JEDDAH, 18 July 2003 — Action heated up in The second phase of Series 9 Al-Faf Knockout Final chess tournament at Al-Faf hotel here with eight players falling by the wayside and then four being knocked out in the next round.
The game of the week was between first round winner Rod Manansala of El Khereji Corp. and Raul Ilagan of United Motors.
In the best two of games, Ilagan playing black sidestepped Manansala’s attack to register the first win with Nimzowitsch Defense. However, in the following game, Manansala leveled the score by maintaining a lasting initiative in a Sicilian Defense and then pressing for victory when Ilagan lost the tempo and a piece in the end game.
In the playoff, Manansala had the advantage with the white pieces, only to blunder and allow Ilagan to escape and squeeze out a win in the second ladder. With Ilagan’s victory, he will clash against seeded player Gary Abadines of Jeddah Cable in the quarterfinals.Results of first and second round: bracket one winner Marvin Franco of Bashawri Optical (Amin Khan, Najib Uddin and Ahmed Khatooa), bracket two winner Raul Ilagan of United Motors (Oscar Calicdan, Ricky Ricamara and Rod Manansala), bracket three winner Irshad Hussain of Trans Desert (Raul Mayo, Gil Buensuceso and Rolly Cornejo) and bracket four winner Russel Sayat of Arabian Food Supply (Baby Joseph, Rene Magbag and Bong Baluyot).
The four second round winner will meet the four seeded players in the quarterfinals (Franco vs. Froilan Miro of Al Murj Electro), (Ilagan vs. Gary Abadines of Jeddah Cable), (Hussain vs. Bernie Tabelisma of Zawag Foods) and (Sayat vs. Anselmo Seidel of Al Obiri Rent-A-Car).
Among the above eight men’s group, six players are to be eliminated and the two winners will meet the first semifinalists (third seed) Jimmy De Leon of Alma Glass and CPA Gerry Calixto of HILTI. The second semifinalists (second seed): Willy Sabungan of Shamrock and Dr. Motaz El-Fadil of Bahlas Medical Center. Top seed and Finalist Benjie Roxas of Barnie’s Café will await the winner of the 24 chess players from the Series 9 of Al-Faf Stepladder Knockout Final on Aug. 8. Seeding of players in the second phase of Al-Faf Hotel Stepladder Knockout Final was derived from the phase one of the round robin event.
