Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Golden City (Santa Rosa, Laguna) Individual Active Chess Tournament 2009

(IN PHOTO: Cellphone photo shot of Kiddies 3rd placer Jonas (Dave) Espiritu and Christian Michael (CM) Navarro as shared by proud father Andrew, both with 3/5 result. Jonas took home the 3rd place trophy via a 0.5 difference in tiebreak. They shared the Php 500 prize.)


Report by: Anthony Navarro (aka pinoymaster77)

After postponement from original Sept 27 play date due to typhoon Ondoy's floods, the organizes decided to push through with the Golden City Individual Chess Tournament at Golden City,Santa Rosa Clubhouse last Oct 5, Sunday for a 5 round Swiss system, rapid/30 minutes event. It coincided with the fiesta activities so there were simultaneous events like dance competitions, parades and sports events in Golden City's clubhouse compound.

Golden City is a big community and vote-rich, no wonder sponsors abound like Gov Ningning Lazaro and his son Dennis, ex-Gov Joey Lina, Mayor Arlene Arcillas and other officials.

This was also an opportunity to sharpen chess skills against skilled players, and younger players who are of junior and kiddies age participated in higher age group.

Specifically in the seniors division, High school student Nikko Minguez placed a strong 3rd place (actually tied for 2nd at 4 points) to now two-time champ Arjie Bayangit of Golden City. Minguez has been a top junior player of Santa Rosa representing them in top level competitions like previous stagings of STACAA, Laguna Inter-town. Copping 2nd place was Ronald de Guzman (father of jr player Ruth).

In the Juniors Division (18 years & below), a delightful surprise was 9 year old (Grade 4) Mark James Marcellana's 4.5/5 performance, he actually tied with Laguna Inter-town Juniors Board 5 medallist Emmanuel Lim Jr who copped first place due to tie-break. The Labas Elem school student Marcellana bested known junior competitors in Santa Rosa and has huge upside. Copping 3rd place was Ruth de Guzman, Canossa HS student.

In the kiddies division, there was a spirited field of 9 players which was won by Grade 4 student Jasper Marce of Bgy Malitlit with a perfect 5/5 result. Garnering 2nd place was 1st yr HS student Janell Basbas. Tied with 3/5 were Jonas Espiritu and Christian Michael Navarro of Caritas Don Bosco School (CDBS) with Jonas taking home the 3rd place trophy due to tie-break. Overall, there were 5 out of 9 CDBS students in the kiddies field for their continued exposure.

Overall, the MJ & Erl's (Sta Rosa) juniors and kiddies team members who competed in the recent 8th Laguna Inter-town had a stellar outing. Charmaine Perit (Juniors Board 2) copped the top female award with 2.5/5 in the Seniors division. Emmanuel Lim (Juniors Board 5) topped the juniors field.

MJ & Erl's up and coming kiddies team also did very well with MJ Marcellana (Board 1) getting 2nd place in the juniors (watch out for this kid!). Shania Mae Mendoza (Board 2) had a decent 2.5/5 outing versus junior campaigners. Jasper Marce (Board 4) sweeped the kiddies event while Christian Michael Navarro (Board 5) tied for 3rd place. The 5th member Wilmark Jimenez (Board 3) was not able to play.

For the emerging 'powerhouse' MJ & Erl's (Santa Rosa) team, the Coach/ Trainer is Tony Yu of Golden City, Sta Rosa and Team Manager is Mr & Mrs Nelson Marcellana.

1 Comment:

rjsolcruz said...

The fundraising simul with gm jayson will be this coming saturday 9 am at meralco. proceeds will be used to purchase personal chess sets for the blind players of the para teeam. i hope we can raise enough fund so we can donate to the chess players who were devastated by ondoy's attack.

tony, resty, nf3em, pulsar, spawn2, sugardom, angel et al, please confirm your registration sa meralcochess.blogspot, ssa comments portion. i need to know how many will play para ma-estimate ang fund and to buy the sets in advance.