Docena, Acedo cop Shell chess crowns

MANILA, Philippines - Jerad Docena completed his rise from a kiddies champion to a junior king as he bested older rivals to capture the crown in the premier division while Rowelyn Joy Acedo bagged the girls’ title both via tiebreaks in the 2012 Shell National Youth Active Chess Championships at the SM Megamall Event Center in Mandaluyong City last Sunday.

 The sixth seeded Docena scored 3.5 points in the last four rounds, including stirring reversals over No. 3 Ali Guya and No. 4 Alfer Joseph Fernandez, to finish with seven points in the round robin finals among 10 players. The Wesleyan College Manila student then nipped No. 10 McDominique Lagula and top seed Austin Jacob Literatus in the tiebreak to clinch the coveted crown.

 It was a big victory for the 14-year-old Docena, who copped the kiddies national title last year, forcing him to compete in the juniors level this year. He placed second to Jan Nigel Galan in the Southern Luzon elims in Batangas then chalked up 3.5 points after dropping his opening round match to Junmark Baldesimo last Saturday to get a crack at the title.

 Docena, who drew with Lagula in the second round and beat Literatus with the black in the sixth round, thus duplicated GM Wesley So’s feat in the early 2000s when the then whiz kid dominated the juniors division as a kiddie participant. So became the country’s top player and is now one of the world’s leading young GMs.

 The fourth seeded Acedo, meanwhile, fought back from a fifth round loss to No. 2 Crizelle Geron as she swept her next four matches at resumption of the double-round, six-player girls finals, then drew with Geron in the final round to finish with seven points. She then edged erstwhile pacesetter and fellow La Salle student Judith Pineda in the tiebreak to pocket the crown.