IM Quizon eyes gold in Hanoi Games
INTERNATIONAL Master (IM) Daniel Quizon is eyeing nothing less than a chess gold medal in the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games scheduled on May 12-23.
“My goal is to win a gold medal in Hanoi,” said the 18-year-old Mr. Quizon after topping the second edition of the Kamatyas FIDE rated chess tournament at the Multisys Headquarters in Parañaque on Saturday night.
Mr. Quizon, the national champion, will compete in the blitz, rapid and standard events in the biennial event and is optimistic he would strike gold for a country that failed to win one in the last edition in Subic three years ago.
It was evidenced by his strong performance in the Kamatyas event sponsored by Multisys Technologies Corp.’s David Almirol, Jr. and organized by IM Roderick Nava after he scored 7.5 points on six wins and three draws including one versus IM Barlo Nadera in the ninth and final round.
The Dasmariñas, Cavite bet actually ended up tied for first with Grandmaster Darwin Laylo and FIDE Master Randy Segarra but the former emerged with the highest tie-break score and took the title, the winner’s purse worth P30,000 and the trophy.
Mr. Laylo could have won it all if he had converted a queen-versus-rook end game into a win, but he succumbed in extreme time trouble and settled for a draw with Chester Neil Reyes and a second place finish with a P10,000 prize.
Mr. Segarra, for his part, stunned IM Ronald Dableo and ended up at third to claim P7,000.
Mr. Reyes took fourth place ahead of elder brothers Narquingel and Narquinden, who both made it to the top 10.
Rounding out the top 10 finish were Mr. Nadera, Jerry Areque, FM Robert Suelo, Jr., and IM Chito Garma with GM Joey Antonio (senior), IM Angelo Young (PWD), WIM Kylen Joy Mordido (top lady), Mark Jay Bacojo (junior), Al Basher Buto (kiddie) and Marlon Bernardino (media) as category winners. —