Mordido grabs Shell chess finals lead
KYLEN JOY MORDIDO dished out top form and upended three male rivals, posting 6.5 points to wrest the lead in juniors division even as David Rey Ancheta took control of the kiddies play after seven rounds of the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship grand finals at the MOA Music Hall in Pasay last Saturday.
Mordido, a Woman Candidate Master, trampled Irish Yngayo and Cyril Telesforo, held top seed Rome Pangilinan to a draw in the third round then racked up four straight wins, including an upset over no. 3 James Erese.
The fourth-ranked Dasmariñas National HS mainstay also toppled no. 5 Julius Gonzales then outplayed Mary Joy Tan and Francois Magpily to seize the lead in the 13-16 age group of the grand 25th and final staging of the annual event sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.
But Pangilinan kept Mordido within sight with six points while Gonzales also stayed in the title hunt with 5.5 points heading to the final two rounds left in the 9-round Swiss system tournament sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
The rest bowed out of contention with Erese, Tan, Telesforo, Magpily, Daniel Quizon and Carl Ancheta scoring just 3.5 points after seven rounds of play.
Ancheta, meanwhile, nailed five wins and drew twice to lead the 7-12 category with six points, half-a-point ahead of Mark Jay Bacojo while Michael Concio, Jr. remained in title chase with five points.
Ancheta, the Cagayan de Oro leg topnotcher from Corpus Christi School, trounced Joseph dela Rama in the opener, halved the point with Rhea Canino, downed Chester Reyes and Mark Bacojo, split the point with Concio before beating Wesley Magbanua and Cedric Abris.
Reyes and Cyrus Francisco, meanwhile, pooled 4.5 points for joint fourth in the two-day tournament that features the top finishers of the five regional elims of the country’s longest talent search that produced the likes of GMs Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Nelson Mariano II, among others.
Jeth Romy Morado and Ahmad Ali Azote, on the other hand, forged ahead in the seniors division with six points with Jethro Esplanada churning out a five-point effort and Darry Bernardo, Emmanuel Acierto, Jonathan Jota, Allan Pason and Romulo Curioso all scoring four points.
Morado, a runner-up in the NCR leg from Far Eastern U, upended Pason, lost to Esplanada, but struck back with victories over Andre Jorgio, Acierto, Azote, Darry Bernardo and Venice Vicente, while Azote, the CDO leg champion in the 17-20 class from Agusan National HS, crushed Dhona Yngayo, Jota, Acierto and Esplanada, and rebounded from a fifth round setback to Morado with victories over Gino Asuncion and Bernardo.
Meanwhile, after the Grand Finals, Pilipinas Shell will also hold a Chess Masters’ Friendly match featuring GMs and titled players who have competed in past Shell Active Chess tournaments.