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by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA—National Master Ivan Travis Cu of San Juan City ruled the Chess Palace Philippines Age-Group Chess Championships Under-12 division nationwide online chess tournament via tornelo platform on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.

The 12-year old Cu, a Grade 7 pupil of Xavier School in San Juan City came out on top with 6 points on account of six wins and one loss in seven outings in this 10 minutes plus 5 seconds increment time control format organized by Chess Palace Philippines in cooperation with Pwede Pa Kami Group Chess Club sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and officiated by Philippine Arbiters Chess Confederation, Inc.

Cu scored victories over Aelona Lou Tomas Mendoza in the first round, Z.M. in the second round, Aaron de Asas in the third round, Cassey Miguel Tabarno in the fourth round, Jian Carlo Rivera in the sixth round and National Master Al-Basher Buto in the seventh and final round.

His only setback was at the hands of Keith Adriane Ilar in the fifth round.

Final Standings: ( 7 Round Swiss-System)
6 points—NM Ivan Travis Cu
5.5 points—NM Al-Basher Buto, Pat Ferdoff Macabulos
5 points—Keith Adriane Ilar, Oshrie James Reyes, Cassey Miguel Tabarno, Christian Tolosa, Kaye Lalaine Regidor, Iana Angela Sotaridona, Quarl Maverick Vera Cruz

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA—San Juan Predators clinched the third Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) title after beating Iloilo Kisela Knights in their two-leg encounter, 19-2 (first set) and 11.5-9.5 (second set) in the grand finals on Saturday night,November 27, 2021 virtually held at chess.com platform.

“The results belie the fierce competition that happened during this Championship Round. Perhaps the one big factor this time around is that San Juan Predators stayed focused and kept the fiery determination not to have a repeat of the second conference. Congratulations to all the players of both teams.!” said San Juan Predators Team Owner and PCAP Chairman Michael Angelo Ong Chua.

International Master Rolando Nolte (in photo), Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa, Woman International Master Jan Jodilyn Fronda, International Master Ricardo de Guzman, FIDE Master Narquingden Reyes, Narciso Gumila and Narquingel Reyes delivered victories for Predators after beating Grandmaster Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., National Master Karl Victor Ochoa, Woman FIDE Master Cherry Ann Mejia, National Master Cesar Mariano, National Master Fritz Bryan Porras, National Master John Michael Silvederio and Mark Jossel Mariano ruled the blitz portion, 7-0, in the first set.

In the rapid play (first set), 12-2, only Antonio survived after subduing Nolte in their top board encounter.
However in the second set of blitz category, Barbosa, De Guzman, FM Reyes, Reyes and Gumila combined forces to spearheaded Predators into 5.5-1.5 victory.

Antonio and Mejia gave the good fight for Kisela Knights. Antonio drew with Nolte while Mejia toppled Fronda.

In the rapid play (second set), Antonio, Mejia, Silvederio and Porras won their respective matches but was not good enough to lift their team.

Kisela Knights won the rapid play, 8-6, however Predators total output of 11.5 better than 9.5 for Kisela Knights preventing a possible armageddon tie breaker.

“Big applause to San Juan Predators, Grand Champion, Open Conference! To the Kiselas, congratulations for stunning performance this season as grand champion Wesley So Cup, 1st Runner Up Open Conference, 3rd Runner Up All Filipino Conference, and 1st Runner Up Tag Team Tuesday! Foremost, congratulations to Paul Elauria and the PCAP management for a very successful Season 1.” said Iloilo Kisela Knights Team Owner Leo Sotaridona.

Meanwhile, Atty. Arnel Batungbakal of Caloocan Loadmanna Knights bested Penang, Malaysia, 14.5-6.5, in the battle for third.

Pishgam Novin 1 of Iran held to a draw erstwhile solo leader Elegant International Chess Academy of Bangladesh to allow Pishgam Novin 2 to overtake and win the Asian Academies Hybrid Chess Championship held 20-27 November 2021 on Tornelo.

Pishgam Novin 2 and Elegant International Chess Academy finished with identical 12 match points each but Pishgam won the tiebreak with 23 game points over Elegant’s 19.5 game points for silver.

Bronze went to Pishgam Novin 1 (photo above) with 17 match points. Pishgam 1 team: Girls: Dashtpeyma, Helia- Gholizade, Roomina- Heydari, Simon and Boys: Babei, Amirhossein- Sadeghi, Ali

Watch games live on  followchess,  chessbase,  chess.com and  chessbomb. Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings, standings and to download games. Here is the final crosstable.

Awards are given to the top 3 in each age group based on performance rating:

Awards ceremonies will be held 10:00 (Dubai time) tomorrow Sunday.

Sri Lanka National Chess Academy, from left: Amarathunga Piyumi Uthpala, Indrajith J A K N T, Amarathunga Kosala Sandeepa Chamikara, De Silva L M S T, Newansa M Esandi and Sendanayake Anujana Hasandi

The Basir Memorial Chess Academy of Bangladesh.

The Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships 2021 shall mark a return to over-the-board tournaments. The Sri Lanka Chess Federation, on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE, shall host the event from 16 December (arrival) to 24 December 2021 (departure) at the plush Citrus Hotel in Colombo.

Direct FIDE titles and norms: GM/WGM norm, IM/WIM titles and FM/WFM titles.

Direct titles shall be awarded for Standard Chess. The gold medalist shall receive a Grandmaster/WGM norm. Equal first (best 3 players after tie break) shall receive the title of International Master/WIM, silver and bronze medalists receive International master norms (or corresponding women’s titles) and FM/WFM titles in accordance with FIDE title regulations.

Download Regulation of the Asian Junior 2021 – Final and Reg.Form.2021 Asian Juniors and Girls

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The Elegant International Chess Academy outclassed Aden Chess Academy 3.5-0.5 in the penultimate round to near the title in the Asian Academies Hybrid Chess Championship on Tornelo.

Pishgam Novin 2 beat Nur Sultan Chess Academy by similar score of 3.5-0.5 to remain within striking distance of the leader. In photo above are Pishgam Novin 2 Girls: Gholizadeh Parya-Mohammad Ebrahimkhan Abri Dorsa (WFM) and Boys: Alizadeh Amirmohammad, Mohammadi Mohamad Amin, Bahadori Arash.

Watch games live on  followchess,  chessbase,  chess.com and  chessbomb. Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings, standings and to download games. Here is the crosstable.

Here is the breakout room between Elegant Chess Academy of Bangladesh and Aden Chess Academy of Yemen. Opposing teams are in separate breakout rooms in Zoom and are able to watch each other.

Probhodi Methma Wijesinghe (Sabaragamuwa University) and KM Sanudula Dahamdi ( Musaeus College) got into the Finals after they beat HMRMK Rathnayake (St. Joseph’s Balika Vidyalaya, Kegalle) and Chanindi Mewna Attanayake (Devi Balika Vidyalaya) convincingly at the Semifinals. Probhodi scored a full 2 points out of 2 while Sanudula had a win and a draw collecting 1 1/2 points out of 2 games.

Probhodi will meet Sanidula for the supremacy in the Finals while Herath will meet Chanindi at the Consolation Finals today evening.

The Inaugural Sri Lanka Online Women’s National Chess Championship 2021 is conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka on the time control of 15 minutes+ 10 seconds on the Tornelo Platform. The event was held in four stages where a Women’s Novices Division was held in 7 regions, Women’s Major Division in 6 regions and Women’s Premier Division as qualification for final stage I. The Premier Division was held with the best 16 players in a round robin basis (15 rounds) to find the 4 semi finalists. The Finals and consolation finals will be held today starting at 5.00 p.m.

The Elegant International Chess Academy edged erstwhile co-leader National Chess Academy of Sri Lanka 2.5-1.5 to grab solo lead after 5 rounds of the Asian Academies Hybrid Chess Championship on Tornelo. Above are the Elegant International Chess Academy team, from left, Shadat Kibria Ayaan, WFM Noshin Anjum, Sakline Mostafa Sajid, IO, FA, WCM Mahmuda Hoque Chowdhury Moly, Managing Director of elegant International Chess Academy, CM Manon Reja Neer, Syed Ridwan, Team Captain and WCM Ahmed Walijah.

Pishgam Novin 2 of iran and the National Chess Academy of Sri Lanka are tied for second slot.

Watch games live on  followchess,  chessbase,  chess.com and  chessbomb. Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings, standings and to download games. Here is the crosstable.

MANILA, Philippines–The Iloilo Kisela Knights and the San Juan Predators are set to meet in the third conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) grand finals to be held virtually Saturday night, November 27, 2021 at chess.com platform.

Southern Kings Iloilo, led by GM Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., NM Karl Victor Ochoa, WFM Cherry Ann Mejia, NM Fritz Bryan Porras, NM John Michael Silvederio and NM Cesar Mariano, will clash against the northern rulers San Juan, spearheaded by GM Oliver Barbosa, IM Rolando Nolte, IM Ricardo De Guzman, WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda, FM Arden Reyes and NM Michael Gotel.

The Kisela Knights, who are shooting for their back-to-back PCAP title, spearheaded by Ochoa and Porras successfully sealed the victory, 2-1, during the armageddon, a do-or-die match against Penang (Malaysia) which determined the winner by fielding three players for each team sending Kisela Knights to the conference grand finals.

Ochoa toppled FM Wong Ying Long and Porras defeated NM Evan Capel. Poh Yu Tian upset Antonio.
“As always, it really is a team effort, one covering another. I can’t be more proud of you all for your fighting spirit and determination to deliver your best,” shared team owner Leo Sotaridona.

The foreign (Penang, Malaysia) team upset Iloilo, 11.5-9.5, in the first match. However with a never-say-die spirit, the Leo Sotaridona-owned team bounced back and tied the scoreboard, 14.5 – 6.5, in the second match that forced a do-or-die match against Penang (Malaysia) where the former prevailed, 2-1.

The San Juan Predators, for their part, beat the Caloocan Loadmanna Knights, 14-7, and 16.5-4.5, in 2 sets to conquer the northern division.

“The win versus Caloocan was closer than it seems. The Caloocan Loadmanna Knights is a formidable and talent-rich team and could have won over us at any given day. It is through constant training, positive mindset and a touch of good fortune that we Predators were able to prevail. The win really belongs to the coach, the players and its supporters,” said San Juan Predators Team Owner Michael Angelo Ong Chua.

It shall be recalled that Iloilo Kisela Knights opened the two-leg championship round with a 13-8 victory over the favored San Juan Predators before following it up with a close 11.5-9.5 second leg triumph for its first-ever PCAP crown last August 4, 2021 during the second conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines grandfinals dubbed as GM Wesley So Cup.

Photo shows Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP), founding president-commissioner Atty.Paul Elauria (left) awarding the championships trophy to Iloilo Kisela Knights represented by their top board player Grandmaster Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. last Sunday at Robinsons Magnolia, Barangay Kaunlaran, Cubao, Quezon City.

Iloilo beat San Juan, 13-8, and 11.5-9.5, during the second conference Professional Chess Association of the Philippines grandfinals dubbed as GM Wesley So Cup for its first-ever PCAP crown last August 4, 2021

The National Chess Academy of Sri Lanka edged Nur Sultan Chess Academy 2.5-1.5 to maintain solo lead at the halfway mark after 4 rounds of the Asian Academies Hybrid Chess Championship on Tornelo. Elegant International Chess Academy of Bangladesh beat Pishgam Novin-3 by 3.5-0.5 to narrow the gap and tie Sri Lanka in game points,.

Watch games live on  followchess,  chessbase,  chess.com and  chessbomb. Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings, standings and to download games. Here is the crosstable.

In above photo is Pishgam Novin-1. Here is photo of Bangladesh and Nur Sultan Chess Academy,