Cebuano chess prodigy wrests bronze for Phl in Asian Championships

CEBU, Philippines — Cebuano chess prodigy Jerish John Velarde once again made his countrymen proud after winning bronze medal for the Philippines in the boys Under-12 rapid competition of the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championships at the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel in Chiangmai, Thailand.

Velarde, the first recipient of the Boy Pestaño Memorial Award for chess during last week’s 36th Sportswritrers Association of Cebu-San Miguel Brewery (SAC-SMB) All-Cebu Sports Awards, was ranked only No.19 out of 71 entries, but won all but one of his seven games to finish third overall with 6.0 points.

It was Phl’s first medal in the 10-day tournament participated in by 15 nations across the Asian continent.

Velarde’s compatriot Mark Jay Bacojo placed sixth with 5.0 points.

After edging Sulaimanov Tilekmatali of Kyrgyztan in the opening round, the pride of Lapu-Lapu City stumbled at the hands of Daneshvar Bardiya of Iran.

Velarde, however, bounced back with aplomb to sweep his remaining five assignments against Dinupa Adithya Hewage of Sri Lanka, Yu Zili of China, Wu David Tai-Wei of Chinese-Taipei, Candidate Master Arfan Aditya Bagus of Indonesia, and Lee Care Greene of Malaysia.

The star athlete of Marie Ernestine School in Lapu-Lapu City was actually tied with Nguyen Quoc Hy but the Vietnamese settled for silver by virtue of a higher tiebreaker.

Gukesh D of India clinched the gold with a perfect 7.0 points.

Up next for Velarde is the much tougher standard event.

After his Thailand stint, Velarde will head straight to Vigan, Ilocos Sur to represent Central Visayas in the 2018 Palarong Pambansa next week. (FREEMAN)