Bersamina clinches 3rd gold

MANILA, Philippines - Paulo Bersamina won his third gold medal in the Asean age-group chess championships, ruling the blitz competition in the 12-and-under group at the Traveller’s Hotel in Subic late Saturday.

The reigning national junior champion topped the nine-round elims with seven points then outclassed Pham Anh Trung of Vietnam, 3-1, in the semis and edged Carlo Caranyagan, 2.5-0.5, in the finals to clinch the gold medal.

Caranyagan, a 3-0 winner over Tran Minh Hoang in the semis, settled for the silver medal.

Richelieu Salcedo of Rizal Technological University also topped the blitz competition in the 20-and-under category.

Salcedo, a mainstay of the RTU Blue Thunder team which swept the SCUAA chess competition early this year, finished in a three-way tie for second with Nelson Mariano III and Haridas Pascua in the elims with 6.5 points.

The third-seeded Salcedo then beat Mariano, 3-1, in the semis and blanked FM Nguyen Van Hai of Vietnam, 3-0, in the final. The Vietnamese player earned the right to meet Salcedo by ousting Pascua, 2.5.5. in the semis.

The Filipinos also won three silver and six bronze medals in blitz competitions. The silver medallists were Caranyagan (boys 12 under), Jerich Cajeras (boys 16 under) and Jan Jodilyn Fronda (girls 16 under), while the bronze medal winners are Mariano (boys 18 under), Jan Nigel Galan (boys 16 under), Jerad Docena (boys 14 under), Haince Patrick de Leon (boys 10 under), Stephen Rome Pangilinan (boys 8 under) and Donna Yngayo (girls 14 under).

Cajeras beat Galan, 3-1, in the boys 16 under semis before losing to Dang Hoang Son of Vietnam, 3-1. The two Filipino players actually finished tied in the elims with 6.5 points.

Fronda wound up as the best Filipina scorer when she finished second to Phan Nguyen Mai Chi of Vietnam at the end of the elims with 6.5 points. The Letran bet edged Monica Sihite in the semis but lost to Chi in the finals.

Overall, Vietnam bagged the overall championship in the blitz competitions by winning eight golds, seven silvers and three bronzes.

The Philippines finished second with 2-3-6, followed by Indonesia with 1-0-1 and Singapore with 0-1-1.