Paragua continues chess siege

Grandmaster (GM) candidate Mark Callano Paragua (ELO 2476) and University of the East (UE)-Manila campus bet Aices Salvador, gave warmth to the otherwise cold-as -the-weather ninth round performance of the Philippine contingent to the World Youth Chess Championships 2002 in Hersonissos, (Heraklio) Crete, Greece.

Fresh from Bled Olympiad, the 18-year old Paragua fortified his bid for a creditable ranking in the very strong Boys-18 group, defeating Ivan Mendez Gonzales (ELO 2307) of Spain to come within a point of pacesetting GM’s Ferenc Berkes (ELO 2545) of Hungary who defeated International Master (IM) Jan Werle (ELO 2434) of Netherlands in the top board encounter.

The 10-year old Salvador earned her four (4.0) points over Casey Hickman in the girls’ 12-and-under.

In other ninth round results: Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) mainstay National Master Roderick Nava (4.5 points) of Carmona, Cavite lost to Mathieu Acher in the boys’ 18-under group and Letran kid Vic Neil Villanueva (4.5 points) of Pasay City bowed to Li Wu in the boys’ 14-and- under.

Loren Brigham Laceste (4.5 points), nine-year old from Sto. Tomas, La Union was not able to extract a win from Jan Krejcl and had to settle for a draw in the boys’ 10-under; UE-Manila pride Nelson "Elo" Mariano III of Bacoor, Cavite split the point with Andre Diamont in the boys’ 12-under.

Eight-year-old Cheradee Chardine Camacho (3.5 points), youngest representative from Caba, La Union, settled for a truce with Odul Kesre in the girls 10-under group.