Mariano, Cajeras cop Shell chess crowns

Nelson Mariano III dropped his last two matches but nipped Sherwin Tiu in the tiebreak to capture the junior division crown in the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City Sunday.

Jerich Cajeras of West Negros U won with the black pieces against Austin Literatus in the final round to rule the kiddies category of the annual event put up by Pilipinas Shell, long considered as the spawning ground of talents that has produced the likes of GMs Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Nelson Mariano II. 

The younger Mariano, ranked fifth in the final field of 22, swept his first five matches Saturday then outwitted top seed Paulo Florendo of Rizal Technological Univ. and third seed Sheider Nebato at resumption of the nine-round championship Sunday. 

That gave the Univ. of the East standout, who qualified for the finals with a third place finish in the Batangas leg, a two-point lead over Tiu and second seed Joel Pimentel of Univ. of St. La Salle-Bacolod, which cushioned the impact of his back-to-back losses to Patrick Florendo and John Morazo in the last two rounds. Mariano wound up with seven points.

Tiu, the least-fancied among the 22 finalists, bounced back from a sixth round loss to Nebato as he swept his last three games over Neptali Batucan III, Jan Garcia and Patrick Florendo to tie Mariano at the finish with seven points.

But Mariano took the crown worth P30,000 with a superior tiebreak score (37.5) with Tiu settling for runner-up honors worth P20,000 with 35 tiebreak points.

GM Eugene Torre graced the awards rites along with NCFP president Butch Pichay and Chito Maniago, Sustainable Development manager of Pilipinas Shell.