PICPA-IBP chess

Everytime there’s a chess tournament I just can’t help but take notice. Well, it always brings back memories of my stint as physical conditioning coach of the Philippine Team to the 1992 World Chess Olympiad held in Manila.  I was asked to whip the national team into a physically well-oiled  machine to tackle the task of playing against the best of the world.  I was sent to Baguio City where I joined GM Eugene Torre, Joey Antonio, Banjo Barcenilla, Econg Sevillano, Rico Mascarinas, Roland Nolte, Ruben  Rodriguez among others.  So last Saturday, on a short notice, CPA Rodrigo Ababat,  who’s also a marathoner himself, rang me up to inform that we are fielding a team in the PICPA-IBP Open Chess Team Tournament which will be held at the Deep Blue Cafe in SM City.  Although we were short of time, we hurriedly formed the Casa Ilongga team, a former champion in the tournament.  One of the rules states that a team composed of four players must have an accountant or a lawyer.  In our case, we had two accountants.  The other teams had name players like Richard Natividad, Rogelio Enriquez and Edsel Montoya. When  the smoke cleared,  Team Balbona A  had snared the title with 13.0 points followed by Team Balbona  B that tallied 10 points.  Actually, Team Autoliv had the same points but  the former took second with the rule of “the winner over the other.” Casa Ilongga lost the crucial match  against Balbona  A to settle for fifth.  Nuat Thai  wound up fourth with 7.0 points while Casa Ilongga totaled 6.0 points.  A consolation, however, was achived by Rodrigo Ababat when he progressed three Queens (a rarity in chess tournaments) in beating seeded Richard Natividad.  Ababat admitted he has not played chess for quite sometime due to his work schedule.   Board medalists included Edsel Montoya  of DPWH who was tops in Board One. Romeo Enriquez of Balbona B won in Board Two, Ramil Wadin of Balbona A annexed board 3 with Casa Ilongga’s Joselito Cortes ruling Board 4.  The tournament  was sponsored   by PICPA, IBP and SM City with Marvin Ruelan as arbiter.

Nobody on sight

After  Mary Joy Tabal, who won the silver medal in this year’s SEA Games, we don’t see any succesor in the marathon or even the other distances. It seems we have ran out of talents, which is the same as in the male division.  The proliferation of weekly short races has taken its toll on our long distance runners.  A marathoner for instance who uses slow twitched muscles, is forced to use the fast ones thus affecting his pace.  Worse, these races have become “circuses.”  In some races they spray the runners with colored dust while some are forced to wear kiddie singlets in non-competitive runs.  “Sige  nalang ta ug duwa.”  Frankly there’s no more development in athletics.  Vertek Buenavista’s  record  of 2:18 44 has remained unbroken and I doubt if it can be eclipsed soon with the current performances of our runners who could not even clock 2:30.

Did you know?

• Queen Latifah, who’s real name is Dana Owens was power forward on two state championship basketball teams in high school.  She also trained in karate and use of firearms by her policeman father.  She was arrested by California Highway Patrolman in West LA and cited for speeding, driving under the influence, carrying a concealed firearm and possession of marijuana.

• SE RI DAK   of Taejon, South Korea was an avid track athlete before turning to golf at age of 14.  At 20,  was the youngest winner of major women’s golf tournament in 30 years.  Some of her major wins were US Womens’ Open (1998) and Mc Donalds LPGA Championship (1988).