2007 Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship

Hi there!

Finally, we have the result of the 2007 Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship. Here's Manny Benitez' Extra Edition of The Weekender:

EXTRA!!! The Chess Plaza Weekender
Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007
Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City
Vol. II No. 20

‘DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH’ Ting, Salgados top Shell juniors, kiddies

TWO students from the South captured the Juniors’ and Kiddies’ crowns in the nine-round Grand Finals of the 2007 Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship (SNYAC) Sunday.

The two—19-year-old Marvin Ting, a criminology senior at Western Visayas College in Bacolod City, and 14-year-old Lennon Hart Salgados, a sophomore at Corpus Christie High School in Cagayan de Oro City—topped their respective divisions in a thrilling finish at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

It was a neck-and-neck race for the plum in both the Juniors and Kiddies, with 24 participants each, down the wire to the finish line over the weekend.

Ting, who qualified for the finals in the Iloilo City leg of the nationwide elimination series, took the title on tiebreak over his two runners-up, Tuguegarao leg qualifier Lehi Dan Stephen Laceste and Zamboanga City qualifier Brylle John Arellano. The trio had 6.5 points each from nine games.

This year’s SNYACC junior king romped off with the crown after downing National Capital Region qualifier Vic Neil Villanueva in the ninth and final round.

Among the kiddies, Salgados, who qualified by topping the Eastern Visayas leg in Cebu City, out-steadied Stephen’s younger brother, Loren Brigham Laceste, in the ninth and final round to capture the plum solo with 7.5 points from nine games.

Christy Lamiel Bernales, who suffered her first and only loss to Salgados in the penultimate eighth, took the silver, ahead of Loren Brigham, whom she downed in the seventh round.

The 13-year-old National Capital Region leg champion, had been the clear favorite of the crowd until her heartbreaking loss in the eighth.

A total of 48 players (24 in either division) had survived the rigorous eight-leg SNYACC elimination series held from Tuguegarao in the North to Zamboanga in the South from July to October this year.

The cream-of-the-crop Grand Finals, of what Pilipinas Shell president and general manager Edgar O. Chua described in his opening remarks at simple closing rites as “our continuing quest for diamonds in the rough” of Philippine chess in the countryside, was a huge success.

Chua pledged that there would be a 16th edition of the SNYACC next year.

The Shell series celebrated its 15th year in July this year with a “Battle of Champions” knockout tournament among former Shell national champions, also at SM Megamall.

The then 13-year-old wunderkind from Bacoor, Cavite, IM Wesley So emerged as the “Champion of Champions” after beating his co-finalist, IM Oliver Dimakiling.

Wesley went on to win the national junior crown and represented the country at the World Junior Championship in Yerevan, Armenia, where he earned his second GM norm.

Chua, who has been largely instrumental for the NYACC’s success as the spawning ground of many oif the country’s leading players like So, GMs Nelson Mariano II and Mark Paragua, as well as past zonal champion Ronald Dableo, introduced former Surigao del Sur Congressman Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., president of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, who delivered an inspirational talk.


In his talk, Pichay revealed a proposal to form a pool of topnotch players based on their Elo ratings to be “nurtured” by the NCFP in their career.

He said that under his proposal patterned after that of China, which is now a global superpower in chess, players breaking through the 2600 Elo rating barrier will be getting a monthly allowance of P30,000 each while those with ratings ranging from 2550 to 2599 will have P20,000 each.

In his keynote address as guest of honor, Grandmaster Eugene Torre told the players to be proud of their being the idols of their peers as they are the cream of the crop in the country today.

“Win or loss, you are the idol of other youngsters for having reached this event,” he said.

Torre recalled how he mastered chess by studying the games of grandmasters in his youth and how he learned a lot from playing against such grandmasters as Svetoszar Gligoric of Yuigoslavia who were invited to the Philippines in the 1960s by Meralco.

Both Pichay and Torre lauded Shell for carrying on the quest for future grandmasters from among the “diamonds in the rough” even during the years when Philippine chess was in the doldrums in the 1990s.

Pichay pledged to institute further reforms in the NCFP so as to give talented youngsters every opportunity to develop themselves and enable the Philippines to catch up with Asian superpowers like China and India.

He recalled how Filipinos used to dominate the Asian chess scene, resulting in the country’s producing the first Asian international master in the person of then Philippine junior champion Rodolfo Tan Cardoso in 1956 and Asia’s first international grandmaster in the person of Torre in 1974.

As introduced by the master of ceremonies, Mark Parlade of Shell, GM Torre also became Asia’s first world championship candidate when he topped the Toluca (Mexico) interzonal tournament of 1982.

For his part, IM Cardoso also holds the distinction of being the only Filipino to beat Fischer one on one when they were teenagers in a Pepsi Cola-sponsored exhibition match in New York 1957.

The Weekender was able to get hold of the round-by-round results as well as final standings from the chief arbiter, IA Gene Poliarco of the NCFP.

The final SNYAC standings after nine rounds:

• Juniors Division

1-3. Marvin Ting (Iloilo) Lehi Dan Stephen Laceste (Tuguegarao) and Brylle John Arellano (Zamboanga), 6.5 each;4-5.

Lyndon Sombilon (Dagupan) and Vic Neil Villanueva (NCR)

6-8. Patrick Erle Florendo (Zamboanga), John Ranel Morazo (Dagupan) and Joseph Mari Turqueza (NCR) 5.5 each;

9. Luffe Magdalaga (Tuguegarao), 5.0;

10-14. Ellan Asuela (Iloilo), Mohamad Sacar (Zamboanga), Givy Bartolome (Batangas), Boris Michael Diez (Cebu) and Johnny Wellen Carzano (Cebu), 4.5 each;

15-17.Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Rolly Parondo Jr. and Chito Dimakiling II (Davao), 4.0 each;

18. Benjie McCoy (Dagupan), 3.5;

19-23. Jester Andoy (Davao), Antonio Chavez Jr. (Cebu), Jayson Mercado (NCR), Jerwell Andoy (Davao), and James Ryan Fernandez (Batangas), 3.0 each; and

24. Arvin Dableo (Batangas), 2.0.

• Kiddies Division

1. Lemon Hart Salgados (Cebu), 7.5;

2 Christy Lamiel Bernales (NCR), 7.0;

3-4. Loren Brigham Laceste (Zamboanga) and Mark Prince Aquino (Dagupan), 6.0 each;

5-7. Narquingden Reyes (NCR), Jerich Carejas (Iloilo), and Haridas Pascua (Tuguearao), 5.5 each;

8-11. Jan Francis Mirano (Iloilo), Wilbert Pilarta (Batangas), Jan Nigel Galan (NCR), and Jan Jodilyn Fronda (Tuguegarao), 5.0 each;

12-14. Danilo Engay Jr. (Davao), Neptali Batucan (Davao) and Clark Kent Anabieza (Zamboanga), 4.5 each;

15-17. Giovanni Mejia (Batangas), Jerad Docena (Cebu) Bernard Nillo Jr. (Dagupan), 4.0 each;

18-19. McDominque Lagula (Tuguegarao) and Ruel Bucaling Jr. (Davao), 3.5 each;

20-21. Kyle Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano (Zamboanga) and Mark Anthony Trinidad (Batangas), 3.0 each;

22. Paulo Bersamina (Iloilo), 2.5;

23.-24 Felix Shaun Balbona (Cebu) and John Mark Dimalawit (Dgupan), 2.0 each.

Earlier, it was learned that China’s No. 1 player, GM Wang Yue (2696) and India’s GM Humpy Koneru (2606) have signed up for the Second GMA Cup next month, according to National Chess Federation of the Philippines director Willie Abalos.

Abalos said the two Asian superstars would head a stellar cast in the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Cup.

Wang Yue is China’s mainstay in team events. He topped the Philippine Open held in Subic last April.

Koneru is the highest-rated female player aged 20 and below. Overall on the distaff side, she is next only to Hungarian GM Judit Polgar, 31, who is regarded as the strongest female player ever.

And here's NCFP Announcement:

To : Sports Department of Cities and Municipalities,
Chess Clubs, Schools and Organization

From : The joint project of the National Chess Federation
of the Philippines and the National Association of
Philippine Chess Arbiters, Inc.

Subject : NCFP CHESS ARBITERS' SEMINAR
November 17-18, 2007

In cognizant to the just concluded FIDE Arbiters Seminar held last September 21 to 24 at Cebu international Convention Center, Mandaue, Cebu City . It is important that some of the delegates of the prestigious International Seminar will share their depth knowledge in the Laws of Chess to the participants of the NCFP Chess Arbiters Seminar.

This seminar is in continuance of the program to discover qualified Arbiters ready to officiate in CHESS activities nationwide. Our move is to support the program of NCFP under the leadership of President Prospero “Butch” Pichay and Secretary-General Bambol Tolentino.

The joint project of NCFP and NAPCA Arbiters Program cordially invites your representative to attend the NCFP CHESS ARBITERS’ SEMINAR on November 17 (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) to November 18 (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) 2007 at the 4th Floor of Perez Building , Doña Soledad corner Australia Sts., Parañaque City .

NCFP DIRECTOR & INTERNATIONAL ARBITER WILLY ABALOS
Chairman, Tournament Organizing Committee
National Chess Federation of the Philippines
FIDE ARBITER AND INSTRUCTOR ATTY. ROMMEL TACORDA
Chairman, National Association of Philippine Chess Arbiters

The registration fee is only Php 1,500.00 inclusive of food, materials, Seminar Uniform, other paraphernalia and a free concert ticket of “A Brilliant Move To Remember” by Willy San Juan 17 November 7:00pm. Certified Arbiters will be issued by a Certificate of Completion to be signed by President and Secretary-General of NCFP.

For registration and inquiries please contact FA Ilan Perez, NCFP 536-8507 or NAPCA™ Rolando Suarez 757-9253 / 09167716369 or Rolando Liñan 671-7256 / 09179934851 or Carol Tardecilla 8863478 / 09173689860 / 09215307050 / 09166169586 or Leo Erazo 09206460671. Registration Form is available at NCFP or NAPCA HQs

So this time, it's a link up between NCFP and NAPCA, I was wondering when I received the email who it would be from, NAPCA or CAAP.

Good luck and hopefully we get more participants for this seminar.