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PACQUIAO RANDOM CHESS: DABLEO RULES INDIVIDUAL EVENT By Eddie Alinea PhilBoxing.com Thu, 17 Dec 2015  GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Grandmaster candidate Ronald Dableo played catchup all day Wednesday and had to muster all the tricks under his sleeves to beat young FIDE Master Austin Jacob Literatus and rule the individual play of the Second Manny Pacquiao Random Chess Championships here. Still lagging in the middle of the top 10 standing after the fifth round of the 9-round Swiss System play, the 36-year-old International Master who is waiting to earn a full GM title, actually ended up in a tie for the top spot with National Master David Elorta and polio-stricken Henry Roger Lopez after the grueling whole day affair in crowning himself the king of this version of the mind game introduced by former American prodigy Robert "Bobby" Fischer. Dableo, who coaches Universiy of Santo Tomas in the UAAP chess war when not carrying the country's flag in international arenas, Elorta and Lopez amassed 8 points each after the smoke of battle was extinguished and it needed the organizing Manny Pacquiao Chess Players Organization to resort to each players' SBs to determine who the crown owner will be. Dableo, a father of three with wife Sarah Jane who, actually, had already earned a third GM norm, emerged with the superior 47.50 SB. Elorta, 33 who works as a chess tutor at Pasig Line in Manila, came up with 46 flat SB to claim first runner-up, followed by the untitled Lopez, who finished with 41.50. Top photo: Grandmaster candidate Ronald Dableo (L) plays against young FIDE Master Austin Jacob Literatus in the final round.  Grandmaster candidate Ronald Dableo (L) holds the championship trophy after topping the 2nd Manny Pacquiao Random Chess individual event Wednesday in General Santos while David Elorta (R, standing) bags the first runner up and Henry Roger Lopez (on wheelchair) was the second runner up. Handing the prizes is Grandmaster Eugene Torre (2nd from left). Photos by Rupert Windell Alinea. The three, as tournament rules provide, split the Php 100,000 from the Php 50,000 top purse, Php 30,000 for second and Php 20,000 for third with each going home richer by Php 33,333.34 each. The timid and shy Elorta, who hid from media men after the tournament to avoid being interviewed, disposed off Joel Pimentel Jr., also in the 9th round, while Lopez, a 20-year-old Bachelor of Art in History graduate playing out of Panabo, Davao del Norte made easy work of GM Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr., who raised the white flag after a few minutes of encounter to be able to watch the Dableo-Literatus showdown at center stage. Earier in the day, the four-man Elman I squad of NM Hamed Nouri, IM Joel Pimentel Jr., Syrel Coleta and Romeo Sadia captured the team championship of the event, held in honor of boxing icon Manny Pacqiuao, who celerated his 37th birthday Thursday. The event drew a huge bunch of 296 pawnpushers from all over the archipelago, 271 of them vied for fame and fortune in the individual play. The team won Php 100,000 top money of the total purse Php 1.5 million put to stake by the eight-division boxing champion. Literatus' loss to Dableo dropped him into a logjam for fourth to sixth places with Nouri and Marc Christian Nazario, each receiving Php 11,000. Pimentel, along with NMs Jerad Docena, and Levi Mercado and IM Richeliu Salcedo III took home Php 8,ooo each in seventh to ninth places. Only a solitary GM, Darwin Laylo, landed in the top 15 finishers with Roque Merben, Vince Angelo Medina, Alfredo Rapanot and Kevin Arquero -- who brought with them Php 6,000 each. Antonio, who is still recovering from a series of operations he underwent the past two years and playing in his only second major tournament, found himself in a bunch of five others, including IM friend Chito Garma, and settled with a prize of Php 4,000 each. The Dableo-Literarus final round match-up turned out to be a real battle of nerves and wits, with the new champ essaying the black pieces masterfully providing defense to his rook-guarded king while continuously attacking the enemy's fort. With still a few minutes left though of the required 30-minute confrontation, Literatus offered his hand as a sign of surrender ending the fast and furious match and landing Dableo the throne. Incidentally, Dableo, Elorta and Lopez all played with the black pieces in the deciding round. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.  |
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