Pascua, Bernales begin Asian jrs quest

MANILA, Philippines - FM Haridas Pascua and Cristy Lamiel Bernales open their respective bids in the Asian Junior boys and girls chess championships which fires off today at the Vijay Park and Business Hotel in Arrumbakkan Chennai, India.

Pascua is seeded 17th in the 72-player field, while Bernales is ranked No. 15 in the 53-players girls division of the nine-round tournament featuring the region’s leading junior players.

“It will be another big challenge for our players, especially Haridas. Most of the top Asian players 20 years old and below are competing in the tournament,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) executive/events director Willie Abalos, head of the three-man RP delegation to the annual event.

Haridas and Bernales saw action in the Petroleum Battle of GMs national chess championships in Tagaytay and the Asean age-group chess championships in Subic.

IM B. Adhiban of India is the top seed in the boys division with a 2510 rating followed by IM Gujrathi Vidjt with 2504 and IM Babu Lalith with 2493.

The other prominent players entered are Pouria Darini of Iran, FM Berik Akkozov of Kazakshtan, FM Semetey Tologontegin of Kyrgyztan, Weilliang Tan of Singapore, Timothy Capel of Malaysia, P.K. Jayasundara of Sri Lanka, Vahid Faramarzi of Iran and Taione Sikivou of Fiji.

In the girls division, the top five seeds are WIM Rout Padmini of India, Kulkhami Bhakti of India, WFM Mitra Hejazipour of Iran, WFM Gulishkan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan and WIM Shalmali Gagare of India.