Grade School Champion Jerad Docena, 2nd placer Daryl Samantila and 3rd placer Kenneth Baltazar.
I didn't have the best angle and limited time to shoot the photo, the 2nd to 6th placers all with 5 points - Daryl Samantila, Kenneth Baltazar,PaUlo Bersamina, Gio Mejia, Jett Marcos
A beaming Timothy So Kua, HS Champ, obviously getting his champ's purse as well. This kid has been topping HS/ Juniors tilts like the CUC at Megamall. Hope to see him in Shell Active and non-masters circuit and then maybe become an NM first, then who knows? Another Super GM SO Kua?
The Laguna 'delegation' with Michelle Yaon having a warm-up with Jasper Marce. Her doting Dad Rey is watching, as well as Ian Forcado and Christian Michael Navarro.
Opening cermonies showing the spacious venue and cordoned off area. It became steaming hot a bit in the afternoon due to El Nino
Heated 5th round action, Christian is in table 5 for his litmus test vs Baltazar. Also in photo are Carlo Caranyagan and Jesca Docena (right side) and with back turned is DarylSamantila in the foregound.
PHOTOS AND CAPTIONS BY: ANTHONY NAVARRO (Chess Windows Laguna Correspondent)
Earlier in the week, we were mindset to play in the Rellorcasa Calabarzon leg to be held in Laguna, but it got re-scheduled again for the 2nd time. Since school activities were winding down, it was opportune time to catch the kids’ interest in chess for the summer.
The chess adventure started early Saturday night when my kid Christian indicated his intent to play (he has been hesitant to play in ‘big name’ tournaments), and immediately texted Laguna chess mates if they wanted to ride along. And so it was part of the planning,to attend the Saturday anticipated Mass, and waking up earlier than usual on a Sunday morning, take breakfast in a fastfood and then fetched chess scholar Jasper Marce (Grade 4 Student) in nearby Malitlit, Sta Rosa and then the industrious father-and daughter tandem of Rey and Michelle Yaon of Calamba. We expected no traffic on a Sunday and make it to the 1030am registration cut-off.
Having reached the Katipunan area without a hitch, we then made our way through the sprawling Ateneo Campus and started to ask around on where is the Grade School Cafeteria, and probably made 3 stops until we finally nailed it. Going inside, it was a spacious venue and the playing area was ready and we saw the usually bevy and buzz of chess players with their doting parents or guardians. Then later scurrying to make the registration, we saw Ian Forcado (Grade 6 graduating valedictorian,Sta Rosa’s Board 1 for STCAA) and his mom Elena. So this made for a ‘fantastic four’ compact Laguna contingent for this event. Rey went around and saw familiar chess parents and coaches, including Tanauan contingent and Palaro qualifiers.
The opening remarks were made by Ateneo Coaches Idel Datu and Rudy Ibanez, while I took note of the inspirational speech of Vice-Headmaster Mr. Salvador who cited a book by Malcolm Gladwell on ‘outliers’, and citing the exceptional cases of the Beatles, Bill Gates and Tiger Woods. I learned of the ’10,000 hour’ rule which essentially means putting in a LOT of hard work or practice in any endeavour you want to excel in. This is roughly 4 hours per day for 10 years.
The field was very strong, the Grade School category was graced by kiddies chess luminaries like Paolo Bersamina, Jerad Docena, Gio Mejia, Daryl Samantila, Stephen Rome Pangilinan,Kenneth Baltazar and Carlo Caranyagan. Wow, that’s an ALL STAR cast! Gio,Kenneth and Carlo are going to play in the Tarlac Palaro in April. The High School field had So Kua (Adamson, CUC Winner) Vince Medina (Shell Active champ),Marc Nazario (Peniel College),Karen Enriquez and of course Palaro qualifier Michelle Yaon with the Tanauan contingent parading the Romero siblings and Michael Manansala.
This was a 6 round Swiss event and we started to see marquee match-ups starting in the 4th round. A 7th round would have been more decisive as well, as we saw in the Grade School category, the top 6 finishers all had 5/6 ! The gallant Laguna triumvirate of Jasper Marca (Sta Rosa STCAA Alternate), Ian Forcado (Sta Rosa STCAA Board 1) and Christian Michael Navarro (Caritas Board 1) more than held their own against unknown (meaning they don’t have much NCR exposure) players. Ian got matched up in the very first round vs Jerad Docena, Jasper was not aware of the mechanics of claiming a draw while low on time, and Christian almost upset NCR qualifier Baltazar. This inspite of having just few sessions recently with a master-coach and not yet using chess engines.
The High School category was also very tough as attested by tournaments circuit veteran Michelle as most if not all of her opponents were varsity players from NCAA/UAAP schools, and she had to scrape through many of her games either through endgame tactics or pressuring the opponent on time. Michelle was in the running up to the final round, but had a heartbreaker vs Manansala, her Intertown teammate.
THE TOP FINISHERS / AWARDEES
GRADE SCHOOL
Champion Jerad Docena 5 Pts 18.5 (M-Buch)
2nd Daryl Samantila 5 16.5
3rd Kenneth Baltazar 5 15.0
4th Paolo Bersamina 5 14.5
5th Giovanni Mejia 5 14.0
6th Jett Marcos 5 12.0
7th Virgenie Ruaya 4.5
8th Jasper Marce 4.5
9th Carlo Caranyagan 4.0
10th Stephen Pangilinan 4.0 TOP Grade 1
11th Haince De Leon 4.0
12th Nathan Gajo 4.0
13th Dennis Gutierrez Jr 4.0 TOP Grade 2
14th Ian JL Forcado 4.0
15th Andrew Sopungco 4.0 Grade 2
16th Christian Navarro 4.0
17th Miguel Guerrero 4.0
18th Irvin Embalsado 4.0
HIGH SCHOOL
Champion Timothy So Kua 5.5
2nd Marc Nazario 5.5
3rd Vince Angelo Medina 5.0
4th Ali Guya 5.0
5th Michael Manansala 4.5
6th Gil Ruaya 4.5
7th Jean Enriquez 4.0
8th Giovanni Romero 4.0
9th Steven Dacanay 4.0
10th Mark Lao 4.0
11th Felipe Magdalaga 4.0
12th John Mark Dimaliwat 4.0
13th Steaven Fulcher 4.0
14th Michelle Yaon 4.0
15th Brian Carlo Cruz 4.0
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