NY-based Pinoy chessers rev up for World Open

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Inspired by World No. 2 Wesley So's spectacular victory in the 2017 US Championship in St. Louis on April 10, Filipino chessers based here have started revving up for the 45th Annual World Open on June 29-July 4, 2017 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
"Matitindi na ang mga tira nila (Their moves are getting impressive)," reported Carmelo "Jun" Galinea, founder of Elmhurst Chess Club.
The Filipino woodpushers are led by GM Mark Paragua, highly-regarded former Scout Ranger Rico Salimbagat, Ilonggos Gilbert Buenaflor Gonzales, Anthony Gallon, Leo Buencocillo, NCR's Albert Rivera, Vincent Umayan, Gerson Caballero, Jhan Paragua, Bert Labuac, Gerry Gamaro, Mike Adarlo, Cesar Apalla, and Andy Punzalan.
"Halos lahat sila last year naka kuha ng magandang puwesto (Most of them performed very well last year) and I expect them to shock their rivals in Philadelphia," added Galinea, known as the "godfather" of Elmhurst chess.

BLITZ

The players gathered at Galinea's apartment on Elmhurst St. in Queens every Monday and played blitz from five o'clock in the afternoon until 11 o'clock in the evening.
The event has a $225,000 prize fund unconditionally guaranteed! Organizers said FIDE norms will be given to top finishers in the Open Section.
So, a former member of RP Olympic Team and now plays for the United States, reached a playoff after taking a quick draw against Daniel Naroditsky in Round 11 of the US Championship.
That left his fate in the hands of Varuzhan Akobian and Alexander Onischuk, who could have claimed the title if they'd won with the black pieces.
Akobian lost to Nakamura and Onischuk drew against Kamsky, meaning that a rapid playoff against 41-year-old Alexander was all that stood in the way of So and his first US Championship title.

Apelo captures Atlantic Open Under-2100 chess title anew

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- To prove that his 2013 victory in the same section in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was not a fluke, Filipino-American chess guru David Asuncion Apelo captured the 48th Annual Atlantic Open Under-2100 title held from August 26-28, 2016 in Arlington, Virginia.

APELO: "The future of Filipino chess players is here in the United States, not in the Philippines."

The 58-year-old former Army in the Philippines romped off with the $2,000 top prize by submitting 4.5 in a 5-round Swiss System held at the Hilton Crystal City Hotel.
He also collected another $1,000 by winning the mixed doubles team title together with Grace Calapati by scoring 8 points.
Apelo, described by fellow Queens-based chess player Gilbert Gonzales as "strike anywhere", won $1,185 when he ruled the 45th Liberty Bell Open Under-2100 chess tournament held from Jan. 18 to 21, 2013 at the Sonesta Hotel in Philadelphia.
He scored six points in seven rounds. 

FEARED

"Apelo is one of the most feared Fil-Am chess players in the East Coast and is very well-known in every chess park in New York," said Gonzales of Silay City, Philippines. 
Camelo "Jun" Galinea, the godfather of Elmhurst Park chess, said Apelo is an old timer and is respected in the New York chess community.
Apelo, who tots a United States Chess Federation (USCF) rating of 2085, said he will skip the "expensive" Millionaire Chess Open at the Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City on October 6 - 10, 2016.
"I can't afford," he stressed, estimating that a player has to spend at least $1,000 to cover his registration, transportation, food, and hotel accommodation.
Apelo said he will continue to play in other major tournaments in the US. He teaches chess in different schools and acts as coach for students and unrated players.
Apelo said some of the best chess players in the Philippines are now playing in the US "because the future is here, not there."

'Pinoy chessers' notoriety known in New York'

"Chess first of all teaches you to be objective." 
-- Alexander Alekhine

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- In any chess hub in New York City today, Filipinos are "notoriously" known for their resilience and unorthodox talent in the long game, rapid and blitz chess. 
Both masters and non-masters in Westport, Bryant Park, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan reportedly avoid them like the plague.

GALINEA'S TEAM

Camelo "Jun" Galinea, president and founder of Elmhurst Chess Club in Queens, said two of the biggest names that sent shock waves in New York chess these past years were Philippine grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua, now based here working as chess tutors in Manhattan.
"When chess players from different races spotted Oliver and Mark, they slowly scampered away," observed Galinea, 60, who converted his condo unit on corner Ketcham-Elmhurst streets in Queens into regular watering hole for chess habitues every Monday evening. 

PARTICIPANT

Galinea, a self-taught woodpusher and regular participant in the Commercial Chess League of New York, said the two Filipino grandmasters are unbeatable in blitz chess. 
"They can easily beat to the pulp all the chess hustlers anywhere in New York," Galinea disclosed. "Pati ang ibang Filipino nadadamay. I mean, even if other Filipinos are non-masters or ordinary players, other races think they, too, are good thus they were also being avoided." 
Galinea said he heard that the chess club founded by the Hungarian-born Polgar sisters, GMs Susan, Sofia and Judit in Bronx, had been closed because of the Filipino chess hustlers. He did not elaborate.
Barbosa, 29, (FIDE rating 2517) won the recent 10th Parsvnath International Grandmasters Tournament in New Delhi.
Paragua, 32, (FIDE rating 2510), represented the Philippines in World Chess Olympiad four times (2002, 2004, 2006, 2012).  He became the Philippines' youngest GM at 20.

SUPER

The third gigantic name in New York is super-GM Wisley So (FIDE rating 2773). He is currently ranked No. 10 in the world. 
So, 22, based in St. Louis, Missouri and now representing the United States,  won the Bilbao Chess Masters Final in Bilbao, Spain in November last year. He recently beat former world champion Garri Kasparov in blitz game.
In Elmhurst park, So accepted the challenge of other nationals, giving away four minutes in a five-minute blitz. "Still, So managed to whip them all even if he agreed to have only one minute as against his opponents' five," Galinea narrated.
In Galinea's condo unit, wife Lucille, 49, a former teacher in Fabrica, Negros Occidental in the Philippines, cooked for Filipino chessers with no major titles.

GALINEA'S PLACE

"They gathered in my house and played chess. We discussed and analyzed the games of grandmasters played in major tournaments as well as our games in the commercial chess league," added Galinea, the "godfather" of Elmhurst Chess Club. "We are like members of one family. Chess has brought us all together."
Cebuano lawyer Gerry Albano became the group's sponsor and gave them cash when they swept the Commercial Chess League of New York in 2015.

TEAM

Among the most talented and winningest chess players in Galinea's team were Rico Salimbagat, a former member of the Scout Ranger in the Philippines; Gilbert Gonzales, Marlo Lina, Anthony Gallon, Leo Gatchalian, Mike Adarlo, Cesar Apalla, Gerson Caballero, Bert Labuac, Bien Villanueva, Andy Punzalan, Leo Buencocillo, Dari Castro, Gerry Gamaro, and Lope Jan Williams.    
When they collected all the major trophies, the players only confirmed the fears of other nationals in New York that Filipino chessers are really a force to reckon with, Galinea concluded.

Elmhurst Park in Queens, New York City.

"Any Filipino who arrives in New York is welcome to play here in Elmhurst. We play for fun. We don't expect to become grandmasters anymore because we are already masters in our own right," declared long-time Elmhurst player Rusty Beof, brother of Sen. Manny Pacquiao's Roman Catholic spiritual adviser, Fr. Marlon Beof.