18th National Youth Active Chess Championship (Batangas Leg)

BY: ANTHONY NAVARRO (Chess Windows Laguna correspondent)

The 18th National Youth Active Chess Championship, Batangas leg was successfully conducted July 17 to 18 at the SM Batangas City Activity Center. A total of 500 players once again participated in this biggest chess event in the Philippines with 138 boards in the Kiddies / U-14 Division and 112 boards in the Juniors / U-18 Division. Batangas players came in full force mainly from major schools University of Batangas and De La Salle-Lipa.

Laguna and NCR players also went to the event, with varsity players from FEU,San Sebastian, NU,Adamson,UST contesting the 3 qualifying slots in each Division.

In the Kiddies Division, FEU's Paul Robert Evangelista remained unscathed with 8.5 points in 9 rounds to clinch being the solo champion. NU's Felipe Magdalaga and LCBA Calamba's Christian Nanola had 8 points each to clinch the other 2 berths. Zambales' young lad Fortin made a great run having 7.5/8 but faltered in the final round showdown with Evangelista. San Pablo's Carl Angelo Perez didn't make it this time as he was derailed in the 7th round by NU's Fuerte, but bounced back to finish with 7.5 points for 4th place. Calamba's Michelle Yaon achieved a milestone by finishing highest in her young career also with 7.5 points for 5th place, aside from garnering the top female award. She did this by scoring 4/4 on the 2nd day of competition punctuated with a final round win vs Rizal's John Margarito, after a 5th round loss to LCIS' De Mesa.

In the Juniors Division, San Sebastian's Kristian Paulo Cristobal was also unbeaten with 7.5 pts in 8 rounds to become solo champion. Teammate Jayson Mercado completed a 1-2 finish bu garnering the highest tiebreak at 7 pts, followed by FEU's Alfred Rapanot.

Also with 7 points were FEU's Jeremiah Alfonso (4th place) and Tanauan's Gladys Romero (5th place) who also garnered the top female award. John Bongon also finished with 7 points after a final round win vs DLSL's John Zacarias.

Other Laguna hopefuls made a good account of themselves :

KIDDIES

Name	Town	Point	Ranking
Jhoemar Mendiogarin	Calamba	7.0	8th
Vladimir Gonzales	Calamba	6.5	25th
Kenneth Flores	Pagsanjan / NU	6.5	26th
Shania Mae Mendoza	Santa Rosa / IMS	6.0	32nd
Eric Robert Yap	Siniloan	6.0	36th
Jasper Marce	Santa Rosa	6.0	38th
Harold Elago	Calamba	5.5	61st
Christian Michael Navarro	Binan	5.5	64th
Daniel Vincent Navarro	Binan	5.0	93rd
Kimberly Gacusan	Calamba	4.0	161st

JUNIORS

Name	School	Points	Ranking
Bryan Cyril Martinez	Letran Calamba	6.5	9th
Kelly Rancap	Perpetual Binan	6.5	10th
Apollo Agapay	Perptual Binan	6.0	22nd
Chsitian Paul Florin	LCBA Calamba	5.5	29th
John Dick Tambo	Letran Calamba	5.0	66th
Arvie Tombo	Perpetual Binan	4.5	72nd
Emil Jarlego	Letran Calamba	4.5 (4.0)

Calamba also had over 40 entries mainly from LCBA. Major Laguna schools like Letran Calamba and Perpetual Binan also had representatives, this augurs well for Laguna chess to have more exposure vs NCR-based players. May they continue to compete for their further chess development.