RANGED against older and more experienced opponents, Cebu’s bet Jerish John Velarde continued to struggle in the 2016 PSC-Puregold International Chess Challenge in Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel.
The nine-year-old Velarde, one of the youngest competitors, started the tournament as the 39th seed and had yet to win a single match after four rounds of competition.
He is currently ranked 36th in the nine-round tournament under the Challenger division.
Velarde of Marie Ernestine School of Lapu-Lapu City ended the fourth round yesterday afternoon with a draw against 32nd seed Venice Vicente. He also had a draw in the third round versus 50th seed Isaac Chavez. In the second round, he lost to second seed FIDE Master (FM) Adrian Pacis. He opened his campaign with a draw against 12th seed John Merill Jacutina in the first round.
The fifth round was still being played as of this writing.