LAPU-LAPU City’s chess phenom Jerish John Velarde hit a wall in the fourth round of the 12-under standard division competition of the Asian Youth Chess Championships 2018 in Thailand yesterday.
The 12-year-old wood pusher, who won a bronze medal last Sunday in the rapid division, suffered his second defeat after losing to 61st-seed Jia You Yao of Chinese Taipei in the fourth round.
It was his second defeat in the competition after also losing his first round game against 63rd-seed Matthew Ryan Chen of Chinese Taipei.
The 24th-seed Velarde managed to bag two straight wins in the second and third rounds by edging 43rd-seed Kai Chun Chen of Chinese Taipei and 51st-seed Dinupa Adithya of Sri Lanka, respectively, before stumbling in the fourth.
Velarde is currently placed 32nd in the standard division with 2.0 points. Candidate Master (CM) D. Gukesh of India leads the competition with 4.0 points followed by Iran’s Daneshvar Bardiya (4.0) and CM Quoc Hy Nguyen of Vietnam (3.5).