GOLDEN Chess Friends organizer Benoni ‘Benwabs’ Wabe had been dreaming about young players to conquer ― one day ― the grizzled chess masters in the locality.
“Basta tinabangay di lang maputol atong padula moabot ra gyod ang time nga mga bata or batan-on ra ang makapeldi sa ila,” then said Wabe after FIDE Master Ellan Asuela dominated almost every tournament in the city and the veteran Johnnel Balquin won his first GCF event in May sponsored by National Master Roly Tan of Goldcrest Marketing Incorporation.
This month’s episode of the FIDE-rated tourney held, over the weekend, at the 5th Floor Play Park of SM Downtown Premier, finally transformed Wabe’s dream into reality, courtesy of former Xavier University stalwart Adrian Othniel Patricio Yulo.
Facing the undefeated Asuela in the seventh and final round, the 22-year-old Yulo ― who was slowed down by a couple of draws ― needed a flat-out win to spoil the Ilonggos master’s impending celebration in the Engr and Mrs Marbas-sponsored tournament.
He chose a sharp line in the white side of the French defense where Yulo surprisingly pushed his pawn to f4 on his second move.
The imbalances led the French war into a wild and woolly game and a double-edge endgame position where the 36-year-old Asuela gave up a piece to establish a pair of dangerous queening passed pawns.
But Yulo had seen it all as he soldiered on his own King-side passed pawn while defending well Asuela’s pawn-rolling with his valiant Knight to ace the stunning victory.
Yulo matched Asuela’s six-point effort and bagged the crowning glory via the win-over-the-other rule.
“Although time-pressured, I was able to calculate the right sequence to defend his threat. I think one of the best endgames that I played,” Yulo told Gold Star Daily.
Seeing the end of his title streak, Asuela said Yulo’s aggressive opening approach did not bother him at all in the early goings.
“I needed just a draw, but did not anticipate na laban gyod diay iyang gusto. I was a bit relaxed,” Asuela said in yielding the P3,000 top purse and the championship trophy to his much younger rival.
Yulo, who's now part of De La Salle - College of St. Benilde known as "The Blazers" senior varsity chess team in Manila, decided to come home to celebrate his birthday with his parents and friends in Cagayan de Oro.
While his participation was only a coincidence, Yulo considered his victory as the best birthday gift to himself.
Sharing third to sixth places at 5.5 points each were Rodney Opada, the comebacking ‘Alamid Ng Mindanao’ Joseph Maestrado, Romeo Canino, and newly-minted Arena Fide Master in Fr. Vic Arellano.
The solid-playing Opada had the chance to win the combined College and Open division championship but faltered in a winning position against Asuela in the penultimate sixth round.
Rounding up the top-13 finishers from the 45 participants in the GCF’s toughest category were Bryan Jose, Nazario Ubanan, Cassey Miguel Tabamo, Arena Grand Master Julius Dan Augustine Ablin, and Arnel Enrico Paolo Codera at five points each; and Mario Arroyo, and Jashfer Gonzales at 4.5 points apiece.
