MELCHOR ARCENAS JR. of Cotabato City, ruled the 1st Pawnpushers Battle of the Minds (PBM) Open Chess tournament at the Gaisano Grand Mall of Koronadal, South Cotabato last Saturday against 68 players coming from different parts of Mindanao.
Arcenas topped the open category with a 5-win 1-draw record, with 5.5 points and edged on a tie-break in opposition with Davao City’s pride, Harrison Maamo who came in second with five points.
Jimmy Dano of Digos City, Ferdinand Leysa of Koronadal, national master (NM) Bob Jones Liwagon of Cotabato and Orly Ortega of Koronadal shared the third to sixth place by scoring five points each while 4.5 pointers Jeazzir Kline Surposa of De La Salle Manila, Vincent Umayan of Davao City and Cesar Apalla of Koronadal settled for the seventh, eighth and ninth place respectively; whereas Eddie Resurreccion Jr. of Kidapawan took the 10th spot with 4 points.
The kiddies 14-under was dominated by Aparte siblings of General Santos City, Sungyeong and Seungho, as Champion and second place, respectively. Mar Samsona of Koronadal took the third place while the fourth spot went to Charles Ayon of General Santos.
The top junior award was given to Jeazzir Kline Surposa of De La Salle Manila who hails from Gensan while Frances Dianne Surposa received the top female award. The youngest participant award was awarded to six years old Vere Alaric Abad.
The 1st PBM tournament was part of the celebration of the 14th Hinugyaw Festival and sponsored by Koronadal City Mayor, Peter B. Miguel in cooperation with the Koronadal Chess Club, Inc. headed by lawyer Elnathan Emilio.