NEW faces ruled the final tournament of the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship Sunday at the Mall of Asia Music Hall.
This year’s event, the last of the tourney’s 25-year run, saw first time winners Jeth Romy Morado (Seniors) and Kylen Joy Mordido (Juniors) top their respective divisions in the national finals.
David Rey Ancheta, meanwhile copped the coveted grand winner’s trophy in the kiddies category.
Forty-eight top young chessers entered the games from the three legs held in Batangas, Cebu, and Cagayan De Oro.
“Achievement po talaga ito,” said Morado, 17, adding it was his first time to enter the grand finals of the prestigious chess tilt and win it all as well. “Pinalad lang po talaga ako na manalo siguro.”
The Grade 12 student from FEU finished the tournament with seven points off of six wins, a draw and a loss to take the trophy home with a slim margin over second placer Jethro Esplanada out of Cebu, whose loss to eventual third placer Ahmad Ali Azote spelled the difference in their three-way tie at seven points.
In the juniors’ division, technicalities weren’t needed as 15-year-old Kylen Mordido from Dasmarinas, Cavite was a clear winner with eight points (7W-0L-2D).
She bested 15 other participants in her category for the top prize.
Ancheta also finished with eight points to conquer the Kiddies’ division in the 9-round Swiss system tournament, where the Seniors’ winner took home a P30,000, while the Junior and Kiddies champions got P20,000 and P10,000 along with their trophies, respectively.
The top female player also received P10,000 (17-20 age group), P5,000 (13-16) and P4,000 (7-12).
The farewell tournament was Shell’s last grassroots chess tournament, since starting the program in 1992, producing Grand Masters such as Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Nelson Mariano II.
The final edition of the tourney also became sentimental as participants brought memorabilia from the past tournaments in the last two and a half decades.
The event, sponsored by global power, energy and gas technology leader, Pilipinas Shell, was held to discover new chess talents, especially those in the provinces. Sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, the tournament was also backed by Shell Fuels, Shell Helix, Shell Rimula, Shell Advance, Shell Card and Shell V-Power in cooperation with SM Supermalls.
