FEU Crowned Champions

One of the most important fixtures in the Philippine chess calendar is the UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines) chess competition. It is during these intercollegiate contests that many future stars of RP chess begin to make their name. One name to look out for in the future is the 2009-10 season's MVP, Sheider Nebato.

Nebato played for the champion team, Far Eastern University, amassing 11 points from fourteen games, and bagging the gold medal for board 3. In this game, he is seen on the white side of one of my old favourites - the Saemisch against the KID.

UAAP 2009-10
Nebato, Sheider
Reyes, Ferdinand
E80

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 Nbd7 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 h5 8. Qd2 a59. Bd3 b6 10. Nge2 Nc5 11. Bc2 Bd7 12. b3 Nh7 13. a3 Qe7 14. O-O-O O-O 15. Kb2 f5 16. Nc1 f4 17. Bf2 g5 18. h3 Rf6 19. b4 axb4 20. axb4 Na4+ 21. Bxa4 Bxa4 22. Nb3 Bxb3 23. Kxb3 Qd7 24. Ra1 Rff8 25. Qe2 Nf6 26. Ra2 g4 27. hxg4 hxg4 28. Rha1 Rxa2 29. Rxa2 gxf3 30. gxf3 Qh3 31. Ra7 Rf7 32. Nb5 Ne8 33. Ra8 Kf8 34. c5 bxc5 35. bxc5 Ke7 36. Na7 Rf8 37. Nc6+ Kf6 38. Ra1 Rh8 39. Rg1 Bf8 40. Rg4 dxc5

Position after 40...dxc5

41. Nxe5 Kxe5 42. Rg6 Nf6 43. Qb2+ 1-0

The final placings are as follows:

Champions: Far Easter University
2nd place: University of the East
3rd place: University of Santo Tomas
4th place: De la Salle University
5th place: University of the Philippines
6th place: Adamson University
7th place: National University
8th place: Ateneo de Manila University

My thanks to former RP men's Olympiad team captain Bobby Ang for the information. Bobby, of course, writes a weekly column for BusinessWorld and you can read his extended coverage of the UAAP results online.