NORTHERN Mindanao is guaranteed a strong cast of woodpushers in this year’s Palarong Pambansa after a dominant show by the Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro teams in the recently-concluded Palarong Pampook chess competition.
Held at the Gaisano Mall in Gingoog City, the MisOr-CDO bets started slowly as some of them settled for early draws when they faced each other to momentarily yield the top spots to the top board players from other regions halfway of the seven-round Swiss system skirmishes.
But at crunch time, the more seasoned campaigners of the annual Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association (NMRAA) Meet, serving as the National Palaro’s final qualifying stage, buckled down to work and won all the marbles after the smoke of battle cleared.
“Thrilling pagsugod kay nisaka ang mga underdog rivals like those from Camiguin, Bukidnon, Iligan and Lanao Norte regions. Pero mo-prevail gyod ang mga bata nga sakto sa training ug exposure,” Misamis Oriental's resident chess trainer Johnnel Balquin told Gold Star Daily.
So awesome was the Cagayan de Oro pair of Lila Alyssa Seriña and Sebastian Marbas from the Capitol University Basic Education Department (Cubed) who won the standard elementary girls and boys chess titles with still a round left with Seriña dishing out a perfect seven of seven performance.
Seriña secured a place in the Palarong Pambansa for elementary girls alongside Mary Janelle Tan of Jasaan, Misamis Oriental who nosed out Arena Fide Master Janin Dhrey Querequere of Balingoan, Misamis Oriental, 5.5 to five points, for the second place honor.
As Marbas played to a safe draw on board one with Paulo Efren Castino of Misamis Oriental, Balingoan pride Quarl Maverick Vera Cruz won his last-round match over Celomar Paquiao Jr of Iligan to catch up with Marbas at six points but with lower tiebreak results.
“Kusog ni ilang Palaro tandem sa elementary boys kay palaban pud si Vera Cruz,” said Cagayan de Oro chess trainer Jaime Joshua Frias II who accompanied Marbas’ camp in Gingoog City.
Tagoloan’s LJ Getubig and Sara Dalagan swept the secondary girls’ 1-2 spots with a similar 6.5-point output as newly-minted 12-year-old National Master Keith Adriane Ilar of El Salvador City narrowly missed a ride for the Palaro journey in elementary boys level.
This, after El Salvador compatriot Cassey Miguel Tabamo, who represented Malaybalay City, zoomed up to the top with six points, and the more experienced David Rey Ancheta of Cagayan de Oro defeated Ilar in the penultimate round and drew with Tabamo in the final round for his 5.5 total worth second place.
Ilar skidded in third place over fellow five-pointers John Dale Salabsab, also from El Salvador, and Jake Riddick Sabordo of Misamis Oriental.
“Naa pud mga players nga ni-excel sa blitz event pero bulak-bulak ra kay ang standard category man ang basehan sa DepEd pag select og chess qualifiers to the Palarong Pambansa,” Balquin explained.
Also taking gold and silver medals in the blitz category are the elementary girls’ AFM Querequere (six pts) and Tan (winner by tiebreak over fellow 5.5-pointer Seriña), elementary boys' Vera Cruz and Richmond Valmores of Cagayan de Oro (with better tiebreak results over the other 5.5-pointer Castino of Misamis Oriental), secondary girls’ LJ Getubig (perfect seven) and Bea Comaingking of Malaybalay City (who edged fellow 5.5-pointer Dalagan in the tiebreaker), and secondary boys’ Ancheta (six pts), and NM Ilar (5.5 pts).
