Pinay lone Asean winner in China chess

KUNMING CITY, Yunnan Province, China — Woman Fide Master Marie Antoinette San Diego of the Philippines accounted for the lone bright spot for the embattled Asean Chess Team by bagging the runner-up trophy in the face of a solid Chinese juggernaut in the first 2011 China-Asean Junior Chess Classic competition at the Lanice Hotel Inn, here.

San Diego, a freshman student of The First Uniting Christian School and Huang Mo Fei of China both tallied 5.0 points after eight rounds in the girls 12-Under category but the former was awarded the runner-up trophy because of a superior number of wins (4-3).

Xu Qian Qian of China topped the category with 6.5 points.

“I’m very happy to finish second here. It was a tough tournament,” said San Diego.

Aside from San Diego, other members of the Asean Team in the girls 12-U class were Samantha Glo Revita (3.5 pts), Ummi Fisabilillah of Indonesia (4.0 pts), and Jiang Xinran.

Host China also won the individual Open 8, 10, 12, Girls 8 and 10-and-under category. It also swept the team events in all age divisions for 149 points against Asean’s 43 points.

Other Filipinos who composed the Asean squad were Dennis Gutierrez III (Open 8-Under), Julius Gonzales and Ronald Canino (Open 10-Under), Daryl Unix Samantila (Open 12-U) and Jerlyn Mae San Diego (Girls 8-Ucategory).

The Filipinos’ China stint was sponsored by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

The China-Asean Youth Chess Classic Tournament 2011 is jointly organized by Kunming Sports Development, Kunming Chess Association and Jinma Chess Club under the auspices of the Asean Chess Confederation and the Chinese Chess Association. /Correspondent MARLON BERNARDINO