Shell Active NCR Leg - Laguna Chess Perspectives

BY: ANTHONY NAVARRO
(Chess Windows Laguna correspondent)

Photo sourced from pinoychessinforme

The Shell Active NCR Eliminations was successfully conducted last June 26-27,2010 at the SM Megamall by the Shell team headed by Alex Dinoy and his tried and tested core of chess arbiters and handlers led by IA Gene Poliarco and Roy Madayag.

There were about 277 entries in the Kiddies / U-14 and about 223 entries in the Juniors / U-20 categories which necessitated a welcome change in format to 9 rounds for the Kiddies and 8 rounds for the Juniors to have more decisive outcomes. Compared to last year's edition which was done at the MOA, this year had an earlier start for round 1,more space around the venue for parents/coaches, and fully airconditioned. There were the usual challenges like working around the limited space allowed for the Activity Center and an improvement area on the pairings postings. This is the 18th edition of the longest running and biggest chess program in the country, and those in the chess community were relieved it pushed through despite the earlier challenges.

In the Kiddies Division, the top 3 who qualified to the National Finals were Jerad Docena and Kenneth Baltazar with 8pts while Gio Mejia bagged the 3rd slot with 7.5 points with higher tiebreak points. In the 9th and final rounds, FEU's Evangelista and Docena had a fighting draw at the top table, while Baltazar and Mejia also drew in table 2. Calamba, Laguna's pride Christian Nanola pulled out a win at table 3 over John Margarito and also finished with 7.5 points but had to settle for 4th place after the tiebreak. Alexis Osena of Quezon bagged the top female award with 7 points, edging out Calamba's Michelle Yaon due to tiebreak. Santa Rosa's Nikko Minguez was the lone juniors player in our group, and finished a respectable 5pts in 8 rounds for 42nd place.

Well, onwards to the next elimination legs. The Tuguegarao leg is being conducted this past weekend, while the Batangas leg will be on July 17 and 18. See you there!

As to the rest of the Laguna players, here is how they fared :

Michelle Yaon Calamba 7.0 pts
Shania Mae Mendoza Santa Rosa 6.0
Christian Michael Navarro CDBS Binan 5.5
Jasper Marce Santa Rosa 5.5
Mark James Marcellana Santa Rosa 5.0
Daniel Vincent Navarro CDBS Binan 4.5
Tetsuo Otsuka Jr CDBS Binan 4.5
Jonash Espiritu CDBS Binan 4.0
Emman Espiritu CDBS Binan 4.0
Paolo Espiritu CDBS Binan 4.0
Kimberly Shane Gacusan Calamba 3.0