Balbona, Ruelo top Golden Haven chessfest

CEBU, Philippines - Andrew Balbona and Bernardo Ruelo Jr. reigned supreme in their respective divisions during the Golden Haven Chess Tournament last Sunday at the Golden Haven Memorial Park in barangay Binaliw, this city.

Balbona topped the kiddies’ class just a half point ahead of his brother, Feliz Shaun in the Buccholz tie breaker system.

The Balbona brothers acquired identical five points, but during the tie breaker, Andrew had 22.50 points while Feliz Shaun got 22.

Occupying the third to fifth places were Raffy Benzi, Spencer Alo de Guzman and Diego Claro.

During the last round pairings, Andrew beat John Francis Balbona while

Feliz Shaun defeated Spencer de Guzman.

In the juniors’ category, Ruelo outsmarted the rest of his opponents after staying unbeaten earning a perfect score of five.

Kyle Sevillano took the second slot being one Buccholz point ahead of Kraig Quinain.

Marq Balbona and Airene Robillos settled for the fourth and fifth spots.

     During the last round pairings, Ruelo outclassed Sevillano. Quinain and Robillos fended off Geneses Bentulan and Balbona, respectively.

Aside from cash prizes, all top five players in both categories received certificates from Golden Haven Memorial Park.

The tournament organizers and officials would like to extend their deep gratitude to all the participants and to the sponsor, who had helped made the inaugural tournament a success. (FREEMANSPORTS)