Mayor Lenlen Alonte-Naguiat Chess Tournament

BY: ANTHONY NAVARRO (Chesswindows Laguna Correspondent)

While the LSMS was going on at Brent on 2 Saturdays last Oct 2 and 9, we heard of this tournament in Binan from Bal Corpuz of LCA and though we wanted to maximize participation of the Caritassys players in rare Laguna tourneys, the kids were tired and quarterly exams were scheduled the following week. And so, the Mayor Lenlen Alonte-Naguiat Chess Tournament organized by Gerry Salando in cooperation with the Laguna Chess Association (LCA) got underway at the Binan Elementary School last October 10 / Sunday. It attracted more than 50 players in the Open section and understandably only 13 for the Kiddies U-12, so the format was pegged at 7 rounds and 5 rounds Swiss system respectively.

The Open section was a virtual who's who in Laguna chess and it was fun to watch the action when as early as the 3rd round, the heavyweights started to meet each other, with the likes of Penero,Panopio,Visca,Merano,Vargas,Legaspi in attandance. Former Sta Cruz ace Arnel Penero who is now Calamba-based rekindled his old,deadly form to remain undefeated and finish with 6/7, punctuated with a crucial 6th round win over now townmate Panopio, and preserving the solo win with a final round draw utilizing Alekhine's Defense versus Binan's Ramos who placed second with 5.5 pts. Jayson Visca of Binan/UE came from behind and ambushed erthswhile early leader Panopio in the last round to secure a top five finish also with 5.5 pts. Rounding up the top 5 were Calamba's Gary Legaspi at 3rd and Coach Ricky Merano of Binan at 4th place.

In the kiddies U-12, Santa Rosa's Jasper Marce bucked an earlier 3rd round loss to townmate Janelle Basbas to extract a hard-earned endgame victory vs previously unbeaten and an overconfident Jhoemar Mendiogarin of Calamba. However, Calamba's Gonzales also won his last round game vs Basbas to create a 3-way tie at the top with 4 pts each and allow Mendiogarin to still escape the top spot, with the 3 of them sharing the cash prizes for the top 3 places. Messages have been sent, and these 3 kiddies players are projected to advance to the regional STCAA level sometime in Jan/Feb next year to be hosted by Rizal.

Final round7 action in the Open section pitting Binan's Elbin Ramos (5 pts) against Calamba transplant Arnel Penero (5.5 pts) which ended in a draw.

Final Round5 Action in Kiddies U-12. At Board 1 in foreground is Calamna's Jhoemar Mendiogarin (4pts) with the white pieces playing against chess ward Sta Rosa's Jasper Marce (3pts). At board 2 is Calamba's Vladimir Gonzales vs Sta Rosa's Janelle Basbas. Jasper and Vladimir won that resulted in a 3 way tie for first with 4 pts each.