As expected, IM Daniel Quizon emerged the convincing winner of the 2021 Philippine National Open Chess Championship Grand Finals which concluded Tuesday, December 14th in Mactan City. Quizon’s powerful performance – winning consecutively his first six games before coasting to the finish while his opponents struggled to keep pace – includes beating all three grandmasters playing in the event.
The 17-year old Dasmariñas City native’s only claim to fame before this was winning undefeated the Asian Zonal 3.3 Tournament in May this year to earn a slot to the 2021 World Cup in August where he was eliminated by GM Evgeny Bareev in the first round.
The oldest grandmaster in the Grand Finals, 59-year old GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., was apparently off-form during the event, finishing in 9th place and even losing his last round game to the oldest player of the tournament, 60-year old IM Ricky de Guzman.
The final standings: 1.Quizon, 8½; 2. De Guzman, 7; 3-4. Dableo, Laylo, 6½; 5-6. Pimentel, Garcia, 6; 7-8. Miciano, Bersamina, 5½; 9. Antonio, 4½; 10. Frayna, 4; 11-12. Pason, Concio, 3.
Dableo,R (2407)-Miciano,JM (2316) [A04]
Mactan City (10.6) 2021
1.Nf3 f5 2.b3 d6 3.e3 e5 4.d4 e4 5.Ng1 d5 6.h4 Nf6 7.Nh3 Be6 8.Be2 c6 9.c3 Qd7 10.g3 Bf7 11.Ba3 Bxa3 12.Nxa3 Qe7 13.Nb1 Nbd7 14.Nf4 g6 15.c4 h6 16.Nc3 Rg8 17.cxd5 cxd5 18.Rc1 g5 19.hxg5 hxg5 20.Nh5 Bxh5 21.Bxh5+ Kf8 22.Be2 Rd8 23.Na4 f4 24.gxf4 gxf4 25.Rc7 Ne8 26.Rxb7 Nd6 27.Rxa7 Nf5 28.Nc5 fxe3 29.fxe3 Nxe3 30.Qd2 Rg1+ 31.Bf1 Rxh1 32.Qxe3 Qf6 33.Qf4 Qxf4 34.Ne6+ Kg8 35.Nxf4 Rf8 36.Nxd5 Rhxf1+ 37.Ke2 R1f7 38.Ke3 Nb6 39.Ne7+ Rxe7 0-1
Miciano,JM (2316)-Pimentel,J (2273) [A30]
Mactan City (11.1) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 c5 3.c4 Nc6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.0-0 e5 7.Nc3 Be6 8.Ng5 Qxg5 9.Bxd5 Bxd5 10.Nxd5 0-0-0 11.d3 Qg6 12.e4 f5 13.Qa4 Kb8 14.f4 Nd4 15.Nc3 h5 16.fxe5 fxe4 17.dxe4 h4 18.Bf4 hxg3 19.Bxg3 Be7 20.Rf7 Rh3 21.Rxe7 Rxg3+ 22.Kh1 Rxc3 23.Qa5 Qxe4+ 24.Kg1 Qe3+ 25.Kh1 Qf3+ 26.Kg1 Ne2# 0-1
Quizon,D (2324)-Dableo,R (2407) [B26]
Mactan City (11.2) 2021
1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 e5 4.Bg2 d6 5.Nge2 c5 6.0-0 Ne7 7.d3 Nbc6 8.Be3 0-0 9.f4 Nd4 10.Qd2 Be6 11.h3 Qd7 12.Kh2 f5 13.Rae1 Rf7 14.Nd5 fxe4 15.dxe4 Bxd5 16.exd5 Nef5 17.Bxd4 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 cxd4 19.fxe5 Bxe5 20.Rxf7 Qxf7 21.Be4 b5 22.Kg2 a5 23.Qe2 b4 24.Rf1 Qd7 25.b3 Kg7 26.Rf3 Qe7 27.Bd3 a4 28.bxa4 Rxa4 29.Qe1 Qc7 30.Qb1 Qc5 31.Qb3 Ra3 32.Qc4 Rc3 33.Qxc5 dxc5 34.Be4 c4 35.Rxc3 bxc3 36.a4 Bc7 37.d6 ½-½
Antonio,R (2421)-De Guzman,R (2344) [C68]
Mactan City (11.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d4 exd4 6.Qxd4 Qxd4 7.Nxd4 Bd6 8.Nc3 Ne7 9.Be3 Bd7 10.0-0-0 0-0-0 11.Kb1 c5 12.Nb3 b6 13.f3 Rde8 14.Bf2 f5 15.exf5 Nxf5 16.h3 Bc6 17.Nd2 Ng3 18.Bxg3 Bxg3 19.Nde4 Be5 20.Rhe1 Rhf8 21.Re2 h6 22.Rde1 Bd4 23.Nd2 Rd8 24.Nde4 Rf7 25.Rd2 Rfd7 26.Nd1 Be5 27.Rxd7 Rxd7 28.Ndf2 Bd4 29.Kc1 Rf7 30.c3 Be5 31.Kc2 c4 32.Ng4 Bf4 33.Nd2 b5 34.b3 h5 35.Nf2 cxb3+ 36.Nxb3 Bd6 37.Nd2 0-1
Concio,M (2287)-Pason,A (1974) [A07]
Mactan City (11.6) 2021
1.g3 Nf6 2.Bg2 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.0-0 Nbd7 5.d3 e5 6.c3 Bc5 7.b4 Bb6 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Qc2 e4 10.dxe4 dxe4 11.Nd4 Qe7 12.Nd2 Bxd4 13.cxd4 Re8 14.e3 Nb6 15.a4 Bf5 16.Ba3 Qd7 17.Rfc1 Rac8 18.Nc4 Nxc4 19.Qxc4 Bh3 20.Bh1 Bg4 21.b5 Bf3 22.bxc6 Rxc6 23.Qb5 a6 24.Qg5 h6 25.Qh4 Bxh1 26.Kxh1 Rxc1+ 27.Rxc1 Qxa4 28.Bd6 Qd7 29.Ba3 b5 30.d5 Qxd5 31.Qf4 a5 32.Qc7 Qa2 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.N5f4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qe5 2.Qxe5#; 1…Rxd7+ 2.Qxd7#; 1…Kc7 2.dxe8=S#; 1…Ke7 2.d8=Q#.
