Visiting woodpushers dominate 2nd Cebu Chess Hub tourney

National Master (NM) Vince Angelo Medina (holding the trophy and cash prize) poses for a photo with Cebu Chess Hub founder Mark Mangubat during the awarding ceremony. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — National Master (NM) Vince Angelo Medina led the visiting woodpushers in ruling the “Second Cebu Chess Hub Open Standard Tournament” over the weekend at the GMall of Cebu.

Among the 81 participants, the visiting woodpushers headed by NM Medina of the Laguna Heroes of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP), topped the seven-round FIDE-rated and Swiss-system format tournament.

He finished the tournament in a near flawless 6.5 points. He defeated Cebu’s very own, International Master (IM) Rico Mascariñas, in the crucial sixth round. He earned the P30,000 purse courtesy of GMall of Cebu, and the champion’s trophy.

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Medina credited his win over IM Mascarinas in the penultimate round as the turning point of his campaign.

“I was a pawn down in a difficult position, but I was able to create some problems for IM Mascarinas that forced him to spend time on his clock, and he eventually lost on time, ” Medina said in a post-game interview.

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His teammate in Laguna Heroes, FIDE Master Austin Jacob Literatus from Davao City, finished second with 6.0 points, upsetting IM Torben Sorensen in the final round. He won P20,000.00 and received a trophy.

Jan Francis Mirano from Aklan finished third with 6.0 points, but with lower tie break points than Literatus. He went home with P10,000.00 and a trophy.

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IM Mascariñas settled for fourth place, pocketing P5,000 and preventing a shutout performance for the locals by making it to the top five.

Mark Kevin Labog from Pasig City King Pirtes, the reigning PCAP Champions League Open champion, finished fifth and received P3,000.

The sixth to 10th finishers of the tournament were NM Madronio Fuentes (Bohol), Torben Sorensen (Malta), Cyril Ortega, Arena International Master (AIM) Gabriel Ryan Paradero (Pasig), and inaugural champion Diego Abraham Caparino (Cebu).

They all won cash amounting to P2,000 each. Besides placing fifth, IM Mascariñas also topped the senior category, while Toledo City’s Apple Rubin earned the “Top Lady” player plum.

Seth David Suico (Zamboanga) was the ‘Top Kiddie’ awardee after scoring 4.0 points. Juan Miguel Templonuevo won the Best Cebu Chess Hub Student’ award after scoring 4.0 points.