Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Lopez tops Rody chessfest By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
PARALYMPIC Games gold medallist Henry John Lopez tallied 6.5 points to rule the Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte Araw ng Dabaw Open Chess Tournament at the Market Basket in Damosa Gateway, Lanang Monday.
Lopez, who hails from Panabo City and studies at the Holy Cross of Davao College in Davao City, received a cash prize of P5,000 and a champion's trophy for his feat in the two-day Swiss System format chessfest.
Cagayan de Oro's National Master (NM) Levi Mercado beat four other 6.0 scorers via tiebreak to grab the runner-up honors.
First Mindanao Friendship Games silver medalist Jimmy Dano placed third followed by Erwin Aton, Perkins Bayron and Carlo Doctolero in fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively.
NM Cedric Magno of Panabo placed seventh with 5.5 points in the tournament sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Region 11.
The second to sixth placers also received cash prizes from the staff of the Sports Development Division of the City Mayor's Office. Medals were also given away.
The juniors and kiddies events of the chess festival will be played on March 29 and 30 at the Gaisano South (GS) Citimall.
The top three kiddies chessers will receive P500, P300 and P200, respectively, while the juniors top three winners will go home with P1,000, P500 and P300.
