Chess

Cebu City to attempt world record in largest chess tourney

Cebu City will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of participants in a chess tournament on Nov. 19 at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Krasnoyork City in Russia currently holds the record with 1,214 participants last June 2, 2007.

Cebu City Sports Commission Ed Hayco wants to top that with 30,000 players all over Cebu City.

“This is open to all public schools, private and chess clubs,” said Hayco, who plans to tap the support of the 120 public schools all over Cebu City with a combined population of 160,000 students. Read more…

Philippines Pascua places 15th, Bernales drops to 35th in Asian Juniors Championship

Fide Master Haridas Pascua of the Philippines settled for 15th place in the boys division, while Christy Lamiel Bernales wound up 35th in the girls category at the close of the 2010 Asian Juniors chess championships at the Vijay Park and Business Hotel here Wednesday.

Pascua lost to No. 9 IM Das Debashis of India in the ninth and final round and blew his bid for a possible Top 10 finish in the tough, 74-player, eight-nation tournament organized by the All-India Chess Federation in cooperation with the Tamilnado State Chess Association and Sports Promotion Foundation.

The 17-year-old campaigner from Mangatarem, Pangasinan, who climbed into a tie for sixth place in the eighth and penultimate round, finished with 5.5 points on five wins, one draw and three losses for a share of 14th to 21st places.

Pascua, however, clinched 15th place based on tiebreak scores.

Overall, the University of Baguio student finished one and a half points behind three Indian players — IMs Sundar Shyam and Gujrathi Santosh Vidit and FM S. Nitin.

Shyam bagged the the title by viritue of higher tiebreak score, followed by Vidit and Nitin.

Shyam drew with Nitin, while Vidit won over No. 24 seed Reddy Chinna Mehar in a pair of all-Indian matches.

Bernales’ campaign in the 54-player grils division also ended on a sad note.

The University of the East student bowed to No. 35 seed Azman Hisham Nur Nabila of Malaysia and finished in 35th place overall with four points on three wins, two draws and four losses.

The 15 th-seeded Filipina campaigner from Nueva Ecija finished 3.5 points behind co-champions WFM Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam and WFM Gulishkhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan.

Last year’s girls champion WIM Rout Padmini of India finished a close third with 6.5 points.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay said the final-round losses of both Pascua and Bernales deprived them of higher finishes in the overall standings.

But Pichay, who personally bankrolled the players’ participation, claimed the experience gained by the two young Filipino players will serve them well in future tournaments.

The three-man Filipino delegation, headed by NCFP executive/events director Willie Abalos returned home Thursday afternoon in time for the Angping Age Group Cup at the Rizal Memorial Complex’s opening.