Camacho leads Pinay chessers to team bronze

The Philippines, led by Chardee Camacho, bagged the team bronze medal in the girls’ 14 years old and under category in the recent World Youth Chess Championships held at the Vung Tau Sports Center in Vung Tau, Vietnam.

Camacho, who finished with 7.5 points on seven wins, one draw and three losses to place fifth in the individual competition, teamed up with Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Cherry Ann Mejia for RP’s 19.5-point output.

Camacho, a member of the RP team competing in the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany on Nov. 11-27, finished fifth in the 78-player field.

Despite her last-round setback, Camacho emerged the best-placed Filipino player in the two-week long tournament, which attracted a total of 885 players from 73 countries.

Fronda and Mejia hurdled their final-round assignments to finish with seven and 5.5 points, respectively, in the same 14 under class.

Fronda wound up with six wins, two draws and three losses to finish tied for ninth, while Mejia ended up with four wins, three draws and four losses for a share of 36th.

India topped the tournament with 12 gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

The 61-player strong Indian delegation bagged four individual and eight team gold medals to capture the overall championship.

Host Vietnam settled for second overall with four golds, five silvers and three bronzes.

The Vietnamese won only one individual gold medal, but added three more golds in team play to clinch the runner-up honors.

Croatia finished third with two golds and one bronze followed by China (1-4-3), Russia (1-4-1), Georgia, (1-2-2). Poland (1-1-1), Kazakhstan (1-1-0), Iran (1-0-1) and United States (0-1-4) in that order.

The other Filipino players who saw action were Christy Lamiel Bernales and Jedara Docena, who finished tied for seventh in the girls’ 16 under category with seven points.

In the boys division, Haince Patrick de Leon emerged the best Filipino performer by finishing with seven points on seven wins and four losses in the boys’ 8 under. He tied for ninth.

Jan Emmanuel Garcia dropped his final-round match to FM Gujrathi Vidit Santos of India and wound up with seven points on five wins, two draws and four losses in the boys’ 14 and under. He settled for joint 10th.

Haridas Pascua trounced Danny Raznikov of Israel to finish tied for 18th with 6.5 points in the boys’ 16 and under.

Alcon John Datu lost to IM Sundar Shyam of India and wound up with six points for share of 24th.