3rd Coleto Itaas Memorial Chess on tomorrow

Cebu’s top chess players will converge once again to showcase their skills in the 3rd Coleto L. Itaas Memorial Chess Tournament starting tomorrow at 1 pm at the Bibo Chess Club located that just behind the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

The top eight players in the seven-round Swiss system competition will play a two-game knockout on March 26-27 to determine the overall winner.

The champion will receive P3,000 plus a trophy, while the second placer will take home P1,500. The losing semifinalists will pocket P800 each, while the losing quarterfinalists will get P300 apiece.

Registration fee is pegged at P100, while those who will default a game with be assessed with a P50 fine.

Interested parties may contact tournament arbiter Marvin Ruelan at (032) 412-1076 or 0916-4232335 for more details.

CEPCA Active Chess

William Retanal, Jr. topped the second edition of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (CEPCA) Active Chess Tournament with a perfect 5.0 points. He used a Pirc defense to defeat Felix Balbona in his last assignment.

Maggi Dionso subdued Renato Casia utilizing a Sicilian defense to finish second with 4.0 points.

Mandy Baria, Casia, and Jade Garzon figured in a three-way tied with 3.0 points each, but Baria took home the third place honors by virtue of a superior tie-break output of 13.5 points. Casia got 13.0 points followed by Garzon with 9.5

Cogon-Ramos Blitz

Francisco Abugho posted a crucial victory over Richard Natividad in the final round of their Queen’s Gambit Decline game to rule the Cogon-Ramos Open Blitz Chess Tournament with 6.0 points.

Natividad engaged in a tie with Erwin Ababat with 5.5 points, but Natividad settled for the second place courtesy of a higher 23.0 tie-break points. Ababat, who bested BonnTibod in the last round of their Ruy Lopez game, got only 19.5 points to wind up third.

Completing the top eight finishers were Carlos Moreno III, Joel Pacuribot, Rogelio Enriquez and Aller Somosot.

In the final round, Moreno boasted of a victory over Anthony Makinano, Pacuribot defeated Adonis Buenaventura, Enriquez bested Reynaldo Flores and Somosot prevailed over Glicel Gepiga. — EBV