Pinoys bag gold in ASEAN Under-20 rapid chess

MANILA, Philippines - International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Fide Master Haridas Pascua and National Master Alcon John Datu joined forces to propel the Philippines to gold-medal finish in the under-20 rapid team event of the 14th Asean Age Group Chess Championships at the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Datu, Garcia and Pascua tallied identical 5.5 points as they also shared top honors in the individual event, besting their Vietnamese rivals.

Garcia and Pascua tallied 7.5 points each in nine outings and Datu chipped in 5.5 points in dominating the blitz team event of the Open Under-20 division. Garcia and Pascua shared the gold while Mongolian FM Sumiya Bilguun had 6.5 points for the silver medal in the blitz individual event of the Open Under-20 division.

Seven-year-old Alekhine Nouri of Escalante City, Negros Occidental also pulled off a gold-medal finish in the Open Under-8 class.

“So far so good. Alekhine is improving fast,” said Fide Master Hamed Nouri, Alekhine’s father-coach.

Michael Concio Jr. of Sta. Rosa Laguna won the gold medal along with fellow 8.0 pointers Bintang Rasyid A. Hidayat of Indonesia in the blitz individual event of the Open Under-8 class.

Not to be outdone was 13-year-old Samantha Glo Revita of Rosales, Pangasinan who collected 6.0 points in seven outings to rule the Girls 14-and-under bracket of the rapid individual event.

Daryl Unix Samantila of Tonsuya, Malabon won the gold medal in the boys 14-and-under bracket of the blitz individual event with 8.0 points.

Fide Master Paulo Bersamina of Pasay City (8.0 points) won the gold medal in the blitz individual boys 16 and under bracket while IM candidate Jerad Docena of Bohol (7.5 points) settled for silver.

National Master Giovanni Mejia of Labrador, Pangasinan notched 5.0 points and joined Bersamina and Docena for the blitz team gold in the boys 16-and-under bracket. Bersamina (5.5 points) settled for silver in the rapid individual event while Docena (5.0 points) bagged the bronze medal.

Julius Gonzales of Marikina City (8.0 points) along with FM Nguyen Anh Khoi of Vietnam won the gold medal in the blitz individual event of the boys 12-and-under bracket. Gonzales, along with Istraelio Rilloroza of Las Piñas City and Stephen Rome Pangilinan of Bulacan, tallied 5.0 points for the individual bronze medals in the rapid event.

Other individual medalists were WIM elect Janelle Mae Frayna of Legaspi City (silver medal, G20 blitz), Shanie Mae Mendoza of Sta. Rosa, Laguna (bronze medal, G16 blitz), Ynna Sophia Canape of Marikina City (bronze medal, G16 rapid) and Daniel Cuizon of Taytay, Rizal (silver medal, U10 rapid).