George Washington, Manny Pacquiao and the art of chess branding

Along with its multitude of other virtues, chess can be a great opportunity for personal branding.

Centuries later, we still remember Philidor and Boden for their mates, Max Lange for his attack, Colle for his system, Maroczy for his bind. Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann were two relatively minor European masters from the late 19th century, but they are regularly name-checked to this day for the opening defense they helped popularize.

Andrew Soltis, in a recent Chess Life column, noted that one Muzio d’Alessandro claimed a minor slice of immortality simply for writing down the moves he saw from a fellow Italian master, Geronimo Cascio, in an opening line that we now know as the “Muzio Gambit.” (Poor Cascio, of course, has been almost totally forgotten.)

Attaching your name to a notable tournament is yet one more way to ensure against being forgotten.

George Washington, one of our few non-chess-playing presidents, and Filipino boxing legend (and chess enthusiast) Manny Pacquiao don’t often show up in the same sentence, but it happens both lent their names to recent chess tournaments that supplied today’s two games: the 10th annual George Washington Open, which wrapped up March 1 at the Washington Dulles Marriott Hotel; and the Manny Pacquiao International Open, held in the former champ’s hometown of General Santos City, Philippines.

We may be projecting here, but there is something Washington-esque about GM Praveen Balakrishnan’s win over expert Kevin Wang from the Founding Father’s namesake event. Balakrishnan would finish in a five-way tie for first in the top section at 4-1. 

It’s a spirited King’s Indian battle on the kingside, in which — like the Father of our Country — White breaks down a heavily armed and formidably deployed opponent with some cheeky tactical maneuvering.

Balakrishnan’s 15. Bxg4 Bxg4 16. f3!? Bxf3 (Rxf3 17. Nxf3 Bxf3 was worth a look, as the bishop might be worth more in this position) 17. Nxf3 Rxf3 18. Qe2 is a promising idea, giving up a pawn to open up lines of attack on the kingside. Both generals rush their heaviest artillery to the site of the fighting, with a lowly foot soldier, Black’s g-pawn, playing a critical role in the battle.

Wang’s big guns set up a defensive rampart, but one untimely misstep undercuts his strategy: 23 Qh2!? (White may have the edge despite a pawn deficit after 23. Rhg1 Rxg1 24. Rxg1 Rf6 25. Bxc5 dxc5 26. a3) Rff3! 24. Qh7+ (see diagram). Black has waged an admirable fight so far against his much higher-rated opponent, and here 24…Kf8! would have kept the battle going; e.g. 25. Bxc5 (Bh6 Bxh6 26. Qh8+ Ke7 27. Rxh6 Rf7 28. Rh7 Rgf3 is fine for Black) dxc5 26. Qh2 Kg8, and it’s hard to see how White makes progress.

Instead, on the unfortunate 24…Kf7?? 25. Bh6 Kf6 (Kf8 26. Qh8+ wins) 26. Rfe1 Bxh6 27. Qxh6 Qg4 28. Qf8+, the White queen wreaks havoc from behind the Black lines and Wang’s major pieces now just get in the way.

The enemy command is overrun on 30. Qf8+ Kg5 31. Qd8+ Kf4 (the Black king, queen and two rooks make for a pretty formation, but defensively it’s a disaster) 32. Re1! (cutting off the escape route for the king and threatening 32. Qf6+) Qg5 33. Ne2+ (also nice was the geometrically pleasing 33. Rh4+ Rg4 34. Qf8+ Kg3 35. Rh3+! Kxh3 36. Qxf3+ Rg3 37. Rh1 mate) Kg4 34. Qc8+, and Black resigned as he will lose heavy material just to block the checks.

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We go from the battlefield to the boxing ring for more labored metaphors and cheap imagery, this time with a spirited bout from the Pacquiao event. Swedish GM Platon Galperin, who tied for first in the event with Swiss GM Li Min Peng, gets in a nice one-two combination in this French Advanced Variation clash when his opponent, Filipino IM Kim Steven Yap, unwisely lowers his guard.

Once again, the lower-rated player does a respectable job getting to a playable middlegame, but Yap as White fails to get his king to safety before the two sides come to blows on the open queenside: 22. Bxg6 fxg6 23. Bd6? (a hard move to understand, as with the f-file now half-open, it was high time to get the White king to safety with 23. 0-0) Qa5+?! (and Black in his turn fails to land the punch with the straightforward 23…Nxd6 24. exd6 Qc3+ 25. Kf1 Ba4!, when 26. Qxa4? leads to a quick knockout after 26…Qxf3 27. Rg1 [Kg1 Qg4+ 28. Kf1 Qe4, hitting both White rooks] Qd3+ 28. Kg2 Qe4+ 29. f3 Rc2+ 30. Kg3 h4+ 31. Kh3 Qxf3+ and wins) 24. Kf1? (White still had a last chance to backtrack with 24. Bb4! Qc7 25. 0-0) Ba4 25. Qe1 Qa6!, a roundhouse right that lands flush and threatens a nasty discovered check.

With 26. Kg2 Bc2!, Galperin’s bishop, which had been marking time just a few moves ago on d7, swings round to dominate the board from e4. White’s game is already beyond saving and he soon goes down for the count.

Thus: 27. Qb4 (Rc1 Nxd6 28. exd6 Be4 29. Qd2 Rf8 30. Rc3 Rxf3! 31. Rxf3 Rf8 and wins) Ne3+! (a straight right to the jaw, packing much more of a wallop than the materialistic 27…Bxb1) 28. fxe3 (Kg3 Qe2 29. Rbe1 h4+ 30. Kxh4 Qxf2+ 31. Kh3 Bf5 mate; or 28. Kg1 Bxb1 29. Qxb1 Qd3! 30. Qxd3 Rc1+ 31. Ne1 Rxe1+ 32. Qf1 Rxf1 mate) Qe2+ 29. Kg3 Be4, and White’s corner throws in the towel ahead of lines such as 31. Rhg1 (h3 Qxe3 32. h4 Bxf3 33. Rxf3 Qe4 34. Rf4 Qg2 mate) Bxf3 32. Rxf3 Qxh2 mate.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Balakrishnan-Wang, 10th George Washington Open, Dulles, Virginia, February 2026

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. g4 Na6 9. g5 Ne8 10. h4 f5 11. gxf6 Nxf6 12. h5 Nc5 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Qc2 Ng4 15. Bxg4 Bxg4 16. f3 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 Rxf3 18. Qe2 Qf6 19. O-O-O Rf8 20. Kb1 Rg3 21. Rdf1Qe7 22. Re1 Qd7 23. Qh2 Rff3 24. Qh7+ Kf7 25. Bh6 Kf6 26. Ref1 Bxh6 27. Qxh6 Qg4 28. Qf8+ Kg5 29. Qh6+ Kf6 30. Qf8+ Kg5 31. Qd8+ Kf4 32. Re1 Qg5 33. Ne2+ Kg4 34. Qc8+ Black resigns.

Yap-Galperin, Manny Pacquiao International Open, General Santos City, Philippines, February 2025

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 Nh6 7. b4 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 9. Bb2 Bd7 10. g4 Nfe7 11. Nc3 h5 12. Na4 Qd8 13. Nc5 Ng6 14. g5 Bxc5 15. bxc5 b6 16. cxb6 Qxb6 17. Bc3 O-O 18. Rb1 Qc7 19. Bd2 Na5 20. Bd3 Nc4 21. Bb4 Rfc8 22. Bxg6 fxg6 23. Bd6 Qa5+ 24. Kf1 Ba4 25. Qe1 Qa6 26. Kg2 Bc2 27. Qb4 Ne3+ 28. fxe3 Qe2+ 29. Kg3 Be4 White resigns.

• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.