Pondoyo, Derotas rule Shell chessfest

MANILA, Philippines - University of Cebu’s Cristian Klent Pondoyo hurdled his last two matches then held off a charging top seed Tristan Frech Ibaoc to nail the boys’ kiddies crown while No. 1 Glysen Derotas of University of San Carlos dominated the girls’ side in the the 2012 Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship Visayas leg at SM Cebu Event Center in Cebu City last Sunday.

Pondoyo, who forced a three-way tie for the lead with No. 2 John Balbona and Jeffu Dorog of USC after five rounds, including a victory over Ibaoc, downed Dorog at resumption but fell to John Balbona in the next before scuttling James Balbona and Vincent Lim to finish with eight points in the nine-round Swiss system tournament.

Ibaoc recovered from his fifth round loss to Pondoyo, beating John Balbona, Ace Loquez, Lim and Michael Canizares to likewise pool an eight-point total. But Pondoyo took the title with a superior tiebreak score with Ibaoc settling for runner-up finish and a berth in the grand finals next month.

John Balbona wound up solo third with 7.5 points while Dorog and Chris Pondoyo shared fourth place with seven points.

Derotas, meanwhile, stamped her class in the girls’ 14-and-under category, trouncing Biazza Diaz, Nicole Flores and Ira-Jade Tenerife in the last three rounds to complete a seven-game sweep in the tournament sponsored by Pilipinas Shell and sanctioned by NCFP.