FOUNDING MEMBERS:
STEVE UDARBE, current director, 60, was 1st Tyndall Park Invitational Open Chess Tournament champion in 2012 and unrated Open Scrabble Tournament Champion in 1998 , both in Winnipeg. He was school board member at Our Lady of Victory School and a chess and basketball coach at St. Maurice Catholic School. He started a chess program for St. Mary's Academy in 2010. He was also a three-time DAP (Drug Association of the Philippines) team chess Board One champion and a two-time Executive Chess champion in the Philippines. He was also a consistent finalist in several scrabble tournaments.
He finished BS Psychology at the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest university in Asia while studying chess strategy and tactics from his growing library of chess books. He married Naomi Mariano in 1977 and their six daughters are all grown-up and gainfully employed, one in New Zealand and another in South Korea. They came to Winnipeg in 1997 from the Philippines.(In the above left and middle pictures, Steve was wearing black)
He was tournament director of the 2014 Portage Place Blitz Chess Tournament and the 2014 Golden Boy Classic Team Chess Tournament.
ARVIN DAWA, current director, is a Manitoba Lotteries employee at the Shark Club Gaming Centre. A graduate of accountancy at the Philippine Christian University on a chess scholarship, they came to Canada six years ago. He was an Albert Boxer Open Chess Champion in 2010 in Winnipeg. He was also a three-time TNT Chess Champion from previous years. He has two daughters and a loving wife, Cecille.(In the above left picture, Arvin was wearing a yellow sweater.)
GUSTAV BARON, chess project consultant, 20, is a bachelor, and graduated high school from Elmwood. He immigrated to Canada when he was six and he still has a brother living in Germany. He had been a Winnipeg Open Chess Champion in 2014, and a Kent Oliver Chess Champion also in 2014.
STEVE UDARBE, current director, 60, was 1st Tyndall Park Invitational Open Chess Tournament champion in 2012 and unrated Open Scrabble Tournament Champion in 1998 , both in Winnipeg. He was school board member at Our Lady of Victory School and a chess and basketball coach at St. Maurice Catholic School. He started a chess program for St. Mary's Academy in 2010. He was also a three-time DAP (Drug Association of the Philippines) team chess Board One champion and a two-time Executive Chess champion in the Philippines. He was also a consistent finalist in several scrabble tournaments.
He finished BS Psychology at the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest university in Asia while studying chess strategy and tactics from his growing library of chess books. He married Naomi Mariano in 1977 and their six daughters are all grown-up and gainfully employed, one in New Zealand and another in South Korea. They came to Winnipeg in 1997 from the Philippines.(In the above left and middle pictures, Steve was wearing black)
He was tournament director of the 2014 Portage Place Blitz Chess Tournament and the 2014 Golden Boy Classic Team Chess Tournament.
ARVIN DAWA, current director, is a Manitoba Lotteries employee at the Shark Club Gaming Centre. A graduate of accountancy at the Philippine Christian University on a chess scholarship, they came to Canada six years ago. He was an Albert Boxer Open Chess Champion in 2010 in Winnipeg. He was also a three-time TNT Chess Champion from previous years. He has two daughters and a loving wife, Cecille.(In the above left picture, Arvin was wearing a yellow sweater.)
GUSTAV BARON, chess project consultant, 20, is a bachelor, and graduated high school from Elmwood. He immigrated to Canada when he was six and he still has a brother living in Germany. He had been a Winnipeg Open Chess Champion in 2014, and a Kent Oliver Chess Champion also in 2014.
ARTHUR CHARACH, Scrabble Project Consultant/ Instructor, 69, is a newspaper advertising consultant.. He is a passionate lover of the scrabble board game such that he loves to teach children who like to learn the game. He won several scrabble tournaments in the past. A champion in Brandon scrabble tournament, 3rd division. A champion in one Winnipeg Chess Club 498 tournament, 2nd division. A champion in 2nd division of the 1st SPCC scrabble tournament just recently held last March 14, 2015. Arthur is a true blooded Winnipegger, married to his loving wife since 1965. They have 2 boys and one girl. One of the boys, Richard is also a scrabble champion. He is now very active and help taking care of the drop in scrabble program of Mind Sports Manitoba every Wednesday afternoon on Sinclair Park Community Centre. You can see the joy in his face whenever a kid comes in, willing to learn and play a mind sport game like scrabble.
EUGENE NGANTIAN Scrabble Project Consultant/Instructor, came to Canada in 1980, married with three children, has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Plays scrabble competitively and went to National Scrabble Championship once to Los Angeles in 1994 and to Chicago in 1998. Also plays chess, basketball, table tennis (ping pong) and loves solving crossword and jumble puzzles. Worked at Carrustar and Motorcoach (manufacturing companies) and now retired. It is also noteworthy that Eugene is one of the pioneers in forming the Winnipeg Scrabble club during the early 90's.
EUGENE NGANTIAN Scrabble Project Consultant/Instructor, came to Canada in 1980, married with three children, has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Plays scrabble competitively and went to National Scrabble Championship once to Los Angeles in 1994 and to Chicago in 1998. Also plays chess, basketball, table tennis (ping pong) and loves solving crossword and jumble puzzles. Worked at Carrustar and Motorcoach (manufacturing companies) and now retired. It is also noteworthy that Eugene is one of the pioneers in forming the Winnipeg Scrabble club during the early 90's.
