The country’s junior chessers collected 14 gold medals in the recent 4th ASEAN + Age Group Chess Championships 2013 at the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Fide Master Haridas Pascua and National Master Alcon John Datu joined forces to give the Philippines the rapid chess team gold in the premier Open Under-20 division.
All three also received a gold medal each after tying for first in the rapid individual event with identical 5.5 points.
Meanwhile, Garcia and Pascua tallied 7.5 points each in nine outings while Datu chipped in 5.5 points for the gold in the blitz team event of the same division.
Garcia and Pascua shared the individual gold medal while Mongolian FM Sumiya Bilguun won silver with 6.5 points.
Seven-year old Alekhine Nouri also won gold in the Open Under-8 class after finishing tied for first with Ganzorig Amartuvshin of Mongolia. Both had 6.0 points for the gold in the rapid individual event.
Michael Concio Jr. also tied for the gold with Bintang Rasyid A. Hidayat of Indonesia after both scored 8.0 points in the blitz individual event of the Open Under-8 class.
OTHER WINNERS
Not to be outdone, 13 year-old Samantha Glo Revita collected 6.0 points in seven outings to top the Girls 14-Under bracket of the rapid individual event while Daryl Unix Samantila also went home with the gold medal in the Boys 14-under bracket of the blitz individual event by scoring 8.0 points.
Fide Master Paulo Bersamina (8.0 points) won the gold medal in the blitz individual Boys 16-under class while IM candidate Jerad Docena of Bohol (7.5 points) took the silver.
NM Giovanni Mejia notched 5.0 points and joined Bersamina and Docena for the blitz team gold in the same division. Bersamina (5.5 points) settled for silver in the rapid individual event while Docena (5.0 points) won bronze.
Julius Gonzales (8.0 points) and FM Nguyen Anh Khoi of Vietnam shared the gold medal in the blitz individual event of the Boys 12-and-under bracket.
The country’s campaign in the Thailand tournament is supported by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and Pangasinan governor Amado T. Espino. Delegation head is NCFP Executive Director grandmaster (GM) Jayson Gonzales.