2017-2018 UAAP Chess
Championship (Juniors)
1st Flr., QPAV Building, UST,
España St., Manila
Feb. 17-April 8, 2018
Final Standings
1. Far Eastern University (FEU) 39.5/48
Bd01 FM John Marvin Miciano 9/10, Bd02 NM John Merill Jacutina 8.5/10, Bd03 Jeth Romy Morado 7/11, Bd04 Istraelito Rilloraza 6.5/8, Bd05 Jarvey Labanda 5/5, Bd06 Dale Bernardo 3.5/4. Team Captain: Tristain Jared Cervero, Head Coach: GM Jayson Gonzales, Asst. Coach: NM Alexander Milagrosa, Team Manager: Atty. Ruel Canobas.
2. National University (NU) 34.5/48
Bd01 Dennis Gutierrez, Jr. 0/1, Bd02 Brylle Gever Vinluan 9.5/12, Bd03 Antonio Almodal 4/11, Bd04 Jayson Danday 12/12, Bd05 WFM Allanney Jia Doroy 9/12. Team Captain: Brylle Gever Vinluan, Team Coach: Jose Aquino, Jr., Team Manager: Samson Go, Manny Go.
3. University of Santo Tomas (UST) 30.5/48
Bd01 Dennis Gutierrez III 6/11, Bd02 Daniel John Lemi 7.5/11, Bd03 Emmanuel Von Paler 6.5/11, Bd04 Samson Chhiu Chhin Lim 9/12, Bd05 Anatoly Pascua, Jr. ½, Bd06 Haldrich Luke Cunanan UST 0/1. Team Captain: Samson Lim III, Team Coach: Peter Lim.
4. University of the East (UE) 27/48
Bd01 Nel Richmond Miranda 3.5/11, Bd02 Queenie Mae Samarita 0/1, Bd03 Noel Geronimo 9.5/12, bd04 Lee Roi Palma 7/12, Bd05 Leonel Escote 3/7, Bd06 Jamaica Marie Lagrio 4/5. Team Captain: Nel Richmond Miranda, Head Coach: John Perzeus Orozco, Asst. Coach: Robert Gene Mariano.
5. Adamson University (AdU) 15/48
Bd01 Jallen Herzchelle Agra 0/4, Bd02 Erick Spencer Valdez 4/11, Bd03 Jalen Rhey Lacambra 4/12, Bd04 Christian Hernandez 3/9, Bd05 Jarel Renz Lacambra 2.5/8, Bd06 Christine Hernandez 1.5/4. Team Captain: Christian Hernandez, Team Coach: Christopher Rodriguez.
6. De La Salle-Zobel (DLSZ) 12/48
Bd01 Christopher Kahlil Kis-Ing 5.5/12, Bd02 Hans Jeremy Reyes 0.5/6, Bd03 Jethro Dino Aquino 3.5/10, Bd04 Dhon Justine Agbayani 1/9, Bd05 Glesit Marie Tatoy 1/7, Bd06 Paulo Joaquin Villa 0.5/4. Team Captain: Hans Jeremy Reyes, Head Coach: WIM Mikee Suede, Asst. Coach: Susan Grace Neri.
7. Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) 9.5/48
Bd01 Caleb Chua 2.5/10, Bd02 Michael Olladas 3.5/12, Bd03 Elijah Derek Pilien 1.5/11, Bd04 Jaime De Veyra, Jr. 0/4, Bd05 Kurt Kenly Ong 2/11. Team Captain: Jaime de Veyra, Jr., Team Coach: Ildefonso Datu, Team Manager: Christine Mariano.
Far Eastern University (FEU) ran away with the Juniors competition of the 2017-2018 UAAP Chess Team Championship. The Baby Tamaraws were led by Asian Under-18 Champion IM John Marvin Miciano and National Master John Merill Jacutina.
The only school to give them any difficulty was UST — the Morayta-based chessers could only manage a 2-2 draw at the start of the 2nd round-robin against the Junior Tigers and a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory in the 1st cycle. Other than that FEU beat everybody else with either 3-1 or a 4-0 whitewash.
The rivalry between IM Miciano (FEU) and Dennis Gutierrez (UST) was one of the highlights of the season. They exchanged two high-quality wins.
[UST] Gutierrez, Dennis III A. —
[FEU] Miciano, John Marvin [B09]
2017–2018 UAAP Chess
(JUNIORS) QPAV Bldg., UST,
Manila (3.1), 24.02.2018
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Bd3 Nbd7
The alternatives 6…Nc6, 6…Na6 or even 6…b6 are considered stronger as now Black’s kingside knight is deprived of the retreat square d7 and White can get a dangerous attack.
7.Qe2
Here is the game which put a dark cloud over the whole line: 7.e5 Ne8 8.Ng5 (the most direct way to attack) 8…dxe5 Not 9.fxe5 Nb6 (Not 9…h6? 10.Nxf7 Kxf7 11.e6+ Kxe6 12.Qg4+ Kd6 13.Nb5+ Kc6 14.d5+ the attack is winning) 10.Be3 c6 11.0–0 Nc7 12.Nxh7! Nbd5 (12…Kxh7 13.Rxf7! Rxf7 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Bxg6 the finish will be similar to what actually happened in the game) 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Bg5 Kxh7 15.Rxf7 Rxf7 16.Qh5+ Kg8 17.Bxg6 Nf4 18.Bxf7+ Kf8 19.Qh7! Qxd4+ 20.Kh1 Kxf7 21.Rf1+– Qxe5 22.Rxf4+ Ke8 23.Qg6+ Kd8 24.Re4 Qd5 25.Rxe7 1–0 (25) Hansen,C (2595)-Hoi,C (2430) Taastrup 1998.
7…e5 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 Ne8 10.g4 Nc5 11.h3 Nxd3+ 12.Qxd3 Nd6 13.Bg5 f6 14.Bh4 Bh6 15.Nd2 b5 16.Nxb5 Ba6 17.c4 Bxb5 18.cxb5 Bxd2+ 19.Kxd2 Rb8 20.a4 a6 21.b4 axb5 22.a5 Nc4+ 23.Kc3 Ra8 24.Bf2 Ra6 25.Bc5 Rf7 26.h4 f5 27.gxf5 gxf5 28.Rag1+ Kh8 29.Rg5 f4 30.Qf3 Rg6 31.Qh5 Rff6 32.Rhg1 Qd7 33.Rxg6 Rxg6
POSITION AFTER 33…RXG6
34.Qf5!
[34.Rxg6? Qh3+ 35.Kc2 Qh2+ Black mates]
34…Qxf5 35.exf5 Rf6
[35…Rxg1 36.Bxg1 the passed a-pawn wins it for White]
36.Ra1 Ra6 37.Rg1 Rf6 38.Rg5 Nd6 39.Bxd6 Rxd6 40.f6 Rxf6 41.Rxe5 f3 42.Re1 f2 43.Rf1 Rf4 44.a6 Rf6 45.a7 Ra6 46.Rxf2 Rxa7 47.Kd4 Kg7 48.Kc5 Ra1 49.Kxb5 Rd1 50.Kc6
White is clearly winning.
50…Rc1+ 51.Kb7 Rc4 52.h5 Rc3 53.b5 Rc5 54.Rf5 h6 55.b6 cxb6 56.Kxb6 Rc1 57.d6 Rd1 58.Kc7 Rc1+ 59.Kd8 Rd1 60.d7 Ra1 61.Ke7 Re1+ 62.Kd6 1–0
[FEU] Miciano, John Marvin —
[UST] Gutierrez, Dennis III A. [B01]
2017–2018 UAAP Chess
(JUNIORS) 1st Flr. QPAV Bldg.,
UST, Esp. (9.1), 17.03.2018
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.h3 c6 6.Nf3 e6 7.d4 Be7 8.Qe2 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.0–0–0 a5 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Qxe4 Bxg5+ 14.Nxg5 Nf6 15.Qe5 Rd8 16.Rhe1 h6 17.Ne4 Qxe5 18.dxe5 Nxe4 19.Bxe4 Ke7 20.a3 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1 Rd8 22.b4 axb4 23.axb4 Rxd1+ 24.Kxd1
Dennis does not realize that his backward pawn on c6 and bad bishop on b7 doom him to an inferior game.
24…g5
Moving the king to the queenside will not help. After 24…Kd7 25.Ke2 Kc7 26.Kd3 Kb6 27.Kd4 Bc8 Black still cannot remove his weakness on c6 and White will now initiative a kingside assault with his pawns: 28.f4 Bd7 29.Bf3 Be8 30.Bh5 Black is still in a bind.
25.Kd2 f6 26.exf6+ Kxf6 27.g3 e5 28.Ke3 Ke6 29.Kf3 Kf6 30.c3 h5 31.h4 Ba8 32.Ke3 Bb7 33.Kd3 gxh4 34.gxh4 Bc8 35.Bxc6 Kf5 36.Bxb5 Kg4 37.Bc6 Kxh4 38.b5 Kg4 39.Ke3 h4 40.b6 1–0
Chess is sometimes a simple game after all.
I foresee that next school year 2018-2019 FEU will be even more dominant in this Junior League — many of the other teams have lady players to beef up their lineups, for example WFM Allaney Jia Doroy of NU, a perennial gold medalist in Asian Youth competitions and surprisingly the only other titled player in the tournament aside from the big 2 in FEU, was the 2nd top scorer in NU. Next season the lady players in high school will be split off into their own division so the talent pool would be even more diluted.
[NU] Doroy, Allanney Jia — [UE]
Escote, Leonel [A25]
2017–2018 UAAP Chess
(JUNIORS) QPAV Bldg., UST,
Manila (5.1), 03.03.2018
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Bc5 5.e3 0–0 6.Nge2 d6 7.0–0 Bf5 8.d4 Bb6 9.b3 Qc8 10.Ba3 Rd8 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.cxd5 Nb8 13.Rc1 Bh3 14.Qd3 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 Qd7 16.Rfd1 Qe7 17.dxe5 Qxe5 18.Rc4! Nd7 19.Qc2 Nf8 20.Bb2 Qg5 21.h4 Qg6 22.Qc3 f6 23.Nf4 Qf7 24.h5 h6 25.Qd3 Re8 26.Rdc1 Re7 27.Qf5 Nd7 28.Ng6 Ree8 29.Rg4 Ne5 30.Bxe5 dxe5 31.e4
White will be relocating her night to f5 and rook to g6.
31…Rad8 32.Rc2 Rd6 33.Qf3 f5
Desperate, just to keep the knight out of f5.
34.exf5 Rxd5 35.f6! Rd6
Of course not 35…gxf6 36.Nxe5+ or 35…Qxf6 36.Qxd5+.
36.Ne7+ Kf8
[36…Rxe7 37.Rxg7+]
37.Rxg7 Qxf6 38.Nf5 e4 39.Qg4 Rd5 40.Rg8+ Kf7 1–0
Resignation is in order. After 40…Kf7 41.Rxe8 Kxe8 42.Qg8+ Black’s rook on d5 falls.
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
