Philippine Chess

[junbalbin]

After the the gruelling 17 rounds qualifying tournament, the list of the members of the men's team of the Philippines are as follows:
IM John Paul Gomez, GM Wesley So, GM Bong Villamayor, GM Jayson Gonzales and GM Darwin Laylo.
It is a young and very talented team. They will represent the country in the World Chess Olympics in Dresden, Germany this year.

[pawnedknight]

Compared to previous RP teams in the past that competed in the olympiad, the make up of this year's team is no better! Instead of moving forward, we took two steps backward. We could have assemble a much better team than this one, not just ready and able to compete among the best in the world but a team capable of beating the best in the world. A team capable of besting other teams that we have previously sent in the olympiad but for some other reasons we have to be happy for just being able to compete and be part of the olympiad.

This year's olympiad should have been exciting considering the caliber of players that we have instead it is going to be not so exciting for this year's team will surely not finish no better than 25th place.

No Torre and Antonio in the line up, no chance of braking into the top ten.

[johncats]

The current team is stronger than the previous one for the past ten years. We have youth, stamina and experience in our side. Mark and Wesley are proven experienced players aside from their energy. Note that the hottest players in the world are young guys like Magnus Carlsen, Wang Yue, Karjakin, Leko, Akopian and young players from Kazaktan. I only miss the experience and wisdom of Eugene but our chess managers are doing it right. It is fair to have all players prove their worth in an elimination tourney. No free ticket to the Philippine Team! I only suggest to appoint Eugene Torre as the Team Manager to share his insights into the gruelling tournament.

To Wesley So, John Paul and the rest of the Philippine Team congratulations and Go! Go ! Go! Let us prove once again to the world that we have brillliant and disciplined guys in our country like what Manny Pacquiao has done lately. Let us show once again the brighter side of Philippines which has generally unfavorable image in the world.

[Dark_Knight]

Just a small correction: only 5 players will make up the Philippine team to the Olympiad. GM Paragua (who placed 6th in the qualifying) is, unfortunately, out. The 6th-10th placers, however, will represent the country in the World Mind Games also this year, so Mark will be our Board 1 player for that tournament. Please see the NCFP website for our entries to other world competitions.

I wish the team all the luck, and let's at least give China and India a run for their money. I think Wesley will get a lot of attention in this Olympiad, and many will be interested to see him play against Carlsen and Karjakin. I also agree that GM Torre should be there as team coach and manager. His vast experience will provide needed maturity to the team.

[junbalbin]

yes sir i overlook inclusion of gm mark paragua to the chess olympiad team my apology. he is bound for the 1st world mind games.
anyway the list below are complete list of chess players men and women bound for this year's premiere competition as provided by the website of the NCFP.

MEMBERS OF PHILIPPINE TEAMS

CHESS OLYMPIAD - DRESDEN 2008 GM WESLEY SO GM BUENAVENTURA VILLAMAYOR GM DARWIN LAYLO GM JAYSON GONZALES IM JOHN PAUL GOMEZ

WNM CATHERINE PERENA WNM SHERCILA CUA WNM DAISY RIVERA WNM CHARDINE CHERADEE WNM CRISTY LAMIEL BERNALES

1st WORLD MIND GAMES

GM MARK PARAGUA IM ROLANDO NOLTE IM JULIO CATALINO SADORRA IM CHITO GARMA NM LEONARDO CARLOS
SHERILY CUA CRISTINE ROSE MARIANO KIMBERLY JANE CUNANAN JAN JODILYN FRONDA RIDA JANE YOUNG

2008 WORLD JUNIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

GM WESLEY SO NM HARIDAS PASCUA

WORLD YOUTH U-16 CHESS OLYMPIAD 2008

GM WESLEY SO NM HARIDAS PASCUA
JAN EMMANUEL GARCIA
ALCON JOHN DATU

[pawnedknight]

The light just got dimmer and the hill went steeper!

The only thing I'm looking forward to this coming Dresden olympiad is how W So would fare against a super GM. Hopefully win or lose, he gives a good account of himself.

How the RP squad would fare in this tournament is already given. There may be minor upsets along the way but in the end it performed no better than any RP squad in the past.

[junbalbin]

indeed GM so's performance will be closely watched. it will be on his broad but young shoulder where the team Philippines will ride on. his performance will mean a lot as far as evaluating his growth and his future vis a vis against the world's chess elite players.

[saclovitzky]

I love the composition of the chess team that will compete in the next olympiad, young and talented but is it possible to include torre and antonio in the entourage, what I mean is that, the inclusion of this highly experience GMs(torre & antonio) as non-playing official of the RP delegation will further boost the competetiveness of the team. GMs So, Villamayor, IM Gomez etc are talented no doubt about this, but they will learn from GMs Torre and Antonio the on & off the board antics of world class GMs because they are really familiar with them. Even when not playing, their suggestion(s) in every rounds of play are indespensable. Think about it!

[SCUGrad]

While it would be nice for our team to do well (top 10 or 15 finish) I myself am not looking for anything like that. I only hope that our performance will be strong enough so that new talents can be discovered (JP Gomez) and old ones rediscovered (Bong Villamayor)

[Rubennetti]

Its about time to send a younger team in the forthcoming Dresden chess olympiad.No disrespect to Torre & Antonio who were both veterans but both of them already reached their peak.
Just because Torre & Antonio are not in the line up doesn't mean the Philippine team is doomed,Lets see first how this team performs before we judged them.

[wwwsupsup]

These are the Best Chess Players in the Philippines!!! They deserved it and should be respected!!! They competed in the Elimination Round and in the Finals. No doubt about it, they came out as the top 5 Best Chess Players in the Philippines.
These guys showed consistency and had proven their worth. What do you need to ask for? What do we need to ask them?
To make the best and hardest preparation ever to succeed!!! There nothing else we can ask for but for them to train very hard.
It's how much you put into is what you will get. We got to believe!!! And I believe in them. They will deliver only if they prepared for the inevitable! Expect ultimate competition here! Only the Best survives and these guys represent the Best in Philippine Chess.

[puksbatil]

tama ka wwwsupsup

[junbalbin]

yap placing top 20 will be excellent achievement. placing top 10 is for me really very hard and almost a miracle considering how strong is the field.

[lastikman]

Perhaps, will end up number 36.

[geniokov]

At last! A group of young talented players for Dresden Chess Olympiad.Well, 1st,i would like to congratulate NCFP for this successful tournament.Specially,our Hon.Cong.Pichay.Di nya pinababayaan ang mga bata.Sabi ko na nga ba eh,a young talented chessplayers are all what we need coz they are our future in chess.Let our country be bless also these players that they will go far in their destiny.Not only their strength put themselves to that category but their dedication as a player who will represent our country.We all knew that positive & negative feedbacks are always there to disrupt us and uplift us,but i´m asking all the filipinos to join their hands,patronize our product and God will pay us back.Regarding Torre & Antonio,it´s sad to hear that they were not around.The only thing i can suggest is that if NCFP will give them respective assignments like Torre as a Captain for Dresden Olympiad & Antonio for the 1st Mind games group aside from other delagates who will be around.That´s all.Mabuhay ang Pilipino.

[pawnedknight]

Competing in the chess olympiad is something we have been doing in the past but we never landed in the top twenty. This year could be the start of something new with the emergence of W So to compliment the steady plays of E Torre and A Antonio in the olympiad. But after making great moves then came a much bigger blunder by Hon. Pichay by ignoring the fact that without E Torre and A Antonio you are left with a mediocre team.

Instead of competing for one of the spot in the top twenty, we are once again to occupy a spot from fourty and above.

[jem]

We are ranked no. 34 in the world today. After the olympiad we will still be no. 34 whether GM Torre and Antonio is with the team. With the rate the world competition have improved, I think we will not be able to duplicate our performance during the last olympiad.

[jem]

GM Torre and Antonio were in the hilippine team playing bd 2 and 3 during the Turin Olympiad. We landed no. 44.

[pawnedknight]

GM Torre and Antonio were in the hilippine team playing bd 2 and 3 during the Turin Olympiad. We landed no. 44.

Are you expecting this year's squad to outperform the RP squad two years ago? Please allow me to point out that E Torre and A Antonio both suffered 1 loss each only. Torre played a total of nine games. He won once, drew 7 times and lost once. Three of the 7 players he faced were super GMs'. He's 1w 2drws and 0 defeat against them. That's 0 loss as in nil, kaput or nada against 3 SUPER GMs'.

As for A Antonio, he played a total of 11 games. He won 4, drew 6 and lost once. Against four super GMs', he scored 1w,d2,1l. Wasn't that impressive enough? What more can you ask for? He was the one who tallied the best score among the RP players followed by E Torre two years ago. I cannot fathom the idea of these two gentlemen not playing once again for us. It's not like they are no longer at the top of their games. They were put aside in favor of weaker players.

Who among the RP squad composing this year's team, do you think would outperform these two gentlemen? I see only W So. He is very much capable of, but that remains to be seen. How he would handle the pressure of manning board 1 is a big question mark? Hope he does exceptionally well!

[jem]

1 win 7 draws for Eugene to me is not impressive. Joey Antonio likewise because he only likes to play white with black so many alibis. Put aside for a weaker oppoent, I disagree. They excluded themselves. They were scared to play in the finals, because at the back of their minds, they knew they can be beaten by the youngstars. Joey's result during the Subic and Philippine Open are the best evidence. They should blame no one except themselves, if they are out of the Olympiad Team.

[junbalbin]

i think its time to move forward. .. everything is said and done... Gms eugene and joey are out of the team and we need to embrace the reality that we have also other players who pass through the qualifying rounds and the final selection. . . if Gms eugene and joey want to help their support will surely be welcome. the help however will not be as players because they did not join the selection process.