TEAM BALBONA bagged the P10,000 purse in last weekend’s Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) Invitational Chess Team Tournament at the J Centre Mall in Mandaue City.
The Balbona team, composed of father Felix, children Jessa and Felix Shaun, along with National Master (NM) Merben Roque, accumulated a total of 20.5 points to top the two-day tournament.
Team Balbona survived the vaunted woodpushers of team Infinitum in the last round, 2.5-1.5, after Jessa and her father Felix beat Glexan Derotas and Harond Yung, respectively.
Felix Shaun bowed to 20th Shell Active Youth National Chess champion Kyle Sevillano of University of San Carlos (USC) while NM Roque finished off with a draw against NM R. Ganzon.
Team Infinitum placed second with 18.5 points.
USC, meanwhile, rounded off the top three teams after it gathered 18.5 points but Infinitum won via tiebreaker./CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL