ATENEO standout Lexie Grace Hernandez came out of nowhere to snatch the girls’ crown of the Philippine National Juniors Chess Championships at the PACE yesterday.
Unfazed by a painful opening-round defeat, the 19-year-old Interdisciplinary Studies student went on a rampage as she scored 5.5 points out of her last six outings including a 46-move, final-round win over Jersey Marticio of a Caro-kann duel.
It sent the former Eastern Asia Youth standard and blitz gold winner into a tie for first with Daren dela Cruz, who bested Karol Jozef de Guia, with 5.5 points each but went on snaring the title due to a better tiebreaker, 25-21.5.
The feat earned the Candaba, Pampanga native the right to represent the country in the World Juniors meet slated in Petrovac, Montenegro in February next year plus the P15,000 prize.
“Actually, I didn’t expect it po kasi ang dami pong magagaling and yung mindset ko po ng whole tournament is maglalaro lang ako kahit ano man po yung maging results ng performance ko sa tournament,” said Hernandez.
Dela Cruz finished second while Ruelle Canino ended up third with five points.
It was a heartbreaking finish for Canino, the heavy favorite to win it all being the reigning women’s champion and Olympiad veteran but just didn’t live up to expectations in this tournament organized by the NCFP and backed by the PSC.
