44Th World Chess Olympiad

The National Chess Federation announced that GM Darwin Laylo has replaced US-based Filipino grandmaster Julio Catalino Sadorra for the national team that will compete in the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Moscow, Russia.  The other members in the five-player team include GM’s Rogelio Barcenilla Jr., and John Paul Gomez and International Masters Paulo Bersamina and Haridas Pascua.  Players to watch in the Olympiad are reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who’s also the world’s highest ranked player for the 10th year running with a steady 2863. In the spotlight are American Fabiano Caruana (2935) and Chinese Ding Liren (2791). Liren’s preparations was stalled for a month after he was quarantined in his hometown, Wanzhou, China, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Philippine-born Wesley So, now playing for the United States has a rating of 2770, good for 8th place in the rankings.  The best finish for a National team was in the 1988 World Chess Olympics in Thessaloniki, Greece, where it wound up seventh.  The team included GM Eugene Torre and Rico Mascarinas. 

Hasta La Vista Sir Rudy

My nephew Anjo Espiritu now training director for Natrapharm, called to inform that the company’s founder and former chairman Rudy Runes has died. In 1990, Sir Rudy asked me to organize and direct the first Nike-Pharmaton 10K Classic race which lasted for 14 years.  Boehringer Ingelheim took over the distribution of Pharmaton, but continued the race which covered the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Davao, IloIlo, Bacolod and Cagayan De Oro.  RIP Sir Rudy Runes.

Did You Know? Bud Spencer

whose real name is Carlo Pedersoli appeared in Italian spaghetti westerns such as “God Forgives I Don’t” in 1967 and “They Call Me Trinity” in 1930.  Spencer who was an excellent swimmer, competed in three Summer Olympics, 1952,1956 and 1960.  He died in 2016 at age 86.  Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef also started their movie careers in spaghetti westerns a couple of years ago. Eastwood was 6’4” tall but back problems makes him only 6’2” today.

Robert De Niro

A tough guy in the movies who often played a mobster is the opposite of his father who came out of the closet as a homosexual after Robert was born. He eventually divorced his mother.

Kevin Costner

His shoes were stolen when he was trying a new pair in an athletic store in September 1996.  He was then forced to buy the new 500 dollar-shoes to avoid leaving the store in his socks.

Mick Jagger

Lead singer of the Rolling  Stones was once a porter at a mental hospital.  No wonder he sometimes look as “murag buang”, but mind you at 75 years old, Jagger and the Stones continue to perform in sold out concerts.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER’s father Gustav and his older brother Meindherd, both died from drunk driving.

Cuba Gooding jr. 

His first professional job was a break-dancer for Lionel Richie when he was 16 years old. He performed at the 1984 Olympics closing ceremonies, break dancing while Richie was singing “All Night Long”.

Janet Jackson

A wardrobe malfunction caused one of her breast to pop out during the 2004 Super Bowl intermission on February 1.  It was a huge scandal as millions of families were watching. The CBS Network was later fined half a million dollars.