I maintain a small file on games that catch my eye and last Tuesday’s column on attacking ideas against the Berlin inspired me to look it up to bring you some more choice samples. As you know the Berlin Defense lately has become almost synonymous with “boring endgame.” Well, given two individuals contented with the draw the likelihood of a boring end game indeed is very high, but as long as one of the protagonists is after a fighting game there are still lots of avenues to consider. Today we take up two of them.

Roger Federer must have been feeling good about himself -- literally -- to commit to a return to clay for the first time since 2016. True, that he did so on short notice indicated an ambivalence borne of the seeming incongruity of his strengths to the demands of the surface. Nonetheless, his choice was, if surprising, justifiable. After all, he does have three major wins over the last two and a half years, as clear a manifestation as any of his climb back to the sport’s elite. And he does have an affinity for the mineral aggregate, on whose courts he first started, and particularly for red clay, on whose bounces the Coupe des Mousquetaires is decided.

FOLLOWING a successful run in the previous Philippine Basketball Association tournament where they finished runner-up, the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok make their Commissioner’s Cup debut, taking on the Alaska Aces in the scheduled double-header today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

PARIS -- Defending champion Simona Halep continued to tighten her grip on the French Open as she demolished Polish teenager Iga Swiatek to reach the quarterfinals on Monday.

JOLLIBEE continues its partnership with the Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU) to support not only the Philippine Volcanoes, but also the PRFU leagues and PRFU Get Into Rugby youth development program.

LOS ANGELES -- Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson is questionable for Game 3 of the NBA Finals after an MRI exam on his injured left hamstring revealed only a strain, the team announced Monday evening.

THE Cleanfuel-Motul Racing Team dominated the first round of 2019 Formula V1 Challenge in Batangas Racing Circuit.

LOS ANGELES -- Nationals ace Max Scherzer allowed just one run and three hits with a season-high 15 strikeouts over eight masterful innings as Washington defeated the host Cincinnati Reds 4-1 on Sunday in the rubber match of their three-game series.

WEEKS AFTER the conclusion of the Philam Life 7s Football League Season 3 Manila, the sport will return with the first-ever Philam Vitality KAMPEON 7s Cup slated this coming July 27 and 28 at the McKinley Hill Stadium in Taguig City.

THE FIDE-Rated Meralco Youth Rapid Chess tourney will unfurl on Sunday, June 9 at the Multi-Purpose hall, Meralco compound, Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City.

The first two weeks of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup have been eventful in more ways than one.

As if the Warriors needed more obstacles to come between them and a third consecutive National Basketball Association championship, their return home was greeted by news that slotman Kevon Looney looks to be out for the remainder of the Finals with a fractured collarbone. With Kevin Durant still decommissioned by a right calf strain, DeMarcus Cousins nowhere near to peak form just six weeks removed from a left quadriceps muscle tear, and Andre Iguodala playing through a left leg injury, the last thing they needed was yet another development that portrayed them as walking wounded.