Balbona, Villarin cop crowns

MANILA, Philippines - Fourth seed Felix Balbona bounced back from a sixth round upset loss to No. 11 John Acedo with a sweep of the last three matches to capture the juniors boys’ crown while Jazelle Villarin nipped two others in the tiebreak to bag the girls’ plum in the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship Visayas leg at SM City Cebu Event Center Sunday.

Balbona, who shared the lead with Allan Pason and Acedo after five rounds, trampled Adrian dela Cruz, Vincent Balena and Sherwin Amad to make up for his setback to Acedo as the University of San Carlos bet emerged solo winner with eight points.

Acedo also beat Pason in the seventh round to seize the solo lead but dropped his last two matches to Amad and Kyle Sevillano, enabling Pason, who scored 2.5 points in the last four rounds, to snatch second place with 7.5 points and the other berth in the national finals of the country’s longest running tournament sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.

The top seeded Sevillano and Yves Fiel also wound up with identical 7.5 points but lost to Pason, playing out of Pajo National High School, in the tiebreak in the battle for runner-up honors and the last spot in the grand finals set Sept. 14-15 at SM Megamall.

The fourth-ranked Villarin, meanwhile, recovered from back-to-back draws from the fifth round with a resounding victory over Claire Morala in the final round to finish with six points then edged Adelaide Lim and Airene Robillos in the tiebreak to rule the girls’ category and clinch the lone spot in the national finals.

Villarin, who shared the lead with top seed Glysen Derotas after a sweep of the first four matches of the seven-round tournament, settled for draw against Derotas and Lim but scored the crucial win over Morala in a tightly-fought finale as the Univ. of San Jose-Recoletos standout gained a crack at the national crown.

Lim and Airene Robillos also ended up with six points but lost in the tiebreak and settled for joint second while Derotas lost her last two games and dropped out of contention with 4.5 points.

Pilipinas Shell Social Investment manager Jackie Ampil, Retail Territory manager for Metro Cebu Ritchie Velasco, Mandaue Depot Manager Rudy Harden, Shell Fuels  Implementor Reggie Regala, Isaias Culanag, Nico Chua and Ingrid Vargas graced the awards rites of the event which served as the third leg of this year’s circuit sanctioned by the NCFP.

The 21st Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship is supported by Shell FuelSave Unleaded and Diesel, Shell Fuel Oils, Shell V Power Nitro and Shell Rimula, as well as by Unilever and SM Supermalls.