AS expected, the top-seeded Fide Master Ellan Asuela handily won the First CMOCA Chess Roulette held, over the weekend, at the 3rd Floor Bridge Corner of the Ayala Centrio Mall, Cagayan de Oro City.

Easily the winningest player in the local chess circuits nowadays, Asuela unleashed an almost perfect 18.5 performance in the 20-person round-robin affair to go away with the P4,000 top purse and the championship trophy.

There was not much success for the selected kids invited to compete in the “Training the Uprising” blitz event as the adult ones prevailed with Arian Belly Calido (15 points), Mindanao Leg executive champion Cleto Vasquez (14.5 pts), Jaime Joshua Frias II (13.5 pts), and Lyndon Lumancas (13 pts) joining Asuela in the top-five to receive P2,000, P1,500, P1,000, and P500, respectively.

LOOK HIM IN THE EYE. Just how determined the 11-year-old Quarl Maverick Vera Cruz was in besting older opponents with his no-hold-barred chess tactics. Photo by Lynde Salgados

But some of the young guns, particularly those coming from Misamis Oriental, did manage to score upset wins against the veterans in the day-long contest dubbed as “Quest for Gold-Blood Champ” bankrolled by Erwin Culanag, founding head of the Alliance for Certified Enforcers (ACE).

The 11-year-old Quarl Maverick Vera Cruz from Balingoan, Misamis Oriental, the newly-crowned elementary champion of the Golden Chess Friends (GCF) Monthly Tourney, victimized Rodney Opada, Frias, and Benoni Wabe, among his older opponents, to finish with 12.5 points good for seventh place.

The 12-year-old Keith Adriane Ilar from El Salvador City, meanwhile, shocked the second-running Calido to catch up with Lumancas at 13 points but landed at the sixth spot after the tiebreaker.

TOP CHESS ACT. Fide Master Ellan Asuela (at left) avoids the upset axe of teener for Keith Adriane Ilar to finish the 20-person round-robin tourney undefeated. Photo by Lynde Salgados

Female high schooler Lyn Getubig from Tagoloan was also triumphant against Opada, among the region’s top non-masters. But, in return, Getubig got ambushed by elementary girl Lyren Kate Moneva from Canitoan as Asuela was put in a losing position in the penultimate round, though he found a way to dodge the upset axe of another high school bet in Malaybalay City lad Cassey Miguel Tabamo.

“I have a feeling nga kini ra g'yong mga bata ang mopilde sa mga chess masters puhon-puhon basta magpadayon di lang maputol atong training chess development tournaments,” GCF founding head Ben Wabe told Gold Star Daily.

Completing the top-10 finishers with P200 take-home each are Opada (12.5 pts), Randolph Christopher Dalauta (12 pts), and Tabamo (11.5 pts).