Camacho rips Dutch bet for share of third

VUNG TAU, Vietnam – Cheradee Chardine Camacho added third seed Lisa Schut of the Netherlands to her list of victims, posting a smashing victory in their 10th and penultimate round encounter to move into a tie for third to fourth places in the girls 14 years old and under category in the 2008 World Youth Chess Championships at the Vung Tau Sports Center here Wednesday.

Camacho, one of five female players who earned the right to represent the country in the World Chess Olympiad scheduled Nov. 11-25 in Dresden, Germany, used her slim advantage with the white pieces to subdue Schut (ELO 2153) and improve her record to 7.5 points on seven wins, one draw and only two losses.

The 14-year-old daughter of a civil engineer from Agoo, La Union remained as the highest-placed Filipino player in the prestigious tournament which attracted a total of 885 players from 73 countries.

Camacho’s final-round opponent is second seed WFM Meri Arabidze of Georgia, who drew with fifth seed Shalmali Gagare of India.

But it was a bad day for Filipino chessers, who lost more matches on the penultimate day of competition.

Only four other Filipino campaigners – Alcon John Datu ( boys 16 under), John Ray Batucan (boys 12 under), Haince Patrick de Leon (boys 8 under) and Rowelyn Acedo (girls 12 under) – won their matches.

Datu bested FM Shiyam Thavandiran of Canada, Batucan crushed Atulya Shetty of the United States, De Leon humbled Denizcan Temizkan of Turkey and Acedo outclassed Dhoan Than Truc of Vietnam.

Seven players drew their matches, while six others lost their games.

The players who drew their matches were Karl Victor Ochoa ( boys 18 under), Jan Emmanuel Garcia (boys 14 under), Paulo Bersmina ( boys 10 under), Christy Lamiel Bernales and Jedara Docena ( girls 16 under), Jan Jodilyn Fronda ( girtls 14 under) and Samatha Glo Revita ( girls 10 under).

Not as fortunate were Haridas Pascua ( boys 16 under), Prince mark Aquino ( boys 14 under), Jerad Docena and Vince Angelo Medina ( boys 12 under), and Kyle Ochoa ( boys 8 under) in the boys category; and Cherry Ann Mejia (girls 14 under).

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch” Pichay lauded Camacho’s sterling performance in the girls 14 under category.

He said Camacho’s showing augurs well for the 10-man RP team seeing action in the coming World Chess Olympiad next month.

Bernales, who will join Camacho and three others in the Dresden-bound RP team, is also doing well in the girls 16 under where she had a 3-6-1 win-draw-loss record.

Among the boys, Garcia remains as the leading scorer with seven points on five wins, four draws and one draw.

Garcia, however, was held to four consecutive draws after a smashing 5/6 start.

The second leading scorer for the boys is Batucan, who posted six wins, one draw and three losses.

Delegation head is Val Rosabal, while head coach is Idelfonso Datu.