easy to untangle) 11.Bd6 Re8 12.e4 followed by Nc3–b5–c7 is very strong for White) 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Ng5? (This is Aronian’s “prepared move.” According to Aronian he had prepared a similar idea a few years ago but before the game his laptop crashed and so he just played whatever he could recall. Apparently his memory was faulty — I tried to replicate his analysis and think that he meant to play 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Ng5. He forgot to insert the exchange on d5) 10…Nc7 11.Nge4 c4! (11…cxb4 12.axb4 Nxb4 13.Nc5 White has good compensation for the pawn) 12.d3 cxd3 13.Bg5?! Aronian realizes that taking on d3 leaves himself with a weak d3–pawn so he tries to muddy the waters, but this makes it worse (After 13.Qxd3 Qxd3 14.exd3 Ne6; or 13.exd3 Ne6 White’s weak d3 pawn means that Black has an edge) 13…f6 14.Be3 f5! 15.Bg5 Qd4 16.Be3 Qd8 17.Bg5 Qd7! 18.Nc5 dxe2! overlooked by Aronian 19.Nxe2 Qxd1 20.Rfxd1 f4! trying to trap the g5–bishop 21.gxf4 h6 Black is already winning. Take that that white’s a1–rook is also in danger of capture by black’s fianchettoed bishop. Aronian, L. (2792)-Vachier Lagrave, M. (2819) Saint Louis 2016 0–1 49.

7…d6 8.a3 a5 9.Rb1 0–0 10.b3 Rb8 11.Bb2

White does not have any advantage in this position. In fact, consulting the giant Megabase games database which is the biggest collection of tournaments in the world Black is scoring 80% here.

11…h6 12.Nd2 Be6 13.Nd5 b5 14.e3 Qd7 15.Re1

In an earlier game White exchange knights and it became apparent it was a mistake when after 15.Nxe7+ Nxe7 16.cxb5 Qxb5 17.Bc3 d5 Black obtained a powerful center. Raeva, E. (2297)-Szabo, G. (2542) Plovdiv 2011 1/2 58.

15…Bg4 16.Qc2 Rfc8 17.Ne4!

After the game Ding explained that the idea behind the move is to threaten N(any)-f6+, winning the queen. This provokes the knight exchange, after which his other knight goes to Ne4–d2–c4 after a3–a4 has duly weakened the Black queenside.

17…Nxd5 18.cxd5 Ne7 19.Nd2! Bh3 20.Bh1!

Exchanging bishops helps Black. Here is what might happen: 20.e4 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 but the problem is that then the white kingside is being weakened and after 21…f5 22.a4 f4! Ding: “he has some counterplay on the kingside, his play is very easy”

20…Nf5 21.a4 h5

MVL decides to concentrate on the kingside. He doesn’t see anything to do in the queenside after all — 21…bxa4 or 21…b4 leaves the c4–square for White’s knight.

22.axb5 Rxb5 23.Ra1 h4 24.Bc3 Ra8 25.Ra4 Qd8 26.Bf3 Rab8 27.Rea1 Bh6! 28.Re1

Here we see one aspect of Ding’s style — he is not in a hurry. The explanation for the “takeback”: “This move (27.Rea1) looks so natural, to develop the rook to the open file, but after 27…Bh6 it seems not so easy if I let him take e3, so I just want to keep the tension and go back and find another idea. At least I can just wait to see which idea is the best.”

Let’s check out the sacrifice on e3 after 28.Rxa5 Nxe3! 29.fxe3 Bxe3+ 30.Kh1 Qf6 31.Rxb5 Rxb5 32.Qd1 hxg3 33.hxg3 Qh8!! Black suddenly has a strong attack. There is no need to explore this line further as White can avoid it without losing any advantage.

28…Qg5 29.Ne4 Qd8 30.Ra3 Ne7 31.Nd2 Nf5 32.Qd1 Bg7 33.g4!

Ding’s idea is that due to the entombment of Black’s bishop on a3 he would have to go for …f7–f5 and White assesses that his pieces are more mobile and it is he who will have the advantage on the g-file.

33…Nh6 34.Kh1 f5 35.gxf5 gxf5 36.Rg1 Qd7 37.Qe2 Kh8 38.Ra4!

Nice. White’s other rook now joins in on the action in the kingside. This is already the beginning of the end for Black.

38…Rxb3 39.Rxh4

[39.Nxb3?? Qxa4]

39…Rxc3 40.Rxh3 a4

[40…Rg8 does not do the job. White just brings up more pieces to bear on the hapless king. 41.Bh5 Bf8 42.Bg6 Qg7 43.Qh5 etc]

41.e4 Rc2 42.Rh5!

Opens the h3–c8 diagonal.

42…f4

Ding calculated 42…Rbb2 43.exf5! Rxd2 44.Qe3 Rxf2 45.Rxh6+ Kg8 46.f6 White gets there first

43.Qd1 Rbb2 44.Nc4 a3 45.Bg4!

The final penetration.

45…Qd8 46.Nxb2 Rxb2 47.Be6 a2 <D>

POSITION AFTER 47…A2

Now comes the coup de grace

48.Rxg7!

“I checked it many times since I played too quickly yesterday” (Ding).

48…Kxg7

If Black tries to get in ahead with 48…Rb1 then 49.Rg1! Rxd1 50.Rxh6#

49.Qg1+ Kf8

[49…Kh7 50.Bf5+ Kh8 51.Rxh6#]

50.Rf5+! 1–0

MVL resigns because of 50.Rf5+ Nxf5 51.Qg8+ Ke7 52.Qf7#

 

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

Happy ending

It was but fitting for Eli Manning to get a win in what was likely his final start in a Giants uniform. He wasn’t perfect; in fact, he threw more passes that were intercepted than caught for touchdowns. Still, he was good enough to claim the 117th regular-season victory of his career. And while it had no bearing on the franchise’s already-doomed playoff hopes, it at least served to even out his record. For the 72,894 in attendance at the MetLife Stadium, it likewise gave them an opportunity to thank him for his body of work. He was pulled with a minute and change left in the contest precisely to soak in their standing ovation.

Considering that the triumph was just Manning’s first in four 2019 starts and ninth in his last 36, he was appropriately appreciative in the aftermath. “Obviously, the support of the fans and their ovation and their chanting my name from the first half until the end, I appreciate that,” he said. “It was a special day, a special win, one I’ll remember.” It’s also one they won’t forget, especially given the way he seemed to turn back time with three scoring drives in their first five series. They were generous in their cheers, chanting his name early and often in an obvious nod to his better days as a quarterback.

Franchise owner John Mara cautioned against making assumptions regarding Manning’s future, but everybody else knew. Those around him resolved to play extra hard and carve a happy ending. “Let’s send him out on the right note. Do everything in our power,” wide receiver Sterling Shepard said. “I’m glad we were able to do it with a win and in that fashion,” running back Saquon Barkley echoed. To be fair, even he understood the significance of yesterday’s start. He had his family attend the game, never mind that it involved protagonists with a combined five wins and scraping the bottom of the league barrel. And, needless to say, they met him as he walked off the field and into the tunnel amid much fanfare.

While not particularly fond of personal attention and more predisposed to deflecting credit to teammates, Manning couldn’t help but look back on his accomplishments. Foremost among them are his two Super Bowl victories. He wasn’t envisioned to prevail in either instance, but then proved skeptics wrong on the strength of Most Valuable Player turns. He looks fresh out of surprises, but, hey, who’s to say he doesn’t have one more in store? In any case, he has made the best of his chances, and has every right to look back to his achievements with pride.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

PSEi declines as market consolidates after rally

By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter

THE MAIN INDEX slumped on Monday as the market started consolidating following last week’s rally.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 176.03 points or 2.23% to close Monday’s session at 7,701.60. The broader all shares index also lost 80.18 points or 1.72% to 4,581.89.

“We saw a technical pullback today as investors booked profits from Friday’s rally,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a text message on Monday.

After the main index climbed 136.56 points or 1.76% to close at 7,877.63 on Friday, Mr. Tantiangco said the market simply consolidated at this week’s resumption of trading.

But he added the market’s performance was also affected by the trade talks between United States and China, which still lacked clarity for some investors despite reports that it is “totally done.”

“Monday’s trading also showed investors’ reaction to the phase 1 trade deal of the US and China. While a deal has been agreed upon, some crucial points were left unclear,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Reuters reported Monday a confirmation from US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the certainty of the trade deal, citing an interview in CBS’ “Face the Nation” news program where he said the agreement is “totally done” despite the need for some revision in the text.

But Luis A. Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., noted that “neither US nor Chinese officials have been specific about what the reforms are, nor has there been any detail provided regarding the size of Chinese agriculture purchases from the US.”

“Local shares were sold down…as investors deployed their funds back into the US markets,” he said in a mobile message.

Wall Street ended Friday’s session in green territory: the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 indices were both flat at 0.01% growth, while the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 0.20%.

Almost all sub-sectors went down. Holding firms dropped 183.93 points or 2.41% to 7,449.38; financials went down 44.8 points or 2.35% to 1,858.37; property declined 91.99 points or 2.19% to 4,101.95; industrials lost 181.28 points or 1.86% to 9,540.80; and services gave up 20.6 points or 1.35% to 1,504.59.

The lone gainer was mining and oil, which added 83.85 points or 1.11% to 7,605.31.

Some 483.74 million issues worth P6.23 billion switched hands on Monday, down from Friday’s 714.47 million issues valued at P7.49 billion.

Decliners outpaced advancers, 126 against 70, while 73 names ended unchanged.

The local bourse saw net foreign outflows on Monday worth P983.42 million, a reversal of Friday’s net inflow of P309.55 million.

Peso inches up on US-China trade deal

THE PESO ended sideways on Monday as the market awaits clearer details from the “phase one” deal between the US and China and as investors close their books for the year.

The local unit finished trading at P50.635 against the greenback on Monday, almost flat from its P50.64 close on Friday, according to data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines.

The peso opened the session at P50.65 against the dollar. Its weakest showing was at P50.67, while its intraday best was at P50.57 versus the greenback.

Dollars traded sank to $502 million from $1.327 billion on Friday.

A trader attributed the peso’s sideways movement to the market still waiting for clearer details regarding a deal between the world’s two biggest economies which have been in a 17-month long trade siege.

“The peso moved sideways with the market looking for new leads from the phase one deal as the deal is still very vague so they are on the lookout for the bigger picture. Market investors are also already closing their books as we come closer to yearend,” the trader said in a phone call.

Reuters reported that US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday in an interview with CBS that the “phase one” of the trade deal will nearly multiply US exports to China by a twofold for the next two years.

Mr. Lighthizer also said there would be some routine “scrubs” to the text of the deal but it is “totally done, absolutely.”

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort also said phase one deal helped the peso gain ground.

“Better BoP (balance of payments) and current account data as of the third quarter also supported the peso,” Mr. Ricafort added.

On Friday, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed the country’s BoP position in the third quarter stood at a surplus of $778 million, a reversal of the $1.9-billion deficit logged in the same period a year ago. The current account reversed to a surplus of $654 million in the third quarter from the $2.081-billion deficit a year ago.

For today, the trader sees the peso trading at P50.50-50.70 against the dollar, while Mr. Ricafort gave a forecast range of P50.50-50.75. — LWTN with Reuters

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