Batucan tops Toril chessfest

Monday, January 16, 2012

DOÑA Carmen Denia National High School (DCDNHS) bet John Ray Batucan stunned top-seed Jimmy Dano in the final round en-route to bagging the 2012 Toril Absolute Chess Championships title at the Toril Chess Club over the weekend.

This came on the heels of his winning the boys' 20-under crown of the 2011 Pahalipay sa Pasko ni Mayor Inday Sara and Vice Mayor Rody Duterte in December.

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Batucan, a son of a taxi driver, garnered a total of eight points in the nine-round Swiss System format event.

His fellow Doña Carmen player Austin Jacob Literatus, Meanwhile, grabbed the second spot after edging two other 6.5 pointers Eric Fernandez and Cirilio Enobio via superior tiebreak.

Fernandez and Enobio placed third and fourth, respectively, in the tournament organized by the Metro Toril Chess Association in cooperation with the Chess Excellence Ltd. Co. and sponsored by third district Representative Isidro Ungab.

The seventh-seed Batucan toppled 26th-seed Rey Monte and 34th-seed Dhona Yngayo in the first two rounds before bowing to fourth-seed Nofre Reyes in the third.

Batucan, a bemedaled Asean Age-Group chesser, then bounced back with five straight wins at the expense of 36th-seed Eric Yngayo, Sr., second-seed Vincent Umayan, his eight-seed elder brother

Neptali, 10th-seed Anthony Mosqueda, third-seed Eric Fernandez and Dano.

Mosqueda, Dano and Lito Laput shared the fifth to seventh places with similar six points while 5.5 scorers Neptali, Umayan and lawyer Jong Guevarra rounded up the top 10.

Trailing behind were five-pointers Reyes, Henry Fajardo, Dhona Yngayo, Napoleon Recososa, Jun Lustre, Mary Israel Palero, Adrian Llanos, Alexander Jover and Shaun Bacalanmo.

A total of 38 players joined the competition.