Dela Cerna bags Sinulog Scrabble Open pro title; Makinano tops Sevillano chess tilt

Renante Dela Cerna bagged the professional division title of the Sinulog Scrabble Open 2017 last Saturday at the Cebu City Sports Institute in Barangay San Nicolas, Cebu City.

Dela Cerna outplayed Dart Eslao in the final round, 441-400. Dela Cerna collected six wins against a single loss with a spread of +729 points. Runners Jowar Ayuno (+515 point spread) and Eslao (+329 point spread) ended with identical 5-1 (win-loss) slates. Cebu City National Science High School’s Lear Jet Dela Cruz totaled 516 points for the highest single game. Joel Toroy earned the highest single turn with the word “eradiate,” worth 122 points.

Ramon Duterte Memorial National High School’s (RDMNHS) Mac Nicole Baclayon won the high school division while the University of San Jose – Recoletos’ (USJ-R) Chairylle Bucao topped the elementary division.

Chess champ

Anthony Makinano emerged as the top wood pusher in the Duke Harris Sevillano Memorial Open Chess tournament yesterday at the Knight Attack Chess Café in Robinsons Galleria Cebu.

Makinano defeated Joel Pacuribot in the seventh round to end his campaign with 6.5 points. Makinano and eventual second placer National Master (NM) Merben Roque actually both scored 6.5 points in the seven-round Swiss system format tournament. Makinano went on to win the title owing to his higher tie break points. Roque won over tournament organizer International Master (IM) Kim Steven Yap in the final round. Edsel Montoya settled for third with six points while Rico Mascariñas, IM Yap and Rommel Ganzon placed fourth to sixth with 5.5 points each. They were ranked according to their accumulated tie break points.

Makinano bagged the P5,000 top purse while Roque received P2,500. Montoya went home with P1,500. The top lady wood pusher was Shaira Monsalud, while Jave Mareck Peteros was the best kiddy player in the tournament. They each received P500. The tournament was organized to commemorate the late Harvey Duke Harris Sevillano III, the son of Guadalupe Sevillano, a Cebuana rated player and sister of Grand Master (GM) Enrico Sevillano.