Borromeo leads chess titlists

Unheralded Genesis Borromeo, rising star Daniel Quizon and veteran McDominique Lagula shared the spotlight in the 2015 Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship national finals at SM Megamall last Sunday.

Showing their mettle in their first grand finals appearances, Borromeo and Quizon captured the kiddies and juniors titles, respectively, in contrasting fashions.

Quizon, a San Juan Elementary School standout, ruled the 12-and-under division with eight points for a 1.5-point victory over Mark Bacojo and Adrian de Luna.

Borromeo, the lowest-ranked among 16 players entered, wound up tied with top seed Dale Bernardo at 6.5 points, but took the 13-16 crown with a superior tiebreak score.

The Dias College mainstay from Panay hurdled Ahmad Azote and Laila Nadera to compensate for his final round loss to Adrian Yulo.

San Beda College’s Lagula scored 2.5 points in the last three rounds to finish tied for first with National U’s Vince Medina at 6.5 points then snatched the 17-20 crown via tiebreak.

Irish Yngayo of Davao Central College (5 points), Jesca Docena of Wesleyan College of Manila (5 points) and University of the Philippines’ Arvie Lozano (5.5 points) clinched the top female honors in the kiddies, juniors and seniors divisions, respectively. Roy Luarca