MANILA, Philippines - Top seed John Ray Batucan took the seniors crown in close fashion while 10th ranked Adrian Yulo emerged solo champion in juniors play in the 23rd Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship Southern Mindanao leg at SM Davao City, Event Center in Davao last Sunday.
Batucan, a University of Mindanao standout, battled back from joint seventh after six rounds with a sweep of his last three matches, including a ninth round win over Kenneth Tabada to salvage a tie for first with Xavier U’s Norman Honculada and erstwhile solo leader Earl John Zamora of Agusan Institute of Technology with 7.5 points.
But Batucan took the crown with a superior tiebreak score while Honculada ended up second to clinch the other berth in the national finals set Sept. 19-20 at SM Megamall.
Yulo, meanwhile, sustained his fine start by beating erstwhile co-leader Bhing Gimony in the seventh round and toppling James Sumatra in the next then the Ateneo de Cagayan-Xavier U mainstay wittingly went for a draw against Billy Sarno to rule the 13-16 age group with eight points.