Imperial captures the 1st Malibay Chess Club Mini-Chess Tournament

Alex Imperial scored 4.5 points in five rounds to capture the 1st Malibay Chess Club Mini-Chess Tournament that was held last July 27, 2008 at the Malibay Center for Culture and the Arts.

Handling the white pieces in a French Opening, Imperial settled for a truce in the last round against Sammy Canapit , which was enough for him to take home the champion’s trophy and a cash prize.

Canapit, the solo champion in the 1st Edang Rapid Chess Tournament last May, ended in solo third place after piling up 3.5 points.

Arman Suarez, who lost his first round game to Robert Camara, swept the remaining four rounds to emerge solo second placer with 4.0 points.

Suarez and Canapit brought home their respective trophies. “Di baleng walang cash prize, basta may trophy,” said Canapit who beamed with pride holding his cherished trophy. Due to limited budget, only the champion was awarded a cash prize.

“Ang gandang project nito,” said one of the amused crowd, particularly referring to kids who were accommodated to participate in the event.

To the delight of some spectators, a couple even approached the event organizer to delay for a while the start of the event to fetch their kids at home to be able to join the tournament.

A number of participants, especially kids, clamoured for more tournaments to come. During the tournament, some of them even wanted to extend the number of rounds to satisfy their hunger for chess games. (Bitin pa, so to speak.)

Here are the remaining scores (in descending order due to Bucholz points): three (3.0) pointers, John Paul Pena, Jonathan Bucatcat, Nepthali Ayco, Paulino Francisco, Angelo Comendador, Ivan Porteza; two (2.0) pointers, Robert Camara, Angelo Berico, Manerl Estiller, Gerald Belarmino; one (1.0) pointers, John Ace Mary, Mark Owen Basco, Raven Ragual, Mark John Basco. (PHOTOS to follow)