Verth Alora shines in BCM chess tilt

VERTH Alora bagged his second Baguio Center Mall Non-Master Chess Tournament recently by edging collegiate stand out Leonardo Abalos Jr. in the event dubbed Baguio Day Cup.

Both were tied with six points along with two others but Alora won through his higher tie-break for the P7,000 top purse and trophy after taking advantage of the win over the other tie-breaker with them having a similar 32.5 tie break point.

The University of Baguio team member Abalos, the lowest ranked in the top 10, beat top rated Dick Gicain in the final round with the latter having a chance to get the crown if he won.

Abalos took home the bridesmaid purse of P5,000 and trophy, while Gicain, of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, edged University of Luzon player Prince Mark Aquino finished with the same score but the former took the P3,000 purse and trophy, while the Pangasinan native Aquino would up at fourth and the P1,000 incentive.

Another college standout, Geron Bas-ong, a former winner of the tournament, led three others with 5.5 points but was awarded the higher cash prize for having the best tie-break point. Behind him are former UB standout Conrado Agaton Jr., Aldous Roy Coronel of UP Diliman and John-john Mendoza. Gicain finished ninth followed by Franz Barreto.

Jinsen Garidan of the University of the Cordilleras finished 20th with five points to take the top juniors title, while the 24th ranked Al Rulloda and 25th finisher Shareen Kaye Barry of UB High School, was the top lady player in the 108-player field Open division.

But it was Brylle Gever Vinluan who stole the limelight after sweeping the seven round Swiss formatted tournament for the P5,000 top purse and trophy.

It was the third straight win for Vinluan of the UBHS in his last appearance as a kiddie as he reached the maximum age. It was also the first time that a player won three consecutive.

Benjamin Cortez and Lejither Uy had six points to finish second and third, respectively, for the P3,000 and P1,500 purses and trophies.

UB Laboratory Elementary School’s Bea Mendoza had 5.5 points to stay at fourth spot for the P1,000 purse, followed by La Trinidad’s Kurt Lubrica, who won P800.

Five players of the 10 players had five points each but half of them availed of the P500 prizes. Hezekiah Reign Navarro of UBLES led with 33 tie break point, followed by Tarlac’s Jamler Luis Uy, UBLES’s Marvin Limocon, UBHS’s Jee-Ann Faye Barry and Jasper Dave Nabor of Pangasinan. (Roderick Osis)