44 vie in Shell chess grand finals

Forty-four juniors and kiddies division players, who survived the grueling nationwide eliminations, will slug it out for top honors in the grand finals of the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship this weekend at SM Megamall.

Veteran juniors campaigners Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Loren Brigham Laceste and Gerald Ferriol and kiddies standouts Paulo Bersamina, Jan Nigel Galan and Jan Jodilyn Fronda head the elite field vying for top honors and the P30,000 cash prize in the 20-and-under division and P20,000 in the 14-and-under class.

The next four placers in the juniors division will receive P20,000, P15,000, P10,000, and P7,500 respectively, while the kiddies division placers will receive P15,000, P10,000, P7,500 and P5,000 respectively, as Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. put up additional prizes for third and fourth placers in both categories.

Competition is expected to be fierce in the nine-round Swiss system finals with focus on the four players who posted perfect scores in the seven-leg, four-month long elims. They are Batangas leg winner Jeremiah Alfonso of FEU, Cebu leg champion Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano of SWU and Iloilo leg titlist Noel Vincent Crucero of SPED-ISEC in the Kiddies division and Joel Pimentel of St. Benilde School-Bacolod, who topped the juniors category in the Iloilo leg.