Monday, July 07, 2008

Paragua in Big Trouble

Eight games into the National Finals to determine RP's Olympiad reps, the one time super-GM Mark Paragua has posted only a measly 3.5 points! Maybe it was the jet lag after a flight across the Pacific, maybe it was that tough stint in the 1st Marshall CC International (which he topped, by the way, after another Armageddon playoff), or both, but Paragua needs to absolutely pull his resources in if he wants another Olympiad berth for his country.

In the first round of the currently running tournament in the Philippines, Paragua was shocked by the 2174-rated Haridas Pascua.

Philippine National Finals
Paragua, Mark
Pascua, Haridas
B56

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e5 6. Nb3 Be6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qd2 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Qxd5 Bxd5 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. f3 b6 14. Bb5 Kc7 15. c4 Be6 16. Rxd8 Nxd8 17. f4 Nc6 18. Rf1 f6 19. Nd2 Nb4 20. fxe5 Nd3+ 21. Kc2 Nxe5 22. Kc3 Kb7 23. Bf4 Bd6 24. Ne4 Bb8 25. c5 Rc8 26. b4 Bd5 27. Kd4 Rd8

Position after 27...Rd8

28. Nd6+ Bxd6 29. Kxd5 Bxc5+ 30. Ke6 Rd6+ 31. Ke7 Bxb4 32. Bxe5 Rd5+ 33. Kf7 Rxb5 34. Bg3 Ra5 35. Kxg7 Rxa2 36. Kxh7 Rxg2 37. Rxf6 a5 38. Rg6 Bc3 39. Rg4 Be5 40. Kg6 Bxg3 41. hxg3 b5 42. Kf5 a4 0-1

With 9 rounds to go, Paragua has plenty of time to recover. Hopefully, he can. Current top standings, after round 8, are as follows:

7.5 Gomez
6.0 Villamayor
5.5 So
5.0 Garma
4.5 Gonzales, Laylo, Bancod, Carlos

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

IM John Paul Gomez 8.5 out of 9!! Can be get a GM norm out of this qualifier if he wins?

Mark Paragua and Darwin Laylo both have to be affected by jet lag.
Hopefully they can recover and get into the top 6.

Peter Long said...

Because the event is designated as the Philippine National Championhip Finals, the answer is yes! Players can make GM and IM norms!

Anonymous said...

John Paul Gomez is a sure bet to get his GM norms and title soon.

Hopefully Pichay can facilitate his playing in more strong tournaments outside of the Phlippines.

Looks like too that there are more untapped untitled Filipino players
out there. I am sure there are more strong junior players waiting to be discovered.

All these players just need the opportunity to play and showcase their talents!

Anonymous said...

Why did they not include the Philippine Battle of Grandmasters results in the July FIDE ratings. Is it because the now GM Jayson Gonzales only got 2.5 out of 11 possible points. Had the results been included Jayson may have not breached the 2500 barrier which is a requirement for his GM title. Is the event not rated? Wesley performed well in that Tournament so he should have gotten a higher rating compared to his present rating. Have they sacrificed Wesley's and others' ratings just for Jayson's GM title? Can someone please shed some light?

Anonymous said...

I have done calculations on the Philippine Battle of Grandmasters results and Jayson should have lost 33.3 rating points which should have made his July ratings below the 2500 requirement.

On the contrary, Wesley should have gotten 14.6 more rating points making his current rating at around 2590 close to being a SuperGM.

Some people might have decided to delay submission of results until Jayson become a full-pledged GM.

I have nothing against Jayson but Philippine tournaments that were held after the battle of GM are already included in the July ratings. Don't you smell something fishy?

Peter Long said...

Rating Report submission is always a matter of contention.

By the same argument, Jayson benefitting is not at Wesley's expense as he plays in events with a lower expected score and that helps him get past 2600 faster.

Usually this kind of accident does not happen when norms are made as the players would be furious!