Mejia tops PACE 4th Leg Kiddies Chess Championship

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

LA SALLE GREENHILLS (LSGH) bet Giovanni "Gio" Mejia (in photo) emerged the champion in the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) 4th Leg Kiddies (16 Yrs Old Under) Chess Championship, which ended Sunday night at the PACE headquarters , 2nd Floor 56 Mindanao Ave., Project 6, Quezon City.

The reigning Palarong Pambansa champion Mejia, playing under the banner of LSGH head coach International Arbiter/ National Master Erwin Carag scored 5 points in six outings enroute the coveted chess title, top prize of P2,000 plus elegant trophy courtesy of PACE founding head two-time Olympian GM Jayson Gonzales.

Actually, Laguna's Christian Nañola also tallied 5 points, but settled second place after losing to Mejia in a tie break points, thus Nañola went home the runner-up purse of P2,000 plus medal.

Far Eastern University (FEU) pride Paul Robert Evangelista and unheralded Fernando Mendoza landed at 3rd to 4th placers with 4.5 points each.The duo received P900 each plus medal.

Rounding up to the top ten finishers are 5th Ahvix Alfonso, 6th Gino Divino Cabual, 7th Enrica Villa, 8th Michelle Yaon, 9th Charles Daniel and 10th placer Natalie Kyle Abuzo.