About

Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

–> This beatitude is what I wrote as a quote in my highschool yearbook.

Part1

Irrashaimase! I’m Nic Bentulan aka nicbentulan. You’re here probably because you know Gasai from me either (A) chess / 9LX (B) religion / politics (C) anime.

For (A) chess / 9LX

  • my copypasta introduction: https://mathematiciowned.wordpress.com/?p=447 or https://wp.me/p1w4Rr-7d
  • Played as a kid. Dad taught me. Got reintroduced in 2010 by my cousin Genesis Dwight (Philippine maternal name Diago) Bentulan. I started to hate chess gradually like Bobby Fischer, uncle of Wesley So, did (Bobby admitted in the interview on the plane it was ‘gradual’ though it was like e started hating chess from early on but didn’t realise because e was still trying to make it work), but I had little choice but to keep playing because there weren’t that many 9LX players. Met Wesley So, nephew of Bobby Fischer, in 2012Feb. Stopped playing again ( both chess & 9LX ) around 2015-2017. Got back in after COVID/Corona and The Queen’s Gambit in 2020. Pleasantly surprised Wesley So fatefully won. Lol.

For (B) religion / politics

  • I’m a gentile Islamophobic Zionist Christian Catholic dual citizen of Hong Kong and the Philippines the 2nd least anti-semitic country. After 2023Oct07, I started reading up stuff about in politics mostly Israel Vs Palestine and then in religion (Abrahamism – Islam, atheism, Judaism Protestantism Orthodoxy Catholicism and a little of Dharmism – Hinduism Buddhism). In 2024, I converted from Catholicism to iCatholicism. I think a Jew who finds out the Torah is pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God Yahweh is like a Christian who finds out the Gospel is pointing to the racist rapist PEDOPHILE Magnus Carlsen I mean Mohammed, the Son of Satan aka Allah the 1st anti-Semite hence why all Muslims hate Israel the 1 Jewish nation.
  • I actually was born in Hong Kong and stayed for 8 years (1994-2002) before moving to the Philippines because suddenly my parents couldn’t afford the cost of living. Well technically, we moved just because there were no affordable English speaking schools. So yeah thank God my mom Mary Ann Tuanda Pedrosa kept her job in HK as a flight attendant / stewardess / steward in Cathay Pacific ( CX ) ever since including, well, my whole life thus far ( 1990 – 2025 ). But idk post 2023Oct07, I’m actually really glad I grew up in the Philippines and went to Christian/Catholic schools, particularly ( the very expensive ) Jesuit schools Ateneo de Cebu – Sacred Heart School ( formerly called ‘ Sacred Heart School – Jesuit ‘ ) and Ateneo de Manila University . I guess it was not financial problems but God who sent us to the Philippines CF Genesis 45:8, which to me sounds  a lot like Quran 4:157, which most Muslims stupidly use to think Jesus wasn’t crucified.
    • 2025 Update : My mom actually knows the new governor of Cebu Pamela ‘ Pam ‘ Baricuatro from their CX days. They were coincidentally from the same university in bachelor’s the University of San Carlos ( USC  not University of Southern California lol ) but they didn’t know about until they met in CX.
  • A

For (C) anime :

  • Watched as a kid/teen 2000-2008.
  • Found out about like my 1st ‘grown-up’ anime Death Note in 2008 through high school friend Anjorie Pearl Ng Co. Anj once told me ‘I wish you were gay.’ Maybe that was foreshadowing all my anime yuri ship theories.
  • Started following regular anime in 2009 in university after some primary school friends, Gregory Rafael Gochuico & Joelson Fabian, I reconnected with reintroduced me.
  • Learned Japanese in university in 2012.  Mostly watched drama/thriller anime until 2022 when I started watching more comedy/romance anime.
  • Because of HIMYM & HIMYF ( How I Met Your Mother & How I Met Your Father ) and ATLA & TLOK ( Avatar The Last Airbender / The Legend of Aang & The Legend of Korra ), I’ve become very ‘traumatised’ ( in a good way ) by Korrasami and so this is what led me to keenly watch comedy/romance anime hence my Yuri, specifically ‘double imouto’ ship theories in Kaguya-sama & The Quintessential Quintuplets.

Now more stuff :

I’m a dual citizen of Hong Kong and the Philippines. I became a Hong Kong citizen ( ie Chinese citizen with Hong Kong residence ) in 2020 and then after that I regained my Philippines citizenship in 2021 the same year Wesley So, nephew of Bobby Fischer, became an American citizen.

I live and was born in Hong Kong and am Filipino / Filipina / Philippine / Filipinx , but I don’t really speak Filipino / Tagalog / Philippine, Mandarin or Cantonese. ( I know a bit of each; I actually know more Japanese than Mandarin & Cantonese. Chinese was a huge joke when it was taught in my time in my 2ndary school Sacred Heart School – Jesuit, but now known as Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu. We didn’t learn anything. They just told us to memorise stuff that we didn’t have to understand. ) I moved to the Philippines to study for 2002-2016 since Hong Kong got quite expensive in 2002 for my parents.

  • 貝多芬 is the actual name given to me by secondary school chinese ( mandarin ) teacher and is subsequently used as my official chinese name in my hong kong passport.
  • RIP my secondary school mandarin teacher Mx Rosita Shih https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010354234512 and https://9gag.com/gag/aLQPm0A – Actually yeah … Ateneo de Cebu – Sacred Heart School, formerly known as Sacred Heart School – Jesuit, is a Chinese-Filipino ( or Chinese-Filipinx ) school and then I ended up a dual citizen of Hong Kong and the Philippines but then I didn’t go to Ateneo de Cebu for reasons related to my being from Hong Kong.

Some quotes :

  • Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.
  • Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused. –> This is what I said in my high school yearbook.
  • Polya: ‘I am not good enough for physics and too good for philosophy; mathematics is in between’

Part2 – Chess / 9LX stuff

Part2.1 – Chess / 9LX rating

2.1.1 – Chesstempo peak 1718 timed ‘blitz’ ( 2022Apr ) & 1856 or 1857 untimed ‘standard’ ( 2022Feb )

2.1.2 – Chesscube peak: 1903 (2013Mar)

(no image sadly)

Part2.2 – Wesley So & me : The ff was taken 2012Feb in Manila. I am not taller. I was on a platform.

I think on 2012Feb05 or another Sunday in February so 2012Feb12, 2012Feb19 or 2012Feb26.

Part2.3 – 3 games in 2022

  • 2022Feb: I BEAT WIM JESSE NIKKI FEBRUARY, SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN’S CHAMPION AND AFRICAN WOMEN’S CHAMPION, IN BLITZ 9LX LIVE ON TWITCH IN 2022 FEBRUARY, 1 DECADE AFTER I MET BOBBY FISCHER’S NEPHEW WESLEY SO IN MANILA IN 2012 FEBRUARY, WESLEY’S LAST YEAR IN THE PHILIPPINES : https://chess.com/game/live/37486349315

Part2.4 – Favourite :

  • Favourite chess openings : N/A
  • Favourite chess players : N/A
  • Favourite 9LX players ( as of 2019Nov – 2025May ) : Wesley So, Bobby Fischer, Ian Nepomniachtchi. In general : See here.

Part2.5 – Also in 2023Feb, an Indian told me :

I haven’t seen a bigger hypocrite person than you in my life. 😂 I thought you are American bcoz you were taking sides of a cheater. Now you are taking side of someone who doesn’t even want to play under his real nation’s flag.

Part3 – Explanation of term mathematiciowned:

Mathematiciowned.

Shortlink : https://wp.me/P1w4Rr-2

Post ID : P1w4Rr-2