NM Roland Perez

3rd CASIANO SOL CRUZ MEMORIAL SIMUL
MERALCO, Pasig City
W: Junior Sol Cruz
B: NM Roland Perez


1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5
In opening theory, this is the ROSSOLIMO VARIATION of the SICILIAN DEFENSE.

3... g6
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1259461 

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1033908
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044390
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1539786
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1626453
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1621182

In the Battle of GMs 2009 in Dapitan, GM Wesley So played the rare 3... Nf6 vs GM Joey Antonio [1/2-1/2]. 


According to Chessgames.com database, the top 3 most popular moves are 3... g6 with 2,255 games, 3... d6 with1,405 games, and 3... e6 with 1,176 games.

4 Nc3
The most popular move is 4 O-O [1,327 times in 2,255 games] followed by 4 BxNc6 [768 in 2,255 games] which was the choice of GM Joey Antonio, 2009 Asian Continental Finalist, vs Van Huy Nguyen [1-0].

4... Bg7 5 d3 d6 6 O-O
One of the most important guidelines in chess is to protect your K from harm.
Watson in Mastering the Chess Openings

6... Bd7 7 Bd2 e6 8 Rb1 Ne7

9 b3? a6 10 Ne2??? PxB -+

3rd SOL CRUZ MEMORIAL CUP

DEGOLLADO vs SOL CRUZ

W: Danny DEGOLLADO
B: Rhal SOL CRUZ
MERALCO vs Lores Match
Pasig City
Time Control: 15'-15'

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Nc3 Bb4
FOUR KNIGHTS' GAME - ITALIAN VARIATION.

5 d3 O-O
MASTERING THE CHESS OPENINGS, "One of the most important guidelines in chess is to protect your K from harm."

6 a3 BxNc3+ 7 bxBc3 d6 8 h3 b6 9 Be3 h6
THE ART OF CHESS, "Refrain from pushing any RP merely to prevent B attacking N or pinning, as it is called."

10 Qd2 Bb7
LOGICAL CHESS, "In the opening, a B is best placed for attack when it controls a diagonal passing through the center or when it pins a hostile N and renders it immobile."

11 Bxh6 gxBh6 12 Qxh6













W sacrifices a piece for a stormy attack.

12 ... Qe7??
According to RYBKA, better is 12 ... Nh7, and Black has a slight advantage.

13 Ng5 Rad8??
RYBKA gives 13 ... d5 14 Bxd5 Nd8 15 BxBb7 NxBb7

14 Qg6+ Kh8 15 Nxf7+ Rxf7 16 Bxf7 Rf8 17 Qh6+ Nh7 18 Bg6 Rg8 19 BxNh7 QxBh7 20 QxQh7 KxQh7













Time is down to the last 5 minutes, thus Rhal stopped recording the moves. and according to Koyang Danny, he opened the f-file for his R's, managed to post his R to the 7th rank where Rhal blundered his N. 
[1-0]

MERALCO vs LORES Chess Club

LAZ vs SOL CRUZ

MERALCO vs Bago Bantay Goowill Match
W: Christine LAZ
B: Rhal SOL CRUZ, Jr.
Time: 15-15


Result: 1-0

Rhal was not aware of the time control of 15 minutes per player to finish the game.

BAGO BANTAY

W: Edgar MAILO
B: Rhal SOL CRUZ

1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 e3 Nf6
COMMON SENSE IN CHESS, :Bring your N's out before developing the B's, especially the QB."

4 a3 e6 5 b3 g6 6 Bb2 Bg7 7 Bd3 b6 8 Nd2 Bb7
LOGICAL CHESS, "Develop pieces with a view to controlling the center, either by ocupying it or bearing down on it from a distance, as fianchettoed B's do."

9 O-O O-O
THE 10 MOST COMMON CHESS MISTAKES, "Nothing is more important than safeguarding your K by castling early, within the first dozen moves if possible."

10 Rc1 Qe7 11 Re1 Rad8 12 h3 Rfe8













CHESS FUNDAMENTALS, "In the opening, R's may have no open files, yet they will usually stand better on the central files since there is the potential of pawn exchanges which open a file."

13 c4 Qd7 14 c5 Ne7 15 Ne5 Qc8 16 c6 Ba6 17 Bb1 Rd6 18 b4 Bb5 19 a4 Bxc6 20 b5 Bb7 21 g4 Nd7 22 f4 NxN 23 PxN Rd7 24 Rf1 Rf8 25 Ba3 Qd8 26 Nf3 Re8













Time forfeit. [1-0]

PAU BERSAMINA

W: Rhal SOL CRUZ
MERALCO 4-Board Simul
Pasig City

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 3 d3 Bg7 4 Nc3 Nc6 5 Bd2 Nf6 6 Be2 O-O 7 O-O
MASTERING THE CHESS OPENINGS, "One of the most important guidelines of chess is to protect your K from harm."
 7 ... d5 8 exd5 Nxd5













9 Rb1 (-0.36)
RYBKA recommends 9 Re1 as equal; occupation the semi-open e-file.

9 ... a6 10 Nxd5 Qxd5

d10

11 c4
This move created a positional weakness; a backward d-pawn on an open file. RYBKA rates this with (-0.50).

11 ... Qd6 12 b3 Bf5 13 Qc2 Rad8 14 Rbd1 Bxd3 15 BxBd3 QxBd3 16 QxQd3 RxQd3
Pau won the backward pawn. As Gollum said in The Lord of the Rings, "My precious."













17 Rfe1?
Better is 17 Be3?! in accordance with THE MIDDLE GAME IN CHESS, "In all cases, it is well to unpin the piece in question as quickly as possible, not only to give it back its freedom of action, but also to liberate the masked piece."

17 ... Rfd8 18 Re2 Nd4 19 NxNd4 BxBd4













20 g3?
Better, according to RYBKA, is 20 Rf1.

20 ... Bc3 21 BxBc3 RxRd1+
The pin is mightier than the sword. Pau is quality up.

22 Kg2 R1d3 23 Bb2 Rd2 24 RxRd2 RxRd2
TURNING ADVANTAGE INTO VICTORY, "The logic behind trading pieces is simple; exchanges tip the ratio of the remaining forces further in your favor."

25 Bc3 Rxa2

Result [0-1].
B: Pau BERSAMINA

2009 RP 12 UNDER CHAMPION SIMUL

G4: NM Andrew Vasquez

Summer Workshop
MERALCO, Pasig City
Day 5 Simul Play
W: Rhal SOL CRUZ
B: NM VASQUEZ

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d3
In opening theory, this timid move forms the PONZIANI OPENING. But Rhal does not know it.

3... Bc5 4 g3 Nf6 5 Bg2 O-O 6 O-O
Castling with a fianchetto is the very first opening set-up that Rhal learned. 


6... h6 7 c3 d6 8 Nbd2 a5 9 b3 Bg4 10 Bb2
Rapid development of the Q-side pieces is his second goal in the opening.


10... Re8 11 Re1 Bb6 12 Qe2 a4 13 Ba3 Qd7 14 Nc4 Ba7 15 bxa4 16 Nb2 dxe4 17 dxe4 Qe6 18 Qc4 Qc8 19 Rad1 Bb6

20 Bc5??
According to RYBKA, better is 20 Qb5 =

20... Be6 21 Rd5?
Qb5 is still good.

21... Nxd5 22 exd5 na5 23 Qb5 Bd7 24 Qb4 Bxc5 25 Qxc5 b6 26 Qe3 Nb7 -+
Black has the advantage; 27 Bf1, 27 Nd2, or 27 Qc1.

RESULT: 0-1