CEBU, Philippines - National Master Elwin Retanal conjured all the strength that made him one of Cebu's brilliant chess players to rule this year's Saudi Riyadh International Chess Championship held last June 26-28 at the Saladin Hotel in Al Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Retanal is a native of Minglanilla, Cebu who moved to Davao a few years back. He is now based in Saudi working at the Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University.
Retanal was seeded only 84th in the International Chess Federation-sanctioned tournment, but banked on his experience and vast maturity to emerge the best among the best. He topped the 11-round rapid event with 10.0 points.
Retanal, a former varsity of the University of Cebu, swept his first six games, beating Janahi Zeyaad and FIDE Master Ayyad Husain of Bahrain before stunning International Master Mohamed Tissir of Morocco in the sixth round. He was actually the only one to beat Mohamed, the tournament topseed who settled for second place with 9.5 points.
Retanal lost in his seventh round match against Gaafar Hassan of Egypt, but bounced back with aplomb, racking up four straight victories against fellow Pinoy Alvin Alcala, FIDE Master A. Sambouri of Jordan, Gamal Abdel Hakam of Egypt and Ahmed M Al Ghamdi of KSA to grab the champion's trophy. Alcala finished fourth overall with 8.0 points.
Interestingly, two days after Retanal's triumph, his former teammate and friend IM Oliver Dimakiling of Bohol pocketed P40,000 for dominating the Engr. Blas Hipulan and Deep Open Chess Tournament at the Deep Blue Cafe in SM City-Cebu. Retanal and Dimakiling, then high school players, powered Central Visayas to a gold-medal finish in chess event during the 1994 Palarong Pambansa hosted by Cebu City. (FREEMAN)