Pinoy kids cop Asean chess titles

MANILA, Philippines - Reigning national junior champion Paulo Bersamina topped the boys’ 12-and-under division while Austin Jacob Literatus ruled the 14-under class to deliver two golds for the host at the close of the ASEAN age-group chess championships at the Traveler’s Hotel in Subic yesterday.

Bersamina trounced Tran Minh Hoang of Vietnam in the final round to finish with 7.5 points, nipping erstwhile co-leader Nguyen Van Toan Thanh of Vietnam by half-a-point for the title and clinching his second major crown in as many months.

The second seeded Thanh was held to a draw by Carlo Caranyagan in the other crucial final round match and settled for runner-up finish with seven points.

Literatus, on other hand, beat Le Huu Thai of Vietnam to finish tied for first with another Vietnamese, Le Tuan Minh, with seven points. The Davao City find, however, took the title with a higher tiebreak score.

Minh, who shared the lead with John Ray Batucan in the eighth round, blew his title bid when he was held to a draw by Melwyn Baltazar.

The Vietnamese, however, dominated the other age groups in both the boys and girls divisions, winning six of the 12 gold medals disputed.

Overall, Vietnam finished with six golds, nine silvers and four bronzes to bag the overall championship.

Indonesia, which won all its three golds in the girls division, edged the Philippines for second place in the overall standings.

The Filipinos finished with 2-2-4 gold-silver-bronze medal haul.

Aside from Bersamina and Literatus, the other medal winners for the hosts in the boys division were Julius Gonzales, Stephen Rome Pangilinan, Batucan and Jan Nigel Galan.