JERISH John Velarde, Chris Aldritz Pondoyo and Allan Pason emerged as the top performing wood pushers in the 25th Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship- Cebu Leg at the SM City Cebu event center yesterday.
Velarde, of the Marie Ernestine School of Lapu-Lapu City, dominated the kiddies division with a near perfect run of 8.5 points after nine rounds.
University of Cebu’s (UC) Pondoyo scored a total of 7.5 points to rule the seniors division while University of San Jose-Recoletos’ (USJ-R) Pason secured the juniors division title by scoring 8.5 points.
The three, along with second and third placers in each division, will book spots to the grand finals slated Oct. 7 and 8 at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay.
They will go up against qualifiers from the four other legs of the event.
Joining Velarde in the finals will be Jeraian Cagang and Andre Cardosa, who placed second and third, respectively, in the kiddies division.
In the seniors division, Pondoyo will be joined by Cyril Telesforo and Jeremy Tanudra in the finals. Telesforo and Tanudra were Pondoyo’s runners up in the category.
Pason, meanwhile, will be joined in the juniors division by his runners up Jethro Esplanada and Adrian Basilgo in the Manila finals.