RP's Top Juniors

With 15-year old GM Wesley So – at present the world’s No.1 Under-16 player – out of the picture, Jan Emmanuel Garcia stands to be the country’s top junior player based on the July 1, 2009 rating list released by FIDE.

(Note: By the way, I’m confused as to the age-category of Garcia. He already played in the Juniors Division at the 17th Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships. But he played – and emerged champion – in the recently concluded Palmdale Chess in the Kiddies Division.)

Gaining 20 Elo points from his April 2009 rating, Garcia pole-vaulted to upper half of the country’s Top 100 players at No.48 with a current rating of 2312.

Next to Garcia at No.51 is FIDE Master Haridas Pascua who lost 49 Elo points from his April 2009 mark. Pascua is now 2.0 Elo points shy off Garcia at 2310.

If my age-categorization is correct, below is the list of the country’s junior players who made it to the RP Top 100 as of July 1, 2009:

No.48 Jan Emmanuel Garcia 2312
No.51 FM Haridas Pascua 2310
No.67 Paulo James Florendo 2262 (reigning RP juniors champ)
No.68 Karl Victor Ochoa 2261
No.88 Sheider Nebato 2202
No.89 Richilieu Salcedo 2194
No.98 Alcon John Datu 2173
No.99 John Ranel Morazo 2172



Jan Emmanuel Garcia (foreground in white shirt) in action, here battling against Richilieu Salcedo (face partly hidden) during the 17th Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships-NCR Leg.