DANAO City’s whiz kid Alphecca Gonzales took the early lead in the 4th Qualifying Tournament of the Cebu Kiddies Tournament at the Cebu School of Chess on P. Del Rosario St.

As of press time, the young Gonzales was given a tough time by her closest competitors, Benny Gocotano and Marphine Faith Mangubat, who all had 3.0 points after three rounds on the opening day last Saturday.

According to tournament organizer IM Kim Steven Yap, the tournament did not use the usual standard time control since he is preparing the kids for the Shell National Active Youth Chess Championships, which will be held here next week.

“This tournament is in preparation for the Shell National Active Youth tournament, so we used the active time control of 20 minutes with five time-delayed mode (Bronstein system). This is the first time that we did not use the standard time control because the players are preparing for something big,” Yap explained.

Yap himself is a National Kiddies champion of the SNAYCC tournament.

At the start of yesterday’s final rounds, the young Gonzales played against the equally dangerous Mangubat while Gocotano played Adelyn Bensi, who had 2.0 points after the first three rounds.

Gonzales earned her third point by beating Rolfred Lacanaria, Mangubat defeated Timoy Esmero and Gocotano got his third full point after winning over Edel Vosotros.