12-year old NM Bersamina leads NCFP chess

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

Individual rankings (after Round 2, Standard format)
(wins=3 points,draw=1 point,loss=zero)

6 points---NM Paulo Bersamina
4 points---IM Rolando Nolte
3 points---IM Oliver Dimakiling, Guess Computer Program
2 points---GM Darwin Laylo
1 point---IM Richard Bitoon, IM Yves Ranola, WNM Christy Lamiel Bernales

Filipino whiz kid NM Paulo Bersamina (in photo) defeated lone female entry WNM Christy Lamiel Bernales yesterday to extend his unbeaten run in the on-going standard competition of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) training tournament at the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) headquarters in Diliman, Quezon City.

Bersamina, 12, youngest-ever national junior champion prevails with the disadvantegeous black pieces after 51 moves of King's Indian defense to raised his total to a perfect 6 points to stay in course based on the unique scoring system that gives three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss in this eight-player, double-round competition hosted and backed up by NCFP President/ Chairman Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr.

"Nagkamali ng exchange ng pieces si Christy sa middle game. Maganda yung posisyon n'ya pa naman," said the soft-spoken Bersamina, one of several players set to campaign in the coming Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Russia next month.

Earlier, the Pasay City pride Bersamina upset IM Oliver Dimakiling on Monday.
At solo second spot is IM Rolando Nolte, who beat IM Richard Bitoon using the advantgeous white pieces after 37 moves of Nimzo Indian defense to up tally to 4 points. He drew Bernales in the opening round.

Dimakiling, meantime bounced back in contention by demolishing the guess "computer program". Dimakiling and guess "computer program" tallied 3 points each.

GM Darwin Laylo, on the other hand settled a truce with IM Yves Ranola after 80 moves of King's Indian defense for his total 2 points. Bernales, Bitoon and Ranola notch 1 point each.

Over the weekend, GM John Paul Gomez won the first edition after tallying a total 25 points. Supervising arbiter is Fide arbiter Ilann Perez and former olympian NM Cesar Caturla.