Guam International Open Part Three

No major upsets at the top end of the tournament, with GMs Laylo & Torre sharing first place in the 2015 edition of the Guam International. Guam Champion, Efren Manuel beat everyone he played other than the two Grandmasters, to finish in outright third place. Peter Mafnas won the final game to finish against Malcolm MacFarland to secure outright fourth, while Olga Szekely & Ignatius Leong were the lucky ones who managed to avoid playing both Grandmasters & snuck into equal fifth place with 5/9.
Full results as well as all games are available on Chess Results.

GM Darwin Laylo

GM Eugene Torre

Promising young local Victor Wen

Another young local talent, Jed Caluag

Third place & best local, Efren Manuel

Fourth place, Peter Mafnas

Youngest player in the tournament, who finished strongly, Yanis Warnier from France - watch for that name in the future!

Fantastic trophies for the winners!

Guam Chess President Roger Orio, GM Darwin Laylo, GM Eugene Torre (winner on countback) & Guam Reef Hotel General Manager Yasuhiro Kotera at the presentation of prizes.

Top three placegetters in the tournament with their trophies!

Equal fifth, Olga Szekely

Equal fifth, FM Ignatius Leong

Equal seventh, Zoltan Szekely, Malcolm MacFarland, Jed Caluag, Rudolph Soriano & Roger Orio (Tito Cabunagan absent)

All players received a medal for their participation

Following the presentation, GM Torre gave a simultaneous exhibition over 16 boards!

He was able to concentrate in spite of the fantastic view just over his shoulder!

Final score: Torre 15.5 - simul opponents 0.5.

Rudy Soriano was the player who drew, when Torre gave him a draw at the end of the simul in the position above, which sees Torre with two knights, one bishop & two pawns against Soriano's two bishops & three pawns.

 

I also managed to record some video footage of the simul - notice how the dynamic changes as the simul progresses!

Part 1, with all participants still in action

Part 2, with some games finished & others well into the middlegame

Part 3, the final stages, with only a few games left

Guam International Open Part Two

Just past the midway point of the tournament & as expected, the tournament has turned into a race for third, with Grandmasters Laylo & Torre beating up any challengers, while their own game was a hard fought draw, where neither players held any big advantage during the game before finally ending in an opposite coloured bishop endgame.
The complicating factor in the race for third is that apart from having to beat the other challengers, there is always the need for two players to face the grandmasters each round! At present (after round 6) there is a four-way tie for third place, with locals Peter Mafnas, Efren Manuel, Jed Caluag & Palau's Tito Cabunagan all on 4/6. Of these players, only Efren has faced both GMs, although Jed plays his second GM this morning, but there are also eight other players within a point of third place, so the race for third is still very much alive!
I also played a few rounds, and only managed 1/2 after I blundered horribly against Danilo Briones, however Danilo still had to play well enough to finish off the position, so well done to him!
Full results of the tournament, as well as all games, are available on Chess Results.
Away from the chess, there was a BBQ Street Party on Saturday, which saw plenty of locals & tourists gathered in Tumon, while today is the Liberation Day public holiday, so I expect fireworks & other festivities this evening.

Harmon McDonalds, whose second floor is the usual home of chess on Guam on Sundays.

Crowds pack the streets for the BBQ Street Party & line up for some of the barbequed food on offer!

Part of the festivities involved a cooking competition, though I'm not sure of the exact details.

If there was any doubt about where the party was happening ...

Local dancers close out festivities for the evening near the stage.

The trophy for the locals, with winners of various competitions around the island getting a name plate on the trophy, which is a carved from a piece of wood!

Start of round 3, with board 1 game between local Victor Wen & GM Darwin Laylo

Start of round 4, with board 1 game between GM Darwin Laylo & local CM Jonathan Molod

The other side of the playing hall in round 4, with the clash of juniors, Yanis Warnier from France against local Gefferson Batula, nearest the camera.

A crowd gathers for the conclusion of the Laylo-Molod game, while closer to camera Olga Szekely plays Efren Manuel & Jed Caluag plays GM Eugene Torre.

Arbiter's desk, with sponsor banners - my presence at the tournament was largely due to financial support from the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific!

Chess with a view ... play underway in round 7, with beautiful cliffs & ocean just out the window!

To finish, two interesting games from the tournament:
Round 4 top board clash between GM Darwin Laylo & CM Jonathan Molod


Round 5, an almost brilliancy from the clash between FM Ignatius Leong & Tito Cabunagan

Guam International Open

I'm currently on the Pacific island of Guam, where the 2015 Guam International Open is being held. I am here as the chief arbiter & potential fill-in player. There are 22 players in the event, most of whom are locals, although the event has been significantly enhanced by the presence of two Filipino Grandmasters, top seed Darwin Laylo & legend of Asian chess Eugene Torre! Other foreign players competing include FM Ignatius Leong from Singapore, who is head of the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific and former Secretary of FIDE, Tito Cabunagan from Palau & eight year old Yanis Warnier from France.
I arrived here a few days before the tournament started & the views of the water & coastline are fantastic, however the heat & humidity makes venturing out during the day quite difficult. I tried walking around the local shops near the middle of the day & returned to the hotel covered in sweat! I'm hoping once the tournament is finished that I will have some more time to look around the island, particularly at the various sites relating to World War II, which saw the country occupied by the Japanese for around three years.

Two Lovers Point, one of the may tourist attractions on the island of Guam

'Love Locks' are a feature at Two Lovers Point

Spectacular views of the coastline are the real attraction of the Point

 

Guam Reef Hotel, host of this year's tournament

The spectacular view from my room on the tenth floor

The afternoon before the tournament saw a press conference held at the hotel - I even get a mention on one of the banners for the tournament!

The press conference also saw a ceremonial first move between Eva, a young local girl & GM Torre.
There was also an article written about the tournament in the local newspaper, the Pacific Daily News

Round 1 of the tournament underway on the eighteenth floor of the hotel!

A sample of the spectacular views from the eighteenth floor! It might make it tough for the players to concentrate on the chess!

 More spectacular views of the coastline from the playing venue

 

 Magnificent clear blue water just outside the hotel!