TOP BALLER. Chris Ross with the Beermen – Best Player of the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Conference.

by ROMEO BRACEROS

Young Davaoeño chessers Wesley Jovan Magbanua, Charliemagne Arias, Earl Rhay Mantilla, Gino Angelo Asuncion and Jane Lagang took center stage in the recent 17th Acas Palero Moulic (APM) Youth Chess Tournament held at the Market Basket Damosa in Lanang, Davao City.

Wesley Jovan Magba-nua emerged as champion in the mixed 12 years old and below blitz event.

With his win Magba-nua pocketed P400.

The second place went to Samantha Umayan and the third place to James Catayas.

Charliemagne Arias for her part won the mixed 12 years old and below rapid event after scoring five points with her win, Arias took home P500.

Earl Rhay Mantilla for his part ruled the boys 25 years old and below blitz event after scoring a per-fect five points with his win Mantilla won P400.

Asuncion for his part earned 4.5 points to win the boys 25-below rapid title.

Asuncion won P500 as prize for his championship.

Jane Lagang on the otherhand won the girls 25-below rapid crown over Michelle Arellano (4.0), Roselle Vinne Guevara (3.0) and Charlene Moulic (3.0).

For her win Lagang won P300 while Arellano got P200.

Aside from the main categories, some special prizes were also given in the chessfest such as La-gang (top female 25-below), James Catayas (top under nine), Caerel Shane Mantilla (top female 13-below rapid), Moulic (top female) and Samantha Umayan (top female 25-below rapid).

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by ROMEO BRACEROS

Promising young chess players in region 11 are ex-pected to join the forth-coming 19th Acas Palero Moulic (APM) Under 20 Blitz and Rapid Chess Tournament on July 30 at the Damosa Market Basket in Lanang, Davao City.

Arbiter Ely Acas, one of the organizers, said the chessfest is open to all chess players ages 20 years old and below.

Acas said they decided to organized the chessfest to discover and develop the chess skills of the chess players in Mindanao.

The chessfest is open to both men and women. Interested participants needs to pay a registration fee of P50 for blitz and P100 for rapid. The chess-fest sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines offers cash prizes and special awards to winners and top performers.

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FOR THE SEASONED TRAIL RUNNER. Ryan Milan of Salomon Abreeza, along with 2017 Salomon X-Trail assistant race director Dax Ang also accompanied by the marketing representatives of the Manors Davao during the press launch and briefing at the Camella, Northpoint clubhouse. ANNA CALIXIJAN

Fast rising San Pedro chess player Gino Angelo Asuncion hugged the limelight in the recent 19th APM Rapid Chess Tourna-ment held at the Damosa Market Basket.

Asuncion scored four-points in the five-round Swiss System Format event to emerge as cham-pion.

With his win, Asuncion pocketed P500 as cash prize. The second place in the chessfest went to Ely Acas who won P300. The third place went to Rowel Modina who got P200 as cash prize.

The top 10 finishers in the chessfest were three-pointers Honey Grace Buenafe, Charelene Moulic and Danny Leonor along with Gwyneth Zoe Delala-mon (2.5), Vheatheze Quiachon (2.0), Nathaniel Lozada (2.0) and Aldrian Moulic (2.0). Romeo Braceros

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Some of the top chess players in the Philippines are expected to compete in the 1st Kadayawan Fide-Rated Open Rapid Chess Championships on August 12 at the Eskina, Lanang Business Park.

Guesting before the weekly  Davao Sportswri-ters Association (DSA) Forum, National Chess Federation of the Philip-pines (NCFP) regional director James Infiesto said the chessfest has a regis-tration fee of P300.

Infiesto said the chess-fest is jointly organized by the  NCFP, Fide and the Sports Development Divi-sion of the City Mayor’s Office (SDD-CMO).

The champion in the chessfest will get P20,000 and a trophy.

The next three placers will get  P10,000, P5,000 and P2,500, respectively. The fifth to 10th placers, meanwhile, will claim P1,000 consolation prize.

The top three kiddies placers will also receive P1,000, P750 and P500 while top three juniors and top three female players will win P1,500, P1,000 and P500. A special prize of P1,000 will also be awar-ded to the person with disability, top senior, top employee and top execu-tive. Romeo Braceros

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The chess campaign of Davaoeña Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna in the  21st Hogeschool Zeeland Open 2017 in Vlissigen, The Netherlands did not go as planned.

Frayna blundered away a winning game and lost to Hungarian Grandmaster Attila Czebe in 40 moves of a      Modern Defense to skid out of the top 20 after the seventh round of the prestigious international chess tournament.

Frayna battled her way out of a passive opening by outsmarting Czebe in the middlegame as she emerged with two connected passed pawns in the center and a winning position had she found the proper continuation.

But the country’s first ever Woman Grandmaster missed it and blew several more chances. Frayna could have salvaged a draw but two blunders on moves 37th and 39th quashed it while enabling Czebe to transform a completely lost game into a victory.

It was the second straight loss for the country’s first ever Woman Grandmaster after she fell to Russian GM Konstantin Landa the round before. The pair of defeats kept Frayna’s total score at 4.5 points. Frayna’s eighth-round game was against Dutchman Erik Sparenberg. Romeo Braceros

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by ROMEO BRACEROS

Veteran chess grand-master Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. won P20,000 after emerging as cham-pion in the recent 1st Kada-yawan FIDE-Rated Open Rapid Chess Champion-ships at the Eskina, Lanang Business Park.

Antonio bested 109 other chessers in the chess-fest participated by ches-sers all over the Philippines.

After eight rounds, Antonio, went undefeated and score seven total points to win the chessfest orga-nized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines regional director James Infiesto.

The second place went to national master (NM) Rustum Tolentino who scored 6.5 points.

The chessfest gave the second to tenth placers cash prizes.

The top kiddie, juniors, person with disability and female players also re-ceived prizes in the event presented by the city go-vernment of Davao through the Sports Development Division of the City Mayor’s Office.

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by ROMEO BRACEROS

Promising young chess players Wesley Jovan Magbanua and Bhing Joel Gimony dominated the recent 2017 Kadayawan Sportsfest Youth Rapid Chess Championship held at the Davao Wisdom Academy (DWA).

Magbanua, a 12-year-old student of Jose Maria College (JMC) won the kiddies division title after scoring 5.5 points in the chessfest.

The second place went to Irish Yngayo of Davao Central College (DCC) who also scored 5.5 points but settled for runner-up due to superior tiebreak of Magbanua.

Gimony, a student of Jose Maria College for his part won the  seniors divi-sion crown in the chessfest presented by the city government of Davao through the Sports Deve-lopment Division-City Mayor’s Office (SDD-CMO).

The JMC student scored five points in the chessfest to win the crown over second placer Gino Angelo Asuncion of San Pedro College.

Some special awards were also given in the chessfest such as  Charlene Moulic for best female award in the kiddies division and JMC’s Honey Grace Buenafe also best female award in the seniors division.

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by ROMEO BRACEROS

Sixteen-year-old Da-vaoeño national master (NM) John Marvin Salcedo Miciano won the  boys title of the 2017 National Ju-niors and Girls Chess Championships Juniors Division the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila over the weekend.

Miciano, a Grade 12 student at Far Eastern Uni-versity went undefeated in the chessfest and scored seven points to win the crown.

The second place went to  third seed Giovanni Mejia.

The third place went to  top seed international mas-ter (IM) Paulo Bersamina who scored 6.5 points.

In the chessfest, Miciano won five games and drew four matches.

Prior to his win, Miciano also won the 2017 National Championships Semifinals-Men’s Division title in Makati City.

All the winners in the chessfest received trophies and cash prizes from National Chess Federation of the Philippines executive director Romualdo Dumuk.

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By leonard paul palo

The Davao Leg of the Shell National Youth Active Chess tournament, the Southern Mindanao Leg of one of the country’s longest running and biggest Chess tournaments unfolds today at the SM City Davao with a total of 400 players seeing action in the event backed by Pilipinas Shell Corporation.

The tournament where the likes of NM Reggie Olay, IM Oliver Dimakiling, WGM Kendi Gonzales, the late candidate GM Boris Diez, the Alonday Siblings, Ella Grace Moulic and many more notable names in the sport, is once again expected to draw in the region’s best up and coming talents.

Keen competition is seen all three divisions with the top two from the kiddies, juniors and seniors divisions gaining berths in the national finals slated Oct. 7-8.

The top female player from each category will also advance to the grand finals at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. For details, contact tournament coordinator Alex Dinoy at 0922-8288510. Registration forms can also be downloaded from www.shell.com.ph/shell_chess.  <http://www.-shell.com.ph/shell_chess.> Registration fee is pegged at only P100.

On the other hand, the kiddies division features players aged 7 to 12 (born between 2004 to 2009), the juniors for 13 to 16 years old (born between 2000 to 2003) and the seniors for 17 to 20 (born between 1996 and 1999) for boys and girls.

This tournament is open to all Filipinos, non-titled players who are bonafide students certified by their respective schools and registrars. Previous grand final winners are allowed to compete again in their respective categories provided they are still within the age limit.

Meanwhile, the five-stage regional circuit winds up on September 16-17 in Cebu for the Visayas qualifier at SM City.

So far, 29 players have made it so far to the grand finals after three legs of the circuit sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

The milestone 25th staging of the circuit is held to discover fresh talents, especially in the countryside, and develop them to become members of future national teams. It has produced top grandmasters, the foremost of which is current world No. 2 super GM Wesley So.

The event is also presented by Shell V-Power, Shell Advance, Shell Rimula, Shell Helix, Shell Fuel Save and Shell Card and held in partnership with SM Supermalls.

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Aaron Caresosa swept his last three games, inclu-ding a seventh round vic-tory over erstwhile un-beaten Sungyeong Aparte, to capture the juniors crown in the 25th Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship Sou-thern Mindanao leg at SM City Davao last Sunday.

Wesley Magbanua and Andre Jiorgo also finished strong to rule the kiddies and seniors divisions, res-pectively and join Caresosa and six others in the natio-nal finals of the grand and final staging of the coun-try’s longest talent-search sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.

The second seeded Caresosa of Panabo Faith Mission Academy also toppled top seed Irish Yngayo and Jerson Panta-lita in the last two rounds to emerge solo champion in the 13-16 age division with 8.5 points.

Yngayo of Davao Central College finished with 7.5 points to clinch the top female berth while third seed Kurt Placencia of Davao City National High scored seven points and nipped five others for the last spot in the grand finals set October 7-8 at SM MOA.

On hand during awards rites were Jeab Fabre of Shell Sasa Terminal Ope-rations and Shell Sasa Depot manager Nicole Dandan.

Magbanua of Jose Maria College sustained his form and topped the 7-12 section with 8.5 points, a full point ahead of Char-liemagne Arias of Kingking Central Elem. School, who edged Jayson Gener in the tiebreak for the second berth.

Ruth Atog of IHMA-Mati City took the top female berth with seven points.

Magbanua drew with Atog in the seventh round then defeated Ryan Rasay and Jacob Aparte to cap his domination of the tourna-ment sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

Atog outplayed Sam Umayan in the eighth round and took the lone female berth despite a final round loss to Jayson Gener.

Jorgio of University of Mindanao and Gino Asun-cion of San Pedro College finished tied for first with 7.5 points but the former took the crown on a supe-rior tiebreak score. Asun-cion settled for second and the other berth in the 17-20 division for the national finals.

Dhona Yngayo of Univ. of Mindanao ended up with 6.5 points and took the lone female slot in the grand finals of the event backed by Shell V-Power, Shell Advance, Shell Rimula, Shell Helix, Shell Fuel Save and Shell Card and held in partnership with SM Supermalls.

Meanwhile, the regio-nal elims winds up on Sept. 16-17 in Cebu for the Visayas qualifier at SM City with the top finishers joining the other qualifiers in the grand finals next month.

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