Saturday, May 24, 2008 Unknown bets bag chess titles By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
UNHERALDED Erwin Tubog Jr. of Binugao, Toril and Jolieann Sumalinog of Mintal pocketed the boys and girls under-18 titles at the close of the SK Summer Chess Festival at the Gaisano South (GS) Citimall Wednesday.
Tubog tallied 6.5 points while runner-up Moncler Candia of 37-D earned 6.0 points. Third placer Ricardo Pasilbas of Barangay San Antonio Agdao amassed 5.5 points.
Sumalinog beat fellow six-point scorer Jammie Rose Anaviso of Barangay Talomo River vie the tiebreak. Sumalinog had a tiebreak of 26.5 points over Anaviso's 24.5.
The latter settled for second followed by Barangay Tamugan's Jocelyn Tagpuno who got five points for third in the Swiss System format tournament organized by the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation Davao and sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in Southern Mindanao.
NCFP regional director James Infiesto, during the Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) Forum at the Tower Inn Thursday, said the SK chessfest was itself a revelation and a humbling experience "since first-timers and virtual unknowns put up very good performances, even outshining varsity players."
"Most of them don't know how to record and use mechanical chess clocks but they came out with the best moves," he added.
Infiesto said NCFP Southern Mindanao and SK Davao will continue with the program to discover more talents from the barangays.
In the boys under-16, Neptali Batucan III of Barangay Toril lived up to his billing with perfect seven points to bag the crown at the expense of Bago Oshiro's Wilbert Franco and 37-D's Adrian Acas who scored identical six points to grab the next two spots.
Bago Gallera's Quenie Calimbo garnered 6.5 points to clinch the girls under-16 title over Peque¤o's Catherine de Loyola (5.5) and Mintal's Erldan Samonte (5.0).
The boys under-14 title went to Aglipay Obrerio who had 6.5 points, while John Gerald Acedo of Buhangin placed second. Vicente Cubero and Ronald Sampiano placed third and fourth, respectively.
Erna Liwanan, meanwhile, captured the girls under-14 plum with four points, while Alvin Acas topped the boys under-12 with 6.5 points over Denzel Amar (5.5) and Eric Tubog (4.0).
Cristy Ngo bested National Age-Group Chess runner-up Rowelyn Joy Acedo via the tiebreak for the girls under-12 crown.
