Kalibo bet wins regional chess elims

An unheralded Kalibo student ran off with the championship of the Region VI eliminations for the chess team to be fielded for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games which concluded Sunday, April 3rd, at the Gov. Corazon L. Cabagnot Memorial Tourism and Training Center at Old Buswang in Kalibo, Aklan.

PMI student Anatoly Neri, who totes a modest National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Elo rating of 1695, emerged from the competition with 5.5 points and a half-point spread over other seeded players enroute to bagging the 7-round, 28-player Swiss event that featured the strongest untitled players from the host province and from Iloilo.

Tying for 2nd-5th places with identical 5.0 points were 19th seed Herly Pastrana of Kalibo and Iloilo standouts Karlo Britanico of John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation and Rosendo Reyes. Reyes, coach of the University of San Agustin varsity team, is the tournament top seed, while Britanico is seeded 4th.

In 6th to 8th places with similar 4.5-point outputs are Gonzalo Fernandez, Allen Mirano, second seed Domingo Cordero of Iloilo and Ralph Tacdoro. Rounding up the top ten qualifiers are Isidro Retiro and Junarto Apolonio who both scored 4.0 points. German Nalangan also scored 4.0 points, but missed the cut because of an inferior tie-break score. Iloilo City varsity players Joyce Marie Mariano and University of San Agustin 's Michael Joseph Cartojano succumbed to the pressure of trying to earn qualification berths and bombed out in the final round. Mariano, who lost at least two winning games because of time pressure, scored 3.5 points – the same output of Cartojano.

Iloilo City fielded three of its top varsity players after Mayor Jerry P. Treñas directed city OIC-sports regulation officer Rommel Castro to field a team of young standouts for the competition in response to a communication sent to the mayor by Aklan Governor Carlito S. Marquez.

Tournament director NM Wilfredo Neri said the expected chess delegation from Negros Occidental failed to show up at the tournament for still unknown reasons. On the other hand, Capiz Chess Association president Edward Basilonia said top Capiz players were unavailable to take part because of previous school and personal commitments.

Neri, who's also the NCFP coordinator for Western Visayas, is likewise batting for a close coordination among chess officials to hasten chess growth and development in the region.

The executive director of sports programs of the Office of the Governor in Aklan, Jesus R. Marquez, ensured the smooth running of the tournament and provided all out-of-town players with excellent and free accommodations.

The tournament was managed by veteran international arbiter Gene J. Poliarco. (A..E. Boy Espejo Jr.)