RP youngsters pick up 10 wins in World Youth Chess tourney

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines harvested 10 wins at the start of the World Youth Chess Championships late Monday in Vung Tau town in Vietnam.

Cristy Lamiel Bernales and Cheradee Chardine Camacho, who are both booked for the World Chess Olympiad next month, bested their foes in the girls' under-16 and under-14 divisions respectively.

Bernales downed Marcella Gunther of The Netherlands and Camacho defeated Lunbini Ambanwela of Sri Lanka.Jedara Docena was also victorious in her under-16 assignments after she beat Dalia Kagramanov of Canada.

In the boys' category, Haridas Pascua and Alcon John Datu won in their boys' under-16 matches.Other winners included Jan Emmanuel Garcia (boys' under-14), Paulo Bersamina (under-10), and Kyle Ochoa and Haince Patrick de Leon (under-eight).Karl Victor Ochoa won in his boys' under-18 debut by default.Overall, the Filipinos, who fielded 18 participants in the 11-round tournament, also registered three draws and five losses.

Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Cherry Ann Mejia (girls' under-14), Rowelyn Acedo (girls' under-12), Samantha Glo Revita (girls' under-10), and John Ray Batucan (boys' under-12) accounted for the country's five defeats.Prince Mark Aquino (boys' under-14), Jerad Docena and Vince Angelo Medina (boys' under-12) settled for draws.

Chess prodigy So on track of ‘Super GM’ rank

10/03/2008 05:56 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino teen chess prodigy Wesley So remains on track of reaching his goal of becoming the country’s second “Super Grandmaster" after breaking the 2600 ELO rating.

Mark Paragua was the first Filipino Super GM.

Based on the October results posted at the World Chess Federation (FIDE) website, So now has a 2610 ELO to remain the Philippines’ top woodpusher. Super GMs are those with an ELO rating of 2700 or more.

So, who turns 15 on October 9 and currently the world’s youngest GM, is also ranked 11th among the Top 20 Junior chess players in the world.

Placing second to So in the Philippine ranking is Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre who has an ELO rating of 2560 while GM Mark Paragua is at third with 2526.

Rounding up the Philippines’ Top 10 players are International Master John Paul Gomez (fourth, 2519), GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. (fifth, 2515), GM Darwin Laylo (sixth, 2507), Rolando Nolte (seventh, 2489), IM Joseph Sanchez (eighth, 2471), GM Jayson Gonzales (ninth, 2469) and GM Bong Villamayor (10th 2468).

The Philippines also placed 34th in the rank by country based on its eight GMs, 22 IMs and a total of 43 titled chess players. The Philippines has an ELO rating of 2513 just a point behind Switzerland at 33rd spot.

GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria (2791) continues to lord it over in the men’s world rankings while GM Judith Polgar of Hungary (2711) is leading the women’s side.

GM Gary Kasparov of Russia holds the record for holding the top ranking 23 times. He also posted the highest rating at 2849

arjay meeegs

IM John Paul Gomez wins the Philippines chess championship

by EKCC President

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines concluded its National Championship Finals for Men and Women, 18 player all play all and 12 player all play all respectively, following 3 months of eliminations involving thousands of players.

In the Men Final, IM John Paul Gomez, a three time National Junior Champion was the convincing winner with an unbeaten 13/17, half a point point clear of top seeded GM Wesley So with 12.5/17. The Closet Grandmaster reports that Gomez has also earned himself a GM norm.
GM Bong Villamayor finished third with 11.5/17, yet another of many fine results for him in recent months. Tied for 3rd and making the selection for the last two places for the Chess Olympiad team in Dresden a nightmare were GMs Jayson Gonzales, Laylo Darwin and Mark Paragua, all with 10/17.

Long time No 1. Catherine Perena was won the Womes Final with 8/11. Shercila Cua and unrated Daisey Rivera were half a point back on 7.5/11 while young Chardine Cheradee Camacho was fourth on 7/11.

In 5th place, one point behind were Christy Bernales and Sherily Cua with 6/11 and would likely be in the running for the final Olympiad berth.

EKCC Current News

"Philippines captures bronze medal in youth chess"

By EKCC President
First Posted 02:37 PM 09/07/2008

FINAL STANDINGS:

28.5 points – India, Russia2
7.0 - Philippines
24.5 - Azerbaijan
24.0 — Armenia, Georgia,
23.0 – Turkey-A
22.0 – Turkey-B
21.0 – Slovakia, Turkey-C, Greece, Turkey-Mersi

The fourth-ranked Philippine junior chess squad trounced 20th-ranked Isek Aquamatch, 3-1, in Sunday’s 10th and final round to capture the bronze medal with 27.0 points at the conclusion of the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad at the Mersin Great Municipality Sport Hotel in Mersin, Turkey.

National Master (NM) Haridas Pascua (Elo 2171) and John Alcon Datu (Elo 2138) scored full-point wins after defeating Benan Kazdagli (Elo 1754) and Tevfikcan Karanfil (Elo 1653) on boards 2 and 3, respectively.

Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So (Elo 2577), currently the world’s youngest GM at 14 years old, and Jan Emmanuel Garcia (Elo 2232) settled for draws against Nasir Ekin Zeytinoglu (Elo 1883) and Esat Baglan (unrated) on boards 1 and 4, respectively.

GM So of Bacoor, Cavite, is the best performer on Board 1 winning the prestigious gold medal with a total of 9.0 points on eight wins and two draws after 10 games of play.
Meanwhile, 2nd-ranked India topped the under-16 Olympiad and went home with the over-all championship trophy after accumulating a higher tie break score against top-seeded Russia.
Both countries tote similar 28.5 points after India crushed 9th-ranked England, 3.5-0.5, and Russia edged 3rd-ranked Azerbaijan, 2.5-1.5 in the final round.

In solo fourth place was Azerbaijan with 24.5 points, while Armenia and Georgia shared fifth and sixth spots with 24.0 points. Turkey-A and Turkey-B were in solo seventh and eight places with 23.0 and 22.0 points respectively while Slovakia, Turkey-C, Greece and Turkey-Mersi followed with 21.0 points.