National Masters Merben Roque (3rd from left) and Rogelio Enriquez Jr. (4th from left) of Team Cebu have improved their rankings after notching wins in today’s round of the FIDE Asian Zonals 3.3 Chess Championships 2021 at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines— National Masters (NM) Merben Roque and Rogelio Enriquez Jr. of Team Cebu improved their rankings in the ongoing FIDE Asian Zonals 3.3 Chess Championships after snatching victories in their respective campaigns after round seven.
After losing to International Master (IM) Jingyao Tin of Singapore in round six, NM Roque bounced back strong in round seven by defeating his teammate, Jerish John Velarde.
NM Roque not just snapped Velarde’s three-round winning streak but also climbed 10 places up in the rankings with 4.5 points in hand.
He is now ranked 13th after beating Velarde with two games left in the entire tournament, which serves as the FIDE world championship qualifiers.
NM Enriquez Jr., on the other hand, had an impressive back-to-back win after beating Wee Zhun Teh of Malaysia in round six and Christian Mark Daluz in round seven.
From 30th in round six, NM Enriquez Jr. climbed to the 22nd spot.
Jave Mareck Peteros, also joined the winning column after he also logged back-to-back wins. He won over Arena Grand Master (AGM) Gian Karlo Arca to improve from 45th spot to 35th after round seven. Before that, he nipped Malaysia’s Wee Zhun Tee in round six.
Velarde, meanwhile, slightly dropped in the rankings after losing to NM Roque. He is currently ranked 27th from 22nd in the previous round.
Aside from NM Roque and Velarde’s clash in round seven, another pair from Team Cebu faced each other on the same round.
Women’s International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas and Richard Natividad’s round-seven match ended in a draw.
With that, WIM Galas improved to 3.0 points, climbing two places up to land on the 33rd spot. On the other hand, Natividad also ascended two places up at the 37th spot in the rankings with 3.0 points.
IM Michael Concio Jr. remained on top of the rankings with 5.5 points, followed by IM Daniel Quizon with 5.5 points. Indonesian Mohamad Ervan is at third with 5.5 points.
Team Cebu’s official playing venue is at the Juana Hall in Cebu Parklane International Hotel. They are supervised by FIDE arbiters from the RiChessMasters, which also organizes a separate chess tournament dubbed as the First Metro Cebu Camaraderie Chess Tournament held at the same venue.
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