Borgonia, Pepito top first qualifying event

CEBU, Philippines – Duane Borgonia and Jeremy Pepito shared the spotlight in the first qualifying tournament of the 2nd Cebu Kiddies Chess Championship over the weekend at the Cebu School of Chess situated at the  second floor of Central Books Building along P. del Rosario Street, Cebu City.

Borgonia and Pepito completed the 7-round Swiss system competition with 6.0 points each, but Borgonia took the top spot courtesy of a higher tie-break output. Aside from the cash prize, they also booked tickets for the grand finals set later this year.

Adrian Basilgo was at solo third place with 5.5 points, while Aldritz Pondoyo and Marphine Mangubat finished at joint fourth and fifth with 5.0 points.

Rounding up  to the 11 placers were Alphecca Gonzales, Vixc Glysen Derotas, Alphard Gonzales, Mykha Borgonia, Jave Peteros and Edel Vosotros.

Tournament director IM Kim Steven Yap handed out special awards to Spica Gonzales and Uriel Doncernas for being the youngest participants. They both tallied 2.0 points to earn a share of the joint 24th to 27th place in a field of 30 entries.

Meanwhile, those who are interested to take part in the next edition of the monthly tilt may contact Kim Yap at 0932-3510816 or e-mail cebuschoolofchess @gmail.com or  yapkimsteven@ yahoo.com.  —  EBV (FREEMAN)